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19 August
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"Iran's public warning of a possible 'pre-emptive' attack on American
forces did not come by accident just as the U.S. and its puppet
regime are threatening to invade the Shrine of Ali in Najaf."
EDITORIAL:
Mid-East
Realities - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - 19 August 2004:
As the U.S. prepared to attack and occupy Iraq last year this startling
front-page actually appeared in the U.K. in the Daily Mirror. At the
time, against most of international opinion and facing huge
demonstrations around the world as well as in American streets, the
Bush/Cheney regime in Washington kept insisting Iraq was 'illegally'
armed with terrible weapons of mass destruction and somehow
implicated in 9/11, al-Qaeda, and 'terrorism'.
At the time MER repeatedly said the Americans were purposely and
propagandistically deceiving and lying; that it was all being
orchestrated by a group of Israeli-connected ideologically zealotous
"neocons" who had control of the Pentagon, the CIA, and the National
Security Council; and that, Ahmed Chalabi, et. al., were corrupt
hustlers purposefully spreading volumes of disinformation to the media
in close coordination with the Americans and the Israelis.
Now, too late, the whole world knows that just about all the fears and
justifications so crassly and deceptively foisted on all by the
Americans and their sub-agents were nearly totally and quite grossly
false and misleading. The culmination back then was the
cravenly dishonest appearance by the once credible Secretary of State
at the U.N., flanked by the Director of the CIA and he who is now the
Ambassador pro-consul in Baghdad, attempting so shamelessly to threaten
and manipulate the Security Council and indeed the whole world one more
time.
We said all this then when it was far more difficult to do and when
everything reasonable and sensible was being drowned out by the loud
noises coming from official Washington and much of the in-tow corporate
media.
Now in 2004 as a result of what the Bush/Cheney/Israeli regime insisted
on doing the world is dangerously on fire -- passions, hatreds, and
fears all now enraged and engaged in an escalating "clash of
civilizations" full of crusading rhetoric essentially pitting the U.S.,
U.K., and Israel against Arab and Muslim countries and peoples
everywhere. Remember former Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir's ominous departing words to the Organization of the Islamic
Conference last year?
Two
years ago now Walter
Cronkite -- the most prominent and credible American journalist of
yesteryear -- publicly warned that the U.S. could be leading the world
to
World War III. About the same time one of Ariel Sharon's
most trusted
advisers off the record warned a small Jewish audience that he was
"sure
World War III was coming" and everyone must prepare. These
detailed reports can also be found in the MER archives even though, as
remarkable as it seems, they received hardly any play by the
'mainstream corporate' media.
Quite a few times since then the Israelis have warned that if the U.S.
does not they may strike Iran, with Ariel Sharon saying in public just
before the Iraq invasion that just as soon as it was completed the U.S.
needed to take on Iran.
Now faced with continual threats, and with American troops on both
sides of Iran in Afghanistan and Iraq, yesterday the Iranian Defense
Minister said in public Iran would not wait to be attacked (as Iraq had
done) but might pre-emptively attack U.S. forces in the region; this
just days after publicly displaying new long-range missiles and loudly
warning that Israel would be destroyed if it attacked Iran.
This is indeed how World Wars are made.
Iran's startling public
warning of a possible pre-emptive attack on American forces did not
come by accident just as the U.S. and its puppet regime are threatening
to invade the Shrine of Ali in Najaf and force everyone by overwhelming
firepower to comply with their dictates or die.
For what is happening these days in Najaf could just be the spark that
ignites the entire region and maybe the entire world.
Once ignited, and some think this is already the case and that it is
already too late to turn back, the fire could continue for some time as
a slow burn gradually destroying and consuming more and more. Or
it could become a series of regional explosions further fueling the
escalating arms race sucking in more and more countries over
time. Or something unexpected could happen and with passions
already so enflamed everything could quickly spin totally out of
control.
After all, though it is understandable most people try to overlook
these realities and go about their daily lives, additional serious
tensions in the subcontinent and in Asia over Taiwan and North Korea
are also potentially explosive on their own -- with everything now
greatly exacerbated by the tensions and fears and hatreds emanating
from the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the Israeli killing
and imprisonment of the Palestinians.
For the Muslims of the Middle East and the world now many of their most
important historical cities and holy shrines are in one way or another
occupied and controlled by Western and non-Muslim nations.
Jerusalem by 'the Jewish state'. The area of Mecca and Medina
ruled by a corrupt and scandalous regime enthroned by the British and
dependent on the Americans to retain its hold. Historic
Palestine divided by the British, the Hashemite throne still clinging
to power in the East while in the West the Israelis have imprisoned the
'native' population and created apartheid realities worse than ever was
the case in South Africa of old. And now Iraq is occupied
by the Americans who at this very moment are besieging Najaf with their
massive tanks, attack helicopters, shock troops, and puppet regime.
