los anjalis to anjuquerque

…oh wait, we can. Is it just me, or is even the mainstream media in the US documenting the Gaza massacre and its aftermath in a more journalistic manner? Like, photos of people being shelled, photos of the destruction, the actual effects of a war?

Anyway, check out these extensive photos taken during a whole week of the massacre. They were on the front page of MSNBC all day yesterday. Imagine if we saw photos like this from all the various wars going on in the world (including America’s unjust occupation and bombing of Iraq with some estimated 1 million Iraqi civilians killed). We’d kick the asses of people who were pro-war and diplomacy would be the RULE.

I just read Muammar Qaddafi’s op-ed in the New York Times last week about a One-State solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict. You know, Qaddafi, the leader of Libya. Here’s an excerpt:

A two-state solution will create an unacceptable security threat to Israel. An armed Arab state, presumably in the West Bank, would give Israel less than 10 miles of strategic depth at its narrowest point. Further, a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would do little to resolve the problem of refugees. Any situation that keeps the majority of Palestinians in refugee camps and does not offer a solution within the historical borders of Israel/Palestine is not a solution at all.

I personally love the one-state solution, but still maintain that it can only be a theoretical solution now. It likely would have been a whole lot more do-able way back in 1948 than it is now. It’s good to see it in the news though, and it might be prudent to include it in possible long-term plans for the area. Check out the whole piece, it’s interesting (especially the beautiful picture of a tree growing out of the division of a larger tree).

Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations

Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.

This unit’s supposed to be deployed in October 2008, but i SWEAR, i SWEAR i saw these guys last month — masked as riot police at the Republican National Convention, using “so-called nonlethal weapons to subdue unruly crowds”.  It didn’t go too well, as I last understood.

So this is what i’m wondering… Why now?  Where is this greater threat, or this perception of greater threat, coming from?  What’s the need for this internal deployment?  Who called these guys in?

Jon Stewart: 19 people flew into the towers. It seems hard for me to imagine that we could go to war enough to make the world safe enough that 19 people wouldn’t want to do harm to us so it seems like we have to rethink a strategy that is less military-based, in general.

Jon Stewart interviewed former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair this week. This above is part of the interview (the full interview is available on the daily show’s website). As I watched the full interview, I found myself increasingly angry at this likeable Tony Blair. I know, i just KNOW that he’s smarter than how he came off, that he knows as well as any others that the move to war in Iraq was a big sham, that the evidence behind all of it was completely created out of nothing. And yet he STILL says in this interview that Al Qaeda was in Iraq and that’s why we invaded. STILL says it. But you can see him becoming more and more miffed and flustered at Jon Stewarts questions. He finds himself going in circles at one point and catching himself in a lie, which makes him more flustered. But the most interesting piece was what blogger Dahle called the Jon Stewart Doctrine (at min 7:25 in this video):

Stewart: 19 people flew into the towers. It seems hard for me to imagine that we could go to war enough to make the world safe enough that 19 people wouldn’t want to do harm to us so it seems like we have to rethink a strategy that is less military-based, in general.

(cross-posted at Cure This)

On Memorial Day, Helen Benedict writes about the challenges facing our women warriors as they return home from duty. She follows up with a strong call to action. From “For Women Warriors, Deep Wounds, Little Care”:

Women make up some 15 percent of the United States active duty forces, and 11 percent of the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly a third of female veterans say they were sexually assaulted or raped while in the military, and 71 percent to 90 percent say they were sexually harassed by the men with whom they served.

This sort of abuse drastically increases the risk and intensity of post-traumatic stress disorder. One study found that female soldiers who were sexually assaulted were nine times more likely to show symptoms of this disorder than those who weren’t. Sexual harassment by itself is so destructive, another study revealed, it causes the same rates of post-traumatic stress in women as combat does in men. And rape can lead to other medical crises, including diabetes, asthma, chronic pelvic pain, eating disorders, miscarriages and hypertension…

As women return for repeat tours, usually redeploying with their same units, many must go back to war with the same man (or men) who abused them. This leaves these women as threatened by their own comrades as by the war itself. Yet the combination of sexual assault and combat has barely been acknowledged or studied…

As the more than 191,500 women who have served in the Middle East since 2001 return home, they will increasingly flood the Veterans Affairs system. To ask those who need help for post-traumatic stress disorder to turn to a typical Veterans Affairs hospital, built in the 1950s and designed to treat men, is untenable. Women who have been raped or sexually assaulted often cannot face therapy groups or medical facilities full of men.

Wow. This is so true. There aren’t many women patients at VA hospitals and clinics. The facilities are often limited and specifically and traditionally for men, and they’re hardly equipped to treat women dealing with PTSD or sexual abuse. The urgency of this cannot be understated.

At the moment, the Department of Veterans Affairs operates only six inpatient post-traumatic stress disorder programs specifically for women. And although all 153 department-run hospitals will treat women, only 22 have stand-alone women’s clinics that offer a full range of medical and psychological services…

Women are the fastest-growing group of veterans, and by 2020 they are projected to account for 20 percent of all veterans under the age of 45. Not all of these women will have suffered sexual assault, but many will have medical or psychological needs that conventional department hospitals cannot meet.

The Department of Veterans Affairs must open more comprehensive women’s health clinics, designate more facilities for women who have endured both combat and military sexual trauma and finance more support groups specifically for female combat veterans. The best way to honor all of our soldiers is to do what we can to help them mend.

An important call to action.

And an open question — what resources are available and what organizations are working on this issue?

I think I’ve watched this video now 6 times in a row. And cried each time because it’s so damn funny. And as my brother shares, it gives us hope. Hope — that Obama can wipe the floors with McCain if it’s the two of them running against each other for President. It also contrasts the positive WE message of Obama against the cynical dottering i’mtakingyoutohellwithme McCain message (while giving us a taste of how out of touch McCain is with reality). Thank you, smattering of Los Angeles area comics, writers, and musicians, for putting this together.

The best line is the one at the end, “McCain 08: Like Hope, But Different.”

Watch it!

I present to you, the awe-inspiring and shock-and-awe-ing quotes from McCain speeches, featured in the video:

The work that we face in our time is great
in a time of war
and the terrible sacrifices it entails
the promise of a better future is not always clear
there’s gonna be other wars
I’m sorry to tell you there’s gonna be other wars
there’s gonna be a lot of combat wounds
and my friends it’s gonna be tough
and we’re gonna have a lot to do
That old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran?
Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb…
I’m still convinced that withdrawal means chaos
and if you think that things are bad now
if we withdraw–you ain’t seen nothing yet
was the war a good idea, worth the price in blood and treasure?
It was a good idea
President Bush talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years
Maybe a hundred, that’s fine with me
I don’t think Americans are concerned if we’re there for a hundred years, or a thousand years, or ten thousand years.

Compare these, my friends, with the video and lyrics from the song “Yes We Can”.

