I'm sure it is tough for Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division to admit that this nation should expect more casualties in the next few months. (Read article) He, after all, is a lot closer to the action than I am and sees the devastation first hand. And he is, well, responsible for it. He is part of the system that is allowing the death and destruction to continue. By his tacit support of the situation he is complicit in it.
At the same time, I don't know the man and probably shouldn't be judging him. It is possible that his warning is a form of resistance to the continuing killing fields -- that is, he may be trying to stimulate civilians into more active civil disobedience. Or he may simply be expressing the military's grande ole tradition of "Suck it up."
Generally, I am not for blaming our enlisted troops for participating in this war. Many volunteered for the military out of economic need, or idealism (No, this is not dead in our youth!) looking for challenges, or simply by being gullible to incredibly heavy and sophisticated advertising! There are many in the land who suggest that the enlisted folks should refuse to fight. This would be great. But, those of us who know what actually occurs on the bases understand that the pressure to stop fighting should come from those who have made a career out of militarism.
What do I mean by, "what actually occurs on the bases"? I mean the constant pressure that the enlisted folks are under: Sergeants who physically and psychologically abuse those under them; chaplain who listen and do nothing when an enlisted person is having trouble; required medical care that never happens or medical recommendations that are not followed by NCOs and COs; threats, disincentives, name-calling, and plain old physical exhaustion. That ANY of these folks can stand up against war gives me the greatest hope for our collective humanity. It is anything but easy to buck the U.S. military -- especially if you are 20 years old and are there to earn the dough for a college education but don't have one yet!
I look to officers, commanders, and those in the upper echelons of military service to accept more responsibility for the devastation -- and press to end it. These folks KNOW what happens in war. God, even I know what happens in war and I've never been in one -- maybe because all the male members of my family have. Military officers have made several small stabs at complaining that the military is "broken" and then they wait for someone to pay attention ... or fix it (Congress? hah! the administration? Pleeze! Civilians? too busy shopping!)
I've said from Day 1 of the war: don't do it! followed by: bring the troops home. Four years and a huge cost of life and limb later, we may see the troops pulled out in another year or so. But, you know what? It is too late. Not having a plan for what happens after the troops leave will heap even more shame upon our heads as Americans.
We are messing up big time. And few even care!
Monday, May 7, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
Tel Aviv and Tali Fahima's court hearing (December 2005)
(more from Israel, December 2005)
So what is Tel Aviv like today (2005) in comparison to 1976-77?
Bigger.
Much bigger … and, seemingly, much more affluent.
And, the people living there, are, if possible, even more direct, plainspoken, and forceful in word and deed than I remember.
Almost 30 years ago I believe I experienced Tel Aviv as a “fun place” and bus, taxi and sherute rides were friendly events where lively passengers shared laughter and information. The half dozen or more Israeli taxi drivers I encountered in TA were dour, brusque, and hostile. When I arrived in Jerusalem the next day I found the same thing with the additional hassle that, to a man, each refused to drive anywhere near the Old City of Jerusalem where I stayed.
Before I go any further, I’m aware that I may be falling into a common stereotype that goes something like this: Intellectuals go to a country for a week and write THE definitive article about the place; they go for a fortnight and write THE definitive dissertation about the place; they go for a month and write THE definitive book about the place.
Let me be clear: at the beginning of this trip I spent 2 nights in Tel Aviv and at the end of the trip (6 days later) I spent another night traveling to and interviewing in the Tel Aviv “suburbs” of Netanya and Nof Yam. I may have gleaned hardly enough data for an article (but enough for the blogosphere?). Nevertheless, I formed impressions of Tel Aviv that I compare to vague 30-year-old romantic memories and describe as they occurred. Take what you will from the following vignettes.
Travel from SFO to Tel Aviv on KLM airlines was relatively uneventful after Amsterdam. There I was questioned quite thoroughly about the presence of visas from Iraq and Jordan in my passport. I explained that I’d landed in Amman, Jordan, and driven to Baghdad, Iraq, during the war, that I’d visited my son on a military base north of Baghdad, and that I met and talked to many other people while in Iraq. The Dutch official at Schipol Airport appeared skeptical and checked my answers with an Israeli security agent several times before I was allowed to pass through the security gate, my bags tagged with multiple security stickers.
On the ‘plane I listened carefully to the Hebrew spoken around me and tried to follow the gist of various conversations. Since I’ve not been immersed in Hebrew for years, it was tough going. I picked out an occasional word but couldn’t string together enough words to understand anything of consequence.
We landed at 1:15am. After the thorough questioning in Amsterdam, I was uneasy about those two visas. The passport control agent, however, didn’t blink an eye at them and passed me through with a “welcome back to Israel.”
Ben Gurion airport is vast and recently renovated. The architecture has the feel of an updated Wailing Wall: stone, large open spaces and a sense of being encompassed by the Wall as one heads towards Baggage Claim and the exit.
At the mobile phone rental center (“Pelephone”) I struck up a conversation with a passenger from the same flight and we agreed to share a taxi to the city. Aram is Israeli born, living in Oakland with his American wife and two small kids, and returned to visit his ailing father located in Haifa. Aram expressed deep love for Tel Aviv’s vibrant social life, the current art scene, dining, and late hours (but he didn’t want to return there to live). Indeed, in the section of town Aram would stay overnight, there were several small parks and plazas designed with colorful sculptures. Thanks to Aram for managing our business with the taxi driver so I didn’t have to struggle with elementary Hebrew at 2 o’clock in the morning exhausted after an 8 hour flight.
Turned out the hotel where I’d reserved a room was a bit of a fleabag but conveniently located near Dizengoff Street and the beach.
Next morning I braved the streets of Tel Aviv in search of the Law Court.
Word of warning: if you are headed to the Law Court (or anywhere in TA) ensure you’re going in the correct direction before you get on a bus…or into a sherute…. And remember that the folks of whom you ask direction may want to help and may believe that they are helping but may not actually understand your pronunciation of the place you’re seeking.
Luckily I’d set out early and built in time for getting lost. After several false starts I hired a taxi … and the Law Court turned out to be only about five or six blocks away!
I'd been warned that the security into the building was tight and to expect a long wait. I was pleasantly surprised to find a line of people only about 10 deep. Security is tight and my backpack, camera case, jacket, and all my pockets were scanned by man and machine but I was cleared within 10 minutes.
