Monday, July 18, 2005

Opposition Report: Hazim an-Nahar interviewed by Joe Pace

Joe Pace of Harvard University has agreed to write up interviews with opposition figures in Syria for publication on "Syria Comment." This week he has interviewed Hazim an-Nahar a member of the Arab Workers Revolutionary Party, who also serves on the administrative committee for the Jamal al-Atassi Forum for Democratic Dialogue.

Joe is doing research on the effects of US Foreign Policy in Syria. He is a research
fellow at Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. I am very grateful to him for agreeing to share some of his research with us. Hopefully other researchers will do the same. It is a great service to us all and will help researchers get feed-back on their work and perhaps even some notice for themselves and their work.

Joe Pace can be reached by email at jpace@fas.harvard.edu.

Here is Joe Pace's interview with Hazim an-Hahar
*****************

Hazim an-Nahar has an interesting perspective on US foreign policy; while he remains skeptical of US motives, he told me that the opposition is hypocritical for not recognizing the ways in which it has benefited from US pressure.

There are six communist parties (Hazim was insistent that I not include socialist-Nasser parties in that category) in Syria, two of which are in the National Progressive Front. Given how few communists there are running around Syria, the first question I asked him was,

Why the abundance of communist parties?

“Because the parties splinter. The parties usually don’t split for doctrinal reasons; they split for personal reasons. In fact, there are no substantive differences between the parties. The Front doesn’t allow elections, so splitting is the only way to resolve internal disputes. It’s a deliberate tactic on the part of the regime to keep the parties small and weak."

If there are no substantive differences between the parties, how does the party base choose which of the two new parties to join?

"The parties are totally backwards and undeveloped. Its like the Bedouins—they follow whatever leader they have personal allegiance to."

I asked him about the National Coordination Committee (for which he represents his party), which was formed in the beginning of 2005 to coordinate oppositional efforts. He took a dim view of the Committee's contribution to a more unified opposition.

“The committee is a mixture of all the parties and organizations of the opposition. But its ineffective. It just publishes shared statements for protests and sit-ins. Before the creation of the committee, coordination was very basic and shallow. Unfortunately, even after its creation, coordination remains very basic and the situation hardly differs from before. The main difference is that we have a place and a specific time to meet, but it doesn’t amount to real coordination.” (For that matter, no one I've spoken to in the opposition is optimistic about the coordination committee. Most of the political parties view it as a forum emasculated by the insistence of human rights organizations that its work be confined to human rights issues, not political ones. Many of the Arabs doubt that its Kurdish participants are sincere in their desire to be part of the Syrian opposition, accusing them of dual allegiances. Several Kurdish members have accused the Arab members of backtracking on the committee's charter to find a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue, and they are discussing ceasing their participation).

There was very little coordination especially between the Kurds and Arabs prior to the committee's inception. What suddenly motivated the idea of coordination?

“The political changes inside of Syria including the release of political prisoners and the relative increase in freedoms encouraged us to coordinate. Until that point, we thought of coordination and cooperation between the Kurds and Arabs as a red line. The changes in the region encouraged us to start dialoguing. For example, the Iraq war: the presence of the occupation weakened the regime’s capacity for internal control, relatively speaking. Before, they could arrest 100 people and no one listened or cared. Now they arrest one person and the world listens. We’ve also benefited from the role of the media and the internet. It has really emboldened us to meet more.

“When Bush started to talk about the Greater Middle East and reform in the region, it forced the regimes to start talking about reform. Before they used to say the situation was great. Of course, now they say reform must come from within, but at least they are talking about the need for reform. And of course, reform will occur on their terms. But American policy inspired much of the conversation about reform. It indirectly encouraged the opposition to be bolder and speak out. But at the same time, most of the opposition is strongly opposed to the American project. This is the great irony.

“America doesn’t want to reform the region for the benefit of its people. It has its own interests. Before, its interests lay in the continuation of despots. But now its interests are in line with relatively democratization of the region.”

If the opposition is benefiting from American pressure, why are they so insistent in their opposition a continuation of pressure?

“They oppose the American project vocally to prove their nationalist credentials. The regime accuses them of being treasonous supporters of America, and it’s a strategy that has been somewhat successful.

“Everyone in the opposition admits that the US has spurred talk of reform, but only between themselves. The opposition has gotten stronger in part because of foreign pressure, but they say they stand firmly against America. Its contradictory. Any pressure on the regime contributes to its weakening, which makes our work easier.”

But in spite of international pressure and scrutiny, the government has increased its oppression of civil society activists. How do you explain the new crackdown?

“There are two theories. One is that the regime and the US struck a deal. Syria helps the US deal with the terrorists in exchange for US silence on the human rights and democracy issue. This is a very popular explanation among opposition figures.

The second is that they are trying to display strength to obscure their growing weakness. They’re cracking down to ensure that they don’t have to face pressure from both the internal and external front.”

Has the crackdown worked?


“Absolutely. People are very frightened. In the months between the assassination of Hariri and the national conference, there was more bold talk on the streets about reform. People felt encouraged and the opposition grew. Mind you, we don’t define growth in terms of the number of people who join parties, but the number of people who are sympathetic. But after the national conference, the fear returned. Six people were arrested in Homs for discussing emigration from the Jazeera region—despite the fact they were Ba’thists.”

What are the necessary conditions for the opposition to grow in strength?

“The growth of the opposition has been extremely slow because of the lingering fear imprinted by 30 years of despotism. There are three conditions. First, the different tiers of the opposition must unite. Second, we need to arrive at a clear program for implementing democratic changes in Syria. Third, the opposition needs to renew its political platform, especially as it pertains to the outside world. There is no future for the opposition without a new platform—the current platform is ill. We can no longer afford to be afraid of the outside world. But that does not mean we should depend on the foreign powers to realize all of our demands as some of the Kurds do.”

How do you plan on attracting people to the opposition?

“We cant attract followers until we are united. When the average Syrian sees a divided, enfeebled opposition, no one is inspired to participate. The second thing we need to do is overcome the fear and that is likely to be achieved through one of two ways: foreign pressure or an economic crisis that compels people to demand more from their government."

Do you expect any positive changes from this regime?

“I expect that the changes will be trivial and aimed at beautifying the regime’s image to the international community.”

23 Comments:

At 7/18/2005 05:01:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would be interested in your comments on the appointment of a new mufti -- interesting article on this subject in Al Hayat on July 17th. The new mufti, Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun (from Aleppo), takes a firm line against Zarqawi-ism and against stoking Sunni-Shia divisions.

 
At 7/18/2005 05:09:00 AM, Anonymous Tarek said...

Very interesting interview and Hazim should be commended for his moderate views. I just hope he is being overly pessimistic when he states that the only way for growing their circle is through "foreign pressure or an economic crisis that compels people to demand more from their government." But for obvious reasons, he is probably right.

One can only hope the government will be more proactive and conduct truly open dialogue with the moderate opposition and avoid a situation of desperation that might lead these groups to ask for assistance from the west as did some of the Kurdish parties.

 
At 7/18/2005 05:24:00 AM, Blogger Joshua Landis said...

First comment: Please send a link for the Hayat article on Hassoun becoming Mufti. Best, Joshua

 
At 7/18/2005 06:18:00 AM, Anonymous Tarek said...

Here is the link but not from the Hayat website. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/July/middleeast_July432.xml§ion=middleeast&col=

Also, just read on aljazeera.net that the Lebanese Parliament has amended the law regarding pardons from civil war crimes. It seems to be a step to fully pardon and release Samir Gae'gae'.

 
At 7/18/2005 09:19:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is for you Mr Tarek.

Another racist??