Have I mentioned how much I love creative folks making and freely distributing video?

Would it make sense to cut off all medical supplies and all roads to all Americans if American president Bush was bombing other countries?

No.

They why does it make sense to so many Americans that Israel can choke off Palestine completely (of all medical aid, supplies, roads, and other important needs) because Hamas is hurling rockets into Israel? Why do the civilians, men, women, and kids, have to suffer because of something that they’re not doing themselves?

Just think about it. What amazes me (or maybe i shouldn’t be so amazed) is that presidential candidate Obama wrote this letter below:

Dear Ambassador Khalilzad,
I understand that today the UN Security Council met regarding the situation in Gaza, and that a resolution or statement could be forthcoming from the Council in short order.

I urge you to ensure that the Security Council issue no statement and pass no resolution on this matter that does not fully condemn the rocket assault Hamas has been conducting on civilians in southern Israel…

All of us are concerned about the impact of closed border crossings on Palestinian families.

However, we have to understand why Israel is forced to do this… Israel has the right to respond while seeking to minimize any impact on civilians.

The Security Council should clearly and unequivocally condemn the rocket attacks… If it cannot bring itself to make these common sense points, I urge you to ensure that it does not speak at all.

Sincerely,
Barack Obama
United States Senator

The part that really gets me is this:

All of us are concerned about the impact of closed border crossings on Palestinian families.

However, we have to understand why Israel is forced to do this… Israel has the right to respond while seeking to minimize any impact on civilians.

The gall! Obama, you’re supposed to be one of the “progressive ones”. The right to respond is OK. But, the right to respond by holding hostage the whole citizenry of Palestine is WRONG. Israel is not *forced* to attack palestinian civilians by cutting off medical aid to them, cutting off electricity to their hospitals, and cutting off all border crossings. Now I’m as scared of Obama’s foreign policy as I am of Hillary’s. What about his foreign policy speaks to “hope” and “change”?

So Obama doesn’t support the United Nations Security Council coming out with a statement condeming Israel’s action’s on innocent Palestinians unless it includes a statement about Hamas’ rocket bombing?

This news piece is from mid-January, but speaks to the stark imbalance between casualties on both sides, and isn’t unique (so many news stories over the past years have shown similar casualty differences):

Israeli forces have killed at least 27 Palestinians since Tuesday in air strikes and gun battles with militants in the bloodiest fighting since Hamas took control of Gaza in June.

On Thursday, an Israeli air strike destroyed a car in northern Gaza, killing a Hamas-allied militant leader and his wife, according to Palestinian medical officials. Two other Palestinians were reported injured in the attack.

Wednesday’s deaths included three members of a Gaza family in what the Israeli military acknowledged was a missile attack on the wrong car.

Meanwhile early Thursday, Hamas claimed it fired 24 rockets at Israel after launching 79 rockets and mortars the day before. No injuries were reported.

The almost daily rocket attacks rarely strike their intended targets or cause casualties, but have kept residents in southern Israeli border towns such as Sderot under a constant state of fear.

Israel: Killed 27 Palestinians in 3 days in January. At least 3, if not more, of those deaths were confirmed as “oops” we killed a palestinian family who wasn’t involved in the fighting. Sorry, tiny mistake. Moving on…

Hamas: Fired rockets. No deaths. Not even any INJURIES.

27 to 0.

(of note – using rockets and bombs are wrong, no matter what the situation. but it’s important to make sure that a country’s retaliation towards rocket-throwers isn’t aimed at innocent civilians. and the numbers are important (i’m NOT denying that innocent israelis have been killed by palestinians, i just gave an example of a few day period. take any few day period and there may be casualties on both sides, but the ratios are alarmingly one-sided). obama shouldn’t be yelling at the security council to derail its statement because it doesn’t condemn rocket-throwers. instead the candidate using the words “hope” so casually, and talking the talk about fighting for the underdog should better understand this international human rights violation that israel is inflicting upon the people of palestine).

then again, no matter how much he acts like he ain’t, Obama’s a member of the US “establishment” and has Washington insiders as his strategists and policyfolks, so I guess I shouldn’t expect him to walk the walk that he talks, on a number of issues.

I’ve recently written about the cutting off of supplies to Gaza by Israel in retaliation for the rockets. And again, here’s a palestinian doctor’s personal account of the situation in January, just for some context:

I telephoned Al-Awda hospital and was really panicked to learn that we have only have enough fuel for 4 days for the electrical generator!!!!! What more details shall I give?

No electricity leads to no pumped fresh water and no proper sewage system which in turn leads to more diseases and more needs for different surgical operations. But after 4 days no emergency operations can be conducted in our hospitals.

Israel sealed the Gaza Strip completely and strictly on Friday. Even the UN food supplies are not allowed to enter Gaza. 80% of the population at the moment depends on the UN aid and different international aid agencies. The UN staff are also not allowed to leave or enter Gaza. And while Israel is sealing the Gaza Strip it is at the same time intensifying air raids and military ground operations against Gaza. In the last few days 37 people were killed and 120 were injured. Most of them are civilians. It is a desperate attempt to stop the rockets from Gaza against the Israeli villages where the Israeli citizens are complaining of panic attacks. This response with such overreacted operations against Gaza is unjustified. The cutting off of power and fuel is frank collective punishment.

By the way, Hillary ain’t any better on this issue (A comparison of all the presidential candidates’ stances on the Israel-Palestine conflict can be found at the Council for Foreign Relations website). Edwards os slightly more balanced on the issue.

And both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton co-sponsored the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006, a bill that would unjustly punish innocent Palestinian civilians for the wrongdoings of some of its leaders. Didn’t know that…

UPDATE (Feb 1): Now that edwards is out of the race, although I hate what barack obama did above, i’m going to vote for him against Clinton (who is no less anti-palestine). Obama’s not surrounded by the establishment AS MUCH AS Clinton is, and clinton won’t apologize for anti-war vote, AND she’s got more money from drug companies and health insurance companies than any other candidate. Obama on the other hand has great momentum, is somewhat more progressive, and is specifically ANTI-WAR, which is the biggest thing the american democrats are asking of a candidate. more later…

“If Gaza is the world’s biggest prison, this is the world’s biggest prison break.”
- a reporter

I heard about the massive break through the GazaStrip/Egypt border wall by Palestinians earlier today and couldn’t believe the radio. I knew that Israel had placed tighter restrictions on movement of food, fuel, and necessary medical supplies to Palestinians in the Gaza strip for a long while, and that for the last few days had completely cut off ALL supplies to Gaza (hence the prison reference) but I had to see it for myself. So now I share with you some video of the great 21st century prison break (juuuuust in case the mainstream media is focusing on clinton/obama or on the israeli government’s point of view).

Wow.

