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TALKING TO THE ENEMY
Insurgents, Islamacists, Nationalists - Iraq, Iran, Hamas
MER - MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 31 January: In Iraq the
U.S. is secretly talking with the 'insurgent' enemy; and doing so in
some ways even behind the back of the Shiite-dominated government the
Americans essentially brought to power...outmanuevered in a way by
Ayatollah Sistani. The reason why is that the 'insurgent' enemy has
great determination and considerable strength and is causing much
hemorraging of U.S. blood, treasure, and credibility. Add to this, in
this case, the growing awareness/fear in Washington that the result of
their invasion/occupation has become a Shiite-heavy regime with growing
ties to Iran -- this even as the U.S. and Israel ready their plans to
'deal with' Iran.
The Americans of course are always publicly sloganning how they
will never 'negotiate with terrorists'; but this is not the reality nor
should it be. For first of all the 'terrorists' are actually on the
whole quite a collection of home-grown freedom fighters and
nationalists -- certainly that from their perspective -- and the
'foreign forces' the Americans keep cussing are actually, when you
think about it, they themselves and their allies whom they have
coerced, bribed, and threatened into joining them.
In Iraq today the American army is stretched to the breaking
point; huge amounts of money and blood continue to be lost in the Iraqi
debacle; American journalists are being kidnapped and TV anchor men
blown up; and the mid-term U.S. election is approaching with
Bush/Cheney needing options if their fortunes look too bleak. Making
sure the domestic impeachment forces don't gain traction and have legs
is now a major consideration at the White House; and tonight's State of
the Union speech will reflect that though of course no one this evening
is going to directly mention the "I" word.
The lessons of all this are not lost on Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, et. al.
But this now worldwide political chess game is a very dangerous one for
all. By miscalculation, misunderstanding, or mistake the region is
heading toward still further rebellion and possible chaos. The
Americans can use their devastating power to crush any and all in the
short term; but the result down the road may well be still greater
death, destruction, and heartache for themselves as well as everyone
else. Even World War III could conceiveable emerge from this
historic crucible of forces and pressures now spinning out of control
in a political vortex drawing in the other great powers including
Russia and China. 'Talking To The Enemy' -- including Iran and Hamas
- will not be enough under all these convoluted circumstances. First
this will have to be done in a serious and respectful way, not a
duplicitous way which is the American reputation, and for good
reasons. There will have to be actual significant policy changes by
the American Empire or else -- especially when it comes to reversing
Israeli apartheid and realigning American policies and interests in
truly new ways, not just more rhetorical trickery and obfuscation and
fronting for the Israelis who have their own very self-serving designs
for the region. MiddleEast.Org
Exclusive: Direct Talks—U.S. Officials and Iraqi Insurgents
. Newsweek - Feb.
6, 2006 issue - American officials in Iraq are in face-to-face talks
with high-level Iraqi Sunni insurgents, NEWSWEEK has learned. Americans
are sitting down with "senior members of the leadership" of the Iraqi
insurgency, according to Americans and Iraqis with knowledge of the
talks (who did not want to be identified when discussing a sensitive
and ongoing matter). The talks are taking place at U.S. military bases
in Anbar province, as well as in Jordan and Syria. "Now we have won
over the Sunni political leadership," says U.S. Ambassador Zalmay
Khalilzad. "The next step is to win over the insurgents." The groups
include Baathist cells and religious Islamic factions, as well as
former Special Republican Guards and intelligence agents, according to
a U.S. official with knowledge of the talks. Iraq's insurgent groups
are reaching back. "We want things from the U.S. side, stopping
misconduct by U.S. forces, preventing Iranian intervention," said one
prominent insurgent leader from a group called the Army of the
Mujahedin, who refused to be named because of the delicacy of the
discussions. "We can't achieve that without actual meetings."U.S.
