Friday, December 31, 2004

Exporting Unhappiness by SUNANDA K. DATTA-RAY

True, it means the neo-conservative lobby has been invigorated for another term. But another president would probably have made as little difference as Colin Powell’s replacement by Condoleezza Rice has done. Heady on a new variant of the American Dream, Washington is determined to grasp what it sees as its ordained destiny ever since the Soviet Union collapsed.

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Neo-cons can't escape responsibility for their Iraq miscalculations by Joseph L. Galloway

When Rumsfeld goes, so too should every neo-conservative who squirmed his way into a Pentagon sinecure. They must also bear responsibility for a war that so far has cost nearly $200 billion and the lives of more than 1,300 American troops and has damaged America's standing in the world.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

A Holiday Carol for NeoCons by Martin Kelly

You endorsed a constitution for Iraq that included Islamic Sharia law as a source. Because of your actions, the people of Iraq now have no freedom. Their journey has ended in the opposite direction to the one my brothers and I started in 1776 – tell me, Ebenezer, were we more enlightened than you? You live in a great land of plenty, where none need ever want – but did we know more of liberty than you?’

Who's in Charge of Russia Policy? by Pat Buchanan

"Are the neoconservatives and their neoliberal collaborators in the global crusade for democracy pushing America into confrontation and a second Cold War with Russia? So it would seem. "

If President Bush will not get control of NED and its progeny, or defund the rogues, or assume responsibility for them all, Congress must hold public hearings. At least let the people know who is steering us into a new Cold War with Russia and the "World War IV" that ex-Director Woolsey and his friends have in store for us.

The Neoconnerie: Of Lice and Fleas by Ilana Mercer

Duly, our neoconservative Nostradamus Gerecht predicts a favorable outcome in the event the U.S. decides to launch a missile attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. "Iranians are not nationalist automatons – they are among the most profound, cynical patriots imaginable," he patronizes. Americans can carpet bomb Iran's nuclear plants to their heart's content. There's no danger this will dissipate the average Iranian's detestation for the mullahs and spur an insurgency against the U.S.

Bye, Bye Unipolar World by Jim Lobe

Krauthammer himself laid out the neoconservative vision of early 2004 in a triumphalist speech entitled "Democratic Realism: An American Foreign Policy for a Unipolar World" at the annual celebration of Vice President Dick Cheney's favorite think tank, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). It claimed that the United States "has been designated custodian of the international system" by virtue of its military superiority.

Monday, December 27, 2004

Neocons pin Iraq on Rumsfeld by ROBERT NOVAK

The neocon message is that the war was no mistake but has been badly conducted. While Adelman does not blame his friend Rumsfeld, the accountability of the secretary of defense is implicit. Kristol's call for Rumsfeld's dismissal removes culpability for those who beat the drums to go to war.

The Fallacy of '39 by Justin Raimondo

Kristof is selling to the liberals what the neocons have been retailing to the American right-wing: the story that Russia is rising, reverting to Stalinism (or "progressing" to fascism). The next step will be to raise a hue and cry over Russian "rearmament" as we encircle the Kremlin from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian, fomenting "democratic" revolutions on the periphery while moving inexorably toward the center. A renewed arms race and the return of the cold war – all launched under the rubric of exporting "democracy" and "free markets." This new Russophobia has something for everyone.

Neo-fascism in America by Jim Macgregor

"Bottom line, are the neo-cons driving this agenda neo-fascist? Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, published research on fascism [18] in which he examined the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each fascist State:"

Neocons and the Cult of State by Chris Moore

"As a neocon leftist, Beinart's enthusiasm for using the state to terrorize a religion into submission is understandable. After all, many on the American left have long had mixed emotions about the Soviet ambition to erase Christianity from the face of the earth, and many continue to be hostile to Christianity today."

Neocons Target Rumsfeld by GARY LEUPP

In any case, Rumsfeld's departure might only increase neocon influence, while what today seems unthinkable becomes thinkable. Imagine the administration announcing, in the patriotic, shell-shocked atmosphere following another terrorist attack, that the nation has no choice but to reinstate conscription. Given immediately imaginable alternatives, one almost feels relieved by Bush's continuing public support for his war secretary under fire.

Sunday, December 26, 2004

World Net Daily: GI's Can Be Forced to Wear UN Beret, Court Says

Mark Dankof reminds BATR readers to read his tribute to Daniel New at www.MarkDankof.com after the obscene verdict--noted at World Net Daily-- by Federal Judge James Friedman that Dan's son, Michael, and other American patriots in military uniform can--and will--be forced by the Imperial American Presidency to don the uniforms and the global policeman agenda of The United Nations.

Be sure to have a drink this New Year's Eve to toast the end of the American Republic and its Constitutional heritage and guarantees. Welcome to One-World Government and The New World Order.

Friday, December 24, 2004

The Devil's Christmas by Justin Raimondo

The Devil's Christmas- by Justin Raimondo: "Justin Raimondo"

The professional super-"patriots" and other "pro-American" neocons, who manage to get themselves worked up over accusations of "treason" – either real or imagined – and the alleged "betrayals" of our allies, have been strangely silent when it comes to Israel's apparent treachery.

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Christmas And The National Question: One Cheer For Krauthammer by Sam Francis

VDARE.com: 12/20/04 - Christmas And The National Question: One Cheer For Krauthammer:

"A tip of the hat to Charles Krauthammer, Jewish neoconservative (not necessarily a redundancy, despite what many neocons claim) who last week lobbed a much-merited smack at the face of the anti-Christmas lobby. "

Now They're After Rummy by Justin Raimondo

Now They're After Rummy- by Justin Raimondo

Parasites eventually kill their host. The neoconservatives won't be happy until Rummy's dried-up husk is left by the roadside, and their chosen replacement – Wolfowitz? Woolsey? neocon tool "Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf? – marches triumphantly into Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and – eventually – Saudi Arabia.

Scapegoating Rumsfeld by Patrick J. Buchanan

Scapegoating Rumsfeld by Patrick J. Buchanan

Ever since he signed on with their Committee on the Present Danger in the 1980s, Rumsfeld had been a hero to neocons. In 1998, he signed Kristol's open letter to Clinton calling for war on Iraq, four years before 9-11. Named defense secretary, Rumsfeld brought in neocons Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith as his No. 2 and No. 3, and let them fill the building with friends from Neocon Central, the American Enterprise Institute.

To neocons, this war was never about WMD or any alleged Iraqi ties to 9-11. That was merely to mobilize the masses for war. Their real reason was empire and making the Middle East safe for Israel.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Is America planning new imperial adventures? by Patrick Seale

The Daily Star - Opinion Articles - Is America planning new imperial adventures?

What does Kristol recommend? "We could bomb Syrian military facilities; we could go across the border in force to stop infiltration; we could occupy the town of Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, which seems to be the planning and organising center for Syrian activities in Iraq; we could covertly help or overtly support the Syrian opposition."

Neocons an emblem of change by JANINE R. WEDEL

Albany, N.Y. -- timesunion.com

In 2001, Perle and Wolfowitz championed Feith for undersecretary for policy at the Pentagon. In that post, Feith selected Perle as chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a Pentagon advisory body with a mixed state-private character that gives its members access to classified information. (Perle resigned as chairman in March 2003 amid allegations of conflicts of interest, and from the board a year later.)

Friday, December 17, 2004

Neo-cons on the road to Damascus by Jim Lobe

Asia Times - Asia's most trusted news source for the Middle East:

"The media campaign was launched last week when three analysts associated with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a neo-conservative group that generally backs positions of Israel's right-wing Likud Party, published an article in the Washington Times titled 'Syria's murderous role: Assad aides [sic] Iraq's terrorist insurgency'. "

In Bed with Terrorists by Laura Rozen

AlterNet: War on Iraq: In Bed with Terrorists

A battle is brewing within the ranks of neoconservatives in Washington. Public flashes of private quarrels are uncommon among this rarefied circle of uber-hawks, who have been unanimous in shaping and supporting the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policy. Yet they find themselves at odds over the most unlikely of issues: an Iranian terrorist group.

Israel's Fifth Column in Washington by Justin Raimondo

Israel's Fifth Column in Washington- by Justin Raimondo

Those few neocons who have deigned to notice two raids in as many months on AIPAC headquarters have done nothing but apologize for and otherwise excuse and cover-up what is apparently a massive spy operation launched by Israel against the United States. The best our super- "patriotic" neocons can do is echo the complaints in the Israeli media that the whole thing is a "set-up" engineered by those notorious anti-Semites in the U.S. Justice Department.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Syria, the next target? Paul Rogers

Syria, the next target? Paul Rogers - openDemocracy: "Syria, the next target? "

The neo-conservative Project for the New American Century (PNAC) has just issued one of its rare policy statements demanding a tougher line on North Korea. Nicholas Eberstadt has expanded on this in a key article in the neocon Weekly Standard ("Tear Down This Tyranny", 29 November 2004).

Reza Pahlavi on Radio Israel. What Does it Mean?

The December 10th edition of the International Jerusalem Post has a cover story entitled, "The Iranian Threat: A Nearly Nuclearized Islamic Republic Targets Israel." Now, the heir to the Pahlavi Throne and Dynasty, Reza Pahlavi, turns up on Radio Israel's international shortwave radio broadcast.

Mark Dankof suggests a possible link and underlying significance. His recommendation to BATR readers is that of Christ in the Olivet Discourse: "Watch" (Matthew 24).

Mark Dankof's America

www.MarkDankof.com

Evildoers, here we come by Pepe Escobar

Evildoers, here we come

The Balkanization of the Arab and Muslim Middle East is a follow-up to the "divide and rule" of British colonialism. It's in the heart of the neo-con agenda. Arab nationalism has to be smashed. And Persian nationalism as well.

