I wonder if the Rahm Emanuel story was not leaked to make Jewish voters feel more gemutlich (that's kin, in German/Yiddish, I believe) about Obama. Emanuel's father was apparently in the Irgun, the Zionist movement that used terrorist methods to blow up the King David Hotel in '46 and expel all the Palestinians from Jaffa, and that played a role in the massacre at Deir Yassin.
From the NY Times on 3 Emanuel sons:
pediatrician, who passed secret codes for Menachem Begin's underground, Iregun, [I assume this is misspelled] and an American Jewish mother, who worked in the civil rights
movement and owned, briefly, a Chicago rock-and-roll club.
From the Washington Times in 1993:
the last Israeli soldier to fall in the 1948 battle for Jerusalem, was
designated chief impresario of the Israeli-Palestinian signing on the
White House lawn.
How does Rahm Emanual feel about dividing Jerusalem, and the right of return?
Alas, the Israeli narrative of national liberation (the Nakba, as
Palestinians will tell you) is intertwined with the highest reaches of
American politics. Douglas Feith's father was in Betar, the youth
movement founded by Ze'ev Jabotinksy, the expansionist Zionist. I seek a national discussion of the issue: Are you a Zionist? How does that affect your views on American policy in the Middle East?
IRAN FOILS TERROR PLOT DURING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Iranian security officials arrested a man who had gathered the manifest of the attendees of the 16th International Conference on Central Asia and the Caucasus, held in Tehran in late October.
The detainee was also in the possession of detailed schedules of the conference attendees, according to the source.
"The arrest of this individual exposed that some terrorist organizations had comprehensive plans to create chaos in Iran during the conference," the source said. "Their plans, however, were successfully thwarted by Iranian security officials."
The conference, held on October 27 and 28, was attended by politicians and experts from Armenia, Britain, Georgia, Germany, India, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and the US, Tabnak reported.
The report of the terrorist plot comes after the revelation by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in July that US Congressional leaders had secretly agreed to President George W. Bush's $400-million funding request for a major escalation in covert operations inside Iran.
According to Hersh, actions permitted under the secret directive include 'the assassination of targeted officials' as well as operations across an extensive geographic area from Lebanon to Afghanistan.
Under the ruling, the White House can arm and fund terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) as well as Jundullah militants stationed in areas bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The White House has refused to comment about the Hersh report.
Earlier in April, Iran disbanded a terrorist cell supported by Britain, Israel and the United States responsible for killing 13 civilians and injuring more than 200 Iranians in a blast in the southern city of Shiraz.
Iran's Intelligence Ministry later announced that the terrorist group had also planned to target Iran's oil pipelines, Tehran's international book fair as well as scientific, religious and educational centers, and other crowded locations in different cities.
link to presstv.com
EMANUEL'S WAR PLAN FOR DEMOCRATS (by John Walsh)
What are Emanuel's views on war and peace? Emanuel has just supplied the answer in the form of a scrawny book co-authored with Bruce Reed, modestly entitled: The Plan: Big Ideas for America. The authors obligingly boil each of the eight parts of "The Plan" down to a single paragraph. The section which embraces all of foreign policy is entitled "A New Strategy to End the War on Terror," a heading revealing in itself since "war on terror" is the way the neocons and the Israeli Lobby currently like to frame the discussion of foreign policy. Here is the book's summary paragraph with my comments in parentheses:
"A NEW STRATEGY TO WIN THE WAR ON TERROR"
("War on Terror," as George Soros points out, is a false metaphor used by those who would drag us into military adventures not in our interest or that of humanity.)
"We need to use all the roots of American power to make our country safe. (He begins by playing on fear.) America must lead the world's fight against the spread of evil and totalitarianism, but we must stop trying to win that battle on our own. (Messianic imperialism.) We should reform and strengthen multilateral institutions for the twenty-first century, not walk away from them. We need to fortify the military's "thin green line" around the world by adding to the U.S. Special Forces and the Marines, and by expanding the U.S. army by 100,000 more troops. (An even bigger military for the world's most powerful armed forces, a very militaristic view of the way to handle the conflicts among nations. What uses does Emanuel have in mind for those troops?) We should give our troops a new GI Bill to come home to. (More material incentives to induce the financially strapped to sign up as cannon fodder.) Finally we must protect our homeland and civil liberties by creating a new domestic counterterrorism force like Britain's MI5. (A new domestic spying operation is an obvious threat to our civil liberties; MI5 holds secret files on one in 160 adults in Britain along with files on 53,000 organizations.)
