Christian Zionist Crusaders

In an audiotape released 4-23-06, Osama bin Laden expresses his outrage at the Crusader-Zionist war on the Muslim people. Actually, this war is music to the ears of some so-called Christian Zionists whose bizarre belief system is anything but Christian.

These ostentatiously Bible-thumping fanatics support Israel's unjust and illegal occupation of Palestine because they dream of a horrific world-ending Crusader-Zionist war against Muslims. It is their pathological belief that such a holocaust will usher in a second coming of Christ. Compared to this lunatic reasoning, even the suicide bomber appears rational. Christian Zionist theology and its powerful influence on President Bush's foreign policy are discussed in the essay "Unjust War Theory: Christian Zionism and the Road to Jerusalem" by Professor David W. Lutz, Ph.D., in the book "Neo-conned Again."

However, the main point here is that this behavior is so non-Christian. For instance, Jesus said, "for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." (St. Matthew 26:52) Also, Jesus answers the question "who is my neighbor?" by telling the story of the good Samaritan, a person of different origin and religion, who alone showed compassion and was thus the true neighbor. (St. Luke 10:29-37) Jesus also said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." (St. Matthew 5:38) He was referring to the Old Testament. (Exodus 21:24) Jesus continued, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." (St. Matthew 5:39) Clearly, it is impossible to believe that Jesus would advocate the persecution of Palestinians leading to a Crusader-Zionist war against all Muslims.

Failure to Understand, continued

Correction: NY Times op-ed written by Tony Judt

Failure to Understand

In his 4/19/06 NY Times op-ed, Toby Judt quotes columnist David Aaronovitch stating " there has been a cock-eyed failure in the U.S. to understand the plight of the Palestinians." Of course, this failure results from the Israeli Lobby-dominated U.S. media which always represents the Israelis as the victims, rarely mentioning the oppressive occupation. To better understand the Palestinians' plight, one might imagine what our life would be like if we had lost World War II and had been living under Nazi occupation ever since. Imagine millions of Americans driven out of the country by Nazi terrorists and stranded as unwanted refugees in foreign lands for decades. Imagine German cities springing up all over America, especially around water resources and the places most valued by us. Imagine the Germans finally deciding "magnanimously" to remove their settlements from Rhode Island, after fencing massive numbers of Americans in that state like hopeless inmates in a concentration camp. Imagine being told that if we gave up all resistance to the occupation we might get some of our land back but never all of it, that the large German cities would remain, and that none of the American refugees could ever return home. Now try to imagine what our reaction would be.

Civil War Advocates

In the book "Neo-conned Again," (p. 84), Stephen J. Sniegoski, Ph.D., describes an article by Oded Yinon entitled "A Strategy for Israel in the 1980s," which was published in the World Zionist Organization's "Kivunim" February 1982. Sniegoski writes, "The article called for Israel to bring about the dissolution of all of the Arab states and their fragmentation into a mosaic of ethnic and sectarian groupings. Yinon believed that this would not be a difficult undertaking because nearly all the Arab states were afflicted with internal religious dissent. In essence, the end result would be a Middle East of powerless mini-states that could in no way confront Israeli power." President Bush appears to be clueless about the neoconservative/Israeli Lobby agenda. Thus, he proudly advocates regime changes, spreading democracy through funding opposition groups, and so on, in numerous Arab and Muslim countries. He doesn't realize that the phrases "regime change" and "spreading democracy" are neoconisms for never-ending civil war. Witness Iraq.

Truth In Retirement

Retirement was once characterized as "The golden years," now it's "And the truth will set you free." For instance, more and more retired generals are calling for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's retirement. It must be noted that Rumsfeld was one of the notorious warmongers who signed the 1/26/98 letter to President Clinton urging war with Iraq. (See blog entry of 1/19/06 "Why Iraq?" Part 5.) On CNN's Late Edition 4/9/06, retired General Tony Zinni told Wolf Blitzer that he had not favored war with Iraq because he had not considered Iraq a priority and that "we had other business to do to help stabilize that part of the world." "The Middle East peace process was in shambles and was probably the most important issue, at least psychologically, in the region." On the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer 2/9/05, two retired generals also spoke out about our problems in the Arab world. General De Long stated, "Every time I go there in the last ten years I get a finger pointed in my chest saying if you fix the issues between the Palestinians and the Israelis, there will be no terrorism in the world." General Hoar agreed, "It is the elite motif that you hear every place you go in the Arab world that if you could solve the Arab-Israeli problem, the view is that we always support the Israelis at the expense of the Palestinians. I have said again and again that the road to stability in Baghdad leads through Jerusalem." Lehrer concluded, "You both agree on that." Senator Fritz Hollings wrote in the May 6, 2004 Charleston Post and Courier, "With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign country? The answer: President Bush's policy to secure Israel." Professor David Lutz comments, "It may seem remarkable that a member of the US Government would speak so straightforwardly about Israel. But Hollings, who has represented his state in the Senate since 1966, decided to retire from the Senate and spoke candidly during what was his final term. " (See "Neo-conned Again" p. 140.)

Iraq and Lebanon

Although one often hears today of the similarities between Iraq and Vietnam, there are even more similarities between our Iraq experience and that of Lebanon. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon hoping to set up a puppet government favorable to Israel and, of course, favorable to Israel's occupation of Palestine. The US and other nations were dragged into Lebanon, supposedly as peace-keepers. However, the US ended up participating in a civil war, firing shells at Muslim villages. Robert Fisk writes, "But the moment the Sixth Fleet opened fire to help Gemayel's forces, the Marines in Beirut would become participants in the civil war...would have aligned themselves with the Phalange in open war against the Muslims of Lebanon." ("Pity the Nation" p. 505) It was the Phalange which had massacres hundreds of helpless Palestinians trapped in refugee camps at Sabra and Chatila in 1982 as their sponsors, the Israeli troops, stood by and watched. It was then not surprising that our marines were attacked by suicide bombers in 1983. In 2003, Israel was smarter and, instead of invading Iraq to set up a pro-Israeli government, managed to get us to do it for her. Here we are once again stranded in a civil war. Tragically, unlike President Reagan, President Bush is very slow to wise up and see the writing on the wall. He only has ears for the Israeli Lobby which now is hot to go to war with Iran in order to, as usual, set up a puppet government favorable to Israel. Bush Administration warmongers tell their cheering Israeli Lobby audiences that Iran is a danger to the US because Iran supported the suicide bombers who attacked us in Lebanon in 1982. Of course it is never mentioned that we had no business being there, bombarding innocent Muslim civilians of behalf of Israel and her puppet government.