They surrounded Beirut. In three months 17,500 people, almost all of them civilians, were killed. Robert Fisk, journalist & author
Two nights ago, this most dangerous man, George Bush, talked about ‘freedom in Iraq’. Not ‘democracy’ in Iraq. No, ‘democracy’ was no longer mentioned. ‘Democracy’ was simply left out of the equation. Now it was just ‘freedom’ – freedom from Saddam rather than freedom to have elections. And what is this ‘freedom’ supposed to involve? One group of American-appointed Iraqis will cede power to another group of American-appointed Iraqis. That will be the ‘historic handover’ of Iraqi ‘sovereignty’. Yes, I can well see why George Bush wants to witness a ‘handover’ of sovereignty. ‘Our boys’ must be out of the firing line – let the Iraqis be the sandbags.
Iraqi history is already being written. In revenge for the brutal killing of four American mercenaries – for that is what they were – US Marines carried out a massacre of hundreds of women and children and guerrillas in the Sunni Muslim city of Fallujah. The US military says that the vast majority of the dead were militants. Untrue, say the doctors. But the hundreds of dead, many of whom were indeed civilians, were a shameful reflection on the rabble of American soldiery who conducted these undisciplined attacks on Fallujah. Many Baghdadi Sunnis say that in the ‘New Iraq’ – the Iraqi version, not the Paul Bremer version – Fallujah should be given the status of a new Iraqi capital.
Vast areas of the Palestinian West Bank will now become Israel, courtesy of President Bush. Land which belongs to people other than Israelis must now be stolen by Israelis because it is ‘unrealistic’ to accept otherwise. Is Mr Bush a thief? Is he a criminal? Can he be charged with abetting a criminal act? Can Iraq now claim to Kuwait that it is ‘unrealistic’ that the Ottoman borders can be changed? Palestinian land once included all of what is now Israel. It is not, apparently, ‘realistic’ to change this, even to two per cent?
Is Saddam Hussein to be re-bottled and put back in charge of Iraq on the basis that his 1990 invasion of Kuwait was ‘realistic’? Or that his invasion of Iran – when we helped him try to destroy Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution – was ‘realistic’ because he initially attacked only the Arabic-speaking (and thus ‘Iraqi’) parts of Iran?
Or, since President Bush now seems to be a history buff, are the Germans to be given back Danzig or the Sudetenland? Or Austria? Or should we perhaps recreate the colonial possessions of the past 100 years? Is it not ‘realistic’ that the French should retake Algeria – or part of Algeria – on the basis that the people all speak French, on the basis that this was once part of the French nation? Or should the British retake Cyprus? Or Aden? Or Egypt? Shouldn’t the French be allowed to take back Lebanon and Syria? Why shouldn’t the British retake America and boot out those pesky ‘terrorists’ who oppose the rule of King George's democracy well over 200 years ago?
Because this is what George Bush’s lunacy and weakness can lead to. We all have lands that ‘God’ gave us. Didn’t Queen Mary die with ‘Calais’ engraved on her heart? Doesn’t Spain have a legitimate right to the Netherlands? Or Sweden the right to Norway and Denmark? Every colonial power, including Israel can put forward these preposterous demands. What Bush has actually done is give way to the crazed world of Christian Zionism. The fundamentalist Christians who support Israel’s theft of the West Bank on the grounds that the state of Israel must exist there according to God’s law until the second coming, believe that Jesus will return to earth and the Israelis – for this is the Bush ‘Christian Sundie’ belief – will then have to convert to Christianity or die in the battle of Armageddon.
I kid thee not. This is the Christian fundamentalist belief, which even the Israeli embassy in Washington go along with – without comment, of course – in their weekly Christian Zionist prayer meetings. Every claim by Osama bin Laden, every statement that the United States represents Zionism and supports the theft of Arab lands will now have been proved true to millions of Arabs, even those who had no time for Bin Laden. What better recruiting sergeant could Bin Laden have than George Bush. Doesn’t he realise what this means for young American soldiers in Iraq or are Israelis more important than American lives in Mesopotamia? Everything the US government has done to preserve its name as a ‘middle-man’ in the Middle East has now been thrown away by this gutless, cowardly US President, George W Bush. That it will place his soldiers at greater risk doesn't worry him – anyway, he doesn’t do funerals. That it goes against natural justice doesn’t worry him. That his statements are against international law is of no consequence.
