Ramadaan Mubaruk to all

Instigating a wider war

July 20, 2006
A Handful of Neocons Are Instigating a Wider War. Will Americans join Iraqis, Lebanese, and Palestinians as neocon victims?
by Paul Craig Roberts

What explains the indifference of the Bush administration to the slaughter of civilians in Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza?

As of the morning of July 19, Israeli bombardments of Lebanese civilian residential districts and public infrastructure have murdered 300 Lebanese, wounded 1,000, and displaced 500,000. The Lebanese prime minister said that Israel's attack has caused "unimaginable losses" and that his government will seek compensation from Israel.

In Gaza, Israel has murdered scores of Palestinian civilians in the past few days.

In Iraq, the civilian daily death toll has risen above 100.

These dead are not Hezbollah militia. They are not Hamas militia. They are not al-Qaeda or Sunni insurgents. They are civilians.

Frustrated by Hezbollah, Israel is lashing out at hapless civilians, knowing that the U.S. will protect Israel from UN Security Council condemnation.

Frustrated by Sunni insurgents, the U.S. has instigated sectarian strife.

Bush has stonewalled the UN, our European allies, and the Lebanese prime minister, all of whom are calling and pleading for Bush to pressure the Israelis to stop their cowardly slaughter from the air of Lebanese civilians.

The Guardian reports that Bush gave Israel the green light to attack Lebanon and has given Olmert another week to pound Lebanon.

U.S. Secretary of State Condi Rice has announced that she will go to the Middle East to resolve "the crisis" when it is appropriate. Apparently, the appropriate time is not when people are dying and a country, which had only just recovered from the last Israeli invasion, is again being
bombed into rubble.

How many more war crimes must Israel commit before Bush and Condi Rice put aside their indifference?

On July 19, the Israelis turned their air attack on the Christian area of Beirut. The Lebanese Christians can thank the American evangelical Rev. John Hagee, who has thrown his 18,000 member Texas church behind Israeli aggression.

Bush cannot claim public support for his indifference.

As of noon July 19, 800,000 people had participated in CNN's Quick Vote, with the result that 55 percent oppose Israel's attack on Lebanon. This result is despite the fact that U.S. television reporting explains the news from the Israeli perspective.

Similarly, in Israel a survey published by Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth showed 53 percent of Israelis polled said Israel should hold negotiations to secure the release of the Israeli soldier captured in Gaza, while 43 percent backed a military operation.

A poll taken by the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reports that 28 percent of Israelis believe Israel should immediately stop bombing Lebanon, compared to 7 percent who believe that the bombing should continue until the captured soldiers are freed, and 14 percent who believe bombing should continue until Lebanon agrees to disarm Hezbollah – a task that Israel's invasion has made more impossible than ever.

If these polls are reliable, one can conclude that the U.S. and Israeli populations are more moral, and more concerned with human life, than are the leaders of the two countries.

Neither can Bush claim that he is supporting Israel because he is Israel's friend. If Bush were Israel's friend, he would not have given a green light to Israel's aggression, which will create more hatred of Israel.

As a number of Israeli writers have pointed out, Israel has shown tooth and claw to its Arab neighbors for decades to no avail.

Writing in Ha'aretz, Yitzhak Laor notes that Israel's problems are not the result of insufficient bombing and destruction of Arab populations. Yet, once again Israeli militants are "enlarging the circle of hostilities, including harming civilians. What Israel's 'strategists' have to offer is the destruction of yet another country."

Laor says the Americans can do this in Iraq with less consequence for themselves, because "the Americans do not intend to live in this region." Israelis cannot afford to show only tooth and claw to their neighbors, because "we do live here."

It sometimes seems Bush goes beyond indifference to contentment with the slaughter of Muslim civilians. Bush has even come across as gleeful as if he is on a dove hunt in a baited Texas field where joy resides in the killing of countless birds.

Many Muslims believe that Bush and Israel see them as animals to be slain. On July 17, neocon John Bolton, Bush's unconfirmed ambassador to the UN, gave credence to this Muslim belief when he announced that Israelis killed by terrorists were more important than the Lebanese civilians killed by Israel. Bolton said that there is no "moral equivalence" between Lebanese civilians killed by Israel and Israeli civilians killed by Muslim terrorists: "It's simply not the same thing to say that it's the same act to deliberately target innocent civilians, to desire their deaths, to fire rockets and use explosive devices or kidnapping versus the sad and highly unfortunate consequences of self-defense."

In Bolton's sick mind, Lebanese civilians are not experiencing terrorism when Israel deliberately targets them and drops high explosives on their apartment buildings, streets, bridges, and power plants, and bombs the Beirut International Airport. This, says Bolton, is Israel acting in self-defense.