The neo-con dream is a stable Iraq by the end of 2005 so the US can concentrate on attacking Iran. With the US still bogged down in a dreadful Iraqi quagmire, the well-oiled neo-con propaganda machine is already full speed ahead manufacturing its trademark brand of fear: Iranian nukes are coming to get us unless we pre-emptively attack (echoes of Ronald Reagan's "Nicaraguan Sandinistas about to invade Texas" come to mind).

History Debunks Bush Myth by Jim Lobe

History Debunks Bush Myth by Jim Lobe

To the administration's neoconservative boosters, Bush represents a synthesis of the wisdom of the two presidents – the Republican realist and the Democratic idealist – who are among the most beloved in the generally hazy historical memory of the nation.

But according to the The Folly of Empire, a book published this fall by John Judis, this interpretation of history is nonsense.

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Lethal Weapons: Neocon Groupies by Ilana Mercer

Lethal Weapons: Neocon Groupies - by Ilana Mercer

So I'm not sure why I was even remotely shocked to see Canadian serial sexual stalker Rachel Marsden play parrot to Bush booster Dennis Miller on his little-watched CNBC chatshow. (She was billed as a conservative "political columnist.")

This is what Scott McConnell, editor of The American Conservative, meant by "a vulgarized neoconservatism" (I can think of a better adjective for its gynocentric permutation). No doubt, the women of the neoconnerie have been instrumental in keeping their fans tuned-out, turned-on, and hot for war.

The Fool's Gold of NeoConservatism by Martin Kelly

The Washington Dispatch

But the neos couldn’t care less – opportunity in adversity, right? If Wall Street tanks, there will be plenty of rich pickings for the private equity specialists like the Carlyle Group, one of whose directors is George H.W. Bush, to pick up.

Battle for the Future Not Over by Patrick J. Buchanan

Battle for the Future Not Over by Patrick J. Buchanan

While there is no shortage of neocon war plans for a Pax Americana, President Bush is bumping up against reality – a U.S. Army tied down and bleeding in Iraq, the rising costs of war, soaring deficits, a sinking dollar and an absence of allies willing to fight beside us or even help. He is facing the Vietnam dilemma.

Monday, December 13, 2004

A Dose of Non-Delusional Reality for Douglas Feith by PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Paul Craig Roberts: a Dose of Non-Delusional Reality for Douglas Feith

Israel's rightwing Likud Party regards Feith as one of its own. The Jerusalem Post described Feith as "a staunch supporter of Israel" (Dec. 12). In an exclusive interview Feith told that paper that despite the intercession of Britain, France, Germany and the IAEA against a US attack on Iran, the Bush administration has not ruled out taking military action against Iran.


What Food-for-Oil Scandal? By JUDE WANNISKI

Jude Wanniski: What Food-for-Oil Scandal?

It`s clear enough the neo-cons and the news outlets that do their bidding are behind the "scandal" story.

In the Times account, Richard Holbrooke, the ambassador to the United Nations under president Bill Clinton and an Annan backer, said: "The danger now is that a group of people who want to destroy or paralyse the UN are beginning to pick up support from some of those whose goal is to reform it."

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Feith to 'Post': US action against Iran can't be ruled out by CAROLINE GLICK

Feith stated that the US is now concentrating on "a process to try to get the existing international legal mechanisms – the nonproliferation treaty [and] the International Atomic Energy Agency – to work, to bring the kind of pressure to bear on Iran that would induce the Iranians to follow the path that Libya took in deciding that they were actually better off in abandoning their WMD [weapons of mass destruction] programs."

Realists Rebuffed: A vulgarized neconservatism in the saddle by Scott McConnell

Realists Rebuffed: A vulgarized neconservatism in the saddle

What became of the realists? Like the neocons, they are only policy intellectuals and bureaucrats, dependent on the politicians who appoint them. Among educated Americans, they won the foreign-policy debate decisively. No one doubts it. There are scores of bright people from George Will to William F. Buckley to Kenneth Pollack who are born-again realists; no one has recently converted to neoconservatism. But the realists did not win the debate inside Bush’s brain—indeed, there is no sign at all that the president was aware that there was a foreign-policy debate going on. Instead a 51-48 percent victory, a pitiful margin for an incumbent during wartime, is treated as a landslide of Reaganesque proportions and a mandate for the president to promote those whose foreign-policy advice has proved egregiously wrong.

Friday, December 10, 2004

How Teddy Roosevelt Fathered the "Bush Doctrine" by David T. Beito and William Marina



Neo-conservatives around George W. Bush remain obsessed with extending U.S. military power around the world but seem oblivious to the emerging economic crisis facing this country. Last month alone, the federal deficit reached $55 billion and the U.S. Congress approved a new national debt level of $8 trillion. How long can this legacy of Teddy Roosevelt’s imperialism, this internal contradiction of empire, endure? Only time will tell.

Thursday, December 09, 2004

There Has Been a Fascist Coup in This Country by Seth Farber, PhD

Coastal Post Online

The neo-con imperial strategy towards the Arab world is distinctive. It basically involves--at least in the mind of its American Likudnik designers-- fighting a proxy war for Israel in the Mideast. This has been the dream of Israeli Likudniks since Oded Yinon first articulated it in 1982, as discussed in Ralph Schoenmann's book The Hidden History of Zionism. Instead of working with "friendly" Arab regimes they will be overthrown, one by one. This is all articulated in the writings of American neo-cons. Israel will be the hegemon of Middle East. How can Bush do this with resources strained in Iraq? They'll find a way. The prologue will be a new propaganda build-up with perhaps another Pearl Harbor attack within the US. Then there will be the institution of a draft, of course.

Nukes, Neo-Cons, and the Bush Who Cried Wolf Again by Steve Weissman

t r u t h o u t - Steve Weissman | Nukes, Neo-Cons, and the Bush Who Cried Wolf Again

Other than contributing to Israel's growing isolation, the main impact of the Israeli raid came in Washington, where Michael Ledeen, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and other Neo-Conservatives took it as their leitmotif. If you have power, use it. And if you see a threat down the road, strike now. Don't wait. Pre-empt.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

The US retreat from democratization by Erich Marquardt

Asia Times - Asia's most trusted news source for the Middle East

One of the prime motives for the intervention in Iraq was to test the neo-conservative theory of democratic transformation in the Middle East. This theory's chance for success was questionable from the very beginning, since there are few historical examples of an outside power intervening in a country with vast cultural differences and successfully implementing a market democracy there. Additionally, Iraq was a very poor choice for the execution of this theory to begin with, considering that the country has never settled the question of how power will be shared between its three main ethnic/religious groups (Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurd); creating a power vacuum in such a state is a sure way to pull the intervening power into the center of civil strife and potential civil war.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Despite Cabinet shuffle, neocon ideology remains by Peter S. Canellos

Boston.com / News / Politics / Presidential candidates / George W. Bush / Despite Cabinet shuffle, neocon ideology remains

Donald Rumsfeld will continue as defense secretary, and as long as he stays the neoconservatives who dominated the first term will hold sway over foreign policy.

Whither the neocons was the great question of the Bush campaign. And it was, perhaps, the most important question of the entire 2004 election, because it would define Bush's doctrine of preemption. But it was not answered until last weekend, when Rumsfeld confirmed that he was keeping his job.

Monday, December 06, 2004

Card wins Legal Action against Pipes by Juan Cole

Readers know that one of Pipes's fellow travellers recently brandished an outrageous threat to sue me for libel recently, for which he had no grounds. It should be emphasized that all three of these techniques-- untrue charges of antisemitism, intensive spying on private persons, and vague threats of libel suits on shaky grounds, are used by American and Israeli-American sympathizers with the far rightwing Likud Party in an attempt to cast a chill on Americans' freedom to critique Israeli misdeeds in the West Bank and Gaza. Card's lawsuit was obviously well founded, and was not intended to intimidate or to suppress speech, but simply to defend himself from false charges of bigotry.

The New Cold War by Justin Raimondo

As the epicenter of the Orthodox Christian Slavic civilization, Russia finds itself under attack on several fronts: not only in the Ukraine but also in Chechnya, where American neoconservatives have taken up the cause of Al Qaeda-linked "freedom fighters" and denounced Russian president Vladimir Putin as an aspiring "dictator."

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Republicans, neocons should quit whining

The Telegraph Online

To the Republicans’ and neocons’ incessant complaining about how liberals should give their support and respect to our current president, who by the way won election by just a mere, non-mandate and non-runaway 2-plus percent of the popular 2004 vote, let’s not forget that both wins by William J. Clinton were by much greater margins against his rivals.


Friday, December 03, 2004

Douglas Feith Profile

Typical of other neoconservatives, Feith in public statements has not made reference to his own Zionist convictions. Rather in congressional testimony and in op-eds in major media, Feith has instead argued that U.S. policy in the Middle East should be guided by concerns about human rights and democracy. Israel, according to Feith, should never enter into good-faith negotiations with Arab countries or the PA because they are not democratic.

AIPAC's Overt and Covert Ops by Juan Cole

CBS is reporting that a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst detailed to Undersecretary of Defense for Planning Douglas Feith's Office of Special Plans is under FBI investigation for spying for Israel. The person passed to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) confidential documents, including those detailing Bush administration policy toward Iran, and AIPAC then passed them to Israel. There are wiretaps and photographs backing up the FBI case (the FBI agents involved are extremely brave to take this on).