Tali Fahima is about 27 years old, an Israeli of Misrag descent (north africa) who became curious about the Israeli occupation of The Territories. One day she decided to travel to the Occupied Territories ("OT") to satisfy her curiosity. She traveled to Jenin camp just after the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) had been into the camp to locate terrorists.
You may have heard of what transpired there in that search: many, many homes were destroyed, people killed, people were sheltering wherever they could, and surviving however they could. Even one Israeli minister had been alarmed at the destruction in Jenin. He noticed an old woman scratching in the rubble of her family home trying to save family heirlooms and, without thinking, he uttered, "she reminds me of my grandmother in the ghetto ...". That comment made the news for a day or so then was shut down and no longer talked about...
In Jenin, Tali was so struck by the devastation she decided to stay and learn more. (BTW, Israeli citizens are not allowed into Palestinian camps, cities, villages, etc.) She found Zukuriya Zubeidi, the leader of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and stayed with him and his family for 3 weeks. Eventually the IDF found her after a long search. To cut a long story short (search "Tali Fahima" on the Internet to learn more about Tali and her stay in Jenin) Tali was held in "Administrative Detention" - aka jail - for almost a year. During this time she became and has remained a controversial figure in Israeli society.
Up until the morning I arrived in court to witness events (the proceedings are conducted in Hebrew and my Hebrew is almost nonexistent...certainly not of the sophistication required for the hearing. It was generally accepted that she'd receive about a 20 - 30 year sentence for contravening Israel's unspoken assumption that no Israeli would go into Palestinian camps nor speak out in the manner that Tali did.
The people who invited me to the court noticied immediately that the atmosphere in the court that day was unusually "festive". People were chatting, Tali appeared in the witness box, then left, then re-appeared. When she was there, her sister went up and talked to her, so did her aunt. Since I was sitting next to her aunt, I asked to speak to Tali as she sat in the witness box.
I found a very energetic, very strong, very determined young woman unbowed by the court system. She said, "how can I go back to my life after what I saw? I can never "unsee" what I saw and I can never remain silent about it. I am ashamed of my country for what it did in Jenin and for what it is doing in the OT. How can I just go back and pretend I know nothing?"
That day, after a threat of a 30 year sentence, Tali took a plea bargain and accepted 3 years; one year was already served, and, considering good behavior, Tali may spend another year in jail.
I suppose a victory of sorts...in comparison to 30 years of jail...but, for what?
I shared the elevator from the court room to the court house exit with severaljovial Israeli men. As we entered the elevator, these med joked about not wanting to share the space with "left wingers" but, nevertheless made room for us. Then they opined that Tali was a traitor who should be hanged from the highest tree and made an example of.
After the hearing, I walked along Dizengoff Street to find lunch: a falafel and glass of fresh squeezed orange juice followed by a stint at an Internet Café.
Falafel and fresh squeezed orange juice may not be as common in Israel and the West Bank as I recall but, with a little determination, these items can still be found nestled amongst the shoe shops, dress shops, cafes, and the money changers of Dizengoff Street. As I munched I tried to imagine myself an ordinary Israeli. Does such a person worry about suicide bombers as she munches on falafel or went about her business? (Actually, I didn’t see anyone else munching on the street but local coffee shops - a la Paris or San Francisco -- were busy.)
Later that afternoon, using a public computer in an Internet Café I wrote an email about Tali’s hearing and mentioned “Fatah.” I’d already struck up a conversation with the young man managing the Café – a graduate of Berkley School of Music in Boston, MA – and, unbeknownst to me, he had been standing quietly behind me reading over my shoulder.
When I turned around to comment on something, he asked, “Are you one of those UN Political People?”
“What is a UN Political Person and why do you ask?”
“Oh, you know, those people who don’t know about how those little Palestinian kids look at you with those big eyes so you feel sorry for them then, bang, the next thing you know they’ve blown you up.”
“I’m not with the UN….”
“I see you are writing about Fatah.”
“Yes, I just came from the a hearing for Tali Fahima. Do you know of her?”
“No, I don’t know her. Is she a UN person?”
“No, she is Israeli, like you. You should look her up on the Internet.”
“Like me? I come from Russia. Does she come from Russia?”
“North Africa, I think.”
“They’re different to us, the North Africans.”
“But still Israeli, no?”
“But not like us. We’re educated, they’re not.”
Just then two customers arrived and the manager turned away to tend them.
I departed.
So what is Tel Aviv like today (2005) in comparison to 1976-77?
Bigger.
Much bigger … and, seemingly, much more affluent.
And, the people living there, are, if possible, even more direct, plainspoken, and forceful in word and deed than I remember.
Almost 30 years ago I believe I experienced Tel Aviv as a “fun place” and bus, taxi and sherute rides were friendly events where lively passengers shared laughter and information. The half dozen or more Israeli taxi drivers I encountered in TA were dour, brusque, and hostile. When I arrived in Jerusalem the next day I found the same thing with the additional hassle that, to a man, each refused to drive anywhere near the Old City of Jerusalem where I stayed.
Before I go any further, I’m aware that I may be falling into a common stereotype that goes something like this: Intellectuals go to a country for a week and write THE definitive article about the place; they go for a fortnight and write THE definitive dissertation about the place; they go for a month and write THE definitive book about the place.
Let me be clear: at the beginning of this trip I spent 2 nights in Tel Aviv and at the end of the trip (6 days later) I spent another night traveling to and interviewing in the Tel Aviv “suburbs” of Netanya and Nof Yam. I may have gleaned hardly enough data for an article (but enough for the blogosphere?). Nevertheless, I formed impressions of Tel Aviv that I compare to vague 30-year-old romantic memories and describe as they occurred. Take what you will from the following vignettes.
Travel from SFO to Tel Aviv on KLM airlines was relatively uneventful after Amsterdam. There I was questioned quite thoroughly about the presence of visas from Iraq and Jordan in my passport. I explained that I’d landed in Amman, Jordan, and driven to Baghdad, Iraq, during the war, that I’d visited my son on a military base north of Baghdad, and that I met and talked to many other people while in Iraq. The Dutch official at Schipol Airport appeared skeptical and checked my answers with an Israeli security agent several times before I was allowed to pass through the security gate, my bags tagged with multiple security stickers.
On the ‘plane I listened carefully to the Hebrew spoken around me and tried to follow the gist of various conversations. Since I’ve not been immersed in Hebrew for years, it was tough going. I picked out an occasional word but couldn’t string together enough words to understand anything of consequence.
We landed at 1:15am. After the thorough questioning in Amsterdam, I was uneasy about those two visas. The passport control agent, however, didn’t blink an eye at them and passed me through with a “welcome back to Israel.”
