Research paper

Video: Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (50 mn): Synopsis: “Reel Bad Arabs takes a devastating tour of the American cinematic landscape, moving from the earliest days of silent film to today’s biggest Hollywood blockbusters to reveal an astonishing and persistent pattern of slanderous Arab stereotyping. Featuring acclaimed author and Hollywood film consultant Dr. Jack Shaheen, the documentary exposes American cinema’s long love affair with Arab villainy and buffoonery, from over-sexed Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheiks and blood-thirsty terrorists. Along the way, the film provides striking insights into the origin of these images, their disturbing similarities to anti-Semitic and racist stereotypes from the past, and their political resonance during key moments of conflict in U.S. history. In the end, Shaheen inspires us to think critically about the destructive social and political effects of Hollywood’s projection of Arabs, challenging us to envison counternarratives that do justice to both the diversity and humanity of Arab people, and the reality and richness of Arab history and culture.” 
Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (brief):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko_N4BcaIPY


Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (50 mn): 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73d9tHWamA

Video: Letter to America: how Arabs view the United States (45 mn). Synopsis: “Is America’s “war on terrorism” a defensive reaction to the events of September 11th or a smokescreen for an attempt to secure oil and spread Western culture throughout the Middle East? Syrian-born BBC correspondent Rana Kabbani takes a personal journey through the region to explain Arab anger with the United States and how Muslims in the region have come to view America. Kabbani tours Egypt, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, canvassing opinions of citizens from all levels of society, as well as those of Americans living abroad.” The video tends to reflect the views of many people in the Middle East who believe that U.S. Middle East foreign policy (1) protects monarchy and undermines democracy in the region, (2) supports Israel in its ethnic cleansing of Palestine, and (3) opposes any genuine independence of countries in the region.

Video: Modern Marvels: Suez Canal (50 mn). Synopsis: “Since the ancient pharaohs’ time, the Isthmus of Suez has been the gateway to trade between East and West. It’s thought that the pharaohs could connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean using a system of small canals; but the desert sands buried them. Not until mid-19th century did mankind readdress the problem. Since its completion in 1869, the Suez Canal has been a vital link in world trade and a point of controversy in geopolitics. Today, more than 20,000 ships transit the canal yearly.” 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWYK6utvnpE

1- Please be aware that federal copyright law (Title 17 of the United States Code) does not allow showing an entire video to Online or Blackboard students (without permission from the owner of copyright), even though it does allow showing the exact same video to classroom students. Because of this unfortunate prohibition, I will only post a written synopsis/abstract of each scheduled video as a component of Course Documents. Class members are REQUIRED to review the synopsis/abstract of each video, but they are NOT REQUIRED (though they are encouraged) to obtain copies of those vodeos and watch them (ISU library holds copies of almost all the scheduled videos). You should try to watch part or all of each assigned video online from You Tube or other sources.

Topic 2:

Geography of water and energy resources

1- Readings:

U.S. Energy Basics 101:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/basics/energybasics101.html

[U.S.] Energy Productions and Imports 


http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/er/early_production.cfm

Trillions of dollars worth of oil found in Australian outback 


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/9822955/Trillions-of-dollars-worth-of-oil-found-in-Australian-outback.html

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC):

http://www.opec.org/

OPEC Flows of Crude and Refined Oil, 2008 (Thousand Barrels per Day):

http://www.opec.org/library/Annual%20Statistical%20Bulletin/interactive/2008/FileZ/worldmapz.htm

Saudi Aramco At Glance:

http://www.saudiaramco.com/en/home.html#our-company%257C%252Fen%252Fhome%252Four-company%252Fat-a-glance.baseajax.html


 
Statement on Energy (Adopted by American Jewish Committee Board of Governors, February 8, 2002), pp. 61-66:

http://www.kintera.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/EnergySecurityForAmerica

Who Gets What From Imported Oil? Taxes versus revenue: 

http://www.opec.org/opec_web/static_files_project/media/downloads/publications/WGW2012

Geography of Recycling Petrodollars:

http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci12-9.html

The Construction Site Called Saudi Arabia:

http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/articles/2008/ioi/080124-construction-boom.html

GE gets $1 billion in Saudi Arabian orders:

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN3145292420070131

France’s Veolia to build UAE desalination plant:

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSL2967053620070829

REFILE-Mitsubishi Heavy wins $1.9 bln Saudi plant order:

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUST31189020070301

France, UAE sign military and nuclear agreements:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1517472620080116

Airbus and Boeing win giant order:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7090434.stm

High court to review halted BAE-Saudi investigation:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/story/0,,2208451,00.html

The £300m flying palace:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190780/The-flying-palace-Inside-worlds-biggest-private-jet-worth-jumbo-300million.html

UAE’s demographic imbalance:

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/uae-s-demographic-imbalance-1.172314

Conflict has cost Middle East $12 trillion: study:

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE50M4OP20090123

Inflation ($42 per barrel of oil in 1980 has the purchasing power of $118 in 2013):

http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

2- PowerPoint slides:

Geography of water and energy resources

3- Videos:

Video: The curse of oil, (52 min.). Synopsis: “This program offers a global history of the oil industry and the issues intertwined with it, from early-20th-century prospecting in South America and the Middle East to war in Iraq. The origins and significance of OPEC figure prominently in the narrative, as do several historic and violent conflicts revolving around controlling sources or flow of oil: labor strikes in Latin America, Nasser’s seizure of the Suez Canal, the Iran-Iraq war, and other pivotal events. Revealing interviews feature, among others, former OPEC leader Sheikh Ahmed Yamani and former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Akins–who minces no words and calls oil a curse.” 

Video: Life after oil: the new energy alternatives, (30 min.): “This program illustrates ways we can solve our dependence on fossil fuels through the use of alternative energy sources including wind power, fuel cells, hydrogen fuel, ethanol, biomass and solar power.”

Please be aware that federal copyright law (Title 17 of the United States Code) does not allow showing an entire video to Online or Blackboard students (without permission from the owner of copyright), even though it does allow showing the exact same video to classroom students. Because of this unfortunate prohibition, I will only post a written synopsis/abstract of each scheduled video as a component of Course Documents. Class members are REQUIRED to review the synopsis/abstract of each video, but they are NOT REQUIRED (though they are encouraged) to obtain copies of those vodeos and watch them (ISU library holds copies of almost all the scheduled videos). You should try to watch part or all of each assigned video online from You Tube or other sources.

Topic 3:

Islam’s Cultural Unity and Political Diversity

1-Readings

Selected readings from The Quran: 

http://faculty.indstate.edu/melyassini/gme%20twenty%20selected%20sets%20of%20verses%20from%20The%20Quran

Prophet Muhammad’s Farewell Sermon:

http://www.islamicity.com/articles/printarticles.asp?ref=IC0107-322&p=1

The full transcript of the film Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet:  http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/transcripts/muhammad_script   

The Five Pillar of Islam: 

http://www.cair.com/american-muslims/about-islam.html

The American Mosque 2011 (Report 1): 

http://faithcommunitiestoday.org/sites/faithcommunitiestoday.org/files/The%20American%20Mosque%202011%20web

The American Mosque 2011 (Report 2): 

http://www.hartfordinstitute.org/The-American-Mosque-Report-2

The Quran: 

http://www.quranexplorer.com/quran/

The Bible: 

http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/English-Standard-Version-ESV-Bible/#books

Interfaith Dialogue: “A COMMON WORD BETWEEN US AND YOU”:  


http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=a%20common%20word%20between%20us%20and%20you&source=web&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.acommonword.com%2Fdownloads%2FCW-Booklet-Final-v6_8-1-09 &ei=FpZ0UNONOOXw0gHE8ICQBQ&usg=AFQjCNGmK1ZprbZaN8rum7A6VRYhuJJzFA

The caricatures in Middle East politics:

http://petras.lahaine.org/articulo.php?p=9&more=1&c=1

Read Textbook, pages 111-196 (The United States, Israel, and the Lobby–What Is the “Israel Lobby”?, Guiding the Policy Process, Dominating Public Discourse)

2- PowerPoint slides:
Islam’s Cultural Unity and Political Diversity

3- Videos:

Muhammad: legacy of a prophet (1 videodisc, ca. 116 min.): Tells the story of the seventh century prophet who changed world history in 23 years, and continues to shape the lives of more than 1.2 billion people. Three years in the making, the film takes viewers not only to ancient Middle Eastern sites where Muhammed’s story unfolds, but into the homes, mosques and workplaces of some of America’s estimated seven million Muslims to discover the many ways in which they follow Muhammad’s example. (Created and produced by Alexander Kronemer, Michael Wolfe ; producer/director, Michael Schwarz ; a KQED presentation).

Muhammad Legacy of a Prophet (about 113 mn): 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqpPG_kaWw

Inside Mecca (about 56 mn): “National Geographic explores the hajj (Islamic pilgrimage) through the experiences of three pilgrims from very backgrounds.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFQHgdmJqjo

1- Shaykh Hamza Yusuf is a cofounder of Zaytuna College, located in Berkeley, California,

http://zaytunacollege.org/academics/faculty/shaykh_hamza_yusuf

. He is an advisor to Stanford University’s Program in Islamic Studies and the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union. He discusses issues and concerns of Western Muslims.
Western Muslims: Issues & Concerns – Hamza Yusuf (1/6, 10mn):


Western Muslims: Issues & Concerns – Hamza Yusuf (2/6, 10mn):


Western Muslims: Issues & Concerns – Hamza Yusuf (3/6, 10mn):


Western Muslims: Issues & Concerns – Hamza Yusuf (4/6, 10mn):


Western Muslims: Issues & Concerns – Hamza Yusuf (5/6, 10mn):


Western Muslims: Issues & Concerns – Hamza Yusuf (6/6, 10mn):

Topic 4: Geography of the Palestine-Israel Conflict and the USA

1-Readings

Palestinians and Israelis killed or injured since September 2000: 


http://www.ifamericansknew.org

The Other Exodus: 


http://www.users.cloud9.net/~recross/israel-watch/ErskinChilders.html

Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine:
http://palestine-studies.org/enakba/military/Khalidi,%20Plan%20Dalet%20Revisited

The Non-Jewish Origin of Zionism:
http://faculty.indstate.edu/melyassini/The%20Non-Jewish%20Origin%20of%20Zionism2

Geography of Palestinian refugees: Map of UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East]’s Area of Operations: 


http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/2011011352710

About the Conference of presidents of major American Jewish organizations: 


http://www.conferenceofpresidents.org/about/members

AIPAC calls for swift action to block U.S. companies supporting Iran:
http://jta.org/news/article/2010/03/10/1011010/aipac-calls-for-swift-action-to-block-us-companies-supporting-iran

The Jewish agenda in Washington for 2010–JTA 2/1/2010:
http://jta.org/news/article/2010/02/01/1010421/the-jewish-agenda-in-washington-for-2009

“Why Do They Hate Us?”–The Palestine-Israel Conflict and the United States:
http://faculty.indstate.edu/melyassini/Geography%20of%20the%20Palestine-Israel%20Conflict%20and%20the%20USA–Why%20Do%20They%20Hate%20Us

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel lobby and U.S. foreign policy (2006): 


http://electronicintifada.net/content/book-review-israel-lobby-and-us-foreign-policy/3525

Jimmy Carter, Palestine: peace not apartheid (2006): 


http://www.cartercenter.org/news/editorials_speeches/latimes_palestine_081206.html

Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006): 


http://www.counterpunch.org/whitbeck01272007.html

Paul Findley, They dare to speak out: people and institutions confront Israel’s lobby (1985): 


http://www.csmonitor.com/1985/0802/bfindl-f.html

Norman Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering (2000): 


http://normanfinkelstein.com/category/the-holocaust-industry/

 
Mark Green, ed., Persecution, Privilege & Power: Reconsidering the Zionist Narrative in American Life, Thirty Essential Articles on the Most Pressing Issue of our Time (2007): Read carefully the Book Description/About Mark Green, click on TV Interviews and watch the Jeff Blankfort (#1 and #2) short video clips at: 


http://persecutionprivilegeandpower.com

The 9/11 Commission Report (pages 147 and 162, follow the pagination appearing on the Report, NOT the pagination appearing on your computer screen):
http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report

Yes, It’s the Lobby: “Political Fear” Drives US Support for Israel  


http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/pg-abourezk.html

2- Powerpoint slides:

Geography of the Palestine-Israel Conflict and the USA

3- Videos:

Videos

Image and reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict (1h 45 min.): 
Synopsis: “Mr. Finkelstein speaks about his book, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict; and argues that while different moral conclusions can be reached, the facts themselves are indisputable. He says that the Holocaust and the charge of anti-Semitism are widely used to deflect criticism of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. He also discusses the views of a number of other scholars including Joan Peters and Benny Morris. A question and answer period follows.” Finkelstein argues that there is a scholarly consensus that the Palestinians were ethnically cleansed in 1948 and that the Holocaust and the charge of anti-Semitism are widely used to deflect criticism of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. 

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/181037-1

Palestine is still the issue (50 min.): 
Synopsis: “John Pilger travels to Israel and the West Bank of Jordan and Gaza to ask why the Palestinians are still refugees in their own land. In a series of interviews with both Palestinians and Israelis, he explores the issue of Palestine and presents the Palestinians as a nation of people, traumatized, humiliated and yet resilient. He asks for a solution that will bring justice and peace to Palestine.” In one footage the video shows Israeli soldiers deliberately breaking the bones of Palestinian youths during the Palestinian intifada (of 1987-1993) against  Israeli occupation. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZic82Qcrwc&list=PL3AF757B427469513

The iron wall to all people of the Holy Land (58 min.): 
Synopsis: “A documentary look at Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank territories and their history, and at how Israel’s practice of promoting settlements deviates from peace accords and complicates the establishment of a Palestinian state. Includes interviews with prominent Israeli and Palestinian peace activists and political analysts, including Jeff Halper, Akiva Eldar, Hind Khoury, Ghassan Al-Khatib, and others. Also includes interviews with Israeli settlers and soldiers, and Palestinian farmers.” 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFBamQ2aONA

Watch also the 58-second video clip in which Lee Herbert Hamilton (vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission, Democratic Co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, member of the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, and a 34-year member of US Congress) refuses to answer a question about US support for Israel as the real motive of KSM (Khalid Sheikh Mohammed), the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks:

Topic5:

Geographies of war, occupation, resistance, and terrorism

1-Readings

BACKGROUND TO THE U.S.-LED WAR IN IRAQ:  

1. The Palestine-Israel conflict (1948-present) is one of the world’s major sources of war, violence, and oppression as illustrated by Israel’s two most recent wars on Lebanon in 2006 and on Gaza in December 2008 and early January 2009. It is a head-on struggle over Palestine between the continuously arriving Jewish settlers (who want to make Palestine a “Jewish state” or a “state for the Jews” whenever and wherever they live) and the native Muslim/Christian/Arab Palestinians who continue to resist dispossession and expulsion. The United States government is a pro-Israel partisan in this conflict, a position which continues to drive a wedge between the United States and the Arab/Muslim world.

 2. The Cold War (1946-1991) refers to a period of political/economic/military rivalry between two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. The word “Cold” in the phrase ” Cold War” indicates that there was no direct military engagement between U.S. and Soviet forces. The American-Soviet Cold War was actually a series of bloody proxy wars, waged by superpower surrogates in the developing countries of the Global South. The two major Cold War wars were the American-Vietnam War 1959-1975 (where U.S. forces were ‘on the ground’ while Soviet forces were ‘in the background’) and the Soviet-Afghan War 1979-1989 (where Soviet forces were ‘on the ground’ while U.S. forces were ‘in the background’). The United States and the Soviet Union were defeated in Vietnam and Afghanistan, respectively. Even in these two cases much of the war-related human devastation, political turmoil, economic hardship, and ideological argument took place in the developing countries of the Global South, not in the developed countries of the Global North. For example, the American-Vietnam War killed 3 to 4 million Vietnamese and 1.5 to 2 million Laos and Cambodians and displaced millions more into refugees, compared to some 58,000 U.S. troops killed and 300,000 wounded. The Soviet-Afghan War killed between 700,000 and 1.3 million Afghans and threw another 4.5 million into refugee camps in Pakistan and Iran, compared to some 15,000 Soviet troops killed and 37,000 wounded in Afghanistan. One Israeli strategic goal during the Cold War was to have Western powers force the Soviet Union to let Soviet Jewry migrate to Palestine-Israel and have the United States pay for their resettlement. Read carefully the New York Times story about President George Bush complaining on television (September 12, 1991) about the “powerful political forces” of the Israel lobby lined up against “the lonely little guy” in the White House who wanted no more than a four-month delay of $10 billion loan guarantees requested by Israel to resettle Soviet Jews in Israel following the disintegration of the Soviet Union (Adam Clymer, ” Pro-Israel Lobby Readies for Fight,” New York Times, Sep 15, 1991. pg. A.9.).

3. During the Soviet-Afghan War, the CIA (under 3 U.S. administrations) and its associates elsewhere in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and China helped organize and train an ‘Islamist mujahedeen’ guerilla of Afghani, Arab, and Pakistani Muslims to fight and defeat the [“atheist”] Soviets in Afghanistan. In 1985, US President Ronald Reagan called the Afghan mujahedeen “freedom fighters” who “are our brothers.” Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi ambassador to US was quoted: “Bin Laden used to come to us when America—underline, America—through the CIA and Saudi Arabia, were helping our brother mujahideen in Afghanistan, to get rid of the communist secularist Soviet Union forces. Osama bin Laden came and said ‘Thank you. Thank you for bringing the Americans to help us. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recognized this fact on camera: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzQ2KZWfjgs

 .  At that time, I thought he couldn’t lead eight ducks across the street.” The defeat and withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989 led to a “failed state” in Afghanistan and opened the door to a power struggle between the “victorious” mujahedeen factions. The Afghan Taliban movement emerged out of the ruins of this power struggle and spread its control over most of the country between 1996 and 2001 before it was overthrown by the United States invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks which ex-Saudi Osama Bin Laden (an ally of the Afghan Taliban movement) and his al-Qaida followers planned, executed, and took credit for. Most countries around the world expressed sympathy and support for the United States under attack. But when the U.S. invaded Iraq (which did not attack the US, had no weapons of mass destruction, and had no link to 9/11), the world’s view of the United States began to change as many people worldwide began to realize that the Iraq war was not about what it was said to be about.

SELECTED READINGS AND VIDEOS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC GEOGRAPHY OF IRAQ AS WELL AS THE “WHAT,” “WHY,” “WHO,” AND ” AFTERMATH” OF THE U.S.-LED WAR IN IRAQ:

1. Learn the basic geography of Iraq (the strategic location of Iraq in the MIDDLE of the Middle East):  

(a) Learn the basic geography of Iraq (size of population, area, languages, religions, ethnic groups, major rivers, significance of the oil sector, and GDP per capita) 
  
(b) Learn the name, location, major language, dominant ethnic group, and government type of each country bordering Iraq 
  
(c) Compare and contrast Iraq’s population size, ethnic groups, and GDP per capita with those of the United States. 
  
The information you need for the above (a), (b), and (c) is available from the online CIA World Factbook at: 


https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/


  
 2. Learn the “what” of the U.S.-led war in Iraq (Human/financial/moral cost of the war):  
(a) Find out the estimates of US and Indiana casualties (deaths and wounded) in the Iraq war: 


http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties

http://icasualties.org/Iraq/USCasualtiesByState.aspx

(b) Find out “What is the real death toll in Iraq?”


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/19/iraq

(c) Find out the estimates of Iraqi refugees living inside and outside Iraq: 


http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24378&Cr=Iraq&Cr1

=

(d) Find out the estimates of Iraqi children believed to have died as a result of the sanctions imposed by the UN and enforced by the US and Britain on Iraq. Watch how former Secretary of State Albright “justifies” those sanctions (which killed hundred of thousands of children) in the following video clip: 


(e) Find out the Iraq war budget allocations to date and the long-term/hidden costs of the Iraq war to the US government and to the State of Indiana: 


http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2008/02/how_much_has_the_war_in_iraq_c.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7092053.stm

(f) Find out the country where the head of the American company whose personnel are implicated in Abu Ghraib tortures received “anti-terror” training and an award? Read Robert Fisk’s The Trail of Torture: The Things Bush Didn’t Say in His Speech, CounterPunch, May 26, 2004,

http://www.counterpunch.org/2004/05/26/the-things-bush-didn-t-say-in-his-speech/

(g) Find out why the CIA destroyed videotapes of interrogations of al Qaeda suspects: 


http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/06/cia.videotapes

(h) Watch PBS video “Iraqi Exodus” at: 


http://video.pbs.org/video/1163078349/search/Iraqi%20Exodus/tag/Iraqi%20Exodus

3. Read critically about the “who” and the “why” of the U.S.-led war in Iraq:   
At least five different “explanations” or “justifications” or “excuses” were invoked to justify the Iraq war: (i) to search for illegal weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, (ii) to punish Iraq for an alleged Al-Qaeda-Hussein link, (iii) to spread democracy and freedom in the Middle East, (iv) to control oil fields and business contracts, and (v) to provide long term security for the State of Israel and/or the Gulf States.

The first and second explanations (search for illegal weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and to punish Iraq for an alleged Al-Qaeda-Hussein link) have already been dismissed as big lies). Read: 


http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/06/iraq.wmd.report/index.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47812-2004Jun16.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/13/iraq.usa

The third explanation (to spread democracy and freedom in the Middle East) has more to do with political rhetoric and demagoguery than with Middle East political reality. First, U.S. government’s best Arab friends and allies in the Middle East are Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, whose governments are monarchies, not democracies. Second, U.S. government’s special friend and ally in the Middle East is the State of Israel, dubbed “the only democracy in the Middle East.” But the State of Israel is at best a “Jewish ethnocracy” (democracy for Jews only). Israel was founded on the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Christians from Palestine and continues to discriminate between Jews and non-Jews in a ‘legal’ manner (for example, the Law of ‘Return’). 
  
On the fourth explanation (oil), let’s point out the following: First, there is no public record of the big oil companies supporting the war in Iraq or the current confrontation with Iran (as James Petras, John Mearsheimer, Walt, and others have shown). Second, President Bush repeatedly promised to replace more than 75% of US oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. Third, President Obama’s ENERGY POLICY states explicitly that its central goal is to “end our addiction to foreign oil” and eliminate our current imports from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 Years.” Fourth, the American Jewish Committee’s top ENERGY POLICY had for a long time been focused on ending US oil imports from the Middle East as a strategy of weakening predominantly Arab OPEC. The following examples indicate that the shift to new sources of energy is not purely motivated by ‘economic’ and/or ‘environmental’ concerns. “If the U.S. continues to increase its reliance on foreign sources of oil, our dependence on OPEC member nations and rogue states (overlapping categories that include the nations with the largest share of the world’s proven oil reserves) will increase…. The American Jewish Committee, therefore, urges that the United States set as a primary national goal a comprehensive energy policy aimed at a substantial reduction in U.S. dependence on imported oil, with the potential for energy flexibility and near independence in the longer term.” —-The American Jewish Committee, “Energy Security for America,” May 5, 2003. “Our goal should be to replace hydrocarbons with carbohydrates.” —-US Senator Richard G. Lugar, The National Interest, Summer 2006. “Let us build on the work we have done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next ten years — thereby cutting our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.” ——- President Bush’s State of the Union, CNN, 1/23/2007. “Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred…. and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries… We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” —– President Obama’s inaugural speech CNN, 1/20/2009. Moreover, Israel appears to be preparing the ground for a shift from ‘US dependence on Middle East oil’ to ‘US dependence on Israel’s new sources of energy.’ Read this promotion story “Israel and California cut world’s largest solar energy deal”:

http://www.israel21c.org/environment/israel-and-california-cut-worlds-largest-solar-energy-deal

On the fifth explanation (Israel), review carefully the following:

(a) Read “IRAQ: War Launched to Protect Israel – Bush Adviser:” 


http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23083


  
(b) When Vice-President Cheney launched the Iraq war campaign before a meeting of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (CNN.com, 8/26/2002), he told them: “The risks of inaction are far greater than the risk of action.” But Cheney campaign was simply the coronation of an Iraq war campaign launched by Israeli leaders themselves in the United States. For example, (i) on 4/14/2002, former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu came to Washington to brief U.S Senators and the editor of the Washington Post on the removal of Saddam; (ii) on 5/12/2002, Israeli Foreign Minister Peres appeared on CNN to say that “Saddam Hussein is as dangerous as bin Laden;” (iii) on 6/8/2002, former Israeli Prime Minister Barak wrote in the Washington Post: Bush “should, first of all, focus on Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein;” (iv) on 8/13/2002: Israeli Prime Minister Sharon told the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Knesset that Iraq “is the greatest danger facing Israel;” and (v) on 8/16/2002: CBSNews.com reported: “Israel To U.S.: Don’t Delay Iraq Attack.” (See also Mearsheimer & Walt’s book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, 2007, p 234).

(c) Read the two stories about Congressman Jim Moran, D-Virginia, who said on the eve of the Iraq war “If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this.” Moran was pressured to apologize and resign from his leadership post: 


http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/14/moran.remarks/index.html

(d) Learn about the book The dagger of Israel (1957), in which Indian journalist Rustom Khurshedji Karanjia published a secret Israeli plan involving, among other things, the partition of Iraq: 


(e) Find out when and how did the Israelis bomb and destroy Iraq’/ s first nuclear plant near Baghdad? 


http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/7/newsid_3014000/3014623.stm

(f) Find out what Ze’ev Schiff, the military correspondent of Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz

http://haaretz.com/

, said on June 2, 1982 about Israel’s “best” interest in the partition of Iraq: ” The dissolution of Iraq into a Shi’ite state, a Sunni state and the separation of the Kurdish part”.

(g) Learn about Jewish-American Jonathan Jay Pollard, a US Naval civilian intelligence analyst and a convicted Israeli spy, who received a life sentenced in 1987 for stealing thousands of pages of classified documents on behalf of Israel. Pollard wrote in 1991: “Appeasement of Iraq Made Me A Spy.” Pollard, a sayan (plural sayanim, which Andrew I. Killgore describes as “Israel’s volunteer spies within the U.S. government, U.S. industry, and within the American Jewish community itself”) provided the Israelis with satellite photographs of Iraqi weapons sites (see Jonathan Jay Pollard, “Appeasement of Iraq Made Me A Spy, by Jonathan Pollard,” The Wall Street Journal – Originally published February 15, 1991.  Posted to Web November 4, 2002: 


http://www.jonathanpollard.org/1991/021591.htm

(h) Learn about Mossad Agent Ephraim’s comment in 1986 on building up Iraq as the “next target” and Saddam Hussein as “the big villain.” Ephraim was quoted: “After the bombing of Libya [Mossad’s Operation Trojan, 1986], our friend Qadhafi is sure to stay out of the picture for some time. Iraq and Saddam Hussein are the next target. We’re starting now to build him up as the big villain. It will take some time, but in the end, there’s no doubt it’ll work.” Source: Victor Ostrovsky, The Other Side of Deception: A Rogue Agent Exposes the Mossad’s Secret Agenda, New York: Harper Colins Publishers, 1994, page 117.

