4/20/2002 - Devil's Triangle
All my politically aware life I have unequivocally and aggressively supported the State of Israel. The nature of the world of the Children of Zion goes far beyond Judaism, far beyond ethnicity, far beyond politics. It is a ancient and rich tradition, culture, lifestyle, brother-and-sisterhood whose principles reflect the best of humanity. To this day, I hold just as dearly to the belief that the right to and need for a State of Israel is indisputable, and that Israel has not only the right, but the absolute responsibility to defend and preserve it's existence and well-being.Let it also be said that I I am grateful to be an American. I'm not "proud to be an American" as so many bumper stickers exclaim, because that's a right of birth or circumstances for most of us, and not a personal "achievement" to be proud of. I believe that the principles on which our nation is based are the finest and most well-conceived and balanced of any nation, and I believe in actively defending those principles from any attack, anywhere, anytime, at any cost.
I say those things now because the growing witch-hunt mentality across the world is increasingly equating opposition to an individual with opposition to a people, cause, or nation. That is illogical and incorrect, and I make no apologies to anyone who tries to shower me with that dogmatic nonsense.
On April 18th, in the wake of the Israeli mission to Jenin, George W. Bush called Ariel Sharon "A man of peace".
That is possibly the most despicable thing I've ever heard come from his mouth, and that's quite a claim, given the daunting list of idiotic and often reprehensible comments that have come out of Bush's mouth since Corporate America created him three years ago.
Ariel Sharon is a war-monger hell-bent on the destruction of anyone and anything that stands in the way of his personal hatred and vendetta against Yassar Arafat (an equally loathsome man) all in the name of "Security" for the State of Israel. Ariel Sharon is a terrorist in his own right, and George W. Bush, to use his own words, is "harboring and supporting terrorists" by providing Sharon with an obviously negotiated and pre-arranged political bailout in the wake of a Israeli atrocities in the Jenin Refugee Camp. For Bush to utter such a comment just two weeks after sending Powell to Israel to "order" Sharon to stop the invasion of Palestinian towns (as if Bush had earned any right whatsoever to intervene in the Middle East in the first place) is disingenuous and ridiculous. It shows in vivid relief Bush's obvious lack of concern over who is and isn't a terrorist, over who is or isn't killing innocent people, and over human rights and decency. As long as his precious business lobbies are stroked, and his equally precious (and inexplicable) public opinion polls are nurtured, the morality of world leadership be damned.
Israel, Palestine, and the United States are all in the throes of a deepening crisis of leadership. The world has already suffered for it, and the potential consequences of this triangle of self-serving immoral men has me terrified for the future. All three, their insincere words aside, have been steering a steady course of increasing hatred and volatility that is spreading rapidly all over the world.
Perhaps if you've read this far, you'll take a look at these brief articles, and ideally, give a listen to an amazing radio broadcast as well. The radio show includes a reporter from the independent (these are his articles) in the Jenin camp on satellite phone. It's devastating, and it needs to be heard.
From the ruins of Jenin, the truth about an atrocity
Israelis try to pin blame for Jenin on suicide bombers
Pacifica Radio Network's "Democracy Today" from 4/19/2002
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