Re: An Interview with William Blum


"Daeron" <daeron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1203935.EGqOrGXZ5z@xxxxxxxxxxxx
David Morgan (MAMS) wrote:
CounterPunch - April 4, 2006
http://www.counterpunch.org/corseri04042006.html

Osama's Favorite Writer?


I think you and 'CounterPunch' have gotten mixed up and forgotten that
Osama's favorite writer and supporter is George W Bush who has spent five
years since Jan/2001 pushing for the US to resume funding & training of Al
Qaeda related terrorist organizations ;
it was GW who propelled the 9/11 criminal to world leader status and
provided a proving ground for Al Qaeda agents ;
it was GW who rewarded the CIA for keeping vital information to itself and
out of the hands of the Departments of Justice, State, and Defence who
would have used that information to prevent the 9/11 attacks ;
it is GW and his backers at Bechtel , Freeport McMoran , Newmont , Exxon ,
who have been doing the PR work for the world's most brutal colonial and
Islamic power.

I agree. Would you like to get sick? Have a look at this web site designed
for young students which is coming up on Google as I search for more 911
information... http://www.worldslastchance.com The propaganda machine
is running full steam ahead.



The Only Hope For the World

By Doug Soderstrom, Ph.D.

04/01/06 "ICH" -- -- The world has gotten itself into a real jam.
I mean a humdinger of a jam! As in John Paul Sartre's existential
drama, No Exit, which so nicely portrays the inescapability of
self-chosen evil, the inevitability of a self-made Hell, there seems
to be no way out for the world; no way for the inhabitants of planet
Earth to escape what appears to be the inevitability of a hell of its
own making... World War III!

Of course, as I tell my students.. the history of the world is the
history of war, as armed conflict seems to have been a constant
companion. From the beginning of time, it appears that we have
"been at each other's throats." However, since that fateful day in
1945 when "Little Boy" gave us a glimpse of what was to come,
things have never quite been the same. Before Hiroshima, the
world was able to deal with man's inhumanity to man, but with
the advent of modern nuclear (or in the words of George Walker
Bush. "nucular") warfare, things have gone from bad to worse.
No longer can we afford to dabble with our weapons of mass
destruction. One more mistake, one more miscalculation, and
the world will go up in flames!

George Walker Bush, the leader of the so-called free world,
seems to have forced the world into an existential corner, one
which leaves others with little choice but to roll over and "play
dead" or else retaliate. Something like grabbing the world by
its proverbial balls, and then slowly squeezing until it decides
to either give up or fight back. It is this man, the one who touts
"freedom and democracy for all," who has decreed that the
world must play by his rules, and, for those who do not,
well.. they will simply have to die. And, of course, that's the
reason for the administration's formulated policy of pre-emptive
war; to encourage the world to do exactly as it is told. There
can be no doubt that the United States has become the
biggest bully on the block, a true terrorist, the likes of which
the world has never seen, an accomplishment for which our
president seems to be extremely proud.

But given the Middle East's movement toward democracy,
a deliberate denunciation of secular rule, a certain decision
to root itself in the faith of its own people, the Islamic world
has made it clear that it will no longer cow tow to George
Bush. Similarly, the Western world seems to be moving
back to its own roots. As can be seen in recent elections
(Germany, Canada, and, of course, the United States),
much of the western hemisphere (although not Venezuela
or Cuba) seems to be increasingly aligning itself with the
values of a post modern world, those that extol the virtues
of capitalism, civil religion, sensuality, conspicuous
consumption, and military dominance. No doubt a true
clash of cultures, a war of wills, a cockfight with but one
thing in mind; the absolute destruction of all who stand
in the way!

With such contention, I see only one way out; a metamorphic
leap of faith, an about face in the way we think, a decision to
let go of everything that we, as a nation, once held dear, an
understanding that the world will surely end unless we
recognize the fact that we have no choice but to embrace
our enemy as our brother, the one, without whom, we will
never find peace, a brother-in-arms, enchained from head
to toe, with whom we will either drown, or, together, might
be allowed to live for yet another day.