For make no mistake about it. The decisions about what happens in
Iraq continue to be made by the occupying superpower, even if
more remotely than when Paul Bremer was on daily TV daily -- a mistake
his replacement, pro-consul Ambassador John Negroponte, is not
repeating.
Make no mistake about it either. The historical
responsibility for what is happening in the Middle East in these early
opening years of the 21st Century, and today in Najaf, is primarily
that of the United States. And the historical
failings are that of other major nations and of the United Nations for
not forcefully acting to maintain the integrity of international law
and to stop Israel's rampant destruction and dispossession of the
Palestinian people in the false name of 'security'.
Just recently in fact one of the greatest Western philosophers in the
world publicly endorsed the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli
occupier as fully justified
both morally and politically. But as MER has pointed out many times
don't expect to see such profound independent thinkers interviewed on
the grossly inadequate corporate media talk shows or on the carefully
choreographed Op Ed pages of the major newspapers.
Indeed so much of what has now happened in the crucial Middle East
region can be traced back to the cancerous policies Israel has been
pursuing year after year with the continual massive financing and
arming of the United States.
Indeed when it comes to United States foreign policy, especially in the
Middle East, Washington has its owns agenda but in addition and usually
in tandem it is considerable influenced and pushed around by the
powerful Israeli-Jewish Lobby. Everyone knows this
basic reality; but few are able and willing to discuss it.
And thus considerable blame and responsibility for what has happened,
and for what is happening, also falls to the Jewish State of Israel and
to its cadre of largely Jewish organizations and agents who work so
evangelically on its behalf and at its direction.
It would be far more pleasant and much easier to remain quiet about and
to try to overlook or excuse or rationalize all of this.
It would be far simpler to just accept and forget the past, to slide
over all of these complicated and painful connections, and to try to
put a better face on it all with talk of 'hope' this and 'hope' that.
It would be far easier to just accept the simplistic slogans of 'good'
us and 'evil' them; the mantra-like repetitious scooping up of all who
dissent as supporters of the 'terrorists'; the incessant non-stop
flag-waving accompanied by the ritualistic lemming-like rhetoric about
'freedom' this and 'democracy' that.
But it's far more responsible and far more necessary to point out, as
difficult and maddening as it is to do so, that we are already on the
slippery slope and that time may be running out for us all.
Mark Bruzonsky*
* Mark Bruzonsky is the publisher of MID-EAST REALITIES (MER).
His his bio information can be found at MiddleEast.Org/mab and he can
be contacted at Mark@MiddleEast.Org, (202)
362-5266.
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August 2004
MER Exclusive - Listen to Douglas Feith about Israel and the Middle East
(August 30, 2004)
MER EXCLUSIVE - Listen to Douglas Feith while Bill Clinton was still President and a year before 9/11 even happened. For some time in Washington Feith himself has been a prominent member of the extended Israeli-Jewish lobby speaking at times as harshly and unrelentingly as any Israeli propagandist. Persons in the media should contact MER for more extensive information and additional audio and video comments by Feith - 202 362-5266 and press@MiddleEast.Org
Pointing the fingers at Douglas Feith
(August 29, 2004)
Feith has been mentioned in most of the major media stories this weekend in Washington -- but not nearly with the emphasis he should have been. For Feith has played a central role in just about every scandal that has beset the Bush Administration -- from the faulty 'intelligence', to the mistaken 'assumptions', to the prison torture scandals, and now the latest Israeli/Jewish lobby spy scandal right in his own office.
Sharon's Wars, Israel's Future
(August 28, 2004)
This major New York Times feature about Ariel Sharon could have, and should have, been far more harsh. But Ariel Sharon is at the top of his game now. And though the future he may have molded more than any other may be bleak and potentially catastrophic, now is his time and few in the Jewish world -- and in an oblique way that includes not only the New York Times but much of the contemporary American media -- dare to take him on directly.
Israeli Spy Scandal Erupting in Washington
(August 28, 2004)
Many, most no doubt, of these kinds of things relating to Israel never get out into the public domain; they are buried and sucked up into official Washington where so many have so many reasons for always wanting to hush such things up. But there should be no doubt that the Israelis have infiltrated at many levels and greatly influenced in many ways U.S. policies in the Middle East, especially of late the decision to invade and occupy Iraq.
