"The situation there is going from bad to worse, the UN is pulling out, the ICRC is suspending personnel movements. There are no foreign journalists there. There is very little water, fuel or food, and a shortage of medical supplies. Troops in such situations, without the bright clear lines of humanitarian law, don't act in ways that countries are proud of. Please do something if you can."

Well, it will be just like Falujah then wont it?

Civil rights, race riots and assassinations.

No, worse. Your point?

Thanks, for the clarification. I was trying to be careful about your views, I did say that you could correct me if I was wrong. I was relying on memory.

Forbidden was probably the wrong word, would "unwanted" or "considered nuts" be better? I could have been clearer -- I was thinking more of the reactions of the other posters and of the editorial board rather than yourself. You have always had an extremely high tolerance for the opinions of others.

I am very familiar with Chomsky on 911, although he doesn't seem to have spent too much time on it. As for me, I am more with Prof. Griffin.

As for self pity, I have none...

Palestra: Hamas did not "take over" Gaza, it won an election - something everyone seems to forget. That does not make Hamas heroic. It also does not make Israel heroic.

Now, the big question: How do we get our "elected" representatives in Washington to stop worrying about Israel and start worrying about the U.S.?

And can we all agree to not indulge the national orgy of self-pity that will certainly follow the next attack "unprovoked" "terrorist" attack on the U.S.?

I'm getting so damn sick of this: our crap Congress, our crap media, our crap national I.Q.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that read : "Change" It's the new "Same"

What is it? WHY have Israel's interests been made into the US's interests?

I have NEVER seen a good answer to that.

-- fawltylogic

It is the site of "Armageddon."

n.

1. Bible The scene of a final battle between the forces of good and evil, prophesied to occur at the end of the world.

Thanks, for the clarification. I was trying to be careful about your views, I did say that you could correct me if I was wrong. I was relying on memory.

Fair enough. I'm just a little sensitive to the criticism, perhaps, because I tend, in general, to believe that more questioning of things -- including, perhaps especially, the most sacred pieties -- is better than less. And I would certainly never avoid doing so because of concern about how it would be perceived. Suffice to say, I'm just not persuaded that there's anything worthwhile there, for the reasons Chomsky explains, and it's not much more complicated than that.

The U.S.'s role in the Middle East has largely been biased towards Israel despite Rice's best efforts negotiate peace agreements between the waring regions. We continue to support the country financially and abhor acts of violence by Palestinians like suicide bombings, which we parallel to terrorism.

What most people overlook, however, is that this conflict is less about the hostilities between Muslims and Jews and more about deep-seeded beliefs held by the Israeli and Palestinian people.

Evan

http://www.beyondrace.com

WashingtonDC seemingly cannot get to cliffsedge fast enough to perform final jump over the edge and long fall into failure and infamy.

That Americans seem to relish reliving how Native Americans fared at hand of U.S.Government over and over surely a throwback to worst of 18th and 19th century WashingtonDC conduct on treaty signing,treaty breaking,pushing Native tribes off land,killing while doing so and then repeating the above many times over.

Israel would like to call what it is doing in/to Gaza and all Gazans a "war" when it comes closer to being a ruthless power imposition of one sided Israeli militarism run amok and a brutal mayhem and death dealing infliction on civilians of all ages,sex and helpless states of being.

Israel--according to the guy on Rachel Maddow last night--is gaming this to suit time and event layout for next two weeks.

Evidently keeping any press out part of the brave IDF/IAF intent to keep whatever they are doing to Gaza and Gazans nicely cloaked and unknown until it "will not matter or be cared about" as I believe the reporter(Richard Engle?) put it.

How brave and noble of Israel. Or is this quite hitlerian in scope and nature?

Today--at www.zmag.org--at ZNet site--there are several entries under Jan.08 worthy of a read. In particular I will point out the entry by Jonathan Cook titled "Israel's Aim" as I think it gets to the nut of what Israeli intent for Gaza is.

In short summary Israel intends to fob Gaza off on both USA troops being on Egyptian/Gazan border as part of a "new" truce and then also pull Egypt into being defacto Gazan overlord. With this in place then Israel can turn on West Bank and force the puppet Fatah to come to terms on "final peace agreement" that pretty much is based on full Israeli desires of outcome.

Or as Jonathan Cook's entry describes it to be "Israel's favorite form of negotiation--full Israeli unilateralism of the process and full Israeli take all of what it wants or will want still" when all is signed and "settled" to Israel's satisfaction.

So--WashingtonDC cannot get to cliffsedge fast enough?

Run faster! Run harder! History will record the infamy well.

It is of course disputed (what in the Middle East isn't?), but the preponderance of the evidence strongly suggests that it was in fact the Israelis who bailed at Taba (and specifically, Ehud Barak), not the Palestinians. Wikipedia actually has a pretty good account of it, with pretty good citations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taba_Summit

It was a pity, it was the only time that the peace process actually produced some light at the end of the tunnel. Both sides were actually making real concessions. But then Bush came in, and then Sharon, and that was that.

But please stop mis-characterizing the deal that was almost there, and please stop propagating the lie that the breakdown of the negotiations was the Palestinians' fault.