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Who’s a Fascist? by Paul Gottfried

Peter Brimelow was correct to observe in last weekend’s Internet chat that neoconservatives believe not in fascism but in "Goldbergism" when they push for open borders and an aggressive foreign policy in the name of human rights. Jonah Goldberg, one of their major political theorists, has explained on NROnline that European conservatives like Joseph de Maistre were really on the left, seeing that they rejected "human rights," which is the essence of a conservative belief system. No matter how silly Goldberg’s interpretation may seem, what he enunciates is the current neoconservative dogma that justifies imperial expansion.

If It's 2005, It Must Be Time For Another War by Ted Rall

Only the Bushiban know whether they plan to invade Iran. But, as Time magazine reports, "the neoconservative hawks who championed the Iraq war have long advocated an aggressive pursuit of regime change in Iran." Washington kremlinologists are waiting to see whether Bush will promote anti-Iran neocon John Bolton from Undersecretary of State for Arms Control to Deputy Secretary of State. A Bolton ascension, goes the word on K Street, probably means a third war.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Neo-cons jump on anti-UN bandwagon by Jim Lobe

Neo-conservatives began moving against the United Nations after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and accelerated that after the 1973 October war, when Israel found itself repeatedly isolated and assailed in the General Assembly and the Security Council by the Soviet Bloc and the Third World countries in the Non-Aligned Movement.

Monday, November 29, 2004

Alexander the Neocon by Daniel McCarthy

What a shame, because the left-neocon Stone does have at least a rudimentary grasp on Alexander’s politics, if not his character. The "civilizing" mission of the conqueror was something Alexander’s propagandists played up at the time and perpetuated long after his death. It’s part of his enduring appeal to megalomaniacs of all stripes. By force of arms he changed the political culture, and indeed the culture generally, of the known world, East and West. He did what liberventionists and multicultural imperialists alike long to do. Alexander is any would-be world-shaper’s role model.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

One More Neocon Target: South Korea by GARY LEUPP

The neocons have added yet another country to their hit list, another one targeted for regime change: the Republic of Korea. Yes, that's South Korea, long-time U.S. ally, host to around 34,000 U.S. troops. William Kristol, editor of the neocon Weekly Standard and chair of the highly influential Project for the New American Century, has issued a memo (addressed to "opinion-leaders") on behalf of the PNAC. This is a highly significant and alarming document.

The Coming Wars With Iran And North Korea by David B. Willis and Walter W. Enloe

One plausible scenario is that the Neocons will stop at nothing to bring the other members of the Axis of Evil to their knees. There has already been considerable talk along these lines following the election. The Neocons have said as much when they have called for imminent regime change in these countries in documents such as the Project for the New American Century.

Neocons join the lynch mob for 'arrogant' Rumsfeld by Sarah Baxter

"What remains to be done is to announce new leadership for the department of defence," wrote Kristol. "This, surely, would be an important opportunity for a strong, Bush-doctrine-supporting outsider, someone who of course would be a team player, but someone who could also work with the military and broaden support for the president’s policy."

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Mark Dankof Book Review: The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia by Lutz Kleveman

Mark Dankof commends Lutz Kleveman's The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia as must reading. Kleveman's analysis of Central Asian and Caspian Sea littoral state politics demonstrates unequivocally that Bush's War on Terror is linked to oil and natural gas deposits--and strategically placed pipeline routes. The Byzantine alliances, ethnic conflicts, and Great Power machinations contain all the ingredients for long-term disaster for the United States, which may discover the limits of the American Empire in the expenditure of money-- and the blood of its sons and daughters--in following the failed policy of its British predecessor.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Neoconservative Animus by Paul Gottfried

That pattern is the way neocons habitually calumniate those who are perceived as being on their right or else those who are seen as unwilling to share with them government largess or posts that neocons covet.

The Conservative Movement documents the extent of neoconservative malice and mischief. And it did predict in 1992 the fated success of what Claes Ryn calls "the new Jacobins’ in grabbing hold of the rudder of government and then pushing the U.S. into foreign crusades for "democracy."

The Game: Rules of Engagement by Ryan McGreal

The neocons believe in pre-emption, the doctrine of extrapolating potential threats to American supremacy and moving pre-emptively to ensure that those threats never have a chance to materialize. Even where military power isn't used, neocons believe that the ability to project military power anywhere gives America the leverage it needs to pressure other countries into doing its will.

However, the neocons know that the public at large isn't nearly as gung-ho about global supremacy as they are. Americans do not want America to use its power to increase and entrench its global control.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Undeterred by Failure in Iraq, Neocons Push for U.S. Attack on Iran by Andrew I. Killgore

The neocons' excuse this time is not Iran's continuing support for Hezbollah, but its alleged plans to produce nuclear weapons. Once again, the purported threat is not against the United States but against Israel, which already has up to 200 nuclear weapons.

But that threat to Israel is what accounts for the support of such neocons/Zionists as Norman Podhoretz . . .

Monday, November 22, 2004

Is a Bush-neocon clash ahead? by Patrick J. Buchanan

With neoconservatives even more zealously committed than he to the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive strikes and preventive war on "axis of evil' nations seeking weapons of mass destruction, and using U.S. power to effect regime change on defiant nations, only George Bush can now prevent them from realizing their vision.

Virtuous Violence Is Upon Us by Paul Craig Roberts

Indeed, the entire panoply of neoconservatives, who intentionally fabricated the "intelligence" used to justify the US invasion of Iraq, are being rewarded by promotion to higher offices. Stephen Hadley is moving up to National Security Adviser. Hadley is the person who advocates "usable" mini-nukes for the US conquest of the Middle East.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

World eschews Rice by Eric Margolis

Instead, we have Rice, who, whatever she may know about outside world, knows a lot about Bush, with whom she reportedly likes to belt out gospel hymns. And at the Pentagon, that latter-day Robert McNamara, Don Rumsfeld, is stuck in a lost war in Iraq engineered by the neocons.

Demise Of Bush's Neocons Was Greatly Exaggerated by JACOB HEILBRUNN

Danielle Pletka, vice president of the American Enterprise Institute, the citadel of neoconservative thought, is in line to become the assistant secretary for East Asian affairs.

At the National Security Council, Elliott Abrams – the ultimate second-generation neoconservative, son-in-law of proto-neocons Midge Decter and Norman Podhoretz – has been hugely influential in pushing the United States into the corner of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.


Time for History Lessons for Arabs and Americans by Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi

Other players who should have learned from Vietnam and the first Gulf War also failed to do so. Colin Powell who fought in Vietnam and directed the first Gulf War fell for the neocons’ schemes. Even if true that he resisted the current, he should have resigned much earlier. In the courts of history, his hands are as bloody as any of the neocons.

Friday, November 19, 2004

The Bush Foreign Policy Stratagem by Randall Risener

Back at State, in case Rice should ever be inclined to think for herself and veer from the straight and narrow, another Cheney loyalist and staunch Neocon, John Bolton who is presently under-secretary for arms control, is slotted for deputy secretary under Rice.

Neocons in Control For Bush's Second Term

"The neocons are feeling quite confident right now. Things are breaking their way. A group of people who in any rational culture should be looking for other jobs are being promoted," said Jonathan Clarke of the conservative Cato Institute, co-author of a book on the neoconservative movement.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Patriotic Support For A President at War by Praful Bidwai

It is ludicrous to argue that there are “no inherent conflicts of interest between the US and India”. Of course, there are! How can India’s stake in a multipolar, plural, and equitable world be compatible with the Neocons’ Empire? How can the Indian public’s interest in a humane economic policy be equated with market fundamentalism and blind faith in the innate goodness of the rich? How can the universal global stake in nuclear disarmament be reconciled with America’s plans to keep its own weapons of mass destruction, which Mr Bush, in absolute self-belief, is convinced, can only do good: Washington sees, speaks or hears no evil. It never can.

A test of time for Powell's doctrine by Pan Hu

Cheney, Pentagon deputy Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith and other neo-con stalwarts in both the administration and the press celebrated the rapid victory, events were unfolding right under the noses of coalition forces that would decisively undermine the credibility of Washington's rosy expectations for post-Saddam Iraq.

Thus diplomacy - albeit aggressive and possibly not very diplomatic - will probably be the primary means of promoting vital US interests in the near future.

The Peter Principle and the neocon coup by Robert Scheer

As of today, the neocons on Zinni's list of losers -- Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz; the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby; National Security Council staffer Elliott Abrams; Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld -- are all still employed even as Bush's new director of central intelligence, Porter J. Goss, is eviscerating the CIA's leadership.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

The Good Soldier Abandons the Field by Jim Lobe

Thus, neoconservatives are currently promoting Perle protégée Danielle Pletka, a vice-president of American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and outspoken and unapologetic supporter of the Likud-led government in Israel, for the post of assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs to replace career diplomat William Burns when he moves on early next year.

Triumph of the Neocons by Justin Raimondo

The general purge of Republican "realists" from the Bush cabinet is a great victory for the War Party, but that's only half the battle. The other half consists of inserting their own people in key positions, but they aren't doing too badly so far. Let's take the new foreign policy related appointments one by one:

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Neo-cons: Around the world in seven steps by Jim Lobe

The list, which begins with the destruction of Fallujah in Iraq and ends with the development of "appropriate strategies" for dealing with threats posed by China, Russia and "the emergence of a number of aggressively anti-American regimes in Latin America", also calls for "regime change" in Iran and North Korea.

Neocons Downplay `Moral Issue’ In Election. Stupid Party Believes Them by Sam Francis

It's not easy to argue that a party able to win the White House and both houses of Congress is the Stupid Party, but stupidity is largely a matter of being unable to learn, and what this election tells us more than anything else is that, at least up until Election Day, the Republican Party had learned nothing.

