Believe it or not there are those who are still asking, why did we invade Iraq? Some pundits are still saying that they really don’t know. As soon as we ran into a stone wall looking for WMDs, there were those who believed there was a link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. And, of course, there was no link. In fact, they hated each other. So Bush and his coterie, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Perle decide to invade Iraq despite there being no connection between Iraq and 9/11. In fact, 15 of the 19 hi-jackers were Saudi citizens. No one mentioned attacking Saudi Arabia since we were getting huge amounts of oil from our long time ally and selling highly profitable military weapons to them.
Next the Israel Lobby was presented as the force behind the invasion of Iraq in order to make Israel more secure. It certainly was true that the Israel Lobby was very active in Congress garnering support for war but to make Israel more secure was really a bogus argument, pure unadulterated spin since Israel is very strong militarily. Spreading democracy in the Middle East was a pure fantasy that became a total disaster. So what is left? There is only one possibility and that is U.S. domination of the oil resources of that region. And directly linked to that natural resource is the build-up of a war machine as a source of power, military prowess and most important huge profits.
Many wars are fought over natural resources but the U.S. has fought a number of wars where there was no vital resource as the reason for the hostilities. Vietnam is a good example. That country had no resource that the U.S. needed for its own security. The reason given for the war was to prevent the take-over of South East Asia by the communists was just another bogus argument. That war from beginning to end was based on lies.
The only reason for the confrontations small and large that occurred during the cold war, e.g. Panama, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Yugoslavia and others, was not for natural resources but rather to justify the continuing production of military weapons to enhance our position of power in the world and to provide huge profits for the military-industrial complex. The neo-conservative war hawks, i.e. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Feith, and Perle, were and are constantly spinning and lobbying for continuing wars for this purpose. To ignore the power of the corporations that produce military weaponry for overwhelming profit is a huge mistake, for it is these corporations, such as Haliburton, KBR, Norton, Lockheed-Martin and others that provided the rational for the invasion of Iraq.
Although the Israel lobby was pushing very hard for invasion, there are those pundits who believe that the invasion would have happened even without the help of the lobby. The neocons were determined to invade and had been for a decade.
References:
Mearsheimer and Walt. The Israel Lobby. 2007
Scheer, Robert. The Pornography of Power. 2008
Wikipedia
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Israeli Morality
In 1917 Arthur Balfour issued a statement of policy from the British Government stating that the British favor the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine and nothing shall be done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. And therein is the rub. The local population of Arabs who had been living on this land since the Ottoman Empire and possibly before did not approve of the establishment of a Jewish homeland on their land. The rights of the Palestinians were not in the least considered. As far as the Jews were concerned God, as stated in the Old Testament Bible, gave them that land and were told to force out anyone who was there. That alone was a violation of the Balfour declaration. So the Jews took the land and by 1967 they were settling on the West Bank and Gaza. Now we have another problem. The Israelis are not really settlers, they are in fact colonizers. “They are living on someone else’s land.”
The all-knowing God apparently was not familiar with the real estate laws of Palestine. It happens that the Palestinians legally own that land and have the deeds to prove it. It was plain and simple thievery. By 2003 400,000 Jews were occupying the land in direct violation of Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions, which specifically prohibits an occupying power from deporting or transferring “parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
Unfortunately Israeli politicians suffer from an overwhelming flaw and that is the inability to recognize the humanity of the Palestinians. As a result, they force Palestinians off the land, destroy their home and continue the colonization of the land. The Palestinians are then forced to move into unhygienic slums. Yet the U.S. supports Israel on moral grounds. First it is assumed that Israel is weak and surrounded by enemies. Next Israel’s moral behavior is superior to that of the Palestinians. The Jews were victims in Europe but in the Middle East they are victimizers. They have victimized and are continuing to victimize the Palestinians.