If Israel grabs Palestinian or Lebanese land and murders civilians, that is "self-defense," but if someone responds to Israeli aggression with a rocket, that is "Muslim terrorism."

The world is sick of this double-standard. Unfortunately, not enough Americans and Israelis are.

Consequently, conflict will continue and escalate. Laor writes that "the director of the American Jewish Committee's Israel/Middle East Office, Eran Lerman, is already recommending going to war against Syria."

And so are the American neoconservatives who control the Bush administration, Washington think tanks, and media positions once held by true American conservatives.

Isolated in their evil, the neoconservatives are frantically and shrilly demanding that Bush join Israel in military attacks on Syria and Iran in order to "build democracy" and to clear the Middle East of any opposition to Israel's unbridled self-interest. The crazed David
Horowitz writes that "Israel is doing the work of the rest of the civilized world."

Neoconservatives believe that the U.S. and Israel can extirpate Islam with fire and sword and that the present opportunity to escalate the current conflict into generalized war in the Middle East must not be missed.

Neocon warmongers have stolen the conservative name, the Republican Party, and a portion of the evangelical movement.

Are Americans too inattentive and too brainwashed to prevent their moronic president and his neocon government from initiating a dangerous war?

Salaams to all

Naseem, the honeymoon period can last from a week to a lifetime depending on the couple of course....so the question is how long do you want it to last! As you all can see, your'll are hearing from me in a while. That's because i'm at home off sick. Hurt my right knee while playing soccer, more like twisted it. Got an MRI done and the report says a complete raptue of the proximal anterior cruciate ligament with a few other minor tears. Will get report back to the doctor to see what's next. One thing's for sure though, there will be no more sports for me. Busy checking out web sites on knee injuries, it's amazing what u can learn. Pretty soon we won't need GP's anymore. So you gp's better start specialising. Otherwise everything going well in Oz land. Hope everyone are all well everywhere else.

Suleman

The honeymoon period

Salaamz

Pray that everyone is well. As for me, could not be better. The rush and stress of the wedding are over, and I am still basking in the Honeymoon period. I just want some advise from the married cousins. How long does this honeymoon period last? 2 months? 6 Months?

Naseem

Amazing Pictures

Salaams,

Recently had ADSL installed at home (not exactly broadband but the closest we have). I have discovered Google Earth. The picture below is of our house in Reservoir Hills. It is just amazing. Download Google Earth and see for yourself. Email pictures to me so everyone can see where you live.

Aslam

Back to Work...

Hope everyone is well. Hoping to get some more news on the blog. Wondering if everyone who reads the blog could send in a short message about their family right now. It does not have to be important news...just little things about children, places, work... It might be more interesting than you think.

Alhumdulillah we are are back home after a holiday to Mauritius and Dubai. We spent time in Mauritius with my mother, brothers, sisters and their families. It was very nice to go on holiday together after such a long time. Mauritius was relaxing and Dubai was exciting. The best part of being away was not having to answer my cellphone alhumdulillah.

After that, it is back to work. My practice is developing well alhumdulillah. I am lucky to have been able to join a good partnership so that has made it easier for me. May Allah continue to make it easy for me insha allah. May He make it easier for all of you wherever you are.

Our Muhammad continues to grow everyday and change. I make dua for all our children that they remain healthy and grow well.


Salaams,
Aslam
Durban

2006

Hope all you guys are well and enjoying 2006 so far. It was great having Sumayya, Monira, Sa'diyya and Leyya here for two months. It was amazing how the time flew by. They were of great help when Zakiyya was born. Azhar has started year one and enjoying it so far. As'ad is quiet happy being at home with Zakiyya who is now seven weeks old. We have been having cool weather for this part of the year but expecting a very hot Febuary and March. If all goes well, we plan to visit SA later this year. My brother Mohammed is engaged and in the process of arranging the wedding. I'm sure we will be present for the wedding and will be able to spend Ramadhaan and Eid as well in SA.

For those of you who want to see a recent pic of Dr As'ad Bhorat, go to www.giftofthegivers.org

Salaams,

Ashraf & Khatija

Hot and Cold

Salaams to all. Changed the look fo the blog for the New Year. Complain if you want but I will only change it next year again insha allah.

The weather has decided to reverse itself...we have had blistering hot humid days followed by cold wet days. Hope everyone is well where ever they are.

Muhammad's birthday is next week on the 30th. Now I know what it means when parents say that their children have grown so fast. It seems a life time away that he arrived into our lives alhumdulillah. Please make dua that he continues to grow and be healthy insha allah.

Aslam