The following quick list of past Israeli spy scandals all of which were covered up or sucked in one way or another include:
* Israeli Attack on U.S.S. Liberty - 1967
* Steve Bryent Israeli Spying Scandal - 1982
* Jonathan Pollard Arrested outside Israeli Embassy - 1985
* AIPAC infiltration scandal, President forced to resign - 1991
* Mossad bugging of Clinton and Monica - 1997
* Martin Indyk's Security Clearances 'temporarily' suspended - 2000
America's 'Iraqi Police' and the now impending Iraqi Elections
(August 27, 2004)
And it's clear that if it's a competiton between Negroponte and Allawi, against al-Sistani and al-Sadr, the Americans and their regime are in big trouble. Just how the U.S. occupation is going to attempt to either further delay the election or not-too-blantantly manipulate and control it now looms ahead -- just as soon as the American election is behind us all.
(August 26, 2004)
U.S. and Regime Bombing and Killing throughout Iraq
(August 26, 2004)
Chaos, confusion, death, and destruction -- that's the description of American occupied Iraq as the country virtually rebels and explodes. Even as Ayatollah al-Sistani heads back to Najaf protected by British occupation troops American occupation troops are ferociously attacking Najaf, Fallujah, Sadr City as never before and American armed and paid Iraqi mercenary troops are massacreing their own.
Daily Articles Summary - 25 August 2004
(August 25, 2004)
Daily Articles Summary - 25 August 2004
MER Articles
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Sistani Returns and March on Najaf Looms
(August 25, 2004)
Now on this very day in history there is another Ayatollah in and at the heart of the Middle East at a crucial moment in time. The very term 'Ayatollah' was hardly known in the West before the Iranian revolution just 25 years ago now. But in the immediate days ahead it now appears Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is to have his and maybe modern on-its-knees Iraq's 'rendevous with history'. And then what this is really all about now is the future rather than the past, especially with Iraqi 'elections' supposed to take place just 5 months from now. What will the American Empire with its arsenal of planes, tanks, and shock troops now do to deter, deflect, or stop him? What will the U.S.-installed and protected Allawi regime in Baghdad now do to attempt to co-opt or twist him?
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Returns to 'Save the Burning Holy City'
(August 25, 2004)
The Mahdi Army defeated the British Empire in Sudan in 1885. Now a Mahdi Army battles the American Empire in Iraq in 2004. Today the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani returns to Najaf to "Save the Burning Holy City".
IRAQ, IRAN and ISRAEL Stories -- 24 August 2004
(August 24, 2004)
Crusades II - Iraqi Cities Bombed and Tanked
(August 24, 2004)
Bush's views and ongoing rhetoric -- and then came top Pentagon General Boykin telling the world that 'my god is bigger than their god' -- may come to define this period in 'modern' history.
Imperial America
(August 23, 2004)
Provocative thinking and writing from one of Great Britain's most prolific, most outspoken, most humanistic, and most insightful 'activist' journalists writing this cover article in the current issue of the New Statesman. It's too hard and probably wrong in fact to agree that 'Bush may be the lesser evil'. But it is very important to understand how and why John Pilger is speaking out in this way.
Palestinian Struggle Fully Justified
(August 22, 2004)
Because of the huge propaganda war in which the U.S. and Israel also have overwhelming firepower at their disposal, what leading Professors like Charles Black and now Ted Honderich have to say is in fact of critical importance.
Weekend Reading: Iran, the U.S., and Israel
(August 21, 2004)
These four articles from the past few days, especially the first commentary by UPI Senior Analyst Martin Sieff, help put things in perspective and set the stage for what is now to come. Unpleasant and frightening weekend reading, we know...but necessary.
What the Americans have Really Done in and to Iraq
(August 20, 2004)
This is a brief but very important outline of what the Americans have really done in recent years in and to Iraq. All this has little to do with 'freedom' and 'democracy' -- those are the simplistic and deceptive front-words. What's really involved is an increasingly desperate and ruthless master plan to turn Iraq -- a country at the center of both the Arab and the Muslim worlds -- into an appendage of the American military, political, and economic machine trying to more totally control the Middle East region and continue to drain it of its wealth, resources, and heritage. It's the imperialism of old considerably reconstituted for the brave new world of worldwide television, the internet, and high-tech 'Star Wars' weaponry.
Iran Warns of Preemptive Strike Against U.S. and Israel
(August 19, 2004)
"We will consider any strike against our nuclear installations as an attack on Iran as a whole, and we will retaliate with all our strength. Where Israel is concerned, we have no doubt that it
is an evil entity, and it will not be able to launch any military operation without an American green light. You cannot separate the two."
