Antiwar.com Blog

I was wondering when it would happen. Nine months after the last suicide bombing in Israel, another bomber struck — this time in Eilat, a southern resort town on the Red Sea which has never experienced a suicide attack. Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Brigades both claimed responsibility for the attack, in an attempt to send a message to their people that internecine fighting should be redirected at their common enemy — Israel.

The reactions were predictable: the internationals condemned it (maybe we should run a story about how the sky is blue), Hamas condoned it as a “natural response to the occupier’s crimes against our people,” and Fatah slammed it because bombings “blacken the image of the Palestinian people.” Even the pragmatic old guard cannot bring themselves to mention the humanity of the victims — for them, it has always been about expediency. Who is right? Everyone.

It’s monstrous to blow people apart who are baking bread. However, the bombing is a natural response to Israel’s predations against the Palestinians and rejection of their very legitimate gripes. But as the Abbas camp maintains, violence is completely counterproductive toward the goal of gaining the sympathy, respect, and help of the world and moderate Israelis.
What of the individual bomber?

“Islamic Jihad identified the bomber as Mohammed Siksik, 20, from the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. Relatives said Siksik was an unemployed laborer who was despondent over the death of a newborn daughter from disease and driven to avenge his best friend’s killing in fighting with Israel.”

As long as this unfathomable level of desperation is experienced by such a high number of Palestinians, the reckless fringe will have all the volunteers they can brainwash.

This is not going away until Palestinians gain the right to return to their land. A violent invasion born of terrorism stole their country, there is no way to avoid this historical truth. This is not fundamentally an ethnic or religious question, but one of individuals and their property. Unfortunately any expectation for an honest resolution is based on the assumption that the Israeli government operates in good faith — an assumption that is naive at best.

“Two weeks after a senior Pentagon official suggested that corporations should pressure their law firms to stop assisting detainees at Guantanamo Bay, major companies have turned the tables on the Pentagon and issued statements supporting the law firms’ work on behalf of terrorism suspects.”

No comment necessary except “deeeelicious.”

This was my favorite photo from the exuberant antiwar demonstration in DC on Saturday. Where is the Secret Service when you need them? (Probably out chasing down other 81 year olds who wrote vague letters to the editor).

I have another 10 photos (including a full size version of the above shot) from the demo here.  Comments & caterwauling welcome at my blog here.

Antiwar Radio: Barry Lando

Barry Lando, author of Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush explains some of the history of that unfortunate land.

MP3 here.

Barry Lando’s journalistic experience includes 25 years as a producer with CBS “60 Minutes”, which he left in 1997. Prior to that he was a correspondent for Time-Life in South America. He has also freelanced articles over the years for a large range of North American and European publications.

Lando received a B.A. magna in History at Harvard and an M.A. in political science from Columbia University. A Canadian citizen (born in Vancouver), he currently lives in Paris with his wife and 14 year old son. Two older children live and work in the U.S. and Canada.

Antiwar Radio: Steve Clemons

The New America Foundation’s Steve Clemons discusses Lawrence Wilkerson, Flynt Leverett, Iran’s offer to do whatever they were told and how Cheney destroyed the opportunity to negotiate and whether the secret war against Iran and Syria has already begun.

MP3 here.

Steven Clemons directs the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, which aims to promote a new American internationalism that combines a tough-minded realism about America’s interests in the world with a pragmatic idealism about the kind of world order best suited to America’s democratic way of life. He is also a Senior Fellow at New America, and previously served as Executive Vice President.

Publisher of the popular political blog The Washington Note, Mr. Clemons is a long-term policy practitioner and entrepreneur in Washington, D.C. He has served as Executive Vice President of the Economic Strategy Institute, Senior Policy Advisor on Economic and International Affairs to Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and was the first Executive Director of the Nixon Center.

Prior to moving to Washington, Mr. Clemons served for seven years as Executive Director of the Japan America Society of Southern California, and co-founded with Chalmers Johnson the Japan Policy Research Institute, of which he is still Director. He is a Member of the Board of the Clarke Center at Dickinson College, a liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pa., as well as an Advisory Board Member of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College in Chestertown, Md. He is also a Board Member of the Global Policy Innovations Program at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs and a member of the board of the Citizens for Global Solutions Education Fund.

Mr. Clemons writes frequently on matters of foreign policy, defense, and international economic policy. His work has appeared in many of the major leading op-ed pages, journal, and magazines around the world.

Antiwar Radio: Frida Berrigan

Frida Berrigan from the World Policy Institute about her article “Raptors, Robots and Rods from God” about the future of military weapons technology.

MP3 here.

Frida Berrigan is a Senior Research Associate with the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute. A graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Frida worked with a Central America solidarity organization for two years before coming to the World Policy Institute. Maintaining an interest in U.S. foreign policy towards Latin America, she also focuses on nuclear weapons policy, weapons sales to areas of conflict particularly in SE Asia, and military training programs. Most recently she has published articles in the Providence Journal, the Nonviolent Activist and the Hartford Courant.