US ‘Neocons’ Gun for Key Posts

The neoconservatives claim that McCain is too soft and may not have the nerves needed if and when the US decides to go to war again in the Middle East or elsewhere.

The neoconservatives candidate for defense secretary is former CIA Director James Woolsey, also a Democrat.

Monday, November 15, 2004

War is a Game to the NeoCons by Martin Kelly

The neocons are certainly adept at producing dungeons. The patsies for the scandal of Abu Ghraib are now and will forever be the reservists caught on candid camera, while there is little public talk of ‘Operation Copper Green’, and ‘contractors’ being brought in to ‘circumvent’ the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention is one of the high watermarks of post-Enlightenment civilisation, one of those documents that show, like the Bible and the Constitution, that Man is capable of great nobility, that prove we are better than beasts – it went into the trash to give the neocons what they wanted.

Neo-Cons Pushing for Regime Change in Latin America by Gonzalo Baeza

Latin America was recently signaled by neo-con Frank J. Gaffney Jr. (above) as one of several foreign policy “priorities” to be dealt with by the Bush administration in order to make “the world less dangerous for America.”

Purge at the CIA by Justin Raimondo

It's typical of the neocons that they would try to blame the very people who warned against rushing to war for the consequences of their ideology-driven policy. McCain has the gall to smear the hardworking professionals over at Langley – the guardians of American security – as a "rogue agency" when it was precisely the establishment of several "rogue agencies" within the U.S. government, set up to bypass the CIA and the traditional intelligence community, that facilitated the stove-piping of "raw" and erroneous data to policymakers – including, in one case, an outright forgery.

Father of his nation by John Maxwell

The neoCons of the Bush Administration adopted the Sharon pose that Arafat was the only stumbling block to peace in the Middle East. Israel's position has always been clear: it is to absorb all of Palestine and perhaps more of the neighbouring states to become in area what it is already in military power - a super state. Eretz Israel, fufilling its transcendental mandate from God.

Friday, November 12, 2004

The Next Few Months and the Next Four Years by Chris Knipp

Keeping the puppet government is fine for the pursuit of the devastating neocon utopia. The neocons aren't interested in reconstruction -- not if it's done by the locals without outsiders profiting. Bush's success in grabbing a second term will encourage him and his team to maintain what Klein calls their "ideological blindness," hiding behind the Green Zone and fake statistics. This blindness is greater than usual because the ideological stance is more extreme than other US administrations'.

Misreading Islam by Michael Hirsh

Today, even as the administration's case for invading Iraq has all but collapsed, Bernard Lewis' public image has remained largely intact. While his neocon protégés fight for their reputations and their jobs, Lewis's latest book, a collection of essays called "From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East," received mostly respectful reviews last spring and summer. Yet events on the ground seem to be bearing out some of the academic criticisms of Lewis made by Bulliet and others. Indeed, they suggest that what is happening is the opposite of what Lewis predicted.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Springtime for Spooks? by Jim Lobe

The capital's odds-makers are already taking bets on the outcome, with early indications that neoconservatives and the hardline nationalists who led the drive to war in Iraq and now favor confrontation with Iran, Syria, North Korea, and other possible adversaries may actually extend control over key policymaking levers, especially in the National Security Council (NSC) staff and the State Department.

Debating a Neocon by STAN GOFF

It is truly remarkable how easily KO'ed these neocons are once you step outside the tight little ring of the Republicrats. They've got maybe three combinations, and they are slow as a cow. Everything inside has been ritual combat, so they do very badly when someone actually intends to hit them.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Dynamic China-Us ties

While the neocons may want to contain and undermine China, China can exercise political and economic leverage to keep the peace and not let the neocons dictate foreign policy regarding China . . . The neocons are made up of chickenhawks, defense industry people, think tank people, and have ideas of creating friction in this world, by pushing for more wars, so they can profit from it. Some of these war profiteers also have imperialistic desires.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

National Mythologies and the Aftermath of Election 2004 by Mark Dankof

Writing from Dallas and Dealey Plaza this week, Mark Dankof reminds BATR readers that in the wake of the beginning of the Fallujah offensive; the fall of the dollar; the rise of the Euro; the deepening of the budget and trade deficits; the ominous signs of eventual American-Israeli military preemption of Syria and Iran; and the approach of the re-establishment of the Draft, the prevailing notion that the re-election of George Bush one week ago signals a victory for Constitutional and Conservative government in America ranks with the National Mythologies surrounding Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt as one of the great falsehoods in our nation's history.

Neocon lessons for Democrats by MICHAEL O'HANLON

Democrats used to be the country's greatest visionaries in foreign policy. And indeed many neocons came from their ranks. It is time now for the party to reclaim the best of its proud traditions. The easiest time to be innovative, and to take risks, is when you have little to lose. Democrats couldn't ask for a better moment.

Monday, November 08, 2004

The Ugly Faces of NeoConservatism by Martin Kelly

Let us also hope for ends and beginnings from the neoconservative movement, and the abandonment of their not two but three ugly faces; scaremongering, questioning their opponent’s patriotism and deriding others who do not follow their plans as cowards and appeasers.

The American people have given a most unconservative philosophy a truly conservative mandate. It’s to be hoped that it’s used, and a really good place to start would be sustained attempts to close the abortuaries – something that, as Governor of Texas, the President never really got round to.

The Worst Is Yet to Come by Justin Raimondo

Just as those Old Rightists who spoke up against the war well before the elections – including myself – were demonized by neocon enforcer David "Axis of Evil" Frum in his infamous National Review interdiction, so they will be cast out, too, and shortly. Donald Devine, of the American Conservative Union – a sometime critic of the new imperialism – has already been forced to make a public apology and self-criticism straight out of the Stalin era for failing to properly stand up and loudly applaud a speech by President Bush before his group. It should hardly come as a shock that both Norquist and Weyrich have already been set up for bogus charges of "anti-Semitism" and "pro-terrorist" activities (with a little of the heavy lifting done by establishment liberals like Kevin Drum and the insufferable Eric Alterman).

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Neo-Con Agenda: Iran, China, Russia, Latin America ... by Jim Lobe

An influential foreign-policy neo-conservative with longstanding ties to top hawks in the administration of President George W Bush has laid out what he calls ''a checklist of the work the world will demand of this president and his subordinates in a second term.''

Friday, November 05, 2004

Course Correction: Bush Should Examine His Anti-terror Strategy - K SUBRAHMANYAM

The neocon hawks in Washington are not a highly admired lot. They have miscalculated on various counts — expecting Pakistan's cooperation in capturing Osama bin Laden, assuming European and other Arab countries would follow them after their initial military victory in Iraq, underestimating the resistance to US occupation of Iraq and overlooking Al-Qaida's ability to infiltrate and operate successfully in the Iraqi resistance.

To American Liberals Upon Bush's Victory - "We no longer have the right not to be radicals." by Asad Haider

What will we do now, now that American domination will extend its fist throughout the countries of the world and the awesome machinery of violence will be unleashed on those the neoconservatives (and the neoliberals) have dubbed less than human? What will we do as the brutal fist of American fascism emerges, as corporate globalization removes its gloves and the militaristic state bares its fangs?

Some Bush Supporters Say They Anticipate a 'Revolution' by David D. Kirkpatrick

But some of the intellectual proponents of the war known as neoconservatives called the vote something close to a vindication of Mr. Bush's policy of pre-emptive action against potential sponsors of terrorism.

"The world saw this as a referendum on the Bush doctrine, and I think the world was right," said Charles Krauthammer, a neoconservative columnist.

Kenneth R. Weinstein, chief operating officer of the neoconservative Hudson Institute, was more cautious "Certainly," he said, "we have avoided the blood bath in the Republican Party that would have taken place if Mr. Bush had been defeated."

Buck Up, You Lefties! by Justin Raimondo

So, cheer up, all you disillusioned and depressed lefties and assorted liberals, who were (naively, in my view) counting on the deus ex machina of a Kerry victory to pull us out of the Iraqi quagmire. As an unreconstructed reactionary of the "isolationist" (i.e., anti-imperialist) Old Right, I can rightly claim to have never been taken in by this dubious panacea.

What Hath God Wrought? by Steven LaTulippe

Perhaps President Bush now views his Iraq debacle as a bitter learning experience. Perhaps he recognizes that his intervention is a disaster that has blackened our reputation abroad, led to the deaths of thousands of innocent people, and has fueled the growth of fanatical hatred of us across the Muslim world. According to this line of thinking, perhaps he will be more cautious so as not to get burned again. Maybe he will be more skeptical of his neocon advisors when they begin agitating for the next invasion. Maybe he even sees the Iraq war as a calamity that almost cost him his reelection, thus prompting him to purge the neocons from his administration altogether (followed by a relatively quick withdrawal from Iraq).

Thursday, November 04, 2004

An ominous watershed? 4 more years of trauma? by Nicholas Blanford

the neocons' democratic experiment in Iraq is foundering due to a violent resistance feeding and growing on inadequate post-invasion policies. The reality of the situation in Iraq may have dampened enthusiasm for democracy in the Arab world in favor of a more traditional tolerance for benign autocrats.

The US will now be ruled by the imperial party by Justin Raimondo

The Republican Party has become the party not just of big government, but of global government. If, as seems likely, the President follows the neo-conservative agenda and takes his war of "liberation" beyond Iraq -- Syria and Iran seem to be the next targets -- the transformation of the Republican Party will be complete: it will become the imperial party, albeit not without dissent from traditional small government conservatives.

