Just now on "Meet the Press," Tom Ricks said that what American commanders had in essence done with the surge was to buy up the Sunni insurgency, thereby achieving a military solution in Iraq (held together with baling wire). I continue to insist that this is very dangerous knowledge in American foreign policy. The Sunni insurgency used suicide bombing as a principal tactical tool. And then we work with them, necessarily, to try and arrive at a political solution to the manifold issues of creating a nation state from diverse elements. This knowledge applied to Israel/Palestine is devastating to current thinking. It means: We work with Hamas. It means suicide bombing is understood. And yes, too, it undermines the whole idea of partition.
Can Americans absorb this teaching? Can the media provide it? These are the great questions, and go to the heart of the issue. Our foreign policy-makers have overlooked Arab terrorism in the Middle East that claimed American lives in an effort to bring peace to a ravaged nation. Can we make the same leap with respect to Jewish lives in Israel?
(Phil Weiss)
The difference, which you continue to fail to understand, is that through suicide bombing, the Iraqis were killing each other.
And they had the means to kill each other in easier ways. They have the weapons. But they wish to bring terror.
And why do Americans care if the Iraqis kill each other? How is it in ASmerica's interest to stop them from killing each other?
Don't forget, this is a culture that allowed Saddam Hussein kill half a million children in order to thumb their nose at the United States.
As in Yugoslavia, these are a people who have hated each others guts for 100's if not 1000's of years. All held together by a tyrant, as was Yugoslavia.
Want it to end? Allow the country to break up into 3 natural regions. There will still be fighting between the sunnis and the Kurds, but that will be the same as in Kashmir.
Chris your missing the major over riding theme of Phil Weiss's work.
Suicide bombing is a great thing. Shooting jews is charming. Hamas is doing the Lords work. And Israel is truly satanic. This is a guy who goes to a "nakba" event on Yom Kippur and had grandparents that somehow were able to ascertain that Kitty Genovese wasn't jewish by the sound of her screams. And decided is wasn't worth calling the police. Which makes them superhuman and a couple of assholes.
As Jimmy Carter said on the Diane Rehm show last week, even he had to work between two terrorists (Menachem Begin, wanted by the British for terrorism, and Arafat) in order to broker peace in the wider national interest.
It is important for all Americans to remember that the *only modern state ever founded through terrorism tactics*, according to historian Paul Johnson, is Israel.
So, in a larger sense, any negotiation with Israel, its military (from the Haganah, Irgun and Stern) and political parties directly descendent from the Irgun (like Likud) is essentially negotiating with terrorists.
If we get all hung up on the useless neocon slogans of "war on terror" peace becomes immobilized.
Which is the whole point.
The very purpose of focusing on tactics and not their agenda is to dismiss the agenda (however legitimate it may be).
If the berel-bot thinks that more killing brings a resolution, then let's make sure the Palestinians get comparable arms to sort out this mess.
~
I'm glad Phil ("Some Of My Best Friends Are Also Jews!") Weiss agrees that there is a military solution to terror.
Just like the U.S. did with terrorists in Iraq, Israel should simply endlessly bomb Hamas, until Hamas is also desperate that for a few shekels they'd end their bombing.
But if that happened, where would Phil get his shekels?
"Just like the U.S. did with terrorists in Iraq, Israel should simply endlessly bomb Hamas, until Hamas is also desperate that for a few shekels they'd end their bombing."
Looks like that's what's going to happen with Netanyahu coming in.
If Israel went ahead and did it (and hopefully have some sort of Marshall Plan in place)–it would shut everybody (including Phil Weiss) up for good. Because it would be a done deal.
The Arabs don't believe the Jews have the guts.
Jews are their own worst enemies. Let them continue to spew their hatred and propaganda (see douchebag morons like Chris berel and SoG and Thom etc.).
It reveals to the world what assclowns they really are. Their fraud of a 'democracy' / their fraud of a religion and their fraud of a political ideology.
Nothing that cant last, ever does. FUCK Israel and these racist, bigoted Jews.
With fans like LD, Phil wonders why he's relegated to begging for money!
I think LD is the best thing to happen to this blog. He is Weiss' natural audience.
Israel was founded by terrorism. Anyone can easily find that history. Iraq thought it had a green light from Uncle Sam to get lebansraum under pretext. Like Nazis, Zionists live by the policy of dividing and conquering. I see Schick and Suzanne have joined the hasbara crew here. Suzanne's quite an armchair warrior. She wants to "harness" Uncle Obama too. Israel with its own Marshall Plan? Puleeze.
We need to pull the plug on Israel, it's been on life-support courtesy
of US taxpayers way too long. Every pencil-necked geeky IDF kid thinks he's Joshua.
Of course it was. Just put the cap back on the bottle, lay down, and sleep it off.
That wasn't any funnier than the first 5 times you used that line, berel.