intelligence officials have had back-door channels to insurgent groups
for many months. The Dec. 15 elections brought many Sunnis to the polls
and widened the split between Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi's foreign jihadists
and indigenous Sunni insurgents. This marks the first time either
Americans or insurgents have admitted that "senior leaders" have met at
the negotiating table for planning purposes. "Those who are coming to
work with [the U.S.] or come to an understanding with [the U.S.], even
if they worked with Al Qaeda in a tactical sense in the past—and I
don't know that—they are willing to fight Al Qaeda now," says a Western
diplomat in Baghdad who has close knowledge of the discussions. An
assortment of some of Iraq's most prominent insurgent groups also
recently formed a "council" whose purpose, in addition to publishing
religious edicts and coordinating military actions, is to serve as a
point of contact for the United States in the future. "The reason they
want to unite is to have a public contact with the U.S. if they
disagree," says the senior insurgent figure. "If negotiations between
armed groups and Americans are not done, then no solutions will be
found," says Issa al-Addai al-Mehamdi, a sheik from the prominent
Duleimi tribe in Fallujah. "All I can say is that we support the idea
of Americans talking with resistance groups." They
have much to discuss. For one, Americans and Iraqi insurgent groups
share a common fear of undue Iranian influence in Iraq. "There is more
concern about the domination by Iran of Iraq," says a senior Western
diplomat, "and that combination of us being open to them and the
dynamics of struggle for domination of violence has come together to
get them to want to reach an understanding with us." Contacts between
U.S. officials and insurgents have been criticized by Iraq's ruling
Shiite leaders, many of whom have longstanding ties to Iran and are
deeply resented by Sunnis. "We haven't given the green light to [talks]
between the U.S. and insurgents," says Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi,
of the Shiite party, called the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq. <> Negotiations
are risky for everyone—not least because tensions between Al Qaeda and
Iraq's so-called patriotic resistance is higher than ever. Two weeks
ago, assassins killed Sheik Nassir Qarim al-Fahdawi, a prominent Anbar
sheik described by other Sunnis as a chief negotiator for the
insurgency. "He was killed for talking to the Americans," says Zedan
al-Awad, another leading Anbar sheik. Al Qaeda, meanwhile, continues to
gain territory in the Sunni heartland, according to al-Awad: "Let me
tell you: Zarqawi is in total control of Anbar. The Americans control
nothing." Many, on both sides, are hoping that talks could change that. —Scott Johnson, Rod Nordland and and Ranya Kadri http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11079548/site/newsweek/ |
January 2006
Talking To The Enemy Indeed
(January 31, 2006)
In Iraq the U.S. is secretly talking with the 'insurgent' enemy... There will have to be actual significant policy changes by the American Empire or else -- especially when it comes to reversing Israeli apartheid and realigning American policies and interests in truly new ways, not just more rhetorical trickery and obfuscation.
Abbas, Shaath, Safieh, Fateh Officials Should Resign or Be Sacked
(January 30, 2006)
The danger of fractricidal conflict and civil war in Palestine -- an under-the-table goal pursued by the Israelis for some time no matter how much they deny it -- is now greater than ever. The major figures representing the exposed and corrupt remnants of Fateh are attempting to manipulate their way one way or another to retain money, guns, and power. Rather than resigning as he should Fateh's top man, Mahmoud Abbas, is using his considerable backing from the U.S., Israel, Europe, and the Arab 'client regimes' to attempt to keep himself and his cronies in power one way or another. It is an unprecedented dangerous political poker game of bluff, counter-bluff, and chicken being played out not just in occupied Palestine but on the regional and world stages as well and with quite unpredictable results at this point. Meanwhile the Iranians are racing ahead to prepare themselves for attack, the comatose 'peace process' is all but finally declared dead, international energy supply concerns and escalating prices could trigger more conflict and economic hard-times, and the Neocon/Evangelical regime in Washington (under unprecedented assault as the second article below suggests) is desperately seeking new ways for possible salvation and resurrection before the November 2006 mid-term election even as the still hesitant impeachment movement might yet gain traction.
LAWLESS WORLD Erupting Thursday in London
(January 30, 2006)
"...likely to cause a fierce new controversy on both sides of the Atlantic" the new edition of this damning book LAWLESS WORLD will not be published until Thursday in London, just hours after President Bush's State of the Union 2006 address to Congress at 9pm tomorrow. Major pressures are now building in both Washington and London to actually attempt to remove from power those who brought about the Iraq war through such chicanery and duplicity. But if the pressures really get too strong expect the tension with Iran to escalate further and maybe explode into military exchanges and/or another major 'terrorist attack' either from the pertrators most expect or from the underground manipulators connected to those in power whom many now suspect with considerable damning circumstantial evidence
Assassination Backlash - Hamas Landslide
(January 26, 2006)
When the Israelis released the founder of Hamas from prison some years ago they did so because they had attempted to assassinate in Amman the man who today heads Hamas from Damascus and they needed to provide King Hussein an excuse to give them back their caught and endangered Mossad henchmen. Then, a few years later, they assassinated Sheik Ahmed Yassin, a blind paraplegic who founded Hamas in the late 1980s, as he emerged from a Gaza Mosque one morning -- this on top of an ongoing anti-Hamas assassination campaign designed to dismember and weaken 'The Islamic Resistance Movement'. The actual result however is what happened yesterday in a sea of Hamas green.
