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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (78812)	8/3/2006 1:38:52 PM
From: Richnorth	Respond to of 81568

Oh, the horrible and terrible mess that the Bushies have perpetrated in consequence of their dishonesty, greed, hubris and callousness! The rosy scenario of Iraqis welcoming victorious Americans and of Americans exploiting Iraqi oil wealth to pay for the war, for reconstruction, and for the creation of a democratized Iraq went poof into nothingness! It was a mirage, if not smoke and mirrors. The British are not blameless. They are in cahoots with the Bushies because they want a share of the Iraqi oil. They want the oil badly because if their own North Sea oil gets depleted, their economy will plummet with dire consequences.....................................

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (78812)	8/4/2006 8:55:41 PM
From: Richnorth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

A new Middle East? 8/1/2006 5:40:00 PM GMT By: Dr. Steven Harris A week into the senseless and merciless of bombing of Lebanon where virtually all the casualties of the Israeli (or should that be U.S.?) bombs were civilians, Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, spoke of the opportunity to create a ‘New Middle East’. What that meant to Ms Rice we can only speculate but those who remember George Bush Senior’s comments in the run up to the first Gulf War of the opportunity to create a ‘New World Order’, the words were a chilling insight into U.S. thinking. The scenario that the Americans and Israelis hoped for are not too hard to imagine. They would have been hoping desperately for the democratically elected government of Lebanon (with 2 Hezbollah cabinet members) to have asked for assistance in disarming Hezbollah; thereby giving the Israelis and quite possibly the Americans the long dreamt of day when they could invade and bomb Lebanon. To hear the Israeli spokesmen over the last 20 days talking about the need to enforce a UN resolution on Lebanon would be amusing, given Israel’s record of ignoring UN Resolutions, if were not so cynical and meaningless. (Emphases by RN) However, the fact remains that Israel and the USA have managed to do to Lebanon and to the wider Islamic cause which no Muslim in centuries has managed; 1) unite Lebanon across religious and sectarian lines, and 2) expose Israel for the increasingly impotent but violent bully it is. These are two massive developments and have indeed set the stage for a ‘New Middle East’; although it is unlikely that this was quite what Ms Rice was referring to. Each of these developments needs to be looked at separately. • Lebanon This nation was created by the French colonialists after the First World War from Syria and Lebanon has had a tragic and unstable history of civil wars between the various parties which include Maronite Christians, Druze, Sunni and Shia Muslims. Last week, opinion polls carried out by US news agencies showed that 81% of Christians, 85% of Sunni Muslims and 86% Shias viewed Hezbollah as defenders of Lebanon. On 29th July, one of the leading Maronite Christian bishops of Lebanon in an interview with the BBC rejected allegations that Hezbollah was a terrorist organisation or that it was foreign in any way. He stated that his Church had always had excellent relations with Hezbollah and that there was no doubt that Israel was to blame for the casualties. This is a remarkable phenomenon and shows how the tragedy of the last three decades for Lebanon has matured and united the people. The Israeli government also did its bit for ensuring that the Lebanese army would co-operate with Hezbollah by killing 10 Lebanese soldiers in an air strike in the early days of their bombing campaign. The Lebanese cabinet comprising of all different factions is united alongside Hezbollah and demonstrations in recent days have shown Lebanese people of all persuasion carrying Hezbollah banners. The ‘Cedar Revolution’ that the USA was hailing just months ago following the withdrawal of Syrian troops and the democratic elections produced Hezbollah’s best every results and 2 Cabinet members. The US must be wishing it had never mentioned democracy as the last election in Palestine resulted in Hamas winning comfortably and the Lebanese elections also produced the ‘wrong’ result. • Israel exposed In the Israeli newspapers, commentators have been shocked to discover the world’s fourth largest military power could not even scare, let alone defeat, a guerrilla force of not more than 6,000 men. Hezbollah do not have an air force, navy, artillery or any of the equipment needed by a modern army. In spite of this, Israel has suffered casualties every time it ventures more than a few miles into the Lebanese territories. The Israelis have now started to use the excuse that Hezbollah had six years since its withdrawal to re-arm and is being supported by Iran and Syria. This is such a weak excuse for what is looking like cowardice that it is almost laughable but just a few points can be made. Firstly, Israel has also had six years to re-arm and has fought (and lost to) Hezbollah before so surely both sides had an equal amount of time. Secondly, Israel is supported to the tune of $3 billion dollars PER YEAR by the USA and has nuclear weapons (which will be discussed separately), latest bunker busting (innocent women and children killing) bombs and is using chemical weapons in Lebanon in contravention of international law. This is also not to ignore the intelligence it is receiving from the Americans and the huge logistical support in every sphere. Naturally the U.S. is hardly likely to object to Israel’s use of chemical weapons as it not only provided them but also uses them regularly in Iraq itself. Thirdly, Israel created and then supported militarily a ‘South Lebanese Army’ itself when it last occupied Lebanon. Israel hoped to turn it into an instrument of its own sordid plans for Lebanon. The ‘international community’ i.e. the U.S., had no problem for Israel to arm and equip a militia which was undoubtedly responsible for some of the worst atrocities in Lebanon as it was viewed a pro-western force. The unpalatable truth of the Israeli military is that in recent years it has got used to killing women and children and lightly armed fighters in Occupied Palestine. It has never managed to defeat Hezbollah with all the weapons and money at its disposal and is not going to in 2006 either. Every bomb it drops and every person it kills is having the opposite effect to what Israel and the USA hoped for. The European Union, the UN, the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch have all combined to condemn Israel in the strongest terms yet. The unfortunate Lebanese have seen their beautiful but tragic country wrecked again but have shown repeatedly that they can and will re-build their country. Israel may pretend that this is a war for its survival to justify the brutal and illegal means it is using but what it has lost – probably for ever - is international sympathy at being a non-Muslim country surrounded by hostile enemies. The whole world – including vast numbers of decent Americans – has been appalled at the repeated and deliberate Israeli bombing of Lebanese civilians. Ms Rice was right but not in the way she would have hoped; there are real signs of a ‘New Middle East’.