(i) Note the Mossad assassination of Canadian-American weapons developer Gerald Bull in Brussels in 1990. Gerald Bull allegedly helped Iraq build a “big gun”: 


http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0499/9904122b.html

(j) Note that the United Nations did not authorize the no-fly zones through which the US and Britain partitioned Iraq’s air space in 1992 [very much along the lines of the Israeli proposed partition plan of Iraq in 1957]: 


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2490361.stm

(k) Skim through the stories about Jewish-born Leslie Gelb, former editor and columnist for The Times and president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, who wrote in The New York Times of 11/25/2003: The United States should “move in stages toward a three-state solution: Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center and Shiites in the south.” See how [then] Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware (chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee) and [currently] Vice President of the United States jumped on the bandwagon, while The New York Times of 8/19/2007 carefully dubbed the partitionig of Iraq “The Biden-Gelb plan” (at the same time an Iraq’ s Partition map appeared on the internet): 


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4777369.stm

http://temi.repubblica.it/limes-heartland/iraqs-partition/1106

(l) Read and learn from this New York Time story how the Iraqis in Baghdad call American soldiers “The Jews,” according to Jewish-American Thomas Friedman, “Jews, Israel and America,” The New York Times, October 24, 2004: “Many Iraqis have so much distrust for U.S. forces we found they’ve come up with a nickname for our troops,” Scott said. “They call American soldiers ‘The Jews,’ as in, ‘Don’t go down that street, the Jews set up a roadblock.’

(m) Find out which “catastrophic and catalyzing event” was used by the top pro-Iraq war party (the neoconservatives) as an excuse to justify the Iraq war? The Neoconservatives indicated that to speed up their preconceived plan they need: “some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.” Print and review only the above quote on PAGE 51 of the September 2000 Report: 


http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses

(n) Who are the neoconservatives (neocons) who conceived and pushed for the war in Iraq? According to the Jewish-American newspaper FORWARD, “If there is an intellectual movement in America to whose invention Jews can lay sole claim, neoconservatism is it.” See The Neoconservative Persuasion; Examining the Jewish Roots of an Intellectual Movement; The Neoconservative Revolution: Jewish Intellectuals and the Shaping Of Public Policy; Commentary in American Life; The Neocon Reader;” Gal Beckerman, Forward, January 6, 2006, Vol. CIX, Iss. 31,583; pg. 12.

(o) Read carefully the brief biographies of the 12 key figures of the neoconservatives (The Christian Science Monitor, June 2005): 


http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/neocon/index.html

, It appears that this article has later been removed from the Internet.

(p) Compare and contrast Paul Wolfowitz’s call and plan to “OVERTHROW HIM [Saddam Hussein],” (The Weekly Standard, December 1, 1997) with the content of the Neoconservatives’ Letter to President Clinton (January 26, 1998):  


http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

(q) Watch and find out when was the Iraq Liberation Act signed into law and by whom? 


(r) Read carefully “Transcript of Bin Laden’s October [2001] interview”: 


http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/02/05/binladen.transcript/index.html

   
  
(s) Read the New York Times story entitled “WAR IN THE GULF: Muslims; Saudis Decree Holy War on Hussein,” …Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority has issued a decree sanctioning a holy war against Saddam Hussein by all Muslims and “those assisting them” to evict his forces from Kuwait. The “fatwa,” or religious decree, authorizing the “jihad,” or holy war, was issued by Sheik Abdulaziz bin Abdulla bin Baz, the head of the Council of Ulema, Saudi Arabia’s most senior Islamic authority. It was written at the beginning of the coalition’s offensive against Iraq, and published on Friday in a special edition of al-Muslimoon, the most popular Islamic weekly newspaper. Copies of the decree were posted today in several mosques across Riyadh…. “The fatwa removes any doubt about the religious justification for asking non-Muslims to help this country attack another Muslim country,” said a religious scholar, who spoke on condition that he not be identified…. The New York Times, January 20, 1991.

(t) Read “Saudi Cleric Issues Warning Over Militants,” Asharq Alawsat”, 01/10/2007: 


http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=10386

(u) Read one translation of “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, World Islamic Front Statement,” Al-Quds Al-Arabi, 23 February 1998:

http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm

(v) What was the main request in the Neocons’ Letter to President Bush (September 20, 2001)? 


http://www.newamericancentury.org/Bushletter.htm

(w) Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (Full program: House Session, Oct 5, 1998):
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=596696994
  
(x) See how Vice President Dick Cheney describes his relationship with Bernard Lewis (his intellectual and political mentor on the Middle East): “You simply cannot find a greater authority on Middle Eastern history — from classical Islamic civilization, to the Ottoman Empire, to the modern period — than this man [Lewis Bernard] and his works.”… After listening to Bernard Lewis’ advice on “the history and the way forward in the Middle East” following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney said “I decided that day that this was a man I wanted to keep in touch with, and whose work I should follow carefully in the years ahead. Since then we have met often, particularly during the last four-and-a-half years, and Bernard has always had some very good meetings with President Bush… More than three decades ago, at the height of a secular era, he wrote a prescient article titled The Return of Islam. In the 1970s he studied the writings of an obscure cleric named Khomeini, and saw the seeds of a movement that would deliver theocratic despotism. In 1990, he wrote The Roots of Muslim Rage, which anticipated the terrorism of that decade. And in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media.” Source: Dick Cheney, “Vice President’s Remarks at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia Luncheon Honoring Professor Bernard Lewis,” Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1 May 2006, The White House,

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/05/20060501-3.html

(note that the link has been disabled on the new White House Website)

(y) Read the Washington Post story about a memo distributed on the eve of the Iraq war urging Israeli and pro-Israeli leaders: “You do not want Americans to believe that the war on Iraq is being waged to protect Israel rather than to protect America.” Here is the reference to the story: Dana Milbank, “Group Urges Pro-Israel Leaders’ Silence on Iraq; Memo Outlines Response If Hostilities Occur, Discourages Lecturing of Americans on Middle East,” The Washington Post, November 27, 2002. 
  
(z) Read “Rupert Murdoch and William Kristol: Using the Press to Advance Israel’s Interests”: 


http://www.wrmea.com/archives/june2003/0306024.html

(z2) Watch “The Israel Lobby: Does it Have Too Much Influence on US Foreign Policy?” 
  http://www.scribemedia.org/2006/10/11/israel-lobby/

4. Learn more about the “Aftermath” of the Iraq war:   
(a) Read carefully the Executive Summary (pages 6-8) and Recommendations 1, 9, 13, 15, 16, 22, 23, 26, 27, and 28 of The Iraq Study Group Report (December 6, 2006): “The United States cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict…” 


http://media.usip.org/reports/iraq_study_group_report

(b) Review carefully Articles 4(1), 12(3), 21(1), 24(1), 26(1b), and 27 (all clauses) of the “Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in Iraq” as they relate to the declared withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, the issue of immunity for US military and civilian elements in Iraq, and deterrence of  internal or external security threats to Iraq: Article 27…”In the event of any external or internal threat or aggression against Iraq that would violate its sovereignty, political independence, or territorial integrity, waters, airspace, its democratic system or its elected institutions, and upon request by the Government of Iraq, the Parties shall immediately initiate strategic deliberations and, as may be mutually agreed, the United States shall take appropriate measures, including diplomatic, economic, or military measures, or any other measure, to deter such a threat.” 


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/20081119_SOFA_FINAL_AGREED_TEXT

(c) Read carefully and critically President Obama’s speech (” REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON A NEW BEGINNING,” Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, June 4, 2009: “The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.”  


http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09/

(d) Watch and/or read Bill Moyers’ interview with Jeremy Scahill (author of “BLACKWATER: THE RISE OF THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL MERCENARY ARMY”) on the Afghan war (June 5, 2009): 


http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06052009/watch.html

(e) Watch [late] Libyan Leader & African Union Chairman Qadhafi’s speech to the UN General Assembly, especially his views on UN reform, the African Union, and the Palestine-Israel conflict: “The countries of the African Union deserve a [UN Security Council] permanent seat. This is a debt from the past that has to be paid and has nothing to do with United Nations reform. It is a priority matter and is high on the agenda of the General Assembly. No one can say that the African Union does not deserve a permanent seat… With regard to the Palestinian situation, the two-State solution is impossible; it is not practical. Currently, these two States completely overlap. Partition is doomed to failure. These two States are not neighbors; they are coextensive, in terms of both population and geography. A buffer zone cannot be created between the two States because there are half a million Israeli settlers in the West Bank and a million Arab Palestinians in the territory known as Israel. The solution is therefore a democratic State without religious fanaticism or ethnicity.” 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hq1pUKbo4E

(f) Read “Confidential memo reveals US plan to provoke an invasion of Iraq” (June 21, 2009): 


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/21/iraq-inquiry-tony-blair-bush

(g) Extended Interview: U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill (July 23, 2009): 


http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/module.html?mod=0&pkg=malikivisit&seg=1

(h) Based on your learning about Topic 5, ask yourself about the prospect/future of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. For example, should there be an independent government investigation to identify those individuals and organizations responsible for embroiling and dragging the United States into the Iraq war? Or should we continue to blame America as a whole and every American for what happened and what could happen? Should there be apologies and reparations for the Iraqi people? See for example how the UN forced Iraq to pay compensation for its unlawful occupation of Kuwait (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991): The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) received approximately 2.7 million claims seeking approximately US$352.5 billion in compensation for death, injury, loss of or damage to property, commercial claims and claims for environmental damage resulting from Iraq’s unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1991. Read “The UNCC at a Glance”: 


http://www.uncc.ch/ataglance.htm

2- PowerPoint slides: Geographies of war, occupation, resistance, and terrorism

3-Videos

Video: The secret files: Washington, Israel and the Gulf (60 min.): “Discusses how secret agreements and documents, since declassified, helped to shape U.S. foreign policy which led to our involvement in the Persian Gulf War of 1991.”

Video: Unfinished Business: The CIA and Saddam Hussein (45 mn): Peter Jennings (from ABC News) presents “An expose on the U.S. government’s overt and covert attempts to oust Sadam Hussein from power in Iraq.” For example, U.S. government’s attempts to oust Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq involved a covert public relations campaign which began when the CIA hired the Rendon Group to run a covert anti-Saddam propaganda campaign. Rendon Group spent more than $23 million in the first year of its contract on organizing a traveling photo exhibit of Iraqi atrocities, including videos and radio skits that ridiculed Saddam Hussein, even an anti-Saddam comic book. 

Video: Paying the price: killing the children of Iraq  (75 min.): John Pilger “investigates the effects of sanctions on the people of Iraq.” Contends that ten years of extraordinary isolation, imposed by the U.N. and enforced by the United States and Great Britain, have killed thousands of people. Also discusses illegal bombing campaigns conducted by the U.S. and Great Britain in “no-fly zones.” 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHn3kKySuVo

Video: Hijacking catastrophe: 9/11, fear, & the selling of American empire (the short version is about 25 mn): “This film discusses how the events of September 11, 2001 have influenced United States politics, from advancing a pre-existing military agenda to curtailing civil liberties and social programs. Places the Bush administration’s justifications for the war in the context of the struggle by neo-conservatives to increase American power globally by means of force. Contends that the administration has deliberately manipulated intelligence, political imagery, and fear to garner support for American military intervention.” 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF3I1qbOeX8

Video: Iraqi Exodus: The Iraq War and the Middle East’s Refugee Crisis, (57 mn): “This Wide Angle report travels to the front lines of the staggering refugee crisis that continues to unfold in the Middle East as Iraqis flee their war-torn hometowns to live either as exiles in neighboring countries or dislocated within Iraq’s borders. The situation in Syria and Jordan, where refugees cope with their new surroundings amidst government pressure and rising resentment from the local population, are spotlighted. In addition, Aaron Brown speaks with regional leaders about how the catastrophe is impacting the Middle East—and these millions of homeless Iraqis whose hope of return grows dimmer with each passing year.” This video is available at:
http://video.pbs.org/video/1163078349/search/Iraqi%20Exodus/tag/Iraqi%20Exodus

Video: Criminal State Documentary [how the U.S. was deceived by Israel to wage war in the Middle East] : Jeff Gates along with Anthony Lawson produce this startling new video that is an absolute necessity for every American who genuinely loves his country and knows something has gone very very wrong. In Jeff’s own words: What I tell people is that our specialty is enabling people to grasp “how” this duplicity operates in plain sight and, to date, with impunity. With that knowledge, they can sort out for themselves Who and Why. Absent that knowledge, they’re left adrift in the domain of conspiracy theorists, hate-mongers and such. We see this knowledge as essential in the transition to the Knowledge Society. 

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=jeff+gates+criminal+state&FORM=VIRE2#view=detail&mid=D1F91397D1F2466E736CD1F91397D1F2466E736C

Video clip: CIA Agent Exposes How Al-Qaeda Dosen’t Exist 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8CqUJoEWBs

The Iraq war divided the Arabs, the Europeans, the Americans and caused a structural damage to Iraq’s society, state, & infrastructure
Aljazeera

*

1981: Israel bombs Baghdad [Osirak/Tammuz] nuclear reactor
BBC, June 7, 1981
Map of the Israeli Attack
Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered the raid
Source: BBC, 5 June 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5020778.stm

*

Bill Kristol, Keeping Iraq in the Cross Hairs
“Moments after the [1991] Persian Gulf War was halted, Bill Kristol got a call from columnist Charles Krauthammer, and both were fuming over what they saw as unfinished business.”

Source: Washington Post, March 18, 2003; Page C01

*

“A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm”
Prepared by the Jerusalem-based Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies’ Study Group on a New Israeli Strategy Toward 2000
A report prepared in 1996 by a neoconservative study group led by Richard Perle for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We read in the report:
…. “removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq” is “an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right.”

Participants in the Study Group on “A New Israeli Strategy Toward 2000:”

Richard Perle, American Enterprise Institute, Study Group Leader
James Colbert, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Charles Fairbanks, Jr., Johns Hopkins University/SAIS
Douglas Feith, Feith and Zell Associates
Robert Loewenberg, President, Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies
Jonathan Torop, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
David Wurmser, Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies
Meyrav Wurmser, Johns Hopkins University

*

“A free Iraq will help secure Israel”
—U.S. President George W. Bush, September 2004 (NPR, 9/30/2004)

*

“I’m going to get it right for those soldiers because it’s important to Israel”
—U.S. Senator and Presidential Candidate John Kerry, September 2004 (NPR, 9/30/2004)

*

“If you believe that the State of Israel will be more secure if the United States fails in Iraq, you and I have a disagreement.” —
Republican presidential candidate John McCain (JTA, 10/30/2007)

Iraq was invaded ‘to protect Israel’ – US official
Philip Zelikow, a member of the president’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (2001—03), executive director of the 9/11 Commission, and counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (2005-06), told a crowd at the University of Virginia on September 10, 2002, speaking on a panel of foreign policy experts assessing the impact of September 11 and the future of the war on al-Qaeda:

“Why would Iraq attack America or use nuclear weapons against us? I’ll tell you what I think the real threat [is] and actually has been since 1990 – it’s the threat against Israel… And this is the threat that dare not speak its name, because the Europeans don’t care deeply about that threat, I will tell you frankly. And the American government doesn’t want to lean too hard on it rhetorically, because it is not a popular sell.”

Emad Mekay, “Iraq was invaded ‘to protect Israel’ – US official,” Asia Times Online, 31 March 2004, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FC31Aa01.html
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux I, 2007, page 31

*

“The war was about Israel’s security”
Group* Urges Pro-Israel Leaders’ Silence on Iraq;
Memo Outlines Response If Hostilities Occur, Discourages Lecturing of Americans on Middle East” The Washington Post, November 27, 2002:
“You do not want Americans to believe that the war on Iraq is being waged to protect Israel rather than to protect America.”
The memo coached: “(A)s an Israeli, most certainly don’t talk about why some Arab leaders and their people dislike the United States. Americans don’t want to be told by an Israeli why we have problems in the Middle East or why people hate us.”
*the Israel Project, a group funded by American Jewish organizations and individual donors.

*

Israeli newspaper Haaretz
5 April 2003
The U.S. war in Iraq was conceived “by a small group of 25 or 30 neoconservatives, almost all of them Jewish.”

*

Moran steps down from leadership post
Lawmaker under fire for saying Jews push war with Iraq
CNN, March 14, 2003. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/14/moran.remarks/index.html on the World Wide Web.
CNN, March 11, 2003, http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/moran.jews/index.html
Lawmaker under fire for saying Jews support Iraq war
Moran apologizes; White House blasts comments
The War Began March 19, 2003

*

“Jews,” “Israel,” and “America”
Some times the words “Jews,” “Israel,” and “America” are interchangeable in the minds of many people in the Arab and Muslim worlds. For example, amidst the bloody chaos and destruction in U.S.-occupied Iraq, Scott Pelley of CBS News’s 60 Minutes was reported going around and asking Iraqis on the streets wondering if they had nicknames for Americans. He found that Iraqis “call American soldiers ‘The Jews,’ as in, ‘Don’t go down that street, the Jews set up a roadblock’”
Source: Thomas Friedman, 2004, “Jews, Israel and America,” The New York Times, October 24.

*

“From Israel’s perspective, the longstanding strategic threat of a massive military attack from the east led by Iraq through Jordan no longer exists because of the [Iraq] war.”
— Jewish Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham H. Foxman, August 2006 (ADL, 8/1/2006)

*

Israel’s 1957 secret plan to partition Iraq
Indian journalist Rustom Khurshedji Karanjia published the book The dagger of Israel (Bombay, Blitz Publications, 1957).
(ر. ك. كرانجيا، خنجر إسرائيل، شرح وتعليق بسام العسلي، دار المسيرة، بيروت، الطبعة الأولي، 1980، ص 61).
In the book, Karanjia published a secret Israeli plan involving, among other things, the partition of Iraq

*

Ze’ev Schiff, the military correspondent of Israel’s leading newspaper Ha’aretz,
wrote on 2 June 1982:
The “best” that can happen for Israeli interests in Iraq:
“The dissolution of Iraq into a Shi’ite state, a Sunni state and the separation of the Kurdish part” (Ha’aretz 6/2/1982).

*

Oded Yinon’s “A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties”
Oded Yinon’s article which appeared in Kivunim (Directions), the journal of the Department of Information of the World Zionist Organization. Oded Yinon is an Israeli journalist and was formerly attached to the Foreign Ministry of Israel.
This essay originally appeared in Hebrew in KIVUNIM (Directions), A Journal for Judaism and Zionism; Issue No, 14–Winter, 5742, February 1982, Editor: Yoram Beck. Editorial Committee: Eli Eyal, Yoram Beck, Amnon Hadari, Yohanan Manor, Elieser Schweid. Published by the Department of Publicity/The World Zionist Organization, Jerusalem.
Published by the Association of Arab-American University Graduates, Inc. , Belmont, Massachusetts, 1982 , Special Document No. 1, (ISBN 0-937694-56-8), http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/pdf/The%20Zionist%20Plan%20for%20the%20Middle%20East
“The plan operates on two essential premises. To survive, Israel must 1) become an imperial regional power, and 2) must effect the division of the whole area into small states by the dissolution of all existing Arab states. Small here will depend on the ethnic or sectarian composition of each state. Consequently, the Zionist hope is that sectarian-based states become Israel’s satellites and, ironically, its source of moral legitimation.”–Khalil Nakhleh
“All the Arab States east of Israel are torn apart, broken up and riddled with inner conflict even more than those of the Maghreb… Lebanon’s total dissolution into five provinces serves as a precedent for the entire Arab world including Egypt, Syria, Iraq and the Arabian peninsula and is already following that track. The dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnically or religiously unique areas such as in Lebanon, is Israel’s primary target on the Eastern front in the long run, while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as the primary short term target…. Iraq, rich in oil on the one hand and internally torn on the other, is guaranteed as a candidate for Israel’s targets. Its dissolution is even more important for us than that of Syria. Iraq is stronger than Syria. In the short run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel. An Iraqi-Iranian war will tear Iraq apart and cause its downfall at home even before it is able to organize a struggle on a wide front against us. Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations as in Syria and in Lebanon. In Iraq, a division into provinces along ethnic/religious lines as in Syria during Ottoman times
is possible. So, three (or more) states will exist around the three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and Shi’ite areas in the south will separate from the Sunni and Kurdish north. It is possible that the present Iranian-Iraqi confrontation will deepen this polarization.”–Oded Yinon

Israel sees opportunity in possible US strike on Iraq
Israel promised support and assistance this week for a US war against Iraq
“If the Americans do not do this now,” said Israeli Deputy Defense Minister and Labor Party member Weizman Shiry on Wednesday, “it will be harder to do it in the future. In a year or two, Saddam Hussein will be further along in developing weapons of mass destruction. It is a world interest, but especially an American interest to attack Iraq.”
“And as deputy defense minister, I can tell you that the United States will receive any assistance it needs from Israel,” he added.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, August 30, 2002,
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0830/p08s01-wome.htm

*

Gelb’s Idea of Partitioning Iraq
Leslie Gelb, former editor and columnist for The Times and president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in The New York Times of 11/25/2003:

The United States should “move in stages toward a three-state solution: Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center and Shiites in the south.”

Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, picked up the idea, while The New York Times of 19 August 2007 dubbed it “The Biden-Gelb plan.”

*

On 27 September, the Senate passed a resolution (75-23) urging the Bush administration to support “a political settlement among Iraq’s major factions based upon the provisions of the Constitution of Iraq that create a federal system of government and allow for the creation of federal regions.” CNN.com 9/30/07….
Heartland Eurasian Review of Geopolitics [originally created in China and Italy!?] apparently made and posted this map on its website, http://temi.repubblica.it/limes-heartland/iraqs-partition/1106

*

When asked in January 2008 to clarify whether there was any Israeli involvement in his decision to invade Iraq, President Bush said: “No, not at all. None whatsoever.”
Source: The White House, 1/2/2008.
When asked by Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot to clarify whether there was any Israeli involvement in his decision to invade Iraq, President George W. Bush said “No, not at all. None whatsoever.”[1] Elsewhere in the same interview President Bush acknowledged that “one of the things in politics that happens often is people sometimes won’t tell you really what’s on their mind.”

[1] The White House, “Interview of the President by Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer of Yediot Ahronot,” Oval Office, 2 January 2008, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080104-9.html
Tariq Aziz [was a member of the Revolutionary Command Council, a leader of the Ba’ath party, deputy prime minister, foreign minister]: ‘Britain and the US killed Iraq. I wish I was martyred’:
…. “Bush and Blair lied intentionally. They were both pro-Zionist. They wanted to destroy Iraq for the sake of Israel, not for the sake of the US and Britain.”…. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/05/iraq-us-tariq-aziz-iran

At a moment when almost all countries around the world were offering sincere sympathy and support to the United States after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President Bush addressed the world in these terms:
“Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2001-09/a-2001-09-21-14-Bush.cfm

Lloyd Gardner and Marilyn Young reported that President George W. Bush said:
“I’m driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan. An I did, and then God would tell me, George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq.”
Lloyd Gardner and Marilyn Young, “Introduction,” in Lloyd Gardner and Marilyn Young, eds. Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam, Or How Not to Learn from the Past, New York: The new Press, 2007, pp. 1-15, page 12.