Iranian Defense Minister
The World on Fire
(August 19, 2004)
Now in 2004 as a result of what the Bush/Cheney/Israeli regime insisted on doing the world is dangerously on fire -- passions, hatreds, and fears all now enraged and engaged in an escalating "clash of civilizations" full of crusading rhetoric essentially pitting the U.S., U.K., and Israel against Arab and Muslim countries and peoples everywhere.
U.S. Allawi Regime Should Go
(August 18, 2004)
here's a bottom line here and at a time of such major historic developments it should be said clearly. The American-installed, financed, armed, and protected Allawi regime has already totally disgraced and discredited itself. It cannot succeed in authoritatively and democratically governing Iraq. It should be ended immediately before it does even more historic harm to Iraq, to the Middle East, to the Arab and Muslims worlds, and to the whole fabric of international justice and order.
Al-Sadr and Allawi - The Struggle for the Middle East
(August 18, 2004)
Here then are two such voices speaking out, crying out, at this critical time. The first an American who was Director of The Islamic Center in Washington, the very venue in fact President Bush choose to visit soon after 9/11. The second is a Canadian who is President of the Canadian Islamic Congress. -MER
Sharon the 'Bulldozer', Sharon the 'Butcher'
(August 17, 2004)
These BBC and Guardian articles today look at how the Israelis are even now continuing to expand settlements in the occupied territories, as well as at the current situation in and around Gaza -- realities 'on the ground' that Ariel Sharon is more responsible for than any other single individual on any side of the barricades. MiddleEast.org
"They are cheating us, laughing at us" - MER FlashBack 7 Years
(August 17, 2004)
"In the end, so long as the U.S. continues to back Israeli occupation with ever greater amounts of money, guns, and political protection, little will change and the "peace process" will remain a grand deception breeding resistance, hatred, and yes, more terrorism."
U.S. Iraqi Troops Fire on Reporters
(August 16, 2004)
History is being made in these bitter bleeding days, in these very hours, and the world will have to live with the aftermath for some time to come. This report just published by the Daily Telegraph in the U.K. is the best so far to outline how the Americans are attempting to blind the world and mute the protests by threatening the few courageous journalists still in and able to report from Najaf. As for pictures of what is happening, cameras are now illegal and being confiscated by the Americans and their agents.
Iraq Exploding! The historic confrontation at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf
(August 16, 2004)
Unless the Americans can find some way to get Muqtada Sadr and his forces out of the historic Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf without a firefight and without a massacre they themselves could become the victims of their own killing machine if the extraordinary rage and hatred in Iraq, Iran, and the Arab and Muslim worlds overall should erupt still further against them.
Americans Order Journalists, Cameras From Najaf
(August 15, 2004)
This is what police-states do; this is what dictators do; this is what the Israelis sometimes do; and now this is what the American 'democracy' does in the extraordinarily duplicitous name of 'freedom and democracy for Iraq.
Israel 'On The Eve of Destruction'?
(August 15, 2004)
His father long headed the National Religious Party. He himself has been the head of the world Zionist movement as well as the Speaker of the Knesset. And yet -- even as the Israelis appear to be victorious with the Palestinians everywhere surrounded, subjugated, dispossessed and controlled -- Avraham Burg dares to speak out loudly about how perverted Zionism has become and that all the militarism, racism, and arrogance could in reality have put Israel 'on the eve of destruction'.
Please tell friends and family about MER
(August 14, 2004)
Mid-East Realties (MER) commentary and analysis is exclusive, hard-hitting, and always directly to the point. The consistent incisiveness, expertise, and depth of coverage is not to be found anywhere else -- as these comments from readers around the world attest. Below is a summary with quick links to recent exclusive MER articles and FlashBacks. Please forward this summary complete to your friends and relatives encouraging them to also get MER just as you do. It's never been easier to subscribe to MER; and it's never been more timely and important to do so.
Occupied Iraq - Threats, resignations, killings, chaos all escalating
(August 13, 2004)
Reports from Iraq this morning indicate that Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr may have been injured today while meeting with supporters, and what's to happen next has everyone on edge as rarely before. Other reports from Iraq are of a wave of protest resignations against the American occupation and puppet government, with increased threats against the U.S. and its regime now coming in public even from other Iraqi officials approved by the Americans.
Nader vs. Israel
(August 12, 2004)
"The days when the chief Israeli puppeteer comes to the United States and meets with the puppet in the White House and then proceeds to Capitol Hill, where he meets with hundreds of other puppets, should be replaced."
Najaf 2004
(August 12, 2004)
"From Iran's perspective, there is little question what happens in Najaf is its business. Any damage there cannot leave a single Iranian ruler the option of remaining neutral, regardless of whether they are among moderates or hard-liners. The Shiite religious heritage is a shared one between Iraq and Iran."
