tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post115359745030455476..comments2024-03-25T16:03:36.810-07:00Comments on The Existentialist Cowboy: Israel Commits War Crimes in LebanonAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-4598731917893998762010-06-21T19:52:48.435-07:002010-06-21T19:52:48.435-07:00i never know what they thinks about moslemi never know what they thinks about moslemnuniek nur sahayahttp://ocw.gunadarma.ac.idnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1154725718703608182006-08-04T14:08:00.000-07:002006-08-04T14:08:00.000-07:00Peace in the Middle East for these schmucks simply...Peace in the Middle East for these schmucks simply means allowing Israel to pound each and every threat, real or incited into the stone-age, that way their enemy’s incapacity will warrant a peace. Not exactly what most would consider or interpret as "sustainable"... touted by Condi & Bush, their new word for the month.benmerchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05822419839573670413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1154282568624947172006-07-30T11:02:00.000-07:002006-07-30T11:02:00.000-07:00I do however support President Bush and all that h...<I>I do however support President Bush and all that he has tried to do for the Middle East, if President Carter and President Cllinto would have shown strenght in their administations, we wouldn't be in this shape now.</I><BR/><BR/>A complete mis-read of history and current events. Carter and Clinton were the best hopes for peace the middle east. Bush has done NOTHING for peace. He has done everything to destablize the middle east. <BR/><BR/>Current Isreali war crimes are obviously inspired by Bush's war of aggression in IRaq. In general principle, all war crimes originate at the top.<BR/><BR/><I>What amazes me is that anyone would expect that the crimes of Americans in the Middle East can be stopped, since they are an inherent part of every war. We should be more selective in our wars, and not pretend that we can avoid crimes once we are at war and are following the almost universal slogan “no substitute for victory.”<BR/><BR/>The the present Middle East war, the greatest victory would be to get over our hang up on eliminating the forces of evil, since evil can be overcome only by pursuing justice as a greater good. ...<BR/><BR/>—Dr. Robert D. Crane</I><BR/><BR/>Moreover, Indeed, evil is never defeated when those waging the war agaisnt become evil themselves. You've only doubled it.<BR/><BR/>That's why the entire world —since Bush stole his first election —seems to have gone nuts. Bush just opened Pandora's box. To wit: things are sooooooo bad for Bush and Bushy that only a catastrophe like the on going war crime by Israel upon the civilians of Lebanon could knock Iraq off the front pages. [Israel is deliberately targeting civilians with cluster bombs!]<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, a vast majority of Americans think the nation is on the "wrong track"l that may spell disaster for Bush's criminal, illegitimate regime and for the GOP.<BR/><BR/>Things are so bad in Iraq (not that it was covered by the news media) that Fareed Zacharias, on ABC This Week, suggested that the US THREATEN Iraq with a withdrawal!<BR/><BR/>That bears repeating: the US presence in Iraq is such a debacle, such an utter failure, that the US —the chest-beatin' last remaining superower —is REDUCED to THREATENING to withdraw. <BR/><BR/>Hezbollah cannot be "dismantled" by an armed invasion. This deliberate targeting of the civilian population in Lebanon can, however, destablize not merely the Middle East but the entire world. Even George Will —a conservative —compared the "cascading esclation" to the events which followed the killing of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153921914217911312006-07-26T06:51:00.000-07:002006-07-26T06:51:00.000-07:00Interesting points, vierotchka. Anyone posing as s...Interesting points, vierotchka. Anyone posing as something that he/she is not for the purpose of making a dubious political point typifies what Sartre called <I>mauvaise foi</I> —bad faith.