March 19, 2008: President Bush spoke at the Pentagon to mark the fifth anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom:
“The battle in Iraq is noble, necessary, and just.”
The White House, 3/19/2008
March 19, 2008: President Bush spoke at the Pentagon to mark the fifth anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom:
“The battle in Iraq is noble, necessary, and just.”
“Defeating the enemy in Iraq will make it less likely we will face this enemy here at home.”
“Because we acted against Saddam Hussein, the world is better and America is safer.”
“The ‘Surge’ Strategy Has Produced Dramatic Results In Iraq”
“The Stakes In Iraq Are Great”
“Political Progress Is Taking Place In Iraq” [10/2005: new constitution; 12/2005: election under new constitution]
The White House, 3/19/2008
President George W. Bush speaks to members of the Regimental Combat Team-2, Marine Wing Support Combat Patrol at Al Asad Airbase, Al Anbar Province, Iraq, Monday, September 3, 2007. White House photo by Eric Draper, The White House, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/images/20070903-1_d-0318-4-515h.html

Karen Hughes, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs , said she was tired of seeing the president presented as a “caricature.”
The New York Times, 10/31/2007

President Bush told the AEI neoconservatives: “You are some of the best brains in our country and my government employs about 20 of you.” …”Employs” is too weak a verb,” wrote James Atlas.
The New York Times, May 4, 2003
Israel
USA
Al-Majalla , 4/21/2001, http://www.al-majalla.com/ar/
A representation of the stereotypical view of US-Israel relations

*

America
Palestine
Iraq
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Libya
Lebanon
Syria
Sudan
Iran
Islam
Etcetera
Etcetera
Israel
Adapted from Work by Ian Antonio, http://www.creative-holidays-spain.com/painting.html
Bullfighting toreador
A representation of the stereotypical view of US-Israel relations
“I know what America is.. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction.”–Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, 1996-99 & 2009-present, “Fibi Netanyahu, In 2001, PM boasted of manipulating Oslo accords,” Tablet: A New Read on Jewish Life, http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/39692/fibi-netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, 1996-99 & 2009-present, when asked what 9/11 would mean for American-Israeli relations, responded: “It’s very good.” Realizing his maladroit gaffe, he then added: “Well, it’s not good, but it will generate immediate sympathy” for Israel from the United States: http://www.counterpunch.org/sugg10252005.html
“The U.S. can no longer afford $725 billion each year for defense, much of it borrowed. Given the poor return on our investment, it’s clear we need another strategy, one free of Zionist goals that advance behind serial conflicts and the debt incurred to fund them. We know what to do. What’s required is the leadership to do it.” Jeff Gates, 12/29/2010, http://criminalstate.com/2010/12/a-commonsense-solar-defense/
“Israel has f—– up United States foreign policy for years”—filmmaker Oliver Stone, The Jewish Chronicle, http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/36169/oliver-stone-jews-dominate-media
It’s the case of
‘a minnow swallowing a whale’
‘the tail wagging the dog’
“only by force can a Jewish state in Palestine be established or maintained”–US Army Lt. Col. Harold Hoskins, 1943

*

Islamic world
Israel
USA
alabonline, http://www.alarab.co.uk/
A representation of the stereotypical view of US-Israel relations

President Bush Middle East Tour
A representation of the stereotypical view of US-Israel relations
The Israelis
The Americans
The Arabs

Millions Worldwide Protest Iraq War
LONDON, Feb.15 — Several million demonstrators took to the streets of Europe and the rest of the world today in a vast wave of protest against the prospect of a U.S.-led war against Iraq.
Washington Post
Sunday, February 16, 2003

Madrid, Spain

Berlin, Germany

Istanbul, Turkey

Prague, Czech Rep.
Sydney, Australia
                                                       

Seoul, South Korea

London, United Kingdom

Rome, Italy

New York, USA

Population: 28.9 million (2009 est.)
Ethnic groups: Arab 75%-80%, Kurdish 15%-20%, Turkoman, Assyrian, or other 5%
Religions: Muslim 97% (Shi’a 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian or other 3%
Languages: Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Turkoman (a Turkish dialect), Assyrian (Neo-Aramaic), Armenian
Iraq’s oil sector provides over 90% of government revenue and foreign exchange earnings
GDP per capita (PPP): $3,600 (US GDP per capita: $46,400 (2009 est.)
Border countries: Iran 1,458 km, Jordan 181 km, Kuwait 240 km, Saudi Arabia 814 km, Syria 605 km, Turkey 352 km
Source: CIA
Geography
of Iraq

*

John E. Peters and Howard Deshong, Out of Area or Out of Reach: European Military Support for Operations in Southwest Asia, National Defense Research Institute, Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, RAND, 1995, pages 23-24, http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/2007/MR629
U.S.-Led Coalition Air and Ground Forces Deployed Against Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War

In the wake of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003
Iraq did not even control its airspace, shorelines, or a third of its territory.
Iraq was still recovering from:

The Iran-Iraq war 1980-88
The Gulf war of 1991
The no-fly zone war 1991-03
CIA Covert Operations 1995-96
UN/US Sanctions 1990-2003 (Sanctions killed some 1.7 million Iraqis between 1990-2000, WRMA 12/31/00)
Depleted uranium 1991– present
Some have said that the DU used in Iraq makes the Agent Orange used in Vietnam look like “orange juice.”
DoD, http://www.defendamerica.mil/iraq/iraq_nofly.html
Professor Doug Rokke, the US army physicist in charge of cleaning up depleted uranium in Kuwait told film maker John Pilger (The Secret War on Iraq, 12/20/2002):
“I am like most people in southern Iraq. I have 5,000 times the recommended level of radiation in my body.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-8PlJVhogs

*

Basic geography of Iraq
The “what” of the war
The “why” of the war
What shall be done?
Source: CIA
Geography of the Iraq War

*

“The conventional wisdom about Nixon-Kissinger relationship was that they worked as equals, or even that Kissinger was the teacher and Nixon the student” p. 135
“When I returned to government service in 2001, I invited Henry [Kissinger] to join the Defense Policy Board. He was routinely involved in advising me on national security issues. I also arranged for him to be able to meet regularly and privately with President Bush” p. 206
“Fifteen days after 9/11, the President asked me to join him in the Oval Office alone… He asked that I take a look at the shape of our military plans on Iraq… ‘Dick told me about your son’, he [Bush] said… What happened to [my son] Nick [who suffers from drug addiction]—coupled with the [9/11] wounds to our country and the Pentagon—all started to hit me. At that moment, I couldn’t speak… I had not imagined I might choke up in a meeting with the President of the United States” p. 425-426
“I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down as one of the worst secretaries of defence in history”—Senator John McCain, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6377687.stm
Sentinel, 2011

In the book My Year in Iraq (Simon & Schuster, 2006), Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III wrote, “Among my own assignments during almost three decades and as an American diplomat, I’d been Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s chief of staff and ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism under President Ronald Reagan, jobs that had taken me to almost every capital in the region. Every one but Baghdad.” Page 4
2006

As the senior American in Baghdad, I would be President George W. Bush’s personal envoy. My chain of command ran through Secretary of of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and straight to the president. I would be the only paramount authority figure—other than dictator Saddam–Iraqis had ever known. Page 4
2006

Like Adolf Hitler, Saddam was convinced destiny had chosen him for greatness… On May 9 [2003], my last day of preparation at the Pentagon, Don Rumsfeld had given me my marching orders in a memo… Undersecretary Douglas Feith had shown me a draft order for the ‘De-Baathification of Iraqi Society.’ He had underscored the political importance of the decree. ‘We’ve got to show all the Iraqis that we’re serious about building a New Iraq. Page 39
2006

In early May [2003], before we left for Iraq, [Senior Advisor for defense and security affairs, Walt] Slocombe had began discussions with top Pentagon officials, including Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, about the policy implications of Saddam’s army having melted away. Page 54
2006

On May 9, 2003, the day before our departure, I sent a memo to Secretary Rumsfeld, copied to Wolfowitz, DOD’s policy office and the General Counsel, summarizing these discussions and the tentative conclusion that we should formally dissolve Saddam’s army as well the security and intelligence services as a prelude to establishing Iraq’s new security services … and because we have to take into account the ethnic make-up and the history of the country, assembling a New Iraqi Army (NIA) would not be easy. Page 54
2006

The “exiles” comprised the small Iraqi Leadership Council (ILC) who had been selected during a conference of several hundred Iraqis in London in December 2002, which in turn had been a product of the Iraqi Liberation Act that President Bill Clinton had signed into law in 1998. This law made it U.S. policy to support efforts to “… remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein.” Page 42….
On Friday [May 16, 2003] afternoon, we were expecting seven Iraqi representatives to meet us in the palace conference room where I held staff meeting. The group, whom we had come to refer to as the G-7, included:
Ahmad Chalabi, of the Iraqi National Congress,a Shiite
Ayad Allawi, leader of the Iraqi National Accord, also a secular Shiite, was Chalabi’s chief rival
The two Kurds were Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, and his sometime ally and sometime rival, Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
The ILC also included Naseer Chaderchi, a respected seventy-year-old Sunni lawyer, who led the small, secular National Party
The other Shiite Islamist party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), was represented by Dr. Adel Mahdi and Hamid al-Bayati, reportedly because the party’s most senior leader in Baghdad, Abdul Aziz Hakim, was ill. I suspected Hakim’s illness might be “diplomatic,” since he was known to be distrustful of the Coalition’s motives. Page 46
2006

On May 19, I sent a memo to Secretary Rumsfeld detailing our recommendations for the dissolution of the Iraqi Defense Ministry and its ‘related entities.’… At the Pentagon on May 22 [2003], Feith carefully reviewed our draft order, which would formally abolish Saddam’s security and intelligence services. He asked us to clarify some of the wording, which we did to his full satisfaction…. Later that day, when Rumsfeld authorized me to proceed, I informed the president of the plan in a video teleconference. On Friday, May 23, 2003, I signed CPA Order No. 2, “Dissolution of Entities” Page 57
2006

It was after 11:00 P.M. when Brian McCormack and I got into my armored SUV for the run back to the Green Zone. Our convoy, as usual, consisted of two “up-armored” Humvees sheathed in tan slabs of hardened steel, a lead-armored Suburban, our Suburban, another armored Suburban following, and two more Humvees. Overhead, we had a pair of buzzing Bell helicopters with two Blackwater snipers each. Page 245
Simon & Schuster, 2006

For the last time, and again in the sweltering heat of Baghdad summer, I took off from the Green Zone for the twenty-minute flight to Baghdad Airport. The Chinooks landed behind several camouflaged C-130s, one of which was designated to fly me out of Iraq….After a ninety-minute flight, we landed at the military airport in Amman, Jordan. I called Francie, who by now had seen news reports of the early transfer of sovereignty. “I’m safe and free,” I said. “And I’m coming home.” Pages 394 and 396
Simon & Schuster, 2006

I suppose the best place is to begin at the beginning and to thank my wonderful agent, Marvin Josephson. It was he, on a visit to Baghdad, who first suggested that I write this book. So readers disappointed that I have followed his advice should take their grievance to Marvin. To me, however, Marvin was gift. I thank him for his help identifying a publisher and willingness to give sound advice on the book as the writing proceeded. And I am further indebted to him for suggesting that I engage Malcolm McConnell as my collaborator on the project. Page 399
Simon & Schuster, 2006

Some media treat March 19, 2003 as the beginning of the war, but the conflict for ordinary Iraqis never ended in March 1991 following Iraq’s defeat and exit from Kuwait. They [the Iraqis] would endure 12 years of punitive sanctions which the UN estimates killed nearly 1.7 million Iraqis.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/80C83F02-A0D6-4624-8BD2-106439605C04.htm
Smoke rises from explosions during the first few minutes of a massive air attack on March 20, 2003 in Baghdad [GETTY]
“War is hell, but for Hollywood it has been a Godsend, providing the perfect dramatic setting against which courageous heroes win the hearts and minds of the movie going public. The Pentagon recognises the power of these celluloid dreams and encourages Hollywood to create heroic myths; to rewrite history to suit its own strategy and as a recruiting tool to provide a steady flow of willing young patriots for its wars….’Give a nineteen-year-old kid an automatic weapon, and it takes him four days to become God’” — Watch “Hollywood and the war machine” at http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/empire/2010/12/2010121681345363793.html

US Human Cost of the Iraq War
Over 4,398 dead and over 31,762 wounded in Iraq
93 dead and 722 wounded from Indiana
US dead and wounded in Iraq by state, 3/2003-3/2010 http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties 
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/USCasualtiesByState.aspx

No available estimates of Iraqi wounded
At the end of 12/2007, the number of Iraqi “detainees” stood at 51,133— UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, December 2007, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Press/UNAMIJuly-December2007EN

Iraq’s cultural heritage (National Library and Archives, National Museum, and other significant cultural heritage sites) was looted
“Over 1000,000 Iraqi citizens have died as a result of the conflict which started in 2003” —The British Opinion Research Business, January 2008, http://www.opinion.co.uk/Newsroom_details.aspx?NewsId=120
See also the impact of sanctions: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/80C83F02-A0D6-4624-8BD2-106439605C04.htm
4.7 million Iraqis were made refugees within the country or across the borders—United Nations News Centre, October 2007, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24378&Cr=Iraq&Cr1=
Iraqi Human Cost of the War

*

Source: Iraq Body Count, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/ and http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/individuals/page1
Documented civilian deaths from violence
95,755 – 104,460
Confusion about the numbers produced by the project can be avoided by bearing in mind that: (1) IBC’s figures are not ‘estimates’ but a record of actual, documented deaths.; (2) IBC records solely violent deaths; (3) IBC records solely civilian (strictly, ‘non-combatant’) deaths.; (4) IBC’s figures are constantly updated and revised as new data comes in, and frequent consultation is advised. http://www.iraqbodycount.org/about/
Falluja doctors report rise in birth defects:
Doctors in the Iraqi city of Falluja are reporting a high level of birth defects, with some blaming weapons used by the US after the Iraq invasion. BBC, 3/4/2010,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8548707.stm

Financial Cost
“The Iraq War Will Cost Us $3 Trillion, and Much More
As we head toward November [2008], opinion polls say that voters’ main worry is now the economy, not the war. But there’s no way to disentangle the two. The United States will be paying the price of Iraq for decades to come. The price tag will be all the greater because we tried to ignore the laws of economics — and the cost will grow the longer we remain”
Linda J. Bilmes, a former chief financial officer at the Commerce Department, teaches at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton. They are co-authors of “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. The Washington Post, 3/9/2008, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702846_2.html
Iraq war costs U.S. more than $2 trillion: study
(Reuters) – The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, a study released on Thursday said. Reuter, 3/14/2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/14/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSBRE92D0PG20130314
“Three trillion dollars is a lot of money. In fact, for one sixth of that money, the US could put its entire social security system on a sound financial basis for the next 75 years.” BBC, 2/26/2008

US House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security
Hearing on Wartime Contracting
There 280,000 contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan (80 percent of the foreign nationals)—a ratio of 1 contractor per soldier deployed (C-Span, 8/21/2009)
“the State Department continues to award the company, formerly known as Blackwater, more than $400 million in contracts to fly its diplomats around Iraq, guard them in Afghanistan, and train security forces in antiterrorism tactics at its remote camp in North Carolina” (The New York Times, 8/21/2009)

An American flag flies in front of the United States Embassy in Baghdad.
By TIM ARANGO, New York Times, February 7, 2012
U.S. Planning to Slash Iraq Embassy Staff by as Much as Half
“BAGHDAD — Less than two months after American troops left, the State Department is preparing to slash by as much as half the enormous diplomatic presence it had planned for Iraq, a sharp sign of declining American influence in the country.
Officials in Baghdad and Washington said that Ambassador James F. Jeffrey and other senior State Department officials were reconsidering the size and scope of the embassy, where the staff has swelled to nearly 16,000 people, mostly contractors.
The expansive diplomatic operation and the $750 million embassy building, the largest of its kind in the world, were billed as necessary to nurture a postwar Iraq on its shaky path to democracy and establish normal relations between two countries linked by blood and mutual suspicion. But the Americans have been frustrated by what they see as Iraqi obstructionism and are now largely confined to the embassy because of security concerns, unable to interact enough with ordinary Iraqis to justify the $6 billion annual price tag.” New York Times, 2/7/2012

SYNOPSIS: These extraordinary times–unprecedented in modern history–are marked by a worldwide depression and regional wars involving all the major imperial powers. This book exposes the roots of the crisis in the unsustainability of the United States’ military-driven empire building based on a volatile speculative economy, and influenced by Zionist policy makers committed to the colonialist state of Israel. It offers a critical study of the collapse of the empire and a profound indictment of the respectable and prestigious personalities either responsible for the debacle, or for its continuance. Petras provides clear insight into how the ramifications of the world depression and regional wars that originated in Washington and on Wall Street are extending throughout the world, provoking popular challenges especially in Latin America, while reinforcing the belligerency and increasingly fascistic nature of the state of Israel. He demonstrates how unending wars and a deepening capitalist depression have demolished the ideology of free market neo-liberalism and forced to the forefront the need for structural changes. He points out how the collapse of the capitalist free market and the need for large-scale, long-term interventions by the state have once again raised the question of whose interests states are presently promoting, and whose interests in actuality they should serve. Both in the United States and Latin America, center-left regimes are proposing economic reforms to try to save the capitalist system. However the deepening crisis is raising the prospect of mass support for 21st Century socialism, which focuses on public investment, ownership and control.
THE AUTHOR: James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York. He is the author of 64 books published in 29 languages, and over 560 articles in professional journals, including the American Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research, Journal of Contemporary Asia, and Journal of Peasant Studies. He has published over 2000 articles in nonprofessional journals such as the New York Times, the Guardian, the Nation, Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, New Left Review, Partisan Review, Temps Moderne, Le Monde Diplomatique, and his commentary is widely carried on the internet.
Source: The James Petras Website, 8/21/2009, http://petras.lahaine.org/articulo.php?p=1785&more=1&c=1

U.S. debt overpowers National Debt Clock
NEW YORK (AP) — The National Debt Clock in New York City has run out of digits to record the growing figure. As a short-term fix, the digital dollar sign on the billboard-style clock near Times Square has been switched to a figure — the “1” in $10 trillion. It’s marking the federal government’s current debt at about $10.2 trillion. The Durst Organization says it plans to update the sign next year by adding two digits. That will make it capable of tracking debt up to a quadrillion dollars. The late Manhattan real estate developer Seymour Durst put the sign up in 1989 to call attention to what was then a $2.7 trillion debt.
CNN, October 30, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/09/national.debt.clock.ap/#cnnSTCText
U.S. national debt clock in Times Square, New York.

U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison
near Baghdad
U.N. expert says torture in Iraq worse than under Saddam, USA Today, 9/21/2006
On February 7, 2002, President Bush signs an executive order that says Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions does not apply to Qaeda and Taliban captives. NYT, 12/8/07
Moral Cost
Top interrogators attended an “anti-terror” training camp in Israel and their boss received an award from Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz—Robert Fisk, The Independent, 5/26/ 2004
AN OPEN LETTER OF RECONCILIATION & RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5966/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2724

*

“Bush Makes Final [Sneak] Visit to Iraq
A man, apparently a journalist, threw two shoes at President Bush during a news conference in Baghdad”—The New York Times, December 14, 2008–http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/12/14/multimedia/1194835546483/bush-makes-final-visit-to-iraq.html
“Hitting someone with a shoe is a strong insult in Iraq. It means the person is as low as the dirt underneath the sole of a shoe, and the actions of Muntader al-Zaidi, a correspondent for an independent Iraqi television station, were condemned by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the Iraqi government and other reporters at the news conference. Mr. Bush was unhurt and made a joke afterward, but the shoes have overshadowed other news coverage of the trip, including an attempt to showcase the new security agreement.” NYT, 12/15/2008
Video: Bush Dodges Shoes on Visit to Iraq:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/12/14/multimedia/1194835546483/bush-makes-final-visit-to-iraq.html
Iraqi reporter shouting: “This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog.”
http://www.alarab.co.uk/index.asp?fname=\2008\12\12-16\970c1.htm&dismode=x&ts=16/12/2008%2008:07:36%20ص

No diplomacy
Biden: That SOB Saddam is rolling over in his grave
Vice President Joe Biden celebrated the 2009 Independence Day with US troops, including his soldier son Beau, at their base near Baghdad, giving a speech that mocked Saddam Hussein…. “We did it in Saddam’s palace and I can think of nothing better… That SOB is rolling over in his grave right now.”
Alarabiya, 7/4/2009, http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/07/04/77806.html
Haaretz, 7/4/2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097692.html

The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC)
The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) was created in 1991 as a subsidiary organ of the UN Security Council. Its mandate is to process claims and pay compensation for losses and damage suffered as a direct result of Iraq’s unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait.
UNCC received approximately 2.7 million claims seeking approximately US$352.5 billion
So far UNCC awarded approximately US$52.4 billion in respect of approximately 1.55 million of these claims.
So far UNCC paid a total of US$26 billion to individuals, corporations, governments and international organizations. http://www2.unog.ch/uncc/ataglance.htm
“Iraqi parliamentarians are demanding Israel pay billions of dollars in reparations for a 1981 Israeli attack on an Iraqi nuclear reactor, Baghdad’s daily al-Sabbah reported Thursday [2/12/2009]. “Iraq MPs seek reparation for 1981 Israeli attack on nuclear reactor,” Haaretz, 2/12/2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1063718.html
 

U.S. Occupation and Iraqi Resistance
“Marines Cast as ‘Mongols’ in Baghdad.”
Time,4/19/2003
Corporal Edward Chin, an ethnic Chinese from Burma, told CNN’s Paula Zahn (4/10/2003): “They wanted a flag on his head, the American flag.”
Aljazeera
Iraq ranked at the bottom of the 149 countries on the Global Peace Index 2010, http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data/#/2010/iraq/IQ
Baghdad ranked at the bottom of the 221 cities of the world’s best quality of living cities in 2010, http://www.vancouversun.com/life/food/Vancouver+Canucks+figure+they+need+momentum+Game+tonight/2944199/Vienna+world+best+city+live+Study/3073294/story.html?id=3073294#ixzz0qUeKeRCl

*

98.8 percent of the inmates in American detention centers in Iraq are Iraqis. The New York Times, 11/22/07
92.7 percent of coalition casualties in Iraq are Americans, CNN, 11/22/07

“Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in Iraq”
“Signed in duplicate in Baghdad on this 17th day of November, 2008, in the English and Arabic languages, each text being equally authentic”
“Article 4: Missions: “The Government of Iraq requests the temporary assistance of the United States Forces for the purposes of supporting Iraq in its efforts to maintain security and stability in Iraq, including cooperation in the conduct of operations against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, outlaw groups, and remnants of the former regime.”
Article 12: Jurisdiction: “The United States shall have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction over members of the United States Forces and of the civilian component for matters arising inside agreed facilities and areas; during duty status outside agreed facilities and areas; and in circumstances not covered by paragraph 1.”
Article 21: Claims: “With the exception of claims arising from contracts, each Party shall waive the right to claim compensation against the other Party for any damage, loss, or destruction of property, or compensation for injuries or deaths that could happen to members of the force or civilian component of either Party arising out of the performance of their official duties in Iraq.”
Article 24: Withdrawal of the United States Forces from Iraq: “All the United States Forces shall withdraw from all Iraqi territory no later than December 31, 2011”
Article 26 Iraqi Assets: “the United States shall ensure maximum efforts to: a. Support Iraq to obtain forgiveness of international debt resulting from the policies of the former regime. b. Support Iraq to achieve a comprehensive and final resolution of outstanding reparation claims inherited from the previous regime, including compensation requirements imposed by the UN Security Council on Iraq.”
Article 27: Deterrence of Security Threats: (1) “In the event of any external or internal threat or aggression against Iraq that would violate its sovereignty, political independence, or territorial integrity, waters, airspace, its democratic system or its elected institutions, and upon request by the Government of Iraq, the Parties shall immediately initiate strategic deliberations and, as may be mutually agreed, the United States shall take appropriate measures, including diplomatic, economic, or military measures, or any other measure, to deter such a threat… Iraqi land, sea, and air shall not be used as a launching or transit point for attacks against other countries.”
Source: The New York Times, 11/19/2008, http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/20081119_SOFA_FINAL_AGREED_TEXT

Dr. Dhari: Forthcoming Election is Formality
Dr. Sheikh Harith al-Dhari Secretary General of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (HEYET) stated his suspicion over the transparency and fairness of the elections scheduled for Iraq in the seventh of March.  
Sheikh al-Dari in an interview with the agency of Quds Press told that the results of these elections were pre-prepared by the U.S. administration and distributed to political allies in Iraq… 
He stressed that the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (HEYET) will not be part of the forthcoming legislative elections, nor of the political process which is under brutal occupation.  
Prof. Dr. Harith al-Dari described the current political process as a way to legalize the occupation and the confirmation of American hegemony over Iraq saying: “We will not be a party in the electoral process and in the political process as long as the occupation exists in Iraq. It is a principle we abide by it and we will be at the same position till the withdrawal of the occupation. Because realities on the ground proved that the political process is not the right path to the security of Iraq and its liberation. But it has been and still the U.S. project to achieve the wishes of America and its allies. ”  
Sheikh Dari drew attention to the current political process saying: “It is fully built on the quota system and the constitution is biased and far from many communities in Iraq. Then the so-called security pact came to mortgage Iraq to decades and even centuries.  
Secretary General clarified that the U.S. administration does not comply with provisions of the humiliated Agreement signed by the current government at end of 2008, as America will not withdraw from Iraqi cities during 2009 and will not withdraw from Iraq in 2011. It has also not committed to defending Iraq’s borders and sovereignty… 
He pointed out that Iran is now roaming in Iraq in full view and eyes of the world, even it occupied al Fakka oil well that is Iraqi oil without doubt. When it is asked about America, she said that it is an internal matter, as if Iran and Iraq are one thing!! . .  
Prof. Dr. Harith al-Dari concluded his statement saying that the “next election will be a formality and seats will be deployed by U.S. forces to allied forces, which would extend the security agreement. So do not count on anyone to these elections and  should not pay attention to the media in the Arab world.” AMSI, 3/6/2010, http://www.heyetnet.org/eng/amsinews/5311-dhari-forthcoming-election-is-formality.html

Guide to groups competing in Iraqi polls
STATE OF LAW COALITION–This alliance is led by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and purportedly cuts across religious and tribal lines.
IRAQI NATIONAL ALLIANCE (INA)–This mainly Shia alliance is seen as one of the biggest rivals to the prime minister’s coalition.
KURDISTAN ALL–The Kurdish coalition is dominated by the two parties administering Iraq’s northern, semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
AL-IRAQIYYA (IRAQI NATIONAL MOVEMENT)–This alliance includes national Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, former prime minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia, and senior Sunni politician Saleh al-Mutlaq. They ran on a nationalist platform.
UNITY OF IRAQ COALITION–This group brings together a range of significant political figures, including Interior Minister Jawad Bolani and a leader of the Sunni anti-al-Qaeda militia in al-Anbar province, Ahmad Abu-Risha.
IRAQI ACCORD FRONT/AL-TAWAFUQ FRONT–The Iraqi Accord Front, an alliance of parties led by Sunni politicians, participated in the December 2005 elections but has since been weakened by splits and defections. It includes the Speaker of parliament Ayad al-Samarrai.
TRIBAL LEADERS–Tribal leaders were courted by major parties as it was thought they would play an important role in the election. Some of Iraq’s Sunni tribal leaders sprang to prominence when US forces began backing local sheikhs against al Qaeda in 2006.
MINORITIES–Smaller minorities, including Turkmen, Christians, Yazidis, Sabeans, Shabak and others, were thought likely to ally with bigger electoral lists in areas where they were not dominant.

BBC, 3/8/2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8540347.stm

Iraq election turnout 62%, officials say
Voting to elect 325-member parliament.
About 19 million eligible voters out of 28 million
Around 6,200 candidates from 86 factions competing
200,000 security personnel on duty in Baghdad
Key issues: Security, services and disqualification of alleged Baathists
Previous votes: Jan 2005 (transitional national assembly), Oct 2005 (constitution), Dec 2005 first post-invasion parliament, Feb 2009 (local elections)
BBC, 3/9/2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8556065.stm

Iraq coalition talks ‘open to all’ – Iyad Allawi
The leader of the secular alliance that narrowly won Iraq’s parliamentary election has offered to work with all parties to form a coalition government.
Iyad Allawi said his Iraqiya bloc would start by talking with the rival State of Law alliance of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, which it beat by two seats.
Mr Maliki has refused to accept the result and said he would challenge the count through the
courts.
Both the UN and US envoys to Iraq have said the 7 March poll was credible.
There is concern that a challenge to the result could be lengthy and divisive, endangering progress towards greater stability.
Sectarian violence erupted in Iraq as politicians took months to form a government after the last parliamentary election in 2005.
Police on Saturday raised the death toll to at least 52 from twin bombings a day earlier near a restaurant in the town of Khalis, 80km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. More than 70 people were injured in the blasts. BBC, 3/27/2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8590630.stm
Iyad Allawi has appointed a member of his bloc to begin coalition talks

Talabani, Hill discuss political moves and talks among winning blocs
Baghdad (NINA) – President Jalal Talabani discussed on Thursday evening, Apr. 1, with American Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, the on going political moves and talks among political blocs that won the election.
In the meeting, Talabani stressed, “The necessity to provide suitable ground for joint work and constructive cooperation toward entrenching genuine partnership in the coming government.”
He pointed out to the efforts being exerted to activate and expand dialogue among political forces toward consolidating national unity.
They also discussed the Iraq-American relations on all levels.
For his part, Ambassador Hill asserted his country’s resolve to go ahead in supporting Iraq’s political and democratic process. / End

NINA, 4/1/2010, http://www.ninanews.com/English/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=ELLGEF

Video: The secret files:
Washington, Israel and the Gulf/ WETA, Washington. 1 videocassette (VHS) (60 min.), DS63.2.U5 S34 1992, Scheduled to be shown
Discusses how secret agreements and documents, since declassified, helped to shape U.S. foreign policy which led to our involvement in the Persian Gulf War of 1991.
The video reveals that in a 1943 secret memo to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, special envoy to the Middle East US Army Lt. Col. Harold Hoskins, warned against the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine: “… Not only you as President but the American people as a whole should realize that, if the American government decides to support the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine… they are committing the American people to the use of force in that area, since only by force can a Jewish state in Palestine be established or maintained.”

