I hate to think this is true as I watch it unfolding before my eyes, but the change Obama encouraged us with is little more than fresh rhetoric from the same old "used czar salesman" playbook.
Well, it sure "felt" good while it lasted, but......
The Iran Trap
Email
Print
Share
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Ma.gnolia
Newsvine
Reddit
StumbleUpon
YahooPosted on Jun 8, 2008
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama on screen receives applause during his address before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference 2008 in Washington.
AP photo / Alex Brandon
By Chris Hedges
The failure by Barack Obama to chart another course in the Middle East,
to defy the Israel lobby and to denounce the Bush administration’s
inexorable march toward a conflict with Iran is a failure to challenge
the collective insanity that has gripped the political leadership in
the United States and Israel.
Obama, in a miscalculation that will have
grave consequences, has given his blessing to the widening circle of
violence and abuse of the Palestinians by Israel and, most dangerously,
to those in the Bush White House and Jerusalem now plotting a war
against Iran. He illustrates how the lust for power is morally
corrosive. And while he may win the White House, by the time he takes
power he will be trapped in George Bush’s alternative reality.
We need to get out of Iraq and
Afghanistan. We need to stay the hand of Israel, which is building more
settlements—including a new plan to put 800 housing units in occupied
East Jerusalem—and imposing draconian measures to physically break the
1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. We need, most of all, to prevent a
war with Iran.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, in
a letter to President Bush on May 8, threatened to open impeachment
proceedings if Bush attacked Iran. The letter is a signal that planning
for strikes on Iran is under way and pronounced.
“Our concerns in this area have been
heightened by more recent events,” Conyers wrote. “The resignation in
mid-March of Admiral William J. ‘Fox’ Fallon from the head of U.S.
Central Command, which was reportedly linked to a magazine article that
portrayed him as the only person who might stop your Administration
from waging preemptive war against Iran, has renewed widespread
concerns that your Administration is unilaterally planning for military
action against that country. This is despite the fact that the December
2007 National Intelligence Estimate concluded that Iran had halted its
nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003, a stark reversal of
previous Administration assessments.”
The administration, in rhetoric that is eerily similar to that used to build the case for a war against Iraq, asserts that the Iranian Quds Force is arming anti-American groups in Iraq and providing them with
high-tech roadside bombs and sophisticated rockets. It dismisses the National Intelligence Estimate conclusion that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program. The White
House has not provided evidence to back up its claims. I suspect it
never will. And when Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz tells the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth an attack on Iran is
“unavoidable” if Tehran does not halt its alleged nuclear weapons
program, what he is really telling us is we should prepare for war.
Conyers’ threat is too little too late,
especially if the Bush White House, possibly assisted by Israel,
launches airstrikes on some or all of 1,000 selected Iranian targets in
the final weeks of the administration. But it is an effort. Conyers
tried.
This is more than we can say for the
presumptive Democratic nominee. Obama went before the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Wednesday and said he will stand
with the right-wing Israeli government, even if this means backing an
attack on Iran.
“As president I will use all elements of
American power to pressure Iran,” he said. “I will do everything in my
power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my
power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything.”
Obama went on to blame the Palestinians
for the conflict, although the ratio of Palestinians to Israelis killed
in 2007 was 40 to 1. This is an increase from 30 to 1 in 2006 and 4 to
1 in 2000-2005.
“I will bring to the White House an
unshakable commitment to Israel’s security. That starts with ensuring
Israel’s qualitative military advantage, ...” Obama told AIPAC. “I
will ensure Israel can defend itself from any threat, from Gaza to
Tehran. ...”
Obama spoke about Israelis whose houses
were damaged by the crude rockets, most made out of old pipes, fired
from Gaza on Israeli towns. He never mentioned the Israeli siege of
Gaza, the world’s largest open-air prison, or that Israel was deploying
fighter jets and helicopters to attack densely crowded refugee camps
with missiles and iron fragmentation bombs or that it had cut off food
and fuel. He ignored the steady expansion of Jewish settlements on
Palestinian land. He called for Jerusalem to become the “undivided
capital” of the Jewish state, erasing Arab East Jerusalem from the map
in contravention of international law. East Jerusalem, the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip are internationally recognized as occupied
Palestinian territories, which Israel took over in 1967. Obama’s stance
is the moral equivalent of assuring the Johannesburg government during
the apartheid era that one would support their repressive efforts to
punish the restive blacks in the townships.