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153903302419456852006-07-26T01:41:00.000-07:002006-07-26T01:41:00.000-07:00Tiredofitall - bin Laden had strictly nothing to d...Tiredofitall - bin Laden had strictly nothing to do with 9/11, and I don't for a microsecond believe that you're "Islamic", because were it true, you'd never have written it that way. You're simply posturing, and your few errors in English are those that I typically find among semi-educated Bush lovers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153884803760468172006-07-25T20:33:00.000-07:002006-07-25T20:33:00.000-07:00You're wrong again, tiredofitall. I wouldn't give ...You're wrong again, tiredofitall. <BR/><BR/>I wouldn't give a damn if you were "Seventh Day Adventist". I think its wrong to kill folk and more wrong to lie about it. <BR/><BR/>Like Bush, Israel has lied about what was the CAPTURE of soliders inside Lebanon and upon that pretext they've launched a war of NAZI proportions. <BR/><BR/>If my own nation had done that I would scream bloody murder and, as the regulars on this board will tell you, I'VE DONE EXACTLY THAT! <BR/><BR/>My country is not just wrong, it's DEAD WRONG! <BR/><BR/>What ever claptrap you choose to call "religion" is of no interest to me whatsoever. The events in the Middle East, Texas, and DC have confirmed to me that the world just might be better off without religion of any kind. <BR/><BR/>When untold millions have died for Christ, the Prophet, or some Pope, then please tell me what good religion has done? Did you ever hear of the Crusades? Remission of sins, my ass! <BR/><BR/>And don't think for one minute that I hate Jews. In fact, I've produced several documentaries about the Holocaust and I've interviewed Holocaust survivors. My credentials are just fine, thank you! I will not be tarred as a Jew hater because the "nation" of Israel has gone nuts.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153878755636223502006-07-25T18:52:00.000-07:002006-07-25T18:52:00.000-07:00There's a further story on where the two Israeli s...There's a further story on where the two Israeli soldiers were captured <A HREF="http://www.antiwar.com/frank/?articleid=9401" REL="nofollow">here</A>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153868774618883182006-07-25T16:06:00.000-07:002006-07-25T16:06:00.000-07:00How can you all sit here and say that Israel's res...<EM>How can you all sit here and say that Israel's response has been to harsh.</EM><BR/><BR/>Read Geneva and Nuremberg. Israel has gone nuts. I no longer support Israel, having defended it for years. In fact, I would wage war against Israel myself right now. There is no doubt whatsoever that Israel has deliberately targeted civilians and now has deliberately targeted representatives of the United Nations. Condi's "mission" is a sham, intended to buy time for Israel. <BR/><BR/>Not only is this attack on civilians in Lebanon disproportionate it already ranks with the Nazi destruction of Lidice, said to have been in retaliation for the murder of Heinrich Heydrich. I've got news for you: I would have murdered Heydrich myself! <BR/><BR/>I wonder when and how Israelis became Nazis. <BR/><BR/>I repeat: there is<STRONG> NO </STRONG>moral justification for the Nazi-like attack by Israel upon the people Lebanon. <BR/><BR/><EM> Does Israel have to sit back and watch soldier after soldier get kidnapped. </EM><BR/><BR/>They were NOT kidnapped, they were captured inside Lebanon! <BR/><EM><BR/>I sit here day after day reading about how Israel is being so unfair in it's response to HEZBOLLAH</EM><BR/><BR/>Read it and weep. You're on the wrong side, buddy! Thom Friedman asked: <I>What does being right have to do with anything? </I> I suggest that you go to Lebananon and put your money where your mouth is. Nothing you have posted here is based in any way upon ANY observable fact in the Middle East.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153862767008203392006-07-25T14:26:00.000-07:002006-07-25T14:26:00.000-07:00http://www.blogger.com/profile/4128873Don't hit me...http://www.blogger.com/profile/4128873<BR/><BR/>Don't hit me, Len! Don't hit me! LOL!!Sebastien Parmentierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14510809227926364827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153861363672711022006-07-25T14:02:00.000-07:002006-07-25T14:02:00.000-07:00Furthermore, if you want Hamas or Hezbollah to fig...Furthermore, if you want Hamas or Hezbollah to fight on an equal footing with Israel and not by getting themselves blown-up on buses and other busy venues, supply them with the same weaponry and billion$ in the same quantities that you yearly lavish on Israel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153861100311657852006-07-25T13:58:00.000-07:002006-07-25T13:58:00.000-07:00How can we all "sit here and say that"? Simple - b...How can we all "sit here and say that"? Simple - because it is true. Only a gullible idiot or a greedy and blind Bush-worshipping carrion eater could possibly see it in any other way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153797680717240062006-07-24T20:21:00.000-07:002006-07-24T20:21:00.000-07:00BTW — the discourse on this blog is excellent espe...BTW — the discourse on this blog is excellent especially when there is respectful disagreement. <BR/><BR/>My compliments to everyone. <BR/><BR/>However, I just deleted a typical ad hominem attack by a someone obviously of a right wing persuasion. <BR/><BR/>I welcome debate and give as good as I get. But, honestly folks, the tired old name calling and libelous generalizations that the right wing has gotten away with since McCarthy will just not be tolerated. <BR/><BR/>When meaningless crap is posted here, I am going to delete it —no apologies. <BR/><BR/>In the meantime, if anyone —right or left —has a problem with anything I've posted, make your case! <BR/><BR/>If the best you can do to call me a "leftie" or an "anti-semite", you get your sorry ass deleted. Compeche? Go dirty up your own blog!