Video: Unfinished Business
An expose on the U.S. government’s overt and covert attempts to oust Sadam Hussein from power in Iraq
By Peter Jennings, ABC News, 1997
The Anti-Saddam Comic Book: PETER JENNINGS (VO) “According to the Rendon group’s own records, which we have obtained, Rendon spent more than $23 million in the first year of its contract alone. Rendon organized a traveling photo exhibit of Iraqi atrocities. He produced videos and radio skits that ridiculed Saddam Hussein, even an anti-Saddam comic book. The mission to eliminate the Iraqi dictator began as a covert public relations campaign.”
The CIA considered even depicting Saddam as gay
“According to the Washington Post’s security blog, some of America’s spooks believed that shooting a fake video of Saddam cavorting with a teenage boy might destabilise his regime in the runup to the US-led invasion in 2003. “It would look like it was taken by a hidden camera. Very grainy, like it was a secret videotaping of a sex session,” the Washington Post quoted one former CIA official as saying.
Nor was the Saddam sex tape the only idea floating around the more bizarre corners of the CIA’s Iraq Operations Group. Other ploys involved interrupting Iraqi television with a false newsflash that would announce Saddam was handing over power to his hated and feared son Uday. The presumed idea was to shock the Iraqi people into rising up against their leaders and thus make the invasion a lot easier.
Perhaps thankfully, the tape and fake news broadcast were never made and the Post reported that top CIA brass repeatedly rejected the ideas.” The Guardian, 5/26/2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/26/cia-saddam-hussein-gay-sex-smear-plot

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Video: Paying the Price: John Pilger exposes the devastating effect that UN sanctions have had on the children of Iraq. 2000
In a hard-hitting special report, award-winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger investigates the effects of sanctions on the people of Iraq and finds that ten years of extraordinary isolation, imposed by the UN and enforced by the US and Britain, have killed more people than the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
The UN Security Council imposed the sanctions and demanded the destruction of Saddam Hussein’s chemical and biological weapons under the supervision of a UN Special Commission (UNSCOM). Iraq is permitted to sell a limited amount of oil in exchange for some food and medicine.
Pilger takes the former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Denis Halliday, back to the crippled country for the first time since he resigned in protest over the sanctions back in September 1998. Together, they reveal an extraordinary portrait of life in a country with a decaying infrastructure and a population that Pilger says is being held hostage to the compliance of Saddam Hussein.
Pilger has brought back disturbing evidence that the “holds” on humanitarian supplies have paralyzed the country and devastated millions of people, many dying from curable diseases because life saving drugs are only available intermittently. He also finds that the breakdown of the clean water system and health facilities are having a tragic effect on young children, contributing to an alarming rise in their mortality rate.
Pilger also exposes the suffering caused to the civilian population by the illegal bombing campaign being conducted by US and Britain in the “no-fly zones” in northern and southern Iraq.

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Video: Hijacking catastrophe: 9/11, fear, & the selling of American empire
This film discusses how the events of September 11, 2001 have influenced United States politics, from advancing a pre-existing military agenda to curtailing civil liberties and social programs. Places the Bush administration’s justifications for the war in the context of the struggle by neo-conservatives to increase American power globally by means of force. Contends that the administration has deliberately manipulated intelligence, political imagery, and fear to garner support for American military intervention.
Written & directed by Jeremy Earp & Sut Jhally; Produced by Jeremy Earp; Edited by Kenyon King; Includes the full 64 min. version, an abridged 34 min. version, and 161 min. of additional footage, 2004.

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Video:
Iraqi Exodus: The Iraq War and the Middle East’s Refugee Crisis
This Wide Angle report travels to the front lines of the staggering refugee crisis that continues to unfold in the Middle East as Iraqis flee their war-torn hometowns to live either as exiles in neighboring countries or dislocated within Iraq’s borders. The situation in Syria and Jordan, where refugees cope with their new surroundings amidst government pressure and rising resentment from the local population, are spotlighted. In addition, Aaron Brown speaks with regional leaders about how the catastrophe is impacting the Middle East—and these millions of homeless Iraqis whose hope of return grows dimmer with each passing year. HV 640.5 .I75 I73 2008 (57 mn).

http://video.pbs.org/video/1163078349/search/Iraqi%20Exodus/tag/Iraqi%20Exodus

Think Tanks
In political strategy, a think tank is a group or an institution or a committee of experts organized to undertake intensive research and to give advice, especially to a government . Because they often receive funding from private donors, think tanks escape academic and government scrutiny and accountability.

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Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, Robert Kagan, Michael Ledeen, William Kristol, Frank Gaffney Jr. Source: The Christian Science Monitor, June 2005
“If there is an intellectual movement in America to whose invention Jews can lay sole claim, neoconservatism is it.”
Source: Forward (Volume 109, Issue 31,583), January 6, 2006, page 12.
Key neoconservative figures
Compare/contrast the views of the neoconservatives (who support Israel) and the conservatives (who oppose Israel)
Pat Buchanan: Hitler wasn’t a threat to U.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srwk5WwroXY&feature=related
CNN – David Duke vs. Blitzer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpTKbrgUz-s&feature=related
The Neoconservative Branch of the Israel Lobby

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The Power of Nightmares
In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1037.htm

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Leo Strauss Fathered the Neoconservatives
Edward Rothstein wrote:
“Could any tyrant have plotted a more patient, thorough and ruthless path to power? Leo Strauss, the political philosopher who died in 1973, might have seemed just a harmless German-Jewish emigre, teaching Plato and Machiavelli at the University of Chicago.
But according to recent critics, he was actually preparing an intellectual putsch, which would take place 30 years after his death and culminate in the war in Iraq. His students and followers, these critics say, learned their lessons well and like good soldiers began a long march through a variety of institutions, seeking control. They maneuvered into foundations, institutes and departments of state and war. Then they began their shadow rule, leading the nation into foolhardy war.” …
Leo Strauss was “a believer in the use of ”noble lies” to manipulate the masses.” Strauss has been linked to “Paul Wolfowitz, the former deputy secretary of defense; and Richard Perle, former chairman of the Defense Policy Board” [emphasis added]…..
The New York Times, 10 July 2006.

Leo Strauss: the intellectual father of the Neo-Cons/Leo-Cons..The child of middle-class Orthodox Jews, Strauss converted to Zionism while still in his teens… He advocated Zionism as a kind of “honest atheism.”
The neoconservatives “carry around literary or political magazines, not the Bible; they wear tweed jackets, not the petrol blue suits of Southern televangelists. Most of the time, they profess liberal ideas on social and moral questions. They are trying neither to ban abortion nor to impose school prayer. Their ambition lies elsewhere.” By “elsewhere” is meant the world of Washington politics and power…” President Bush told them: “You are some of the best brains in our country and my government employs about 20 of you.” …”Employs” is too weak a verb,” wrote James Atlas.
Leo Strauss, Leo Strauss: The Early Writings, 1921-1932, translated and edited by Michael Zank, State University of New York Press, 2002, page 64.
The New York Times, May 4, 2003
“I wish to say that the founder of Zionism, Herzl, was fundamentally a conservative man, guided in his Zionism by conservative considerations. The moral spine of the Jews was in danger of being broken by the so-called emancipation which in many cases has alienated them from their heritage, and yet not given them anything more than merely formal equality; it had brought about a condition which has been called “external freedom and inner servitude”… Political Zionism is problematic for obvious reasons. But I can never forget what it achieved as a moral force in an era of complete dissolution. It helped to stem the tide of “progressive” leveling of venerable, ancestral differences; it fulfilled a conservative function.” Leo Strauss’ Letter to the Editor of National Review, January 5, 1956, http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/005967.html

Neoconservative Political Strategy
In his book Breaking Ranks, Norman Podhoretz pinpoints the focus of the neoconservative branch of the Israel lobby: (1) “The inextricable connection between the survival of Israel and American military strength” (page 351), and (2) therefore supporting Israel means supporting “the [U.S.] defense appropriations out of which aid to Israel had to come” (page 357).
The neoconservatives reinforce the belief that America is “the only force for good”
The neoconservatives praise Theodore Roosevelt’s “big stick” and some of Woodrow Wilson’s ideals
The neoconservatives assert inspiring myths (true or not) that everyone could believe
The neoconservatives preach the myths in public without necessarily having to believe it in private
The neoconservatives talk about universalism to cover up their particularism

Norman Podhoretz, Breaking Ranks: A political Memoir (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1979), pages 357 and 351. See also Adam Curtis, The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear, A 2005 BBC film, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1037.htm

The Project for the New American Century Think Tank
“Established in the spring of 1997, the Project for the New American Century is a non-profit, educational organization whose goal is to promote American global leadership. The Project is an initiative of the New Citizenship Project (501c3); the New Citizenship Project’s chairman is William Kristol and its president is Gary Schmitt.”
Source: http://www.newamericancentury.org/aboutpnac.htm

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Signatories of the Letter Calling for the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime from power in Iraq
Elliott Abrams
Richard L. Armitage
William J. Bennett
Jeffrey Bergner
John Bolton
Paula Dobriansky
Francis Fukuyama
Robert Kagan
Zalmay Khalilzad
William Kristol
Richard Perle
Peter W. Rodman
Donald Rumsfeld
William Schneider, Jr.
Vin Weber
Paul Wolfowitz
R. James Woolsey
Robert B. Zoellick

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Neocons’ Letter to President Clinton (January 26, 1998)
“We urge you to seize that opportunity, and to enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the U.S. and our friends and allies around the world. That strategy should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime from power. We stand ready to offer our full support in this difficult but necessary endeavor.”

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Neocons’ Letter to Newt Gingrich,
Speaker of the House, and Trent Lott
Senate Majority Leader
May 29, 1998
We recommended [to Clinton] a substantial change in the direction of U.S. policy: Instead of further, futile efforts to “contain” Saddam, we argued that the only way to protect the United States and its allies from the threat of weapons of mass destruction was to put in place policies that would lead to the removal of Saddam and his regime from power. http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqletter1998.htm

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President Clinton Signed The Iraq Liberation Act of October 31, 1998
“This is in our interest and that of our allies within the region” —–President Clinton

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Neocons’ Proposal of Rebuilding America’s Defenses
September 2000
The Neocons indicated that to speed up the process of transformation they had in mind they need:
“some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”

[One year later, 9/11 provided the ‘catalyzing event’ used by the neoconservatives to ‘justify’ the Iraq war]

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Neocons’ Letter to President Bush (September 20, 2001)
…. “But even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the [9/11] attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq”

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Vice President Cheney Kicked off the campaign for Iraq war on 8/26/2002
6. 8/26/2002: “The risks of inaction are far greater than the risk of action,” Cheney told a meeting of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. http://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/08/26/cheney.iraq/index.html

5. 8/16/2002: CBSNews.com reported: “Israel To U.S.: Don’t Delay Iraq Attack”

4. 8/13/2002: Israeli Prime Minister Sharon told the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Knesset that Iraq “is the greatest danger facing Israel.”

3. 6/8/2002, former Israeli Prime Minister Barak wrote in the Washington Post: Bush “should, first of all, focus on Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein.”

2. 5/12/2002: Israeli Foreign Minister Peres appeared on CNN to say that “Saddam Hussein is as dangerous as bin Laden”

1. 4/14/2002: former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu came to Washington to brief U.S Senators and the editor of the Washington Post on the removal of Saddam. Mearsheimer & Walt, p 234

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Bernard Lewis:
Dick Cheney’s intellectual and political mentor on the Middle East
US Vice President Dick Cheney considers Bernard Lewis his intellectual and political mentor on the Middle East when he said “You simply cannot find a greater authority on Middle Eastern history — from classical Islamic civilization, to the Ottoman Empire, to the modern period — than this man [Lewis Bernard] and his works.”… After listening to Bernard Lewis’ advice on “the history and the way forward in the Middle East” following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney said “I decided that day that this was a man I wanted to keep in touch with, and whose work I should follow carefully in the years ahead. Since then we have met often, particularly during the last four-and-a-half years, and Bernard has always had some very good meetings with President Bush… More than three decades ago, at the height of a secular era, he wrote a prescient article titled The Return of Islam. In the 1970s he studied the writings of an obscure cleric named Khomeini, and saw the seeds of a movement that would deliver theocratic despotism. In 1990, he wrote The Roots of Muslim Rage, which anticipated the terrorism of that decade. And in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media.”[1]

[1] Dick Cheney, “Vice President’s Remarks at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia Luncheon Honoring Professor Bernard Lewis,” Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1 May 2006,
The White House, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/05/20060501-3.html

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Bernard Lewis and the Iraq War
“When Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait in 1990, … Almost every Middle expert in the country was invited to Washington and was asked his comments on the situation. That was my first meeting with high-level official Washington, and more important, my first meeting with Dick Cheney, at that time Secretary of Defense. We met on subsequent occasions over the years… The general feeling was that this …could be ‘another Vietnam’… I told them that I thought that the war, when it came, would be ‘quick, cheap and easy.’… The prompt and effective American response not only saved Kuwait but also Saudi Arabia, which was threatened and whose rulers relied entirely on American action to save them. Indeed, a quip at the time was that the marching song of the Saudi Arabian armed forces was ‘Onward Christian Soldiers.’ … I was invited to Cheney’s home twice after 9/11 to dine with him and a small group of staff. My task was to talk about the Middle East and Islam and I found them a receptive audience asking excellent questions… I was invited to meet President George W. Bush on three occasions’—Source: Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian, Bernard Lewis with Buntzie Ellis Churchill, Viking, New York, 2012, pages 324, 326, 330, 331 .
Jacob Weisberg regards Bernard Lewis, who received the National Humanities Medal from President Bush in 2006 and the Irving Kristol Award from his disciples at the American Enterprise Institute in 2007, as “the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq.”[1]
[1] Jacob Weisberg, “Party of Defeat: AEI’s Weird Celebration,” Slate, 14 March 2007, accessed 30 June 2007, http://www.slate.com/id/2161800

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The Iraq war is one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad
Thomas L. Friedman wrote in an “Editorial Desk” of The New York Times (November 30, 2003): “this [Iraq] war is the most important liberal, revolutionary U.S. democracy-building project since the Marshall Plan… it is one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad and it is a moral and strategic imperative that we give it our best shot.”

Paul Wolfowitz:
“Jerusalem Post’s Man of the Year”
2003
Paul Wolfowitz is “the principal author of the doctrine of preemption, which framed the war in Iraq” [and which became Bush Doctrine]….. he was declared the Jerusalem Post’s Man of the Year (the Jerusalem Post emphasized that “of course the year we are speaking of is the Jewish year”) in 2003 after U.S. forces invaded and occupied Iraq as he advised Bush to do so at a meeting in Camp David on September 15, 2001.
The Jerusalem Post, September 26, 2003.

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Shadia Drury documents [father of neoconservatives] German-Jewish émigré Leo Strauss’s understanding of the three types of men: the wise, the gentlemen, and the vulgar:
The wise are the lovers of the harsh unadulterated truth. They are capable of looking into the abyss without fear and trembling; for they recognize neither God nor moral imperatives. They are devoted above all else to their own pursuit of the ‘higher’ pleasures, which amount to consorting with their ‘puppies’ or young initiates.
The second type is the gentlemen, who are lovers of honour and glory. They are the biggest dupes for the conventions of their society, or the ‘illusions of the cave’, in Straussian lingo. Gentlemen are the true believer in God, honour, and moral imperatives; as a result, they are ready and willing to embark on acts of great courage and self-sacrifice on a moment’s notice.
The third type is the vulgar many who are lovers of wealth and pleasure. They are selfish, slothful, and indolent. They can be inspired to rise above their brutish existence only by fear of impending death or catastrophe.
The covert rule of the philosophers is facilitated by the overwhelming credulity of the gentlemen. For all his nobility, the gentleman is gullible and unworldly. And the more gullible and unperceptive he is, the easier it is for the wise to control and manipulate him. The philosopher must impart to him the harsh truths about the word and about his inferiors without destroying his ideals. The message is this. You are noble and honest; and the world is bound to be a better place if noble men such as yourself reign supreme. But virtue is bound to be defeated if she is naïve enough to play by the rules. If you want political power and success, you have to rely on deception, guile, and fraud. Besides, you know what the ordinary masses are like; they are content to live and die like beasts—eating, drinking, gambling, and fornicating. If you wish to move them to acts or courage and self-sacrifice, you must make them believe that their very existence is under threat. Anyone who thinks that politics is possible without guile and fraud is a fool. In this way, the wise provides the gentlemen with a brutalizing education. George W. Bush may well have been the perfect gentleman.”
Shadia B. Drury, The Political Ideas of Leo Strauss, Updated Edition with a New Introduction by the Author, New York: Palgrave Macmilla, 2005, pages xv-xvi.

President Bush’s academic credentials
President Bush received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University in 1968 and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975. He began a career in the energy business.
Source: The White House, “Biography of President George W. Bush,” http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/biography.html

“This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile.” —President Bush
Immediately after the terrorist attacks of Sep 11, 2001, US Pres George W. Bush referred to America’s war on terrorism as a “crusade.”

Vern L Bullough, “Set a place for Islam,” Free Inquiry, Buffalo: Spring 2002, Vol. 22, Iss. 2; pg. 20, 2 pgs
Anonymous, “Crusade in Iraq?” The Christian Century, Chicago: April 5, 2005, Vol. 122, Iss. 7; pg. 60, 2 pgs
Gary Leupp, “Is the war on terrorism really a Crusade?” The Arab American News, Dearborn, Mich.: June 4-June 10, 2005, Vol. 21, Iss. 1008; pg. 13

“The war was about weapons of mass destruction”
No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq
No ties between Iraq and AlQaeda existed
No threats to US security existed in Iraq
How Zionists Corrupt Knowledge
Those who induced the U.S. to war in the Middle East deployed knowledge like a weapon. With lengthy pre-staging, a narrative emerged that made it appear plausible—even desirable—to invade Iraq in response to the provocation of 911.
In retrospect, we now know that the knowledge on which the U.S. relied was false. All of it.
Iraqi WMD. Iraqi ties to Al Qaeda. Iraqi meetings in Prague with Al Qaeda. Iraqi yellowcake uranium from Niger. Iraqi mobile biological laboratories. All false, all traceable to pro-Israelis and all portrayed as true by media outlets dominated by pro-Israelis.
http://criminalstate.com/2011/01/the-seduction-of-the-knowledge-based-society/
http://criminalstate.com/2010/01/criminal-state-documentary/

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“The war was about spreading democracy”
US closest friends and allies in the Middle East are eight Arab monarchies (Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and one Jewish ethnocracy (The State of Israel).
The Iraqi resistance movements question the legitimacy of the Iraqi Constitution because it was written under foreign occupation. The same could be said about the Iraqi elections.
The democratically elected Palestinian government (2006) was greeted by sanctions and blockade because it was led by Hamas (Arabic acronym of Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, or Islamic Resistance Movement), which does not recognize Israel very much as Israel does not recognize Hamas.

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“The war was about oil”
There is no public record of the big oil companies supporting the war in Iraq or the current confrontation with Iran. —James Petras, Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York
President Bush repeatedly promised to replace more than 75% of US oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.
Third, President Obama’s ENERGY POLICY states explicitly that its central goal is to “end our addiction to foreign oil” and eliminate our current imports from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 Years.”
The American Jewish Committee’s top ENERGY POLICY is focused on ending US oil imports from the Middle East as a strategy to weaken Arab dominated OPEC
NB: oil prices increased from around $22 a barrel in 2002 (before the Iraq war) to $147 in July 2008

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The Iraq Study Group Report concludes that the United States “will not be able to achieve its goals in the Middle East unless the United States deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict.” p. 39. http://www.usip.org/isg/iraq_study_group_report/report/1206/iraq_study_group_report

Population: 33.6 million (2009 est.)
Ethnic groups: Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%
Religions: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%
Languages: Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%, Pashto (official) 35%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism
GDP per capita (OER): $390 (2008 est.) (US: $47,000)
Border countries: China 76 km, Iran 936 km, Pakistan 2,430 km, Tajikistan 1,206 km, Turkmenistan 744 km, Uzbekistan 137 km
Geography of Afghanistan

The Khyber Pass links Afghanistan and Pakistan
Afghanistan’s distinctive relief and ethnic makeup

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The Soviet-Afghan War, 1979-89
When Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the CIA (under President Carter and his NSA Brzezinski, and under Reagan and Bush administrations) and its associates elsewhere in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and China organized and trained a mujahedeen army of Afghani, Arab, and Pakistani Muslims to fight and defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan

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The Soviet-Afghan War, 1979-89
The Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) ended with the defeat of the Soviet Union and the destruction of Afghanistan.
The war killed between 700,000 and 1.3 million Afghans and threw another 4.5 million into refugee camps in Pakistan and Iran, while about 15,000 Soviet troops were killed and 37,000 wounded in Afghanistan

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Movements of CIA-trained guerillas and drugs outwards from Afghanistan after the 1979-89 Afghanistan war. Cooley’s Unholy Wars, page vii.

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656.unknown

Defining Terrorism
“Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant [including military personnel who at the time of the incident are unarmed or not on duty] targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience”—Title 22 of the United States Code, Section 2656f(d), http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1999report/intro.html
Does Terrorism Work?
Following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, Israel accepted to negotiate with the Palestinians in 1993
Following Hezbollah’s attacks, Israel accepted to withdraw from southern Lebanon in 2000
Following Al-Qaida’s 9/11 attacks, the US accepted the principle of a Palestinian state in 20002
Following Hamas’ suicide bombing campaigns, Israel accepted to withdraw from Gaza in 2005

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Senate study:
Bin Laden was within our reach
WASHINGTON (AP) — Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.
The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden’s escape laid the foundation for today’s reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.
Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaeda leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
USA Today, 11/29/2009, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-11-29-senate-report-bin-laden_N.htm

Excerpts: Bin Laden video
BBC, 29 October, 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3966817.stm
“I will speak to you about the reasons behind these incidents [9/11 attacks]. I will honestly tell you about the minutes in which the decision was made so that you will consider. …The events that influenced me directly trace back to 1982 and subsequent events when the United States gave permission to the Israelis to invade Lebanon, with the aid of the sixth US fleet. … While I was looking at those destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me to punish the unjust one in a similar manner by destroying towers in the United States so that it would feel some of what we felt and to be deterred from killing our children and women…”

“By his own account, KSM [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks]’s animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experience there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. policy favoring Israel.” p. 147

Report claims CIA used ‘torture’
BBC, 3/16/2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7945783.stm
‘INTERROGATION METHODS’
CIA interrogation techniques used on al-Qaeda suspects “constituted torture”, according to a leaked report by the international Red Cross.
Waterboarding
Beatings
Sleep deprivation
Prolonged stress standing
Prolonged nudity
Confinement in a box
Denial of solid food
Source: ICRC Report
“I was told that they would not allow me to die but that I would be brought to the ‘verge of death and back again”—Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

CIA director: Tapes of interrogations destroyed
The tapes were made in 2002 and destroyed in 2005, CIA Director Michael Hayden said in a letter to CIA employees obtained by CNN. CNN, 12/7/2007
President Bush: “I cannot describe the specific methods used [against Abu Zubaida]” BBC News , 9/6/2006

David Rose, a Vanity Fair contributing editor, wrote:
I ask [F.B.I. director Robert] Mueller: So far as he is aware, have any attacks on America been disrupted thanks to intelligence obtained through what the administration still calls “enhanced techniques”?
“I’m really reluctant to answer that,” Mueller says. He pauses, looks at an aide, and then says quietly, declining to elaborate: “I don’t believe that has been the case.”
David Rose, “Tortured Reasoning,” Vanity Fair, December 16, 2008,
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2008/12/torture200812?printable=true&currentPage=all
After reports of Abu Zubaydah’s torture, F.B.I. director Robert Mueller—pictured here before the Senate Intelligence Committee in February 2008—agreed that the bureau should play no part in future C.I.A. interrogations that use extreme techniques. By Ken Cedeno/Bloomberg News/Landov.

