Category: The war that will not end in our lifetimes

Carter breaks taboo on criticising Israel

admin /5 January, 2007

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/16363618.htm

By George Bisharat

Americans owe a debt to former President Jimmy Carter for speaking long hidden but vital truths. His book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid breaks the taboo barring criticism in the United States of Israel’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinians. Our government’s tacit acceptance of Israel’s unfair policies causes global hostility against us.

Israel’s friends have attacked Carter, a Nobel laureate who has worked tirelessly for Middle East peace, even raising the specter of anti-Semitism. Genuine anti-Semitism is abhorrent. But exploiting the term to quash legitimate criticism of another system of racial oppression, and to tarnish a principled man, is indefensible. Criticizing Israeli government policies – a staple in Israeli newspapers – is no more anti-Semitic than criticizing the Bush administration is anti-American.

The word apartheid  typically evokes images of former South Africa, but it also refers to any institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another. Carter applies the term only to Israel’s rule of the occupied Palestinian territories, where it has established more than 200 Jewish-only settlements and a network of roads and other services to support them. These settlements violate international law and the rights of Palestinian property owners. Carter maintains that "greed for land," not racism, fuels Israel’s settlement drive. He is only partially right.

Mission Accomplished: Iraq destroyed. Now for Iran

admin /5 January, 2007

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=10253

by Justin Raimondo
Arnaud de Borchgrave – a conservative Washington Times columnist, but no neocon – recently had this to say about our president’s future course in Iraq:

"Some political soothsayers in Washington predict Mr. Bush is limbering up for the biggest U-turn in his political life. Think again. The French have an expression for what will probably come next – ‘La fuite en avant.’ The literal translation doesn’t hack it. Loosely interpreted, it means evading an issue with a headlong rush somewhere else."

Rather than listening to the Baker-Hamilton commission, the petulant frat boy who imagines himself Winston Churchill at the height of World War II is far more likely to pay attention to the recommendations of another report, this one prepared by the Two Chucks – Gen. Chuck Wald, former EUCOM commander, and Chuck Vollmer, president of VII, Inc., a Pentagon contractor – that paves the way for la fuite en avant times 10. "Rather than planning withdrawal from Iraq," says the Wald-Vollmer paper,

"With the entry of Iran into the equation,the next phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom could possibly include … a major invasion of Iran and pro-Iranian forces against Western forces in the region and Israel, and/or a global energy crisis. We may be better served to plan for repositioning in this strategically important region. While withdrawal may be necessary in Iraq, withdrawal from the region would precipitate a global balance-of-power shift toward the Iran-Russia-China axis, which would be very detrimental for the energy dependent West."

Why Condemning Israel and the Zionist Lobby is so Important

admin /27 December, 2006

By James Petras “It’s no great secret why the Jewish agencies continue to trumpet support for the discredited policies of this failed administration.  They see defense of Israel as their number-one goal, trumping all other items on the agenda.  That single-mindedness binds them ever closer to a White House that has made combating Islamic terrorism Continue Reading →

BHP and Shell shaft Tigris in Iraq’s Halfayah oil deal

admin /15 December, 2006

BHP and its other partner at Halfayah, Shell, have unilaterally informed Tigris that it was no longer a partner in the rich Halfayah oil field, forcing Tigris to either take legal action to secure its rights or let Halfayah slip away, says The Australian Financial Review (8/12/06, p.21).

Theft allegation against Kelly: If Tigris does dispute the move, BHP is expected to use against it the Cole commission’s allegations that Tigris founder and former BHP executive Norman Davidson Kelly had effectively stolen over $US7 million from the Iraqi government by misrepresenting a 1996 BHP wheat donation to Iraq as a debt that needed to be repaid.

Tigris told: "BHP and Shell have informed Tigris that, in light of the Cole commission findings, we are treating them as no longer part of the Missan project," BHP spokeswoman Samantha Evans said.

For indepth discussion on this topic, read Abdus Sattar Ghazali’s article The Oil Connection in the Iraqi Study Group: Blood for oil, loud and clear at http://www.aljazeerah.info

AWB knew of Iraq invasion; contradicts Howard

admin /23 November, 2006

ONE year before the invasion of Iraq, Australia’s then ambassador to the United Nations, John Dauth, confidentially told AWB’s former chairman, Trevor Flugge, that the Howard Government would participate in military action with the US to overthrow Saddam Hussein, new AWB documents reveal.

Details of the extraordinary conversation undercut previous statements by the Prime Minister that Australia had not agreed to join the war in Iraq before the UN debate in late 2002 and early 2003.

The conversation between Mr Dauth and Mr Flugge took place in early 2002 – 13 months before the war – and the details are contained in confidential AWB board minutes that were released without fanfare yesterday by the Cole inquiry.

Falling In Line On Israel

admin /20 November, 2006

By Stephen Zunes November 15, 2006 http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/11/15/falling_in_line_on_israel.php The election of a Democratic majority in the House and Senate is unlikely to result in any serious challenge to the Bush administration’s support for Israeli attacks against the civilian populations of its Arab neighbors and the Israeli government’s ongoing violations of international humanitarian law. The principal Democratic Continue Reading →