The deterioration of the conflict in
Israel, which would be accelerated by airstrikes on Iran and an
ensuring regional war, will propel us into the Armageddon-type scenario
in the Middle East relished by the lunatic fringes of the radical
Christian right. And so, with Obama’s enthusiastic endorsement, we
barrel toward a Dr. Strangelove self-immolation. No one will be able to
say we did not go out with a spectacular show of firepower, gore and
death. Our European and Middle Eastern allies, who are numb with
consternation over our death spiral, are frantically trying to reach
out to Tehran diplomatically.
The instant we attack Iran, oil prices
will double, perhaps triple. This price increase will devastate the
American economy. The ensuing retaliatory strikes by Iran on Israel, as
well as on American military installations in Iraq, will leave
hundreds, maybe thousands, of dead. The Shiites in the region, from
Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, will see an attack on Iran as a war against
Shiism. They will turn with rage and violence on us and our allies.
Hezbollah will renew attacks on northern Israel. And the localized war
in Iraq will become a long, messy and protracted regional war that, by
the time it is done, will most likely end the American empire and leave
in its wake mounds of corpses and smoldering ruins.
The Israeli leadership, like the Bush
White House, is increasingly bellicose and threatening. The Israeli
prime minister, after a 90-minute meeting with Bush in the White House
on Wednesday, said the two leaders were of one mind. “We reached
agreement on the need to take care of the Iranian threat,” Ehud Olmert
said. “I left with a lot less questions marks [than] I had entered with
regarding the means, the timetable restrictions and American
resoluteness to deal with the problem. George Bush understands the
severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it and intends
to act on the matter before the end of his term in the White House.”
This time around, unlike about the war
with Iraq, the Washington bureaucracy, loathed by the Bush White House,
did not remain silent and complicit. The National Intelligence Estimate
on Iran’s nuclear program released last Dec. 3 distinguished Iran’s
enrichment of uranium at Natanz and Arak from its formal nuclear
weapons program, which it said had halted in 2003 after the American
invasion of Iraq. Adm. Fallon, who put his country and his integrity
before his career, spoke out against a war with Iran, tried to stop it
and lost his job as the head of CENTCOM. He has been replaced with Gen.
David H. Petraeus, whose devotion to his career admits no such moral
impediments.
“ ... There is no greater threat to
Israel or peace than Iran,” Obama assured AIPAC. “This audience is made
up of both Republicans and Democrats. And the enemies of Israel should
have no doubt that regardless of party, Americans stand shoulder to
shoulder in support of Israel’s security. ... The Iran regime supports
violent extremists and challenges us across the region. It pursues a
nuclear capability that could spark a dangerous arms race and ... its
president denies the Holocaust and threatens to wipe Israel off the
map. ... [M]y goal will be to eliminate this threat.”
Barack Obama, when we need sane
leadership the most, has proved feckless and weak. He, and the
Democratic leadership, is as morally bankrupt as those preparing to
ignite our funeral pyre in the Middle East.
Thanks for posting this, Chris.
It is really comforting (NOT!) to hear that "George Bush understands the
severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it and intends
to act on the matter before the end of his term in the White House.”
The Israeli PM said knowing this made him have "a lot less questions." Grammar aside, it sure doesn't cause ME to have any FEWER questions! [Nor would I say they are "lesser" questions in any way; their quality is very high, involving , as they do, our planetary survival.]
It would be a sign of how badly the system is broken if the American People didn't have any say in whether or not to jump on the Armageddon bandwagon.
"America, where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know, we need you now.."
Tampa DAve
hi Chris, thanks for your post. I thought it might be worthwhile adding this clip from the latest Mathew Message,
"1.
How can I say Barack Obama is a light being? Because he is. For the
benefit of new readers, I shall paraphrase what I said about him in
prior messages, starting with his unstoppable momentum toward the
presidency. At this point, he is only following a strong sense of
urgency to lead his country out of its downward spiral and his
conviction that he can do this, but in time he will be consciously
aware that he is a soul from an intellectually and spiritually advanced
civilization and embodied on Earth specifically to fulfill this
mission. What he has been very clear about all along is that he must
appear to be aligned with the Illuminati goals; otherwise, he never
could have become the Democratic party nominee. This accounts for his
veering on some issues that have disappointed some of his supporters,
who have no idea that what he is doing is in accordance with Illuminati
“guidance.” Time will show that his essence, intentions and actions are
aligned with the light.
there are a couple of other paragraphs that relate to Barack as well and what appears to be a black-ops campagne against Matthew. Hope this helps, as one, Rob.
This returns a measure of my hope for the hope and change Barack speaks of.
