"They hate us because we are free. And they are not."
Remember that li'l piece o'wisdom from George W? The "terrorists" hate us because they are not free. And, given what Israel is doing in Gaza, he's right, the Palestinians are not free. What's more, they have no recourse. The UN has sixty-five resolutions against Israel, many of them regarding it's treatment of Palestinians. That doesn't include the numerous ones against Israel vetoed by the US in the UNSC. So, if you are a Palestinian, your land is being stolen, your livelihood, your olive groves being destroyed and you can do nothing about it, or your family and friends are suffering, and you can do nothing about, what recourse do you have?
As Americans, we are taught, as Christians, as progressives, as citizens of the Earth to try and help those people who are suffering. Many people who have not sold their soul to a belief system or have been brainwashed by a media more intent on drumming up support for a rating feeding war than offering an objective view, see the people of Gaza suffering, and wish to help those people. Guess what? You are not free to do that either. And, if as an American, you are shot four times in the head trying to bring some good old fashioned justice to an unjust situation, it's your fault if our "greatest ally" murders you in cold blood. You wouldn't say that it's a soldiers fault, when, in the service of the corpocracy, he is killed by the enemy. Many people now serving in overseas wars are mistakenly believing that the people they are fighting in Iraq, or Afghanistan are the ones responsible for the attacks of 9/11. And if Harry Reid told voters that it's a soldier's fault he died because he joined the Army, the corporate media and right wing would be all over him like the IDF on an unarmed relief flotilla.
And why are the people of Gaza suffering? Because in the 2006 Palestinian parliament elections, Hamas won a majority of seats. Democracy in action, right? Well, it seems the US and Israel backed Fatah (which is probably why Fatah lost; US citizens are the only ones who don't mind their politicians being owned by foreign governments), so in retaliation for the Palestinians exercising the "freedom" to vote as they saw fit, the Gaza Blockade began.
Many people have made comparisons to the Gaza population and the treatment of the Jewish people under the Nazi regime. There is a slight difference. What happened in the ghettos of Warsaw and other European countries under the Hitler regime was not funded by the US government. It was not condoned by our politicians.
In the end, when you treat fellow human beings as animals, with less rights than you have, you cannot expect them to respond in a civilized fashion. And as long as the US sends unmanned drones into Pakistan, or uses white phosphorus on the citizens of Fallujah, or spends nine years dropping bombs on the civilians in Afghanistan, "they" will always "hate" us. As long as we prevent the UN from issuing any punitive measures against Israel while simultaneously pushing for more punitive sanctions against countries like Iran, which hasn't been proven to be doing anything against it's obligations under the NPT, all at the insistence of Israel, "they" will always "hate" us. Eliminating American and Israeli exceptionalism may not end all terrorism, but it is a step in the right direction.
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In 2005 when Iraq had its first "election," American pundits were swooning and heaving and having orgasms over those pictures of people's purple thumbs, indicating that they had voted.
For some odd reason, in the 2006 Palestinian election that was won by Hamas, there was a notable lack of swooning and heaving among the same pundits.
Yes, our pundits feel that democracy only works when the people choose the American puppets (Maliki in Iraq; Fatah in Palestine)
Many people have made comparisons to the Gaza population and the treatment of the Jewish people under the Nazi regime. There is a slight difference. What happened in the ghettos of Warsaw and other European countries under the Hitler regime was not funded by the US government. It was not condoned by our politicians.
You may wish to rethink this meme. A very superficial and mechanistic reading of history may result in your above conclusion. Quite frankly, I expect more from this blog at this late date than the mere surface dweller analysis the above paragraph presents.
Yes, the US government's official policy was to not condone or support the Third Reich prior to the onset of hostilities. However, the is a great deal of evidence indicating corporatist/industrialist support of national socialism. Not just financially motivated, as another popular false meme would have you believe.
Here's a bit of "hidden" parapolitical history for starters:
Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen.
The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.
Then we have the revolving door btwn Wall Street-CIA-Academia-State Dept in the form (at that particular time) of Allen and John Foster Dulles. They turned a blind eye (as did many Zionist leaders) while the Third Reich continued its policy of eugenic murder and extermination (with the aid of IBM - see Edwin Black's book: IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance bwtn Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation) against the "miserable darkened Hebrews" and related undesirables.
http://ce399.typepad.com/weblog/2007/07/fascist-coup-at.html
In many profound ways the United States begate the Reich and the Reich begate Israel.
Here's an expanded list:
Some of the Corporatist-Fascist backers of the American Liberty League. Compiled from the Press for Conversion! website and the BBC Radio4 Document program on The White House Coup:
The American Legion
The Dupont Family
William R. Hearst
Howard Heinz
E.F. Hutton
William S. Knudsen
Douglas MacArthur
Andrew W. Mellon
George M. Moffett
J.P. Morgan
J. Howard Pew
Rockefeller Associates
Colgate
US Steel
Alfred P. Sloan, Jr (General Motors)
Birdseye
http://ce399.typepad.com/weblog/2007/07/the-liberty-lea.html
Dr Injure,
I am well aware of the attempt in the thirties to overthrow the US government by fascists in corporate America, as well as the support of the Hitler regime by some very prominent names, including Prescott Bush and George Herbert Walker. I merely for the sake of brevity, as well as recognizing the obscurity, chose not to go down that path.
My apologies if I came off rather harshly Lew. I'm just tired of the establishment "left" drivel; plus, I'm weaning myself off nicotine and processed sugar at the moment. Hasn't been easy.
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