Some background from a physician in Gaza, blogging a few days ago at From Gaza, With Love:

In 2 hours all of the Gaza Strip will sink into darkness completely

Sunday 20 January 2008
I am writing to let you know that in less than 2 hours the last turbine of the Gaza Strip’s only power plant will stop working. The fuel for the power plant fuel will run out in 2 hours.

I hurried to recharge my laptop and my mobile and to wash the clothes. I checked my candles and rechargeable lights !!!!!! I telephoned Al-Awda hospital and was really panicked to learn that we have only have enough fuel for 4 days for the electrical generator!!!!! What more details shall I give?

No electricity leads to no pumped fresh water and no proper sewage system which in turn leads to more diseases and more needs for different surgical operations. But after 4 days no emergency operations can be conducted in our hospitals.

Israel sealed the Gaza Strip completely and strictly on Friday. Even the UN food supplies are not allowed to enter Gaza. 80% of the population at the moment depends on the UN aid and different international aid agencies. The UN staff are also not allowed to leave or enter Gaza. And while Israel is sealing the Gaza Strip it is at the same time intensifying air raids and military ground operations against Gaza. In the last few days 37 people were killed and 120 were injured. Most of them are civilians. It is a desperate attempt to stop the rockets from Gaza against the Israeli villages where the Israeli citizens are complaining of panic attacks. This response with such overreacted operations against Gaza is unjustified. The cutting off of power and fuel is frank collective punishment.

I AM WRITING TO TELL YOU PLEASE DO SOMETHING FOR US IN GAZA
1.5 million of Gaza are dying slowly. They need your help and support. Tell the world that Israel’s search for peace and security will not be achieved by this collective punishment against us.

and 1 month ago she wrote this:

The siege against Gaza has completed its six months 1.5 million of population are not allowed to travel outside Gaza ,many essential medications are not on the local pharmacies shelves as well as the hospital drug stores , tens of necessary goods are lacking only 15 kinds of goods are allowed to enter Gaza regularly , severe shortage of detergents, no cars spare parts , irregular electrical power ,most of local small industries has closed down due to lack of raw materials hundreds of local employees were made redundant , 39 patients have died before getting permit to leave Gaza for treatment in Israel , at least 2000 patients with different urgent health needs, including children with heart diseases and cancer patients , are waiting to be referred for further treatment outside the Gaza strip.

In related news, a member of the former israeli government was on the radio, on NPR’s show Which Way LA, and he commented that Palestinians were given the potential to transform their land’s worth/economy into a Singapore, but had decided to ruin it all, and therefore could not be trusted to govern their own land. He forgot to mention the noose tied just tight enough around palestinian land and the walls built left and right and the limitations of everyday necessary goods into Palestine. Minor details, eh?

(cross-posted at Cure This)

Iraq to Catalina Island, Salee Allawe and her father. Photo by Allen Schaben, LA Times.

The 10-year-old girl lost her legs in what her family said was a U.S. air strike on the outskirts of Baghdad last November. Salee, who was discovered by her mother dragging herself over a pile of bricks, helped identify the remains of her 13-year-old brother and her best friend, who were killed in the same incident.

Salee recently was fitted with mechanical knees and prosthetic limbs at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Greenville, S.C. Her sponsors wanted to give her a happy memory before she returns to her war-torn country next Monday.

So they brought her and her father to Catalina Island…

Her companions included Mahmood and two people who raised most of the funds to bring Salee to the United States in July for corrective surgery: social worker Ann Cothran of Greenville, N.C., and Cole Miller, founder of Los Angeles-based No More Victims, a grass-roots organization dedicated to assisting Iraqi children injured in the war.

“There are thousands of Salees in Iraq,” Miller said. “I don’t consider this charity. It’s responsibility.”

Salee’s story is so tragic, but this outpouring of love and medical care is so beautiful.  Providing health care for victims of American attacks abroad is the mission of his group No More Victims (NMV). Here’s a moving video where he addresses privilege, our ability to provide healthcare, and the potential of individuals and communities to take action together:

Cole Miller is uplifting in his analysis. Americans are banding together — there are NMV groups around the country. The organization has also begun sending medical supplies to Iraq and other countries (you can donate money online).

And on an entertaining note, Salee Allawe (the girl discussed above) whispered to her translator while on Catalina Island:

“I want to be a photographer when I grow up. But don’t tell anyone because all the kids I know want to be doctors.”

 

Woohoo! Didya hear that? Los Angeles is the largest city in the US to pass a resolution against the war. Who you callin’ vain? It’s exciting — the city of West Hollywood already voted for a resolution like this, and now it’s big bad Los Angeles’s turn:

LA City Council Adopts Resolution To End Iraq War; Resolution Calls For Withdrawal Of All U.S. Troops From Iraq (msnbc.com)

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council adopted a resolution Tuesday calling for an end to the war in Iraq, making it the largest city in the nation to make such a call.

“Today the city of Los Angeles is sending a message loud and clear -end the war in Iraq,” Councilman Bill Rosendahl said, drawing cheers from an anti-war audience packing the council chamber.

“We are calling for an immediate and complete withdrawal of United States military personnel from Iraq,” said Rosendahl, who introduced the resolution. “We have lost too many of our young men and women to this illegal and unjust war.”

The resolution passed on a 12-2 vote, with Dennis Zine and Greig Smith dissenting. Councilman Jose Huizar was not present for the vote.

Rosendahl said that among the more than 3,500 members of the military who have died in Iraq, 409 came from California, including 115 from the Los Angeles area and 25 from the city.
“Supporting our troops does not mean keeping them in Iraq,” he said. “Supporting our troops means taking them out of this war and bringing them home.”

Rosendahl said the expense of fighting the war has meant that more than $4.5 billion in tax revenues have been diverted from Los Angeles.

“This war has diverted funds that could be used for important domestic needs that would improve the quality of life for Los Angeles residents,” he said.

The above road has a Palestinian side and an Israeli side, separated by a wall. The man is walking on one of the two roads. Photo by Rina Castelnuovo. The following is from A Segregated Road in an Already Divided Land (nytimes):

The road will allow Israeli settlers living in the north, near Ramallah, to move quickly into Jerusalem, protected from the Palestinians who surround them. It also helps ensure that the large settlement of Maale Adumim — a suburb of 32,000 people east of Jerusalem, where most of its residents work — will remain under Israeli control, along with the currently empty area of 4.6 square miles known as E1, between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem, which Israel also intends to keep.

For the Palestinians, the road will connect the northern and southern parts of the West Bank. In a future that may have fewer checkpoints, they could travel directly from Ramallah north of Jerusalem to Bethlehem south of it — but without being allowed to enter either Jerusalem or the Maale Adumim settlement bloc.

“To me, this road is a move to create borders, to change final status,” Mr. Seidemann said, referring to unresolved issues regarding borders, refugees and the fate of Jerusalem. “It’s to allow Maale Adumim and E1 into Jerusalem but be able to say, ‘See, we’re treating the Palestinians well — there’s geographical contiguity.’ ”

Measure it yourself, he said. “The Palestinian road is 16 meters wide,” or 52 feet, he added. “The Israeli theory of a contiguous Palestinian state is 16 meters wide.”