Resistance For Whom? Jihad For what?
Salameh Nematt Al-Hayat - 18/07/05//


The terrorist targeting of Britain, after Spain, is not linked to the US presence in Iraq. If the goal of the killers was to strike against the countries taking part in the occupation to force them to withdraw, then, they would not have targeted Istanbul last year, since Turkey did not send troops to Iraq but opposed the war and forbade the US forces from going into Iraq via its territories. The same applies to Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Lebanon, which are all countries that opposed the war on Iraq, but still are targeted by the same terrorism that seems to hit wherever possible without any political logic unless, and God knows, the aim is sheer destruction or the pleasure of shedding innocent people’s blood, just as Al Qaeda is currently doing in Iraq…Are we today confronting pervert criminals with psychological problems or is there someone mobilizing them to accomplish goals, which are still unclear?



The only common point between the killers is that they all hide behind the veil of Islam while they are in fact its prime enemies. They have contributed in damaging the image of Islam in the whole world, including the Muslim world, where some have come to think that their religion is linked to terrorism. Indeed, Muslim clerics were reluctant to clearly condemn the acts of indiscriminate killing, only sufficing with alluding to the “improperness” of killing innocent people and to the bad timing of terrorist attacks or to the necessity of reconsidering the priorities of jihad!



If the criminals amongst us are convinced that their religion allows them to commit crimes from Iraq to Saudi Arabia and London then the matter should be urgently submitted to scholars and clerics, who are supposed to guide people in matters of life and religion. However, if religion is being used as a cover up to commit those crimes, then, the political goals of those who promote policies that encourage perpetrating such actions in the name of religion should be questioned. These have made every Muslim accused wherever he is and even has made Muslims doubt themselves. The investigation conducted recently by few colleagues showed that many of those who carry the slogan of jihad were ordinary criminals before repenting and turning into killing the innocent in the name of religion. This phenomenon sheds light on the nature of the perpetrators of such acts. It might be later proven that some regimes in the region deliberately enroll inmates sentenced to capital punishment and waiting for the execution of the verdict for committing criminal acts to assign them terrorist missions. They promise them money for their families, in exchange of their “martyrdom”. As Saddam Hussein used to pay to compensate the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.



The game has been exposed, especially in Iraq. The Iraqis do not need anyone to convince them that the terrorists, who are imported from neighboring countries are not more concerned about the liberation of their country and that the liberation of Iraq does not come from the killing of police and army elements, who are supposed to be in charge of security matters after the withdrawal of foreign troops. Unless Al Zarqawi and his gang believe that they will come to power after the allied forces leave.



The killers are all of one sect, whether in Iraq, Britain, Lebanon or Riyadh. It remains for the countries and the media of the region to raise to the level of responsibility and call the criminals by their names, instead of continuing to play on the illusion of a so-called “resistance” and fictional “jihad”.



Done for Resistance and Jihad when they are led by killers and criminals.

 
At 7/18/2005 09:22:00 AM, Anonymous kingcrane said...

Josh,

But Aleppo has always been a haven for Sufi Sunni Islam; I know, I grew up there. And Aleppo's population is the most pragmatic in Syria, even if people say that Ra"sahom Qassi (where " is a hamzeh).

The interesting fact about the Syrian Communist Party is that the party was denied proper representation in the Syrian Parliament ever since 1946, and the Ba'th has only dealt with Communists with a less violent "divide and reign" kind of approach. But, before the Ba'th, I remember the sad day our popular Communist leader Francois de Chadarevian was kidnapped; later, a box was brought to his family, that was supposed to contain his (most probably tortured) remains; his family was told not to open the box, under any circumstances. He was burried, and indeed the box was never open.

 
At 7/18/2005 09:52:00 AM, Anonymous Tarek said...

Hey Kingcrane,

Excuse my ignorance but who is Francois de Chadarevian? I never heard of him and when I tried looking him up nothing came, out are you spelling his name correctly? can you send me some links about the guy.

As for that Anon at 9:19, plz stop your B.S who said i am condoning any of these terrorist acts? we all know there is a problem with Islamic fundamentalists in this world and I feel reconstituting torture is order for this SOBs. But all i was saying is that some US actions are just as bad only more sophisticated.

FYI, suicide bombings are late 20th century phenomena and have nothing to due with Islam as a religion. But if you could pull your head out of your ass maybe your bigot monkey self would see that.

Nazi Germany prosecuted and killed tens of millions in the name of Christianity, did anyone dare to say that Christianity is oppressive religion? You have to admit to yourself and to the world around you that you are a RACIST and have prejudices against Arabs and Sunni Muslims. Repeat after me “ I hate Muslims for the sake that they are Muslim, I am a racist bigot” good boy! Now doesn’t that feel better?


Love,
Tarek

 
At 7/18/2005 10:10:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Al Hayat article on the mufti is on page 6 of the July 17th print edition, by-lined Ibrahim Hamidi (who else)

 
At 7/18/2005 12:46:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am a total ignorant, but allow me to ask a question. When the guy says:

"..one of two ways: foreign pressure or an economic crisis that compels people to demand more from their government."

This means he hopes there will be an economic crisis. In other words, he is saying: "I hope there will be a famine so I can become president". A bit selfish, no?

Is this right? I mean reading this was a bit shocking to me...

 
At 7/18/2005 12:47:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

and thank you for your patience

 
At 7/18/2005 02:28:00 PM, Anonymous kingcrane said...

Tarek,

Sorry: you can search the Internet, you will not find much on Francois de Chadarevian.

The de Chadarevian family is an aristocratic Armenian family that got the "de" prefix from the Vatican, and not from France. There are members of the family scattered across Syria and Lebanon. I was told once that Phalangist ex-MP Joseph Chader of Beirut is a de Chadarevian, but that the name was shortened to sound more Arabic.

Francois de Chadarevian was one of the key Communist leaders in Aleppo. In the late 40ies and early 50ies in Syria, the SCP and the SSNP were extremely strong. The classical nationalist parties controlled the Parliament and the Government in Syria, but the upcoming elections were supposed to bring a large contingent of SCP and SSNP elected legislators.

Of course, we all know better: Zaim (the CIA man) arrested Antoun Saadeh and sent him to Lebanon to be executed courtesy of Riad Solh, and scores of SSNP members were forced into exile, in both countries. But the repression also focused on the Communist Party, and de Chadarevian was to be the example...

Oddly, the SSNP and SCP sympathisers who survived that period were protected by people that included those who eventually ruled Syria out of Ba'th obscurantism during the pragmatic Ba'th era, i.e. the Assad family.

The SSNP did assassinate Husni Zaim and Riad Solh, but the Party was in ruins, as was the SCP...

 
At 7/18/2005 03:38:00 PM, Anonymous Syrian Republican Party said...

This belong in the previous post. But since no one read older one, will post it here.

Unlike what you pastor tells you every Sunday. The entire Bible mentions the word LOVE just 2 times. That is right 2 times in all those 3 inch thick of pages.

Here are some Bible reference ordering people to kill one another in addition to the hundreds more mentioned about how god committed genocide after another.



Kill People Who Don't Listen to Priests

Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT)



Kill Witches

You should not let a sorceress live. (Exodus 22:17 NAB)



Kill Homosexuals
"If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives." (Leviticus 20:13 NAB)



Kill Fortunetellers

A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death. (Leviticus 20:27 NAB)



Death for Hitting Dad

Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:15 NAB)



Death for Cursing Parents

1) If one curses his father or mother, his lamp will go out at the coming of darkness. (Proverbs 20:20 NAB)

2) All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9 NLT)



Death for Adultery

If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)



Death for Fornication

A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death. (Leviticus 21:9 NAB)



Death to Followers of Other Religions

Whoever sacrifices to any god, except the Lord alone, shall be doomed. (Exodus 22:19 NAB)



Kill Nonbelievers

They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)



Kill False Prophets

If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, "You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord." When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through. (Zechariah 13:3 NAB)



Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God

Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. "The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him." (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)



Kill Women Who Are Not Virgins On Their Wedding Night

But if this charge is true (that she wasn't a virgin on her wedding night), and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father's house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)



Kill Followers of Other Religions.