Hamas Wins Big
(January 26, 2006)
There's a long history to why Hamas has been so victorious in occupied Palestine. And whatever the Israeli p.r. spin about what has happened they and the U.S. are really the midwives.
Iran Crisis
(January 25, 2006)
This day was destined to come sooner or later. With the Israelis having a considerable arsenal of nuclear weapons and the ability to delivery them
tactically to the battlefield as well as strategically by submarine and airplane a gross imbalance has been there in the region for some time already. Furthermore there should be no doubt that Israel's apartheid and bloodletting policies toward the Palestinians have been a major force enflaming Arab and Muslim sentiments throughout the region; while militant neo-imperialist U.S. policies on top of the
American-Israeli alliance and the rise of Christian Fundamentalism have fueled the raging passions and led to today's imbroglio.
Hamastan Indeed
(January 24, 2006)
Hamas is not taking power tomorrow in occupied Palestine; it is instead asserting power in what can be seen as a kind of historic political blowback for so many awful years of miserable corruption, gross ineptitude and dastardly co-optation by those whom the U.S., Israel, and the Arab 'client regimes' pushed so hard to date to lord over the millions of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Call it as well a kind of democratic payback for the Israeli/U.S. assassinations of the senior generation of Palestinian leaders including in recent years the founder of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, and the long-time Chairman of the PLO, Yasser Arafat.
Questions About 9/11 That Don't Go Away
(January 23, 2006)
So much of what is happening now in our world can be traced back to the year 2001 when Bush/Cheney and the Neocons came to power in Washington, Ariel Sharon came to power in Israel, and what we all now simply call 9/11 happened. But just what did really happen? Nagging questions not only are not going away, they are surfacing from credible people and need to be very seriously and independently investigated.
U.S. Caught In The Act In Occupied Palestine
(January 22, 2006)
American credibility has rarely been lower; American duplicity has rarely been higher; and the exposure of American lies and hypocrisy has rarely been more evident than in the lead story in today's Washington Post.
Torturing Palestinians
(January 21, 2006)
From MER in January 1997: Torture of Palestinians is not only routine and systematic, in it actually sanctioned by the Israeli legal system that has been twisted to serve Israeli policies. Going back to the Shinbet scandal of the early 1980's, even more sadistic forms of torture have given way to the kinds of 'legalized' torture methods outlined in this important article from one of the few independent and courageous media sources in Israel, The Alternative Information Center (AIC). Among the reasons the Israelis get away with such systematic torture of Palestinians is that hardly anyone is willing to protest. The so-called "Palestinian Authority" practices similar and even worse torture techniques, as do nearly all of the Arab governments in the region -- so they are hardly in a position to protest. And the "liberal" American Jewish community has been morally bankrupt about such issues for so long now that to speak up at this point would be to condemn themselves for permitting, and even encouraging in many cases, such Nazi-like behavior by the Israelis for decades.
"WAR on TERRORISM" - Noam Chomsky Lecture on 18 Jan
(January 20, 2006)
This important lengthy lecture was delivered a few days ago in Dublin. Plus information about how to get a unique and now rare video documentary about the start of the "New World Order" -- available now exclusively from MER. At the start of Gulf War I in 1991 -- the beginnings of the Bush-era "New World Order", Noam Chomsky came to Washington and spoke to a huge overflow audience at George Washington University. This video documentary captures the entirety of his speech as well as the extensive question and answer period that followed. This documentary is essential to a serious understanding of U.S. foreign policy worldwide today. Chomsky uniquely provides the background and understanding needed to appreciate what the War in Iraq is really all about as well as the many misrepresentations and lies Washington propogates so often about the Israeli-Palestinian "Peace Process". From the back of the video by Mark Bruzonsky: "There's no one like Chomsky if you want to truly understand the realities of both U.S. policies and the overall situation in the Middle East...
