Monday, October 30, 2006
Pacifica Commentary For October 25, 2006
Sectarian Violence
As Iraq is being torn to pieces, the commercial media has framed the phrase "sectarian violence" as if it were somehow unrelated to the occupation.
Actually, the occupation of Iraq by the United States is the primary cause of this so-called sectarian violence. Iraqis who have cooperated with the occupation are identified as the enemy by those who resist the intrusion of foreign troops.
This phenomenon is entirely predictable. France was similarly divided in the Second World War. The French people opposing occupation fought their fellow citizens who cooperated with the Third Reich. Vietnamese people who opposed our intervention in their homeland fought against Vietnamese who cooperated with the invaders.
Division of Iraq into three parts, Sunni, Shia and Kurd would only make matters worse. It would be seen as the classic imperial method of divide and conquer.
It is true that the minority Sunnis who held power during the reign of Saddam Hussein now consider themselves overwhelmed by the Shia majority. Sectarianism is not to be ignored. But to speak of sectarian violence without identifying the cause is not acceptable.
If the cause of the violence would depart from Iraq immediately we can expect the bloodshed to decline. There would certainly be residual personal and ethnic vendettas as well as common crime but the root cause of the blood bath would be removed. The Bush administration has retreated from the slogan of, "Staying the Course." The new direction in Iraq must include the following:
* Initiate diplomacy and dialogue with Iran and all other Middle East states.
* Dismantle all permanent bases in Iraq and pledge not to build any new ones.
* Begin the withdrawal of troops immediately.
And what will we call it, "A tragic mistake?" Every intervention has been at least a tragic mistake and more accurately stated, a malicious action of cold-blooded mass murder.
Friends, there is no problem-free way to leave Iraq but leave we must. Confession is good for the soul.
Let this be the last of literally hundreds of illegal interventions made by our nation.
For this to take place we must resurrect Constitutional checks and balances. For example, the 1803 decision of Marbury vs Madison made it clear that the Supreme Court had the right of judicial review over the President of the United States and could declare acts of the president to be unconstitutional. But in regard to foreign policy the Supreme Court has sat like potted plants for over two centuries. A functional Supreme Court could restrain and enjoin any war mongering administration.
As Iraq is being torn to pieces, the commercial media has framed the phrase "sectarian violence" as if it were somehow unrelated to the occupation.
Actually, the occupation of Iraq by the United States is the primary cause of this so-called sectarian violence. Iraqis who have cooperated with the occupation are identified as the enemy by those who resist the intrusion of foreign troops.
This phenomenon is entirely predictable. France was similarly divided in the Second World War. The French people opposing occupation fought their fellow citizens who cooperated with the Third Reich. Vietnamese people who opposed our intervention in their homeland fought against Vietnamese who cooperated with the invaders.
Division of Iraq into three parts, Sunni, Shia and Kurd would only make matters worse. It would be seen as the classic imperial method of divide and conquer.
It is true that the minority Sunnis who held power during the reign of Saddam Hussein now consider themselves overwhelmed by the Shia majority. Sectarianism is not to be ignored. But to speak of sectarian violence without identifying the cause is not acceptable.
If the cause of the violence would depart from Iraq immediately we can expect the bloodshed to decline. There would certainly be residual personal and ethnic vendettas as well as common crime but the root cause of the blood bath would be removed. The Bush administration has retreated from the slogan of, "Staying the Course." The new direction in Iraq must include the following:
* Initiate diplomacy and dialogue with Iran and all other Middle East states.
* Dismantle all permanent bases in Iraq and pledge not to build any new ones.
* Begin the withdrawal of troops immediately.
And what will we call it, "A tragic mistake?" Every intervention has been at least a tragic mistake and more accurately stated, a malicious action of cold-blooded mass murder.
Friends, there is no problem-free way to leave Iraq but leave we must. Confession is good for the soul.
Let this be the last of literally hundreds of illegal interventions made by our nation.