1) If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst. (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)



2) Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death. (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)



Death for Blasphemy

One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD's name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother's name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put the man in custody until the LORD's will in the matter should become clear. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished. Anyone who blasphemes the LORD's name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD's name will surely die. (Leviticus 24:10-16 NLT)



Kill False Prophets

1) Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, 'Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,' do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT)



2) But any prophet who claims to give a message from another god or who falsely claims to speak for me must die.' You may wonder, 'How will we know whether the prophecy is from the LORD or not?' If the prophet predicts something in the LORD's name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NLT)



Infidels and Gays Should Die

So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God's death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. (Romans 1:24-32 NLT)



Kill Anyone who Approaches the Tabernacle

For the LORD had said to Moses, 'Exempt the tribe of Levi from the census; do not include them when you count the rest of the Israelites. You must put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and its equipment as you travel, and they must care for it and camp around it. Whenever the Tabernacle is moved, the Levites will take it down and set it up again. Anyone else who goes too near the Tabernacle will be executed.' (Numbers 1:48-51 NLT)



Kill People for Working on the Sabbath

The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: 'Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.' (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)




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2) God's Murders for Stupid Reasons:



Kill Brats

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. While he was on his way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. "Go up baldhead," they shouted, "go up baldhead!" The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two shebears came out of the woods and tore forty two of the children to pieces. (2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB)



God Kills the Curious

And he smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Jehovah, he smote of the people seventy men, `and' fifty thousand men; and the people mourned, because Jehovah had smitten the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us? (1Samuel 6:19-20 ASV)



Killed by a Lion

Meanwhile, the LORD instructed one of the group of prophets to say to another man, "Strike me!" But the man refused to strike the prophet. Then the prophet told him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me." And sure enough, when he had gone, a lion attacked and killed him. (1 Kings 20:35-36 NLT)



Killing the Good Samaritan

The ark of God was placed on a new cart and taken away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab guided the cart, with Ahio walking before it, while David and all the Israelites made merry before the Lord with all their strength, with singing and with citharas, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God to steady it, for the oxen were making it tip. But the Lord was angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there before God. (2 Samuel 6:3-7 NAB)




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3) Murdering Children



Kill Sons of Sinners

Make ready to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their fathers; Lest they rise and posses the earth, and fill the breadth of the world with tyrants. (Isaiah 14:21 NAB)



God Will Kill Children

The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will die at birth or perish in the womb or never even be conceived. Even if your children do survive to grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone. I have watched Israel become as beautiful and pleasant as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her children to be slaughtered." O LORD, what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don't give birth and breasts that give no milk. The LORD says, "All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels. The people of Israel are stricken. Their roots are dried up; they will bear no more fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children." (Hosea 9:11-16 NLT)



Kill Men, Women, and Children

"Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, "Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the Temple." So they began by killing the seventy leaders. "Defile the Temple!" the LORD commanded. "Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!" So they went throughout the city and did as they were told." (Ezekiel 9:5-7 NLT)



God Kills all the First Born of Egypt

And at midnight the LORD killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn son of the captive in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed. Pharaoh and his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died. (Exodus 12:29-30 NLT)



Kill Old Men and Young Women

"You are my battle-ax and sword," says the LORD. "With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. With you I will shatter armies, destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and maidens. With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and rulers. "As you watch, I will repay Babylon and the people of Babylonia for all the wrong they have done to my people in Jerusalem," says the LORD. "Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy," says the LORD. "I will raise my fist against you, to roll you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of rubble. You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out," says the LORD. (Jeremiah 51:20-26)

(Note that after God promises the Israelites a victory against Babylon, the Israelites actually get their butts kicked by them in the next chapter. So much for an all-knowing and all-powerful God.)



God Will Kill the Children of Sinners

If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey, I will inflict you with seven more disasters for your sins. I will release wild animals that will kill your children and destroy your cattle, so your numbers will dwindle and your roads will be deserted. (Leviticus 26:21-22 NLT)



More Rape and Baby Killing

Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children. (Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT)




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4) Miscellaneous Murders



More of Samson's Murders

(The Lord saves Sampson from standing trial for 30 murders and arson by allowing him to kill 1000 more men.) When he reached Lehi, and the Philistines came shouting to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came upon him: the ropes around his arms become as flax that is consumed by fire and the bonds melted away from his hands. Near him was the fresh jawbone of an ass; he reached out, grasped it, and with it killed a thousand men. (Judges 15:14-15 NAB)



Peter Kills Two People

There was also a man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, but he claimed it was the full amount. His wife had agreed to this deception. Then Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us but to God." As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men wrapped him in a sheet and took him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?" "Yes," she replied, "that was the price." And Peter said, "How could the two of you even think of doing a thing like this – conspiring together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Just outside that door are the young men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out, too." Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened. (Acts 5:1-11 NLT)



Mass Murder

This is what the Lord of hosts has to say: 'I will punish what Amalek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt. Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.' (1 Samuel 15:2-3 NAB)



You Have to Kill

Cursed be he who does the Lords work remissly, cursed he who holds back his sword from blood. (Jeremiah 48:10 NAB)



The Danites Kill the Next Town

But the territory of the Danites was too small for them; so the Danites marched up and attacked Leshem, which they captured and put to the sword. Once they had taken possession of Lesham, they renamed the settlement after their ancestor Dan. (Joshua 19:47 NAB)



God Kills Some More

Then the LORD said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn't help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight! And if they say to you, 'But where can we go?' tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: Those who are destined for death, to death; those who are destined for war, to war; those who are destined for famine, to famine; those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.' "I will send four kinds of destroyers against them," says the LORD. "I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left. Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth." (Jeremiah 15:1-4 NLT)



God Promises More Killing

I will make Mount Seir utterly desolate, killing off all who try to escape and any who return. I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your hills, your valleys, and your streams will be filled with people slaughtered by the sword. I will make you desolate forever. Your cities will never be rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 35:7-9 NLT)



The Angel of Death

My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out. (Exodus 23:23 NAB)



Destruction of Ai

Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the entire army and attack Ai, for I have given to you the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the captured goods and the cattle for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city." So Joshua and the army of Israel set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand fighting men and sent them out at night with these orders: "Hide in ambush close behind the city and be ready for action. When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them. We will let them chase us until they have all left the city. For they will say, 'The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.' Then you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the LORD your God will give it to you. Set the city on fire, as the LORD has commanded. You have your orders." So they left that night and lay in ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.

Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the leaders of Israel. They camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the city. That night Joshua sent five thousand men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. So they stationed the main army north of the city and the ambush west of the city. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley. When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurriedly went out early the next morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn't realize there was an ambush behind the city. Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten, and all the men in the city were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the city. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the city was left wide open.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Point your spear toward Ai, for I will give you the city." Joshua did as he was commanded. As soon as Joshua gave the signal, the men in ambush jumped up and poured into the city. They quickly captured it and set it on fire. When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the city was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers. When Joshua and the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the city, they turned and attacked the men of Ai. Then the Israelites who were inside the city came out and started killing the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in a trap, and all of them died. Not a single person survived or escaped. Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

When the Israelite army finished killing all the men outside the city, they went back and finished off everyone inside. So the entire population of Ai was wiped out that day – twelve thousand in all. For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed. Only the cattle and the treasures of the city were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these for themselves, as the LORD had commanded Joshua. So Ai became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day. Joshua hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body and threw it in front of the city gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today. (Joshua 8:1-29 NLT)



Killing at Jericho

When the people heard the sound of the horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the city from every side and captured it. They completely destroyed everything in it – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, donkeys – everything. (Joshua 6:20-21 NLT)