<BR/><BR/>At least canuck made a point albiet diminished —even self discredited —by typical name calling. <BR/><BR/>"Creepy". <BR/><BR/>Now time for a fact check: the <B>dispropotionate</B> Israeli response has nothing whatsoever to do with "defense"! <BR/><BR/>NOTHING! <BR/><BR/>Even Israel had said it was in response to the kidnapping of two Israeli soliders.<BR/><BR/>Nothing else is relevant!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153766510966505042006-07-24T11:41:00.000-07:002006-07-24T11:41:00.000-07:00Vierotchka, I have every reason to believe your de...Vierotchka, I have every reason to believe your details of the "kidnapping" of IDF "suspects". There is an account <A HREF="http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/07/samir-al-qintar-forgotten-prisoner-of.html" REL="nofollow">here </A> about prisoner Samir-al-Qintar held hostage for 28 years with no family contacts at all. And it appears that a Supreme Court of Israel ruling in 1997 has acknowledged that Lebanese detainees can be held indefinitely without trial as hostages for bargaining purposes.<BR/><BR/>Claims are emerging that the 2 Israeli soldiers were captured <A HREF="http://romunov.blogsome.com/2006/07/22/progress-report-waneing-down/" REL="nofollow">inside</A> Lebanon. This, together with sundry bits of evidence suggest this was far removed from an Israeli response to 2 kidnappings. <BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.juancole.com/2006/07/war-on-lebanon-planned-for-at-least.html" REL="nofollow">Juan Cole</A> has been arguing that Pres.Bush may have been 'out of the loop' on this Lebanon invasion.<BR/><BR/><EM>"That is why I was so shaken by George W. Bush's overheard conversation with Tony Blair about the war. He clearly thought that it broke out because Syria used Hizbullah to create a provocation. The President of the United States did not know that this war was a long-planned Israeli war of choice.<BR/><BR/>....What is scary is that Cheney and Rumsfeld don't appear to have let W. in on the whole thing. They told him that Bashar al-Asad of Syria stirred up a little trouble because he was afraid that Iraq the Model and the Lebanese Cedar Revolution might be such huge successes that they would topple him by example (just as, after Poland and the Czech Velvet Revolution, other Eastern European strongmen fell). (Don't fall down laughing at the idea of Iraq and Lebanon as Republican Party success stories; people in Washington, DC, coccoon a lot and have odd ideas about the way the world is.) So, Bush thought, if that is all that is going on, then someone just needs to call al-Asad and reassure him that we're not going to take him out, and get him to rein in Hizbullah. And then the war would suddenly stop. No one told Bush that this war was actually an Israeli war of choice and that al-Asad had nothing to do with it, that, indeed, it could only happen because al-Asad is already irrelevant.<BR/><BR/>That is why Administration hopes of using the Israeli attempt to destroy Hezbollah as a wedge to convince Syria to give up rejectionism and detach itself from Iran are crazy."</EM><BR/><BR/>Bushes handlers are making their play.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153729265762716342006-07-24T01:21:00.000-07:002006-07-24T01:21:00.000-07:00Freeing the kidnapped Israeli soldiers is certainl...Freeing the kidnapped Israeli soldiers is certainly not what all this carnage and death Israel is carrying out on the Lebanese. After all, these two soldiers are obviously held in some Hezbollah safe-house or hideout somewhere, the very safe-houses and hideouts Israel is hoping to destroy with it bombs... No, this is just a flimsy excuse Israel is using to justify its war crimes. About kidnappings in Israel and surroundings:<BR/><BR/>Israeli refusenik on "kidnapping"<BR/>Submitted by David Bloom on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 10:58.<BR/>From Israel's largest daily, Yediot Aharanot, July 5:<BR/><BR/>Look who's been kidnapped!<BR/><BR/>Hundreds of Palestinian 'suspects' have been kidnapped from their homes and will never stand trial<BR/>by Arik Diamant<BR/><BR/>It's the wee hours of the morning, still dark outside. A guerilla force comes out of nowhere to kidnap a soldier. After hours of careful movement, the force reaches its target, and the ambush is on! In seconds, the soldier finds himself looking down the barrel of a rifle.