Barack Obama is sending a surge of 20,000 troops to Afghanistan.
An antiwar movement that does not move immediately to oppose the Obama doctrine of shifting the central front of the war on terror to Afghanistan, no longer deserves to be called an anti-war movement.read more...
Few things have irritated me as much as Condoleeza Rice’s latest testament to the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war. According to Rice, Bush’s Middle East policies will stand the test of time. She also asserts that she doesn’t care about being popular because she’s there to make the hard decisions. It’s good that she doesn’t care about being popular, because I can think of few people more arrogant, ignorant and generally - uncompassionate - than she is. In fact, only two immediately come to mind, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. And, believe me; the worms are turning on their way out the door.
Lies and deception are nothing new for members of the Bush administration. In fact, lying has been the norm for the past eight years. If bald-faced lying is what it took for our imperial president to get his way, then fine. For God and country and all that drivel. If the lie isn’t convincing enough, then Bush and his minions will pretty much rewrite history for you in order to make the lie stick. Part two of this equation is the arrogant part. A perfect example of this pattern is taking place on vice president Dick Cheney’s farewell tour, where he’s having no problem admitting to being a key architect of the Bush torture policy. Cheney’s command performance is indicative of the rewriting of history. According to Mr. Cheney, waterboarding isn’t torture. We know that’s a lie, of course, because waterboarding was declared torture (and a war crime) during World War II. Oddly enough, the United States tried, convicted and punished Japanese officers, like Yukio Asano, for waterboarding. He was convicted for waterboarding a US civilian and was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor for his crime.
Yesterday, we met with the President of Lebanon, the Chief of the Military, and the Interior Minister who all thanked us for responding and risking our lives on a mission of mercy; we profusely thanked them for rescuing us.
What would we have done, stranded out at sea, prohibited from reaching our destination, low on fuel, with a badly damaged boat if Lebanon had not accepted us? Lebanon sent their ships to find us. Lebanon rescued us. Lebanon welcomed us. And we are truly thankful.
It's official now. We've been told that the sturdy, wood construction of our boat, Dignity, is the reason we are still alive. Fiberglass would probably not have withstood the impact of the Israeli attack and under different circumstances, we might not be here to tell the story. Even at that, the report that came to us yesterday after the Captain and First Mate went back to Sour (Tyre) to inspect the boat was that it was sinking, the damage is extensive, and the boat will take, in their estimation, at least one month to repair. Tomorrow, we will bring the Dignity from Sour to Beirut. And now, we must decide what to do and from where we will do it and how we are to get back to wherever that might be.
I'm so glad that my father told me to buy a special notebook and to write everything down because that's exactly what I did.
When we left from Cyprus, one reporter asked me "are you afraid?" And I had to respond that Malcolm X wasn't afraid; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't afraid. But little did I know that just a few hours later, I would be recollecting my life and mentally preparing myself for death.
When we left Cyprus, the Mediterranean was beautiful. I remember the time when it might have been beautiful to look at, but it was also filthy. The Europeans have taken great strides to clean it up and yesterday, it was beautiful. And the way the sunlight hit the sea, I remember thinking to myself that's why they call it azure. It was the most beautiful blue.
Paul Krugman's newest essay at the New York Times, "Bigger Than Bush," skewers the GOP for its racist backlash strategy, aka the "Southern Strategy." He, as usual, makes a great deal of sense, but he also has not gone far enough and is bound by the limitations of vision within this two-party system.
Here are the first few lines of his Op-Ed, followed by my commentary:
"As the new Democratic majority prepares to take power, Republicans have become, as Phil Gramm might put it, a party of whiners.
"Some of the whining almost defies belief. Did Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general, really say, 'I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror'? Did Rush Limbaugh really suggest that the financial crisis was the result of a conspiracy, masterminded by that evil genius Chuck Schumer?
Some pundits and progressives are saying that, while George Bush had strong links to Christian fascists, Obama will soon be president so the culture wars and the religious right will now be on the decline.WRONG!!!The goal of many of the vast multitude of Christian fascists is to “win the world for Jesus”: they are not about to abandon their global mission just because of a change in U.S. leadership.
Here’s one example, and one indication of how a hateful outlook with Christian fascist underpinnings is penetrating many arenas of society. Unfortunately, many people put some money in the Salvation Army’s Christmas kettles in December. You may have done the same. The sign above the kettles reads “Doing the Most Good.”You may have thought that surely these “kindly people” cannot be part of the radical right’s attacks on the LGBT community as well as on Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and other “heathens.”WRONG again!!
When a small delegation from World Can’t Wait, Friends of Sabeel and Veterans for Peace pulled up to the checkpoint at the entrance to Obama’s vacation retreat to protest Israel’s massacre in Gaza, the press corps sequestered in a nearby bus sprang into action and began interviewing. Journalists initially ran out the official line that Obama wasn’t speaking about Israel’s assault on Gaza because he isn’t yet president, and it would be inappropriate for him to give an opinion. However, when protesters pointed out that Obama quickly condemned the bombing in Mumbai, and has spoken out almost daily on the domestic situation in the U.S., the conversation changed. Within an hour, a Reuters story on the protest was picked up by media around the globe. The story was then picked up by MSNBC, CNN and others. Much of the media picked up on Obama’s silence on this issue while speaking out on others, and cited Obama’s earlier support for Israel at AIPAC. The media coverage was in stark contrast to what happened later the same afternoon at a rally called by Friends of Sabeel and World Can’t Wait.