For this to take place we must resurrect Constitutional checks and balances. For example, the 1803 decision of Marbury vs Madison made it clear that the Supreme Court had the right of judicial review over the President of the United States and could declare acts of the president to be unconstitutional. But in regard to foreign policy the Supreme Court has sat like potted plants for over two centuries. A functional Supreme Court could restrain and enjoin any war mongering administration.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Pacifica Commentary For October 18, 2006
Forgiveness
Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister has a challenge for us coming from the Amish Community and its response to murder of its children. Here are some of Sister Joan's words, "In a nation steeped in violence, from its video games to its military history, in foreign policy and on its streets, the question remains: Why did this particular disaster affect us like it did? You'd think we'd be accustomed to mayhem by now. But it was not the violence suffered by the Amish Community that surprised people. Our newspapers are full of brutal and barbarian violence day after day after day, both national and personal.
"Do not think evil of this man," the Amish grandfather told his children at the mouth of one little girl's grave.
"Do not leave this area. Stay in your home here," the Amish delegation told the family of the murderer. "We forgive this man."
No, it was not the murders, not the violence, that shocked us; it was the forgiveness that followed it for which we were not prepared. It was the lack of recrimination, the dearth of vindictiveness that left us amazed. Baffled. Confounded.
(For clarification here Sister Joan might have added that the Amish were not ignoring the need of a criminal justice system, they were speaking about forgiveness of a deceased murderer.)
Sister Joan concludes her statement saying: The real problem with the whole situation is that down deep we know that we had the chance to do the same. After the fall of the twin towers we had the sympathy, the concern, the support of the entire world.
You can't help but wonder, when you see something like this, what the world would be like today, instead of using the fall of the Twin Towers as an excuse to invade a nation, we had simply gone to every Muslim country on earth and said, "Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you. We know that this is coming from only a fringe of society, and we ask your help in saving others from this same kind of violence."
"Too idealistic," you say. Maybe. But since we didn't try, we will never know, will we? Instead, we have sparked fear of violence in the rest of the world ourselves. So much so, that they are now making nuclear bombs to save themselves. From whom? From us, of course.
The record is clear. Instead of exercising more vigilance at our borders, listening to our allies and becoming more of what we say we are, we are becoming who they say we are.
Thank you, Sister Joan Chittister.
Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister has a challenge for us coming from the Amish Community and its response to murder of its children. Here are some of Sister Joan's words, "In a nation steeped in violence, from its video games to its military history, in foreign policy and on its streets, the question remains: Why did this particular disaster affect us like it did? You'd think we'd be accustomed to mayhem by now. But it was not the violence suffered by the Amish Community that surprised people. Our newspapers are full of brutal and barbarian violence day after day after day, both national and personal.
"Do not think evil of this man," the Amish grandfather told his children at the mouth of one little girl's grave.
"Do not leave this area. Stay in your home here," the Amish delegation told the family of the murderer. "We forgive this man."
No, it was not the murders, not the violence, that shocked us; it was the forgiveness that followed it for which we were not prepared. It was the lack of recrimination, the dearth of vindictiveness that left us amazed. Baffled. Confounded.
(For clarification here Sister Joan might have added that the Amish were not ignoring the need of a criminal justice system, they were speaking about forgiveness of a deceased murderer.)
Sister Joan concludes her statement saying: The real problem with the whole situation is that down deep we know that we had the chance to do the same. After the fall of the twin towers we had the sympathy, the concern, the support of the entire world.
You can't help but wonder, when you see something like this, what the world would be like today, instead of using the fall of the Twin Towers as an excuse to invade a nation, we had simply gone to every Muslim country on earth and said, "Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you. We know that this is coming from only a fringe of society, and we ask your help in saving others from this same kind of violence."
"Too idealistic," you say. Maybe. But since we didn't try, we will never know, will we? Instead, we have sparked fear of violence in the rest of the world ourselves. So much so, that they are now making nuclear bombs to save themselves. From whom? From us, of course.
The record is clear. Instead of exercising more vigilance at our borders, listening to our allies and becoming more of what we say we are, we are becoming who they say we are.