"What he has been very clear about all along is that he must appear to be aligned with the Illuminati goals; otherwise, he never could have become the Democratic party nominee"
If you and Matthew (and others) are correct about Obama, it appears his most humble path is through the dark caverns of Israel's and AIPAC's GI tract, LOL... I did not learn of Clinton's crimes during his time in the Oval Office until he was already gone from office. I was simply on board with the Clintons with eyes wide shut and thoroughly soaking up the pop culture that was/is the Clintons (a little faded now). Although I was a delegate for Barack Obama and find myself caught up once again in the hope for better things from a Commander in Chief and CEO of the free world, I will be watching a bit closer this time with eyes wide open.
Obama voted "yea" on the recent amendments to the FISA laws which clearly frustrate the standing injury to the balance of powers, a clear and present violation of the spirit of the prescribed duties sworn to be faithfully upheld by the legislative branch/body, to earnestly seek remedy to any violation of laws or usurpation by the executive branch, judicial branch, or the legislative branch. To provide the office of the president and related telecommunication companies with immunity is clearly not a move toward challenging the brazenly lawless behavior of an insane administration that very well may bring this country to its knees under martial law under the "auspices" of NSPD 51 before next November in conjunction with C.O.G and an attack on approximately 1000 "strategery" target sites in Iran.
Obama then (recently) went on to appease Israel by saying the same thing Hillary said to AIPAC approx. 18 months ago, that no options were off the table concerning Iran. Many have, with very earnest intent, gone too far down this rabbit hole in Washington DC and never found their way back. My dark horse bet about Barack Obama is that you are correct when you say he is playing the game to gain the position of power that will afford him the opportunity for great and wonderful change in the whole world, but I can not ignore the seemingly problematic behavior along the way just because I happen to favor this particular candidate. It reminds me too much of all the people that fell head over heels in love with the back yard BBQ village idiot good time charlie "war president" and "decider". Those who really favor GW are still on his side, even as this administration robs them of their national treasure. Never underestimate the power of denial that accompanies a strong emotional investment.
While I still plan to vote for Barack Obama in favor of that slight hope for the promise of a better day lead by the new leader of the free world, I will still be asking out of the other side of my mouth, "At what point do we, we who love the promise for hope and change this man has framed his political rhetoric with, realize we have lost said hope for change to the black hole vortex of power and very big money that so many have fallen prey to?" Its not that jaded of a question when we have seen this happen over and over and over again and again and again......
In any case, I do look forward to the wonderful possibilities that an unwavering Barack Obama represents this time round.
I have followed the writings of Chris Hedges for some time now because he is a very sober and considerate writer that has been vetted by the ravages of war. He has earned the right to be a little discouraged by our collective behavior throughout history and the following article speaks volumes concerning his lifetime experience in journalism, the lion’s share of which was spent covering the atrocities of war time. I am still betting he is wrong, but will not at all be surprised if he is proven right again....
We shall see.....
Humanity does not change
Chris Hedges is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute
There is nothing in human nature or human history to justify the idea
that we are progressing morally as a species. Technology, industry and
scientific progress have nurtured, protected and enhanced life, but
they have also brought us industrial slaughter, the economic
exploitation and abuse of globalization, and the steady destruction of
the ecosystem - the water, air and climate patterns - that sustains the
human species.
There is always a dark side to human progress. Both individuals and
societies make moral advances, but they also make moral reverses. We
are not moving toward a glorious utopia. We are not moving anywhere.
The tools change. We do not.
All the signs in our present world point to a coming anarchy, a massive
dislocation of populations that will result from ecological
devastation, pollution, overpopulation, and wars fought over dwindling
natural resources. Science, which addresses these looming disasters,
has largely become a tool of the military-industrial complex or
corporations that seek only profit. It serves, like human knowledge,
the ambitions of human beings, some of which are good and some of which
are bad.
New technologies that are potentially threatening - such as genetic
modification of organisms and nanotechnology - are being unleashed with
little understanding of their impact on the biosphere. The global
population, expected to jump from 2 billion to 8 billion or 9 billion
in fewer than 150 years, means that, if left unchecked, we will no
longer be able to sustain ourselves, especially as nations such as
China seek the consumption levels of the industrialized nations in
Europe and North America.
Nearly two-thirds of the life-support services provided to us by nature
are already in precipitous decline worldwide. The old wars of conquest,
expansion and exploitation will be replaced by wars fought for the
basic necessities of water, air, food and sustainable living
conditions. As we race toward this catastrophe, scientists continue to
make discoveries, set these discoveries upon us, and walk away from the
impact.
The belief that science and reason will save us, however, makes it
possible to ignore or minimize these looming catastrophes. We lunge
toward disaster, trusting blindly that the god of science and reason
will intervene. It is difficult to accept a world where things do not
move forward and will most probably get worse. We prefer to believe we
are the culmination of a process, the result of centuries of
advancement, rather than creatures trapped in the irrevocable
limitations of human nature.
The idea of inevitable progress places us at the center of creation. It
permits us to exalt ourselves above others. It projects our narrow
self-interest into a universal good. But it is morally irresponsible.
It averts our eyes from reality and places our hopes in an absurdist
faith.
That malformed theology is fed to us by many scientific rationalists
(for whom science has become a kind of god) and a variety of religious
fanatics. But it bears little connection with reality. Such utopian
ideals have doomed civilizations in the past, enticing them to destroy
those who do not agree and to chase after impossible dreams even as
societies collapse.
The myth of collective moral progress is a form of self-delusion. It
permits us to believe we can, through religion or science or reason,
reform human nature. It chooses to ignore that we control little, even
within our own lives, that our most important decisions are often made
by others, or motivated by unconscious forces we cannot articulate.
Human societies will never achieve what we as distinct individuals have
failed to achieve: complete consciousness and control of ourselves and
the world around us.
The ancient Greeks, like Hindus and Buddhists, saw our individual and
collective histories as cyclical. We live, they believed, in
alternating stages of hope and despair, of advancement and decay. This
is a more accurate understanding of human existence. To acknowledge the
purposelessness of history, to refuse to endow it with a linear march
toward perfection, is to give up the comforting idea that we are
greater than those who came before. It is to accept our limitations and
discard delusion. It is to accept that the frightening, irrational
urges of human nature, while they can be tamed and controlled, will
never be conquered. It is to become human.
If we choose to become human, we can discard utopian visions, fed to us
by deluded rationalists and religious dreamers, and begin to cope with
the world as it is, not as we want it to be.
Chris Hedges, a graduate of Harvard
Divinity School and former foreign correspondent for the New York
Times, is the author of "I Don't Believe in Atheists."
http://www.myspace.com/skipper75
obama is backed by rockefeller/brzezinski
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=obama+brzezinski&spell=1
they are gonna push for socialism....i'm no expert on it so i dont know if it's good or not
but it seems the KGB have been pushing it as well
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Yuri+Bezmenov+&btnG=Google+Search
all i know is that in America presisdents are puppets...
who controls the world?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3891535120990840079
Sounds like Obama already has his handlers assigned to him from the good ole boy Bildergerg group which totally makes sense in a Standard Operating Procedure kind of way. I am going to try to take the George Carlin approach this time around and simply watch it unfold and see what happens with very little to absolutely no concern for the outcome. That would be my goal - no concern for the outcome - sit like a buddha boy and smile no matter what, cause nothing is nothing, even when it feels like something.......
The scenario unfolding really is quite interesting - so many variables and possibilities that would make for great chapters in a novel, only this book would be found in the non-fiction section of the library of illusions.....
--- Post removed at author's request ---
Possum: to play possum, to act possum, to feign ignorance,
indifference or inattention, with the intent to deceive; to dissemble;
in allusion to the habit of the opossum, which feigns death when
attacked or alarmed.
hey Elizabeth, could you elaborate? Love that down-home term!
--- Post removed at author's request ---
From a consciousness perspective, being that we have been paying attention in ways that many have yet to even try to deny, we have front row seats. I, for one, am looking forward to how all of this plays out. Thank you Elizabeth for your keen insight on the matter.....
Hi all, thanks for the discussion. Perhaps the real message is that there is no political saviour. The system's broke and can't be fixed within 3D consciousnes. Is there hope? Absolutely! The message here is that we need to let go of republicans and democrats, unions, think tanks, lobby groups. Any group, even the boy scouts! only serves to perpetuate itself to the detriment of it's constituants. Individuals may choose to empower themselves in the light as individuals cohabiting with like minded indivuals this I believe is preferable to giving one's power to a political group that will 'act in their interest' perhaps there is an exception, that of the health care system US citizens 'enjoy'. From a distance, it appears woefully inadequate. It seems to me that a lot of people are rendered homeless by giving up their houses to pay medical bills. There are a number of good documentaries around that demonstrate 'socialised' health care can be infinitely superior to the system you have now. Not a criticism, only an observation. Why can't your politicians deliver high quality health care to all? anyway, I digress...as one, rob.
You are so perceptive
dear FFG. I had not perceived this character until you mentioned it. In this world of subterfuge in which honest politicians must find a way to navigate and survive, the Way of the Oppossum is a very successfull and hopefully skillful way of overcoming the opponent. I do understand and appreciate your metaphore. And yes, I believe that Mr. Obama is a very astute navigator of these treachorous waters. Thank you.
L&L
Berry
http://www.myspace.com/skipper75
We need NESARA
http://www.nesara.us/pages/home.html
http://www.white-knights911.net/
http://www.luisprada.com/Protected/message_to_the_skeptics_on_nesara.htm
i have been spreading NESARA on all the forums i am a member of on a daily basis:)
i email media/governemnts....one of these days i'm gonna wake-up someone with the ability to do something about it.
i would hope more people are doing the same.
i love you all my brothers & sisters:)
When it comes to politics I find myself getting deeply cynical. I don't think it matters who is elected. The curtains in the White House bedroom will change. NESARA breaks my heart. Why? Because it is exactly what we need, and it will not happen. No one has the cojones to make it so, least of all Joe Citizen with his fat children, big-screen TV and mammoth mortgage.
I agree that a period of chaos is ahead. It will be a historic convulsion comparable to an ice age, the Black Plague, and
a couple of world wars all condensed into a bitter pill. And it will be exactly what we have brought on ourselves. We have no complaint coming.
The Obomanator doesn't impress me, but at least he doesn't have Hillary's snake eyes or McCain's octogenarian loopiness. I'd love to be wrong. I'm ready to be impressed.
8-D
Thank you Shaun for the links!!!! Love new playgrounds to visit and share....
Thank you Rob for aptly framing the reason I brought this up in the first place. Voting in this country is akin to the manipulated process of cattle being directed down the ever thinning "chute" to a psychologically forced vote that is a very sad excuse for liberty. Laissez-faire Capitalism is the sanctioned religion of the corporate-owned state, organized crime really, with a patina of "the rule of law" for the purpose of forcing our will upon the international community. Ultimately, we will have to pay the tab for this unacceptable behavior and I do so look forward to getting on with it and past so called "free markets" and on to fair markets with a world community in mind.
Barack Obama may or may not be a functional and active part of this change for the better. What I am expressing to myself and others is simply this: Lets not get caught up in the same old tired ruse again this time around like the democrats did with the sanctioned criminals William Jefferson Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, and like the republicans did with the sanctioned criminals George Walker (Texas Ranger?) Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney.
If we keep falling for thinking we win when our guy or gal or party wins some election, then we shall remain the delusional masses as per the very well designed social engineering and political marketing intent orchestrated to keep "us" from rising up and waking the "f" up. If we can be convinced that "we lost and they won" or "we won and they lost!", then the "house divided against itself cannot stand" principle remains firmly intact and the quiet art of the silent war wins again without anyone being the wiser. It is really quite impressive when looked at dispassionately.
My apparent choices this time around seems to me to be the "conscientious objector" vote (or no vote at all?) for Ralph Nader or the "hail mary" wishful vote for Barack Obama and just hope and pray he is half the altruistic ambassador implied in his political rhetoric. In some strange way my jaded side wants McCain to win to watch him bumble his silly way through the process that makes 50 year olds look like 70 year olds and 70+ year olds look like I don't know what, and because we here in America who have let it all get this far and this insane deserve McCain!!!
But my sane side reminds me that the rest of the world and this precious soul of a planet do not, so I will probably go ahead and vote for Barack Obama and hope for the change he claims he wants to lead a tired world towards. He is either one more very impressive slick willie type from the political streets of Chicago or he is what he claims to be - the real uniter that GW so miserably failed to be while sarcastically looking under his desk for those elusive weapons of mass destruction in a very failed attempt at extremely misplaced humor.
We shall see, wonderful and beautiful fractals of ascending Consciousness! To help us remain calm and neutral about all of this we can remember that all those "criminals" listed in this post are not really criminals at all, but are viable members of this only begotten Son we like to call "One". Hard to get our minds around that one sometimes, so I guess we are, more and more, gonna have ta turn to the Heart.....
Any more thoughts on Heart v. Mind or alternate political/sociological options, etc.?
Oh, and 8-D, I am inclined to agree with you concerning that which seems overwhelmingly "right in our fat little arrogant ignorant American faces" apparent concerning this building escalating scenario, but I am still holding out a little hope for a bit of "magic" that has very little to do with magic actually, and much more to do with the electromagnetic forces that pretty much rule all activity in this universe, potential energy that is activated by the ever growing and seemingly invisible (at first) collective agreement rising up on this planet, the amazing power that resides in the space between each of us and runs through all of us. You might say we are soaking in it (like the old dishwashing liquid commercial of our childhood)! LOL
Love the new pic too!!! You look so healthy and ready for "whatever" that it inspires me and makes me feel very glad and fortunate to know you dear brother!!!
another great one from jibjab.com
http://sendables.jibjab.com/sendables/1191/time_for_some_campaignin#/tea...