Neocon 'Flex Players' Await Bush's Second Term by Janine R. Wedel

The neocon core has set up its own duplicative entities in government that often enable them to bypass or override the input of otherwise relevant bodies. Two secretive units in the Pentagon were created under Feith and staffed in part by people recruited by Perle from neocon circles. The core empowered shadow hubs of decision-making, including the "mini National Security Council," a small circle of influence within the NSC, and a similar group in the vice president's office.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

The US Elections: What Europeans expect by Von Constanze Stelzenmüller

And the Neocon faction seem to have weathered the blistering critiques of their fatally flawed policy prescriptions for winning easy in Iraq well. But perhaps they haven’t had time to listen, because they’re concentrated on drumming up support for regime change in Iran (and if Syria’s rulers were to topple in the process, that would be fine too).

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Osama bin Laden's Message - Lessons For America by Yamin Zakaria

"Richard Perle and his neo-con cabal along with the US government are in a quest to rebuild the Islamic world in their image. The only obstacles are the "fundamentalists," i.e. those who actually resisting the West."

War on Terror by Sajjad Khan

Though some will consider this neoconservative strategy as plausible, it ignores several key factors.

Monday, November 01, 2004

The Waning Influence of Neo-Conservative Strategists by Erich Marquardt

Critics of the neo-conservatives in the aforementioned departments considered the faction's policies naïve and idealistic, too focused on vague Wilsonian rhetoric without paying enough attention to realpolitik. Critics worried that the faction's security strategy of preemptive military warfare and regime change threatened to embroil the United States in an assortment of violent conflicts, endangering U.S. interests.

A Couch Potato's Guide to Election Night by Tom Engelhardt

This is the single most interesting category of all. It has gone, as far as I can tell, largely unmeasured and yet anecdotal evidence is strong that some number of older-style conservatives as well as moderate Republicans, horrified by soaring deficits of an unrecognizably unconservative kind, or by the hubris of neocon imperial dreams, or by the loss of liberties represented by the Patriot Act and the imprisoning of American citizens without charges, or by Abu Ghraib, or by presidential lies, or by a host of other issues, or by all of the above will either sit on their hands or vote for Kerry. After all, there is a deeply honorable conservative tradition in America that bears no relation to anything that's happened over the last four years.

If Bush wins, neocons win

According to Monday's China Daily, after Tuesday's neck-and-neck elections are over, regardless of the outcome, observers were expecting another battle - this one an internal intellectual bloodbath, a sort of "night of the long knives" among right-wing ideologues.

It's the war, stupid by Eric Margolis

Neither Bush nor his opponent, John Kerry, are telling Americans two hard truths: First, the principal cause of anti-American terrorism is the oppression of Palestinians, and U.S. support for dictatorial regimes across the Muslim World.

Second, Bush's wars in Iraq -- which has caused 100,000 civilian deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University study -- and Afghanistan are already lost. Not on the battlefield, but on the strategic level.

The Truth Hurts by Justin Raimondo

This gets to the core issue in the dispute between the War Party and its opponents on both the left and the right. The neocons contend that we cannot negotiate with "terrorists" because it only encourages them . . .

What this latest video visitation proves beyond doubt, however, is that bin Laden is not only a rational actor, but also a master strategist and politician. He is focused on waging a war for limited, quite specific, and often enunciated objectives, which all boil down to ending U.S. military intervention in the Middle East, especially via Israel.

Friday, October 29, 2004

John Lehman, Team B, and the PNAC by Victor Thorn

John Lehman became an integral part of the neo-con community in the early 1970s when he joined a little-known organization called the Committee on the Present Danger.

So, not only did a bloodthirsty cabal of psychopaths inside and outside our government mastermind 9-11, they also created the fall-guy (Osama bin Laden), and covered-up their tracks via a cowardly corporate mainstream media and the 9-11 Investigative Committee. Let’s face it, folks; we got duped yet again, and John Lehman was one of the primary bamboozlers.

The WMD-lite scandal by Pepe Escobar

Whether it was poetic justice or yet one more instance of hubris, in the end there was indeed an "October surprise". Call it the WMD-lite scandal: the disappearance of 380 tons of dual-use explosives in Iraq. Certainly Republican Machiavelli-in-charge Karl Rove didn't see this surprise coming - hitting the Bush administration like a jet converted into a missile. Now the neo-cons and Pentagon civilians are scrambling like mad trying to cover US President George W Bush's back and defuse yet another spectacular blunder.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Fukuyama’s moment: a neocon schism opens

The Iraq war opened a fratricidal split among United States neo–conservatives. Danny Postel examines the bitter dispute between two leading neocons, Francis Fukuyama and Charles Krauthammer, and suggests that Fukuyama’s critique of the Iraq war and decision not to vote for George W Bush is a significant political as well as intellectual moment.

John Lehman, 9-11, and Israel by Victor Thorn

Lehman’s ties to Israel become even more sinister when we consider the infamous case of Jonathan Pollard, a civilian analyst who betrayed our country by stealing secrets and passing them along to our supposed ally. In his article, 9-11 and the Neo-Cons, Tom Wilson writes, “When Pollard’s espionage was exposed, the following individuals were suspected by then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger’s office of the general counsel of being Pollard’s co-conspirators: Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, and John Lehman.” Of course Douglas Feith is suspected of being at the core of our most recent Israel-Pentagon spy scandal; and all of these men were architects of our Iraqi war debacle.

A hawk's view: Perle speaks out by Peter Kononczuk

"I had predicted that by this time Iraq would look pretty good," Perle admitted. "Then we made the mistake I didn't anticipate of holding on too long to the occupation. But I think -- I should refrain from predictions -- but I think a year from now people will not be talking about a quagmire."

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Neocon Spook Will Purge Non-Neocon Spooks

Porter Goss' initial moves as CIA director appear to herald a post-election purge at the already troubled spy agency, according to current and former top U.S. intelligence officials.

Monday, October 25, 2004

Charles Krauthammer: Denying History and Telling Lies by Kurt Nimmo

It's good to know history will dance on the heads of the Straussian neocons and Charles Krauthammer. Unfortunately, between now and then, more Iraqis (and possibly Iranians and Syrians) will suffer “unequivocal” deaths at the hands of the Bushcons and their ideological taskmasters, the scheming Likudites in Israel.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Its no wonder Venezuela is loading up on military hardware by Bob Chapman

Once Colombia is heavily armed and manned, Bush and the elitists will spread their terror throughout the entire region. Latin American nations, George and the neocons will destroy you and your sovereignty if you do not do exactly as they demand. The US has a southern war on terror that does not exist. They are the terrorists and they want to control you. That is why respect for the US in the region, and for that matter throughout the world, has plummeted. George and the elitist neocons are predators; make no mistake about that.

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Beware: the GOP has become a fascist cult by Karl W. B. Schwarz

In fact, if you look real close at Bush-Cheney and understand the fundamental dynamics of what brought Hitler to power, how he controlled the masses, how he sold the Great Lie, it is very easy to see that Bush-Cheney "Compassionate Conservatism" and Fascism are one in the same. Many hear the term "Neocon" and do not recognize that in its current operative sense, it is a term meaning New World Order Fascist.

Tony Blair is the original neocon by Ben Rawlence

Some were shocked this week when two leading American neo-conservative thinkers, Irwin Stelzer and William Kristol, called our prime minister a "neocon"; but we shouldn't be. Tony Blair's pedigree as a neo-conservative has a long history.

Friday, October 22, 2004

Cons and Neocons Who Hate Free Speech by Martin Kelly

On October 16, Paul Craig Roberts wrote rather a sad commentary for antiwar.com called The Brownshirting of America. He reported, from personal experience, the tendency of some of those who support George W. Bush to label anybody who opposes him as a traitor or worse, and on their insistence on lockstep support for The Boss.

In this respect, they may indeed be Brownshirts. Or Trotskyites. Or Neocons. Those who sent Roberts the hate-mail that caused Townhall.com to pull his column claimed to be conservatives, but are not that – something else, but not that.

British Troops to Die for America in Latifiyah by Joe Vialls

This clinically insane neocon had an equally insane plan to suck more British and Australian troops up into central Iraq, thereby allowing him to later clear a western exfiltration route through Fallujah and Jordan for select American and Israeli personnel.

Well, Wolfowitz's exfiltration route west to Jordan is extremely important to the neocons as a whole, requiring a massive diversion that will pull Republican Guard fighters in from as far away as Ar Ramadi and Fallujah, thereby minimizing the risks to a very special convoy leaving Baghdad for Israel, via Jordan.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

US may be the biggest loser

Neocons like Wolfy was trying to talk Daddy Bush into some of the activities described in PNAC, but Daddy Bush was too smart and rejected it. Then Wolfy tried again with Clinton, but Clinton was also too smart and rejected it. What started out in early 1990's, became the planning document and PNAC was officially born in 1997. The neocons sat and waited, and waited, and viola¡­¡­¡­enter the country bumpkin, Bush. The neocons also predicted in PNAC that they would need this generation's Pearl Harbor, in order for the people of the United States to allow them to hijack US foreign policy enough to start implementing PNAC. Well, that's exactly what the neocons got in 9/11. This was a dream come true for the neocons because they finally got their Pearl Harbor, and a President stupid enough to allow them to start implement PNAC. Sadly, it also looks like a dream come true for Iran too.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Delusions of Empire by Justin Raimondo

In short, the neocons are just plain crazy, albeit in a historically unique fashion. This explains a lot. It explains the peculiar stubbornness that refuses to acknowledge error, even as Iraq implodes. It explains our rulers' utter indifference to being caught in so many lies – the disappearing "weapons of mass destruction," the illusory "links" between Saddam and 9/11, the brazen "cherry-picking" of sexed-up intelligence, and the outright forgeries.