Any Questions or Comments - CHAT at 12pm today
(January 20, 2006)
If you hvae any Questions or Comments about this program or MER use CHAT at 12pm today (Washington, DC time)
Palestinian 'Election' Approaches...Still Maybe
(January 19, 2006)
In the end it may be that the failing remnants of the disgraced 'Palestinian Authority' -- after so many years of miserable corruption and co-optation -- are now too weak and fractured to even manage to 'postpone' the long-promised Legislative election... Now the past is coming back to haunt the PA -- and their godfathers as well.
PARADISE NOW or is it PARADISE LOST?
(January 18, 2006)
Though they run a far more effective propaganda network the Jewish and Zionist establishments don't always get their way and have in fact lost quite a bit of credibility and following. This article from earlier this week in The Christian Science Monitor. And we certainly hope that those in Iraq who are legitimately and so courageously standing up against the US/UK/Israeli invasion/occupation will decide to release the CSM correspondent they are holding hostage, showing that they are sophisticated enough to distinguish between hostile and friendly Christians and thereby giving hope amidst so much despair and bloodletting.
ISLAM, SEX and the INTERNET
(January 17, 2006)
The cultural and emotional differences between Islam and Christianity and Judaism are considerable -- never more so than in the areas relating to women and sexuality. This interesting but not really adequate article is from today's Guardian in the UK: SEMINAL QUESTIONS - As scholars question the place of nudity in marriage, Islamic clerics are hotly debating exactly what sexual practices are acceptable, writes Brian Whitaker
The Faster March To International War
(January 16, 2006)
Joining the rising chorus is a growing group of sometimes neo-con, sometimes evangelical, sometimes hustling and/or sponsored academics. They are now contributing to the growing 'New World Order' hysteria that now dominates American political life through the pages of associated magazines and newspapers. While Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson for instance is right indeed to be warning about the great dangers now immediately ahead, his analogies and heroes are so misguided and off the mark one has to wonder just who is really orchestrating and behind this kind of thing. This Ferguson article appeared over the weekend in The Telegraph published in the U.K.
Historic Anti-U.S./Israel Crucible of Hatred and Revenge
(January 15, 2006)
One day Pakistan will no longer be lead by a military General empowered by the U.S and manipulated by the CIA. Remember now that today's feared Zawahiri left his Cairo medical practice to oppose the U.S. when he felt Egypt was deceived and co-opted by the U.S. Bin Laden himself, after working with the Americans to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan and working intimately with the American-sponsored Royal Family of Saudi Arabia, turned against the U.S. when American troops on top of the CIA directly occupied his country. And of course Iraq is today a country erupting as a result of U.S. occupation and destruction while Iran is a country today still rebelling after so many years of tortuous rule by the Shah and so much CIA-plotting to control that country.
INFORMATION For Persons Using This Program MiddleEast.Org
(January 12, 2006)
Useful INFORMATION For Persons Using This Program always available at MiddleEast.Org/MER
What Sharon Has Wrought; and What He Has Left
(January 12, 2006)
Understanding what has happened between Israel and Palestinians over the years requires not only expert analysis but considerable memory, ideological as well as political understanding, and an ability to put the historical pieces all together. Meron Benviniste's article today in Ha'aretz is of considerable help in summarizing the situation past, present, and maybe future.
Ariel Sharon - by Robert Fisk
(January 6, 2006)
There are few journalists who have the knowledge and perspective of Robert Fisk. This from his recent book, footnoted at the end and highly recommended.
Chaos and Geostrategic Changes of Historic Consequences Looming
(January 6, 2006)
The Year 2006 is now more ominous than ever.
Sharon's Huge Legacy
(January 5, 2006)
Sharon's legacy is overwhelming, and not for the positive
MER Mark Bruzonsky on Channel 5 Evening News Tonight in Washington, DC area
(January 4, 2006)
MER Mark Bruzonsky on Channel 5 Evening News Tonight in Washington, DC area
Sharon - 'significant stroke' reported tonight in Israel
(January 4, 2006)
Sharon - 'significant stroke' reported tonight in Israel
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