<BR/><BR/>A smash in the face with the butt of the gun and the soldier falls to the ground, bleeding. The kidnappers pick him up, quickly tie his hands and blindfold him, and disappear into the night.<BR/><BR/>This might be the end of the kidnapping, but the nightmare has just begun. The soldier's mother collapses, his father prays. His commanding officers promise to do everything they can to get him back, his comrades swear revenge. An entire nation is up-in-arms, writhing in pain and worry.<BR/><BR/>Nobody knows how the soldier is: Is he hurt? Do his captors give him even a minimum of human decency, or are they torturing him to death by trampling his honor? The worst sort of suffering is not knowing. Will he come home? And if so, when? And in what condition? Can anyone remain apathetic in the light of such drama?<BR/><BR/>Israeli terror<BR/><BR/>This description, you'll be surprised to know, has nothing to do with the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit. It is the story of an arrest I carried out as an IDF soldier, in the Nablus casbah, about 10 years ago. The "soldier" was a 17-year-old boy, and we kidnapped him because he knew "someone" who had done "something."<BR/><BR/>We brought him tied up, with a burlap sac over his head, to a Shin Bet interrogation center known as "Scream Hill" (at the time we thought it was funny). There, the prisoner was beaten, violently shaken and sleep deprived for weeks or months. Who knows.<BR/><BR/>No one wrote about it in the paper. European diplomats were not called to help him. After all, there was nothing out of the ordinary about the kidnapping of this Palestinian kid. Over the 40 years of occupation we have kidnapped thousands of people, exactly like Gilad Shalit was captured: Threatened by a gun, beaten mercilessly, with no judge or jury, or witnesses, and without providing the family with any information about the captive.<BR/><BR/>When the Palestinians do this, we call it "terror." When we do it, we work overtime to whitewash the atrocity.<BR/><BR/>Suspects?<BR/><BR/>Some people will say: The IDF doesn't "just" kidnap. These people are "suspects." There is no more perverse lie than this. In all the years I served, I reached one simple conclusion: What makes a "suspect"? Who, exactly suspects him, and of what?<BR/><BR/>Who has the right to sentence a 17-year-old to kidnapping, torture and possible death? A 26-year-old Shin Bet interrogator? A 46-year-old one? Do these people have any higher education, apart from the ability to interrogate? What are his considerations? If all these "suspects" are so guilty, why not bring them to trial?<BR/><BR/>Anyone who believes that despite the lack of transparency, the IDF and Shin Bet to their best to minimize violations of human rights is naïve, if not brainwashed. One need only read the testimonies of soldiers who have carried out administrative detentions to be convinced of the depth of the immorality of our actions in the territories.<BR/><BR/>To this very day, there are hundreds of prisoners rotting in Shin Bet prisons and dungeons, people who have never been –and never will be – tried. And Israelis are silently resolved to this phenomenon.<BR/><BR/>Israeli responsibility<BR/><BR/>The day Gilad Shalit was kidnapped I rode in a taxi. The driver told me we must go into Gaza, start shooting people one-by-one, until someone breaks and returns the hostage. It isn't clear that such an operation would bring Gilad back alive.<BR/><BR/>Instead of getting dragged into terrorist responses, as Palestinian society has done, we should release some of the soldiers and civilians we have kidnapped. This is appropriate, right, and could bring about an air of reconciliation in the territories.<BR/><BR/>Hell, if this is what will bring Gilad home safe-and-sound, we have a responsibility to him to do it."<BR/><BR/><BR/>http://ww4report.com/node/2164Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153728824372963592006-07-24T01:13:00.000-07:002006-07-24T01:13:00.000-07:00I reckon that what Israel is doing - with Bushco's...I reckon that what Israel is doing - with Bushco's blessing and arms supplies - is to try to provoke Iran into "attacking" Israel, so as to have an excuse to nuke Iran to smithereens so as to be able to grab Iran's oil fields and tighten the US' choke-hold around Russia (aiming at Russia's huge oil and gas reserves).