Zbigniew Brzezinski: "The Neo-Conservative Formula Doesn't Work" by Marie-Laure Germon

"Neo-Conservative ideology goes a lot further than that! Its theoreticians, like its practitioners, never imagined for a moment that democracy could be established in a country like a deus ex machina. They believe in the will to action, even to the point of recourse to force to achieve their ends. This conception singularly complicates things and experience has demonstrated its limits in the Middle East. The Neo-Conservative formula doesn't work".

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

George Shills For Neocons, Laura Shills For George by Jim Moore

Neocons want to make America part of the New World Order (which they will rule) and the methods they use to achieve this is by using our own sovereign political power and military might against us to promote an interventionist foreign policy, urge preemptive war, encourage foreign conquests, squelch dissent, ravage the Constitution, and establish global policing.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Paleo Conservatives Bemoan Their Fate by Kurt Nimmo

Schlafly says, “we don’t think we can be the policeman of the world.” She describes herself as “not a fan” of Wilsonian policies: “All this talk of democracy in Iraq is kind of ridiculous,” she argues. “What’s really important is that they have governments that are friendly to the United States.”

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Alliance breeds influence for Israel by SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN

Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, says the neocons have a world view in which an aggressive, militarized Israel plays the same role on a regional level as America plays on a global scale.

The Bush administration's failure to push its "road map for peace" stems in part from fear of alienating Jewish voters in an election year. But some experts say it is also because Bush doesn't want to anger a key Republican constituency: evangelical Christians.

In the GOP, the long knives are out for the neoconservatives by Thomas Omestad

"Most conservatives are not comfortable with the neocons," Viguerie says. He decries the neocons as "overbearing" and "immensely influential. . . . They want to be the world's policeman. We don't feel our role is to be Don Quixote, righting all the wrongs in the world."

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Iraqi Insurgency: It's the Economy Stupid! by Naomi Klein

In o­nly a few months, the postwar plan to turn Iraq into a laboratory for the neocons had been realized. Leo Strauss may have provided the intellectual framework for invading Iraq preemptively, but it was that other University of Chicago professor, Milton Friedman, author of the anti-government manifesto Capitalism and Freedom, who supplied the manual for what to do o­nce the country was safely in America’s hands. This represented an enormous victory for the most ideological wing of the Bush Administration. But it was also something more: the culmination of two interlinked power struggles, o­ne among Iraqi exiles advising the White House o­n its postwar strategy, the other within the White House itself.

What's are 'neocons' really up to? by Donna L. McDaniel

The "neocons" are the people responsible for our attack on Iraq -- the "war hawks who planned, prepared and propagandized for a war in Iraq as far back as 1996," according to former presidential candidate Republican Pat Buchanan.

Says Buchanan: The Iraqi war was the neocons' "class project." He goes on, "I believe they imposed it upon the president." (His quotes are from a Sept. 5 interview on Meet the Press.)

Power, glory and the neocons by Michele Ernsting

So who are these people, why are they so powerful, and what do they stand for? Two experts offer a critical overview.

Friday, October 15, 2004

A Christian Republican asks: How can we follow these hypocrites? by Karl W. B. Schwarz

You see, ladies and gentlemen, there has been a battle within the RNC for the heart and soul of the GOP and as of right now, the rats are winning. They use "voices" and "talking heads" such as Mr. Fund to lie to us all and keep us all focused on the wrong ball. As much as we think John Fund is a journalist, he is more of a neocon political operative than a journalist. The journalism is merely a means to deliver the neocon political mantra, and yes, it is quite fascist in its true nature.

Where Did These Conservatives Come From? by PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Miller makes a strong case. His description of how CNN and Fox News destroyed the credibility of Scott Ritter, the leading expert on Iraq's weapons, reveals a media completely given over to propaganda. Ritter stood in the way of the neocon's invasion of Iraq.

CNN's Miles O'Brien, Eason Jordan, Catherine Callaway, Paula Zahn, Kyra Phillips, Arthel Neville, and Fox News' David Asman and John Gibson portrayed Ritter as a disloyal American, a Ba-athist stooge on the take from Saddam Hussein, and compared him to Jane Fonda in North Vietnam.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

NeoCons and the Terror Bounce by Martin Kelly

One of the neoconservative movement’s most commonly used tools is scaremongering, in particular, predicting that the USA will suffer a terrorist attack in the homeland prior to the Presidential election. This tool has been used recently by the theologian and ultima neocon Michael Novak when slavishly reporting the pearls of the failed politician and proven liar Jose Maria Aznar, who told the neocons gathered round his ankles at a breakfast meeting of the American Enterprise Institute on September 24 that the USA will suffer ‘a major destructive action’ before November 2 (see ‘The Neocon and the Liar’).

Will Murdoch Dump the NeoCons? by Martin Kelly

The neocons are still in disarray, and their aggression, secretiveness and love of hidden agendas might make them a liability that the Murdoch balance sheet could do without.

Deconstructing the war on terror by Pepe Escobar

A cursory look both at the Bush administration's record and the neo-con agenda for the future reveals instead that Bush/Cheney are using September 11 as an excuse to attack weak states that interfere with an extreme right-wing world view and with US corporate interests as well: Iraq was the first target, Syria and Iran will be the next. The Bush/Cheney scare of "terrorist groups" having access to nuclear weapons is nonsense: "terrorist groups" don't have access to technology capable of enriching uranium, and no government would give nuclear technology to a terrorist group.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Neocons Universally Despised by Justin Raimondo

So we have two possible scenarios: one depicted by the antiwar Right, in which discredited neocons are dumped overboard by badly-burned Bushies, who then undo as much of the damage done by neocon policy as is possible, versus the view of the pro-Kerry State Department realists, who fear that the neocon stranglehold on policymaking will only be strengthened. Which version to believe?

Monday, October 11, 2004

The War Party's Worst Week by Justin Raimondo

Backed into a corner, faced with the righteous rage of a country that has been conned into making the worst foreign policy mistake in its 200-plus-year-old history, the neocons are determined to characterize the mounting opposition to their influence as a racial-religious pogrom. But all their endless excuses, their twisting and turning, their convoluted and constantly shifting rationales and "spin," are going to get them exactly nowhere. Smearing is the only option left open to them, but, in the end, it isn't very convincing. The revolt against the neocons, on the right as well as the left, inside the CIA as much as in the conservative movement, has nothing to do with Jews and Judaism, and everything to do with our foreign policy of global interventionism, and its Israel-centric Middle Eastern manifestation.

To Escape From Blunder First Acknowledge Reality by Paul Craig Roberts

Saddam Hussein was no danger to the US. However, he was a potential check, with Syria, on Israel’s right-wing Likud Party’s desire to expel the Palestinians to Jordan and to seize Lebanon. The expulsion and the Lebanon grab may yet come to fruition, because it is supported by the neoconservatives who control the Bush administration.

Installing a puppet regime in Iraq and constructing a dozen or more permanent US military bases in Iraq, as the US is doing, opens a field of conquest to Israel.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

How our neocon leaders got conned into fighting Iran's war by Harry Petrequin

When President George W. Bush took office, Chalabi and the I.N.C. were embraced by Cheney and the crew of senior policy makers he had placed in the Pentagon who accepted his intelligence assessments at face value. Once the neocons took over word went out that questions about the veracity of Chalabi and the I.N.C. were no longer appreciated.

Friday, October 08, 2004

Sidelined Neocons Stoke Future Fires by Jim Lobe

Neoconservative godfather Norman Podhoretz, who has also used "World War IV" as his favored description for the challenges Washington faces in the Near East, in particular, made a rare public appearance.

He called Israeli tactics in the occupied territories a "model for how to fight this kind of war," and asserted that "Iran is unquestionably on the agenda" of a second Bush administration.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Starbucks Spending Bucks on Israel With New Branches in Arab World by Al Bawaba (Amman, Jordan)

"It is not always easy to prove that companies that have been on any international boycott list have been directly involved with Israel or its army, but thanks to Schultz's public involvement in Zionist charities and Zionist rallies, the Starbucks case is perhaps easier to prove.

"Starbucks has been doing a great job at covering their tracks when it comes to evidence leading to their financial support for Israel and the Israeli army. The company logo used to be featured on many Israeli organization websites and after the Boycott emerged, Starbucks has asked these Israeli organizations not to use the Starbucks logo and basically asked them to not publicly declare any Starbucks donations.

"Howard Shultz, the chairman of Starbucks is an active Zionist. In 1998, he was honored by Israel with "The Israel 50th Anniversary Tribute Award" for his services to the Jewish state. His work as a propagandist for Israel has been warmly praised by the Israeli Foreign Ministry as being vital to Israel’s long-term public relations success."

The Great NeoCon Post-Debate Panic by Martin Kelly

Indeed, right now the neocons are so scared that one of their number, the tireless guru of neoconomics Irwin Stelzer, has written a book about the philosophy in order to scotch the myth of ‘neocon cabals’. It’s called ‘Neoconservatism’, it’s being published this month and nowhere in the 1,500 word puff piece extract that appeared in the same issue of the Sunday Times did Stelzer refer to its roots in Shachtmanite Trotskyism.

Bush's Case for War Crumbles by Jim Lobe

The two leaks provoked an outraged response entitled "The CIA's Insurgency," by editorial writers at the The Wall Street Journal, which was one of the leading voices for war, as well as from other neoconservative voices.

Kerry the Neocon? by Stephen Zunes

Despite the ways Kerry and his supporters might want to spin it, the Democratic nominee--like President Bush--is a militarist and a unilateralist quite willing to undermine the authority of the United Nations in order to assert American hegemony in that oil-rich region.