Hidden History of the "Peace Process"
(August 11, 2004)
"It's not inordinate Chinese money and influence in American politics the Congress should be investigating, it's how Israel manipulates American politics with the help of some key Americans (most of them Jewish), who are in fact, however distasteful it is to say it, 'dually loyal'."
Jewish Washington Neocons Responsible for War
(August 11, 2004)
As the Iraq war escalates and creates still more disgust and hatred around the world, it is also threatening to expand. And a month or two from now if the Bush/Cheney/neocon regime is lagging in the polls no telling what kinds of political or military 'surprises' might come from Washington sooner rather than later.
Stumbling, Bumbling 'Arabist' Ambassadors Play to the Cameras
(August 10, 2004)
After all these now wasted years, and after all this now-squandered money -- and even with all that has happened including 9/11, the Iraqi war, and the Palestinian Intifada -- the 'Arabist' Ambassadors in Washington are weaker and more incestuous, less influential and less credible, then when they started. Yet oh how they continue to pretend otherwise so tragically continuing to mislead so many well-meaning naive people who simply don't know better the real details of what has been and what is now the real situation in today's Washington.
Neocons All
(August 9, 2004)
He sure didn't write this way when he worked for the old gray Zionist lady the New York Times. With language like 'neo-con vampires' he sounds a bit this time like MER in its regular tell-it-like-it-really-is mode... Maybe for his next installment Mr. Ibrahim will have more to say ...about his old colleagues at the New York Times starting with Tom Friedman, et. al.
Both Israel and Saudis working to elect Bush/Cheney
(August 8, 2004)
Now of course neither is going to admit it in front of the cameras, and of course it's also politically confusing for many, but both the Israelis and the Saudis are working hard now to help the election of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and the right-wing neocons.
U.S. and puppet regime boot Aljazeera from Iraq
(August 7, 2004)
Oh yes, the headline..."U.S. boots Aljazeera..." Let's not get confused by all the technical details and propaganda tricks. The regime in Baghdad was selected by the Americans and empowered by the Americans. It is financed by the Americans and the American military and CIA keep it in power. What it does is what the Americans want it to do. And the responsibility for what it does is American as well.
Target Pakistan
(August 7, 2004)
As tensions and fighting in Iraq and Palestine continue, and with new sanctions and attacks on Syria, Iran, and Lebanon quite publicly threatened, the situation in the greater Middle East could become far more tense and the 'crucial countries' of both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia could indeed 'fall' from the American grip setting off even more dangerous and unpredictable political and military explosions.
Target IRAN con't
(August 6, 2004)
"Exploiting the November US presidential elections and the European concerns, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could order a strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, similar to the ones Israelis executed in 1981 against Iraq's nuclear weapons program", the diplomats were quoted by the London-based newspaper Al Hayat on Wednesday, August 4.
'Revolution' in Iraq; No U.N. or Muslim Troops To Help Americans
(August 5, 2004)
Indeed, the Americans and the Israrelis have now created their own joint vicious geopolitical stew in the Middle East; and they are very much in danger of gradually boiling away in it regardless of all the tough talk and military onslaughts.
Kerry, Israel, Jews, and the Middle East
(August 4, 2004)
John Kerry's Middle East policies have already been heavily mortgaged, if not downright sold, to those who have the greatest interest and power in controlling what the U.S. does in the crucial Middle East region and in determining where American arms, monies, and covert actions flow in the future -- powerful American Jews closely associated with Israel.
10 YEARS and 1 MILLION+ DEAD and COUNTING - MER FlashBack
(August 3, 2004)
"Here we are in the middle of the millennium year and we are responsible for genocide in Iraq. All of us that live in the silent democracies are responsible for sustained genocide in Iraq."
Former Assistant Secretary General
of the United Nations Denis Haliday
'SECURITY' POLITICS - Para-military troops dressed to kill become props in political war
(August 3, 2004)
A large numbers of 'security forces' dressed to kill in paramilitary uniforms with big guns took to the streets in New York and Washington and are there to stay, say those in charge, 'as long as it takes'. Bush and his are in fact using all this fear, and all these images, as props in their own campaign to retain power.
America Vs America
(August 1, 2004)
"The Bush Administration cannot be trusted...
George W. Bush and his administration have taken normal mendacity to a startling new level far beyond lies of convenience... They traffic in big lies, indulge in any number of symptomatic
small lies, and ultimately, have come to embody dishonesty itself. They are a lie. And people, finally, have started catching on."
Ron Reagan
(August 1, 2004)
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