Khalil Tufakji, a prominent Palestinian geographer, says the road “is part of Sharon’s plan: two states in one state, so the Israelis and the Palestinians each have their own roads.” The Palestinians, Mr. Tufakji said, “will have no connection with the Israelis, but travel through tunnels and over bridges, while the Israelis will travel through Palestinian land without seeing an Arab.”

In the end, he said, “there is no Palestinian state, even though the Israelis speak of one.” Instead, he said, “there will be a settler state and a Palestinian built-up area, divided into three sectors, cut by fingers of Israeli settlement and connected only by narrow roads.”

On my way home from work, I heard an NPR report on the bedouin struggle for keeping their land in the Negev desert, while the state of israel bulldozes it. [Amazing report, listen to it here] I was almost moved to tears, before finding myself enraged. Enraged.

Check out the NPR story (just a few minutes long), then think — does this remind you of anything? A people with no “formal” claim to their land, though they’ve lived there for centuries. A people with no significant amounts of money to their name. A state bulldozing these peoples’ lands in the name of the state, for their other projects they’re pursuing (scientific research in the desert, expansion of housing, etc). A state wanting to displace people from the land they live off of, and thinking it’s no big deal to move these people to government sponsored housing projects where these people will be concentrated in an area with few jobs, poor education, and very poor housing… ghetto love. A state spokesperson saying hey look, we’ve gotta do this, we don’t have enough resources for water, sanitation, etc to share with them in the desert so we have to raze their communities. A state spokesperson saying hey, look, we had to do this, we’ve tried negotiating and we’ve tried to make them compromise. Since they’re not compromising we had to bulldoze their land for the betterment of the state. Bedouins on record saying “i’m a farmer, my family is uneducated, my son is uneducated, *I* am uneducated” I grew up farming as did my parents and beyond. What am i going to do in an urban bedouin ghetto?

Ah, what rights do the bedouins have? They are nonviolently resisting.

Colonialism. Racism. Classism. This pattern is repeating. I’m reading a book about urban injustice and the things that were done to Black Americans in the name of all of the above. Arundhati Roy so articulately and passionately lays out the India/Narmada Dam vs the people situation in her essay The Greater Common Good. And there are numerous other stories, happening every day, on this issue. And I’ll say this again — It shocks me how much harm the Israeli state can inflict on others after the Holocaust that they went through. Displaced people displacing others, it breaks my heart.
The struggle for land/home/neighborhood/peace. Ongoing…

Ok, so Los Angeles ain’t ALL vain. Damn straight it ain’t. I love this city. Even though the average price of an alcoholic beverage in Los Angeles ($10.66) has now surpassed the average price of same in New York City ($10.12), the city of West Hollywood is representin’ patriotically, because the folks there care about the future of our country:

WEST HOLLYWOOD, July 17, 2007 (KABC-TV) – West Hollywood has taken a stand on the war. The City Council is the first in southern California to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

The council unanimously approved the symbolic, non-binding resolution Monday night. The resolution claims Congress and the country were given false intelligence to lead the U.S. into the war in Iraq.

Other charges include orders to spy on Americans, and stripping Americans of their constitutional rights.

It’s about time. Leave it to the gay, hedonistic community of West Hollywood to take SoCal to task :> Rawk! I believe there are 7 cities in California alone that have passed a similar resolution. Anyone know of other cities in Los Angeles that are deliberating on similar resolutions? I’ll find out if my town of Culver City is.

And in the meantime, know of any resolutions to cap the price of a basic alcoholic beverage in this charge-what-we-like city? What about amendment number 45 to the bill of rights — “every person shall be reserved the right to enjoy an alcoholic spirit or beverage for less than $4, and make fun of those who enjoy the same for over $10.66″ — remember that one?

The terror of the Holocaust has been used since World War II to justify the colonial creation of the Israeli settler state. Did the Jews deserve a state as compensation for the crimes committed against them by the Nazis, compounded by the global silence? Absolutely! But the choice of Palestine and the construction of a state on top of a pre-existing social formation reflected the sort of settler mentality found in other settler states, e.g., the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, apartheid South Africa, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.

From the settler framework, history begins and ends with the experiences of the settlers. Even the Irish, oppressed by Britain for hundreds of years in what the Irish aptly describe as “racial oppression” (the proto-type, according to the late US Marxist scholar and activist Theodore Allen, for the system of white supremacist rule imposed on colonial North America), allowed too many of themselves to become foot-soldiers for settler states when they fled the horrors of their own persecution, ignoring the similarity between the oppression that they had suffered and that which they helped to perpetuate…

The work of progressive and Left forces in the USA who are pro-Palestinian must emphasize that the past (and in some cases, present) persecution of one group does not justify displacing an uninvolved third party from their land. The settler’s reality is not the reality, but is only a portion of a total equation. Restricting one’s vantage point to the problems of the settler condemns one to supporting the ‘right’ of the settler to preserve their existence irrespective of the methods and consequences. Not only is this morally bankrupt but it is also politically insane since the final result will be interminable war, and quite possibly, mutual destruction.

From “A Challenge Facing Pro-Palestinian Politics in the USA” by Bill Fletcher, April 19, 2007.

Wandering Around an Albuquerque Airport Terminal

by Naomi Shihab Nye

After learning my flight was detained 4 hours, I heard the announcement: If anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any Arabic, Please come to the gate immediately.

Well — one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there.

An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress, Just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly.

Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What is her Problem? we told her the flight was going to be four hours late and she Did this.

I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly.

Shu dow-a, shu- biduck habibti, stani stani schway, min fadlick, Sho bit se-wee?

The minute she heard any words she knew — however poorly used – She stopped crying.

She thought our flight had been cancelled entirely.
She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical treatment the Following day. I said no, no, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just late,

Who is picking you up? Let’s call him and tell him.
We called her son and I spoke with him in English.
I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and Would ride next to her — southwest.

She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it.

Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and Found out of course they had ten shared friends.

Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian Poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took up about 2 hours.

She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life. Answering Questions.

She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies — little powdered Sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts — out of her bag – And was offering them to all the women at the gate.

To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a Sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the traveler from California, The lovely woman from Laredo — we were all covered with the same Powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookies.

And then the airline broke out the free beverages from huge coolers – Non-alcoholic — and the two little girls for our flight, one African American, one Mexican American — ran around serving us all apple juice And lemonade and they were covered with powdered sugar too.

And I noticed my new best friend — by now we were holding hands – Had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing,

With green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always Carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.

And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world.

Not a single person in this gate — once the crying of confusion stopped – has seemed apprehensive about any other person.

They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women too.
This can still happen anywhere.

