SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Failed War on Terrorism on Display
May 15, 2008
Some of the disastrous consequences of George W. Bush's foreign policy, and therefore Stephen Harper's, are on display this week in Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan and elsewhere.
The president's pledge to create a Palestinian state has now been downgraded to the creation of a "description" of a state by the end of his term.
His cure for record oil prices is no more likely to be heeded now than before. Even if the sheiks heed him they can't buck the market forces unleashed by his wars abroad and his economic policies at home.
The Lebanese government that he has championed has been rendered impotent by the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.
When Bush meets Fouad Siniora on Sunday, he will bestow on the Lebanese prime minister the only gift he knows: arms and military training.
The support is the same as that extended to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
The marching order for each is the same: attack fellow citizens who resist America. Abbas must crush the terrorist Hamas, Maliki the anti-American insurgents, Karzai the anti-NATO Taliban, and Musharraf the anti-U.S. militants.
On the surface, it makes eminent sense to empower the good guys against the bad. But it doesn't when you think that the latter are the by-products of U.S. foreign policy, and that attempts to crush them with American arms have failed and also advanced the interests of their sponsors, particularly Iran.
All this points to the urgent need to address the issues that sustain the non-state actors who are proving so difficult to control.
Since the Bush-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Md., in November, illegal Israeli settlement activity has gone up, the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank remains restricted by checkpoints, and the collective punishment of 1.5 million Gazans continues, with American and Canadian complicity.
Calling the Gaza blockade "a terrible human rights crime," former U.S. president Jimmy Carter got Hamas to agree to a ceasefire so that the firing of rockets into Israel would cease. But the offer was rejected and he demonized.
Human Rights Watch and two Israeli groups, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, have just made the same points Carter did and asked Bush to stop backing the Gaza closure. Canadians should demand the same of Harper.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah has indeed staged a coup d'Af(c)tat, with Iranian backing, as Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Tuesday.
But, notes Jim Reilly, professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the U of T, "Iran didn't create the Hezbollah as we know it. Hezbollah has its own reason for existing."
It represents the Shiite interests in the confessional political system set up by the French in the 1930s.
Secondly, "foreigners have always had their fingerprints all over Lebanon" -- French, British, Syrians, Israelis, Saudis, Americans and Iranians. Who is more legitimate depends on your point of view.
The Arab League can only provide a patchwork solution for Lebanon, which will remain unsettled until the confessional system is replaced by real democracy, and foreign powers stop propping up proxies.
In Pakistan, the collapse of the coalition government is no surprise. Asif Ali Zardari, husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, is going by the deal she made with the Bush administration: that she would work with Musharraf, provided he withdrew the corruption and other charges against her and Zardari.
Musharraf lived up to his part of the unholy bargain. The current machinations between him, Zardari and others, aided and abetted by shuttling American envoys, are designed to ensure that the dismissed supreme court judges are not restored, lest they (a) threaten Musharraf's own tenure, and (b) question his quashing of the charges against Zardari.
All this has little or nothing to do with democracy, only with advancing Bush's failed war on terrorism, which has made matters worse for both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Haroon Siddiqui's column appears Thursday and Sunday.
(c) Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2008
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. 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. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 TheStar.com
Some of the disastrous consequences of George W. Bush's foreign policy, and therefore Stephen Harper's, are on display this week in Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan and elsewhere.
The president's pledge to create a Palestinian state has now been downgraded to the creation of a "description" of a state by the end of his term.
His cure for record oil prices is no more likely to be heeded now than before. Even if the sheiks heed him they can't buck the market forces unleashed by his wars abroad and his economic policies at home.
The Lebanese government that he has championed has been rendered impotent by the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.
When Bush meets Fouad Siniora on Sunday, he will bestow on the Lebanese prime minister the only gift he knows: arms and military training.
The support is the same as that extended to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
The marching order for each is the same: attack fellow citizens who resist America. Abbas must crush the terrorist Hamas, Maliki the anti-American insurgents, Karzai the anti-NATO Taliban, and Musharraf the anti-U.S. militants.
On the surface, it makes eminent sense to empower the good guys against the bad. But it doesn't when you think that the latter are the by-products of U.S. foreign policy, and that attempts to crush them with American arms have failed and also advanced the interests of their sponsors, particularly Iran.
All this points to the urgent need to address the issues that sustain the non-state actors who are proving so difficult to control.
Since the Bush-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Md., in November, illegal Israeli settlement activity has gone up, the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank remains restricted by checkpoints, and the collective punishment of 1.5 million Gazans continues, with American and Canadian complicity.
Calling the Gaza blockade "a terrible human rights crime," former U.S. president Jimmy Carter got Hamas to agree to a ceasefire so that the firing of rockets into Israel would cease. But the offer was rejected and he demonized.
