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NEWSFLASH: At least 83 people were killed and 233 wounded
in a wave of coordinated insurgent attacks across Iraq on Thursday.
As we prepare to announce the major improvememts and changes with
MER, these Readers' Comments from April that have now been compiled:
COMMENTS From READERS Around The World
Subject: 2 friends of mine
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004
To: MER@MiddleEast.Org.
To whom it may concern:
Just a bit of info. Two of my friends also re-subscribed as I did earlier this evening.
All of us would be in a vacuum if it were not for your informative articles. It is a
wonderful site. Hopefully we will not be removed from your list, by that I mean
the evil forces that are out there, that do not want people to know the truth.
Bev
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004
To: MER@MiddleEast.Org
I am not a new member but have been for the past year and a half and
could not imagine not being able to get your insightful analysis of the
Middle East "Rape". I have been forwarding your articles
to all my friends and pertinent organizations on a regular basis.
Thanks anyway for re-registering me and keep up the good work!
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2004
To: Mark@MiddleEast.Org
Dear Mark, while I was travelling in the train, the person next to me an
American was reading a Christian magazine and I borrowed it from him
and started reading and I came across the article HOLLYWOOD,
ISRAEL AND THE JEWS. I'm a senior pastor of a church in Sri Lanka
and it's so sad to see that many churches here pray for israel and not for
the suffering Palestines. They say that Jews are God's people, but what
about the poor, helples Palestines. But we are praying for them that
justice will be done for the,Palestines.
THANKING YOU.
PASTOR ROHAN FERNANDO,
NUGEGODA, SRI LANKA
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004
From: Iris Freelander
To: 'MER - Mid-East Realities - MiddleEast.Org'
Thank you for this message and for your invaluable, truthful MER information.
I trust that you have received the check I sent about a week ago.
Sincerely,
Iris Freelander
Subject: SUBSCRIBE
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004
From: Charlie Seifried
To:
I think that you are the most responsible source of information on this
subject. I really appreciate what you have done. You have stuck your neck
out in a very volatile situation and have had the courage to say what is not
in the mainstream spin. Keep it up. I refer you to many others.
Thanks
Charlie Seifried
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004
Please do not remove, I enjoy receiving MER daily.
J Lee Cline
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004
To: MERList@MiddleEast.Org
Just want to make doubly sure that I continue to receive MER articles.
It's really a great service. Thank you. Donna Gann
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004
Tthank you for your mail, love your site. I live in the city
of Melbourne, the state of Victoria, Australia.
Have a nice day, CIAO, Leon.
.
Subject: I would like to receive your information
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004
To: MER@MiddleEast.org
To Whom It May concern:
PLEASE ADD MY "NAME" ...to your list of subscribers.
Love your spirit as much as I do your valuable information.
Thanks.
David Shaheen
ubject: keep up the brilliant work!
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004
From: Hosna T.
To: MER@MiddleEast.org
Hello MER staff,
I would like to thank your of your persistent efforts in publicizing the
truth. I enjoy your articles very much and hope that MER never becomes
censored.
Best of luck to you,
Hosna T.
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 10:57:46 -0400
From: Bradford Curtis
Your publication is invaluable although one reads nothing uncritically.
Keep up your efforts.
cb
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004
Thank you so much. This is the REAL deal news!
JANICEWolfstar
Subject: Re: Israel-Connected Jewish Neocons in Charge in Washington
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2004
To: MER@MiddleEast.Org
Dear MER,
I have been a subscriber to MER for several years, and enormously
admire your coverage....
China Miéville
Subject: Thanks for your service
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2004
Just a brief note to tell you that I appreciate your news service and editorials....
I write as a Christian with deep interest in the relationship between U.S.
foreign policy/national security and biblical prophesy eschatology...
So long as a major segment of evangelical Christianity identifies with this
doctrine, the neocon insiders and the GOP power brokers can can
count them loyal to the new American Empire and its crusades,
particularly in the Middle East. The propaganda to create and
sustain this movement has been widespread and highly effective. --
Indeed, a fascinating and important topic!
Thanks again for your service.
-- FMK
P.S. Among the Jewish neocons, I was surprised by the
absence of Paul Gigot, editor of The Wall Street Journal.
To: MER - Mid-East Realities - MiddleEast.Org
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2004
Subject: contribution
Would like to contribute with my visa credit card. I was first in the Near
East 50 years ago with my family and as a college student. America's
treatment of the Palestinian situation was so obvious and unconscionable
that I returned to Stanford and changed my major to Middle East History
and Politics - attending class at Hoover Institute which then had a fine
geo-political section on the Mid East with visiting professors and
authorities like Christina Harris and Fayez Sayegh. I've returned to the
Middle East many times, principally as an ngo member in assistance to
the Palestinian cause and in archeological pursuits. My husband, now
deceased, was from Syria and a professor in geophysics and seismic
engineering. Wherever I've lived, I've sponsored speakers and films
on the Middle East and been involved with a number of relevant
political and humanitarian organizations. I'm grateful to have this
excellent MER resourse - and I definitely put it to work.
