Letters to the Editor
macgupta
Published Letters: 375
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On American Jewish organizations support for the peace process
[Read the article: John McCain's bid for American Jewish votes]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dunno the antecedents of this article, but seems interesting:
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/April_2008/0804052.html
"Israeli Prime Minister Olmert was sharply critical of American Jewish groups opposing the peace efforts. According to the Nov. 30 edition of The Forward, “In a rare public spat between Israel and its supporters in the U.S., Prime Minister Ehud Olmert bluntly denounced efforts by a coalition of American Jewish groups aimed at maintaining a united Jerusalem. Following statements by several hawkish and Orthodox groups that appeared to question Israel’s right to broach discussion of dividing Jerusalem with the Palestinians, Olmert told reporters...that Israel has exclusive purview over negotiating the future of its capital.”
Olmert declared: “Does any Jewish organization have a right to confer upon Israel what it negotiates or not? This question was decided a long time ago. The government of Israel has a sovereign right to negotiate anything on behalf of Israel.”"
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@quickstrategy
[Read the article: John McCain's bid for American Jewish votes]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks, I missed your earlier post; glad to have added to the point.
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In general, I agree with the writer who said that McCain is angling for
1. the Xtian fundamentalist vote whose motivations w.r.t. Israel were described previously
In addition, I think he wants:
2. the approving chorus (to be amplified by the press) of the most vocal organizations that McCain is the "most pro-Israel" of the candidates.
This may help sway voters in general.
3. donations from single-issue millionaires whose single issue is Israel.
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Indian POV on Iranian nukes
[Read the article: John McCain's bid for American Jewish votes]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.indianexpress.com/story/302376.html
Quote:
Iranian efforts to acquire a clandestine nuclear-weapon capability go back to 1987. At that time, Iran was fighting the last year of its eight-year war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Saddam’s aggression was supported by the United States and many Arab countries. The Muslim Ummah, the world over, did not condemn Saddam’s aggression and his use of chemical weapons on Iran, or the hundreds of missiles he sent raining on that country. The Indian government of that day did not worry about Shia feelings. When Iran took the issue of the use of weapons of mass destruction to the United Nations, the US and European countries sat on their hands and took no action against Saddam. At that stage, Iran approached Khan to help it with the uranium enrichment programme.
Quote:
According to the former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers (a disclosure he repeated during his visit to the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses two months ago), Khan had been allowed to go free by the Dutch authorities, after his arrest twice in 1975 and 1986, on the intervention of the CIA. Therefore, it is a fair assumption that the US knew what Iran and Khan were up to in 1987.
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In the same spirit...
[Read the article: Why the Jeremiah Wright story deserves more attention]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This SO bumped off the much-more-fun-to-discuss "Obama is a crypto-Muslim" from the news.
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OT: Kagan snark
[Read the article: Why the Jeremiah Wright story deserves more attention]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.lewrockwell.com/murphy/murphy132.html
Starts off:
When it comes to theoretical justifications for the continued occupation of Iraq, the gold standard is the Weekly Standard. Bill Kristol and Fred Kagan must be extremely intelligent and gifted writers, because whenever I read their work or hear them speak, I’m halfway to killing 30 foreigners before suddenly snapping out of it. Kristol and Kagan are quite simply masters at making their reckless positions sound eminently reasonable and "conservative."
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In Denial
[Read the article: Fred Hiatt on the noble glories of occupation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you are a politician then whether you're for staying in Iraq or for withdrawing, you simply cannot state that American policy is destroying at least one country and is not good (let alone any of Wright or Jefferson's trembling at God's Wrath). Americans - in general - simply will not tolerate such talk.
Arthur Silber writes of the "Shocking Immorality of Our Constricted Thought".
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/11/regrettable-misjudgments-shocking.html
As a nation, we are resolute in our refusal to identify the true nature of our actions, and in our refusal to acknowledge the consequences of what we do.
and quotes Massing
How can such a critical feature of the U.S. occupation remain so hidden from view? Because most Americans don't want to know about it. The books by Iraqi vets are filled with expressions of disbelief and rage at the lack of interest ordinary Americans show for what they've had to endure on the battlefield. In "Operation Homecoming," one returning Marine, who takes to drinking heavily in an effort to cope with the crushing guilt and revulsion he feels over how many people he's seen killed, fumes about how "you can't talk to them [ordinary Americans] about the horror of a dead child's lifeless mutilated body staring back at you from the void, knowing you took part in that end."
Because GG and many commenters are not silent, I keep returning here.
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War Crime
[Read the article: Fred Hiatt on the noble glories of occupation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A government that uses air power on a civilian population that it controls has gone beyond the limit and needs to be abolished.
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@L.W.M. - regime change
[Read the article: Fred Hiatt on the noble glories of occupation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Am I calling for regime change?
Yes, but by us alone, and not any busybodies from abroad.
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Meanwhile in a parallel universe...
[Read the article: Fred Hiatt on the noble glories of occupation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2008/03/21/8027
So many publications have expressed such overwhelming interest in the perspectives of those of us who opposed the Iraq War when it had a chance of doing good that I have had to permit multiple publication of this article in most of the nation’s elite media venues....
(via fafblog)