Not everything is lost.

(thanks to stephen for passing this on…)

…and a strong conscience. From Barbara Lee’s Statement on the Passage of the Iraq Accountability Act:

“Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Obey, Jim Clyburn and the Democratic leadership deserve credit for recognizing this and for doing something that the Republican Congress refused to do for the last four years, namely to confront the Bush administration over their failed policy in Iraq and to commit to bringing that policy to a responsible end. That is a very important step.

“As someone who opposed this war from the beginning, I have voted against every single penny for this war and found myself today in the difficult position of having to choose between voting against funding for the war or for establishing timelines to end it.

“While as a matter of conscience I cast my vote against the funding, I hope that this passage of this bill marks the beginning of the end of the Iraq war, but the real fight still lies ahead. Congress will continue to have to confront the issue of this war and occupation, and I am committed to continuing to push to fully fund the safe withdrawal of our troops from Iraq at the earliest practicable date and for timelines for withdrawal that are backed up by the appropriations power that the Constitution grants to Congress.”

Now that is what I call graceful. Representative Lee rocks.  Note to Dems: it IS possible to have both a conscience AND a strong policy.  You ain’t seein’ no flip-floppin’, goin’ where the money is, publicly apologizing for your 1994 health plan, or being against a war you’re fully trusting Bush on — here in Lee’s camp.

“…not the one you wish you had” — Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio)

[above photo from BBC World News]

Friends, check out a video from La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper, if you can stomach it (it’s disturbing): here’s the [link] and then read the pieces below…

The women speak:

We overcame our fear

The unarmed women of the Gaza Strip have taken the lead in resisting Israel’s latest bloody assault

by Jameela al-Shanti in Beit Hanoun
The (UK) Guardian
Nov 9, 2006

Yesterday at dawn, the Israeli air force bombed and destroyed my home. I was the target, but instead the attack killed my sister-in-law, Nahla, a widow with eight children in her care. In the same raid Israel’s artillery shelled a residential district in the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, leaving 19 dead and 40 injured, many killed in their beds. One family, the Athamnas, lost 16 members in the massacre: the oldest who died, Fatima, was 70; the youngest, Dima, was one; seven were children. The death toll in Beit Hanoun has passed 90 in one week.

This is Israel’s tenth incursion into Beit Hanoun since it announced its withdrawal from Gaza. It has turned the town into a closed military zone, collectively punishing its 28,000 residents. For days, the town has been encircled by Israeli tanks and troops and shelled.
All water and electricity supplies were cut off and, as the death toll continued to mount, no ambulances were allowed in. Israeli soldiers raided houses, shut up the families and positioned their snipers on roofs, shooting at everything that moved. We still do not know what has become of our sons, husbands and brothers since all males over 15 years old were taken away last Thursday. They were ordered to strip to their underwear, handcuffed and led away.

It is not easy as a mother, sister or wife to watch those you love disappear before your eyes. Perhaps that was what helped me, and 1,500 other women, to overcome our fear and defy the Israeli curfew last Friday – and set about freeing some of our young men who were besieged in a mosque while defending us and our city against the Israeli military machine.

We faced the most powerful army in our region unarmed.
The soldiers were loaded up with the latest weaponry, and we had nothing, except each other and our yearning for freedom. As we broke through the first barrier, we grew more confident, more determined to break the suffocating siege. The soldiers of Israel’s so-called defence force did not hesitate to open fire on unarmed women. The sight of my close friends Ibtissam Yusuf abu Nada and Rajaa Ouda taking their last breaths, bathed in blood, will live with me for ever.

Later an Israeli plane shelled a bus taking children to a kindergarten. Two children were killed, along with their teacher. In the last week 30 children have died.

As I go round the crowded hospital, it is deeply poignant to see the large number of small bodies with their scars and amputated limbs. We clutch our children tightly when we go to sleep, vainly hoping that we can shield them from Israel’s tanks and warplanes.

But as though this occupation and collective punishment were not enough, we Palestinians find ourselves the targets of a systematic siege imposed by the so-called free world. We are being starved and suffocated as a punishment for daring to exercise our democratic right to choose who rules and represents us. Nothing undermines the west’s claims to defend freedom and democracy more than what is happening in Palestine.

Shortly after announcing his project to democratise the Middle East, President Bush did all he could to strangle our nascent democracy, arresting our ministers and MPs. I have yet to hear western condemnation that I, an elected MP, have had my home demolished and relatives killed by Israel’s bombs. When the bodies of my friends and colleagues were torn apart there was not one word from those who claim to be defenders of women’s rights on Capitol Hill and in 10 Downing Street.

Why should we Palestinians have to accept the theft of our land, the ethnic cleansing of our people, incarcerated in forsaken refugee camps, and the denial of our most basic human rights, without protesting and resisting?

The lesson the world should learn from Beit Hanoun last week is that Palestinians will never relinquish our land, towns and villages. We will not surrender our legitimate rights for a piece of bread or handful of rice. The women of Palestine will resist this monstrous occupation imposed on us at gunpoint, siege and starvation. Our rights and those of future generations are not open for negotiation.

Whoever wants peace in Palestine and the region must direct their words and sanctions to the occupier, not the occupied, the aggressor not the victim. The truth is that the solution lies with Israel, its army and allies – not with Palestine’s women and children.

[Jameela al-Shanti is an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for Hamas. She led a women's protest against the siege of Beit Hanoun last Friday]

Now, here’s an excerpt of an Al-Jazeera newspaper article on a resolution that simply called to condemn the Israeli attack of 19 civilians in Beit Hanun:

The US has vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution condemning an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip that killed 19 Palestinian civilians…

The text of the resolution, which was sponsored by Arab states, had also condemned the firing of rockets by Palestinian fighters into Israel.

Ten of the council’s 15 members voted in favour and four -Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia – abstained.

As one of the council’s five permanent members along with Britain, China, France and Russia, the US has veto power which it has now used 82 times, often to shield Israel from censure.

America’s previous use of the veto was in July to block a Qatari-sponsored draft resolution that would have condemned Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza as “disproportionate force” and would have demanded a halt to Israeli operations in the territory.

…and it’s striking how different a take the United States mainstream media (leftist media, as some would falsely accuse the NYTimes of serving as) has on the resolution:

The United States ambassador, John R. Bolton, told the Council that the resolution “does not display an even-handed characterization of the recent events in Gaza, nor does it advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace.”

The resolution, introduced by Qatar, the Arab representative on the Council, had been amended during two days of negotiations to meet objections that it was not balanced. But Mr. Bolton said it remained “in many places biased against Israel and politically motivated.”…

New language was inserted condemning the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel and calling upon the Palestinian Authority to take “immediate and sustained action” to end the rocket fire. But while the resolution named Israel as liable for the attacks on Gaza, it was silent on who or what group was responsible for the attacks on Israel.

