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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MSI who wrote (320873)	11/17/2002 9:25:38 PM
From: Emile Vidrine	Respond to of 769670

FROM WAR ON TERROR TO PLAIN WAR AGAINST PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS. Israel: walled in, but never secure, by Matthews Brubacher, Le Monde diplomatique, November 2002 "Israeli government funding for settlements in the occupied territories has long been condemned by the United Nations. Now it has provoked resignations from the government resulting in new elections in Israel. But the real tragedy of what is happening there can be seen in the security barrier that Israel is building around the West Bank and Jerusalem, which is twice as long and three times as high as the Berlin Wall. A new 360km security wall is being built by Israel around the West Bank and Jerusalem, and it will radically change both the geographical and political landscape of the Middle East. By putting up a wall that is three times the length and twice the height of the Berlin Wall, Israel will unilaterally annex a substantial part of the West Bank and tighten military cordons around Palestinian population centres, effectively imprisoning their residents. A security wall was originally established in Gaza during the first intifada (1987-1993) when Israel enclosed it behind a sealed electrical fence. This fence allowed Israel to control its 16 settlements in the Gaza Strip, as well as all Palestinian movement. Today Israel still controls about 50% of Gaza, and 1.2m Palestinians remain confined to an area less than twice the size of the city of Washington DC. Building a wall around the West Bank means that the Palestinians living there will soon share a similar fate to those Palestinians who live in Gaza. The first stage of the wall will separate most of the northern West Bank from Israel. This wall is being built inside the 1967 Armistice line, annexing many settlements, surrounding several key Palestinian areas and dissecting others. Palestinian areas, such as Qaffin, will be deprived of 60% of their agricultural land, while other areas, such as Qalqiliya, will be both deprived of land and be cut off from the West Bank and Israel. The wall in these areas is costing Israel over a million dollars for every kilometre: it is fortified with eight metre-high cement walls, and guard towers every 300m with a two metre-deep trench, barbed wire and a security road. The first stage of this northern wall will run almost 100km from Salem to Kufr Kassem and will mean annexing 1.6% of the West Bank, including 11 illegal Israeli settlements and over 10,000 Palestinians. Israel intends to incorporate this area into Israel in such a way that, when the final status negotiations resume, the cost of reversing these actions will be so high they will be considered irreversible. ... Unlike the medieval fortress-like construction in the north, these "walls" [in the Jerusalem area] will be built with electric wire fencing and a security road, at points combined with trenches, cement walls and motion detectors. The two walls are like a necklace, as the security wall will act as a thread to connect existing Israeli settlements and military sites ... When the wall from the northern West Bank to Jerusalem is completed, Israel will have annexed over 7% of the West Bank, as well as 39 illegal Israeli settlements with 270,000 settlers, and also 290,000 Palestinians; 70,000 of these do not have Israeli residency and so have no right to travel or get services from Israel, although Israel is depriving them of their livelihoods in the West Bank. These Palestinians are extremely vulnerable and will probably be gradually forced to emigrate from these areas."

To: MSI who wrote (320873)	11/17/2002 10:49:16 PM
From: DavesM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

re:"As an independent, watching the Democratic Party become "Republican Lite" leaves the foxes in charge of the henhouse, and our money and military." LOL! If the Democrats weren't "Republican Lite", they'd be nothing at all. You are describing the most effective strategy the Democratic Party had in the past 25 years - it is how Clinton managed to get re-elected.

To: MSI who wrote (320873)	11/17/2002 10:53:41 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

MSI, Locally, in Deschutes County, we just had a palace coup, replacing the progressive chair of the local Dem Party with a triumvirate of scallawags who I consider to be agents provocateurs and, frankly, outright agents for the corporatist/fascist agenda. I made a brief attempt at a coup, but was constrained by time commitments to NION duties and the pettifogging bureaucratic nonsense that emanated from within the rotten bowels of the corporate Dem Party and seemed so thoroughly vile as to make me toss my cookies and look for another avenue to prevent the inexorable rise of fascism in this nation. The Democratic Party, at least locally, appears to be morally bankrupt and run by a bunch of petty hypocrites who are happily consolidating this part of the world for the Emperor. All hail the conquering hero sandwich, i.e. the Deserter-In-Chief, the Thief-In-Chief and the man we are all thankful for for giving us something to call his most excellent adventure in the sands of I-woo-woo Messypotamia. We're calling this new one Deserter Storm(TM), a Bush Crime Family Production. From the Wilderness, Krieger