Human Rights Watch and two Israeli groups, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, have just made the same points Carter did and asked Bush to stop backing the Gaza closure. Canadians should demand the same of Harper.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah has indeed staged a coup d'Af(c)tat, with Iranian backing, as Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Tuesday.
But, notes Jim Reilly, professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the U of T, "Iran didn't create the Hezbollah as we know it. Hezbollah has its own reason for existing."
It represents the Shiite interests in the confessional political system set up by the French in the 1930s.
Secondly, "foreigners have always had their fingerprints all over Lebanon" -- French, British, Syrians, Israelis, Saudis, Americans and Iranians. Who is more legitimate depends on your point of view.
The Arab League can only provide a patchwork solution for Lebanon, which will remain unsettled until the confessional system is replaced by real democracy, and foreign powers stop propping up proxies.
In Pakistan, the collapse of the coalition government is no surprise. Asif Ali Zardari, husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, is going by the deal she made with the Bush administration: that she would work with Musharraf, provided he withdrew the corruption and other charges against her and Zardari.
Musharraf lived up to his part of the unholy bargain. The current machinations between him, Zardari and others, aided and abetted by shuttling American envoys, are designed to ensure that the dismissed supreme court judges are not restored, lest they (a) threaten Musharraf's own tenure, and (b) question his quashing of the charges against Zardari.
All this has little or nothing to do with democracy, only with advancing Bush's failed war on terrorism, which has made matters worse for both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Haroon Siddiqui's column appears Thursday and Sunday.
(c) Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2008
Some of the disastrous consequences of George W. Bush's foreign policy, and therefore Stephen Harper's, are on display this week in Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan and elsewhere.
The president's pledge to create a Palestinian state has now been downgraded to the creation of a "description" of a state by the end of his term.
His cure for record oil prices is no more likely to be heeded now than before. Even if the sheiks heed him they can't buck the market forces unleashed by his wars abroad and his economic policies at home.
The Lebanese government that he has championed has been rendered impotent by the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.
When Bush meets Fouad Siniora on Sunday, he will bestow on the Lebanese prime minister the only gift he knows: arms and military training.
The support is the same as that extended to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
The marching order for each is the same: attack fellow citizens who resist America. Abbas must crush the terrorist Hamas, Maliki the anti-American insurgents, Karzai the anti-NATO Taliban, and Musharraf the anti-U.S. militants.
On the surface, it makes eminent sense to empower the good guys against the bad. But it doesn't when you think that the latter are the by-products of U.S. foreign policy, and that attempts to crush them with American arms have failed and also advanced the interests of their sponsors, particularly Iran.
All this points to the urgent need to address the issues that sustain the non-state actors who are proving so difficult to control.
Since the Bush-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Md., in November, illegal Israeli settlement activity has gone up, the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank remains restricted by checkpoints, and the collective punishment of 1.5 million Gazans continues, with American and Canadian complicity.
Calling the Gaza blockade "a terrible human rights crime," former U.S. president Jimmy Carter got Hamas to agree to a ceasefire so that the firing of rockets into Israel would cease. But the offer was rejected and he demonized.
Human Rights Watch and two Israeli groups, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, have just made the same points Carter did and asked Bush to stop backing the Gaza closure. Canadians should demand the same of Harper.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah has indeed staged a coup d'Af(c)tat, with Iranian backing, as Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Tuesday.
But, notes Jim Reilly, professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the U of T, "Iran didn't create the Hezbollah as we know it. Hezbollah has its own reason for existing."
It represents the Shiite interests in the confessional political system set up by the French in the 1930s.
Secondly, "foreigners have always had their fingerprints all over Lebanon" -- French, British, Syrians, Israelis, Saudis, Americans and Iranians. Who is more legitimate depends on your point of view.
The Arab League can only provide a patchwork solution for Lebanon, which will remain unsettled until the confessional system is replaced by real democracy, and foreign powers stop propping up proxies.
In Pakistan, the collapse of the coalition government is no surprise. Asif Ali Zardari, husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, is going by the deal she made with the Bush administration: that she would work with Musharraf, provided he withdrew the corruption and other charges against her and Zardari.
Musharraf lived up to his part of the unholy bargain. The current machinations between him, Zardari and others, aided and abetted by shuttling American envoys, are designed to ensure that the dismissed supreme court judges are not restored, lest they (a) threaten Musharraf's own tenure, and (b) question his quashing of the charges against Zardari.
All this has little or nothing to do with democracy, only with advancing Bush's failed war on terrorism, which has made matters worse for both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Haroon Siddiqui's column appears Thursday and Sunday.
(c) Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2008
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.