God Kills an Extended Family

"You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made other gods and have made me furious with your gold calves. And since you have turned your back on me, I will bring disaster on your dynasty and kill all your sons, slave or free alike. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash until it is all gone. I, the LORD, vow that the members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.'" Then Ahijah said to Jeroboam's wife, "Go on home, and when you enter the city, the child will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only member of your family who will have a proper burial, for this child is the only good thing that the LORD, the God of Israel, sees in the entire family of Jeroboam. And the LORD will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam. This will happen today, even now! Then the LORD will shake Israel like a reed whipped about in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land that he gave their ancestors and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, for they have angered the LORD by worshiping Asherah poles. He will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and made all of Israel sin along with him." (1 Kings 14:9-16 NLT)



Mass Murder

The men of Israel withdrew through the territory of the Benjaminites, putting to the sword the inhabitants of the city, the livestock, and all they chanced upon. Moreover they destroyed by fire all the cities they came upon. (Judges 20:48 NAB)



The Angel of Death

That night the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Early the next morning, there they were, all the corpuses of the dead. (2 Kings 19:35 NAB)



Kill Your Neighbors

(Moses) stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, "All of you who are on the LORD's side, come over here and join me." And all the Levites came. He told them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Strap on your swords! Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other, killing even your brothers, friends, and neighbors." The Levites obeyed Moses, and about three thousand people died that day. Then Moses told the Levites, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Because of this, he will now give you a great blessing." (Exodus 32:26-29 NLT)



Kill the Family of Sinners

And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to him; and tell me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it." [Note that the sin is not looting, but failing to give the loot to the treasury of the Lord.] "So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them to the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger: wherefore the name of that place was called the valley of Achor to this day. (Joshua 7:19-26 Webster's Bible)



Kill Followers of Other Religions

While the Israelites were camped at Acacia, some of the men defiled themselves by sleeping with the local Moabite women. These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, and soon the Israelites were feasting with them and worshiping the gods of Moab. Before long Israel was joining in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the LORD's anger to blaze against his people. The LORD issued the following command to Moses: "Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the LORD in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel." So Moses ordered Israel's judges to execute everyone who had joined in worshiping Baal of Peor. Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into the camp, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as they were weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle. When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. Then he took a spear and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man's body and into the woman's stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, but not before 24,000 people had died. (Numbers 25:1-9 NLT)



Murder

At the customary time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself." Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the ditch! And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and cried out, "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" Then Elijah commanded, "Seize all the prophets of Baal. Don't let a single one escape!" So the people seized them all, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there. (1 Kings 18:36-40 NLT)



Kill All of Babylon

"Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaim and against the people of Pekod. Yes, march against Babylon, the land of rebels, a land that I will judge! Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them, as I have commanded you," says the LORD. "Let the battle cry be heard in the land, a shout of great destruction". (Jeremiah 50:21-22 NLT)



Micah Kills a Whole Town

Then, with Micah's idols and his priest, the men of Dan came to the town of Laish, whose people were peaceful and secure. They attacked and killed all the people and burned the town to the ground. There was no one to rescue the residents of the town, for they lived a great distance from Sidon and had no allies nearby. This happened in the valley near Beth-rehob.Then the people of the tribe of Dan rebuilt the town and lived there. They renamed the town Dan after their ancestor, Israel's son, but it had originally been called Laish. (Judges 18:27-29 NLT) (Note that God approves of this slaughter in verse 6.)

 
At 7/18/2005 03:53:00 PM, Anonymous Syrian Republican Party said...

More shit about killing in the Bible. We will leave the sex and rape and scientific absurdity aside.


Evils, Atrocities and Injustices of the Torah

The following is a very SHORT list of sadistic acts that are commanded, allowed, or threatened by God and his “righteous” men. All of these verses can be found in the Torah. (which are the first five books of the Bible.) I have put them in chronological order so that you may verify them as you read along. (Keep in mind that the scriptures literally have an atrocity on every other page. So this list will keep evolving as I work through the Pentateuch yet again. To compile a full list may take months, so feel free to check back in later.) God entraps humans by placing the tree of knowledge in the garden and telling Adam and Eve not to eat of it. This is rather similar to placing a toy in front of a child and telling them they are not allowed to play with it. God created us with instinct, rebellion, and curiosity. Soon he punishes us for only doing what is part of our nature. Genesis 2:16.47

God now commands that all women must have health hazardous labors for Eve ate the fruit. In no way shape or form is it just that I must pay for the sins of my ancestors. Genesis 3:16

God caused sibling rivalry by favoring Abel over Cain, with absolutely no attempt at justification. This act of favoritism led to Abel’s death. Genesis 4:3-5

Genesis 7:23 He killed, intentionally, every man, woman, and child on the planet save eight of them.

God commands Hagar go back into servanthood and bear children for her master though she does not want to. Genesis 16:7-9

Genesis 19:23-25 God burns down a whole city (women and children included) simply because they were supposedly homosexual.

Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and that the Lord slew him. How was Er wicked? The Bible doesn’t give us this bit of information, only that Er was wicked in the sight of the Lord. Genesis 38:7

Genesis 38:10 God murders Onan for refusing to commit incest with his sister in law.

Exodus 12:29 God repeatedly tells Moses exactly what calamity he will next visit upon the Egyptians if the Pharaoh does not allow the Israelites to be set free from slavery. Then he tells Moses (also repeatedly) that he will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will refuse to allow the Israelites to go, thus bringing a calamity upon his own people, as well as showing him the awesome power of the Israelites’ Lord. This occurs over and over, bringing calamity upon calamity upon the Egyptian people. What is troubling about this verse is that when god “hardens the pharaoh’s heart” he is interfering with the Pharaoh’s free will and ultimately bringing punishment on the Egyptians for something they are not responsible for. As a final punishment god decides to kill all the first born of Egypt. The lord reduced himself to murdering innocent kids when he could have simply freed the Israelites himself with his “omnipotent” power.

God punishes children for the sins of their fathers, unto the third and fourth generations. Punishing a child for the sins of their ancestors is not very just. Exodus 20:5&34:7

God endorses slavery. He even set up laws as to how slavery was to be carried out, and goes as far as Okaying beating them. Exodus 21:2-6

God sanctioned the selling of ones daughter. How can any being tell another to literally sell their child into slavery? Disgusting! Exodus 21:7

Exodus 22:18 God orders the death of witches, sorceresses and anyone who practices magic. Sadly enough, this verse was justification for the Inquisition.

Exodus 32:27 God ordered to be killed, 3,000 Israelites for no greater crime than worshipping a golden calf. I don’t know about you but death is a pretty harsh fucking punishment.

Leviticus 20:9-10 God commands death for cursing out ones parents and death for adultery. Gee, with these types of laws the population should be almost nil by now.

Once again god is a homophobe, or at the very least, a bigot. Leviticus 20:13

Handicapped people must not approach the altar. Leviticus 21:16-23

Leviticus 26:30 “And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shill ye eat.”

Leviticus 27:28-29 God ordered and allowed human sacrifices.

Numbers 16:27 God buries alive Korah and his family.

Numbers 16:35 God killed 250 Levite princes who disagreed with Moses’ leadership. He was so bloodthirsty that he wanted to slay more until he was talked out of it. Later he put a plague upon 14,700 Jews who thought there was something wrong in killing 250 princes.

Numbers 21:1-3 God utterly destroyed the Canaanites at Hormah as a favor to the Jews.

Numbers 21:27-35 God abetted Moses in utterly destroying the Amorites at Heshbon - “…the men, the women, and the little ones.”

Numbers 31:17-18 God commands Moses to kill all the Medianite people including children and women. To top it off he commands that the virgins be saved for later raping by Moses’ soldiers.

Deuteronomy 3:3-7 God ordered Moses’ army to “utterly destroy” 60 cities, killing all the women and children within!

Deuteronomy 7:12 God ordered the Israelites to kill all the people of seven nations. He even adds, “show no mercy unto them”.