In other changes, a reference to “indiscriminate” Israeli violence became “disproportionate” violence, and the words “military assault,” “aggression” and “massacre” were dropped in favor of the general phrase “military operations.”

Another provision had proposed that a new United Nations observer force be sent into the area to monitor a cease-fire, but it was substituted with language suggested by France that called for the creation of “an international mechanism for the protection of civilians.”…

The United States traditionally opposes what it considers one-sided Security Council resolutions on Israel, and Saturday’s vote was the fourth time in three years that Washington had taken such action.

…Unlike Security Council resolutions, those passed in the General Assembly are nonbinding and largely symbolic. But they generally attract widespread support when Israel, and, by extension, the United States, are the targets.

By the way, as President Bush talked of working with Democrats and working in a bipartisan manner after the elections, his first move after the elections was to slap America in the face by moving to have John Bolton serve another term. (though as Kos on dailykos mentioned, it’s not a done deal yet)

And the formal Israeli PM’s response? Sensitive, of course. From the BBC News:

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert said the strike, which hit a civilian area, was the result of a “technical failure”.

“I’m very uncomfortable with this event. I’m very distressed.

“I checked it and I verified it. This is not the policy,” the Associated Press reported Mr Olmert saying.

But military operations against suspected Palestinian militants would continue, he added, admitting that further mistakes “may happen”.

Physicians for Human Rights is counting (thank you PHR), and these are the stats on how many have died in Gaza since the end of June:

Total: 247 fatalities
155 civilian deaths
57 deaths of children
996 wounded, including 337 children (34%)
Source: Physicians for Human Rights (28 June to 27 Oct)

Remember when Bush met with top Republican leaders and Trent Lott said the following?

“No, none of that,” Lott told reporters after the session when asked if the Iraq war was discussed. “You’re the only ones who obsess on that. We don’t and the real people out in the real world don’t for the most part.”

Who did you think we were, scumbag? Eat your words now!

Amy Goodman is my heroine. She’s always been, but this video from the MSNBC’s 10th birthday party/Chris Matthews’ Hardball show is MONEY (I know it’s like 2 months old, but I just came across it today). She has always moved me with her deep knowledge of world issues and conflict resolution, and her unending passion to investigate issues of importance to humanity.

In the interview recorded above, as she was being asked how bombing is not the only answer, she came back with the power, talking about how we live in the 21st century and we’ve gotta be a bit more creative. The other guy who was being interviewed asked her something along the lines of how can you negotiate with a military hezbollah (from the point of view of israel) and 3:20 mins in she hits him hard:

“You don’t negotiate with your friends, you negotiate with your enemies”

“I would say that right now we are talking about terroristic tactics on both sides, and we, talking in a civilized way can be a model for how this has to be negotiated. Listen, ultimately face it, it’s GOING to be negotiated, it’s just a matter of HOW many kids have to die.”

That’s IT. That’s IT! ONE TWO PUNCH.

Now my initial reaction, everytime i’m amazed by someone like her (or Ani Difranco live in LA last weekend), is to say “I love her” or “wow, she’s so amazing, what a leader”. And boy it was a bit sickening how many times we heard “I love you Ani!” when Ani Difranco performed. My brother’s friend Anna, who went with us to the concert, pointed out that Ani Difranco puts all this work into constructing beautiful poetry and folk and rock and punk, and all we can reply with is the trite “I love you Ani?” Anna was furious. We thought screaming more creative things would be more fun (for both us and for Ani) or giving her some respect and not screaming during her performance. But I digress — my point is this — I can say I love you Amy Goodman! and that puts me in the BACK SEAT. It places me squarely back there in the audience, a comfortable spot, no? But, if i want to give credit where it’s due (to Amy Goodman, for being a sage, an activist, and a daily informer), I’m first of all going to listen to Democracy Now, her daily radio show, more often, and second of all i’m going to Pay it Forward, instead of sitting in the back seat. What does that mean? It means civil discourse, discussion, negotiation, with my friends who don’t agree with me, with others who don’t know how to grapple with the war situation in this world, and with other Americans in general, in whatever creative ways I can.

It’s so simple yet such a huge change in frame-of-reference — negotiations are what we should be fighting for, and as damn quickly as possible so as not to kill more innocent civilians. War is not the only answer, nor is it the answer at all, in the 21st century.

From Lott: Bush barely mentioned Iraq in meeting with Senate Republicans, by CNN’s Ted Barrett:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush barely mentioned the war in Iraq when he met with Republican senators behind closed doors in the Capitol Thursday morning and was not asked about the course of the war, Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, said.

“No, none of that,” Lott told reporters after the session when asked if the Iraq war was discussed. “You’re the only ones who obsess on that. We don’t and the real people out in the real world don’t for the most part.”

Lott went on to say he has difficulty understanding the motivations behind the violence in Iraq.

“It’s hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what’s wrong with these people,” he said. “Why do they kill people of other religions because of religion? Why do they hate the Israeli’s and despise their right to exist? Why do they hate each other? Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me.”

Wow. The mere fact that an actual Senator in the United States Senate can say this and not be ripped out of his post and shamed is infuriating. Iraq, torture, these are the moral issues of our time, these are the issues that a majority of Americans are so very concerned with right now.

Obviously this is not the first assasine, racist, anti-human rights, ignorant comment this dude has made, let alone actions he has taken, but FOLKS, Lott has been in Congress for THIRTY-THREE YEARS. This guy, and so many others in his position (white republican senators or congresspeople) are so out of touch with reality it’s bizarre. THIS is exactly why I’m so pissed at Dems in general (and looking for some good new blood in and outside of the party, at this point i’ll vote for anyone who has principals and has a track record, whether republican, democrat, green, libertarian, etc). We’ve had opportunity after opportunity (as if God herself handed them personally to us) to shame these racist, anti-human rights, anti-AMERICAN, war-mongering folks and we have done NOTHING in response (I’m talkin’ *we* as in the party of Dems, i’m not putting down the amazing work that so many individuals and organizations are doing).

How do we use these pieces of fodder to our advantage? Someone on another blog suggested taking these words or video and playing them on ads at election time to show that (many) republicans don’t actually care about the war, or that they don’t have a basic college education. Any other creative ideas? We need to capitalize on their bullshit while we can.

And to the rest of the world, I’m sorry that Lott thinks he can say things like “I think it’s hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what’s wrong with these [Iraqi] people.” He didn’t speak for me, nor did he speak for the majority of the country. And he needs to go to high school, or college, wherever they teach world politics 101. Embarassing.

Ok, so much else to report on — hopefully I’ll get a few minutes to blog a bit over the weekend. I’ve got much to write about Ani Difranco in concert, Massive Attack in concert, a sweet new weekly spoken word event just blocks from my house, and a reportback from 1 year post hurricane katrina that I went to tonight (including exciting discussions on movement-building among brown and black people).

