Did you notice that Kerry is fully accepting the Bush doctrine of Israel-First? Do you think the Jewish lobby is playing a balance-of-power game with Bush and Kerry? Over 50% of the campaign contributions to Kerry come from Jewish-Americans who support Israel over America. Do you think this is relevant to the Presidential campaign? Bush gets only 30% of his contribution from the Jewish-American lobby. It is not only relevant but clearly the most important issue driving the massive contribution to the candidates.
To attempt to avoid the Israeli/Jewish factor in the Presidential election is both cowardly and hypocritical, an attack upon the cherished American values of free speech and intellectual freedom..
Again, I feel that Mr. Reese has his finger on the pulse of thsi presidential election:
"Of course, Bush is preaching democracy because that's the platitude generated by the neoconservative, pro-Israeli ideologues who have dominated his administration. It's an excuse to avoid facing the truth, which is that our problem in the Middle East is our one-sided support for the terrible mistreatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis. That's it. It's not the conditions in the Arab world. It's not the Islamic fundamentalists. It's our own policy, stupid.
How can we legitimately put pressure on Iran about its nuclear program while we remain dead silent about the nuclear arsenal Israel has already built? All of the Arab countries and Iran have repeatedly called for a nuclear-free Middle East, but we won't back it, because we won't confront Israel about its weapons of mass destruction.
"How can we talk about obeying United Nations resolutions when Israel is in defiance of more than 60 of them? How can we talk about the rule of law when Israel's occupation and illegal settlements are a violation of international law? How can we talk about respect for human rights while staying silent about the abuses of Palestinian human rights?
It would serve George Bush right if there really were free elections in the Middle East. After that, we wouldn't have one single friend in the region – for our only friends are these very authoritarian and undemocratic rulers he seems to stupidly want to depose.
As for Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia whom some people are trying to blame for terrorism, that's pure bunk. The Wahhabi movement was founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhabi, who lived in the 1700s. It is to Islam what the Puritans were to Christianity. Wahhabis believe in literalism (as do Southern Baptists), strict observance of Muslim rituals and the condemnation of the cult of the saints.
It has always been the religion of Saudi Arabia, and we have had good relations with that country since World War II, based on its oil and our greed for it. In all those decades, the Wahhabis never gave us any trouble. Why should they now? I submit to you they haven't. Don't confuse Islamic fundamentalism with terrorism, as the pro-Israel crowd wants you to do. And don't commit the racist fallacy of concluding that a particular few terrorists represent the whole of Muslims." |