There it is straight from the horse's mouth.(2)
How does Emanuel, the man who has screened and chosen the 2006 Democratic candidates for Congress, feel specifically about the war on Iraq, the number one issue on voters' minds. Emanuel and Reed do not so much as mention Iraq in their book except in terms of the "war on terror." Nor does Emanuel mention Iraq on his web site as among the important issues facing us, quite amazing omission and one shared by Chuck Schumer who is his equivalent of the Senate side, chairing the DSCC (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee). However a very recent profile in Fortune (9/25/2006), "Rahm Emanuel, Pitbull Politician," by Washington Bureau chief Nina Easton notes: "On Iraq, Emanuel has steered clear of the withdraw-now crowd, preferring to criticize Bush for military failures since the 2003 invasion. 'The war never had to turn out this way,' he told me at one of his campaign stops. In January 2005, when asked by Meet the Press's Tim Russert whether he would have voted to authorize the war-'knowing that there are no weapons of mass destruction'-Emanuel answered yes. (He didn't take office until after the vote.) 'I still believe that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do, okay?' he added."(3)
When Jack Murtha made his proposal for withdrawal from Iraq, Emanuel quickly declared that "Jack Murtha went out and spoke for Jack Murtha." As for Iraq policy, Emanuel added: "At the right time, we will have a position." That was November, 2005. In June, 2006, it was obviously time, and Emanuel finally revealed his policy in a statement on the floor of the House during debate over Iraq, thus: "The debate today is about whether the American people want to stay the course with an administration and a Congress that has walked away from its obligations or pursue a real strategy for success in the war on terror. We cannot achieve the end of victory and continue to sit and watch, stand pat, stay put, status quo and that is the Republican policy. Democrats are determined to take the fight to the enemy." The refrain is familiar; more troops are the means and victory in Iraq is the goal.
The war on Iraq benefited Israel by laying waste a country seen to be one of its major adversaries. Emanuel's commitment to Israel (4) and his Congressional service to it are not in doubt. The most recent evidence was his attack on the U.S. puppet Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al Maliki, because Maliki had labeled Israel's attack on Lebanon as an act of "aggression." Emanuel called on Maliki to cancel his address to Congress; and he was joined by his close friend and DSCC counterpart, Sen. Chuck Schumer, who asked; "Which side is he (Maliki) on when it comes to the war on terror?" In terms of retired Senator Fritz Holling's statement that Congress is Israeli occupied territory, Rahm Emanuel must be considered one of the occupying troops. And he certainly is a major cog in the Israel Lobby as defined by Mearsheimer and Walt. Nor is the idea that the Lobby exists and has tremendous influence on Middle East policy any longer a taboo in the minds of the general populace. According to a poll just carried out by Zogby International for CNI (5), 39% of the American public "agree" or "somewhat agree" that "the work of the Israel lobby on Congress and the Bush administration has been a key factor for going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran." A similar number, 40%, "strongly disagreed" or "somewhat disagreed" with this position. Some 20% of the public were not sure.
But in some respects, Emanuel is a mysterious fellow, as evidenced by his biography, which is readily available on Wikipedia and in the piece in Fortune (3). But there are a few things missing or not fully explained. First, as is often pointed out, Emanuel's physician father was an Israeli émigré; but, according to Leon Hadar, he also worked during the 1940s with the notorious Irgun, which was labeled as a terrorist organization by the British authorities.(6) Perhaps Rahm's current interest in terrorism was first kindled at his father's Irgun knee.
Second, during the 1991 Gulf War, Emanuel was a civilian volunteer in Israel, "rust-proofing brakes on an army base in northern Israel." (Wikipedia, New Republic). This is peculiar on two counts. Here the U.S. goes to war with Iraq, but Emanuel, a U.S. citizen, volunteers not for his country, but for Israel. Moreover, here is a well-connected Illinois political figure with a father who had been in the Irgun, but he is assigned to "rust-proof brakes" on "an army base." Maybe.
Third, immediately upon his return from his desert sojourn, Emanuel at once became a major figure in the Clinton campaign "who wowed the team from the start, opening a spigot on needed campaign funds."(3) How did he do that after being isolated overseas, and with no experience in national politics? Fourth, after leaving the Clinton White House, he decided that he needed some accumulated wealth and "security" if he were to stay in politics. So he went to work for Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and Wall Street financier.
Notes:
(2) Emanuel and Reed also refer approvingly to Peter Beinart, the neocon warrior theoretician for the Democrats, warehoused at Marty Peretz's The New Republic, thus: "In his recent book, The Good Fight, Peter Beinart, explains why a tough new national security policy is as essential to the future of of progressive politics as a united front against totalitarianism and communism was to the New Deal and the Great Society." (This chapter of The Plan is titled: "Who Sunk My Battleship." Needless to say, the battleship in question is not the USS Liberty.) Emanuel and Reed also like Anne-Marie Slaughter's proposal for "a new division of labor in which the United Nations takes on economic and social assistance and an expanded (!) NATO takes over the burden of collective security." In other words the UN can do the charity work while the US-dominated NATO is policeman to the world. Quite a vision. And their call for more troops is shared by the Republican neocons, with William Kristol's Weekly Standard calling for 250,000 more for the army this past week.