On Tuesday Israel added to its crimes by attacking a medical relief boat trying to reach Gaza. An Israeli navy ship attacked and rammed a boat attempting to deliver three tons of medical supplies to Gaza. The boat, called the Dignity, was also carrying political activists. The boat was reportedly forced to go to Tyre, Lebanon instead of Gaza due to the attack.
One of those aboard the Dignity was former American Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who stated, "Our mission of solidarity and humanitarian relief was deterred by the Israelis purposefully to keep us from delivering the medical supplies to Gaza…I wouldn't call it accosting. I would call it ramming. Let's call it as it is. Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and once on the side…We are on a humanitarian mission... All we want to do is deliver medical supplies... This is the first time that I am aware of that a vessel was attacked for no reason by Israelis."
An extraordinary artistic event is underway as the year draws to an end. In each of the 50 states, plus Washington D.C., each starting at a different hour, a dancer will begin a performance aimed at "underscoring a solidarity with the thousands of people who have been affected by these horrible wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and solidarity with the community of people who still resist and reject the U.S.' interventionist tactics abroad." Titled "Freedom of Information 2008," the series of dance was initiated by Miguel Gutierrez of Brooklyn, who will represent New York at the Barn in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Seven years ago, at the beginning of the Bush years, Gutierrez undertook a similar performance - except he did it himself, in his apartment, moving continuously for 24 hours, wearing blindfolds and earplugs, to make a statement against "this Bush thing of just creating a state of terror."
The performances will take place in venues as diverse as a bookstore in Birmingham, Alabama, an apartment in Chicago, and a center for the Arts and Culture in Bozeman, Montana. The performers come from a wide range of political viewpoints and perspectives, and bring different experiences in and approaches to dance into their contributions. In a recent New York Times article, Mr. Gutierrez spoke to what he and the other dancers are trying to achieve: "What I can be direct about is a sense of solidarity with the other artists who are doing this, and, at least, a shared commitment to saying, 'we will take these 24 hours together to go through some intense state of contemplation. I'm inviting people to consider displacement and war. I am sure a ton of other things will enter people’s thought processes: about their lives, about death, about life, about all kinds of things. And that's exciting to me".
In addition to doctors, journalists, and other humanitarians from around the world, among those aboard this ship was Cynthia McKinney, former US Representative from Georgia, 2008 Green Party presidential candidate, and member of the World Can't Wait Advisory Board. The aid ship, sent by the Free Gaza Movement and attacked this morning in international waters by Israeli warships, was carrying to Gaza desperately needed medical supplies donated by residents of Cyprus.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12-30-2008
For more information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 /
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(Cyprus) Lubna Masarwa +357 99 081 767 /
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(Lebanon) Caoimhe Butterley +961 70 875 727 /
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http://www.FreeGaza.org
(Lebanon, Tuesday 30 December) - Today the Free Gaza ship "Dignity" carefully made its way to safe harbor in Tyre, Lebanon's southern-most port city, after receiving serious structural damage when Israeli warships rammed its bow and the port side. Waiting to greet the passengers and crew were thousands of Lebanese who came out to show their solidarity with this attempt to deliver volunteer doctors and desperately needed medical supplies to war-ravaged Gaza. The Lebanese government has pledged to provide a forensic analysis of what happened in the dark morning, when Israel rammed the civilian ship in international waters, and put the people on board in danger of losing their lives.
The Dignity, on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza, was attacked by the Israeli Navy at approximately 6am (UST) in international waters, roughly 90 miles off the coast of Gaza. Several Israeli warships surrounded the small, human rights boat, firing live ammunition around it, then intentionally ramming it three times. According to ship's captain Denis Healy, the Israeli attack came, ""without any warning, or any provocation."
Can anyone who is following the Israeli air attacks on Gaza—the buildings blown to rubble, the children killed on their way to school, the long rows of mutilated corpses, the wailing mothers and wives, the crowds of terrified Palestinians not knowing where to flee, the hospitals so overburdened and out of supplies they cannot treat the wounded, and our studied, callous indifference to this widespread human suffering—wonder why we are hated?
Our self-righteous celebration of ourselves and our supposed virtue is as false as that of Israel. We have become monsters, militarized bullies, heartless and savage. We are a party to human slaughter, a flagrant war crime, and do nothing. We forget that the innocents who suffer and die in Gaza are a reflection of ourselves, of how we might have been should fate and time and geography have made the circumstances of our birth different. We forget that we are all absurd and vulnerable creatures. We all have the capacity to fear and hate and love. “Expose thyself to what wretches feel,” King Lear said, entering the mud and straw hovel of Poor Tom, “and show the heavens more just.”
Privilege and power, especially military power, is a dangerous narcotic. Violence destroys those who bear the brunt of its force, but also those who try to use it to become gods. Over 350 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians, and over 1,000 have been wounded since the air attacks began on Saturday. Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, said Israel is engaged in a “war to the bitter end” against Hamas in Gaza. A war? Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely crowded refugee camps and slums, to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command and control, no army, and calls it a war. It is not a war. It is murder.
stand the test of time. She also asserts that she doesn’t care about being popular because she’s there to make the hard decisions. It’s good that she doesn’t care about being popular, because I can think of few people more arrogant, ignorant and generally - uncompassionate - than she is. In fact, only two immediately come to mind, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. And, believe me; the worms are turning on their way out the door.
