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4 New Questions for This Year's Passover Dinner
Apr 02, 2003
Why is it that on all other Passovers we ask four questions probing the past, but on this Passover we ask four additional questions about the future?
After the U.S. "wins" the war, will Iraq become the new West Bank -- with suicide bombers and snipers targeting U.S. soldiers occupying another parcel of Arab land?
Will U.S. soldiers have to set up an Israeli-style roadblock and checkpoint system, and search vehicles, backpacks, even handbags to protect themselves and any U.S.-installed Iraqi regime?
After the U.S. military replaces Saddam Hussein's secular national dictatorship, will the mantle of opposition in Iraq and beyond pass to the more dangerous, transnational Islamist terrorists?
And will George Bush become America's Ariel Sharon, a leader whose blind bellicosity threatens to make Americans as unsafe as Sharon has made Israelis -- with the resulting insecurity, fear and anger helping Bush win reelection?
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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Jeff Cohen
Jeff Cohen is an activist and author. Cohen was an associate professor of journalism and the director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, founder of the media watch group FAIR, and former board member of Progressive Democrats of America. In 2002, he was a producer and pundit at MSNBC. He is the author of "Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media" - and a co-founder of the online action group, www.RootsAction.org. His website is jeffcohen.org.
Why is it that on all other Passovers we ask four questions probing the past, but on this Passover we ask four additional questions about the future?
After the U.S. "wins" the war, will Iraq become the new West Bank -- with suicide bombers and snipers targeting U.S. soldiers occupying another parcel of Arab land?
Will U.S. soldiers have to set up an Israeli-style roadblock and checkpoint system, and search vehicles, backpacks, even handbags to protect themselves and any U.S.-installed Iraqi regime?
After the U.S. military replaces Saddam Hussein's secular national dictatorship, will the mantle of opposition in Iraq and beyond pass to the more dangerous, transnational Islamist terrorists?
And will George Bush become America's Ariel Sharon, a leader whose blind bellicosity threatens to make Americans as unsafe as Sharon has made Israelis -- with the resulting insecurity, fear and anger helping Bush win reelection?
Jeff Cohen
Jeff Cohen is an activist and author. Cohen was an associate professor of journalism and the director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, founder of the media watch group FAIR, and former board member of Progressive Democrats of America. In 2002, he was a producer and pundit at MSNBC. He is the author of "Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media" - and a co-founder of the online action group, www.RootsAction.org. His website is jeffcohen.org.
Why is it that on all other Passovers we ask four questions probing the past, but on this Passover we ask four additional questions about the future?
After the U.S. "wins" the war, will Iraq become the new West Bank -- with suicide bombers and snipers targeting U.S. soldiers occupying another parcel of Arab land?
Will U.S. soldiers have to set up an Israeli-style roadblock and checkpoint system, and search vehicles, backpacks, even handbags to protect themselves and any U.S.-installed Iraqi regime?
After the U.S. military replaces Saddam Hussein's secular national dictatorship, will the mantle of opposition in Iraq and beyond pass to the more dangerous, transnational Islamist terrorists?
And will George Bush become America's Ariel Sharon, a leader whose blind bellicosity threatens to make Americans as unsafe as Sharon has made Israelis -- with the resulting insecurity, fear and anger helping Bush win reelection?
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