In the wars that Israel fought starting in 1947 against the Palestinians and later the Arabs Israel was never weak. It won both wars and all subsequent conflicts because it had superior firepower and manpower, was better organized and had better leadership. And this was despite that it was outnumbered. The Israeli army was an overwhelming force. No Arab army would ever attempt to attack Israel today and survive. Don’t forget Israel also has nuclear weapons paid for by the U.S.
As for the Israel’s moral behavior toward the Palestinians, it was hardly benevolent. During the 40 years of military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza the Israelis used brutal beatings and torture to repress protests. The troops were issued truncheons and encouraged to break the bones of Palestinians. Approximately 30,000 children needed medical treatment for beatings suffered at the hands of Israeli troops. The children were under 10 years of age and some cases under 5. The children sustained head injuries and fractures. 6000 to 8000 children suffered gunshot wounds. And most of the children were not participating in any protest demonstrations. Some were actually shot in their homes. As time goes on the Israeli troops are ever more brutal, killing and wounding larger numbers of Palestinians. Israel’s conduct is shocking, disgraceful and patently immoral.
References:
Fisk, Tom. The Great War for Civilization. 2005
Mearsheimer and Walt. The Israel Lobby. 2007
Wikipedia.
The all-knowing God apparently was not familiar with the real estate laws of Palestine. It happens that the Palestinians legally own that land and have the deeds to prove it. It was plain and simple thievery. By 2003 400,000 Jews were occupying the land in direct violation of Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions, which specifically prohibits an occupying power from deporting or transferring “parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
Unfortunately Israeli politicians suffer from an overwhelming flaw and that is the inability to recognize the humanity of the Palestinians. As a result, they force Palestinians off the land, destroy their home and continue the colonization of the land. The Palestinians are then forced to move into unhygienic slums. Yet the U.S. supports Israel on moral grounds. First it is assumed that Israel is weak and surrounded by enemies. Next Israel’s moral behavior is superior to that of the Palestinians. The Jews were victims in Europe but in the Middle East they are victimizers. They have victimized and are continuing to victimize the Palestinians.
In the wars that Israel fought starting in 1947 against the Palestinians and later the Arabs Israel was never weak. It won both wars and all subsequent conflicts because it had superior firepower and manpower, was better organized and had better leadership. And this was despite that it was outnumbered. The Israeli army was an overwhelming force. No Arab army would ever attempt to attack Israel today and survive. Don’t forget Israel also has nuclear weapons paid for by the U.S.
As for the Israel’s moral behavior toward the Palestinians, it was hardly benevolent. During the 40 years of military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza the Israelis used brutal beatings and torture to repress protests. The troops were issued truncheons and encouraged to break the bones of Palestinians. Approximately 30,000 children needed medical treatment for beatings suffered at the hands of Israeli troops. The children were under 10 years of age and some cases under 5. The children sustained head injuries and fractures. 6000 to 8000 children suffered gunshot wounds. And most of the children were not participating in any protest demonstrations. Some were actually shot in their homes. As time goes on the Israeli troops are ever more brutal, killing and wounding larger numbers of Palestinians. Israel’s conduct is shocking, disgraceful and patently immoral.
References:
Fisk, Tom. The Great War for Civilization. 2005
Mearsheimer and Walt. The Israel Lobby. 2007
Wikipedia.
Greed and Stupidity
It is often said that we are incapable of learning from history. In fact, one acerbic wit said that history does not enlighten the petrified mind. If we learn anything from history, it is that we do not learn from history. However, the inability to learn from history is not really the point.
To make changes necessary to prevent recurring crises requires that we limit the power of the corporatists. These are the brokers of power that operate and control the financial institutions behind the façade of constitutional government. The people vote for the legislative representatives but the power brokers, the corporatists, control the legislative branch. They are the military-industrial complex in collusion with bank financed speculation pursuing insane profit. In fact, Senator Durbin recently stated that bankers own the U.S. Congress. And there are those who believe that bank financed speculation may eventually destroy capitalism. The present day economic crisis is an indication of how close we have come. We have survived several economic bubbles in the last 30 years but none were as serious as this one and those in power do not want change.