Ben Gurion airport is vast and recently renovated. The architecture has the feel of an updated Wailing Wall: stone, large open spaces and a sense of being encompassed by the Wall as one heads towards Baggage Claim and the exit.
At the mobile phone rental center (“Pelephone”) I struck up a conversation with a passenger from the same flight and we agreed to share a taxi to the city. Aram is Israeli born, living in Oakland with his American wife and two small kids, and returned to visit his ailing father located in Haifa. Aram expressed deep love for Tel Aviv’s vibrant social life, the current art scene, dining, and late hours (but he didn’t want to return there to live). Indeed, in the section of town Aram would stay overnight, there were several small parks and plazas designed with colorful sculptures. Thanks to Aram for managing our business with the taxi driver so I didn’t have to struggle with elementary Hebrew at 2 o’clock in the morning exhausted after an 8 hour flight.
Turned out the hotel where I’d reserved a room was a bit of a fleabag but conveniently located near Dizengoff Street and the beach.
Next morning I braved the streets of Tel Aviv in search of the Law Court.
Word of warning: if you are headed to the Law Court (or anywhere in TA) ensure you’re going in the correct direction before you get on a bus…or into a sherute…. And remember that the folks of whom you ask direction may want to help and may believe that they are helping but may not actually understand your pronunciation of the place you’re seeking.
Luckily I’d set out early and built in time for getting lost. After several false starts I hired a taxi … and the Law Court turned out to be only about five or six blocks away!
I'd been warned that the security into the building was tight and to expect a long wait. I was pleasantly surprised to find a line of people only about 10 deep. Security is tight and my backpack, camera case, jacket, and all my pockets were scanned by man and machine but I was cleared within 10 minutes.
Tali Fahima is about 27 years old, an Israeli of Misrag descent (north africa) who became curious about the Israeli occupation of The Territories. One day she decided to travel to the Occupied Territories ("OT") to satisfy her curiosity. She traveled to Jenin camp just after the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) had been into the camp to locate terrorists.
You may have heard of what transpired there in that search: many, many homes were destroyed, people killed, people were sheltering wherever they could, and surviving however they could. Even one Israeli minister had been alarmed at the destruction in Jenin. He noticed an old woman scratching in the rubble of her family home trying to save family heirlooms and, without thinking, he uttered, "she reminds me of my grandmother in the ghetto ...". That comment made the news for a day or so then was shut down and no longer talked about...
In Jenin, Tali was so struck by the devastation she decided to stay and learn more. (BTW, Israeli citizens are not allowed into Palestinian camps, cities, villages, etc.) She found Zukuriya Zubeidi, the leader of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and stayed with him and his family for 3 weeks. Eventually the IDF found her after a long search. To cut a long story short (search "Tali Fahima" on the Internet to learn more about Tali and her stay in Jenin) Tali was held in "Administrative Detention" - aka jail - for almost a year. During this time she became and has remained a controversial figure in Israeli society.
Up until the morning I arrived in court to witness events (the proceedings are conducted in Hebrew and my Hebrew is almost nonexistent...certainly not of the sophistication required for the hearing. It was generally accepted that she'd receive about a 20 - 30 year sentence for contravening Israel's unspoken assumption that no Israeli would go into Palestinian camps nor speak out in the manner that Tali did.
The people who invited me to the court noticied immediately that the atmosphere in the court that day was unusually "festive". People were chatting, Tali appeared in the witness box, then left, then re-appeared. When she was there, her sister went up and talked to her, so did her aunt. Since I was sitting next to her aunt, I asked to speak to Tali as she sat in the witness box.
I found a very energetic, very strong, very determined young woman unbowed by the court system. She said, "how can I go back to my life after what I saw? I can never "unsee" what I saw and I can never remain silent about it. I am ashamed of my country for what it did in Jenin and for what it is doing in the OT. How can I just go back and pretend I know nothing?"
That day, after a threat of a 30 year sentence, Tali took a plea bargain and accepted 3 years; one year was already served, and, considering good behavior, Tali may spend another year in jail.
I suppose a victory of sorts...in comparison to 30 years of jail...but, for what?
I shared the elevator from the court room to the court house exit with severaljovial Israeli men. As we entered the elevator, these med joked about not wanting to share the space with "left wingers" but, nevertheless made room for us. Then they opined that Tali was a traitor who should be hanged from the highest tree and made an example of.
After the hearing, I walked along Dizengoff Street to find lunch: a falafel and glass of fresh squeezed orange juice followed by a stint at an Internet Café.
Falafel and fresh squeezed orange juice may not be as common in Israel and the West Bank as I recall but, with a little determination, these items can still be found nestled amongst the shoe shops, dress shops, cafes, and the money changers of Dizengoff Street. As I munched I tried to imagine myself an ordinary Israeli. Does such a person worry about suicide bombers as she munches on falafel or went about her business? (Actually, I didn’t see anyone else munching on the street but local coffee shops - a la Paris or San Francisco -- were busy.)
Later that afternoon, using a public computer in an Internet Café I wrote an email about Tali’s hearing and mentioned “Fatah.” I’d already struck up a conversation with the young man managing the Café – a graduate of Berkley School of Music in Boston, MA – and, unbeknownst to me, he had been standing quietly behind me reading over my shoulder.
When I turned around to comment on something, he asked, “Are you one of those UN Political People?”
“What is a UN Political Person and why do you ask?”
“Oh, you know, those people who don’t know about how those little Palestinian kids look at you with those big eyes so you feel sorry for them then, bang, the next thing you know they’ve blown you up.”
“I’m not with the UN….”
“I see you are writing about Fatah.”
“Yes, I just came from the a hearing for Tali Fahima. Do you know of her?”
“No, I don’t know her. Is she a UN person?”
“No, she is Israeli, like you. You should look her up on the Internet.”
“Like me? I come from Russia. Does she come from Russia?”
“North Africa, I think.”
“They’re different to us, the North Africans.”
“But still Israeli, no?”
“But not like us. We’re educated, they’re not.”
Just then two customers arrived and the manager turned away to tend them.
I departed.
Through Damascus Gate and into the Old City of Jerusalem
(sharing journal entries from trip to Israel/Palestine in December, 2005.)
Israel has grown enormously in the past three decades. Gone are the days when villages, towns and settlements punctuated large swathes of countryside. Now the opposite is true: urban areas punctuate small strips of countryside between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem/Yerushalim/Al Quds. (I’ll use the Anglicized city name “Jerusalem” for brevity but keep in mind this is a city shared by many religions. While the division is most marked between Al Quds (Islam) and Yerushalim (Judaism), Jerusalem – especially the Old City - is important to Christians (including Arab Christians)).