Thank you, Sister Joan Chittister.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Pacifica Commentary For October 11, 2006
Let's Not Cut and Run!
Let's not cut and run, O.K.? Tell that to someone who is going the wrong way on a one-way street. Stay the course, march over the cliff, surf the tsunami, picnic at an erupting Mount St. Helen's.
And, by the way, just order others to do this while you are at a safe distance from the action.
Please pay attention to your intelligence agencies. They are trying to tell you that al Qaeda is in favor of our continued occupation of Iraq. Al Qaeda believes our staying the course is essential for them to have a successful future? Our intelligence people certainly must have the statement of the al Qaeda official who said, "Prolonging the war is in our interest."
Have you listened to your intelligence agencies as they tell you that most Iraqi insurgents were never previously involved in violence? On the contrary, they say it was the occupation itself which drove the Iraqis into armed resistance. The prognosis of our intelligence agencies is that the insurgency in Iraq will grow rapidly in the years to come.
Are you not aware that the isolated "Green Zone" government of Iraq is seen by most Iraqis as completely subservient to the military of the United States?
Just think of the brilliance of our leaders as they attempt to define a reality of their own making. Our Secretary of Defense predicted that the war could last six days or six weeks. Our commercial media is equally flawed. The Latest NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE states that there have been 45,000 civilian casualties in Iraq. But Johns Hopkins University identifies over 600,000 Iraqi dead.
And we know that imitation is the highest form of praise, so now we see the Taliban in Afghanistan adopting the tactics of the Iraqi insurgents as they grow in number and influence to the point where, after visiting Afghanistan, Senator Bill Frist recommends the Taliban be accepted into the government we have created.
The policy of George Bush and the hopes of Al Qaeda and the Taliban are quite similar. Both of them want us to stay the course. Neither wants us to cut and run.
Perhaps this is a clear demonstration of how fundamentalists think. They do not take advice, they do not change their minds when they have been proven wrong. They have only their fractured truth which is a lie.
Pacifica Commentary For October 4, 2006
The Constitution Dies
Will our children living in the new police state understand that the Constitution of the United States died in 2006?
Yes, they will look to this as the year that our government determined we could be held indefinitely in a secret detention facility, that we could be put on trial based on unseen evidence and sentenced to death on hearsay statements or even testimony gleaned from torture.
Certainly the charges against Congressman Mark Foley are serious and should not be ignored. But to have such charges receive more coverage than the demise of the Constitution of the United States demands an explanation. The marriage between commercial media and the warfare state is obvious. Clinton was bombing Iraq and choking its people with a brutal embargo while Lewinsky held full time media attention.
And now it seems that the Mark Foley matter is overshadowing the loss of the document we have sworn to defend from enemies foreign and domestic.
This is simply one more reason to participate in tomorrow's National Day of Resistance to drive out the Bush Regime. Silence in the face of legalized torture is complicity.
Can you imagine that practically every picture you witnessed at the horror of Abu Ghraib Prison has now been made legal by your Congress?
Thursday, October 5th there will be a convergence at Pershing Square at Noon. This is at the corner of 5th and Olive in downtown Los Angeles. This will be followed by a rally at
the downtown Federal Building at 300 North Los Angeles Street at 5:00 PM. Speakers at the 5:00 PM rally include Edward Asner, Bob Watada (the father of Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first officer to refuse to fight in Iraq) Steve Rohde, civil rights lawyer, Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace and Jesse Diaz, Jr., the co-founder of the March 25th Coalition for Immigrants Rights.
This National Day of Resistance is called by THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME. These demonstrations will take place in 170 cities of the United States. Full page ads in the New York Times and USA Today have announced this day of resistance. Tomorrow, Thursday, October 5th is set aside to protest the loss of habeas corpus, to protest the loss of the Constitution, to protest the on-going violations of the Geneva Conventions. And in the shadows of this destruction of our civil and legal rights is a nefarious plan to attack Iran.
It seems to me that some of the feigned shock expressed by our Congress regarding Mr. Foley is actually a cover for an even greater crime which the Congress itself has approved.
