Last night Chris Matthews did a segment arguing that the 9/11 bombers should not be tried in New York because this will be either a show trial or a forum for the expression of hatred of the U.S. by a group that has made war on us. We’re at war with them, just lop off their heads, he said. His two guests, Pat Buchanan and Ron Christie, agreed.
What I found interesting is that Matthews several times referred to Sirhan Sirhan, Robert Kennedy’s murderer. He said that Sirhan was motivated by our Israel policy (which amazingly was the exact same 40 years ago as it is today: joined at the lip) and that Sirhan represented first, a terrorist organization, and second, a "country."
These are crude ideas. Matthews doesn’t fully understand the issue (unlike American political history, which he has on the inside of his eyelids). But it touches on the Nidal Hasan case in Fort Hood. Hasan is an American. He seems to have been motivated in part by anger over our Israel/Palestine policy–even Foreign Policy agrees with me here. So was the American Sirhan Sirhan. When Arab-Americans become enraged over an imbalanced policy, some wingnuts are going to act out. The 9/11 Commission said that the suicide bombers were motivated by Israel/Palestine, too. Tim McVeigh was motivated in large part by the Waco massacre and the Randy Weaver killings in Idaho. As a result of the Oklahoma bombing, he was executed, but the U.S. made some effort to investigate those earlier outrages.
Earlier this year I said that Sirhan Sirhan’s Palestinian motivation is an underexamined piece of our history. I’m glad Chris Matthews got into it. I hope this leads to a more thoughtful discussion about the costs of the special relationship, not just to our reputation overseas, but among Arab-Americans.
Well, Chris Matthews is a joke, quite frankly. He can keep bobble-heading with right-wing neo-Crusader types like Pat Buchanan, and then we’ll have to endure his shrill and utter shock — shock, I say! — when the US economic/foreign policy/political corruption that he doesn’t cover boils over into another depression for the US.
The scoop on Sirhan Sirhan:
link to crimemagazine.com
Equally as bad was Keith Olbermann on his show last night. He laid into Palin for her response to a question from Barbara Walters about Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, where she stated “I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon, because that population of Israel is, is going to grow. More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead.” Phil reported this.
Olbermann criticisms focused solely on what he perceived as clear evidence of her belief in the “Rapture” and “End Times.” theology. What he never bothered to mention was that this former Vice Presidential candidate was supporting a policy that is in violation of both international law as well as American policy. This was the more important point. Did Palin not know this or did she simply not care? I was disappointed that Olbermann didn’t pick up on this but not surprised. After all, has he ever bothered to mention the Goldstone Report?
See it here: link to rawstory.com
Legally Palin could never be president due to the ‘elitist liberal fourteenth amendment’ and her ‘palling around’ with secessionists.
But can you take the oath if you’ve already explicitly pledged to break the law whilst in office? I suppose it does say ‘to the best of my ability’ which in her case is naught.
Everyone knows Sirhan Sirhan was a Mossad agent. Classic sleeper agent.
Wow, you’re even more idiotic than usual today. I’m genuinely impressed — I think you’ve set a new personal record.
Hey yonira, the Lavon Affair wasn’t a conspiracy theory. It was a reality. So all bets are off when it comes to your fascist State.
Classic ?
Surely in order to be a classic there must be others to judge it by ?
No, that was Jack Ruby. You know, Jacob Rubenstein?
Right, when they nabbed him he had in his pocket an article torn from a MSM newspaper delineating Bobbie’s rubber-stamping of Israel and ignoring the Palestinians–Sirhan was a Palestinian and was outraged at Bobbie’s then towing of the Israeli line at the continued expense of his people. Noteworthy is that the MSM
mostly ignored this.
Well the main idea of selecting New York is to play with buplic emotions and make sure that the victims don’t get a fair trial. The pro-Israel mainstream media played that trick right after the 9/11 tragedy by showing the images of falling WTC almost every ten min. on the TV screens.
The Attorney General Eric Holder has already pronounced the verdict that he got the “smoking gun” and the five suspects “will face the ultimate punishment of death”.
No “bomber” was involved according to the “official story”. If one think on “bomb” theory then the crash of Building 7 through dynamite would prove those who believe that 9/11 was the act of “the Lucky Jew” who owned the WTC.
9/11: “The dog that doesn’t hunt”
link to rehmat1.wordpress.com