Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and neonconservative William Kristol (Credit: Reuters/Gage Skidmore)
Salon’s got a doozey up. Gary Kamiya gets his rant on in his provocatively titled article ‘The boys who cry “Holocaust”‘. Mincing no words, he comes right out swinging characterizing Israel’s influence on the US as maintaining a stranglehold over our Mideast policy and claiming the neocons are ignorant, Islamophobic, discredited ideologues (we knew that). And it just builds from there. Check it out and by all means read the entire link for a comprehensive round up of past and present neocon war-mongering 101. From Bolton to Kristol to Goldberg including Bibi himself, ‘The boys who cry “Holocaust”’ delivers, and here’s just the tip of the iceberg:
Yet these incompetent militarists are still taken seriously. And the reason is simple: They purport to be supporters of Israel. In American politics, you can get away with even the most cracked war-mongering as long as you claim to be “pro-Israel.” And the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card for anything having to do with Israel is the Holocaust.
To listen to the neocons and hawks, you’d think Hitler was about to send the tanks over the Polish border……….
The Holocaust mind-set has led Israel into self-destructive policies. And its promiscuous invocation has helped ensure that Israel maintains a stranglehold over America’s Mideast policy. That stranglehold has always been harmful to America, but it is now actually dangerous.
Kamiya’s on a roll. On US positioning if and when Israel attacks Iran:
In other words, it is quite likely that the most powerful nation in the world will simply stand impotently by while a tiny client state threatens to do something that it knows is not just antithetical to its interests, but possibly ruinous to them. The tail could be about to wag the dog right off a cliff.
Is it my imagination or is our way of thinking gradually permeating the mainstream?
(Hat tip MW commenter American)
It may be penetrating the mainstream, but it has yet to penetrate Congress.
No, it’s not your imagination. The blatant railroading by the zealots has become insufferable, not to mention dangerous. We’ve seen it all before re Iraq, and there are enough people who will refuse to observe the blanket ban on criticising Israel or its insane ideology. The catastrophic direction Israel is forcing on the US through its agents’ muzzling bills in Congress has become so unapologetic, so Dr Strangelove, that a groundswell is, quite understandably, building. Just as the US gets out of Iraq having spent trillions for no discernible benefit, the warmongers are foaming at the mouth to repeat the whole thing on a scale which could exceed Iraq enormously. There will be no good outcome, unless you count more terrorism, death and destruction as such, which the neocons do, for them it ‘proves’ they were right. There is a feeling that the lobby, an elite of media commentators and craven representatives are completely out of control, do not represent US citizens, and have the potential to create mayhem for years to come, not to mention derailing the economy even further. The country has been hijacked by ideologues, very well-off people who will not be anywhere near the danger they propose to put everybody else in. There is not even credible evidence regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, yet we are subject to hysterical fearmongering. Enough is enough, time to call them on it, have some open and frank debate for once, and junk this pathetic charade that Israel must be indulged, whatever the cost, and must never, ever by criticised or called to account. Time for the old men with their war lust to leave the stage. And take your anti-human, demagogic BS with you.
http://www.forward.com/articles/146764/
The Holocaust metaphor, 2011 is the new 1939
From the Forward on the ZOA annual awards dinner. Not a democrat in sight.
Beck, Bachman, and Ros-Lehtinen
Iran’s leaders may lack “emotional intelligence” judging by the depreciating remarks they have uttered about Israel, but as Steve Walt and many others have pointed out, there is not a shred of evidence that they are suicidal. Israel has more than enough warheads and the means to deliver them to ensure an Iranian attack would trigger retaliation that would lay waste to their entire country. This obvious point seems to keep being overlooked by the war drums folks both here and in Israel. Why??? (Thanks, Annie!)
Many Americans have no idea what the war is like.
Many Polish people , even generations (like mine) ,who did not experienced it directly, have the horrible pictures of a war implemented in our minds.
We know the war from the direct stories, that we’ve heard from our parents, grandparents, neighbours, acquaintances, etc. My friend’s parents were ,as a youngsters , sent to Germany to work on a farm of a cruel German bauer.
They worked 24/7 , ( no days off), for 5 years. They were only 17/18 yers old when they got there. In order to surive ,they ate food that was given to pigs, they slept in the attic in the winter ,with no heat on. No medications ,when they were sick. They were just slaves, who could be easily killed if they disobeyed.
My other friend’s mom , a beautiful, young girl , with blue eyes and long, blond hair was taken to a German camp ,where they did, so called, “medical experiments”. Horrible stories ,even to mention.
My grandmother, ( she just gave a birth to her 7th child) was taken by Nazi soldiers to work as a slave in Germany. Luckily, one German officer took a pity on her
( she was crying for her children), and let her go . She walked, alone, for a week to get to her family home.
My grandfather, ( on my mom’s side) experienced /survived horrific, savage atrocites commited by Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) on Polish people in Volhynia. What was done to them there, is beyond any words. Beyond.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia
War unleashes Powers directly from hell. Everything ,what normally is under some control, is allowed there. The darkest, the most primitive, barbaric, savage instincts of the human soul come to light and rule. Those who push for an agressive war are satans in disguise.
They don’t value, they don’t protect human life ,or any country, at all.
They only value their own, shady, murky business.
They all should be sent on the first plane , right in the middle of the first battle ,
if it really comes to the war.