(3)http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/17/
link to counterpunch.org
Why not just say you don't have a fucking clue what gemutlich means in Yiddish or German, but you would LIKE it to mean _____? After all, this blog is all about speculating based on wishes and dreams (and, for some of us, nightmares). Facts have never been your thing, Weiss.
If anyone is interested Gemutlich means "warmth," or, better still, "comfort." It's German, not Yiddish, and has a very long history in the English language. It's in Webster's, Phil.
Jesus . . .
guilt by association?
Dov Zakheim is also from a terrorist family, as are Olmert and Livni. There's loads of them; they apparently form a sort of Olympian caste in Lobby circles.
No guilt by association Michael – simply information about office-holders that shouldn't be withheld from Americans. If Arafat had a daughter running for Congress, we would be hearing about that 24/7. What's the diff?
Even if Phil defined the word wrong, he was not so off in usage.
He should have written.
If I were in Obama's position and very skeptical of continuing US support for Israel, I would certainly ask Emanuel to become my chief of staff.
Don't worry, Obama's friend Rashid Khalidi is a supporter of, if not member of FATAH, a bloodthirsty terrorist organization that has actually killed far more Arabs than Jews, in Lebanon and Jordan in the 1960's and 1970's (or did you forget that, Phil?) and which also carried a huge suicide bomber war against Israel which killed or wounded thousands of Israelis, some of whom were Arabs as well. Then of course, there is Obama's pal, Ayres, so he doesn't have any problem with terrorists of this stripe, either.
I forgot to add that Khalidi's Palestinian "leader, hero", Arafat had not only the blood of THOUSANDS of innocent Jordanians, Lebanese, Palestinians in addition to Israelis on his hands, but he ordered the murder in cold blood of the US Ambassador to Sudan in Khartoum in 1972. No wonder so many "progressives" were in love with him.
I just found out that Rashid Khalidi was an official spokesman for the Palestinian WAFA news agency in 1979, so he got the fun job of explaining how the PLO-FATAH murder machine was working in Lebanon. Up to his neck in it along with hero Arafat, the assassin.
It's really fun, pretending there are "Arabists" in the USA state department like it was 1948.
Percy purloined.
i am really surprised as an American on how can our chief of staff is an Israeli and his father is a Jewish terrorist. who killed innocent Palestinians and took over their homes and their land. i am more surprised by those who says that Fatah is a terrorist group because they are fighting those who attacked them and took away their land. The best part is when they say that Fatah killed more arabs than Israelis, Like they really care about the arabs. If u care about the arabs so much, then give them their land back.
I want to add, that the average U.S. citizen doesn’t understand why we are so hated in the Middle East. Our Government hypocrisy and double standard is the main problem we face in the Muslim world.
I am a Muslim immigrant who has proudly served in the U.S. Army for 8 years. I was discharged honorably, and I’m still serving my government proudly. Sometimes, however, when I see someone like Mr. Emanuel who is the number four in the U.S. House Representative, and who has served not in the U.S. Armed Forces but in the Israeli Defense Forces; I just wonder to whom he really has allegiance to: Israel or USA. Further, now he is going to be one of the most powerful people in the Obama administration. I voted for Obama, even though, I know, Obama has not visited even once a mosque, for other political reason.
Finally, I just wanted to point out, that the American Jews in the USA are about less than 6%, but number of Jews in the U.S. Congress is close to 40%. It shows that they are running this country.
Moses
Obama has turned on his Moslem brothers. its less then 48 hours since he got elected and he has already hired a Jew for his top postion in the white house. Obama is surrounding himself with jews. Not even one Moslem is to be seen. I as a moslem regret already why I was told by the Moslem brotherhood to vote for obama
I have noticed how some people start mentioning palestines who they so call "terrorists" when we are discussing a different subject such as Israelis influence in the U.S government. Stick to the subject. Also to bar_kochba132 and others like you, were do you get your information from? The Media?
More Palestinian children were killed alone than all israelis combined.Irguns job was to go house to house and shoot every palestinain they see. Also what about isreal nuclear weapons and its horrible human rights record?
what about the ethnic cleansing of palestinians? What about Israel building huge walls around small villages and the villagers are required to get an approvel from the isreali government to live in there OWN homes?