Deuteronomy 20:16 God orders that we kill everything that breathes in the cities that he gives us for an inheritance

A bastard can’t attend church “even to his tenth generation.” As if denying an innocent child rights to worship isn’t cruel. Deuteronomy 23:2

 
At 7/18/2005 10:06:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

To "Republican party":

You over did it in your long copy/paste post. You changed the subject. You want to defend Islam, defend it. No one is defending Christianity here or Judaism. I think religions that have violent lanaguage calling for one sect of humans to kills others under any cause can not be from the "creator" who created us all and who is powerful as describedm, Just, and loving. So, in my humble opinion, all religions have historical significance but I doubt they are really from God.

That includes your Islam, and all other "Skyly " religions.

So, take it easy. Do not get pre-occupied in defending one religion or another. God as described in all of them can defend himself, and truly can not be logically in need of any one to defend him.

 
At 7/18/2005 10:07:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

sorry for the typos...

 
At 7/18/2005 11:29:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Republican Party :

Thanks for the necessary quotes; I am tired of hearing Islam being attacked and you gave amunition to fight back

 
At 7/19/2005 02:47:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Syrians were pioneers since the begining of the 2oth century in rejecting religious dogmas, sectarianism, and the oppression of women. Syria's first constitutions were in the avant guard world wide in their outlook and allowing all people total equality (men and women), respecting Islam as a source of the legal system, but also interpretting Islam in modern scientific ways unlike the orthodoxy of the Saudi Wahabbis that wanted us to stay in times long gone. Since Assad came to power, we have seen a deep change in Syria, reintroducing all of the sicknesses of the backwardness in loyalty distributions. Then, we also now that Bin Laden and his ilks (though they may be sincere toward their utopian beliefs) were a product of that same Saudis double play political system. For the Saudi family does not even follow the preaching of the religion it imposes on the ordinary Saudis, instead, the Saudi family is only exploiting religion with the weak people to keep them down, and keep itself always in command.

 
At 7/19/2005 08:15:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not only SAUDI FAMILY, see this wrote another MAN IN POWER:

If there are no children available, an animal will do:
A man can have sex with animals such as sheep, cows, camels and so on. However, he should kill the animal after he has his orgasm. He should not sell the meat to the people in his own village; however, selling the meat to the next door village should be fine.
Khomeini's book, "Tahrirolvasyleh" fourth volume, Darol Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990
"If one commits the act of sodomy with a cow, a ewe, or a camel, their urine and their excrement become impure, and even their milk may no longer be consumed. The animal must then be killed and as quickly as possible and burned."
The Little Green Book, Sayings of Ayatollah Khomeini, Political,
Philosophical, Social and Religious, ISBN number 0-553-14032-9, page 47

 
At 7/19/2005 09:02:00 AM, Anonymous Mohammed said...

Wow!

I just find it incredible that Khomeini said so.

Still, Islam has become the haven for weirdos for the past 50 years.

Islam (I am not considered a muslim now as I am born to Alawis) has a lot of beautiful teachings, and it is the religion that, more than any other throughout the history of mankind, has defended the poor, the oppressed, and the weak in so many ways. In fact most of the Quran is in defense of the oppressed against the oppressor. It is beyond me how this religion has become the Evil it is portraying itself to be right now. I tend to agree with the above post blaming the Wahabis for degrading Islam to this present situation it finds itself in. Prophet Mohammed brought a revolution of ideas at the time (1400 years ago), that moved the Arabs then, and the world, but with the passage of time, the revolutionary book of ideas became itself the idol it was fighting, for Muslims are now defending the book as A printed book, a material thing, and forgot that it was the message in the book that was important, and the message said: THINK THINK THINK, and there is a reward to thinking even about the existence of Allah (God) himself. Instead, every one who thinks and wants to be convinced by the faculty of thinking that Allah(GOD) exists for example, is condemned by those retarded Islamists and a death judgement is bestowed upon him. They now worship the Quran as a printed book, a mterial thing, and defend what the Quran wanted them to leave behind. So how can you talk or argue with such people? I personally think that they can never understand, and the war will go on for long.

Mohammed

 
At 7/19/2005 09:27:00 AM, Anonymous Syrian Republican Party said...

anon @ 8.15
Don't believe that crap Mohammed.
anon@ 8.15 fabricated these quotes.

I guess he is asking for it, we quoted actual numbered verses from the Bible. Do you want us to fabricate quotes?. We have Old and New Testaments complete with this kind of derogatory fabricated quotes. Do you want us to start publish it?

 
At 7/19/2005 10:47:00 AM, Blogger Nafdik said...

Thank you SRP for those quotes. I think a lot of Christians who complain about Islam forget the word of Christ:
"For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measuring stick you measure, it shall be measured to you the same. Why do you look at the straw that is in your brother's eye, yet don't think about the beam that is in your own eye? How can you possibly say to your brother, 'Let me pull out the straw from your eye' when there is a beam in your own eye!? You hypocrite! First cast out the beam from your own eye; and then you shall see clear enough to take out the straw from your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:2-5)

And for another view of violence in Islam I compell you all to read Jawdat Saiid a Syrian Azhari that has developed a non-violent theology that is the best I have ever read:
http://jawdatsaid.net

 
At 7/19/2005 10:52:00 AM, Anonymous kingcrane said...

Gentlemen,
The Coran is a book dictated by Mohammad to one of his closest friends. The book is written by a poet, as most literate Arabs wrote poetry and prose with equal talent. In addition, the book is an invaluable linguistic source for the Arabic language. Many parts of the book are inspired by Christianity and others by Judaism.
The problem with the Wahhabo-Salafists is their interpretation of Islam and of the Hadith.
I know (I am a Christian Arab) that the Old Testament contains passages that are really violent, but those secular Jews who have practiced their religion while respecting other religions cannot be faulted for a book written several millenia ago.
Neither can people assign to all Moslims or all Christians the deeds of a few violent fanatic zealots.
PS: 'Alawis are Moslims; the source is the Imam Musa al Sadr.

 
At 7/25/2005 05:45:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Israeli Occupation of Syria: What the US Media Hides

by Wendy Campbell

July 25, 2005

The inspiration for this article came to me after reading an article about Syria that was forwarded to me by a well-meaning, but somewhat naïve, fellow pro-Palestinian peace activist. He thought it was “interesting”. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to decipher the actual meaning and thrust behind the article. Unfortunately, this is the case with most Americans.

I read the article earnestly hoping for perhaps some new insight, as it was titled “The Enigma of Damascus”, a city in Syria which I have journeyed to in 2004. I also produced a documentary entitled “Syria: Land of Friendly People and Hidden Treasure” based on my trip there which I market on my website www.marwenmedia.com.

I had no idea as to the background of the writer, so I read it with an open mind.

As I read it, I started to become vaguely annoyed. By the time I was finished, I was in an acute state of annoyance.

Hence, I am moved to write yet another article exposing what passes for journalism in the US media, but what is actually hate-and-war-mongering Neo-Conservative propaganda written with the express purpose of manipulating and preparing the US public opinion to go along with its aggressive agenda of forcing regime-change on any country that they deem is an enemy of Israel.

Let’s face it: the government must have the support of the majority of the American people or else it’s not a democracy. Unfortunately for American people, the media largely embedded in the government, and currently serves as the propaganda arm of our government which is now being directed by Israel-firster Neo-Conservatives and both Jewish and Christian Zionists. Greedy politicians who are involved with corporations that benefit hugely from war profits are more than happy to go along with the killing spree in the Middle East, using words such as “democracy”, “regime-change” and “liberation” to falsely represent their true motives, which is complete subjugation, domination and exploitation of those countries’ resources and culture.

Note: If these people cared so much about freedom and liberation, where is their action on support of Tibetans? Could it be that Tibet is not a enemy of Israel, as are Israel’s neighbors? Could it be that there is not even any oil in Tibet? Where is such deep concern about Ethiopians? Ugandans, anyone?