The shocking lack of regulatory control over the financial institutions, of course, was a major contributing factor to our present economic crisis. In addition the corruption of our legislative branch of government due to the control of lobbyists who represent the military, the industrialists, and the financial institutions is destroying the checks and balances written into the Constitution. As a result, the Congress has very little control over the expanded power of the Presidency. This was particularly true under the Bush administration. Whether this will continue to occur under the present administration will require that we wait and see.
What will likely continue to occur is the control of the lobbyists and the payoffs for favors. Bribes to legislators in the guise of campaign contributions will no doubt continue. Greed and stupidity is endemic in all political systems.
One of the more scandalizing operations of the ace lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, who was eventually convicted of a number of counts of fraud and is now languishing in jail, was the one in which he and Tom Delay, Texas Congressman, lobbied Congress to prevent the passing of a minimum wage law on Saipan in the Mariana Islands. Sweat shops owned by U.S. Chinese industrialists paid Abramoff $10 million to defeat the bill. Thousands of women work for practically nothing to produce high priced clothing for big name companies, such as Nordstrom, Liz Claiborne, Reebok, Eddie Bauer and many others.
Another one of the tactics used by lobbyists to gain approval of a particular bill is to stress the number of jobs that the legislation will provide for the Congressman’s constituency. This strategy is often used to pass a weapons bill for the military, whether it is a useful weapon or not. The main concern is to get that Pentagon money into the local community. The initial payoff is again called a campaign contribution.
Does anyone think Obama can break up this entrenched corruption?
References:
Galbraith, John Kenneth. A Short History of Financial Euphoria. 1994
Johnson, Chalmers. Nemesis. 2006
Wikipedia
To make changes necessary to prevent recurring crises requires that we limit the power of the corporatists. These are the brokers of power that operate and control the financial institutions behind the façade of constitutional government. The people vote for the legislative representatives but the power brokers, the corporatists, control the legislative branch. They are the military-industrial complex in collusion with bank financed speculation pursuing insane profit. In fact, Senator Durbin recently stated that bankers own the U.S. Congress. And there are those who believe that bank financed speculation may eventually destroy capitalism. The present day economic crisis is an indication of how close we have come. We have survived several economic bubbles in the last 30 years but none were as serious as this one and those in power do not want change.
The shocking lack of regulatory control over the financial institutions, of course, was a major contributing factor to our present economic crisis. In addition the corruption of our legislative branch of government due to the control of lobbyists who represent the military, the industrialists, and the financial institutions is destroying the checks and balances written into the Constitution. As a result, the Congress has very little control over the expanded power of the Presidency. This was particularly true under the Bush administration. Whether this will continue to occur under the present administration will require that we wait and see.
What will likely continue to occur is the control of the lobbyists and the payoffs for favors. Bribes to legislators in the guise of campaign contributions will no doubt continue. Greed and stupidity is endemic in all political systems.
One of the more scandalizing operations of the ace lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, who was eventually convicted of a number of counts of fraud and is now languishing in jail, was the one in which he and Tom Delay, Texas Congressman, lobbied Congress to prevent the passing of a minimum wage law on Saipan in the Mariana Islands. Sweat shops owned by U.S. Chinese industrialists paid Abramoff $10 million to defeat the bill. Thousands of women work for practically nothing to produce high priced clothing for big name companies, such as Nordstrom, Liz Claiborne, Reebok, Eddie Bauer and many others.
Another one of the tactics used by lobbyists to gain approval of a particular bill is to stress the number of jobs that the legislation will provide for the Congressman’s constituency. This strategy is often used to pass a weapons bill for the military, whether it is a useful weapon or not. The main concern is to get that Pentagon money into the local community. The initial payoff is again called a campaign contribution.
Does anyone think Obama can break up this entrenched corruption?
References:
Galbraith, John Kenneth. A Short History of Financial Euphoria. 1994
Johnson, Chalmers. Nemesis. 2006
Wikipedia
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