Israeli commandos flew in by helicopter before dawn into the northern town of Baalbek, on the border with Syria , capturing five Hezbollah guerrillas and killing at least 10, said Israels army chief, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz.

Israel has not yet released the identity of those captured. When asked by The Associated Press whether any were “big fish,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: “They are tasty fishes.”

He denied they were Hezbollah fighters, saying one was a 60-year-old grocery store owner and two relatives who work in construction…

At least 540 Lebanese have been killed, including 468 civilians and 26 Lebanese soldiers and at least 46 Hezbollah guerrillas. The health minister says the toll could be as high as 750, including those still buried in rubble or missing. Fifty-five Israelis have died 36 soldiers and 19 civilians killed in Hezbollah rocket attacks.

The United Nations warned that the longer a spill of 110,000 barrels of oil is not cleaned up from Lebanons coast, the more severe the environmental impact will be. The oil spilled two weeks ago after Israeli warplanes hit a coastal power plant.

from “Israel sends 10,000 troops into Lebanon” (Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press)

“Everyone in southern Lebanon is a terrorist and is connected to Hezbollah,” roared Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon on July 27.

“Every village from which a Katyusha is fired must be destroyed,” bellowed an Israeli general in a quote bannered by the nation’s largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth.

The Israeli paper then summarized what the justice minister and general were saying: “In other words, a village from which rockets are fired at Israel will simply be destroyed by fire.” That was Thursday.

Sunday, in Qana, 57 of Haim Ramon’s “terrorists,” 37 of them children, were massacred with precision-guided bombs. Apparently, Katyushas had been fired from Qana, near the destroyed building.

“One who goes to sleep with rockets shouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t wake up in the morning,” said Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman.

Today, we hear unctuous statements about how Israel takes pains to avoid civilian casualties, drops leaflets to warn civilians to flee target areas, and conforms to all the rules of civilized warfare.

But Israel’s words and deeds contradict her propaganda. As the war began, Ehud Olmert accused Lebanon, which had condemned Hezbollah for the killing and capture of the Israeli soldiers, of an “act of war.” Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz publicly threatened “to turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years.”

Gillerman, at a pro-Israel rally in New York, thundered, “[T]o those countries who claim that we are using disproportionate force, I have only this to say: You’re damn right we are.”

“His comments drew wild applause,” said the Jerusalem Post.

Though Israel is dissembling now, Gillerman spoke the truth then. No sooner had Hezbollah taken the two Israeli soldiers hostage than Israel unleashed an air war – on Lebanon. The Beirut airport was bombed, its fuel storage tanks set ablaze. The coast was blockaded. Power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges, roads, trucks, and buses were all hit with air strikes.

Within 48 hours, it was apparent Israel was exploiting Hezbollah’s attack to execute a preconceived military plan to destroy Lebanon – i.e., the collective punishment of a people and nation for the crimes of a renegade militia they could not control. It was the moral equivalent of a municipal police going berserk, shooting, killing, and ravaging an African-American community, because Black Panthers had ambushed and killed cops.

If Israel is not in violation of the principle of proportionality, by which Christians are to judge the conduct of a just war, what can that term mean? There are 600 civilian dead in Lebanon, 19 in Israel, a ratio of 30-1, though Hezbollah is firing unguided rockets, while Israel is using precision-guided munitions.

Thousands of Lebanese civilians are injured. Perhaps 800,000 are homeless…

from The Moral Culpability for Qana, by Patrick Buchanan

From “Willful Blindness” by Marjorie Cohn:

Human Rights Watch confirmed yesterday that Israel is using artillery-delivered cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon. “Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “They should never be used in populated areas.”

The use of cluster munitions in populated areas in Iraq caused more civilian casualties than any other factor in the US-led coalition’s major military operations in March and April 2003, killing and wounding more than 1,000 Iraqi civilians, HRW reported.

HRW photographed US-produced/US-supplied cluster bombs among the arsenal of Israel Defense Forces artillery teams stationed on the Israeli-Lebanese border during a July 23 research visit.

Independent journalist Dahr Jamail reported that the Lebanese Ministry of Interior has confirmed the Israelis have used the incendiary white phosphorous gas. This is a chemical weapon, much like napalm, that can burn right down to the bone. The US military used white phosphorous in Fallujah, Iraq.

Article 35 of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions prohibits the use of weapons “of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.” Cluster bombs and white phosphorous fall into this category.

Bilal Masri, assistant director of the Beirut Government University Hospital, told Jamail, “The Israelis are using new kinds of bombs, and these bombs can penetrate bomb shelters,” Masri added. “They are bombing the refugees in the bomb shelters!”

Masri also said that 55 percent of the casualties are children under 15 years of age.

It is a violation of the laws of war to target civilians. “A fundamental rule of international humanitarian law is the obligation to distinguish between civilians and civilian property on one hand and military targets on the other,” Nada Doumani, Middle East spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told Aljazeera.net. “Under no circumstances, can civilians and public and private property be deliberately attacked. All parties in the conflict have to abide by these rules.”

Doumani quoted ICRC Director of Operations Pierre Krahenbuhl, who said: “The high number of civilian casualties and the extent of damage to essential public infrastructure raise serious questions regarding respect for the principle of proportionality in the conduct of hostilities.”

Nearly every report from the corporate media seeks to find symmetry in this war. When an outlet covers the massive devastation in Lebanon and increasing numbers of Lebanese civilians killed by Israeli bombs, it is careful to juxtapose reports of Hezbollah rockets fired into Israel.

Jan Egeland, the United Nations emergency relief chief, however, called the “disproportionate response” by Israel to Hezbollah’s actions “a violation of international humanitarian law.” Egeland, who characterized the devastated areas of Lebanon as “horrific,” said Israel is denying access to relief operations.

At least 384 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 20 soldiers and 11 Hezbollah fighters.
Israel’s death toll is at least 40, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 23 soldiers killed in the fighting.

On Monday, a high-ranking Israeli Air Force officer told reporters that Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz had ordered the military to destroy 10 buildings in Beirut in retaliation for every Katyusha rocket strike on Haifa by Hezbollah.

I refer you to the previous post on Los Anjalis where I referenced JS’s words on the situation:

The world simply takes it as read that populations are to be bombed, killed and starved in their hundreds, in response to the capture of individual Israeli soldiers, who are thereby implicitly valued literally at a rate of 1 Israeli to 10 Arabs. How is that not pure racism?

nuff said.

NY Times today:

U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis
By DAVID S. CLOUD and HELENE COOPER
New York Times: July 22, 2006

WASHINGTON, July 21 — The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.

The munitions that the United States is sending to Israel are part of a multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel is able to draw on as needed, the officials said. But Israel’s request for expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike.