Terre Haute soldier killed in Afghanistan
U.S. Army Sgt. Dale Griffin — a TH South graduate — killed by roadside bomb
The Tribune Star, 10/28/2009 http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_story_301210400.html?keyword=topstory
By Arthur E. Foulkes
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — A Terre Haute serviceman was among several U.S. military service personnel killed Tuesday in Afghanistan.
U.S. Army Sgt. Dale Russel Griffin, a 1999 Terre Haute South Vigo High School graduate, died after the vehicle in which he was traveling with several other soldiers was struck by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.
wGriffin, who was a part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, joined the Army immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to his mother, Dona Griffin, who was interviewed by the Tribune-Star earlier this month. At the time of that interview, Dona Griffin and husband Gene were leading volunteers at the Terre Haute Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints making about 40 blankets for U.S. servicemen and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While a senior at Terre Haute South, Dale Griffin was the state runner-up in wrestling in the 189-pound weight class. The following year, he won his weight class to help lead the Virginia Military Institute to a fourth-place finish in the All-Academy Wrestling Championship in 2000 at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He was named that tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.
News reports from Afghanistan state that roadside bombs — also known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs — claimed the lives of eight American soldiers in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Seven military service members and an Afghan civilian were killed in one attack hen an IED struck the vehicle in which they were riding while on patrol. An eighth soldier was killed in a separate attack, also by a roadside bomb blast.
According to an unnamed U.S. defense official quoted by the Associated Press, at least one of Tuesday’s blasts was followed by an intense exchange of gunfire with insurgents. A total of 55 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan this month.
Funeral arrangements for Dale Griffin are pending.
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

Idea Exchange 
U.S. Marines speak with elders during a meeting in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Sept. 1, 2009. The Marines, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, are meeting with residents to determine ways they can better serve one another. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Christopher R. Rye—US Department of Defense Official Website, 9/7/2009, http://www.defenselink.mil/
91,000 secret U.S. military documents on Afghanistan
“Summary
25th July 2010 5:00 PM EST
WikiLeaks has released a document set called the Afghan War Diary, an extraordinary compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.
The reports, while written by soldiers and intelligence officers, and mainly describing lethal military actions involving the United States military, also include intelligence information, reports of meetings with political figures, and related details.
The document collection is available on a dedicated webpage [http://wardiary.wikileaks.org].
The reports cover most units from the US Army with the exception of most US Special Forces’ activities. The reports do not generally cover top secret operations or European and other ISAF Forces operations.
We have delayed the release of some 15,000 reports from the total archive as part of a harm minimization process demanded by our source. After further review, these reports will be released, with occasional redactions, and eventually in full, as the security situation in Afghanistan permits.” — http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary,_2004-2010

Similarity between the two Afghan wars
“On the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall [1989], it is now the US that is losing a war in Afghanistan, a war unlike the one that indirectly contributed to the breakup of the USSR. Where coalition forces today battle the Taliban and al-Qaeda, the Soviets in the 1980s fought the mujahideen, a Muslim army of volunteers that Moscow called terrorists. The anti-Soviet jihad, a brutal war funded by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Saudis, became too costly for Moscow, almost bankrupting the Soviet state. In a painful and humiliating withdrawal, the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989, just a few months before the implosion of the Soviet system… The similarities between the two Afghan wars are countless. The Soviet generals kept requesting more men in order to gain control of this vast land because its high-tech war machinery did not work against such evasive enemies… Perhaps the most remarkable similarity between the two wars resides in their final objective: to transform Afghanistan into a friendly country by turning its political status into a replica of the invading superpower’s”
Loretta Napoleoni, Terrorism and the economy: how the war on terror is bankrupting the world (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2009), page xvii

Population: 176 million (2009 est.)
Ethnic groups: Punjabi 44.68%, Pashtun (Pathan) 15.42%, Sindhi 14.1%, Sariaki 8.38%, Muhagirs 7.57%, Balochi 3.57%, other 6.28%
Religions: Muslim 95% (Sunni 75%, Shia 20%), other (includes Christian and Hindu) 5%
Languages: Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official; lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski and other 8%
GDP per capita (OER): $914 (2008 est.) (US: $47,000)
Border countries: Afghanistan 2,430 km, China 523 km, India 2,912 km, Iran 909 km –CIA
Geography of Pakistan

Pakistan’s millions displaced
Camp life for over 2 million Pakistanis displaced by conflict in the north-west region
United Nations Photo series http://www.un.org/apps/news/photostories_detail.asp?PsID=44

“America wanted to be here [in Afghanistan] to denuclearize, deislamise and delink Pakistan from China; a Zionist dream” –Raja Mujtaba, Managing Editor of Opinion Maker, http://www.opinion-maker.org/2010/07/the-last-hiccups-of-the-falling-empire/

[Israel Defense Force Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi] Ashkenazi’s India trip marks strong ties
Jerusalem Post, 12/7/2009
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1259831476468&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
“Amid a blossoming of Indian-Israeli defense relations, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi embarked on five-day visit to the Far East on Sunday, touching down in the Indian capital of New Delhi, where he will meet with his Indian counterpart, Gen. Deepak Kapoor.
The IDF Spokesman said the visit was part of the deepening of relations between the two countries and their armed forces. Kapoor was here for a working visit a month ago.
“In the past year, Israel has overtaken Russia as its main defense equipment supplier, and about 30 percent of India’s defense imports come from Israel, and that number is growing,” said Col. (Ret.) Behram A. Sahukar, a former fellow in India’s Terrorism and Security Studies at the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses….
Israeli defense officials say India can obtain solutions to the threat of terrorism from Israel that cannot be obtained from other countries.
“In the light of the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 and the murder of all six Jewish/Israeli hostages at the Chabad House, India-Israeli multifaceted counter-terrorism cooperation has become even more urgently needed,” Sahukar said.
At the same time, “the Indian experience in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency differs from Israel’s in some ways, though the threat might be similar,” he added.”

Population: 66 million (2009 est.)
Ethnic groups: Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%
Religions: Muslim 98% (Shia 89%, Sunni 9%), other (includes Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha’i) 2%
Languages: Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%
GDP per capita (OER): $5,800 (2008 est.) (US: $47,000)
Border countries: Afghanistan 936 km, Armenia 35 km, Azerbaijan-proper 432 km, Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave 179 km, Iraq 1,458 km, Pakistan 909 km, Turkey 499 km, Turkmenistan 992 km
CIA
Geography of Iran

WikiLeaks, Iran, and the Peace Process
“WikiLeaks successfully removed peace talks from the news and restored talk of war with Iran.”—Jeff Gates, http://criminalstate.com/2010/12/why-is-jonathan-pollard-back-in-the-news/

“There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel’s security, and for that reason and many others addressing Iran’s nuclear program has been one of our administration’s priorities” –Vice President Joseph Biden, 3/9/2010, JTA, http://jta.org/news/article/2010/03/09/1010996/biden-no-space-between-us-israel

Population: 4 million (2009 est.)
Ethnic groups: Arab 95%, Armenian 4%, other 1%
note: many Christian Lebanese do not identify themselves as Arab but rather as descendents of the ancient Canaanites and prefer to be called Phoenicians
Religions: Muslim 59.7% (Shia, Sunni, Druze, Isma’ilite, Alawite or Nusayri), Christian 39% (Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Copt, Protestant), other 1.3%
note: 17 religious sects recognized
Languages: Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian
GDP per capita (OER): $7,000 (2008 est.) (US: $47,000)
Border countries: Israel 79 km, Syria 375 km
CIA
Geography of Lebanon

In Any Future War, Only Israelis Fleeing From Occupied Palestine May Be Safe
Al-Manar TV, 5/25/2010, http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=139021&language=en
“25/05/2010 Hezbollah marked the tenth anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation Day Tuesday at the Sayyed Al-Shouhada compound in Beirut’s southern suburb. Official, religious, military, and popular figures attended the ceremony in which Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah delivered a speech for the occasion and tackled recent developments in Lebanon and the region.
The Hezbollah chief set a new formula that will be adopted in any new war with Israel saying that Hezbollah will attack Israel-bound ships if the Zionist entity imposed a sea blockade on Lebanon. “When the world will witness how these ships will be destroyed in Palestine’s regional water nobody will dare to go there just as they will block (others) from coming to our coasts,” his eminence told thousands of supporters.
Sayyed Nasrallah’s comments came amid a five-day drill in Israel- dubbed “Turning Point 4”- which was launched on Sunday to test the home front  preparedness against possible missile strikes in any future war…
Israeli vessels used to deploy in Lebanese waters and besiege our shore; so today we add the sea to the terrain. I am not announcing that we possess a new weapon, but in 2006 we destroyed the Saar 5 vessel. What I am saying is that if you besiege our shore and our ports in any coming war, all of your military and commercial ships heading to Palestine will be under the fire of the Islamic Resistance across the Mediterranean. We are talking about the Mediterranean but we have not mentioned the Red Sea yet. We are determined to enter this new domain God willing. No one will dare sail to any port in occupied Palestine. However, if a ship with Israelis on board was leaving occupied Palestine, we might let it pass.”

Gulf Cooperation Council
External Security Challenges
“Iran—and Iraq under Saddam Hussein—opposes the inclination of the GCC states to seek assistance from international powers to balance the region’s security equation, arguing that Gulf security affairs should be restricted to the states of the Gulf. We might recall that the GCC countries have been at the forefront of those calling for this, as was mentioned in the statement of their first summit in 1981. However, Iran and Iraq did not propose a viable alternative regional security vision, and their words were contradicted by their actions. The actions of these two countries over the past decades espoused the opposite of what they had called for; this led to complications and to a strengthening of the international component of Gulf security.”
HE Abdulrahman Al Attiyah, “Security in the Gulf Region,” in Arabian Gulf Security: Internal and External Challenges, The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, 2008, pp. 13-18.

Report of the National Commission on Terrorism (Submitted June 7, 2000)
“An astute American foreign policy must take into account the reasons people turn to terror and, where appropriate and feasible, address them.”
From the Forward by Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III and Maurice Sonnenberg, Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively, of the National Commission on Terrorism. The report was submitted to the President of the United States, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House, and the Republican and Democratic parties leaders on June 7, 2000, that is six months after the National Commission on Terrorism began its Congressionally mandated evaluation of America’s laws, policies, and practices for preventing and punishing terrorism directed at American citizens. The report was titled “COUNTERING THE CHANGING THREAT OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM,” Report of the National Commission on Terrorism. Pursuant to Public Law 277, 105th Congress. http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/commission.html

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U.S. announces new airport security measures
By the CNN Wires Staff, April 2, 2010 3:39 p.m. EDT, http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/02/airline.security/index.html?hpt=T2
Washington (CNN) — All flights entering the United States now will be subjected to increased levels of security screening, the federal government announced Friday.
A senior administration official said racial or religious characteristics could be used to identify passengers requiring a more thorough review, though the official insisted the system would not constitute racial profiling.
Race or religion could be part of “fragmentary information” being used to select passengers but will be used “only when we have reliable intelligence that suggests that someone with that characteristic is a potential terrorist,” the official said.
Among other things, passengers entering the U.S. from international destinations “may notice enhanced security and random screening measures throughout the passenger check-in and boarding process, including the use of explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, canine teams, or pat downs, among other security measures,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
The new security measures are the result of a review President Obama ordered after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25.

Andrew Gamble, The Spectre at the Feast, 2009, page 14

Osama bin Laden cost the U.S. “trillions”
CNN’s Richard Quest says the estimated $2.5 trillion that Osama bin Laden cost the U.S. economy is only the beginning. CNN, 5/3/2011, http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/05/03/exp.arena.bin.laden.costs.cnn
Since Bin Laden has attacked the United States because of its support for the State of Israel, one can argue that the State of Israel has cost the United States much more than $2.5 trillion since 2001

Omar bin Laden had asked [his father Osama] why not attack Israel before America, given that Israel was a “small country near to us,” while America was a “huge country far away from our shores.”
My father paused before explaining it this way. “Omar, try to imagine a two-wheeled bicycle. One wheel is made of steel. The other wheel is made of wood. Now, my son, if you wanted to destroy the bicycle, would you destroy the wooded or the steel wheel? “The wooded wheel of course,” I replied. “You are correct my son. Remember this: America and Israel are one bicycle with two wheels. The wooden wheel represents the United States. The steel wheel represents Israel. Omar, Israel is the stronger power of the two. Does a general attack the strongest line when in battle? No, he concentrates on the weakest part of the line. The Americans are weak. It is best to attack the weakest point first. Once we take out the weak wooden wheel, the steel wheel will automatically fail. Who can ride a bicycle with only one wheel? He patted my knee with his hand. “First we obliterate America. By that I don’t mean militarily. We can destroy America from within by making it economically weak, until its markets collapse. When that happens, they will have no interest in supplying Israel with arms, for they will not have extra funds to do so. At that time, the steel wheel will corrode and be destroyed by lack of attention.” Michael Scheuer, Osama Bin Laden, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 111-112. [Michael Scheuer was the chief of the CIA’s bin Laden unit]

Statement from President Obama on death of Osama bin Laden
CNN, May 2, 2011 6:44 a.m. EDT
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON OSAMA BIN LADEN
East Room, 11:35 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/02/statement.obama/index.html

Bin Laden caught in ‘trap’ says Pakistani High Commissioner
Pakistan’s High Commissioner in the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan believes the al-Qaeda founder and leader was led to the compound where he was found in an intelligence “trap”. 
BBC, 5/2/2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13262133

Al Qaeda, in Web message, confirms bin Laden’s death
Al Qaeda released a statement on jihadist forums Friday confirming the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors Islamist websites.
The development comes days after U.S. troops killed bin Laden in a raid on a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
The statement, translated by SITE, lauded the late militant, threatened to take action against the United States, and urged Pakistanis to “rise up and revolt.”
Bin Laden’s death will serve as a “curse that chases the Americans and their agents, and goes after them inside and outside their countries,” the message said.
“Soon — with help from Allah — their happiness will turn into sorrow, and their blood will be mixed with their tears,” it said.
The statement said al Qaeda will “continue on the path of jihad, the path walked upon by our leaders … without hesitation or reluctance.”
“We will not deviate from that or change until Allah judges between us and between our enemy with truth. Indeed, He is the best of all judges. Nothing will harm us after that, until we see either victory and success and conquest and empowerment, or we die trying.”
It said that Americans “will never enjoy security until our people in Palestine enjoy it.”
CNN.com, 5/6/2011, http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-06/world/bin.laden.qaeda.comment_1_site-intelligence-group-bin-laden-al-qaeda?_s=PM:WORLD

Phone call tipped off U.S. to bin Laden compound, source says
“(CNN) — A single phone call by Osama bin Laden’s trusted courier tipped off U.S. officials to his Pakistan compound, ultimately leading to the raid that killed the al Qaeda leader, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told CNN Saturday.
The telephone call the courier made was “not the final one — it was the initial piece of evidence” that sparked the focus on the compound in Abbottabad, the official said.
Four years ago, U.S. officials uncovered the identity of a trusted bin Laden courier — later identified as a Kuwaiti named Abu Ahmad — whom they believed was living with and protecting the al Qaeda leader.
The Washington Post, citing U.S. intelligence officials, reported Friday that Americans had intercepted a “catch-up phone call” Ahmad took from an old friend.
“This is where you start the movie about the hunt for bin Laden,” one U.S. official briefed on the intelligence-gathering leading up to the early Monday raid on the compound told the Washington Post.
The Pakistani official told CNN the phone call was made by the courier, though he didn’t know when….
Questions remain over why and how Pakistani intelligence officials could not have known bin Laden was hiding out in the city, which is home to a military academy and has a strong military presence.” CNN.com, 5/7/2011, http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/07/pakistan.bin.laden/index.html?hpt=T1

The Arab Revolt
Petras, James, The Arab revolt and the imperialist counterattack, Atlanta, GA : Clarity Press, Edition: 2nd ed., 2012, ISBN: 9780985271008
Contents:
— Washington faces the Arab revolts: sacrificing dictators to save the state
— Egypt’s social movements, the CIA and Mossad
— Roots of the Arab revolts and premature celebrations
— The Euro-US war on Libya: official lies and misconceptions of critics
— Libya and Obama’s defense of the “rebel uprising”
— Contextualizing the “Arab spring”: networks of empire and realignments of world power
— NATO’s war crimes in Libya: who grieves for the fallen heroes?
— The assassination of Osama bin Laden: its uses and abuses
— The assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki by fiat
— The Obama doctrine: making a virtue of necessity
— What future for the Washington-“Moderate Islamist” alliance?
— Appendix: indicators of social well being in pre-invasion Libya.

Gaddafi apologizes for Arab slave traders
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has apologized to African leaders on behalf of Arab nations for their involvement in the African slave trade.
“I regret the behavior of the Arabs… They brought African children to North Africa, they made them slaves, they sold them like animals, and they took them as slaves and traded them in a shameful way. I regret and I am ashamed when we remember these practices. I apologize for this,” Gaddafi said on Sunday at the Second Afro-Arab summit in Sirte, Libya, Reuters reported.

European Union-Africa Summit, 29-30 November 2010, Tripoli, Libya

Gaddafi: Africa’s ‘king of kings’
A meeting of more than 200 African kings and traditional rulers has bestowed the title “king of kings” on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The rulers, wearing gold crowns, sequined capes and colourful robes met in the Libyan town of Benghazi in what was billed as a first of its kind.
Col Gaddafi urged the royals to join his campaign for African unity.
Africa’s political leaders are lukewarm about his vision of merging their powers to create a single government.
“We want an African military to defend Africa, we want a single African currency, we want one African passport to travel within Africa,” Col Gaddafi told the assembled dignitaries, who come from countries such as Mozambique, South Africa, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The BBC’s Rana Jawad in the Mediterranean town of Benghazi says Libya’s leader wants them to create a grass-roots movement to press Africa’s political leaders to sign up to his vision.
Sheikh Abdilmajid from Tanzania told the BBC that the traditional rulers could play an important role.
“The people believe in the chiefs and kings more than they believe in their governments,” he said.
BBC, 29 August 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7588033.stm
The Real Reason for NATO Attacking Libya EXPOSED

Putin: Who gave NATO right to kill Gaddafi?

Gaddafi and Africa’s First Communications Satellite
“It was Gaddafi’s Libya that offered all of Africa its first revolution in modern times – connecting the entire continent by telephone, television, radio broadcasting and several other technological applications such as telemedicine and distance teaching. And thanks to the WMAX radio bridge, a low-cost connection was made available across the continent, including in rural areas. It began in 1992, when 45 African nations established RASCOM (the Regional African Satellite Communication Organisation) so that Africa would have its own satellite an slash communication costs in the continent. This was a time when phone calls to and from Africa were the most expensive in the world because of the annual $500 million fee pocketed by Europe for the use of its satellites for phone conversations, including those within the same country. An African satellite only costs a one-time payment of $400 million and the continent would no longer have to pay $500 million annual lease. Which banker would not finance such a project? … Not surprisingly, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the US and Europe made only vague promises for 14 years. Gaddafi put an end to these futile pleas to Western ‘benefactors’ with their exorbitant interest rates. The Libyans put $300 million on the table; the African Development Bank added $50 million more and the West African Development Bank a further $27 million – and that is how Africa got its first communications satellite on 26 December 2007” p. 170-171

Gaddafi, the opponent of apartheid
“For most Africans, Gaddafi is a generous man, a humanist, known for his unselfish support for the struggle against the racist regime in South Africa. If he had been an egoist, he would not have risked the wrath of West to help the African National Congress (ANC) both militarily and financially in the fight against apartheid. This was why Mandela, soon after his release from 27 years in jail, decided to break the UN embargo and travel to Libya on 23 October 1997. For five long years, no plane could touch down in Libya because of the embargo. One needed to take a plane to the Tunisian city of Jerba and continue by road for five hours to reach Ben Gardane, cross the border and continue on a desert road for three hours before reaching Tripoli. The other solution was to go through Malta, and take a night ferry on ill-maintained boats to the Libyan coast. A hellish journey for a whole people, simply to punish one man” p. 173

Excerpt from “The Arab Revolt”
NATO’s War and the Phony “Rebel Uprising” Nothing is more obvious than the fact that the entire war against Libya was in every strategic and material fashion NATO’s war. The casting of the rag-tag collection of monarchists, Islamist fundamentalists, London and Washington-based ex-pats and disaffected Gaddafi officials as “rebels” is a pure case of mass media propaganda. From the beginning the ‘rebels’ depended completely on the military, political, diplomatic and media power of NATO, without which the de facto mercenaries would not have lasted a month, holed up in Benghazi. A detailed analysis of the main features of the conquest of Libya confirms this assault as a NATO war. NATO launched brutal air and sea attacks destroying the Libyan air force, ships, energy depots, tanks, artillery and armories and killed and wounded thousands of soldiers, police and civilian militia fighters. Until NATO’s invasion the mercenary ‘rebel’ ground forces had not advanced beyond Benghazi and could barely ‘hold’ territory afterwards. The ‘rebel’ mercenaries ‘advanced’ only behind the withering round-the-clock air attacks of the NATO offensive. NATO air strikes were responsible for the massive destruction of Libyan civilian and defensive military infrastructure, bombing ports, highways, warehouses, airports, hospitals, electrical and water plants and neighborhood housing, in a war of ‘terror’ designed to ‘turn’ the loyalist mass base against the Gaddafi government. The mercenaries did not have popular backing among Libyan civilians, but NATO brutality weakened active opposition against the ‘rebel’ mercenaries. NATO won key diplomatic support for the invasion by securing UN resolutions, mobilizing their client rulers in the Arab League, procuring US mercenary trained ‘legionnaires’ from Qatar and the financial backing of the rich rabble in the Gulf. NATO forced ‘cohesion’ among the feuding clans of self-appointed ‘rebel’ mercenary leaders via its (“freezing”) seizure of overseas Libyan government assets amounting to billions of dollars. Thus the financing, arming, training and advising by “Special Forces” were all under NATO control. NATO imposed economic sanctions, cutting off Libya’s income from oil sales.. NATO ran an intensive propaganda campaign parading the imperial offensive as a “rebel uprising”; disguising the blistering bombardment [over 30,000 air and missile assault on Libyan civil and military institutions] of a defenseless anti-colonial army as ‘humanitarian intervention’ in defense of ‘pro-democracy civilians‘—p. 76-78

Excerpt from “The Arab Revolt”
US and European rulers are neither ‘pro nor anti’ Islam, it all depends on their national and class position. Islamists who collaborate with Empire are “moderate” allies and if they attack an anti-imperialist regime, they become ‘freedom fighters’. On the other hand, they become “terrorists” or “fundamentalists” when they oppose imperial occupation, pillage or colonial settlements—p. 115
During President Carter’s administration, at the instigation of Brzezinski and Bernard Lewis, the CIA joined with Saudi Arabia’s ruling royalty in providing billions of dollars in arms and military supplies to Afghan Muslim fundamentalists in their brutal but successful Jihad overthrowing a modern, secular nationalist regime backed by the USSR—p. 116
The same ‘coalition’ of Islamists and the Empire has been glaringly obvious during NATO assault on Libya and continues in Syria. The Muslims provide the shock troops on the ground; NATO provides the aerial bombing, funds, arms, sanctions, embargoes and propaganda—p. 116
Emblematic of the “moderate Islamist” collaboration with US-UE imperialism is the role of Qatar, home to the ‘respectable’ Arabic media giant, Al-Jazeera, and the demagogic Qatari “spiritual guide” Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi. Sheikh Youssef quotes the Qur’an and Islamic moral principles in defense of NATO’s 8-month aerial bombing of Libya, which killed over 50,000 pro-regime Libyans (themselves Muslims)—p. 119
In Palestine, Washington, under the overweening control of Israel’s Zionist fifth column, has armed and financed Israel’s war against the popularly elected Islamist Hamas government in Gaza. Washington’s total commitment to the Jewish state and its colonial expansion and usurpation of Palestinian (Muslim and Christian) lands and property in Jerusalem and elsewhere reflects the profound and pervasive influence of the Zionist power configuration throughout the US political system. It regularly secure 90% votes in Congress, pledges of allegiance from the White House, and senior appointments in Treasury, State Department and the Pentagon —p. 117-118

Excerpt from “The Arab Revolt”
According to ‘rebel’ mercenary technocrats, NATO’s policy of systematic destruction will cost Libya at least a ‘lost decade’. This is an optimistic assessment of how long ‘reconstruction’ will take for Libya to regain the economic levels of February 2011. The major petroleum companies have already lost hundreds of millions in profits and over the decade are expected to lose billions more due to the flight, assassination and jailing of thousands of experienced Libyan and foreign experts, skilled immigrant workers and technical specialists in all fields, especially in view of the destruction of Libyan infrastructure and telecommunication systems. Sub-Sahara Africa will suffer a huge set-back with the cancellation of the proposed ‘Bank of Africa’, which Gaddafi was developing as an alternative source of investment finance and the destruction of his alternative communications system for Africa. The process of re-colonization involving imperial rule via NATO and UN mercenary ‘peace keepers’ will be chaotic, given the inevitable strife among hostile armed Islamist fundamentalists, monarchists, neo-colonial technocrats, tribal warlords and clans as they carve up their private fiefdoms. Intra-imperial rivalries and local political claimants to the oil wealth will further enhance the ‘chaos’ and degrade civilian life in a nation which had once boasted the highest per capita income and standard of living in Africa. Complex irrigation and petroleum networks, developed under Gaddafi and destroyed by NATO, will remain in shambles. As the example of Iraq has vividly proved, NATO is better at destroying than at constructing a modern secular state rooted in a modern civil bureaucracy, with universal free public education, a secular judicial system and modern health service—as enjoyed by Iraq before “shock and awe”—p. 78-79

Excerpt from “The Arab Revolt”
The following are only a few of the indicators of social well-being that speak to the efforts of the Gaddafi government to improve the lot of the Libyan people:
* Libya’s GDP per capita is $ 14,192.
* For each family member the state pays a $ 1,000 yearly subsidy.
* Unemployed are paid 730 $ monthly.
* The salary of a hospital nurse is $ 1,000.
* For every newborn $ 7,000 is paid .
* Newly weds are donated $ 64,000 to buy an apartment.
* To open a private business one gets a one-time financial aid of 20 000 $.
* Large taxes and duties are prohibited.
* Education and medicine are free.
* Education and Internships abroad are at government expense.
* There are chain stores for large families with symbolic prices for basic foodstuffs.
* For the sale of products past their expiry date large fines are levied, in some cases detention by the police is foreseen.
* A number of pharmacies have free dispensing.
* Counterfeiting medication is considered a major crime.
* No rental payments.
* No payment for electricity for the population.
* The sale and use of alcohol is prohibited, “prohibition” is a law.
* Loans for buying a car and an apartment are given at no interest.
* Real estate services are prohibited.
* If an individual decides to buy a car up to 50% of the price is paid by the state, to militia guards it donates 65% of the price.
* Gasoline is cheaper than water. A liter of gasoline costs $ 0.14. The profits from oil sale were spent on the population welfare and rising life standards.
* In Libya, much money is spent on irrigation by the country’s groundwater, the amount of which is about 100 annual runoffs of the Nile. By its scale, this water project has earned itself the name of “the Eighth Wonder of the World.” It provides 5-million cubic meters of water a day across the desert, greatly increasing the irrigated area. 4,000 kilometers of pipes are buried deep into the ground to secure them from the heat. All that was needed for the project was carried out mostly by Libya herself. Nothing was bought in the First World, which has never helped developing countries to rise from a supine position, and if it does, then with the further enslavement of the receiving country. With this water project, Libya was able to start a real “green revolution”, in the literal sense, that would solve a lot of problems with food in Africa. And most importantly, it would ensure stability and economic independence. At one time, Gaddafi said that Libya’s water project would be “the strongest response to America, which accuses Libya of supporting terrorism.” p. 124-125
See further readings and references at:
http://left.ru/2
011/2/shelestiuk204.phtml
“when Gaddafi was caught, his treatment at the hands of the rabble who found him hardly suggested that Libya had turned a page for the better. After being tortured and sodomized with a stick, he was executed in cold blood. A few days later, Libya’s interim leader declared annulment of all laws that contravened sharia.”– John Bradley, After the Arab Spring: How Islamists Hijacked the Middle East Revolts, Palgrave, New York, 2012, page 133

U.S. deployment and Israel’s regional security framework
“The reviewed literature indicates that the question of Arab normalization with Israel tends to set the thermostat of the U.S. deployment in the Maghreb and makes it distinguishable from the wider U.S. deployment in the global South. Therefore let us point out the Israeli regional security concept that appears to have inspired political and security initiatives such as the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Barcelona Process. A couple of years before the November 1995 Barcelona Conference, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres published a book entitled The New Middle East, in which he presented the Israeli strategic vision of a “regional framework” for solving the “problems of the region.”
First, he argued that Israel’s ultimate goal was the creation of a “systematized regional structure” to provide security for Israel and regional stability against Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. Second, he linked the success of the regional framework with the success of the “Arab-Israeli peace process.” Third, he recommended that individual members of the regional structure be bonded by both bilateral (nation-to-nation) and multilateral (nation-to-region) obligations. Fourth, he suggested that the regional structure should implement a system of data collection on military activities via the use of space satellites “in collaboration with the superpowers.” To sound the alarm and give more credibility and urgency to his proposed plan, Peres sent an extortionate warning against what he called the “astonishing Western shortsightedness” and the “naiveté” of “Western nations” after the First World War when they “failed miserably” because they “had no means of collecting information or of guarding peace” and lacked the support of friendly countries “outside” Europe. Finally, he concluded his scheme by citing the Roman proverb: “let him who desires peace, prepare for war” (Peres, 1993).
One can reasonably argue without sounding conspiratorial that Peres’ proposal served as the blueprint that partly guided some of the political goals and operational mechanisms within regional structures such as the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue, the NATO’s Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, and U.S. European Command’s (USEUCOM) Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Initiative. These regional structures became a de facto crucible for normalization between Israel and the Arab world. For example, Arab joint chiefs of staff and/or defense ministers or their representatives meet now routinely with their Israeli counterparts within the framework of the NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue, something unthinkable before these regional structures suggested first in the book The New Middle East. These brainstorming ideas put “normalization with Israel” at the center of the Mediterranean Dialogue because joining the Dialogue means dealing with the Israelis one way or another.” Pages 236-238.
Mohameden Ould-Mey, “U.S.-Mauritania Relations and the Coriolis Force of Normalization with Israel,” In Les Etats-Unis et le Maghreb; regain d’intérêt? sous la direction de Abdennour Benantar, Alger: Centre de Recherche en Economie Appliquée au Développement (CREAD), pp. 227-263, http://faculty.indstate.edu/melyassini/U.S.-Mauritania%20Relations%20and%20the%20Coriolis%20Force%20of%20Normalization%20with%20Israel

‘Common Solutions to Common Problems’: [NATO] Secretary General visits Israel
Addressing ways to increase dialogue and cooperation between NATO and the Mediterranean Dialogue partners, NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, visited Israel on 9 February. NATO, February 9, 2011, http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_70516.htm

Gaddafi attacks Sarkozy plan for Union of the Med
Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans for a Mediterranean Union will fuel Islamist terrorism and will be regarded as “imperialism” by many in Africa and the Arab world, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi warned yesterday.
The comments by the Libyan leader are a major setback to the French President’s Mediterranean project, his highest-profile initiative during France’s turn at the European Union’s six-month rotating presidency which began last week. Mr Sarkozy has invited all the EU’s 27 leaders plus premiers from 17 Mediterranean countries to a summit launching the new “Union” in Paris next week.
But Libya, which will boycott the meeting, has accused the EU of trying to divide Africa and the broader Arab world by drawing a Mediterranean Union map that echoes old colonialist designs for the region. “We shall have another Roman empire and imperialist design,” Col Gaddafi said in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, yesterday. “There are imperialist maps and designs that we have already rolled up. We should not have them again.”
The Telegraph, July 8, 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/2277517/Gaddafi-attacks-Sarkozy-plan-for-Union-of-the-Med.html
During his visit, the Secretary General met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman. Following his meeting with the Prime Minister, Rasmussen highlighted that “I am here because Israel is a highly valued member of one of our partnerships, the so-called Mediterranean Dialogue.