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153702734983057172006-07-23T17:58:00.000-07:002006-07-23T17:58:00.000-07:00Tiredofitall presents the Israeli-Palestinian conf...Tiredofitall presents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in terms of terrorists hiding behind civilians. With this interpretation Israeli actions in Lebanon (and Gaza) obtain some legitimacy. <BR/><BR/>But something is missing in this explanation. Where does the repeated bombing of Gaza's main <A HREF="http://www.counterpunch.org/cohn07042006.html" REL="nofollow">power supply</A> fit into this? How can the depriving of 700,000 people of electricity for refrigeration, hospitals, sewerage pumping and water filtration be interpreted any other way than as a broad scope targetting of an entire civilian population? It can't. And, as in Lebanon, the Israeli bombings of infrastructure must be seen as serious abuses of the Geneva Convention. All of this for two captured soldiers?<BR/><BR/>There is also strong reason to believe that, whatever the stated cause, attacks on Lebanon were bound to happen at some stage because of <A HREF="http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2006/07/what-is-real-reason-for-war-on-lebanon.html" REL="nofollow">water supply</A> issues.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153693322239395862006-07-23T15:22:00.000-07:002006-07-23T15:22:00.000-07:00And an important point missed among all the Bush p...And an important point missed among all the Bush propaganda: there is NO EVIDENCE that Israel's disproportionate response has had any effect on Hezbollah, and, secondly, there is no evidence that any member of Hezbollah has been killed. <BR/><BR/>Like Bush's war of naked aggression in Iraq, it would seem that being civilian of any sort makes you fair game for rogue and ruthless nation states who now make cowardly war upon civilian populations.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153686329765188132006-07-23T13:25:00.000-07:002006-07-23T13:25:00.000-07:00Don't worry, if we were to judge each other for ou...Don't worry, if we were to judge each other for our english skills in the "comments" section, trust me, ExistentialistCowboy is pure Shakespeare compared to some blogs out there...Sebastien Parmentierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14510809227926364827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153685954272610032006-07-23T13:19:00.000-07:002006-07-23T13:19:00.000-07:00Thanks, Dante. Bush has already made it clear: he ...Thanks, Dante. Bush has already made it clear: he will not be obeying orders from SCOTUS and the media was long ago intimidated. <BR/><BR/>BTW —I had meant to write "protracted war"...not "protected war".Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153685314165621162006-07-23T13:08:00.000-07:002006-07-23T13:08:00.000-07:00they learned nothing about the rule of law; they l...<I> they learned nothing about the rule of law; they learned NOT to get caught. </I><BR/><BR/>Brilliantly said, Len. This is why the Bush admin bash the journalists so much in a way to say: "better not try to pull a 'All The President Men' on me and my boys!"Sebastien Parmentierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14510809227926364827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153684751590280192006-07-23T12:59:00.000-07:002006-07-23T12:59:00.000-07:00Sad, I am already pissed. This was MY country...an...Sad, <BR/><BR/>I am already pissed. This was MY country...and doubly so. On my mother's side, I am Native American. The lands of my ancestors were stolen and a campaign of genocide against "Native Americans" continues to this day. But that's another article. <BR/><BR/>The analogy to Nixon points up how moderate Nixon appears by comparison. The Bush admin is made up of old Nixon veterans: Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. They learned all the wrong lessons of Watergate. In other words, they learned nothing about the rule of law; they learned NOT to get caught. <BR/><BR/>Bush is worse than Hitler in that Bush has nukes. Even as we post here, Newt Gingrich and Bill O'Reilly —surrogates for Bush —are telling the world that WWIII has already begun. This is a no lose situation for the very worst President in American history. If WWIII is averted, Bush looks like a hero and will don his cod piece and flight suit again. If not, Bush will merely consolidate his power during a protected, perpetual war which he <I>deliberately</I> makes worse. <BR/><BR/>The timing of Israel's assault is all about keeping the Bush dictatorship in power. <BR/><BR/>The "people", meanwhile, are left with no choice but revolution.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153683884418210332006-07-23T12:44:00.000-07:002006-07-23T12:44:00.000-07:00"We will have created an absolute dictatorship in ...<I>"We <B>will have created</B> an absolute dictatorship in which one man is utterly above the law, rules by decree, and can, upon his whim, deny due process of law, probable cause, and the various protections and rights found in the Bill of Rights."