And still we have to cow-tow to this man. If we are struck by al-Qa’ida it is our fault. And if 90 per cent of the population of Spain point out that they opposed the war, then they are pro-terrorists to complain that 200 of their civilians were killed by al-Qa’ida. First the Spanish complain about the war, then they are made to suffer for it – and then they are condemned as ‘appeasers’ by the Bush regime and its craven journalists when they complain that their husbands and wives and sons did not deserve to die.
If this is to be their fate, excuse me, but I would like to have a Spanish passport so that I can share the Spanish people’s ‘cowardice’! If Mr Sharon is ‘historic’ and ‘courageous’, then the murderers of Hamas and Islamic Jihad will be able to claim the same. Mr Bush legitimised ‘terrorism’ this week – and everyone who loses a limb or a life can thank him for his yellow streak. And, I fear, they can thank Mr Blair for his cowardice too. Robert Fisk, article April 2004, ‘George Bush Has Legitimised Terrorism’
And it is one such [Nazi] advisory panel that gave birth to the National Security Council. The NSC then combined with the Council on Foreign Relations and spawned its muscle, the CIA ... Working closely with its counterpart, MOSAD, the CIA has managed to undermine nations from within, by using false flag operations, propaganda and terrorism. And please understand that these organisations were created on the recommendation of top level Nazis, and it was founded and operated on Nazi principles. The CIA has since become the number one trafficker of drugs and human cargo in the world. The CIA are not the good guys; they are anything but. They are a criminal cabal disguised as an Intelligence agency that is based on Nazi principles, has unlimited resources, both financially and militarily, and they are answerable to no-one. The CIA and MOSAD virtually operate as the one organisation. Either they or their agents are responsible for virtually all terrorist bombings the world has seen in the last sixty years. Their prime mandate is to undermine world security and pave the way for a global government controlled by a global monetary system. The Big Picture – FINAL
We say to you today in a loud and a clear voice: enough of blood and tears. Enough. Yitzhak Rabin, to Palestinians in Washington 13th September 1993
All the land of Israel is ours. Yitzhak Shamir
The settlement of the Land of Israel is the essence of Zionism. Without settlement, we will not fulfil Zionism. It’s that simple. Yitzhak Shamir
Something had been done for us which, after two thousand years of hope and yearning, would at last give us a resting place in this terrible world. Charles Weizmann, re Balfour Declaration
Founded in 1948 as a secular state by Jews but not exclusively for Jews, Israel is undoubtedly a Western outpost. But it’s a beleaguered one. Niall Ferguson, Civilisation: Is the West History? Channel 4 2011
Israel has more scientists and engineers per capita than any other country. ibid.
I sometimes think there are two Israels. The real one is territorially insignificant. In fact one sixth of one percent of Arab lands. The other – the mental Israel – is immense. Saul Bellow
5Saul [Bellow] says that Israel should have been a sanctuary. That was the idea. And not a holocaust museum equipped with an air force. Martin Amis, in conversation with Christopher Hitchens
May 14th 1948 ... The Declaration of the State of Israel. Days that Shook the World s1e6: Kristallnacht/Birth of Israel, BBC 2003
They would have a land to call their own: at the expense of the Palestinians. ibid.
For Ben-Gurion Israel is the Holy Land. All of it. ibid.
Truman recognises an effectively boundless state. ibid.
Three-quarters of a million Palestinians will never return to their homes. ibid.
The Middle East. Home of the world’s greatest religions. And scene of one of the world’s bloodiest and more enduring conflicts. The roots of this conflict lie in one of the swiftest, most spectacular and most devastating wars of the twentieth century. Days that Shook the World: Battle for the Holy City
June 6th 1967: Israel’s war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan is entering its second day. ibid.
Gamal Abdel Nasser, president of Egypt has long been considered the leader of the Arab world ... The darling of the Muslim masses. ibid.
Theirs is not the only temple in Jerusalem. ibid.
In 1994 the Israeli embassy in London was bombed. This was at a time when I was in the service. I joined the Middle-Eastern section shortly after that. And I was actually astounded to read a document written by a senior MI5 officer who had seen all the information coming in about this attack, and he said that he believed the Israelis had bombed their own embassy. David Shayler, former MI5 agent