The world has been taught that survival is king; that a people
must do what they believe to be in their own best interests,
what they believe is necessary in order to survive, with little,
or no, regard for its effect upon others (as in the collateral
damage, the death, of as many as 100,000 Iraqi citizens
during the most recent war in Iraq). However, such an
approach can no longer be considered an acceptable way
of life in a world in which the life of one is so inseparably
tied to that of another, a world in which the annihilation of
one may well lead to the death of the other. Thus the need
for a metamorphic leap of faith, a divinity founded upon
that which we all have in common, our humanity, a
presumption that each and everyone of us, as human
beings, are sacred, a recognition that killing others, even
those of the enemy, represents a failure of the human
spirit, a miscalculation, a profound misunderstanding of
why we have been "placed upon" the earth, an inability to
understand that for the world to survive we must consider
what is best for the entire human family, otherwise we
will all perish.

When you get down to it, nations are not that much different
from individuals. We all seemingly want what we want and
to hell with everyone else. But the time for change has come.
It has been said that we, as modern folks (as opposed to
so-called primitives, aboriginals who have no need for nuclear
bombs nor delight in the destruction of their environment), are
civilized. That due to our advancement, the fact of how we
have seemingly progressed, how we have become such an
educated lot, we have become known as those of the
so-called civilized world. However, if civilization means
anything at all, it means to be civil, to be courteous, to be
thoughtful and kind. It implies a willful concern for the needs
of others. Essentially, the capacity to extend our will so that
it might include that of others, a propitious incorporation of
their need into that of our own, a conscious decision to ensure
that the survival of one becomes the survival of the other, a
transformation in the way we think, a sincere desire for peace,
a state of harmony in which each works for the betterment of
others.

Perhaps Jesus, as well as Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha),
said it best when each proclaimed that we "should not do unto
others that which we would not have them do unto us." Put
another way, if we want to learn how to get along with others,
it is absolutely essential that we be willing to place ourselves
into that of our brother's shoes. That we ask ourselves how
we might feel if our adversary were about to do to us that
which we have been planning to do to him. And, of course,
if having come to the conclusion that such a thing would be
inappropriate, then, as a moral fellow (a moral nation that is),
it would behoove us to act appropriately in regards to our
brother (that of the other nation).

Alas, such is not the way of the world. Rather, it seems that
according to our country's foreign policy- the way we have,
in fact, chosen to deal with other nations of the world- we
have been inclined to put ourselves first, to look at things
from our own rather petty, no doubt provincial, and nearly
always biased, point of view. Without exception, we have
demonized our enemies, in the past Germany and Japan,
most recently in Iraq, and now, of course, in regards to Iran,
Syria, North Korea, and Venezuela, choosing to focus on
their shortcomings, all in order to make it easier to kill them.
if that is what our government decides to do. Conversely,
there has been a perennial attempt to escape the fact of
our own transgressions, a history of entangled complicity
in that of other countries (60 years of Machiavellian
manipulation in the Middle East), the overthrow of
constitutional democracies, and egregious alignments
with foreign dictators. Not to mention the rather arrogant
presumption, on the part of so many in our nation, that the
United States, having received the a priori blessing of God,
has been assigned the divine responsibility of dictating to
the rest of the world how it should be governed.

Clearly, such a world view is a recipe for disaster, a way
of behaving that will lead to all that we most fear, our worst
nightmare come true, an Armageddon of fire and doom,
Dante's inferno having come to life... the natural end of a
world having gone mad with power, greed, and ambition.

So, the next time you have a chance, listen to George Bush.
Listen to *** Cheney. Listen to Donald Rumsfeld. Listen to
what they have to say, and how they say it. Look at how they
position their bodies... so straight and tall. Pugnacious profiles.
Self-righteous men, hardened to the core, and, no doubt,
pious to a tee. Take a look at their faces; the smugness of
their smile. And then.. never forget that power corrupts, and
that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and that pride,
without fail, always cometh before the fall!


.

Loading