The coastal plain along which Tel Aviv/Yafo (Jaffa) is located gradually climbs inland towards Jerusalem amid gorgeous rock strewn hills and extensive urban settlement. Monuments to Israel's 1948 War of Independence/Palestine's Al Naqba (catastrophe) – rusted hulks of military equipment destroyed during the Israeli push into Jerusalem – appear to be receiving yet another level of enshrinement with the construction of protective walls and platforms designed to elevate these nuggets of Israeli history for better viewing.
While my cynical side is often skeptical about memorials to war, I’m thankful that the monuments are still in evidence along the highway to Jerusalem as they clued me in to how close I was to the city. Without them my overwhelming impression was that I was traveling through a huge conurbation …which, in fact, I was. Jerusalem has been settled in a BIG way….
I was carrying what felt like a lot of luggage (especially after having it thoroughly searched again) plus winter gear and I was tired, hot, and disoriented. (Europe and Israel is supposed to be in the winter season….not so, the heat was amazing and I was overdressed.)
Debarking the bus, I decided to take a taxi to my destination of Ecce Homo in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. This Convent of the Sisters of Zion is on the Via Doloroso and the entrance is across from the Antonia Palace where Pontius Pilate greeted Christ with Ecce Homo(i.e., "Behold, the Man”) before the sentence of crucifixion. It can be reached by car via the Lions Gate (aka St. Stephen’s Gate) on the Jerico Road near the Mount of Olives.
The first taxi driver I solicited for a ride to the Old City simply groused loudly and refused. I tried another and he was somewhat amenable but refused to drive me through the Old City. He barely drove me to my back-up drop off point at Damascus Gate then yelled at me when I expected change from the large note I’d handed over in payment. This, as I’ve already mentioned, was unfamiliar behavior from taxi drivers who were, in "the old days" sources of all sorts of information and more than willing to share it.
Later, after several more unpleasant episodes with Israeli taxi drivers I complained to someone who told me the Israeli taxi drivers won’t drive into the area of East Jerusalem or the vicinity of the Old City as they fear reprisals from Palestinians. One Israeli driver had even been killed by a gunshot to the head. This helped explain some of what I was experiencing from Israelis: there is a sense of having abandoned East Jerusalem and washing their hands of it and anything having to do with Palestinians. The whole issue of different colored number plates on cars plays into this: yellow plates = Israeli or Israeli Arab licenses, white, blue = Palestinian, red = Israeli police/authorities.
I schlepped my luggage through the Damascus Gate and, lo… all was exactly as I remember it from almost 30 years ago. Except…I took a right turn instead of a left turn (perhaps an unconscious memory of buying and enjoying delicious Knaffa from a pastry store nearby….). So I wandered around pulling a bag, moving my camera case and backpack from one should to another and asking, “Via Dolorosa? Via Dolorosa?” Finally I ran into a young Dutch Christian who was also trying to find the Via Dolorosa (the Stations of the Cross thread along the Via Dolorosa). We joined forces and I like to think that, when we eventually found Ecce Homo, she found something unexpected in the Convent and enjoyed her visit to the Lithos upon which Christ was supposed to have stood when sentenced by Pilate. This, like many holy places in the Old City, is not extensively advertised to tourists and easy to miss. (I’d been there before my marriage as one of the priests involved in our mass lived there and he’d shown us around.)
Ecce Homo is simply lovely, peaceful, calm, clean, surrounded by significant sites: the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque on the temple mount, the Holy Sepulchre, and many others.
I had a 2:30pm appointment with Sirham of Palestinian Counseling Center located in Beit
Israel has grown enormously in the past three decades. Gone are the days when villages, towns and settlements punctuated large swathes of countryside. Now the opposite is true: urban areas punctuate small strips of countryside between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem/Yerushalim/Al Quds. (I’ll use the Anglicized city name “Jerusalem” for brevity but keep in mind this is a city shared by many religions. While the division is most marked between Al Quds (Islam) and Yerushalim (Judaism), Jerusalem – especially the Old City - is important to Christians (including Arab Christians)).
The coastal plain along which Tel Aviv/Yafo (Jaffa) is located gradually climbs inland towards Jerusalem amid gorgeous rock strewn hills and extensive urban settlement. Monuments to Israel's 1948 War of Independence/Palestine's Al Naqba (catastrophe) – rusted hulks of military equipment destroyed during the Israeli push into Jerusalem – appear to be receiving yet another level of enshrinement with the construction of protective walls and platforms designed to elevate these nuggets of Israeli history for better viewing.
While my cynical side is often skeptical about memorials to war, I’m thankful that the monuments are still in evidence along the highway to Jerusalem as they clued me in to how close I was to the city. Without them my overwhelming impression was that I was traveling through a huge conurbation …which, in fact, I was. Jerusalem has been settled in a BIG way….
I was carrying what felt like a lot of luggage (especially after having it thoroughly searched again) plus winter gear and I was tired, hot, and disoriented. (Europe and Israel is supposed to be in the winter season….not so, the heat was amazing and I was overdressed.)
Debarking the bus, I decided to take a taxi to my destination of Ecce Homo in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. This Convent of the Sisters of Zion is on the Via Doloroso and the entrance is across from the Antonia Palace where Pontius Pilate greeted Christ with Ecce Homo(i.e., "Behold, the Man”) before the sentence of crucifixion. It can be reached by car via the Lions Gate (aka St. Stephen’s Gate) on the Jerico Road near the Mount of Olives.
The first taxi driver I solicited for a ride to the Old City simply groused loudly and refused. I tried another and he was somewhat amenable but refused to drive me through the Old City. He barely drove me to my back-up drop off point at Damascus Gate then yelled at me when I expected change from the large note I’d handed over in payment. This, as I’ve already mentioned, was unfamiliar behavior from taxi drivers who were, in "the old days" sources of all sorts of information and more than willing to share it.
Later, after several more unpleasant episodes with Israeli taxi drivers I complained to someone who told me the Israeli taxi drivers won’t drive into the area of East Jerusalem or the vicinity of the Old City as they fear reprisals from Palestinians. One Israeli driver had even been killed by a gunshot to the head. This helped explain some of what I was experiencing from Israelis: there is a sense of having abandoned East Jerusalem and washing their hands of it and anything having to do with Palestinians. The whole issue of different colored number plates on cars plays into this: yellow plates = Israeli or Israeli Arab licenses, white, blue = Palestinian, red = Israeli police/authorities.
