Not In My Name - by Nour Odeh
"The crowning jewel of this international crisis between Lebanon and Israel, with its twisted logic and perverse objectives, is the statement of the US Secretary of State, calling the current carnage "the birth pangs of a new Middle East." These "pangs" of a foreign-grown and forcibly implanted pregnancy are more like deafening "bangs" that shatter the homes, hopes, and future of Lebanese and Palestinian children. They are the blows Ms. Rice is allowing to continue to burn, maim and kill civilians in Lebanon and Palestine. Ms. Rice's "new" Middle East is being molded by the charred remains of children and their hopes for a dignified life in Palestine and Lebanon.These "pangs" are gaining momentum from the fires raging in Palestine and Lebanon and at their peoples' expense. It seems that bucketfuls of Palestinian and Lebanese blood are also the required paint for this "new" Middle East, with their moans and cries of pain -- the background music. The question then becomes, who is this "new" Middle East for and who asked Ms. Rice to volunteer in ushering it in with such disgraceful and outright racist apathy to Middle Easterners' suffering and pain?
This cataclysmic American ideology that justifies death and destruction in the name of "peace" is feeding the fires in the Middle East. It feeds these fires literally, through the hastened shipment of even more bombs to Israel, including the horrific "bunker busters." It also does so metaphorically, through the political position that prefers to keep the civilian death toll rising by impeding the UN Security Council from seeking as much as a "cessation of hostilities."
Usually, the lady of justice is blind because she is unbiased and fair. Today, we live in a world where blindness only occurs to the suffering and violated rights of the weak. The Lebanese and Palestinian peoples seem to be the Children of a lesser God for America and whose blood and suffering are necessary "pangs" for the realization of its policy goal. This goal sees no sovereignty but that of Israel and only affords its citizens the advantages of being civilians. It also envisions a Middle East where Israeli occupation is made irrevocable, acceptable, and not subject to as much as verbal defiance. It protects the last occupation army in the world, allowing it to persist in its occupation and select when, if ever, to respect the sovereignty of its neighbors. However, it is undeniable that after this carnage, the real "pangs" will come when the Israeli occupation regime will crumble just as all other racist and oppressive regimes before it did. That's a historical eventuality and only then will these "pangs" be voluntary, home-grown, and welcome."
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posted by TheOldMan @ 4:26 AM