17 Israelis make ‘Forbes’ 2013 billionaires list
http://www.jpost.com/Business/Business-News/17-Israelis-make-Forbes-2013-billionaires-list
Simon Dawson/BLOOMBERG –
Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler talks on his smartphone while walking past mining rubble during a visit to Comide SPRL’s Mashitu copper mine in the Katanga province of Congo.http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/dan-gertler-earns-billions-as-mine-deals-fail-to-enrich-congo/2012/12/27/c37d0100-4e31
-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story_1.html
Dan Gertler earns billions as mine deals fail to enrich Congo
…Gertler has stakes in companies that control 9.6 percent of world cobalt production. That’s just the beginning of his influence in Congo, the largest country of sub-Saharan Africa, with the world’s richest deposits of cobalt and major reserves of copper, diamonds, gold, tin and coltan, an ore containing the metal tantalum that is used in consumer electronics. His Gibraltar-registered Fleurette Properties owns stakes in various Congolese mines through at least 60 holding companies in offshore tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands. Gertler, whose grandfather co-founded Israel’s diamond exchange in 1947, arrived in Congo in 1997 seeking rough diamonds. The 23-year-old trader struck a friendship with Joseph Kabila, who then headed the Congolese army and today is the nation’s president. Since those early days, Gertler has invested in iron ore, gold, cobalt and copper as well as agriculture, oil and banking. In the process, he’s built a net worth of at least $2.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index… “Dan Gertler is essentially looting Congo at the expense of its people,” said Jean Pierre Muteba, the head of a group of nongovernmental organizations that monitor the mining sector in Katanga province, with most of Congo’s copper. “He has political connections, so state companies sell him mines for low prices and he sells them on for huge profits. That’s how he’s become a billionaire.”… As a youth, Gertler got up at 5 a.m. to learn how to polish gems before heading to school. He joined his grandfather, Romanian emigre Moshe Schnitzer, at business meetings to watch him negotiate diamond deals. When Schnitzer died in 2007, Benjamin Netanyahu, now Israel’s prime minister, gave a eulogy. Gertler recalled a business lesson his grandfather imparted: “He told me: ‘Dan, you meet your bankers and you ask for credit only when you don’t need it. Just to secure it. Because when you need it, it is too late.’… Gertler flew between war-torn nations such as Liberia and Angola and the major diamond centers in the United States, India and Israel, buying and selling gems, he said.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/dan-gertler-earns-billions-as-mine-deals-fail-to-enrich-congo/2012/12/27/c37d0100-4e31-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story_1.html
Israel’s ambassador to Senegal, Eli Ben-Tura, and Senegalese government minister Mamadou Talla speaking at an Israel Independence Day celebration at Dakar’s grand theater, April 30, 2013. (Cnaan Liphshiz/JTA), http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/05/07/3126016/amid-rising-islamism-in-africa-israel-senegal-ties-continue-to-flourish

Moroccan king funding preservation of Cape Verde Jewish heritage — but to what end?
Abdellah Boutadghart, right, of the Moroccan embassy in Senegal, and Rabbi Eliezer Di Martino from Lisbon on May 2 [2013] at Praia’s main cemetery. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
The Cape Verde Jewish Heritage Project has a board stuffed with prominent Jewish Washingtonians, but its funding comes largely from one man — King Mohammed VI of Morocco. According to the group’s U.S. tax filings, the king was the organization’s sole listed donor in 2011, giving $100,000. Smaller donors make up about a quarter of the project’s funding, the CVJHP said… Unlike many Arab countries with once sizable Jewish communities, Morocco has taken wide-ranging steps to preserve its Jewish history. The Casablanca Jewish museum was restored, the small but colorful 17th century synagogue in Fez was renovated, and dozens of former Jewish schools and more than 100 synagogues were rehabilitated with funding from the crown.
In 2011, in a move that [Andre] Azoulay [a senior Jewish adviser to the king and a member of the project’s advisory board] calls unprecedented in the modern Middle East, the Moroccan constitution was changed to note that the country has been “nourished and enriched … [by] Hebraic influences,” among others… The king’s restoration activity already has brought benefits in the form of increased Jewish tourism. More than 19,000 Israelis entered Morocco in 2010, a 42 percent leap from the previous year, according to Israel’s Tourism Ministry. The World Federation of Moroccan Jewry says the kingdom receives another 30,000 non-Israeli Jews annually. Among them was Joel Rubinfeld, the Brussels-based co-chair of the European Jewish Parliament, who spent 12 days in Morocco in March meeting with government officials and visiting his mother’s hometown. Rubinfeld believes the government’s intention to honor the country’s Jewish past is sincere, but he said other considerations are at work as well.

“There may certainly be pragmatic incentives: attracting tourism and investments down the line,” Rubinfeld said. “For some, it is a political calculation to improve Morocco’s international standing.”

A Moroccan diplomat, who spoke to JTA on condition of anonymity, said the restoration project could bring political dividends for Morocco, which has been accused of human rights abuses in Western Sahara, a disputed territory to which the kingdom lays partial claim.

“To Morocco’s great consternation, the U.S. last month proposed the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara help monitor human rights,” the diplomat said. “It’s very useful for us to have someone — a strong lobby group, perhaps — to help talk the State Department out of this idea. The Jewish lobby is a very strong one.”

The board of the Cape Verde Jewish Heritage Project includes Howard Berman, a former California congressman who chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee until his defeat last year; Daniel Mariaschin, the executive director of B’nai B’rith International; Herman Cohen, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state; and Toby Dershowitz, who heads a Washington public affairs consultancy.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 13, 2013, http://www.jta.org/2013/05/13/news-opinion/world/moroccan-king-funding-preservation-of-cape-verde-jewish-heritage-but-to-what-end
HM the King [of Morocco] chairs in Casablanca reception on occasion of Throne Day,
30 July 2013
“The sovereign gave the Alawite wissam of top officer rank to Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations”, Agence Marocaine de Presse,
http://www.map.ma/en/activites-royales/hm-king-chairs-casablanca-reception-occasion-throne-day
Malcolm Hoenlein receives award from King of Morocco
The sovereign gave the Alawite wissam of top officer rank to Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice President of the Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Mohammed VI, King of Morocco presented Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Conference of Presidents with the highest award given to a foreigner, reflecting the many years of friendship between the Conference of Presidents and Morocco during the tenure of his late father, King Hassan II at the Thrown Day Ceremonies. http://www.conferenceofpresidents.org/content/malcolm-hoenlein-receives-award-king-morocco

Meet Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, Bahrain’s Jewish U.S. ambassador
One of Bahrain’s 36 Jews, Nonoo says she has never been discriminated against in her country, where woman are allowed to vote, choose to wear a headscarf and even drive.
The appointment of Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo (46), the first female Ambassador from Bahrain and the first Jewish Ambassador of an Arab country in Washington, was praised by U.S. diplomats when it was revealed recently in one of the Wikileaks cables.
It’s not rare to hear in diplomatic circles in Washington about the “smart move” the Bahrainis made, sending to the U.S. a Western-educated woman who represents a tiny minority of the kingdom’s population…
She was credited with organizing the meeting between King Hamad and Bahraini Jewish immigrants in the U.S. and arranged a dinner at the home of Rabbi Levi Shemtov, director of the Washington office of American Friends of Lubavitch, with the Bahraini foreign minister and representatives of U.S. Jewish organizations.
Haaretz, March 14, 2011, http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/meet-houda-ezra-ebrahim-nonoo-bahrain-s-jewish-u-s-ambassador-1.349208

King Hussein of Jordan lights [Israeli] P.M.Yitzhak Rabin’s cigarette at royal residence in Aqaba. Photo: GPO,
The Jerusalem Post, July 25, 2013, http://www.jpost.com/Features/In-Thespotlight/This-Week-in-History-Peace-on-the-Eastern-border-320979
“While the nation [Jordan] cheered for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during the [1991] Gulf War, its king was protecting Israel through its eastern frontier with Iraq.”

“In fact, my own personal experiences with the pro-Israel Lobby inside the United States demonstrate Israel’s intense interest in Africa. I have written about my experience with “the pledge” to support Israel that is forced on every candidate for the U.S. Congress; refusal to sign it, as I did, means not one dollar of the millions expended each election cycle in campaign contributions and can ensure the most vicious media demonization as the major descriptor of the un-cooperating candidate. The demonization of Alabama’s first Black Member of Congress since Reconstruction, Earl Hilliard, in his 2002 re-election campaign, with specific regard to his visits to Libya, immediately come to mind…
In fact, I was invited to lease my “Black” face to these very interests and get arrested in front of the Sudan Embassy to sow the very “Black versus Arab” narrative being tragically created in Libya which Nazemroaya describes so thoroughly in this current text. I note here that some Blacks inside and outside of the U.S. Congress did choose to accept this particular invitation and get arrested… While in Libya, I met many Africans who said that they chose to live there because of the pan-Africanism of the policies of the Libyan Jamahirya. In fact, while at an “Africans in the Diaspora Conference” there in January/February of 2011, I personally witnessed, along with a delegation of others from the United States, Muammar Qaddafi pledge $90 billion to a “United States of Africa” that would work together to build the Continent and counter the efforts to penetrate and recolonize it… Continental Africans attending these Tour-stops reminded audiences of Muammar Qaddafi’s support for Nelson Mandela and Africans struggling to rid the Continent of Apartheid at a time when Israel shared an alliance with that government. They also noted the Jamahirya government’s current support for many development projects throughout the Continent and for the budget of the African Union, itself. Therefore, many alarmed observers have pointed out that the U.S./NATO attack on Libya is actually an attack on all of Africa.”
Cynthia McKinney, 10 October 2011, http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-and-libya-preparing-africa-for-the-clash-of-civilizations/27029

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton told the African Union: “I know it’s true that over many years Mr. Qadhafi played a major role in providing financial support for many African nations and institutions, including the African Union… But… I urge all African states… to call for Qadhafi to step aside. I also urge you to suspend the operations of Qadhafi’s embassies in your countries, to expel pro-Qadhafi diplomats, and to increase contact and support for the Transitional National Council”—June 13, 2011, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. http://www.nepad.org/system/files/US%20SECTRARY%20OF%20STATE%20SPEECH%20AT%20THE%20AFRICAN%20UNION

Israel and Libya: Preparing Africa for the “Clash of Civilizations”
Introduction by Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman

Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy:
“…Together with our Nato allies and coalition partners, the United States, France and Britain have been united at the UN Security Council, as well as the following Paris Conference, in building a broad-based coalition to respond to the crisis in Libya. We are equally united on what needs to happen to end it… so long as Gaddafi is in power, Nato and its coalition partners must maintain their operations…Today Nato and its coalition partners are acting in the name of the United Nations with an unprecedented international legal mandate…Britain, France and the United States will not rest until the United Nations Security Council resolutions have been implemented…”-The Times, The Washington Post and Le Figaro. The Telegraph, 4/15/2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8452877/The-bombing-continues-until-Gaddafi-goes.html
Libya: Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy pledge to fight until Gaddafi goes — The Telegraph, 4/15/2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8452627/Libya-Barack-Obama-David-Cameron-and-Nicolas-Sarkozy-pledge-to-fight-until-Gaddafi-goes.html
The New York Times (April 1, 2011), often considered the leading Zionist newspaper in the world, noted that the “One Man [who] Made Libya a French Cause” was Jewish Bernard-Henry Levy who “managed to get a fledgling Libyan opposition group a hearing from the president of France and the American secretary of state, a process that has led both countries and NATO into waging war against the forces of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.”

“At least 30,000 people were killed and 50,000 wounded in Libya’s six-month civil war” –The Guardian, 9/8/2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9835879
.
At the same time, Qatar-based Egyptian Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi, Head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, and Osama Bin Laden Deputy Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri incited Libyans to overthrow Gaddafi and kill him.
Qaradawi
Zawahiri

America’s secret plan to arm Libya’s rebels
Obama asks Saudis to airlift weapons into Benghazi
Washington’s request is in line with other US military co-operation with the Saudis. The royal family in Jeddah, which was deeply involved in the Contra scandal during the Reagan administration, gave immediate support to American efforts to arm guerrillas fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan in 1980 and later – to America’s chagrin – also funded and armed the Taliban.
But the Saudis remain the only US Arab ally strategically placed and capable of furnishing weapons to the guerrillas of Libya. Their assistance would allow Washington to disclaim any military involvement in the supply chain – even though the arms would be American and paid for by the Saudis.
The Independent, March 7, 2011, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/americas-secret-plan-to-arm-libyas-rebels-2234227.html

Qatar’s decision to send planes to Libya is part of a high-stakes game
For a country the size of Belgium with a population of 1.7 million, Qatar has been playing an extraordinarily high-profile role. This weekend four Qatari fighter jets are set to join the allied forces already off the Libyan coastline. The combat deployment is the first by an Arab or Muslim-majority country and thus of critical diplomatic significance.
Then there is the key role played in the “Arab spring” by al-Jazeera, the satellite TV channel set up by the emir in 199…
Qatari diplomacy is wide-ranging. Successfully bidding for the 2022 World Cup attracted global attention, as it was meant to. Qatar has good relations with the US, hosting its vast airbase at al-Udeid, and, relative to the rest of the region, with Israel too.
The Guardian, 24 March 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/24/qatar-planes-libya-high-stakes

U.A.E. Draws Praise From U.S. for Participation in Libya
U.S. officials announced Thursday that the United Arab Emirates followed through on its promise to provide warplanes to defend the U.N.-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya.
This was welcome news to many coalition forces, who hoped to show the world that this is not another Western-only intervention in the Arab world.
“The U.A.E. further underscores the broad, international support for the protection of the Libyan people,” the White House said in a statement.
The White House thanked the U.A.E. and called its participation in Libya “critical”….
The U.A.E. is the second Arab country to send fighter jets to the region. Qatar had sent two fighters and two military transport planes, Reuters reported. The U.A.E has now made the largest Arab commitment to the effort by sending 12 fighter jets.
FoxNews.com, March 24, 2011, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/24/uae-draws-praise-participation-libya/

Syrian rebels get influx of arms with gulf neighbors’ money, U.S. coordination
Syrian rebels battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have begun receiving significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, an effort paid for by Persian Gulf nations and coordinated in part by the United States, according to opposition activists and U.S. and foreign officials.
The Washington Post, May 15, 2012, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-15/world/35454790_1_baba-amr-neighborhood-syrian-rebels-homs

U.N. says 93,000 killed in Syrian conflict (6/13/2013)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/13/us-syria-crisis-toll-idUSBRE95C08G20130613
Saudi mufti: Clerics should unite in fatwa on Assad –Saudi religious leader Sheikh Ayed al-Qarni called this week for all Muslim scholars to issue a joint fatwa (religious ruling) against Syrian President Bashar Assad and his government… and even said that assassinating Assad would be justified. Jerusalem Post, 14 march 2013, http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=306404
WAR IN THE GULF: Muslims; Saudis Decree Holy War on Hussein–Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority has issued a decree sanctioning a holy war against Saddam Hussein by all Muslims and “those assisting them” to evict his forces from Kuwait. The “fatwa,” or religious decree, authorizing the “jihad,” or holy war, was issued by Sheik Abdulaziz bin Abdulla bin Baz, the head of the Council of Ulema, Saudi Arabia’s most senior Islamic authority. It was written at the beginning of the coalition’s offensive against Iraq, and published on Friday in a special edition of al-Muslimoon, the most popular Islamic weekly newspaper. Copies of the decree were posted today in several mosques across Riyadh…. “The fatwa removes any doubt about the religious justification for asking non-Muslims to help this country attack another Muslim country,” said a religious scholar, who spoke on condition that he not be identified….
The New York Times, January 20, 1991, http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/20/world/war-in-the-gulf-muslims-saudis-decree-holy-war-on-hussein.html
France and Britain said they were prepared to arm Syrian rebels even without unanimous EU support, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday. Al-Arabiya, 14 March 2013, http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/14/Paris-and-London-to-fund-Syria-s-rebels-without-EU-support.htm
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius
British Foreign Secretary William Hague

Former Mossad head Dagan: Israel should do whatever it can to bring down Syria’s Assad
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, April 29, 2013, http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/former-mossad-head-dagan-israel-should-do-whatever-it-can-to-bring-down-syria-s-assad.premium-1.518081
Saudi preacher calls for ‘joint fatwa’ against [Syrian President] Assad
Alarabiya, March 12, 2013, http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/12/Saudi-preacher-calls-for-joint-fatwa-against-Assad.html
Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz al-Asheikh hailed on Thursday senior Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi’s stance against Iran and Hezbollah, Al Arabiya television reported.
Alarabiya, June 6, 2013 http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/06/06/Saudi-Grand-Mufti-praises-Qaradawi-s-stance-on-Hezbollah.html
US and its European, Turkish, and Arab allies discuss with Syrian rebels ways to topple the Syrian government (Istanbul, Turkey, April 20, 2013), http://almayadeen.net/ar/news/syria-w5etVW,cOUWfO6GmAFdXDA
Saudi Foreign Minister
Qatari Foreign Minister
Turkish Foreign Minister
Syrian rebel chief
U.S. Secretary of State
Israeli Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said: “The sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews.”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 7, 2013 http://www.jta.org/2013/10/07/life-religion/ovadia-yosef-founder-of-shas-and-sephardi-sage-dies-at-93

Arab ministers agree with France to ‘strengthen’ Syrian opposition
French President Francois Hollande agreed on Friday with three Arab foreign ministers to strengthen the Syrian opposition in its battle against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, AFP reported.
The ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates “agreed on the need to strengthen international support for the democratic opposition to allow it to face attacks by the regime,” the Elysee said in a statement.
France and the United States are the main countries calling for military action over the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Arabiya, 9/13/2013, http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/09/13/Arab-foreign-ministers-visit-French-president-in-Paris-to-dis
cuss-Syria.html
French President Francois Hollande welcomes Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal (L), United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (2ndR) and Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh (R) at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Sept. 13, 2013. (Reuters)

“A Veteran Saudi Power Player Works
To Build Support to Topple Assad
Officials inside the Central Intelligence Agency knew that Saudi Arabia was serious about toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad when the Saudi king named Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud to lead the effort.
They believed that Prince Bandar, a veteran of the diplomatic intrigues of Washington and the Arab world, could deliver what the CIA couldn’t: planeloads of money and arms, and, as one U.S. diplomat put it, wasta, Arabic for under-the-table clout….
For decades, wasta has been Prince Bandar’s calling card. The prince also wins U.S. officials’ trust in part because his background is, in its own way, so American. Though his father was a Saudi crown prince, his mother was a commoner, and he rose through the crowded royal ranks by force of will…
Saudi King Abdullah, whose mother and two of whose wives hail from a cross-border tribe influential in Syria, tried for a decade to woo Mr. Assad away from Iran’s sway. He failed…
Prince Bandar flew to Paris soon after for talks with French officials. In July he was in Moscow to meet with one of Mr. Assad’s prime supporters, President Vladimir Putin.
A generation ago, Prince Bandar, in a role foreshadowing his current one on behalf of Syrian opposition, helped the CIA arm the Afghan rebels who were resisting occupation by Soviet troops.”
The Wall Street Journal, 8/25/2013, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323423804579024452583045962.html

2013 First Edition
A narrative chronicle of World War I’s Arab Revolt explores the pivotal roles of a small group of adventurers and low-level officers who orchestrated a secret effort to control the Middle East, demonstrating how they instigated jihad against British forces, built an elaborate intelligence ring and forged ties to gain valuable oil concessions.
Anderson wrote, this was a time when the seed was planted for the Arab world “to define itself less by what it aspires to become than what it is opposed to: colonialism, Zionism, Western imperialism in its many forms.” New York Times, Books of The Times, September 8, 2013.

Watch this video clip: Former US Secretary Hillary Clinton explains how the US government created the Al Qada jihad in Afghanistan in the 1980s but she did not explain that the reason was to force the Soviet Union to lift a ban on the emigration of Soviet Jews to Palestine, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzQ2KZWfjgs
Jackson-Vanik [sanctions imposed the US government against the Soviet Union and its successor states in order to allow the emigration of Soviet Jews] has been an extraordinary success in securing freedom of emigration in the Soviet Union and its successor states. Since 1975, 573,000 refugees — many of them Jews, evangelical Christians and Catholics — from areas of the former Soviet Union have been resettled in the United States. The Russian Jewish community in the United States today numbers between 750,000 and 1 million, though some estimates are twice as high. An estimated 1 million more Jews have immigrated to Israel during that time. For fiscal year 2001, 3,875 refugees from Russia were resettled, The White House, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011113-16.html
See the next four slides from topic 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzQ2KZWfjgs

On September 12, 1991, President George Bush complained on television about the Israel Lobby
the “powerful political forces” lined up against “the lonely little guy” in the White House who wanted no more than a four-month delay of $10 billion loan guarantees requested by Israel to resettle Soviet Jewry in Israel following the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Source: Jonathan Jeremy Goldberg, Jewish power: inside the American Jewish power establishment, New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1996, pages xvi-xvii.

The Soviet Jewry migration movement claimed that “the Soviet Jewish community was suffering a slow death of assimilation” Gal Beckerman, “Soviet Jewry: The Struggle to Lift the Iron Curtain,” JTA Archive, http://archive.jta.org/topic/soviet-jewry  

Sen. Edward Kennedy – ‘A great friend of Israel’
Jerusalem Post, 08/27/2009
<> http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=153120
NB: On the eve of the assassination of President JF Kennedy in November 1963, his administration was battling to (1) register the Israel lobby as a foreign lobby and (2) reverse Israel’s Dimona nuclear weapons development program through U.S. inspections.
Grant F. Smith, Spy Trade: How Israel’s Lobby Undermines America’s Economy, Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, Inc., Washington, DC, 2008, page 29.