I schlepped my luggage through the Damascus Gate and, lo… all was exactly as I remember it from almost 30 years ago. Except…I took a right turn instead of a left turn (perhaps an unconscious memory of buying and enjoying delicious Knaffa from a pastry store nearby….). So I wandered around pulling a bag, moving my camera case and backpack from one should to another and asking, “Via Dolorosa? Via Dolorosa?” Finally I ran into a young Dutch Christian who was also trying to find the Via Dolorosa (the Stations of the Cross thread along the Via Dolorosa). We joined forces and I like to think that, when we eventually found Ecce Homo, she found something unexpected in the Convent and enjoyed her visit to the Lithos upon which Christ was supposed to have stood when sentenced by Pilate. This, like many holy places in the Old City, is not extensively advertised to tourists and easy to miss. (I’d been there before my marriage as one of the priests involved in our mass lived there and he’d shown us around.)
Ecce Homo is simply lovely, peaceful, calm, clean, surrounded by significant sites: the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque on the temple mount, the Holy Sepulchre, and many others.
I had a 2:30pm appointment with Sirham of Palestinian Counseling Center located in Beit
The Palestinian Counseling Center in Beit Hanina
(Post from a journal entry of December 2005 in Jerusalem)
The Palestinian Counseling Center is located in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem. I didn’t have a map of the area but I had a cell phone and the goodwill of the female passengers on the bus.
PCC Counselor Siham Rashid advised me to look for The Garden of Eden. Since I’d forgotten whether she’d said it was an actual garden, an archeological site, or something else, I carefully pronounced the Arabic words and looked questioningly at fellow bus passengers. At first they were puzzled, then dumbfounded. Finally someone connected my halting Arabic with the name of a local grocery store – The Garden of Eden - and I hopped off the bus and phoned Siham. She kindly met me on the street and guided me to the Center.
PCC is funded by many international donor organizations…excluding USAID. Siham explained that PCC turns down funds from USAID as its mission is incompatible with PCC’s work and goals. USAID has a reputation for creating dependencies between funds and recipient organizations’ missions; a group that receives USAID funding can find itself financially dependent and pressured to align organizational strategies with those of USAID’s. Siham added that USAID’s donations too frequently include military equipment such as Apache helicopters. She asked how could a group such as PCC accept funds from an organization that also donates weaponry and military equipment that is used against Palestinians with deadly results?
Siham’s full interview will be available in the book, Long Time Passing: Speaking about War and Terror. Meanwhile, a summary follows:
With clinics in several West Bank and Gaza towns, PCC offers mental health services to Palestinian families. Counselors are seeing progressively more severe symptoms of stress, trauma, and mental breakdown in men, women, and, especially, children. Siham is working with a case of selective mutism in a young child, something she says she had never experienced before the start of the second Intifada. The refusal to speak, she believes, is directly related to the child witnessing the demolition of his home, the physical humiliation of his family, and the shooting deaths of his family members at the hands of IDF.
Having interviewed many families, I will mention that traditional Moslem families are highly structured. Men and fathers are breadwinners and they conduct family business with the outside world. The loss of prestige in this respected figure is highly significant. The disempowerment of the family through the loss of prestige, property, and the ability to make a living is devastating to the family unit and the community.
Unusual behaviors in families currently recorded by PCC include domestic violence, violence perpetrated against in-group community members (physical fights at bus stops, for example) the breakdown of authority between fathers and sons, and increasing resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine by young people that result in catastrophes such as suicide bombings.
One point I found particularly important in shifting my own assumptions was PCC’s work to stop local Arabic television stations repeatedly showing images of violence perpetrated by Israelis against Palestinians during the Intifada.
My assumption is that the lack of – or biased - coverage in the United States about, for example, the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan – and in Israel and Palestine – presents false impressions to Americans. Most of the images shown on American television are sanitized. I believe that, if the American public saw more accurate and through coverage of just how our troops are dying, how Iraqis and Afghans are dying and suffering, the extent of the infrastructure damage in Iraq, just how grievously wounded are American soldiers and Iraqi and Afghan civilians, and an accurate social, financial, political and emotional accounting of the magnitude of the devastation, Americans would vehemently protest and our politicians would be forced to act and end these occupations.
Siham pointed out that the images of violence constantly aired on Arabic television increased the stress and the mental suffering of the Palestinians. She believes the producers of the shows were trying to share the real story and attempting to educate the public. What happened instead was that the international community ignored the images while the Palestinians couldn’t escape it on their streets, in their families and communities, and in their homes. Eventually the TV producers agreed to stop showing non-stop footage and the mental pressure was relieved to a small degree on local people.
After my visit to the PCC, I returned to East Jerusalem for dinner at the Jerusalem Hotel and to meet my guide and translator for a trip to Nablus. I made the necessary phone calls and set up interviews with 1) a family with three generations of men imprisoned by the State of Israel and 2) the mother of a Palestinian suicide attacker.
At about 8pm I walked toward Ecce Homo thorough the Lion’s Gate (aka St. Stephen’s Gate) into the Old City. Something was odd about this section of the City. Thursday nights in Moslem tradition tend to be social and festive, something like Friday nights before the weekend for Westerners. The Moslem holy day is Friday. For Jews, the holy day, Shabbat, begins at sunset on Friday. For Christians, the holy day is Sunday.
This Thursday evening the streets were oddly empty except for Police and IDF troops. After entering the Old City I noticed a large gathering, perhaps three to four hundred people, mostly men, in a public space against the northern wall of the Temple Mount / Mount Moriah. This is the one of the most contested and one of the holiest places in both Islam, housing the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Judaism, comprising a section of the Western (or Wailing) Wall from the Roman destruction of the second Temple.
Since no one stopped me I walked to the edge of the group and climbed up a low wall for a better view (other people were already on this wall). It was a gathering or celebration of some sort, clearly Jewish with a lot of Jewish religious symbols and much singing. While the crowd was predominantly men, particularly young men, I saw a few women dressed similarly in little brimmed hats and long, loose, dark colored, western-style skirts and tunics with flat shoes and socks or stockings.
The event was winding and the clusters of energetic dancing and singing men were breaking up. One young man with a bullhorn was directing the singing, chanting and prayers. I took an example from a couple of other amateur photographers and snapped a few pix. I wanted to pull out my video camera and interview but I sensed that this would be unwelcome.
I departed shortly before the entire group dispersed and I retuned to Ecce Homo. At the reception desk I inquired about the event and the group.
Turns out I’d witnessed the tail end of a once a month ritual of the Third Temple Group, Jewish fundamentalist settlers determined to rebuild the Jewish Temple. While a smaller group meets once a week – Thursdays -- in the same spot where I’d encountered them, once a month a group of as many as three thousand marches, chants and sings its way around the Temple Mount and through the Old City while the Police and IDF try to keep the peace. Besides chanting and singing the group intimidates and bullies any non-members braving the streets. Reportedly they spit, verbally abuse, ram flagpoles against doors and entryways of residences, and rail and shout as they go.
Looking back, I’m both sorry I missed the group passing through the streets and glad I did not run into them by returning home earlier.
The Palestinian Counseling Center is located in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem. I didn’t have a map of the area but I had a cell phone and the goodwill of the female passengers on the bus.
PCC Counselor Siham Rashid advised me to look for The Garden of Eden. Since I’d forgotten whether she’d said it was an actual garden, an archeological site, or something else, I carefully pronounced the Arabic words and looked questioningly at fellow bus passengers. At first they were puzzled, then dumbfounded. Finally someone connected my halting Arabic with the name of a local grocery store – The Garden of Eden - and I hopped off the bus and phoned Siham. She kindly met me on the street and guided me to the Center.
PCC is funded by many international donor organizations…excluding USAID. Siham explained that PCC turns down funds from USAID as its mission is incompatible with PCC’s work and goals. USAID has a reputation for creating dependencies between funds and recipient organizations’ missions; a group that receives USAID funding can find itself financially dependent and pressured to align organizational strategies with those of USAID’s. Siham added that USAID’s donations too frequently include military equipment such as Apache helicopters. She asked how could a group such as PCC accept funds from an organization that also donates weaponry and military equipment that is used against Palestinians with deadly results?
Siham’s full interview will be available in the book, Long Time Passing: Speaking about War and Terror. Meanwhile, a summary follows:
With clinics in several West Bank and Gaza towns, PCC offers mental health services to Palestinian families. Counselors are seeing progressively more severe symptoms of stress, trauma, and mental breakdown in men, women, and, especially, children. Siham is working with a case of selective mutism in a young child, something she says she had never experienced before the start of the second Intifada. The refusal to speak, she believes, is directly related to the child witnessing the demolition of his home, the physical humiliation of his family, and the shooting deaths of his family members at the hands of IDF.
Having interviewed many families, I will mention that traditional Moslem families are highly structured. Men and fathers are breadwinners and they conduct family business with the outside world. The loss of prestige in this respected figure is highly significant. The disempowerment of the family through the loss of prestige, property, and the ability to make a living is devastating to the family unit and the community.
Unusual behaviors in families currently recorded by PCC include domestic violence, violence perpetrated against in-group community members (physical fights at bus stops, for example) the breakdown of authority between fathers and sons, and increasing resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine by young people that result in catastrophes such as suicide bombings.
One point I found particularly important in shifting my own assumptions was PCC’s work to stop local Arabic television stations repeatedly showing images of violence perpetrated by Israelis against Palestinians during the Intifada.
My assumption is that the lack of – or biased - coverage in the United States about, for example, the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan – and in Israel and Palestine – presents false impressions to Americans. Most of the images shown on American television are sanitized. I believe that, if the American public saw more accurate and through coverage of just how our troops are dying, how Iraqis and Afghans are dying and suffering, the extent of the infrastructure damage in Iraq, just how grievously wounded are American soldiers and Iraqi and Afghan civilians, and an accurate social, financial, political and emotional accounting of the magnitude of the devastation, Americans would vehemently protest and our politicians would be forced to act and end these occupations.
Siham pointed out that the images of violence constantly aired on Arabic television increased the stress and the mental suffering of the Palestinians. She believes the producers of the shows were trying to share the real story and attempting to educate the public. What happened instead was that the international community ignored the images while the Palestinians couldn’t escape it on their streets, in their families and communities, and in their homes. Eventually the TV producers agreed to stop showing non-stop footage and the mental pressure was relieved to a small degree on local people.
After my visit to the PCC, I returned to East Jerusalem for dinner at the Jerusalem Hotel and to meet my guide and translator for a trip to Nablus. I made the necessary phone calls and set up interviews with 1) a family with three generations of men imprisoned by the State of Israel and 2) the mother of a Palestinian suicide attacker.
At about 8pm I walked toward Ecce Homo thorough the Lion’s Gate (aka St. Stephen’s Gate) into the Old City. Something was odd about this section of the City. Thursday nights in Moslem tradition tend to be social and festive, something like Friday nights before the weekend for Westerners. The Moslem holy day is Friday. For Jews, the holy day, Shabbat, begins at sunset on Friday. For Christians, the holy day is Sunday.
This Thursday evening the streets were oddly empty except for Police and IDF troops. After entering the Old City I noticed a large gathering, perhaps three to four hundred people, mostly men, in a public space against the northern wall of the Temple Mount / Mount Moriah. This is the one of the most contested and one of the holiest places in both Islam, housing the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Judaism, comprising a section of the Western (or Wailing) Wall from the Roman destruction of the second Temple.
Since no one stopped me I walked to the edge of the group and climbed up a low wall for a better view (other people were already on this wall). It was a gathering or celebration of some sort, clearly Jewish with a lot of Jewish religious symbols and much singing. While the crowd was predominantly men, particularly young men, I saw a few women dressed similarly in little brimmed hats and long, loose, dark colored, western-style skirts and tunics with flat shoes and socks or stockings.
The event was winding and the clusters of energetic dancing and singing men were breaking up. One young man with a bullhorn was directing the singing, chanting and prayers. I took an example from a couple of other amateur photographers and snapped a few pix. I wanted to pull out my video camera and interview but I sensed that this would be unwelcome.
I departed shortly before the entire group dispersed and I retuned to Ecce Homo. At the reception desk I inquired about the event and the group.
Turns out I’d witnessed the tail end of a once a month ritual of the Third Temple Group, Jewish fundamentalist settlers determined to rebuild the Jewish Temple. While a smaller group meets once a week – Thursdays -- in the same spot where I’d encountered them, once a month a group of as many as three thousand marches, chants and sings its way around the Temple Mount and through the Old City while the Police and IDF try to keep the peace. Besides chanting and singing the group intimidates and bullies any non-members braving the streets. Reportedly they spit, verbally abuse, ram flagpoles against doors and entryways of residences, and rail and shout as they go.