Indeed, the only thing more dangerous than electing John Kerry president of the United States would be to re-elect George W. Bush.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

How the NeoCons Will Kill the GOP by Martin Kelly

The neoconservatives’ relentless quest for ideological purity is what will kill the Republican Party that they currently infest. The very word, ‘neoconservative’ is redolent of a desire to design yourself as different from others who are like you – what was wrong with the word ‘conservative’? Why must they be ‘neoconservatives?’ If anyone thinks that the GOP is strong enough to withstand the force of their divisive ideology, they had better think again, because right now the British Conservative Party is dying as the result of its abandonment, decades ago, of conservative principles in pursuit of ideology that was new and radical but which is now just old and failed, the economic dogmas and absolutes of Thatcherism.

Kerry, the Hawk by Justin Raimondo

Safire wasn't kidding when he called Kerry "America's newest neocon" – and he certainly ought to know.

According to Kerry, we must flatten Fallujah, and any other Iraqi city that dares to defy us. We need to think about how to "win" rather than entertain the possibility of declaring victory and withdrawing. We must grab the Saudis by the throat and don't let go until they comply with our edicts. And, if Barack Obama, the young rising star of the Democratic party, is the wave of the Democratic future, then we ought not be surprised to see U.S. military action against Iran if they fail to bow to our demands.

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

They'll Do Anything by Edward Ciaccio

This US military presence in the Middle East is exactly what the neocons want, to supposedly not only add to Israel's defense (actually, Ariel Sharon & the Likud Party's defense), but to give the US a longterm presence in the Middle East regardless of what happens in Saudi Arabia (where we have now begun to withdraw our military forces).

The oil and natural gas in the Middle East and former southern republics of the now-defunct USSR (the Caspian Sea area, especially) are our "vital interests" and part of our national security (see The Carter Doctrine http://www.fact-index.com/c/ca/carter_doctrine.html) and our way not only of exerting leverage there, but also over Russia, China, India, and Japan, all of which will need more oil and natural gas in the 21st Century and all of which will compete with the US economically for the rest of this century.

Buchanan blasts neocons by Lyn Nofziger

In the end, Mr. Buchanan is probably correct. The neocons may have hijacked his Republican Party . . .

The State Department's extreme makeover by Anonymous

The neocons had control of the information reaching the president and a channel for their pseudo-intelligence product from Wolfowitz and Feith's secret Pentagon Office of Special Plans. The only wild card was Colin Powell and State's elite and independent Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR).

The neocons, working in tandem with a similar staff in the office of Prime Minister Sharon of Israel, have a three-part agenda for the first part of Bush's second term: first, oust Yasser Arafat; second, overthrow the secular Baathist al-Assad dictatorship in Syria; and, third, eliminate, one way or another, Iran's nuclear facilities.

Too Much to Atone for on Yom Kippur by Anne Gwynne for Al Ahram Weekly (Cairo)

<>SARTRE's BATR correspondent, Lutheran pastor Mark Dankof, urges all American conservatives to read Anne Gwynne's overpowering and poignant story of the plight of Palestinians under the jackboot of an American-subsidized Ariel Sharon. Bush asks, "Why Do They Hate Us?" After reading Ms. Gwynne's eyewitness account at Nablus, the average American of goodwill may well nigh understand. BATR readers are indebted to Ms. Gwynne of Wales, and the first-rate journalism of Al Ahram Weekly in Cairo.

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Dear Mark [Dankof],

Thank you very much for your message. It would be wonderful if Nablus/Palestine's story could get to a wider audience - especially the American Right. Here is the link to the full text of my op-ed on al-Ahram: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/708/re2.htm

and I'm also pasting in the full text below.

With best wishes,

Anne Gwynne, Journalist

Too Much to Atone for on Yom Kippur

by Anne Gwynne*

September 2004

At 8:30am yesterday, the newsreader on Pacifica Radio’s Morning Show told us of Shaul Mofaz’s latest announcement that “Israel has locked down the West Bank and Gaza Strip until the Jewish holiday season ends in October…from fears of Palestinian attacks.”

But what will prevent Israeli attacks? And what about the very real fears of Palestinians?

Unbelievable. Are we to infer that the news editor just accepts this as though it were normal? It is not normal to imprison a whole nation and keep from them every necessity of life. But it is certainly a novel way of celebrating Holy Days! And it serves the Zionist purpose very well – it reinforces the Jewishness which has been imposed upon Palestine since 1947. For many people, Yom Kippur this year will be marked not by penance and devotion, but by this vicious reassertion of Jewish dominance.

As a result of the ethnic cleansing of the Christian population by the Jewish colonizers since 1948, Palestine is now largely Muslim: on Muslim Holy Days Israel celebrates by unleashing the full might of its state terror, launching deadly military assaults upon the Palestinian people.

Now, for the Jewish holy season when Jews around the world celebrate their New Year and Day of Atonement, the whole of a country, Palestine with its 3.5 million people, will be ‘hermetically sealed’ by the Israeli military under the kind of “lockdown” not experienced anywhere else on earth – it’s a concept without equal or precedent, and it is devastating to every tiny aspect of life.

The United Nations has repeatedly asked Israel for implementation of the Geneva Conventions for the protection of the civilian population in the Occupied Territories (where, in any case, Israel has no legitimacy) against the arbitrary actions of the occupying state - without a single positive response: Israel has decided that it is outside the Law.

Lockdown, the latest, extreme violation, is just a continuation of Israeli actions over 37 years and more, and grows from its policy of curfew and closure. Indeed, it is an intensification of closure, and actually combines the horrors of closure with the terror of curfew.

Let me now tell you what it means for the populace which is to be ‘locked down’: each heading is a Human Right enshrined in a 100-year long body of Law and Custom (see endnote).

Freedom of Movement

Closure is not easy to explain: it is a terrible thing; it is illegal and it has been a fact of life for Palestinians for two generations. It has nothing to do with the pretext of ‘security’ and it is not an action in response to Resistance – it is a strategic instrument whose purpose is to fragment the Palestinian society. The intent is to dislocate people from their land, from their family, and from their jobs. It dislocates children and students from their education, doctors and patients from their hospitals, and the devout from their mosques. Thus its purpose is to destroy all coherence – social coherence, health coherence, political coherence, economic coherence.

Since the beginning of the Madrid and the Oslo ‘talks’, and during the duplicitous prevarications of the Clinton regime, Israel has continued to create facts on the ground which, by now, have left only 12% of historic Palestine for the Palestinians, and has continuously escalated and intensified its vicious tactic of ‘closure’ to facilitate its land grab. The Israeli army controls all movement of people and goods, paralyzing the economy with its restrictions.

Nothing and no one may enter or leave a closed area except on the say-so of a teenage soldier. No Ambulance carrying a dying child or a woman bleeding to death may move between population centers, workers cannot reach their jobs and are without earnings, doctors and nurses cannot reach their hospitals, teachers and students cannot reach schools and Universities. Those who last month were lucky enough to get some supplies of water and electricity, now find themselves without either.

Today some 754 roadblocks, trenches, earth-mounds, sewage-filled moats, gun emplacements, walls and electrified razor-wire isolate each of the 300 or so small enclaves into which they have separated Palestine (UN latest count). It’s a thoroughly evil concept.

Israel maintains this iron grip on the pretext of security. This is rubbish masquerading as truth, and visiting this kind of collective punishment upon an innocent population is absolutely illegal, with no exceptions under the law. To put it another way: Timothy McVeigh’s neighbourhood was not bombed to rubble, his family was not murdered and his state was not besieged for his crime (McVeigh was not, of course, a member of a country’s legal resistance); and, during the 33 years of ‘the Troubles’, the UK did not bomb Dublin or Belfast nor murder the families of IRA fighters, despite suffering more than 300 bombings on the mainland.

The Right to Health

Denial of Medical Access is always illegal under all International Law and it violates the Standing Orders to soldiers which the Israeli Occupation Forces are supposed to observe. However, under the closures, every day one or more patients is denied the care he needs and many more will die this week to add to the 110 adults and 33 newborns we know of who have died as a result of denial of medical care.

Ordinary, treatable conditions - heart attack, kidney failure needing dialysis, hypo-glycaemia, haemorrhage, or burst appendix – here can be a death sentence, for delay means death.

Sometimes a brave medic, such as Feras al-Bakri who, over several months allowed me to ride in his ambulance to see the daily crimes for myself can, with his fluent Hebrew, persuade the largely-monoglot IOF soldiers to ‘allow’ an injured or seriously sick patient access to the Ambulance. But without transport, the transfer will involve carrying the injured or sick patient across one mile of land from home to waiting ambulance and, mercifully, to the hospital – well not quite, for that may not be the end of the ordeal. These sadistic ‘soldiers’ can decide to keep you waiting for an hour or more whilst your patient becomes critical, before ‘allowing’ you to go. Or they may simply change their mind and send the patient home. Or they might break the legs or arms of the driver, or beat him up and trample him in the mud, or injure him with a bullet (Feras has suffered all of these more than once).

Whenever there is sealing off of Palestine, the sadistic violence from the soldiers increases exponentially. More doctors and medical staff will be beaten and humiliated by being stripped of every stitch of clothing and then forced either to unload the ambulance before dozens of people, bark like dogs, insult Islam, sing songs glorifying Israel or crawl through the checkpoint while the Israeli thugs laugh uproariously and dance around waving their guns above their heads.

This is a professional army? This is security? No, all this is just to cruelly cause death and compromised health as part of the long-term plan of genocide.