Elisabeth
Subject: RE: What the Palestinians Could Do
Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2004 06:43:02 +0000
From: Fakhry Abu Shakra
To: MER@MiddleEast.Org
Dear editor
your article of what the palestinians can do is excellent . i suggest you
take the lead for starting the information blitz campaign which you
suggested. it is the only way to make the palestinian authority aware
of the rest of capable palestinians who are denied any opportunity to
help in their fight.
best regards
fakhry
president
Arab Center for the studies of Democracy and Peace
Amman
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004
From: Furqan Khan
To: mer@MiddleEast.org
Hi My name is Furqan S. Khan and I am writting this email to you because I
wanted to thank you for providing me with information into the realities of
the middle east better then I have ever encountered before even while living
in the middle east. I would especially like to thank Mark Brunsky for his
thought provoking knowledge into politics which quite frankly I wish all
journalists could have to guts to disclose as Mark does. Yes my name does
imply that I was born a muslim but I do praise your website for any kind of
pro muslim or whatever kind of view. Infact I am not a religious person at
all. I believe more in a philantrhropic view of worldly things that I
believe needs to be expressed more. The flagrent honesty of your website
brings out a heart warming feeling in me that keeps the flicker of hope of
man goodness alive in me. Thank you. My only suggestion is that you
transform your website from middle east realities into world realities
because quite frankly the issues which plague the middle east do plague our
world as well and I would only trust people as yourself to tell them like
they truly are.
Subject: Re: Iraqi Battalion Refuses American Orders to Fight in Falluja
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004
From: Deborah Dakin
To: MER - Mid-East Realities - MiddleEast.Org
this was another edition of Mer that was striking. I will tell you I am on
their listserve: sometimes I get the most incredible stuff (like finding
out aobut our intentions to go to war in Iraq long before anyone else was
toalking about it-) and sometimes I just "delete" it without a moment's
hesitation (when they go into rants about Jews and "zionists") but this,
and the Anthony Shahid articles were good. ( I hope you got it-let me know
if you didn't .)
Deb
Subject: Our group
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004
To: mer@MiddleEast.Org
I enjoy your group, and find it unique on the Net.
We have a small discussion group (40) that we started six months ago....
While started by European-Americans, the list has become half Arab or
Arab-North American...
We have found that existing English-language discussion lists, except
those that address ONLY Arab communities, are nearly all censored, if
not controlled,by the Zionists.
Please let me know if you have people interested in joining such a list
Sincerely,
Mark Richie
ADC-San Francisco Executive Committee
Subject: great job
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004
To: MER@MiddleEast.Org
I have always wanted a connection to the 'middle east'.
Growing up in mid America in the '50's all our history was from the
English point of view, and after that, the Roman.
My heritage is Byzantine, our family is from Thrace...which to the west
never existed.
I am writing a series of books, Bramble Days, which celebrates what it
is like to exist in a world that doesn't 'hear' other points.
I grew up with a name, Hadjidakis, around me. It always made me
appreciate the moslem world, altho our Hadji was a Christian one from
Crete to Jerusalem eons ago.
Keep up the good work, keep on sending me MER.
J Cline
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June 2004
About the new MiddleEast.Org
(June 30, 2004)
U.S. Ordered Brits to Attack Iran - Brits Balked
(June 30, 2004)
The order was given in secret by the U.S. commander in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, who was already scheduled to be replaced, quite likely because of his involvement in the horrendous Iraqi torture scandal. But anyone who thinks General Sanchez gave the order without checking first with his neocon bosses back at the Pentagon -- Wolfowitz and Feith, who then of course check with Rumsfeld who then tells the President, Condi, and Colin -- just doesn't understand even at this late date how the invasion/occupation of Iraq came about nor how the Pentagon planning has been progressing for Iran, Syria, North Korea, just as soon as the excuses can be managed.
Bush and U.S. Exposed - book by book by book
(June 30, 2004)
This list of books exposing the Bush presidency for what it really is all about is an essential corrective to all the propaganda and TV clips constantly bombarding the American people... In many ways though some of these books are more significant, however in a TV/Movie age even collectively they will not have the same impact though they do help set a climate for skepticism and anxiety. This particular list was compiled a few months ago by USA Today so it's hardly complete at this point. But it is a good starting place for those wanting to choose a little holiday reading, however depressive, sometimes shocking, surely politically and historically depressing.
America's Baghdad - Corruption, Barricades, Boozing, Fear and Incompetence
(June 29, 2004)
Baghdad is awash with stories of the corruption, cronyism and incompetence of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which was dissolved this week.
