[Peace-discuss] Fwd: (Fwd) Avnery - Some thoughts about the war

[Al Kagan]

Interesting observations from the Israeli peace movement.

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>Subject: (Fwd) Avnery - Some thoughts about the war
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>------- Forwarded message follows -------
>From:          	Uri Avnery
>
>Uri Avnery
>22.3.03
>
>					Bitter Rice
>
>      Some thoughts about the war:
>     
>      # Beware of the Shiites. The troubles of the occupation
>will start after the fighting is over. Here is a personal story
>and its lessons:
>      On the forth day of the 1982 Israeli attack on Lebanon, I
>crossed the border at a lone spot near Metulla and looked
>for the front, which had already reached the outskirts of
>Sidon. I was driving my private car, accompanied only by a
>woman photographer. We passed a dozen Shiite villages
>and were received everywhere with great joy. We
>extracted ourselves only with great difficulty from
>hundreds of villagers, each one insisting that we have
>coffee at their home. On the previous days, they had
>showered the soldiers with rice.
>      A few months later I joined an army convoy going in the
>opposite direction, from Sidon to Metulla. The soldiers
>were now wearing bulletproof vests and helmets, many
>were on the verge of panic.
>      What had happened? The Shiites received the Israeli
>soldiers as liberators. When they realized that they had
>come to stay as occupiers, they started to kill them.
>      When the Israeli troops entered Lebanon, the Shiites
>were a down-trodden, powerless community, held in
>contempt by all the others.  After a year of fighting the
>occupiers, they became a political and military power. The
>Shiite Hizbullah is the only military force in the Arab world
>that has beaten the mighty Israeli army.
>       Sharon is the real father of the Shiite force in Lebanon.
>Bush may well become the father of Shiite power in Iraq.
>The Shiites, 60% of the Iraqi population, have been until
>now down-trodden and powerless. When they will realize
>that the Americans intend to stay, they will start a deadly
>guerilla. Bush does not intend to leave Iraq, as Sharon did
>not intend to leave Lebanon.
>      Then what? America will argue that Iran, the great Shiite
>neighbor, is behind the Shiite guerilla. In Iran there is a lot
>of oil. Thatís the next target.
>
>      #  Blood for Oil. George Bush is a primitive man, but the
>people behind him are far from being stupid. They are the
>oil barons and the arms industry giants. They want to do
>what great powers have always done: use their military
>might in order to acquire economic hegemony. In simple
>words: to rob the poor peoples in order to enrich
>themselves even more.
>      The military occupation of Iraq will last many years and
>secure for America the control over the vast oil reserves of
>Iraq, as well as the Caspian Sea reserves and all the Arab
>oil. That will give it control over the worldís economy and
>prevent the emergence of a competing,  independent
>European economic bloc. America is fighting against
>Europe as much as against Iraq. That is part of the reason
>for Europeís angry response.
>
>      # Germany. Germany is against the war. Against any
>war. In no other country was the anti-war outburst so
>authentic, emanating from the innermost feelings of the
>masses.
>      And who is furious about this? Israel, the country of the
>Holocaust survivors. How do they dare, these damn
>Germans, to object to the war?
>      A sad irony of history: all German TV stations show
>citizens, intellectuals and ordinary folk, who pray for
>peace, all Israeli TV screens show retired generals,
>obviously enjoying themselves, discussing with great
>relish how to employ giant bombs and other instruments
>of death.
>
>      #  Intoxication of power. This is the first war of the 21st
>century, and it bodes ill.
>      This century has inherited from its predecessor a world
>containing one sole super-power. America has no
>competitors, no possible combination of other forces can
>measure up to it. It can literally do what it wants, and now it
>is doing just that openly and brutally.
>      When America won its cheap and easy victory in
>Afghanistan, using smart bombs and suitcases filled with
>cash, it was clear it could not stop itself anymore. A huge
>machine like that wants to go on fighting and is searching
>for an enemy. Now itís Iraq. Who next? Iran? North Korea?
>      That is what happened to the Roman Empire. That is
>what happened to Napoleon and Hitler. The intoxication of
>power knows no boundaries. And no one of these was in
>the situation of the United States now: alone in the world,
>without enemies that can stand up to it.
>
>      #  A Jewish War? The anti-Semites proclaim that this is
>not a war for American interests, but for Israel. As proof,
>they point to the group of American Jews that took a
>leading part in initiating this war, people like Paul
>Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Douglas Feith at the Defence
>Department, Elliott Abrams at the National Security
>Council (as well as Ari Fleisher at the White House and
>even Dan Kerzer, the US ambassador in Tel-Aviv). These
>people support haron and the extreme right in Israel, some
>of them speak Hebrew, a group of them has acted as
>advisors to Benyamin Netanyahu, when he became prime
>Minister. Together with the two non-Jews, Cheney and
>Rumsfield, they pushed Washington into the war. Thus
>say the anti-Semites.
>      That is true by itself, but this is first and foremost a war
>for American interests. However, Bush and Sharon believe
>that American and Israeli interests are practically identical.
>The Jewish war group in Washington acts in close
>cooperation with the Christian fundamentalists, who now
>control the Republican party and who have a hidden anti-
>Semitic agenda.
>      The anti-Semites will point to another obvious fact:
>Israel is the only country in the world where not one single
>politician nor any part of the media has raised their voices
>against the war. While millions march all over the world,
>only one single anti-war demonstration, organized by
>Gush Shalom and some other peace organizations, has
>taken place in Israel. It attracted 2500 people.
>      In the struggle between Bush and world opinion, the
>government of Israel has chosen chose Bush. On the face
>of it, that seems sensible, since Bush has might on his
>side and sides with Sharon. But in the long run, it may turn
>out to be the wrong bet.
>
>      #  The popeís divisions. ìHow many divisions does the
>pope have?î Stalin asked sarcastically when told that the
>Holy Father objects to his actions. Today, the question is:
>how many divisions does world public opinion command?
>      All over the world, the public opposes the war. There is
>an immense majority against it even in countries whose
>leaders have joined Bushís ìcoalitionî. For the first time,
>there is something that can be called ìworld opinionî.
>      Only the future will tell if this constitutes a real force.
>Thomas Jefferson, one of the fathers of American
>democracy, once said that no country could conduct its
>affairs without ìa decent respect for world opinion.î
>      Perhaps the 21st century will witness a struggle
>between the brute force of a mighty military-economic
>super-power and world public opinion, assisted now by
>modern technology.
>
>      #  Mercenaries. This is a war fought by mercenaries.
>The fighters are professional soldiers, the sons of the
>poor, many of them black. Therefore it is easy for middle
>class citizens, and especially the Republican voters, to
>approve of the war. It is not their sons who will be killed.
>      In the past, the European left demanded the abolition of
>the professional army and the introduction of general
>conscription. At the time, that was a ìprogressiveî idea.
>When the left put on weight, it forgot all about it.
>      The Vietnam war was still fought by drafted soldiers.
>Resistance to the war grew when the body bags started to
>arrive. George W. Bush, who supported the war with all his
>heart, took no part in the fighting. Father arranged a job for
>him back home. He was just another shirker.
>
>      # Jefferson again: ìIndeed, I tremble for my country
>when I reflect that God is just.î 
>       
>
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-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu