33 Things You Should Know About the Middle East and America

Some Thoughts on the Middle East and America: 33 Things You Should Think About

What right has President Bush or Conde Rice to dictate to the Lebanese Government?

Why is it that the “demonstrators” in Beirut, Lebanon, had all their signs in English?

Have you considered that they were playing to the American TV audience? In fact, the “big crowds” the American media spoke about were less than 3000 people, but the cameras shot the crowed for maximum effect.

Did you realize that according to the VA, 1 in 6 troops coming back from Iraq need mental help from what they’ve seen and felt in Iraq?

Did these few thousand Falangists speak for all of Lebanon, or are they “for hire” street people mixed with some students who made up the “demonstrations?”

Who forced Karami to resign as PM? How much influence did America have in this situation and what business was it of Bush’s?

Did you realize the Falangists took their name from Franco’s Falangist/Fascists? The Gemeyal family, head of the falangists, had close ties to the dictator, Franco.

Did you realize that the suicide rate among our American troops in Iraq is now up 29% in the last two months? Health professionals in the continental US are alarmed, but the Pentagon refuses to take responsibility for these deaths.

Why is America so anxious to get Syria out of Lebanon? Is it so that both Lebanon and Syria will be vulnerable to one front attacks by Israel?

Have any of you considered that the oil pipeline the Israelis want opened between Baghdad and Israel runs through Syria and Lebanon? It does.

Why is America constantly doing the bidding of Israel-are we Israel? Why did America not stop aid to Israel when they found out that Israel was selling high tech American secrets to China? Why has America not stopped this by now? What has Israel done for America lately, other than selling its military secrets to the highest non-American bidder?

Are you aware that more of our military in Iraq have come home with stress disorders than any time in American history-even outdistancing the Viet Nam war? This according to therapists at Camp Pendleton.

Have any of you considered that Israel wants the oil, but also wants the water, electricity and hashish that is grown in the southern part of Lebanon?

Suppose Syria told us to get our troops out of Iraq, their neighbor-would we listen?

Who gave America permission to invade Iraq? Certainly not the UN, though Bush keeps claiming the UN gave him authority. If this continues, then we will have a dog eat dog world, with the UN losing all authority and only the strong will survive-and that means that in the near future China will overrun America or its power in the world or both.

Why should more Americans and Iraqis get killed, or get traumatized for life by Bush’s illegal and immoral war in Iraq?

Why is it that Bush, an AWOL chicken-hawk can sends so many of our troops to their death in Iraq, with no progress in sight. Even General Abizaid admitted last night, on the Newshour on PBS that the resistance in Iraq will go on for years, with no predictable end in sight? Would you like to go serve in Iraq? Would you like one of your loved ones to go serve in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Has Bush or the American troops brought more peace or more suffering to Iraq?

Is America bringing more stability to Lebanon, or is he, in league with the Falangists making more civil unrest, and possibly civil war, in Lebanon? You can see it coming, can’t you-just admit it. Most likely, if this continues, it will lead to civil war because the Muslims in Lebanon will not tolerate the Falangists taking over the government by “demonstrations.”

Why doesn’t Bush send his daughters as volunteers to Iraq, Rumsfeld his kids, Cheney his children, Wolfowitz his, and let’s see how long this “democratizing “ of Iraq will continue.

Are you aware most Lebanese hate the Falangists because they allied themselves with Israel, and gave intelligence to Israel, in its 1980s invasion of Lebanon, wherein most of Beirut was destroyed, thousands killed and the country made into a basket case. The Falangists also are the ones who committed the atrocities at the Sabra and Shatilla Refugee Camps wherein women, children and old men were slaughtered as the Israeli army stood guard to stop anyone from interfering with the massacres. Check it out in your history books if you don’t believe it, or check UN records-it’s all there.

Do you realize that for the OPEC nations that denominate their oil sales and receipts in dollars, that what was a $32.00 dollar barrel of oil before the dollar slid so much in the past 2 years is now equivalent to the $48-50 barrel of oil today. That is, to get the same $32 in value, OPEC nations must charge $48-50 dollars per barrel. That may help you understand why oil has gone up so high. Those that pay in Euros are laughing all the way to the bank and we are going broke, and shall go further into debt as more of the oil pipelines are blown up because of our Middle Eastern wars and interference in their domestic matters.

Did you realize there are very few functioning hospitals, electric stations, water purification plants functioning in Iraq at this time than there were in 1917? Is this “progress”?

What kind of “aid” is America giving to Iraq when they have destroyed 90% of Iraq’s infrastructure and not rebuilt it? Where is that $9 billion dollars that disappeared under Paul Bremer? Shouldn’t we hold him financially accountable or imprison him for graft and fraud?

Did you realize the American government and the right wing neo-cons have shipped millions of dollars into Iraq to buy influence so that their favorite dictator, Allawi, has a chance to become Prime Minister? If he becomes PM, then he’ll ask America to stay on, will honor the illegal contracts signed by Paul Bremer to give all of Iraq’s resources to American companies and basically lengthen the civil strife and resistance to America in Iraq.

Why is Conde Rice out dictating to the Palestinians to get their “terrorists” under control, when Israel has killed more than 160 Palestinians, wounded hundreds more, and destroyed countless houses and business buildings since the “truce” of November 2004?
By the way, Palestinian suicide people have killed less than 1 dozen Israelis during that time until last week’s attack.

Have you ever looked at the official UN records that show Israel has killed and attacked Palestinians, their homes, their infrastructure at a rate of 75 to 1?

Where are these billions of dollars, nay, trillions, coming from to fight these “foreign wars” that Bush loves so much? We are paying the bills through our increasing taxes.
Incidentally, the “defense contractors” like Halliburton, Brown & Root, are getting rich off our backs. Do you love it?

Have you seen that Sharon, while allegedly “pulling of Gaza and the West Bank,” has approved over 6000 new Israeli homes in the West Bank and the Palestinian area of Jerusalem? Check it out in Reuters, BBC, China News, India Daily-you won’t find it on any American media sites or in the rags they call “newspapers” in our country.

Did you know the IMF has put America on a “financial watch list” because of the weakness of the dollar? That means our economy is almost bankrupt-really.

Do you realize that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that Israel has over 250 atomic and hydrogen bombs in its arsenal, plus all the latest American stealth and military technology? Why is it then that America is so keen on attacking Iran and Syria to protect “tiny little” Israel?

What would you do if you had a city in America called “the city of churches” and it was bombed by Iraqis and most of them destroyed? That’s what our troops did in Fallujah, destroyed most of the mosques in the “city of mosques.” Do you think the Muslim Iraqis will love us for this?

How can America ask for a “nuclear free Middle East” and still allow Israel to keep its atomic and hydrogen bombs? Does this make sense to you? Are we so dumb?

Have you noticed that all the “news” from Iraq is from our military, from media embedded with our troops, or from Allawi and his gang or the Kurds, but never from the Shi’a, leading Sunnis or the anti-American civilians? Don’t you think this is a bit slanted. As a former professor of mass media, I know it is slanted. Thus, we are being fed only propaganda by our media, ala George Orwell’s , 1984, no real, honest “news,’ just propaganda.

These are just a few things you should consider when hearing about our “democratizing the Middle East”

Sam Hamod, shamod@cox.net
Dr. Hamod was the founding editor of 3rd World News in Wash, DC; Advisor to the State Department; Director of The Islamic Center of Wash, DC; professor at several major universities; edits, www.todaysalternativenews.com and appears on many websites, newspapers and ezines.

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