Looking back, I’m both sorry I missed the group passing through the streets and glad I did not run into them by returning home earlier.
The Art of Warring over the Anti-War Movement
Last week Scott Ritter opined that there is …a growing despondency…an increasing awareness that the …anti-war movement… is on the verge of complete collapse. America [is] a nation …engaged in waging and planning wars of aggression [and] … increasingly identifies itself through its military and the wars it fights…. the American people seem to be addicted to war and violence…. (Read the article.)(Read the article.)
Cindy Sheehan responded that “the anti-war movement is not on the "verge of collapse" because we are not organized, or because we don't take a "warriors" view of attacking…but because two-thirds of Americans … will not get off of their collective, complacent, and comfortable behinds to demonstrate their dissent with our government.”
Ritter’s view is that of a warrior trained in top down hierarchies and centralized strategies. He is partially correct that “the American people seem to be addicted to war and violence.” I diverge with him slightly in that I believe the American people are less addicted to war than are our leaders. The people simply go along with it for, as Sheehan states, they (we?) are “complacent and comfortable.” (Read the article.)
Sheehan’s view, like mine, is that of a mother with skin in the game. She has lost her beloved child. My child is about to deploy to combat for the third time and I’m preparing for bad news.
I disagree with both that the anti-war movement is on the verge of collapse. I am working to stop this war…and the next one. I don’t just mean the upcoming attack on Iran. I mean the war following that war. As part of my work I traveled to occupied Iraq in 2004 to visit my child on a military base and to learn about war and terror from Iraqis. I’ve also learned from others -- Africans, Afghans, British, Chechens, Israelis, Palestinians, and Russians -- for whom war and terror are all too familiar.
I know now that it is peoples’ inaction that allows politicians to wage war.
Israeli Nurit Peled Elhanan whose daughter died in a suicide bombing put it this way:
“People have to redefine the camps because the camps are not what the politicians make us believe the camps are: Israelis against Arabs, Americans against Afghans, and so forth. It is people against politicians and armies who do whatever they want with us and with our children. Bush, Saddam, Milosevic, Sharon are all the same. They share a kind of Mafia logic: they take over a place, they slash, they burn, and they move on. Politicians don’t really care for anything. They use our kids like chips in a gambling game and when our children are killed they say, “Oops, sorry.” This is a failure of Democracy. Every four years people give license to another politician to kill us, to manipulate us, to rob us of our children, our money, everything.”
Despite layer upon layer of cynical lies slathered upon the people by the Administration, it is clear that many Americans will do nothing to demand a new direction. But the world is full of complacent and comfortable people. We saw them in Armenia, in Germany, and in Apartheid South Africa. Their inaction didn’t mean that humanity was on the verge of collapse.
Why should complacent and comfortable Americans mean the anti-war/peace movement is on the verge of collapse?
Miraculously, the world is full of active people -- including Ritter and Sheehan -- who are resisting wars and other exploitations. And they’re doing it without organization, centralization, and think tanks or by controlling resources.
Sometimes I share Ritter’s despondency about the anti-war/peace movement’s lack of centralized coordination. Sometimes the movement does appear a poorly organized, chaotic, and anarchic conglomeration of egos, pet projects and idealism. Then I talk to active people and discover that they are moving -- surreptitiously, almost unconsciously but inexorably -- beyond the top-down, centralized systems that characterize human organizations. They affiliate with like-minded groups as needed and no one group represents their entire value system.
Perhaps centralization is on the verge of collapse?
Perhaps Ritter decries “causes that take advantage of anti-war gatherings” because he doesn’t recognize them as expressions of informal democracy. He sees the environment, ecology, animal rights, and pro-choice groups as diluting the anti-war/peace message.
In fact, they are interrelating with it.
New directions are already sparking around the world as people decentralize and relate to democracy in new ways: look at Bolivia, Argentina, and Chiapas.
Americans may have to follow rather than lead. Americans who want to oppose war but do not want to be associated with “other themes” will adjust. We may not like it initially – after all, it is hard to tell who is in charge. We’re so used to competing, winning, and paying the bills that we may suffer short-term cognitive dissonance. But, we’ll catch up.
Cindy Sheehan responded that “the anti-war movement is not on the "verge of collapse" because we are not organized, or because we don't take a "warriors" view of attacking…but because two-thirds of Americans … will not get off of their collective, complacent, and comfortable behinds to demonstrate their dissent with our government.”
Ritter’s view is that of a warrior trained in top down hierarchies and centralized strategies. He is partially correct that “the American people seem to be addicted to war and violence.” I diverge with him slightly in that I believe the American people are less addicted to war than are our leaders. The people simply go along with it for, as Sheehan states, they (we?) are “complacent and comfortable.” (Read the article.)
Sheehan’s view, like mine, is that of a mother with skin in the game. She has lost her beloved child. My child is about to deploy to combat for the third time and I’m preparing for bad news.
I disagree with both that the anti-war movement is on the verge of collapse. I am working to stop this war…and the next one. I don’t just mean the upcoming attack on Iran. I mean the war following that war. As part of my work I traveled to occupied Iraq in 2004 to visit my child on a military base and to learn about war and terror from Iraqis. I’ve also learned from others -- Africans, Afghans, British, Chechens, Israelis, Palestinians, and Russians -- for whom war and terror are all too familiar.
I know now that it is peoples’ inaction that allows politicians to wage war.
Israeli Nurit Peled Elhanan whose daughter died in a suicide bombing put it this way:
“People have to redefine the camps because the camps are not what the politicians make us believe the camps are: Israelis against Arabs, Americans against Afghans, and so forth. It is people against politicians and armies who do whatever they want with us and with our children. Bush, Saddam, Milosevic, Sharon are all the same. They share a kind of Mafia logic: they take over a place, they slash, they burn, and they move on. Politicians don’t really care for anything. They use our kids like chips in a gambling game and when our children are killed they say, “Oops, sorry.” This is a failure of Democracy. Every four years people give license to another politician to kill us, to manipulate us, to rob us of our children, our money, everything.”
Despite layer upon layer of cynical lies slathered upon the people by the Administration, it is clear that many Americans will do nothing to demand a new direction. But the world is full of complacent and comfortable people. We saw them in Armenia, in Germany, and in Apartheid South Africa. Their inaction didn’t mean that humanity was on the verge of collapse.
Why should complacent and comfortable Americans mean the anti-war/peace movement is on the verge of collapse?
Miraculously, the world is full of active people -- including Ritter and Sheehan -- who are resisting wars and other exploitations. And they’re doing it without organization, centralization, and think tanks or by controlling resources.
Sometimes I share Ritter’s despondency about the anti-war/peace movement’s lack of centralized coordination. Sometimes the movement does appear a poorly organized, chaotic, and anarchic conglomeration of egos, pet projects and idealism. Then I talk to active people and discover that they are moving -- surreptitiously, almost unconsciously but inexorably -- beyond the top-down, centralized systems that characterize human organizations. They affiliate with like-minded groups as needed and no one group represents their entire value system.
Perhaps centralization is on the verge of collapse?
Perhaps Ritter decries “causes that take advantage of anti-war gatherings” because he doesn’t recognize them as expressions of informal democracy. He sees the environment, ecology, animal rights, and pro-choice groups as diluting the anti-war/peace message.
In fact, they are interrelating with it.
New directions are already sparking around the world as people decentralize and relate to democracy in new ways: look at Bolivia, Argentina, and Chiapas.
Americans may have to follow rather than lead. Americans who want to oppose war but do not want to be associated with “other themes” will adjust. We may not like it initially – after all, it is hard to tell who is in charge. We’re so used to competing, winning, and paying the bills that we may suffer short-term cognitive dissonance. But, we’ll catch up.
"Give 'em enough rope and they'll hang themselves" takes on new meaning...."
An article excerpting sections of the AP-Ipsos numbers appeared on MSNBC today. Take a look
A few thoughts:
The Republican majority is slowly tying the requisite 13 knots for the noose in the rope that will hang them in the next election.
Even I, deeply cynical about that river of egotism, self-serving self-interest, money-grasping, and sheer audacity that flows through the heart of the American body politic, am astonished at the constant uncovering of dastardly deeds by this administration. Not to mention the dastardly deeds of passivity and inaction by the minority party...
As an aside, what further lows of audacity will we learn about this president who stated that he'd fire anyone found to have leaked the Plame info...while he himself apparently "leaked" it? (His exact words: "Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." After this one, it is hard to believe that anyone can continue to hold onto a view of Bush, et al, as leaders concerned about the national security of this country with the latest revelations?)
But, I digress.
Today, I question the Democratic stance of the last 6 years.
I've been aghast at the passivity of the Dems...aghast and, yes, disgusted, angry, appalled, etc etc. Not that I expect the Dems to diverge too far from the beaten path of "the Beltway process"... but they've barely even expressed the usual self-serving self-interest one would expect of politicians. Worse, by modeling craven inaction, they've sent a message to the populace that this sort of behavior - wait and see while the killing continues - is acceptable.
Now I’m wondering if the Democrats were politically astute in waiting, apparently gagged and hog-tied by inaction and indecisiveness, while the Republican admin and majority screwed all of us? Did the Dems suspect this freefall of the Bush Admin was coming? Did they know that it was just a matter of time… and that all they had to do was wait?
Would it make me feel any better about the Dems if this was the case?
No.
No. No. And No.
After 6 years of inaction and cowardice the world has over 2350 American dead, 1000s and 1000s of American youth wounded in the most horrifying ways, over 100,000 Iraqi dead, 1000s and 1000s of Iraqis wounded in ways the average American will never learn about (ditto not knowing about the damage wrought by the sanctions against Iraq of the 1990s), families all over the world mourning the terrible tragedies that are Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, and a foreboding that the Bush regime is overseeing the beginning of a violent and dangerous direction that will engulf the entire world.
Whether by design or not, the Democratic party has fiddled, passively, impotently, and cynically, while the rest of us burn.
Fie on the Dems, fie, fie, fie.
May the people throw out both parties. More to the point, may the mothers, particularly, learn how we and, by extension, our children, are manipulated by politicians and their proxies.
May we rise up as one against the system that uses our children as trigger fingers for a corrupt foreign policy...and against the children of other mothers who are, essentially, in the same position as we are: watching cynical politicians destroy the health of our children and our communities.
A few thoughts:
The Republican majority is slowly tying the requisite 13 knots for the noose in the rope that will hang them in the next election.
Even I, deeply cynical about that river of egotism, self-serving self-interest, money-grasping, and sheer audacity that flows through the heart of the American body politic, am astonished at the constant uncovering of dastardly deeds by this administration. Not to mention the dastardly deeds of passivity and inaction by the minority party...
As an aside, what further lows of audacity will we learn about this president who stated that he'd fire anyone found to have leaked the Plame info...while he himself apparently "leaked" it? (His exact words: "Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." After this one, it is hard to believe that anyone can continue to hold onto a view of Bush, et al, as leaders concerned about the national security of this country with the latest revelations?)
But, I digress.
Today, I question the Democratic stance of the last 6 years.
I've been aghast at the passivity of the Dems...aghast and, yes, disgusted, angry, appalled, etc etc. Not that I expect the Dems to diverge too far from the beaten path of "the Beltway process"... but they've barely even expressed the usual self-serving self-interest one would expect of politicians. Worse, by modeling craven inaction, they've sent a message to the populace that this sort of behavior - wait and see while the killing continues - is acceptable.
Now I’m wondering if the Democrats were politically astute in waiting, apparently gagged and hog-tied by inaction and indecisiveness, while the Republican admin and majority screwed all of us? Did the Dems suspect this freefall of the Bush Admin was coming? Did they know that it was just a matter of time… and that all they had to do was wait?
Would it make me feel any better about the Dems if this was the case?
No.
No. No. And No.
After 6 years of inaction and cowardice the world has over 2350 American dead, 1000s and 1000s of American youth wounded in the most horrifying ways, over 100,000 Iraqi dead, 1000s and 1000s of Iraqis wounded in ways the average American will never learn about (ditto not knowing about the damage wrought by the sanctions against Iraq of the 1990s), families all over the world mourning the terrible tragedies that are Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, and a foreboding that the Bush regime is overseeing the beginning of a violent and dangerous direction that will engulf the entire world.
Whether by design or not, the Democratic party has fiddled, passively, impotently, and cynically, while the rest of us burn.
Fie on the Dems, fie, fie, fie.
May the people throw out both parties. More to the point, may the mothers, particularly, learn how we and, by extension, our children, are manipulated by politicians and their proxies.
May we rise up as one against the system that uses our children as trigger fingers for a corrupt foreign policy...and against the children of other mothers who are, essentially, in the same position as we are: watching cynical politicians destroy the health of our children and our communities.
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