The Right to Free Movement

Under closure there is no movement, free or otherwise. You cannot visit a daughter in another village or help your aged parents in a nearby town. You cannot go to al-Aqsa Mosque to pray or cross the bridge to Jordan for al-Hajj , the great pilgrimage. You cannot go to Jerusalem 45 miles away, you cannot shop in Ramallah for items not available in the village store, nor can you go to another village for your marriage ceremony. Neither can anyone outside the roadblock come to your wedding: several marriages have been solemnized at Huwarra roadblock. On occasion the soldiers are filled with so much hatred that they will separate a husband and wife if they are from neighbouring villages. You can not attend the funeral of your parent or your child whom the IOF may have killed in another village, nor can you bring the body home for burial. You can not go to a specialist hospital for treatment and you cannot receive a friend from another place. Even, or perhaps especially, the Palestinian Police are daily prevented from attending at their place of work by being refused at the roadblocks and they, together with businessmen, lawyers and civil servants are obliged to stay in Nablus for a month at a time, missing their families terribly in the evenings. Farmers cannot take their world-famous and prized olive oil, or any other cash-crop, to the marketplace, or livestock to the butcher. And Palestine is the only place on earth whose inhabitants are not permitted to drive to anywhere in their own land.

The worst thing I think is at the moment of closure, when you can find yourself trapped, unable to move forward to home or back to where you came from, and you can also be detained at the roadblock for hours or days or summarily be ordered to go ‘back’ to a town where you didn’t come from and where you don’t live. After 10 hours you are ordered to ‘… go back to Jerusalem’, when you live in Nablus. Anyway, there is no transport because we are under closure!

Under the horrific lockdown which is now announced, many more mothers with a new-born baby on one arm and a bag on the other, will have to walk home from hospital only to be told at Beit Fouriq to ‘go back to Nablus’ which is not home. Farmers with panniers of Palestinian Olive Oil on their little donkey, will have to stand by helplessly and watch the precious, life-giving oil cascade down into the soil after an IOF soldier shoots holes in the panniers, and grandparents with small children and animals will be refused entry to their villages and have nowhere else to go at nightfall with marauding, trigger-happy soldiers everywhere.

At this point, when you find yourself under lockdown, alone on a mountain-top or in a city street, it is pretty terrifying because - well, just try and take this in – I know the situation is almost too bizarre to comprehend, really: although you are told by the IOF to “…walk or I shoot you dead,” or “…no, you not go to Nablus,” or “… go back, it is closed military zone” – you cannot do any of these things because it is forbidden to move at all, you cannot go anywhere! You just hope that they are too busy terrorizing the lines of people to take aim at you.

It is quite unprecedented and barbaric brutality. You can be shot or beaten if you attempt to remonstrate with them about the utter illogicality of the whole thing. This has one purpose - simply to destroy economic life, and to wipe-out the potential of the future Palestinian state.

The Right to Education

Since October 2000, children and students have had their education severely disrupted by the endless sealing-off of buildings and institutions with, for example, lakes of sewage as happened to Bir Zeit University, the wholesale shelling and bombing of schools, and endless orders to close. Palestine has lost more than one-third of its schooldays so far, and during the “Jewish holiday season” now all schools, universities and colleges may be closed and children will run the risk of being shot and killed or injured, arrested and imprisoned. Some 400 children are incarcerated now and over 700 have been murdered.

Transfer your thoughts to the US or UK and just imagine the outcry if some rampaging, psychotic gunmen in Washington or London were targeting children and teachers and had murdered 700, injuring over 10,000 in the process. In the UK it would be probably argued that such gunmen were psychotic and therefore they ‘couldn’t help it and need treatment’. But what is the excuse when these gunmen, who commit hundreds of thousands of crimes in Palestine, are soldiers of the world’s fourth-largest and most modern military, of the self-styled ‘only democracy in the region’?

The right to education will be denied to thousands more over the next weeks and some will die: it is outrageous that a child can be shot through the little school bag on his back as he walks to school down a country lane or along a city street – in his own land – and no one is, in the current US jargon, ‘brought to book’ for the crimes. Not only is no one ever charged, but the world stands by and does nothing.

The Curfew

To enhance the cruelty of ‘closure’ the Israelis add another of their horrors – the curfew. I guess that to many readers, especially in the US, curfew doesn’t sound too bad does it? Isn’t it a sort-of ‘family thing’ where parents who are ‘being cruel to be kind’ put their children under some kind of restriction which they term ‘curfew’ for a transgression – a child might have to be in at, say, 9 pm every night for a week. I wonder what the penalty is for non-compliance! I doubt it can match the Israeli one.

Like all the Israeli actions, the curfew is not only brutal and sadistic but it is, you’ve guessed it, illegal and arbitrarily imposed upon a street, a town, or a village, on the whole countryside or, upon the whole of occupied Palestine. Just try, please, to understand what is being done here. Imagine your street, village or neighborhood completely deserted, shops closed, no taxis or cars, no schools open, hospitals ringed by tanks and APC’s so no possibility of taking a desperately-sick child to the doctor. You are all frozen at a moment in time like a snapshot. Do not open a door, or look out of the window – snipers are with every Israeli platoon, scanning for prey, especially children. In the Old City in February we watched a boy and his grandfather as they bled to death, shot at their window.

You are ‘frozen’ and ‘forbidden’ for as long as the Zionists say so. People will not be able to get food, unless the Ambulance crews work all night bringing bread, flour, milk, baby formula and vital medicines. Even the drinking water will have been turned off so the ambulances must bring that too.

Under curfew, you will not be able to go to work even in the next street, open your shop or drive your taxi. No income for anyone, as long as the curfew lasts. Not only can you not get medical attention, you will not be allowed to the bedside of a dying child in hospital, and worse, you will not be allowed to bury the little body. From the moment of its imposition everything stops and you have to stay where you are at that moment. If you are between checkpoints – that’s too bad – you cannot move back to where you came from nor go on to your destination and you spend the night in no-man’s land.

In Palestine, curfew is a matter of life and death, especially for children, who don’t carry a radio or a mobile phone to receive news of the curfew. This is the penalty here: anyone seen by soldiers on the street during curfew will be shot. This has happened to dozens of children and it was particularly poignant in Beit Lahim (Bethlehem) at Christmas when several children were murdered this way. You can be watching children running to safety, and in a moment they are bleeding on the road. What is extraordinary is that the military can justify this murder on the grounds that there is curfew. A child is killed because he is on the street at a forbidden moment. Can anyone feel that this penalty is proportionate?

The response to any protest at their actions is rote-learned – a shrug, a sneer and a snarled - ‘Not my problem’.

The hermetically-sealed lockdown which is now the declared intention of the Jews of Israel – until the end of their holiday season - will be an extension and intensification of curfew and closure.

Lockdown combines all the terrorism of closure and curfew into a new horror. Not only is every person hermetically sealed into the smallest unit, the home, within Palestine, but the country itself is hermetically sealed off from the world. It means that no one from outside can enter the country for any reason. For example, no Palestinian who is normally resident in Palestine can return home; no one may come from Jordan, to visit a friend or a relative no matter how urgent the cause. It has never happened before, anywhere.

The 100 day nightmare which Nablus suffered in the summer left people thin and very hungry, but the families emerged intact, affectionate and united, stronger than ever and without any sign of the violence which plagues our societies at the first sign of trouble. With no sign of hand-wringing, whingeing, or victim-hood, but with dignity and determination, they are ready to face with continuing courage the worst the Israelis can do.

The beautiful land of Palestine is now a ‘ghost-country’ and most of its cities are ‘ghost-cities’. I remember sending a live broadcast to ‘Flashpoints’ one evening after a terrible day of carnage, when we were under a protracted lockdown. I asked people just to listen to the sounds of life in this great city. There was nothing. There was not a sound in a city of 189,000 good people. I don’t mean it was quiet, I mean there was not a sound. Nowhere else on earth does this kind of unbridled hatred and sadistic violence not only go unchecked and unpunished on the orders of a government elected by 80% of the voters but, much more sinister, nowhere else on earth would the UN allow it to happen.

I hope that readers will now have some idea of what the newsreader’s casual words actually mean for real people on the ground, who have suffered more than seems humanly possible, more than any other people in history, under 57 years of sustained and relentless terror since 1947.

Palestine under lockdown is, indeed, suffering unimaginable pain and misery. And it is going to get worse. Yet, despite the high level of stress people are extraordinarily resilient in the face of the terror and families face the deprivation with strength and mutual love. How do they do it and how can we account for this special courage which is beyond human endurance? What is its wellspring?

And how can we answer this question – “What kind of a people can announce that they will be celebrating their season of Holy Days by imposing misery, starvation and death on three and a half million people, unleashing greater terror than usual on so many? What kind of monster will look back at them from the mirror?

If you have understood something of the suffering, then I beg you to call or e-mail your government representative. Do not hesitate to contact the ‘Triumvirate of Terror’ – Bush/Kerry, Blair, and Sharon - and/or write a short note to a newspaper or radio station, especially the BBC, NPR, and Pacifica, protesting at the casual words which are used to report Israeli terror. Their reporting looks very like complicity and approval to ‘the man on the Clapham omnibus’ – the British legal phrase meaning any reasonable person.

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Anne Gwynne is a 65-year-old grandmother and retired bank manager from Wales. She has worked with the Palestinian Medical Relief Committees in Nablus, from where she has reported for Pacifica Radio’s Flashpoints program. Anne can be reached at gwynne_anne@hotmail.com

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Endnote:

Some of the International Humanitarian and Human Rights Laws Applying:

The Hague Regulations – 1907

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948

The Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions – 1949

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - 1966

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – 1966

The Convention on the Rights of the Child – 1989

Customary International Law, recognised by all States as applying to everyone -

Some examples of UN Resolutions concerning Israel’s violations of International Law

1988 – Res/53/54; 1999 – Res/54/77; 2000 – Res/55/131; 2001 – Res/56/60.

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