Let's not cut and run, O.K.? Tell that to someone who is going the wrong way on a one-way street. Stay the course, march over the cliff, surf the tsunami, picnic at an erupting Mount St. Helen's.
And, by the way, just order others to do this while you are at a safe distance from the action.
Please pay attention to your intelligence agencies. They are trying to tell you that al Qaeda is in favor of our continued occupation of Iraq. Al Qaeda believes our staying the course is essential for them to have a successful future? Our intelligence people certainly must have the statement of the al Qaeda official who said, "Prolonging the war is in our interest."
Have you listened to your intelligence agencies as they tell you that most Iraqi insurgents were never previously involved in violence? On the contrary, they say it was the occupation itself which drove the Iraqis into armed resistance. The prognosis of our intelligence agencies is that the insurgency in Iraq will grow rapidly in the years to come.
Are you not aware that the isolated "Green Zone" government of Iraq is seen by most Iraqis as completely subservient to the military of the United States?
Just think of the brilliance of our leaders as they attempt to define a reality of their own making. Our Secretary of Defense predicted that the war could last six days or six weeks. Our commercial media is equally flawed. The Latest NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE states that there have been 45,000 civilian casualties in Iraq. But Johns Hopkins University identifies over 600,000 Iraqi dead.
And we know that imitation is the highest form of praise, so now we see the Taliban in Afghanistan adopting the tactics of the Iraqi insurgents as they grow in number and influence to the point where, after visiting Afghanistan, Senator Bill Frist recommends the Taliban be accepted into the government we have created.
The policy of George Bush and the hopes of Al Qaeda and the Taliban are quite similar. Both of them want us to stay the course. Neither wants us to cut and run.
Perhaps this is a clear demonstration of how fundamentalists think. They do not take advice, they do not change their minds when they have been proven wrong. They have only their fractured truth which is a lie.
Pacifica Commentary For October 4, 2006
The Constitution Dies
Will our children living in the new police state understand that the Constitution of the United States died in 2006?
Yes, they will look to this as the year that our government determined we could be held indefinitely in a secret detention facility, that we could be put on trial based on unseen evidence and sentenced to death on hearsay statements or even testimony gleaned from torture.
Certainly the charges against Congressman Mark Foley are serious and should not be ignored. But to have such charges receive more coverage than the demise of the Constitution of the United States demands an explanation. The marriage between commercial media and the warfare state is obvious. Clinton was bombing Iraq and choking its people with a brutal embargo while Lewinsky held full time media attention.
And now it seems that the Mark Foley matter is overshadowing the loss of the document we have sworn to defend from enemies foreign and domestic.
This is simply one more reason to participate in tomorrow's National Day of Resistance to drive out the Bush Regime. Silence in the face of legalized torture is complicity.
Can you imagine that practically every picture you witnessed at the horror of Abu Ghraib Prison has now been made legal by your Congress?
Thursday, October 5th there will be a convergence at Pershing Square at Noon. This is at the corner of 5th and Olive in downtown Los Angeles. This will be followed by a rally at
the downtown Federal Building at 300 North Los Angeles Street at 5:00 PM. Speakers at the 5:00 PM rally include Edward Asner, Bob Watada (the father of Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first officer to refuse to fight in Iraq) Steve Rohde, civil rights lawyer, Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace and Jesse Diaz, Jr., the co-founder of the March 25th Coalition for Immigrants Rights.
This National Day of Resistance is called by THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME. These demonstrations will take place in 170 cities of the United States. Full page ads in the New York Times and USA Today have announced this day of resistance. Tomorrow, Thursday, October 5th is set aside to protest the loss of habeas corpus, to protest the loss of the Constitution, to protest the on-going violations of the Geneva Conventions. And in the shadows of this destruction of our civil and legal rights is a nefarious plan to attack Iran.
It seems to me that some of the feigned shock expressed by our Congress regarding Mr. Foley is actually a cover for an even greater crime which the Congress itself has approved.