</I><BR/><BR/>The litany of laws that Bush has already gotten away with belies your use of the future tense here, Len. There are still hundreds languishing in Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, and numerous undisclosed locations who have never been afforded the 'various protections and rights' found in the Magna Carta, let alone the Bill of Rights. There are probably dozens in unmarked graves who died under torture after being subject to extraordinary rendition. Even after a SCOTUS decision unambiguously demanding that the remaining prisoners be treated in accordance with the Geneva conventions, have any been released? Even the ones who the military has acknowledged were taken into captivity mistakenly? Even thinking about it literally brings tears to my eyes as I type. Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Gonzales, and the rest of them are monsters. Same with Pat Roberts and Arlen Specter. Traitors, all of them.<BR/><BR/>The problem with the comparison to Nixon is that it only serves to remind us of the FAILURE of the US political system to respond adequately to malfeasance in high office. Ford's unprecedented pardon of Nixon for crimes with which he had not yet been charged was accepted by the American public, as was Nixon's being allowed to appoint Ford as his successor in the first place. The collective decision to let the matter be swept under the rug of history was made casually and almost without debate. This disastrous decision emboldened successive leaders, leading to the Iran/Contra scandal (many of whose operatives are still involved with the current administration) and the BushCo™ regime, which has been scandalous in its every move since inception. In fact including its inception by the scandalous 2000 Supreme Court ruling on Bush v. Gore.<BR/><BR/>Don't get me started. I'm likely to get pissed off.SadButTruehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09977090207448656065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153681278401652162006-07-23T12:01:00.000-07:002006-07-23T12:01:00.000-07:00You are correct, Dante. Israel is a hot button iss...You are correct, Dante. Israel is a hot button issue. That emotions run high means that no one thinks clearly about it. It means that I get called "anti-semitic". It means that Bush can divide his opposition and get the disaster in Iraq OFF the front pages. <BR/><BR/>It also means that Bush can wage a war in Lebanon on the cheap —by proxy. That's why he gave Ehud the green light when he did. While there is still the possibility that Iran and Syria will ally and join the fray, Bush will only exploit that as well. And, if Russia and China ally to protect their common interests in both Iran and Syria —so much the better for Bush. His stock and trade is FEAR. He's never shown himself to be concerned with the consequences.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153678032038245602006-07-23T11:07:00.000-07:002006-07-23T11:07:00.000-07:00And please excuse me if i tend to eat words when i...And please excuse me if i tend to eat words when i type...Sebastien Parmentierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14510809227926364827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-1153677965338686472006-07-23T11:06:00.000-07:002006-07-23T11:06:00.000-07:00Indeed, SadButTrue, even conservatives have said t...Indeed, SadButTrue, even conservatives have said that Bush gave Ehud a "greenlight". The timing and the disproportionate response smack of conspiracy between Israel and the US —a recipe for disaster. Whatever peace had been eked out in the past had been done so only because the US played the role of "honest broker". Thanks to Bush, we may never be seen in that role again.<BR/><BR/>If there is a conspiratorial overtone to this unfolding disaster, it means also that Bush hopes to divide the progressive movement. That I am called "anti-semite" is just a minor case in point. Once again, Bush exploits fear, hate, and prejdudice in order to maintain his dictatorship. <BR/><BR/>I wrote not too long ago that Bush was literally "spoiling" for a Constitutional showdown. Bush, unlike Nixon, who when ordered by SCOTUS to turn over the infamous tapes, did the honorable thing and resigned, Bush will defy the high court and Congress. Bush will flout whatever order he may get. At that moment, American democracy is off life support. We will have created an absolute dictatorship in which one man is utterly above the law, rules by decree, and can, upon his whim, deny due process of law, probable cause, and the various protections and rights found in the Bill of Rights. <BR/><BR/>It's almost over, folks! <BR/><BR/>Finito!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.com