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HOW HADITHA HAPPENED; WHY IT WILL
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live like an animal. You learn to like killing. .. Hate civilians.
Can't trust the bastards. You hate taking prisoners. You'd rather
kill them. Why?" Read Vietnam vet Marc Levy's extraordinary
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I am so tired of hearing Tel Aviv complain
that certain Palestinian factions do no represent Israel's right
to exist. While some certainly may have this opinion, even Hamas
leaders have stated that the fact is that Israel does exist.
Meanwhile, Israel is once again waging a military campaign against
he Palestinians that, in essence, is just one more battle in
its attempt to prevent Palestine from ever existing again. Of
course, Washington defends these acts by insisting that Israel
has a "right to defend itself," which seems to mean
that its military forces can do whatever the hell they want.
This also implies that the Palestinians really don't have that
same right.
If the true goal of the current
Israeli military actions in Gaza is to rescue the Israeli Defense
Forces recently taken prisoner, than there is no logic to the
military destruction of Palestinian power plants. Not when those
power plants provide forty-two percent of the electricity to
the Palestinians. There is no logic in invading Gaza to retrieve
one soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, especially when such
an action is more likely to lead to the soldier's death. There
is no logic in intimidating the president of Syria by buzzing
his home with warplanes, especially if the reason for such an
act is to retrieve one soldier in the IDF.
From where I sit, that soldier
appears to have become one more pawn in Tel Aviv's attempt to
destroy forever the Palestinian hope of a homeland. Like expansionist
armies everywhere, the foot soldier is never more than a pawn
in the game of the rulers. Whether that soldier is being sent
to give his life in battle for the power and profit of a few
or whether he is kidnapped and held for ransom, that soldier
is never more than a pawn. If Tel Aviv was truly only interested
in saving the life of the corporal from France, they would negotiate
some kind of prisoner exchange. This is what the Palestinian
forces have offered and this is all they want.
This is why there is something
more at play in Gaza right now. The much ballyhooed withdrawal
of Israeli forces from the Gaza last year has proven to be a
sham. Not only does Tel Aviv control the borders and skies over
that region, it also has freedom of movement both there and in
the West Bank. The arrests of several elected Palestinians leaders
on June 28, 2006 proves even further that the independent Palestinian
nation we are told exists by Tel Aviv and its mentors in Washington,
DC is nothing more than a sham. No wonder the majority of Palestinian
civilians support taking the IDF soldier prisoner. After all,
the Israeli government not only has thousands of Palestinians
in its prisons, it also continues to kill civilians at an alarming
rate, especially in light of Tel Aviv's claims that it doesn't
mean to kill them.
Like Washington in Iraq, there
seems to be a sense in Tel Aviv that their overwhelming firepower
and monetary superiority will achieve victory over the desire
of the people whose lands they occupy to rid themselves of the
occupation. Also like Washington, this belief in victory has
led the military and political forces in Israel to deny their
expressed principles and condone murder, torture and terror.
In a poor imitation of their gods, these two capitals attempt
to reshape these lands in their own image, no matter how many
they have to kill and imprison. The citizens of both Israel
and the United States, meanwhile, either support this denial
of their nations' principles and even urge for more repression
and war; or they vainly struggle against these acts carried out
in their name, hoping that someday the great unwashed majorities
in both nations will finally become appalled at bloodlust and
pillage done in their name. Done so that they may live in their
cities and suburbs in constant denial; secure in their belief
that they will never answer for the crimes in which we are all
complicit.
CounterPunch
Speakers Bureau Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid?
CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair
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