The article “The Enigmas of Damascus” was written by a certain James Bennet. He is obviously a Neo-Conservative and most likely a Zionist Jewish one at that. It turns out that this article was first published by the New York Times.

You can find this article by googling the title of the article and the author or at http://www.natashatynes.org/newwire/2005/07/the_enigma_of_d.html#more

“REGIME-CHANGE” IS NEO-CON CODE WORD FOR ALL-OUT WAR

I will now dissect and interpret Bennet’s article for those who are not aware of the Zionist Jewish modus operandi including: use of code words (such as “regime-change” when they mean all-out bloody war), their deliberate omissions of pertinent facts, while at the same time cherry-picking talking heads whom Zionists want to push into the limelight since they support the Zionist agenda: Zionist domination of the Middle East and perhaps more than that, generally using American resources to do so, as in an endless costly and deadly “war on terror”, that is not necessary to the security or best interests of most Americans.

He slyly and misleadingly puts “the Bush administration, many European leaders and many reform-minded Syrians” all in one basket for instance. AS IF any reform-minded Syrians (except for the few Zionist neoconservative Jewish Syrians there) would ever want the kind of “regime-change” that Bush has in mind for Syria, such as the “regime-change” that is taking place in Iraq. By the way, in case you haven’t figured it out by now, the phrase “regime-change” is a Zionist/Neo-Conservative codeword for WAR. BLOODY WAR.

Reform-minded = Regime-change = WAR. Paid for with US tax dollars for Israel’s “security” and imperialistic ambitions.

MAJORITY OF SYRIANS APPROVE OF THEIR LEADER

As I wrote in another article about Syria (“Let’s Get Clear About Syria”, www.marwenmedia.com), the group leader for our tour of Syria, an American Christian Scientist, told me that if there were to be a democratic election in Syria, that Bashar Assad, the current leader of Syria, would probably win by about 70% of the vote. Our Syrian Greek Orthodox guide agreed. In fact, everywhere we went in Syria, from city apartments and informal business luncheons to Bedouin and Kurdish adobe homes in the countryside, the people we spoke to seemed genuinely positive, even glowing, in their praise of Bashar Assad. These were not cherry-picked people either, since sometimes we stopped by the side of the road at some village and got ourselves invited in for tea with people spontaneously.

I even asked our Syrian guide if it was mandatory that everyone have a portrait of Bashar Assad in their homes, and he said no. He reminded me of how he didn’t have one in his home, where we had previously had some tea with his family. Indeed, this was true.

So Mr. Bennet’s observation that Mr. and Mrs. Bashar Assad “seemed the essence of secular Western-Arab fusion” is accurate, not a “mirage” as he asserted.

Bennet claims that Assad’s “empty promises, nasty oratory and bloody tactics has turned them (the Bush administration, meaning the Neo-conservatives) against the Syrian regime.”

Talk about the height of hypocrisy and obfuscation of the truth of the matter!

How ironic!

The fact of the matter is that Neo-conservatives in the US primarily represent the interests of Zionist Israel, which has long been known for empty promises, nasty (and very racist) oratory against Palestinians as well as the entire Arab and Muslim world, along with bloody tactics! This is what has turned the entire Arab and Muslim world, along with most of the rest of the world, against America! This is “why they hate us”. And actually, it’s really US foreign policy that they hate. Can you blame them? Anyone, including fair-minded Americans, hate it as well. It’s about hating and stopping the evil-doers: actual liars, thieves and murderers, and those who actively enable them, such as some of those in the US government and media.

Since day one of its creation in 1948, Israel has always been aggressive and belligerent against the indigenous non-Jewish Palestinians in Palestine-Israel, as well as against all its neighboring countries of Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and beyond.

Most Americans have been shielded by the US media from learning this fact that Israel has always been the original colonialist aggressor in the area of the Middle East.

But as long as Israel continues its aggression against and persecution of the indigenous non-Jewish people of the Middle East, there will likely be endless war, involving the entire world.

Bennet rightly asserts that “Since Saddam Hussein’s rule ended in Iraq, no other Arab government has come in for as much pressure and disdain from the Bush administration” however Bennet never makes a clear case for why that is. I’ll tell you why that is: it’s because Syria refuses to let itself be run over by Zionist Israel and its puppet benefactor the Zionized USA. And why should it? Would any self-respecting people or country?

ISRAEL STILL OCCUPIES SYRIA’S GOLAN HEIGHTS, SINCE 1967

A very important fact that Bennet only vaguely referred to is that Israel has been occupying part of Syria, specifically the Golan Heights since 1967! And believe me, the Syrians have been boiling about that ever since. Yet somehow the US media, including Bennet in this very New York Times article, treats this as basically a complete non-issue! It is rarely mentioned in the US media, and when it is, it is not clarified or emphasized for the average American to grasp the full meaning of it.

Contrast the non-coverage of the Isareli occupation of Syria with the whole lotta coverage that the US media and US government spotlighted on the Syrian troops that were stationed in Lebanon! And by the way, the Syrian troops in Lebanon had many supporters there! It is generally believed by those in the peace movement (the sincere, anti-Zionists especially) that CIA and Mossad agents actively stirred up trouble in Lebanon with regards to the Syrian troops there, and therefore we witnessed the spectacle fully covered in embedded-with-the-US-government US media of the massive dueling rallies, of which many were approximately equally supportive of Syrian troops in Lebanon.

The US government pressured the Syrian government to remove their troops there, and the Syrian government did so, in a timely manner, unlike Israel which the US never seems to exert any real pressure on to conform with international laws. Israel has defied over 70 UN Resolutions, and in comparison, Iraq had defied 17 before the US war on Iraq. It goes to show the complete bias that the Zionized US demonstrates towards Israel.

The Syrian government has clearly demonstrated that it is willing to cooperate with the US on many issues, but what exactly does the US want from Syria? It seems as if they want Syria to fall in step with whatever Israel wants, and that is tantamount to allowing Israel to continue to continue to steal Syrian land for a “Greater Israel”, a stated goal of many Zionist Jews.

If Israel really wanted to be on friendly terms with Syria, Israel must take the first step and withdraw from Syria’s Golan Heights. That is truly what is needed. Otherwise, why should Syria cooperate? Syria is thus placed in a catch-22 situation. Damned if they do and damned if they don’t. This is the unfair way in which Israel and the Zionized USA behaves, and the world is taking notice. No wonder the US and Israel rank as the number one threat to peace in the world according to international polls.

Getting back to the Israeli occupation of Syrian land, Israel finally has had to relinquish to Lebanon the Lebanese territory Israel captured in 1967, and also Israel had to give back the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.

When is the US going to pressure Israel to give Syria back its Golan Heights? It’s obviously a non-issue to the Neo-conservatives who are in charge of the Bush Administration, and it’s obviously a non-issue to the New York Times and all the rest of the Zionized US media.

Just to show you how much of a non-issue Bennet prefers to keep it, I’ll quote his ONE SENTENCE referring to this VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE to the Syrians:

“He (Bashar Assad) came into power after talks collapsed in 2000 over the return to Syria of the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied in 1967, in the Six-Day War.”

That’s IT! Look at how he does not provide any details about the history of the Six-Day War in 1967. Look at even his misleading use of language to describe the situation: “Israel occupied”, as in past tense, instead of what he should have written, that “Israel has been occupying” to indicate that this is STILL AN ON-GOING ISSUE and the Syrians are understandly quite angry about this.

Look at how Bennet did not bother to put the current events in any frame of reference or context to enable the average American reader to understand the current situation Syria finds itself in. This is not by accident either. The Zionized US media has been covering for Israel for decades, to keep anything that could be construed as negative press about Israel away from non-Jewish American eyes and minds.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Jews, especially politicized Zionist Jews, know about all of this, at least from the Zionist point of view. Because it’s the history of Israel, which is their primary concern with regards to politics. You can learn a lot by reading Jewish newspapers and websites. They cover many issues that they prefer non-Jewish Americans to remain ignorant about. This is why, as the saying goes: “Knowledge is power.” This is also why they have an advantage over non-Jewish Americans. How can non-Jewish Americans take a stand on issues when they don’t even know anything about them except for the smooth propaganda they read in the Zionized US media?

The fact is that the Zionized US media is purposefully putting blind-folders on the eyes of the American public, as well as earplugs in their eyes! There is a Zionist filter put on any news that comes through the US media. Americans see no evil and hear no evil about Israel and Zionism. They are in a state of blissful ignorance. Until there’s the ugly wake-up call of war and terror and terror and war. What is the real difference anyway?
War is “kosher” terror. The results are the same: thousands of dead people, many of them blissfully ignorant until the bloody end, ruined cities, ruined lives, and no end in sight, because the basic issues of International Laws and justice are not being applied equally to all countries.

THE TRUTH ABOUT ISRAEL’S AGGRESSION IN THE 1967 SIX-DAY WAR

For example, how many Americans know the truth, or ANYTHING, about the 1967 Six-Day War?

This is when Israel, armed to the teeth (after all, it has the 4th largest army in the world even though the country is about the size of New Jersey!) preemptively waged war on all of its neighboring countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

In fact, it was such a secretive, preemptive attack that Israeli jets and naval boats relentlessly attacked the hapless USS Liberty, even though it was clearly marked as an American vessel and informed the Israeli jet pilots of such. Israel simply did not want anyone interfering or witnessing its illegal aggression against its neighbors.

Israel’s air force completely obliterated Egypt’s entire fleet of military jets while they were parked on the tarmac!

This was and still is all completely illegal according to International Law.

The sad tale of the USS Liberty, a lightly armed reconnaissance naval vessel that was innocently in the wrong place at the wrong time, has been willfully hushed up for years by our government as well as our media, indicating that Israel’s interests rank even higher than American interests. Israel has never been brought to justice for its crimes against humanity, which are many, including this bloody incident. This shocking betrayal is movingly revealed by the survivors of the USS Liberty in “The USS Liberty Survivors: Our Story” available at http:// www.marwenmedia.com. According to these American eye witnesses, Israeli jet fighters and boats relentlessly attacked the USS Liberty for 75 minutes, killing 34 American men and wounding 172 more. The Israelis were hoping to sink it and then blame it on Egyptian Arabs. Today the Israelis claim it was a “tragic accident” although all evidence points to the contrary.

In that illegal war, the Israelis stole even more Palestinian land (which they are still continuing to steal up to this very moment in time), as well as the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt (has been returned to Egypt), the Golan Heights from Syria (still under Israeli occupation) and southern parts of Lebanon (has been returned to Lebanon).

It is called the Six-Day War because that’s about how long it lasted, since it was a preemptive war and the Arab countries were completely caught off-guard.

More about this and “The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict” can be found at http://www.cactus48.com.


THEN THERE WAS THE YOM KIPPUR WAR IN 1973

In 1973, Egypt retaliated with a preemptive war against Israel in a bid to reclaim the Sinai Peninsula back from Israel. This war is known as the Yom Kippur War since it happened during the most important Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur in October of 1973. Egypt was getting very close to winning this war against Israel, but at the last hour, Jewish Israeli-Americans Henry Kissinger and Golda Meir, who was the Israeli prime minister at the time, persuaded the US government to intervene and save Israel from defeat, which is what happened.

In a non-violent retaliation against US intervention on behalf of Israel and to show solidarity with Egypt, the Arab countries of OPEC tightened the oil spigots and therefore Americans were forced to endure long lines at the gas stations. In fact, one could only get gas every other day depending on whether the last number on your license plate was even or odd. So gas was actually rationed at that time! Obviously that caused a lot of stress to a lot of Americans as I well recall. The Israeli connection to this politically induced “oil crisis” is something the US mainstream media has consistently hid for decades up to this moment in time. The reason for this is that the Zionized US media always hides any negative impact that US support for Israel has on the American people.

The US media wants to make sure that Americans continue to blindly support our government’s unconditional support for Israel. Please read my article “The Secret Relationship Between Oil and Israel: What the US Media Hides” at http://www.marwenmedia.com for more information on this.

Which brings me back to the subject of this particular article: the mainstream US media’s cover-up of Israel’s continuous, belligerent occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights since 1967.

NOW THERE IS ENDLESS WAR

In case you haven’t noticed, Israel’s “war on terror” has somehow become America’s “war on terror”.

This is what happens when the truth is not confronted, when human rights are being trampled on, and when some countries are allowed to play by their own rules rather than by International Law.

It’s now time for Americans to demand that our government learns to “JUST SAY NO” to Israel.

No more double standards. No more diplomatic cover. No more support of any kind. No more US tax-payers’ money. Israel receives over $4 billion dollars every year of our tax dollars in “loan guarantees” which means Israel never has to and, thus far, never has paid the loans back. No, instead of paying anything back, Israel often asks for much more and receives many billions of dollars on top of the yearly $4 billion. And that doesn’t even include the over $200 billion that we’ve paid so far for the unjust and unnecessary war on Iraq. No more US tax dollars for apartheid Israel. No more US support for Zionism (Jewish supremacism). No more nada nada!

In fact, I do believe it’s time to place sanctions on Israel unless Israel obeys international laws and transforms into a true secular society with completely equal rights for all, including the right to return of all the Palestinian refugees, as it is their right according to US resolutions and International Law. Israel must also be forced to pay reparations to the Palestinians.

In the meantime, our best strategy to end this endless war is to continue to educate ourselves and each other using reliable resources (NOT the New York Times or any other Zionized US mainstream media, but rather from anti-war, anti-lies websites) and to spread the word of Truth and justice for all.

ABOUT THE BAATH PARTY

Basically, the Baath party is a secular, socialist pan-Arabic party that endeavors to unite the Arab countries in manner similar to the European Union for basically the same reasons. It’s as simple as that. However, Israel, the rogue Jewish supremacist state which still has not officially established borders for itself, is opposed to this aggregation of Arab power. Yet Israel continues with the aid of “our” US government to act out its aggressively imperialistic ambitions to establish Zionist hegemony in the Middle East. This has been Israel’s pattern since day one of its creation in 1948.

It’s funny how Bennet asserted that “the ideology of the Arab Socialist Baath Party – less a vehicle for political participation than a far-reaching instrument of state control – pulls at the economy, politics and society.” One could certainly say that Zionism, the dominating political offshoot of contemporary Judaism, is certainly a much further-reaching instrument of international control, especially in influencing the US government’s foreign policy in the Middle East. Talk about far-reaching! This is involving the entire world!

And isn’t it funny how Bennet told Assad that there is a debate in Washington over whether he (Assad) was in control of his government, when many in the US and indeed the entire world wonder if Bush is in control of his government or is it the Neocons?

Bennet also had the nerve to question Assad’s wife about political prisoners, implying that Syria’s record is any worse than the US or Israel. Israel has imprisoned and detained over 7,000 Palestinians, arbitrarily, because it can. Who ever tries to stop Israel’s persecution of the Palestinian people? Certainly not the United States. And what of the laws in Canada and certain European countries where simply questioning certain aspects of The Holocaust lore put forth by Zionist Jews is punishable by fines and imprisonment? Just do a google-search on Ernst Zundel for one example. Oh, and what about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal?

Bennet’s assertion that “The poverty is stark” is not warranted in my opinion. While many of the Syrian people, especially in the rural areas, live primitively compared to Western standards, they none-the-less seemed quite well-fed, well-clothed and generally happy. “Stark” is really stretching it. Parts of Syria remind me of Mexico, however, Syria is no Ethiopia. Now THAT poverty is stark!