Brits Departed Palestine Leaving Civil War - MER FlashBack
(June 29, 2004)
"Contrary to contemporary assertions, the British and the Americans have done far more to prevent democracy in the Middle East, and to inhibit independent economic development as well, then they will ever admit."
Bremer Slinks Away; CIA Slinks Forward
(June 28, 2004)
Thus now Bremer hastily and rather shamefully
slinks away without much fanfare, a few days
early so they say, even as Iraq continues to
seeth in hatred and a slow-simmer civil war.
Baghdad Shuffle
(June 28, 2004)
It's historic alright. A huge historic bungle that is quite literally exploding in their faces as they try to appear to go but actually stay with their carefully chosen Iraqi faces now out front. Over the weekend on ABC News one of the neocon political commentators made a little mistake and clearly called the American-appointed 'interim Iraqi Prime Minister' a "CIA agent" -- it was a rare moment of candor in public in today's confused, uptight, and secretive Washington.
Kurds on 'the return' - Palestinians into ghettos
(June 27, 2004)
Substitute "Palestinians" for Kurds, and "Israelis" for Arabs, and there is a whole different twist to 'the return' of the Kurds featured in this front-page New York Times article last Sunday. Another great irony of our times is that even as the Americans and the Israelis help facilitate what the Kurds are doing in Iraq they demand the Palestinians give up their 'right of return' even though it is enshrined in many U.N. Security Council resolutions going back to 1947...
Worst Crisis Since WWII?
(June 26, 2004)
"the most foolhardy civilian leadership in the
modern history of the United States." (Newsweek) "A vacuum has opened up at the heart of world politics where US leadership ought to be found." (Financial Times) "The unpalatable truth is that the Bush administration has failed in almost everything it has touched."
The Historical Moment - MER Flashback Four Years
(June 25, 2004)
MER FLASHBACK to 25 June 2001: Months before what is now known as "9/11" MER published these articles indicating that a major strike by Osama
Bin-Laden against the U.S. was imminent and that the Israelis were more determined than ever to subjugate the Palestinians. We wrote at the time: "In these conditions any spark can ignite the blaze; and sometimes such giant fires consume more than was originally anticipated, sometimes even those who start them."
BBC Hired by British Government to Broadcast TV to Middle East
(June 24, 2004)
More Readers' Comments from Around the World
(June 24, 2004)
Just some of the many Readers's Comments continually pouring in to MER from around the world.
Thank you for previewing the new MiddleEast.Org
(June 23, 2004)
Cheney and Rumseld "linked to murder" of CIA scientist in cold war years
(June 23, 2004)
Secret documents have revealed US Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld are "linked to the murder" of a senior CIA scientist.
It's Now the Second Half of 1948
(June 23, 2004)
As always Professor Tanya Reinhart from Tel Aviv University writes with extraordinary insight.
"...the Israeli military and political leadership are aiming, eventually, at a total destruction of the Palestinian authority, and, with it, the process of Oslo, which is now dominantly considered by them a 'historical mistake'."
Information Warfare - Israel Wins Big
(June 22, 2004)
For 10 years Tim Llewellyn was the BBC's Middle East correspondent. In this passionately argued polemic he accuses British broadcasters, including his former employer, of systematic bias in covering the Arab-Israeli conflict, giving undue prominence to the views of the Israelis while all but disregarding the roots of the crisis and what is being done to the Palestinians.
Gearing Up for IRAN and North Korea
(June 21, 2004)
"...waiting to confront Iraq would have allowed the
United States to confront more immediate dangers....
Because our military is stretched so thin in Iraq, we cannot threaten military action in Iran or North Korea." Martin Peretz and The New Republic
REVOLT in WASHINGTON
(June 20, 2004)
Nader Speaks to Buchanon
(June 15, 2004)
He's going after the real conservative vote, so he says.
Crusade II - Reagan first brought the neocons to power
(June 09, 2004)
Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Abrams, Bush...and the list goes on. Those who have recently led the crusade to invade Iraq, subjugate the Palestinians, and fight Islam, were brought to power in Washington for the first time some 23 years ago when Ronald Reagan of the once far-right was victorious over Jimmy Carter of the once mid-left in American politics. And some now forget that the man who greatly helped bring Ronald Reagan to power was none other than George Herbert Walker Bush, former head of the CIA, who now became Vice-President for the next eight years and then himself succeeded Reagan as President in 1989.
Realities of the "Reagan Plan" for the Middle East
(June 06, 2004)
The seeds for the Intifada and for Israel's increasingly aggressive escalating occupation of and dispossession of the Palestinian people were sown in the years of the Reagan Presidency. Indeed it was Ronald Reagan who first brought what we today call the "neocons" to power in Washington, and the right-wing Republicans who forged such a close alliance with the Israeli Likud of Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, and Ariel Sharon which had come to power in Israel in 1977 for the first time.
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