The Guardian reports today:

The US is publicly denying any role in setting a timeframe for Israeli strikes. When asked whether the US was holding back diplomatically, Tony Snow, the White House’s press spokesman, said yesterday: “No, no; the insinuation there is that there is active military planning, collaboration or collusion, between the United States and Israel – and there isn’t … the US has been in the lead of the diplomatic efforts, issuing repeated calls for restrain,t but at the same time putting together an international consensus. You’ve got to remember who was responsible for this: Hizbullah … It would be misleading to say the United States hasn’t been engaged. We’ve been deeply engaged.”

Steven Cook, a specialist in US-Middle East policy at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, said: “It’s abundantly clear [that US policy is] to give the Israelis the opportunity to strike a blow at Hizbullah …

“They have global reach, and prior to 9/11 they killed more Americans than any other group. But the Israelis are overplaying their hand.”

And some thoughts from J.S. on the AMSA global health listserv, which is brimming with an interesting discussion on war/health/racism (and obviously the shrill cries of anti-semitism, as Israeli/Lebanon/Gaza issues cannot seem to be discussed rationally without accusations of anti-semitism):

…Exactly as the attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza, about whose desperate straits you’ll notice we’ve heard virtually nothing for days. Collective punishment of civilian populations (not to mention elected governments) for acts performed by organized, self-identified resistance groups has overnight become a commonplace. The world simply takes it as read that populations are to be bombed, killed and starved in their hundreds, in response to the capture of individual Israeli soldiers, who are thereby implicitly valued literally at a rate of 1 Israeli to 10 Arabs. How is that not pure racism?

This is why Israel is different. The normal rules of international relations are *never* applied to Israeli actions, only an endless stream of apology, justification and self-serving invocations of global anti-semitism. What Israel is visiting on the Palestinians over decades, (with the hapless Lebanese now again in its territorial sights), is nothing short of ethnic cleansing, under the approving eyes of the world. The suffering of Israeli citizens, which is of course absolutely to be condemned and mourned, is nonetheless utterly dwarfed by this monstrous crime.

THE seconds just before a life is smashed are filled with ordinary things.

On the morning of Sept. 15, 2005, Muaad Hadi was on his way to a wedding. The highway was hot and crowded. His mind was filled with thoughts of work.

Shortly after 10:30 a.m., a convoy of police cars drew up behind the minivan of guests. Mr. Hadi, a 26-year-old Shiite, told the driver to pull over. As he spoke the words, an explosion, meant for the police, punched through the van and changed his life forever.

If wars had faces, the one in Iraq would look like Mr. Hadi’s. Open and hopeful at the beginning. Creased with disappointment as years passed. He and the other Iraqis from Baghdad pictured here are victims of fighting that has come from all directions in the last three years. They pay the price of the war with their arms and their legs. The toll is far higher for Iraqi civilians than for American soldiers. They account for 70 percent of all deaths. Their families, too, pay a price…

Then, on that day in September, 12 bombs went off like popcorn all over Baghdad, scattering lives and punching holes in families. Mr. Hadi could barely see for the smoke. The air smelled of gasoline. A friend he had been sitting beside was dead. His legs would not work. He was missing his left hand. A stranger placed him in the back of a police truck, along with the bodies of the dead.

Ten months later, he spends his days lying on a narrow bed with a blue sheet in his mother’s living room in Shuala, a poor Shiite neighborhood. He must be helped to the bathroom. The woman he wanted to marry has moved on. She never told him she didn’t want him, but “I sensed what she wanted to say,” he said, his voice urgent and sad.

from The Instant When Everything Changed, by Sabrina Tavernese, in the NYTimes.

This is a reminder to myself to never forget the daily human toll of this war. And that more than 70% of those who are dying are Iraqi civilians. Yes, let’s bring our troops home, yes we should never forget the now thousands of american soldiers who’ve died in this war, but we canNOT afford to forget that most of the people dying or being maimed (physically or emotionally) are Iraqi civilians. Everyday this battle wages, more innocent people die unnecessarily.

Accompanying the article is a photoseries by Farah Nosh who photographed and documented stories of Iraqi civilians who had lost limbs in the war. There’s a link to it from the article.

Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead, has an album out with his personal music (i was going to say “solo” but he mentioned that he doesn’t like using that term). Lindsay points out the BBC article with some backstory on his track “Harrowdown Hill”, and how Yorke states that it’s the angriest song he’s ever written. Wiki, Wiki, Wikipedia has more on David Kelly, the subject of the track here.

Don’t walk the plank like I do
You will dispensed with, when you’ve become
Inconvenient

Up on Harrowdown Hill, Where you used to go school
That’s where I – That’s where I’m lying now
Did I fall or was I pushed? Did I fall or was I pushed?
And where’s the blood? Where’s the blood?

… Can you see me when I’m running? Can you see me when I’m running?
Away from them, Away from them
I can’t take the pressure, No one cares if you live or die
They just want me gone, they want me gone

The rest of the tracks are equally brilliant, less angry, but definitely beautiful and political. He supposedly just used a laptop and his voice (many sounds reminiscent of radiohead’s album “Kid A”). So there’s hope for my laptop music experiments (though there’s no hope for my voice, i’ll have to do without that…)

And now my brother and I are blasting some unreleased tracks from his upcoming (july release) album, Eraser, throughout the house. (of course we’ll buy the album when it comes out too).

I’ve been following Riverbend’s commentary as an Iraqi woman experiencing the various Iraqi wars. Her writing really moves me and has served as one of my constant reality checks about what’s going on in Iraq. Check out her blog — Baghdad Burning.

Her latest post, from last week, is about Zarqawi’s death, here’s a bit of it:

So ‘Zarqawi’ is finally dead. It was an interesting piece of news that greeted us yesterday morning (or was it the day before? I’ve lost track of time…). I didn’t bother with the pictures and film they showed of him because I, personally, have been saturated with images of broken, bleeding bodies…

“A new day for Iraqis” is the current theme of the Iraqi puppet government and the Americans. Like it was “A New Day for Iraqis” on April 9, 2003 . And it was “A New Day for Iraqis” when they killed Oday and Qusay. Another “New Day for Iraqis” when they caught Saddam. More “New Day” when they drafted the constitution… I’m beginning to think it’s like one of those questions they give you on IQ tests: If ‘New’ is equal to ‘More’ and ‘Day’ is equal to ‘Suffering’, what does “New Day for Iraqis” mean?

How do I feel? To hell with Zarqawi (or Zayrkawi as Bush calls him). He was an American creation- he came along with them- they don’t need him anymore, apparently. His influence was greatly exaggerated but he was the justification for every single family they killed through military strikes and troops…

So now that Zarqawi is dead, and because according to Bush and our Iraqi puppets he was behind so much of Iraq’s misery- things should get better, right? The car bombs should lessen, the ethnic cleansing will come to a halt, military strikes and sieges will die down… That’s what we were promised, wasn’t it? That sounds good to me. Now- who do they have to kill to stop the Ministry of Interior death squads, and trigger-happy foreign troops?