Bennet put an approving spotlight on the Syrian film-maker Omar Amiralay, who apparently made a documentary critical of the Baath Party. Even if it is banned in Syria, so is the documentary “Jenin, Jenin” banned in Israel, a country which claims to be a democracy, when clearly it is not. At least Syria does not claim to be what it is not. In fact, the producer of “Jenin, Jenin” was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on June 23, 2002, as he returned home after completing the film.

Many Arabs believe that the Amiralay is working as part of a Zionist conspiracy to undermine Syria’s future as an Arab country, and from what I have read about him on the internet, I can see why. As background on Amiralay, Bennet wrote that “he came to politics after the Arab defeat in 1967”, without explaining any further than that or even explaining that the Arabs were defeated by the Israelis in a preemptive war. He also said Amiralay was a Marxist, and that is a predominantly Jewish movement. At any rate there are always those who question the status quo for whatever their reason. That does not necessarily make them spokespeople for the majority of a population in reality. But journalists and government agents likewise cherry-pick their information to push their own covert agenda to create a new “reality”, as in this “war on terror”, which it turns out launched largely because of the lies of cherry-picked liars. There were no WMD. There was no connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qeda and bin Laden. Iraq was not a threat to American security. As far as the oil “red herring”, the US gets more oil from Canada and Mexico than anywhere, AND we can certainly honorably pay for it from wherever we get it AND without spending over $200 billion on an unjust war.

Getting back to the anti-Baath film-maker Amiralay, he could actually be a Jewish Syrian, of which there are quite a few in Damascus, and I understand that they live quite well there as an elite group in Syria. He could even have been brought up Muslim but obviously, he has been Zionized. Syria’s population is predominantly Muslim but there is also a fairly large minority of Christians there as well. From what I could see, they all lived together quite harmoniously. In general, Syrians seemed to be very easy-going, open and tolerant. We even patronized a Jewish man’s antique shop, whose neighboring store-owners were Muslim and Christian.

Another cherry-picked Syrian whom Bennet chose to spotlight in order to promote his own views was a man named Ammar Abdulhamid who (surprise!) had a fellowship at the very pro-Israel think-tank the Brookings Institution, who called the Baathists “idiots” and “morons” claiming “they all want a leader or a messiah.” Yeah, well who doesn’t? I suppose only anarchists don’t!

This rather confused individual Ammar Abdulhamid said he did not advocate “bloody revolution” but that “the civil strife accompanying regime change in Iraq might be the only way forward in the region.” and that “Hopefully, this baptism by blood and mayhem will teach us to cherish the liberties.” Sounds like Neo-con gobbledy-gook to me! By the way, doesn’t “baptism by blood and mayhem” sound a lot like “bloody revolution”? This is typical of Zionist and Zionist-sympathizer double-speak.

And this guy Bennet also quoted some old hate-filled petition written in 1936 supposedly by Alawite Muslims, a Christianized sect of Islam, which another Neo-con-leaning writer by the name of Joshua Landis is using in an upcoming book about Syria. “The spirit of hatred and fanaticism imbedded in the hearts of the Arab Muslims against everything that is non-Muslim has been perpetually nurtured by the Islamic religion.” This is so opposite from what I have experienced in my experiences and discussions with Muslims and Christians in Syria, and outside of Syria for that matter. Obviously, this is just another sly way of pushing someone else’s hate-mongering to, in turn, inspire more “kosher” hate to serve their own hateful agenda. This is a typical Zionist ploy which guarantees a self-perpetuating vicious circle with often bloody results as in WAR.

No wonder Americans who read the New York Times get so confused!

SUMMARY: DON’T EVEN BOTHER READING THE NEW YORK TIMES, ETC.

Why subject yourself to the mesmerizing insidiously toxic Zionized media such as the New York Times? They are often so slick and smooth that you don’t even realize that you’re being lulled into passively going along with their position. You can easily get so muddled and confused in your mind as a result of their manipulations and omissions of pertinent contextual facts that you find yourself being bogged down in inertia and apathy. That’s the least of what their brand of news will do to you. If you don’t watch out, you may even start agreeing with them! You might find yourself saying, “Yeah, those poor people of Iraq really needed to be liberated from that monstrous dictator Saddam Hussein!” Of course, the New York Times and the rest of Zionized US media don’t make it clear that most Iraqis had it better off under Saddam Hussein than they do now, especially since over a 100,000 Iraqis have died, since some of their ancient cities have been leveled to the ground, since their priceless artifacts have been looted from museums, since their cities now lack the basic infrastructure which would allow them to carry on with their normal lives, since there’s an all-out civil war going on now, and of course now their land is being occupied by a rapacious foreign power, the overtly Zionized USA.

And by the way, are you aware of the fact that Neo-Conservatives in the US, who are American Jews, who are Israeli-Americans, are attempting to negoticate re-opening the oil pipe-line from Iraq to Haifa in Israel (formerly Palestine) trying to pass it off as a “bonus” to Israel since it “supported” the US war on Iraq? Ha! What a joke! Israel was carefully left off the list of countries that was part of our official “coalition” of countries actually aiding in fighting the war! And most of those countries were bribed or brow-beaten and threatened to join the so-called coalition! Israel, with the fourth strongest military in the world, didn’t even have to get its hands dirty! They “let” everyone else fight the war for them! And now Israel wants a “bonus”?! Especially when the war on Iraq is mainly for Israel’s “security” (as all the politicians who addressed AIPAC’s big conference this year openly revealed)! Talk about chutzpah!

And did you know that the defunct pipeline from Iraq to Haifa was closed back in 1948 when Palestine became Israel, and then it was diverted to Syria?

Are you beginning to connect the dots yet?

Just do a google-search on a combination of keywords such as “Haifa Iraq oil pipe-line” and read more about it. The Jewish newspapers covered this story quite well, but US mainstream media carefully hides this pertinent information from the non-Jewish American public, since they know it might not sit too well with them. Americans might realize that the cost of supporting Israel is astronomical and not worth it. Americans might begin to not only question their government’s enormous, unconditional support for Israel, but even call for an end to it. A recent poll on CNN.com by Lou Dobbs indicates just that. When asked if the US government should give an extra $2.2 billion to help Israel re-locate Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip which is Palestinian Territory, 94% said NO, and only 6% said yes.

And by the way, how many Americans know about the fact that Syria is NOT an oil-exporting country? In fact Syria has to supplement its domestic oil supply with foreign oil. Therefore forget about the baseless assertion by some, who’d rather overlook the obvious Israeli connection, that the “war on terror” and Iraq is really only about oil.

I could go on to further dissect and deconstruct New York Times writer James Bennet’s article entitled “The Enigma of Damascus” but I hope you get the idea.

Isn’t it amazing that in this article that prints out to be 13 pages long, Mr. Bennet never clarifies the fact that Syrians hotly resent Israeli occupation of its land, the Golan Heights, since the 1967 Six Day War? And that he doesn’t provide the readers with the contextual history of the events involving Israel’s preemptive 1967 war on its neighboring countries? Do you ever wonder why sometimes you get a dull headache reading after such muddy commentary, so that you have no energy to check the facts yourself?

None of this is by accident.

Do yourself a favor. Find out the Truth. Seek the Truth independent of Zionized media which is meant to manipulate and anesthetize your mind into an obedient stupor. Get yourself beyond “comfortably numb” and connect with Truth and Justice and real democratic news, which you can find on the internet, with more and more Americans stepping up to the plate to create news that is worthy of your attention and empowers you to take correct action for the benefit of all humankind.
*****

Wendy Campbell is a California-based documentary film-maker and writer. For more information, her websites are http://www.marwenmedia.com and http://www.exposingisraeliapartheid.com.

She also recommends http://www.antiwar.com, http://www.rense.com, http://www.aljazeerah.info, http://www.cactus48.com , http://www.israelshamir.net, http://www.gilad.co.uk , http:// www.wingtv.net and http://www.whatreallyhappened.com. There are many others! Seek and ye shall find.

 

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