Israel clashed with the Soviet Union over Jewish emigration
“The main objective of Zionism was to bring about mass immigration into Israel of Jews from the countries to which they had been ‘dispersed,’ with particular attention focused on the Soviet Union… Stalin might have permitted a small stream of emigration, as an investment in Israel’s socialist beginnings, but what the Israeli leadership had set in progress was a mass exodus, which could only be seen as a damaging brain drain. Israel staged a series of political propaganda events to further this end, some of them on Soviet territory. For example, Stalin himself was aware that Golda Meir, then Israel’s ambassador to Moscow, was very active among Soviet Jews; her sphere of influence included several high-ranking figures and their family members. The Soviet foreign ministry was irritated by Israel’s repeated demands for permission to hold ‘cultural and educational events’ on Soviet territory, events that would involve Soviet Jews… This gave rise to the Doctors’ Plot, an alleged attempts to poison Stalin; a campaign was also launched to combat the so-called cosmopolitans, and restrictions were placed on the number of Jews hired to work for the government apparatus or admitted to higher education and training for state institutions. Matters came to a head in February 1953 when a bomb was detonated outside the Soviet embassy in Tel Aviv, wounding three embassy staff. Although the Israeli government was quick to apologize and vowed to find the perpetrators, the Kremlin announced that it was breaking off diplomatic relations. Within four months of Stalin’s death, however, diplomatic relations with Israel had been restored. This came after a crackdown by the new Soviet leadership on the organizers or perpetrators of any blatantly anti-Semitic activity… During the Six-Day War, Israel ignored Soviet demands for an immediate cease-fire. After the Golan Heights were captured, the USSR severed its diplomatic relations.” Source: [former head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service] Yevgeny Primakov, Russia and the Arabs: Behind the Scenes in the Middle East from the Cold War to the Present, Translated from the Russian by Paul Gould, New York: Basic Books, 2009, pages 255-259
President Nixon was reported saying (in the Nixon-era Oval Office tapes released by the Nixon Library) that the United States “can’t blow up the world because of it [the emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union].”—JTA, 12/13/2010, http://blogs.jta.org/politics/

The Jackson-Vanik Amendment
[“the United States shall not conclude any commercial agreement with any such country, during the period beginning with the date on which the President determines that such country— (1) denies its citizens the right or opportunity to emigrate”]
“During the Cold War, the United States and the West used the issue of human rights as a platform to question the policies and ultimately the legitimacy of the Soviet Union. One aspect of that strategy was the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the 1974 Trade Act, which denied normal trading relations to non-market economies that restricted emigration rights. The amendment was particularly targeted to the Soviet Union’s practice at the time to deny Jews permission to emigrate.” The Legacy and Consequences of Jackson-Vanik: Reassessing Human Rights in 21st Century Russia , When: February 4, 2010; Where: Woodrow Wilson Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1424&fuseaction=topics.item&news_id=588828
According to some, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s duplicity regarding Jackson-Vanik “would come to involve hiding a secret letter in which the Soviets backed off from a deal under which they would be waived from Jackson-Vanik in exchange for allowing 60,000 Jews to emigrate. (The jig was up only when the Soviets angrily printed the letter in one of their newspapers.)” JTA, 12/13/2010, http://blogs.jta.org/politics/

The Administration has begun consultations with Congress and interested groups on the possibility of graduating Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union from the provisions of the Jackson-Vanik amendment.
“The Jackson-Vanik Amendment is contained in Title IV of the 1974 Trade Act. It effectively denies unconditional normal trade relations to certain countries, including Russia, that had non-market economies and that restricted emigration rights.  Normal trade relations may be extended, on a conditional basis, to a country subject to the law only if the President determines that it complies with the freedom of emigration requirements of the amendment.  Semi-annual reports on continued compliance of that country must be submitted to Congress.  The President may also waive the emigration requirements.
Since 1994, Russia has been found in compliance with the Amendment’s freedom of emigration requirements.  It continues to be subject to semi-annual compliance reviews.  Ending the application of the Jackson-Vanik provisions to Russia requires legislation by Congress.  This is a prerequisite to the extending unconditional or permanent normal trade relations to Russia.
Jackson-Vanik has been an extraordinary success in securing freedom of emigration in the Soviet Union and its successor states.  Since 1975, 573,000 refugees — many of them Jews, evangelical Christians and Catholics — from areas of the former Soviet Union have been resettled in the United States.  The Russian Jewish community in the United States today numbers between 750,000 and 1 million, though some estimates are twice as high.  An estimated 1 million more Jews have immigrated to Israel during that time. For fiscal year 2001, 3,875 refugees from Russia were resettled.”–The White House, http://georgewbush-
whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011113-16.html
“That [Jewish] emigration [from the Soviet Union] existed at all was due to the actions of “realists” in the White House… In 1969, we introduced it into the presidential channel as a humanitarian issue because we judged that a foreign policy confrontation would lead to rejection and an increase of tensions with the Soviets. As a result, Jewish emigration rose from 700 a year in 1969 to near 40,000 in 1972. The total in Nixon’s first term was more than 100,000. We also submitted, with some success, several hundred hardship cases at regular intervals. To maintain this flow by quiet diplomacy, we never used these figures for political purposes.” Henry Kissing, Washington Post, 12/26/2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/23/AR2010122304552.html

Ten years ago today the debate over the Iraq war came to Congress in the form of a resolution promoted by the Bush administration. The war in Iraq will cost the United States as much as $5 trillion. It played a role in spurring the global financial crisis. Four thousand, four hundred and eighty eight Americans were killed. More than 33,000 were injured.
As many as 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi civilians were killed. The monetary cost of the war to Iraq is incalculable. A sectarian civil war has ravaged Iraq for nearly a decade. Iraq has become home to al-Qaeda.
The war in Iraq was sold to Congress and the American people with easily disproved lies. We must learn from this dark period in American history to ensure that we do not repeat the same mistakes. And we must hold accountable those who misled the American public. –Former presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December 2012, Page 11,
http://www.wrmea.org/wrmea-archives/520-washington-report-archives-2011-2015/nov-dec-2012/11464-what-they-said-iraq-ten-years-a-million-lives-and-trillions-of-dollars-later.html
Iraq: Ten Years, a Million Lives and Trillions Of Dollars Later
Iraqis inspect the site of a car bomb in central Baghdad’s Karrada district, Sept. 30, 2012. Nine car bombs and a shooting occurred that day in six Iraqi cities and towns, killing at least 15 people and wounding 42, officials said. (W.G. Dunlop/AFP/GettyImages)
Iraqi security personnel inspect the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad, May 30, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Thaier al-Sudani
More than 1,000 killed in Iraq violence in May 2013—Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/01/us-iraq-violence-idUSBRE95004P20130601

U.S. and Gulf Allies Pursue a Missile Shield Against Iranian Attack
WASHINGTON — The United States and its Arab allies are knitting together a regional missile defense system across the Persian Gulf to protect cities, oil refineries, pipelines and military bases from an Iranian attack, according to government officials and public documents…

Three weeks ago the Pentagon announced the newest addition to Persian Gulf missile defense systems, informing Congress of a plan to sell Kuwait $4.2 billion in weaponry, including 60 Patriot Advanced Capability missiles, 20 launching platforms and 4 radars. This will be in addition to Kuwait’s arsenal of 350 Patriot missiles bought between 2007 and 2010.

The United Arab Emirates acquired more than $12 billion in missile defense systems in the past four years, documents show. In December, the Pentagon announced a contract to provide the Emirates with two advanced missile defense launchers for a system called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, valued at about $2 billion, including radars and command systems. An accompanying contract to supply an arsenal of interceptor missiles for the system was valued at another $2 billion, according to Pentagon documents.

Saudi Arabia also has bought a significant arsenal of Patriot systems, the latest being $1.7 billion in upgrades last year.
Thom Shanker, “U.S. and Gulf Allies Pursue a Missile Shield Against Iranian Attack”, New York Times August 8, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/world/middleeast/us-and-gulf-allies-pursue-a-missile-shield-against-iranian-attack.html?_r=1

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes (C) and Senior Advisor David Axelrod (R) in the Oval Office, in this White House handout photograph taken on May 21, 2010 and released on June 7, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Pete Souza/The White House/Files
Special Report: Inside the West’s economic war with Iran
“Obama warned allies that oil sanctions were the only way to avert a new war between Israel and Iran. U.S. envoys pressed Iraqi, Libyan and, above all, Saudi officials to pump up their own crude supplies.”
Reuters, 12/28/2012, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/28/us-iran-sanctions-idUSBRE8BR04620121228

CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup
Washington, D.C., August 19, 2013– Marking the sixtieth anniversary of the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, the National Security Archive is today posting recently declassified CIA documents on the United States’ role in the controversial operation. American and British involvement in Mosaddeq’s ouster has long been public knowledge, but today’s posting includes what is believed to be the CIA’s first formal acknowledgement that the agency helped to plan and execute the coup.
The National Security Archive, August 19, 2013, http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB435/
Kermit Roosevelt, chief of CIA’s Near East operations division, and on-the-ground manager of the U.S.-U.K. coup plan.
Donald N. Wilber, an archeologist and authority on ancient Persia, served as lead U.S. planner of TPAJAX (along with British SIS officer Norman Darbyshire). He wrote the first CIA history of the operation (Document 1).
After the overthrow, an uneasy alliance obtained between the Shah (right) and his new prime minister. (www.iichs.org

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, left, smiles with Yasser Arafat in Tehran in February 1979. The Ayatollah’s son has his hand on Arafat’s shoulder. The popular revolt against the shah raised alarm bells in the West, which saw the shah as a trusted ally and counterweight to hardline Arab regimes and Palestinian radicals. http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20110213/NEWS03/702139957/-1/News#sthash.cEq10ABA.dpuf
The Iranian Revolution (1/1978-2/1979) and the Palestine-Israel Divide
Under the Shah monarchy, Iran had close ties with Israel. Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel after Turkey.
January 1979: The Shah was forced out of Iran
February 1979: Khomeini returned from exile to Iran
Iran ended its alliance with Israel, severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, expelled the Israelis from Iran, and considered Israel an illegitimate state.
Iran began its support for the Palestinians by turning over the Israeli embassy in Tehran to the Palestine Liberation Organization

From the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Adopted on 24 October 1979:
Article 16: Since the language of the Qur’an and Islamic texts and teachings is Arabic, and since Persian literature is thoroughly permeated by this language, it must be taught after elementary level, in all classes of secondary school and in all areas of study
Article 152: The foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based upon the rejection of all forms of domination, both the exertion of it and submission to it, the preservation of the independence of the country in all respects and its territorial integrity, the defence of the rights of all Muslims, non-alignment with respect to the hegemonist superpowers, and the maintenance of mutually peaceful relations with all non-belligerent States.

Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria
Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
Khaled Meshaal, Palestinian leader of Hamas
Muammar al-Gaddafi, Libyan Leader
Hasan Nasralla, Lebanese leader of Hezbollah
Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
Hu Jintao, President of China
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia
Barack Obama, President of the United States
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar
Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Saad-eddine Al-Hariri, Lebanese leader of the March 14 Alliance
Recep Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey
The “Arab Spring” divide represents a “spillover infection” of the Palestine-Israel divide which continues to breed racism, sectarianism, & terrorism throughout the Middle East region
Think critically about what really divides the two camps as well as what unites each camp.
According to US diplomatic cables (2007), leaked by Wikileaks: “Some [Saudi] princes, most notably National Security Advisor Bandar Bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, are reportedly pushing for more contact with Israel. Bandar now sees Iran as a greater threat than Israel.” In 2012, King Abdullah appointed Bandar as Director General of the Saudi Intelligence Agency. http://cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=07RIYADH296&q=bandar%20bin%20sultan http://web.archive.org/web/20060614095551/http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030324fa_fact2
‘Israel opens diplomatic mission in unnamed Gulf state’, Times of Israel, May 12, 2013, http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-has-diplomatic-mission-in-unnamed-gulf-state/

Area: 185,180 sq km (slightly larger than North Dakota)
Border countries: Iraq 605 km, Israel 76 km, Jordan 375 km, Lebanon 375 km, Turkey 822 km. Coastline: 193 km
Population: 22,457,336 (July 2013 est.)
Age structure: 0-24 years: 54.7%
Ethnic groups: Arab 90.3%, Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7%
Languages: Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian
Religions: Sunni Muslim (Islam – official) 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)
Life expectancy at birth: 75.14 years
GDP (official exchange rate): $64.7 billion (2011 est.)
Agriculture – products: wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives, sugar beets; beef, mutton, eggs, poultry, milk
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age Manpower fit for military service: males age 16-49: 5,055,510; females age 16-49: 4,884,151 (2010 est.)
CIA
Syrian Arab Republic
Nearly half of the 100,000 rebel fighters in Syria are jihadists or hardline Islamists
But after more than two years of fighting they are fragmented into as many as 1,000 bands
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10311007/Syria-nearly-half-rebel-fighters-are-jihadists-or-hardline-Islamists-says-IHS-Janes-report.html

Area: 637,657 sq km (slightly smaller than Texas)
Border countries: Djibouti 58 km, Ethiopia 1,600 km, Kenya 682 km. Coastline: 3,025 km. Geography note: strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal
Population: 10,251,568 (July 2013 est.)
Age structure: 0-24 years: 63.2%
Ethnic groups: Somali 85%, Bantu and other non-Somali 15% (including 30,000 Arabs)
Languages: Somali (official), Arabic (official, according to the Transitional Federal Charter), Italian, English
Religions: Sunni Muslim (Islam) (official, according to the Transitional Federal Charter)
Life expectancy at birth: 51.19 years
GDP (official exchange rate): $2.372 billion (2010 est.)
Agriculture – products: bananas, sorghum, corn, coconuts, rice, sugarcane, mangoes, sesame seeds, beans; cattle, sheep, goats; fish
Military service age and obligation: 18 is the legal minimum age for compulsory and voluntary military service (2012)
Manpower fit for military service: males age 16-49: 1,331,894; females age 16-49: 1,357,051 (2010 est.)
Federal Republic of Somalia
Britain withdrew from British Somaliland in 1960 to allow its protectorate to join with Italian Somaliland and form the new nation of Somalia. In 1969, a coup headed by Mohamed SIAD Barre ushered in an authoritarian socialist rule characterized by the persecution, jailing, and torture of political opponents and dissidents. After the regime’s collapse early in 1991, Somalia descended into turmoil, factional fighting, and anarchy. CIA
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15336689

Environmental and cultural geography of the Middle East
Environmental and cultural patterns
Desert environment
Mountain ranges
Major river systems
Ethno-linguistic groups
Major languages
Major religions
Historical geography
Critical natural resources
Water resources/problems
Oil reserves/politics
Videos: “The curse of oil” & “Life after oil: the new energy alternatives”
Critical thinking Essay:
“Who gets what from Middle East oil?”

World Desert Regions
Desert: less than 254 mm (10 in) of annual rainfall, evaporation rate exceeds precipitation, usually a high average temperature, and at night the temperature can drop to near freezing.
Warm air masses created two belts of desert, one along the Tropic of Cancer and the other along the Tropic of Capricorn. Other deserts result from the effects of ocean currents on landmasses, where cool air masses carry fog and mist, but little rain, along coastal regions. © Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Encarta, 2007, http://encarta.msn.com/media_461530118_761572480_-1_1/World_Desert_Regions.html

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The Sahara, the largest desert in the world, has a total area of more than 9,065,000 sq km, of which some 207,200 sq km consist of partially fertile oases. Source: Encarta Encyclopedia

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http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/pictures/sm_wallpaper/ngs1_576
Late afternoon light in the Ar Rub‘ al Khali (Empty Quarter) desert

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Maintainer walks to secure an Iraqi Air Force C-130E Hercules at New Al Muthana Air Base, Iraq, on Monday, May 8, 2006, during a sand storm. The storm engulfed the Baghdad area and caused near-zero visibility. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Jason Serrit), http://www.defendamerica.mil/archive/2006-05/20060511pm4.html
Sand storm

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Sand storm

Desert Landscapes

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The Two Major Tree Crops of the Middle East
The Date Palm and the Olive
“The most widespread tree crop in the Mediterranean climate lands is, as it has been for thousands of years, the olive—hallmark of true Mediterranean conditions (…). With a very long taproot, as deep as 30 ft./9 m, and a small, waxy leaf, the evergreen olive tree is well adapted to the cool, wet winter and the warm, rainless summers. Likewise adapted to the chemical and physical characteristics of the Mediterranean soils, the olive requires no irrigation and only modest attention to live for more than 1,500 years and to produce plentiful crops for hundreds of years. The tree bears an average 90 lbs/40 kg in alternate years, with yield varying with soil moisture. Peoples of the Mediterranean Basin, including the North African lands, have for millennia depended upon the olive for both food and oil: Olive oil is the basic oil for cooking and for soap, cosmetics, food preservation, and even greasing wagon wheels” Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and Politics, Westview Press, 2006, p. 148
“The role of the date in traditional irrigated desert agriculture has been even more crucial than that of the olive in Mediterranean agriculture. The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is the most familiar and historically important plant of the entire North African-Middle Eastern-South Asian desert region. Throughout this zone, from Morocco to the Indian subcontinent, it provides a staple food, construction material, and fiber for weaving essential baskets and mats. It is so fundamental in the Middle East that it appears on stamps, on currency, on coins, and on Saudi Arabia’s royal emblem. It has been a basic food in desert areas of the region for millennia, with the advantage that the tree survives the most searing heat and lasts for generations, thriving on minimum water in large groves in all oasis areas… The date fruit can be preserved for months, retaining a high degree of nourishment and a range of vitamins. The essential role of the date has diminished since the later 1990s because modern transportation and trade has [sic] brought both unlimited amounts of food and also refrigeration to even formerly remote desert areas.” Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and Politics, Westview Press, 2006, p. 152

Sheikh Zayed describes Festival as ‘comprehensive’ for heritage enthusiasts in UAE, GCC states.
January 1, 2009
http://www.aldhafrafestival.com/

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=29376
Camel Festival
Mazayina camel competition attracted more than 2000 camel owners participating with more than 24 thousand camels
Camel crisis
Modernity, urbanization, motorisation are slowly destroying way of life that has survived for thousands of years.
The camel has long had a special place in the imagination of the West, from the Greek historian Herodotus telling a story about Indians using fast-running camels to defeat dog-sized, man-eating ants that guarded gold, through the Three Magi journeying to Christ’s birth, Lawrence of Arabia and the desert chic of Camel cigarettes… Last November, under the headline “Town under siege: 6,000 camels to be shot”, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that trains of camels had invaded the town of Docker, breaking into houses and rooting up water pipes. During Australia’s worst drought on record, the camels were desperately seeking water. They were once a cultural oddity (camels were imported in the 1840s to help open up the interior, and then left to run wild) but have become a public menace. The local government response was to mobilise helicopters to drive them into the desert, where they would be shot and left to rot. Representatives of the cattle industry favour the cull, arguing that camels compete with cattle for sparse grazing. Environmentalists argue for a more humane and productive approach, such as developing an Australian camel industry on a par with that of cattle. http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=39989

Dubai scientists create first cloned camel and call her Injaz
Injaz was born on April 8 [2009]. Courtesy The Central Veterinary Research Laborator
“Scientists in Dubai have created the world’s first cloned camel, offering a way to preserve special strains for racing and milk production.
The female calf, named Injaz, was born at 4.30pm on April 8 and is healthy so far.
Injaz is the result of five years of work by scientists at the Camel Reproduction Centre and the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) in a project initiated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
“This is the first time scientists have cloned a camel calf,” said Dr Ulrich Wernery, the scientific director at CVRL.”
The National, 4/13/2009, http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090414/NATIONAL/204456867/1001

9 ملايين درهم ثمنا للناقة حقايق وصاحبها يرفض البيع
Alarab online, 12/21/2011, http://www.alarab.co.uk/index.asp?fname=\2011\12\12-19\427.htm&dismode=cx&ts=21/12/2011 11:40:34
$2.5 million for a she camel

King Abdullah II of Jordan
On Camelback
العاهل الاردني الملك عبدالله الثاني يمتطي جملا
القدس العربي، 18 يناير 2010

Arabian Horse Festival, http://alkhalediah-festival.com/en/Home.aspx

Arabian Horse
Wkp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Halterstandingshotarabianone
“The origin of the purebred Arabian horse was the Arabian desert, and all Arabians ultimately trace their lineage to this source. European and American breeders exploring the Middle East in the late 1800’s became captivated with the Arabian’s beauty, spirit and stamina, and were anxious to import horses back home.”
Arabian Horse Association, http://www.arabianhorses.org/education/education_bloodlines_overview.asp

Festival of Falconry

Emirates Falconers Club

http://emiratesupdate.wordpress.com/page/12/

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan shows President Bush a falcon ahead of a traditional dinner at his weekend desert encampment.
NPR, 1/13/2008
President George W. Bush holds up a sword as he poses for a picture with his host, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, during an arrival ceremony at Sakhir Palace in the capital Manama.
NPR, 1/12/2008
President George W. Bush holds a falcon shown to him by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates,
White House, 1/14/2008

Mountain ranges
Three major mountain ranges
Atlas (Morocco)
Taurus (Turkey)
Zagros (Iran)
Major sources of water in the region
Refuge for linguistic and religious minorities

Three dominant ethno-linguistic groups
The Arabs
The Iranians
The Turks

Major Ethnic Groups in Predominantly Muslim Areas
Source: CIA, 1981

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Major Middle Eastern Languages
Arabic
“Southern-Central Semitic language spoken in a large area including North Africa, most of the Arabian Peninsula, and other parts of the Middle East. (See Afro-Asiatic languages.). Arabic is the language of the Qurʾān (or Koran, the sacred book of Islam) and the religious language of all Muslims. Literary Arabic, usually called Classical Arabic, is essentially the form of the language found in the Qurʾān, with some modifications necessary for its use in modern times; it is uniform throughout the Arab world. Colloquial Arabic includes numerous spoken dialects, some of which are mutually unintelligible. The chief dialect groups are those of Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa.”
Farsi
“Member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family; it is the official language of Iran. It is most closely related to Middle and Old Persian, former languages of the region of Fārs (“Persia”) in southwestern Iran. Modern Persian is thus called Fārsī by native speakers. Written in Arabic characters, modern Persian also has many Arabic loanwords and an extensive literature.”
Turkish
“The major member of the Turkic language family, which is a subfamily of the Altaic languages. Turkish is spoken in Turkey, Cyprus, and elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East. With Gagauz, Azerbaijani (sometimes called Azeri), Turkmen, and Khorāsān Turkic, it forms the southwestern, or Oğuz, branch of the Turkic languages. Modern Turkish is the descendant of Ottoman Turkish and its predecessor, so-called Old Anatolian Turkish, which was introduced into Anatolia by the Seljuq Turks in the late 11th century ad. Old Turkish gradually absorbed a great many Arabic and Persian words and even grammatical forms and was written in Arabic script. After the founding of the Turkish republic in 1923, the Arabic script was replaced by the Latin alphabet (1928).”

Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/

Modern Israeli Hebrew
Is not a direct offspring from Biblical Hebrew
Modern Israeli Hebrew (or Zionist Hebrew) is not a “revived” form of Old Hebrew, as is commonly maintained. Rather it is a derivative of Yiddish, and thus is also a Slavic language. Since the “linguistic revival” is impossible, Modern Israeli Hebrew cannot be considered a “revived” form of Biblical Hebrew because it utilizes the syntactic and phonological systems of Yiddish, with only the vocabulary being of mainly Biblical Hebrew.
Therefore Modern Israeli Hebrew and its genetic parent Yiddish must be defined as Slavic languages. As a relexified form of Yiddish, Modern Israeli Hebrew differs only in its predominantly Biblical Hebrew vocabulary. Yiddish is the first twice-relexified non-creole language to be so identified (Wexler 1990; 1993, 241-242; 1996, 7-8; 2002, 4-7).

Wexler P (1990) The Schizoid Nature of Modern Hebrew: A Slavic Language in Search of a Semitic Past. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz
Wexler P (1993) The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity. Columbus, Ohio: Slavica Publishers
 Wexler P (1996) The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews. New York: University of New York Press
Wexler P (2002) Two-tiered Relexification in Yiddish: Jews, Sorbs, Khazars, and the Kiev-Polessian Dialect. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter

Yiddish is not a variant of High German
Yiddish is not a variant of High German, as is commonly maintained. Rather it is a Slavic language, specifically a form of Sorbian. Yiddish developed when Jewish speakers of Sorbian made a partial language shift to High German vocabulary between the 9th and 12th centuries. In the relexification of Yiddish only the Slavic lexicon was replaced by German, whereas the original Sorbian syntactic and phonological systems were retained (therefore keeping Yiddish as a member of the Slavic family of languages).
(Wexler 1990; 1993, 241-242; 1996, 7-8; 2002, 4-7).
Wexler P (1990) The Schizoid Nature of Modern Hebrew: A Slavic Language in Search of a Semitic Past. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz
Wexler P (1993) The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity. Columbus, Ohio: Slavica Publishers
 Wexler P (1996) The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews. New York: University of New York Press
Wexler P (2002) Two-tiered Relexification in Yiddish: Jews, Sorbs, Khazars, and the Kiev-Polessian Dialect. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter

American University of Beirut Professor of History Kamal Salibi argues that to read and understand the consonantal Hebrew Bible, Arabic is better equipped than the academically derived and never spoken language of Rabbinical Hebrew [let alone Israeli Hebrew]
Professor Salibi considers both Rabbinical Hebrew and Israeli Hebrew as derivative languages, which “provide no key for unraveling the mysteries of the Biblical Hebrew from which they were academically derived.” He stresses that the received consonantal Hebrew Bible has been “consistently mistranslated” and those involved in its interpretation and vocalization between the sixth and tenth centuries A.D. “did not know Hebrew as a spoken language” because it had passed out of common usage about 1000 years earlier. Therefore the Hebrew Bible was essentially redacted, compiled, and in some cases authored by scholars and writers (such as the Babylonian and Palestinian Masoretes as well as those who produced the Septuagint in Hellenistic Alexandria) whose day-to-day language was not Biblical Hebrew. Naturally those writers faced many problems of interpretation and vocalization while they worked hard to avoid committing the sacrilege of altering the received consonantal spelling of the Hebrew Bible. This is why the Masoretes often resorted to producing notes advising that some words are “written but not to be read” (kethiybh we lo’qerey) whereas other words are “to be read but not written” (qerey we lo’ kethiybh). Salibi concludes that to read and understand the consonantal Hebrew Bible, Arabic is better equipped than the academically derived and never spoken language of Rabbinical Hebrew (let alone Israeli Hebrew). Sources: K. Salibi, The Historicity of Biblical Israel: Studies in 1 & 2 Samuel, London: NABU Publications, 1998, pages 5, 6, and 16. K. Salibi, The Bible Came from Arabia, London: Jonathan Cape, 1985, page 3.

Major Middle Eastern Religions
Islam
“Major world religion founded by Muhammad in Arabia in the early 7th century ad. The Arabic word islam means “surrender”—specifically, surrender to the will of the one God, called Allah in Arabic. Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion, and its adherents, called Muslims, regard the Prophet Muhammad as the last and most perfect of God’s messengers, who include Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others. The sacred scripture of Islam is the Qurʾān, which contains God’s revelations to Muhammad. The sayings and deeds of the Prophet recounted in the sunna are also an important source of belief and practice in Islam. The religious obligations of all Muslims are summed up in the Five Pillars of Islam, which include belief in God and his Prophet and obligations of prayer, charity, pilgrimage, and fasting…. In the early 21st century, there were more than 1.2 billion Muslims in the world.”
Christianity
“Religion stemming from the teachings of Jesus in the 1st century ad. Its sacred scripture is the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Its principal tenets are that Jesus is the Son of God (the second person of the Holy Trinity), that God’s love for the world is the essential component of his being, and that Jesus died to redeem humankind. Christianity was originally a movement of Jews who accepted Jesus as the messiah, but the movement quickly became predominantly Gentile. The early church was shaped by St. Paul and other Christian missionaries and theologians; it was persecuted under the Roman Empire but supported by Constantine I, the first Christian emperor… In the early 21st century there were more than two billion adherents of Christianity throughout the world, found on all continents.”
Judaism
“Religious beliefs and practices of the Jews. One of the three great monotheistic world religions, Judaism began as the faith of the ancient Hebrews, and its sacred text is the Hebrew Bible, particularly the Torah. Fundamental to Judaism is the belief that the people of Israel are God’s chosen people, who must serve as a light for other nations. God made a covenant first with Abraham and then renewed it with Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. The worship of Yahweh (God) was centred in Jerusalem from the time of David… In the early 21st century there were nearly 15 million Jews worldwide.”

Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/

The Four Major Muslim States/Caliphates
After the death of Prophet Muhammed (632 A.D.), the Capital city of the Islamic State and the ruling Caliphs have changed over the years.
The Rashidun caliphs 632-661 (Medina)
The Umeyyad caliphs 661-750 (Damascus)
The Abbasids caliphs 750/762-1258 (Baghdad)
Ottoman caliphs 1453-1924 (Istanbul)

Three British Promises
The Hussein-McMahan secret correspondence of 1915-1916—promised Arab independence in return for revolt against the Turks
The Sykes-Picot secret agreement of 1916—promised to partition the region between Britain and France after WWI
The Balfour Declaration of 1917—promised the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine

The following are two versions of the infamous/famous Balfour Declaration through which the British government promised to create a homeland for world Jewry in Palestine. This British promise was expressed in a letter (dated November 2, 1917) by British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leading member of a Jewish banking family in London. Try (for yourself) to identify and understand the substantial difference between the two versions and its implications.
“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of the National Home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

Water in the Middle East and North Africa
Major rivers (Egypt, Iraq)
Groundwater (Saudi Arabia, Libya)
Desalination (Gulf states)

The Nile is the longest river in the world, measuring 6,695 km (4,160 mi) from its remotest headstream in Burundi to its mouth at the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile proper rises at Lake Victoria, and flows north through much of eastern Africa. Heavy rainfalls cause the Nile to flood each summer, while the river reaches its lowest volumes between January and May. Source: Encarta, © Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. http://encarta.msn.com/media_461519267_761558310_-1_1/Nile_River.html
Encarta Encyclopedia

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Encarta Encyclopedia
“Two historical processes coincided; news states were established just as it became technologically feasible to control the Nile waters on a much larger scale than before, and in places where it previously had been physically impossible to tame it” page 7
Terje Tvedt, “About the Importance of Studying the Modern History of the Countries of the Nile Basin in a Nile Perspective,” In The River Nile in the Post-Colonial Age: Conflict and Cooperation among the Nile Basin Countries, Edited by Terje Tveldt, I.B. Taurus, London, 2010, pp. 1-11, page 7.
“Global political events—such as the partition of Africa, the collapse of the League of Nations, the demise of the British Empire and the birth of such new states as Uganda, Kenya and a sovereign Sudan from Egypt—were all closely related to British Nile strategies, and partly a consequence of these strategies” page 3.

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Cooperation and Conflict over the Nile’s Waters
“Whether the River Nile will be an object of violent conflicts or peaceful cooperation in the years ahead, the way its water is managed in coming decades will definitely have worldwide implications. Struggles over the Nile’s waters has had global political consequences in the past and could fan existing conflicts in the Horn of Africa and Somalia, threaten the peace agreements in the Sudan, and influence the power balance in the middle East. Yet, in terms of jurisdiction and development, the Nile has been cited as one of the few international river basins with legal arrangements for sharing the waters, and has at times been portrayed as a possible model for other international rivers basins”—Terje Tvedt, “About the Importance of Studying the Modern History of the Countries of the Nile Basin in a Nile Perspective,” In The River Nile in the Post-Colonial Age: Conflict and Cooperation among the Nile Basin Countries, Edited by Terje Tveldt, I.B. Taurus, London, 2010, page 1.

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Critical ‘Mass Theory’ and the Nile Basin Initiative
“According to this way of thinking, what matters is not that everyone benefits, but that there exits a ‘critical mass’ of highly interested and resourceful people who provide or decide to provide collective benefits for others. Collective action may rest on an initial event of ‘joint commitment’ to which each participant makes a contribution. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), formally launched in February 1999 by the Council of Ministers of Water Affairs of the Nile Basin states, the subsequent establishment of the Nile Basin Secretariat at Entebbe in Uganda in 2002, and the Nile Basin Discourse (being a network of civil society organizations from the ten countries of the Nile Basin supported by international donors) may be interpreted in such a way. The NBI is defined as a ‘partnership initiated and led by the riparian states of the Nile River through the Council of Ministers of Water Affairs of the Nile Basin states’ (Nile Council of Ministers). Its aim is to develop the river ‘in a cooperative manner, share substantial socioeconomic benefits, and promote regional peace and security.’ The Nile Basin Initiative was based on what, when considered in the long term, can be seen as a ‘revolutionary’ idea: that the river was a shared treasure of all the basin states, and on NBI’s operational design about ‘sharing benefits’ authorized piecemeal execution of selected water control projects that were jointly sanctioned by the collaborating states. The Subsidiary Action Programs (SAPs) of the NBI should implement joint investment programmes supported by donors with the aim of ‘contributing to poverty eradication, promotion of economic development and to reverse environmental degradation in the basin’. In the Nile equatorial lakes sub-region—comprising Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi—projects such as the Lakes Edward and Albert Fisheries Pilot Project, and the Mara, Sio-Malaba-Malakisi and Kagera Integrated River Basin Management, have been developed. Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP) focuses on the Nile and its tributaries within the Eastern Nile countries of Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sudan, and encompasses the sub-basins of Baro/Akobo/Sobat, portions of the White Nile, Abay/Blue Nile, Tekezze/Settit/Atbara, and the Main Nile. The Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office, based in Addis Ababa, is the implementing arm of ENSAP. There can be no doubt that as a result of exchange of ideas and propositions in a context of institutionalized collaboration over time, actors involved in the NBI process have to a certain extent become jointly committed, for example, to discuss water-sharing agreements or common water projects, and are thereby obliged, so to speak, to act as if they were a single person.” Terje Tvedt, “Some Conceptual Issues Regarding the Study of Inter-state Relationships in River Basins,” In The River Nile in the Post-Colonial Age: Conflict and Cooperation among the Nile Basin Countries, Edited by Terje Tveldt, I.B. Taurus, London, 2010, p. 237-246, pages 245-246.

The High Aswan Dam on the Nile
In the 1950s, Egypt decided to build the High Aswan Dam (completed in 1971), which has since improved water supply, electricity, and transportation in Egypt. But it is said that after its completion the Nile delta is no longer the most fertile in the world because most of the silt is now deposited behind Lake Nasser. The Aswan Dam and the 1959 agreement with Sudan strengthened Egypt’s claim over 55.5 billion cubic meters of Nile water every year.
Encarta Encyclopedia
East Africa seeks more Nile water from Egypt:
Four East African states have signed an agreement to seek more water from the River Nile – a move strongly opposed by Egypt and Sudan.
Under colonial-era accords, the two countries get 90% of the river’s water.
Upstream countries including Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia say it is unfair and want a new deal but nothing has been agreed in 13 years of talks.
A further three countries were represented at the meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, and may sign up later… BBC, 5/14/2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8682387.stm

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The Euphrates River
Encarta Encyclopedia

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The Tigris River
Encarta Encyclopedia

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Saudi Arabia has some of the largest seawater desalination plants in the world

American GE gets $1 billion in Saudi Arabian orders
Reuters, Jan 31, 2007
French Veolia to build an $805 million desalination plant in the UAE
Reuters, Aug 29, 2007
Japanese REFILE-Mitsubishi Heavy wins $1.9 billion Saudi plant order
Reuters, Mar 1, 2007
“Statistics reveal that the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have an urbanisation level of about 85 percent. As a result, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, is the world’s second largest consumer of water per capita after the United States. Its average daily domestic consumption is 353 litres (80 gallons) per person compared to 425 litres in the U.S.”
Global Information Network, March 21, 2007

BBC, 18 March 2006 , http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4814988.stm
Libya’s Great Man-Made River Project
After weighing up the relative costs of desalination or transporting water from Europe, Libyan economists decided that the cheapest option was to construct a network of pipelines to transport water from the desert to the coastal cities, where most Libyans live.
The Libyans estimate that when the Great Man-Made River is completed, they will have spent almost $20bn. So far, that money has bought 5,000km of pipeline that can transport 6.5 million cubic metres of water a day from over 1,000 desert wells.
Phase III is now [2006] nearing completion

Israel’s National Water Carrier
In 1964 the State of Israel completed the National Water Carrier project which diverts some 60% of the waters of the Jordan River at Lake Teberias (Sea of Galilee) to the coastal plain in the west and the Negev desert in the south.
Out of 21 armed disputes over water in recent history, 18 involved Israel
Israel exploits approximately 80% of the mountain aquifer and the Palestinians do not have access to the Jordan River system.
BBC, June 16, 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2982730.stm

In 2003, Actual water consumption by all sectors in Israel was roughly 2,100 MCM, whereas total consumption of in Palestine was 300 MCM.
A ratio of 7:1
Mark Zeitun, Power and Water in the Middle East: The Hidden Politics of the Palestinian-Israel Water Conflict, London: I.B. Tauris, 2008, page 14

Israel rations Palestinians to trickle of water
Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over the shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies…
“Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank, while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies. In Gaza the Israeli blockade has made an already dire situation worse,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s researcher on Israel and the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories]. ..
In a new extensive report, Amnesty International revealed the extent to which Israel’s discriminatory water policies and practices are denying Palestinians their right to access to water. Israel uses more than 80 per cent of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, the main source of underground water in Israel and the OPT, while restricting Palestinian access to a mere 20 per cent. The Mountain Aquifer is the only source for water for Palestinians in the West Bank, but only one of several for Israel, which also takes for itself all the water available from the Jordan River. While Palestinian daily water consumption barely reaches 70 litres a day per person, Israeli daily consumption is more than 300 litres per day, four times as much. In some rural communities Palestinians survive on barely 20 litres per day, the minimum amount recommended for domestic use in emergency situations. Some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and the Israeli army often prevents them from even collecting rainwater. In contrast, Israeli settlers, who live in the West Bank in violation of international law, have intensive-irrigation farms, lush gardens and swimming pools. Numbering about 450,000, the settlers use as much or more water than the Palestinian population of some 2.3 million. In the Gaza Strip, 90 to 95 per cent of the water from its only water resource, the Coastal Aquifer, is contaminated and unfit for human consumption. Yet, Israel does not allow the transfer of water from the Mountain Aquifer in the West Bank to Gaza. ….“Over more than 40 years of occupation, restrictions imposed by Israel on the Palestinians’ access to water have prevented the development of water infrastructure and facilities in the OPT, consequently denying hundreds of thousand of Palestinians the right to live a normal life, to have adequate food, housing, or health, and to economic development,” said Donatella Rovera. Israel has appropriated large areas of the water-rich Palestinian land it occupies and barred Palestinians from accessing them.
Source: Amnesty International, 10/27/2009, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/israel-rations-palestinians-trickle-water-20091027

Israel mulls water imports from Turkey
Jerusalem Post, 10/19/2009 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255694842544&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israel has recently begun talks with Turkey on the possibility of purchasing water from it, as part of the Water Authority’s attempts to ensure sufficient reserves in the face of dwindling local levels.

The making of US Middle East energy policy
Energy Policy Act of 2005
“(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) on February 1, 1996, the United States and Israel signed the agreement entitled ‘‘Agreement between the Department of Energy of the United States of America and the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure of Israel Concerning Energy Cooperation’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Agreement’’), to establish a framework for collaboration between the United States and Israel in energy research and development activities;
(2) the Agreement entered into force in February 2000;
(3) in February 2005, the Agreement was automatically renewed for 1 additional 5-year period pursuant to Article X of the Agreement; and
(4) under the Agreement, the United States and Israel may cooperate in energy research and development in a variety of alternative and advanced energy sectors.
……..
SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that energy cooperation between the Governments of the United States and Israel is mutually beneficial in the development of energy technology.”
http://www.epa.gov/oust/fedlaws/publ_109-058

The making of US Middle East energy policy
1. “if the U.S. continues to increase its reliance on foreign sources of oil, our dependence on OPEC member nations and rogue states (overlapping categories that include the nations with the largest share of the world’s proven oil reserves) will increase…. The American Jewish Committee, therefore, urges that the United States set as a primary national goal a comprehensive energy policy aimed at a substantial reduction in U.S. dependence on imported oil, with the potential for energy flexibility and near independence in the longer term.” ——The American Jewish Committee, “Energy Security for America,” May 5, 2003
2. “our goal should be to replace hydrocarbons with carbohydrates.” ——–US Senator Richard G. Lugar, The National Interest, Summer 2006
3. “Let us build on the work we have done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next ten years — thereby cutting our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.” ——— President Bush’s State of the Union, CNN, 1/23/2007
4. “Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred…. and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries…We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” ——– President Obama’s inaugural speech CNN, 1/20/2009

The making of US Middle East energy policy
Excerpts from Obama’s inaugural speech
CNN, 1/20/2009, http://cnn.site.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Obama%27s+inaugural+speech+-+CNN.com&expire=-1&urlID=33733528&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2009%2FPOLITICS%2F01%2F20%2Fobama.politics%2Findex.html&partnerID=211911
“That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”

The making of US Middle East energy policy
Israel bids to end global oil dependency by 2020
Government plan, to be reviewed Sunday, will make Israel a global center for alternative energy technology. By Avi Bar-Eli
An interministerial committee charged with finding ways of turning Israel into an international hub for technology to reduce global oil consumption will present its findings to the cabinet today.
The government plans to invest NIS 2 billion in the decade-long program from 2011 to 2020, alongside another estimated NIS 1.8 billion investment by the private sector.
The plan calls for the appointment of a project manager on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office, backing for private initiatives, a bigger budget for research and development and international cooperation. The committee is headed by Prof. Eugene Kandel, head of the National Economic Council; he submitted the report to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week. The cabinet is scheduled to discuss it today.
In February, the ministers decided that reducing global oil consumption should be a top national goal because it serves Israel’s strategic and environmental interests and could be quite lucrative as well. While Israel is only a minuscule player in the global commodities market, the ministers envisioned the country becoming a global center for technologies that decrease oil consumption for transportation by boosting initiatives in these fields.
The committee listed 60 Israeli companies that seek to develop oil alternatives, most of which are start-ups in their first stages of development. Through interviews with entrepreneurs at 35 of those companies, the committee concluded that “even today Israel has an industrial and knowledge base that puts it at the forefront of countries developing oil alternatives.”
However, many of these companies are having trouble getting past the development stage and seeing their technologies through to commercial implementation due to a lack of investors. Also, implementing these kinds of technologies demands a significant investment in physical infrastructure before they can be marketable – about $20 million per company on average.
Within the next three years, these companies will need an investment of $270 million, the committee found.
In addition, the companies have trouble getting through the regulation necessary to run pilots, the committee found, because “transportation is a relatively traditional field.” Transportation companies tend to adopt technology only once it has been tested widely.
Therefore the committee recommends setting up administrative and regulatory infrastructure for the program, which would include an interministerial steering committee headed by Kandel. The program’s director, to be appointed through a tender process, would have a panel of experts on regulation and transportation. The experts would help determine which companies deserved government backing.
The Prime Minister’s Office has an annual budget of NIS 146 million for staffing the project.
To promote such technologies internationally, the plan calls for an annual international conference at an expense of NIS 4.2 million.
The committee also recommends setting up two funds for investing in this technology. The management and the money for the funds would likely be set up through tenders. The committee expects the funds to invest NIS 2.4 billion over 10 years and wants to see them go live by 2011.
The committee would like to offer tax benefits to encourage investment. The Tax Authority objects to this.
Another objection comes from the Infrastructure Ministry, which seeks to manage the project itself and objects to having it managed from the Prime Minister’s Office, which is responsible for the country’s energy policy. It also objects to the suggestion that it fund part of the project.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/israel-bids-to-end-global-oil-dependency-by-2020-1.314532

The making of US Middle East energy policy
Israel and California cut world’s largest solar energy deal
Israeli company BrightSource Energy is to build seven new solar energy plants across California, providing 1,300 megawatts of energy, in the biggest solar energy deal ever signed.
  An Israeli company and a Californian one are making solar power history: Southern California Edison (SCE) and BrightSource Energy from Israel have signed the world’s largest solar energy deal.
Now awaiting approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, when the contracts are fulfilled — this could happen by as early as 2013 — the Israeli-CA sun project will power almost 1 million California homes. http://www.israel21c.org/environment/israel-and-california-cut-worlds-largest-solar-energy-deal

The making of US Middle East energy policy
BrightSource Energy quietly moves toward IPO in 2011
“BrightSource Energy quietly moves toward IPO in 2011
Large-scale solar plant developer BrightSource Energy is quietly preparing for an IPO, reports Dow Jones Venture Wire, citing two people familiar with the company’s plans.
According to the article, the company has hired Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to begin preparations for a public offering that is likely to happen in 2011. BrightSource probably won’t chance the choppy cleantech IPO waters this year, the unnamed source says.
A BrightSource IPO has been the source of speculation for awhile now. NextUp Research forecasted earlier this month that the company could go public within two to three years – but it looks now that it could happen even sooner.
The company has certainly been building up steam. Its fourth round of equity financing in May netted $150 million, bringing total equity financing to $330 million to date. BrightSource also recently won a recommendation for the California Energy Commission’s approval to move forward on a 392-megawatt development in the Mojave Desert, a big win for the planned solar thermal project that could power 140,000 homes. It also won a huge loan guarantee — worth $1.4 billion — from the Department of Energy for the project. Update: Brightsource just announced the CEC has given its approval for the Ivanpah project.
BrightSource’s investors include VantagePoint, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Morgan Stanley, Chevron and Google.
Tags: IPO, Solar, solar energy
Companies: BrightSource, Chevron, Draper Fisher Jurveston, Goldman Sachs, Google, Morgan Stanley, NextUp, VantagePoint”—Reuters,9/22/2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS264235741520100922

Israel unveils first commercial solar power plant
Arava Power’s 4.95 megawatt solar power plant at Kibbutz Keturah is the first of about 50 photovoltaic power fields to be built throughout the southern Negev desert by the end of 2014. Haaretz, 6/5/2011,http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-unveils-first-commercial-solar-power-plant-1.366118

Marketing
President Clinton: Highlights BrightSource solar project

Major Factors Influencing Oil prices
Inflation
Dollar value
Regional tension
Market forces
OPEC policies

Dollar Policy: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
“The dollar’s value is connected to Americans’ standard of living. In the United States, the quality of one’s economic life is determined largely by purchasing power. A weaker dollar could cut into purchasing power by raising the cost of imports for which, increasingly, there are no domestic substitutes. The dollar’s decline is already contributing to higher oil prices. For a variety of reasons, higher oil prices also tend to translate into higher food prices.”
Editorial, The New York Times, November 12, 2007

U.S. Primary Energy Consumption by Source and Sector, 2011 (Quadrillion Btu)
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 2011, Tables 1.3, 2.1b-2.1f , 10.3, and 10.4., http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/pecss_diagram.cfm

U.S. Commitment to Saudi security
When U.S. President Truman signed the Saudi-Aramco “fifty-fifty” profit-sharing agreement in late 1950, he wrote a letter to Saudi King Ibn Saud affirming:
“I wish to renew to Your Majesty the assurances which have been made to you several times in the past, that the United States is interested in the preservation of the integrity of Saudi Arabia. No threat to your Kingdom could occur which would not be a matter of immediate concern to the United States.”[1]…..

[1] Quoted in Leonardo Maugeri, The Age of Oil: The Mythology, History, and Future of the World’s Most Controversial Resource, Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press, 2006, page 59.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
OPEC’s mission is to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital to those investing in the petroleum industry.

Source: OPEC
Algeria
Angola
Ecuador
Iran
Iraq
Kuwait
Libya
Nigeria
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Venezuela

Top U.S. petroleum foreign suppliers of crude oil and products in 2012
(Annual-Thousand Barrels):
Canada (1,081,385)
Saudi Arabia (497,570)
Mexico (377,350)
Venezuela (348,316)
Russia (174,683)
Iraq (173,317)
Nigeria (161,429)
Colombia (157,966)
Source: U.S. Energy Information Agency http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_a.htm
U.S. petroleum imports from OPEC countries: 1,557,591
U.S. petroleum imports from Non-OPEC countries:
2,320,659

U.S. Dependence on Net
Petroleum Imports (%)
1973 average 34.8%
1975 average 35.8
1980 average 37.3
1985 average 27.3
1990 average 42.2
1995 average 44.5
1996 average 46.4
1997 average 49.2
1998 average 51.6
1999 average 50.8
2000 average 52.9
2001 average 55.5
2002 average 53.4
2003 average 56.1
2004 average 58.4
2005 average 60.3
2006 average 59.9
2007 average 58.2
2008 average 57.0
2009 average 51.5
2010 average 49.2
2011 average 44.9
2012 average 39.9
U.S. Petroleum Trade: Overview, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mer/pdf/pages/sec3_7

U.S. Petroleum Trade: Overview
2000 Average 2,488 5,203 21.7 45.4
2001 Average 2,761 5,528 23.3 46.6
2002 Average 2,269 4,605 19.7 39.9
2003 Average 2,501 5,162 20.4 42.1
2004 Average 2,493 5,701 19.0 43.4
2005 Average 2,334 5,587 17.0 40.7
2006 Average 2,211 5,517 16.1 40.2
2007 Average 2,163 5,980 16.1 44.4
2008 Average 2,370 5,954 18.4 46.1
2009 Average 1,689 4,776 14.4 40.9
2010 Average 1,711 4,906 14.5 41.6
2011 Average 1,861 4,555 16.2 39.6
2012 Average 2,151 4,256 20.3 40.2
From Table 3.3a Petroleum Trade: Overview, http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec3_7
Imports from Persian Gulf
Thousand
Barrels per Day
Import from OPEC Thousand
Barrels per Day
Imports From Persian Gulf as Share of Total Imports (Percent)
Imports From OPEC as Share of Total Imports (Percent)
Year Average

Who gets what from Middle East oil
Middle East ‘welfare’ states (the relatively high per capita income of oil producing countries compared to other developing countries, their free education and healthcare systems, their little or no taxation fiscal policy, their big infrastructure projects, and the overall ‘rent’ nature of their economies…). Yet the combined GDP of all Arab states is comparable to the GDP of Italy.
Taxes in G7 states (which can match OPEC oil revenues)
War and conflict (some estimates cite the figure of $12 trillion in just 20 years)
Big business contracts
Big oil companies
Petrodollar recycling
Development Funds
Immigrant labor
Inflation
Corruption

Who gets what from Middle East oil
Middle oil revenues contributed to funding many wars such as the 7 major Arab-Israeli wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006, and 2008-2009), the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), the Afghanistan wars (1979-1989 and 2001-present), the Gulf war (1991), and the Iraq war (2003-present):
A January 2009 study by India’s Strategic Foresight Group estimates that conflict has cost the Middle East $12 trillion during the last twenty years. Reuters, 1/23/2009, http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLN69708120090123
Thomas Stauffer, a consulting economist in Washington, estimates that between 1973 and 2002 Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. The Christian Science Monitor, 12/9/2002, http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html
“Estimates vary, but the [Iran-Iraq] war’s total cost, including military supplies and civilian damages, probably exceeded $500 billion for each side.” Nathan J. Brown, “Iran-Iraq War,” Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008, http://encarta.msn.com/text_761580640___7/Iran-Iraq_War.html

Who Gets What from Middle East Oil?
Saudi Arabia has a population of more than 28.5 million, including an estimated foreign population of more than 8 million.
The foreign population reportedly includes:
1.6 million Indians
1.5 million Bangladeshis
1.2 million Filipinos
1 million Pakistanis
1 million Egyptians
600,000 Indonesians
400,000 Sri Lankans
350,000 Nepalese
250,000 Palestinians
150,000 Lebanese
100,000 Eritreans
30,000 Americans
The United Arab Emirates has a population of 5 million, of whom 4 million are foreigners.
Kuwait has a population of 3.2 million, of whom 2.2 million are foreigners.
Qatar has a population of more than 1.5 million, of whom 1.3 million are foreigners.
Oman has a population of 2.6 million, of whom 700,000 are foreigners.

Bahrain has a population of 1,050,000, of whom 514,500 are foreigners.
source: U.S. Department of State, 2008

The graph above illustrates the inter-country variations in the price of one litre of oil across G7 countries during 2011. It is important to note that these price variations are not due to differences in underlying crude oil prices (shown in brown) but to the widely varying levels of taxes (shown in red) imposed by major oil consuming nations. These can range from relatively modest levels – like in the USA and Canada – to very high levels in Europe. In the UK, for example, the government in 2011 earned about 59% (about US$ 1.30) of the price charged for every litre of pump fuel sold to consumers. Oil producing countries (including OPEC), meanwhile, earned only around 32% (US$ 0.71) of the total pump fuel price. OPEC, http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/data_graphs/333.htm

Recycling Petrodollars
Current Issues in Economic and Finance
Volume 12, Number 9 December 2006
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK
www. n e w y o r k f e d . o r g / r e s e a r c h / c u r r e n t _ i s s u e s
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci12-9
In recent years, oil-exporting countries have experienced windfall gains with the rise in the price of oil. A look at how oil exporters “recycle” their revenues reveals that roughly half of the petrodollar windfall has gone to purchase foreign goods, especially from Europe and China, while the remainder has been invested in foreign assets. Although it is difficult to determine where the funds are first invested, the evidence suggests that the bulk are ending up, directly or indirectly, in the United States.

Who gets what from Middle East oil
Inflation
$42 (the price of 1 barrel of oil) in 1980 have the same buying power as $118 in 2013 (see the price of 1 barrel of oil today)

Video: The curse of oil
This program offers a global history of the oil industry and the issues intertwined with it, from early-20th-century prospecting in South America and the Middle East to war in Iraq. The origins and significance of OPEC figure prominently in the narrative, as do several historic and violent conflicts revolving around controlling sources or flow of oil: labor strikes in Latin America, Nasser’s seizure of the Suez Canal, the Iran-Iraq war, and other pivotal events. Revealing interviews feature, among others, former OPEC leader Sheikh Ahmed Yamani and former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Akins–who minces no words and calls oil a curse.
The curse of oil Jean-Pierre Beaurenaut;  Yves Billon;  Didier Couëdic 2006, ©2003 English  Visual Material: Videorecording: DVD video 1 videodisc (52 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 4 3/4 in. Princeton, NJ : Films for the Humanities & Sciences

Video
Life after oil:
The new energy alternatives
This program illustrates ways we can solve our dependence on fossil fuels through the use of alternative energy sources including wind power, fuel cells, hydrogen fuel, ethanol, biomass and solar power.

Ron Meyer; James M Roberts; Erick Avari, Life after oil: the new energy alternatives, English Visual Material: Videorecording: DVD video 1 videodisc (30 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in. New York, NY : Ambrose Video, 2008

The Opening (Quran 1:1-7):
1. “In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy!
2. Praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds,
3. the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy,
4. Master of the Day of Judgment.
5. It is You we worship; it is You we ask for help.
6. Guide us to the straight path:
7. the path of those You have blessed, those who incur no anger and who have not gone astray.”
Ameen
Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13):
9. “This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10. your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11. Give us today our daily bread.
12. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.`”
Amen
Compare and Contrast the most common and best known prayers in Islam (The Opening) and Christianity (The Lord’s Prayer). See how each refers to God. See also the next four slides for the idea of “monotheism” as expressed in Islam’s “Unity God” and Christianity’s “Trinity God”

*

John 3:16 versus Quran 112:1-4
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“Say, He is God the One, God the eternal. He fathered no one nor was He fathered. No one is comparable to Him.” Quran 112:1-4
Keep in mind (1) the Christian belief in Jesus as Son of God, (2) the Muslim belief in Jesus as a Muslim prophet, and (3) the Jewish non-belief in Jesus

Psalm 2:7 versus Quran 112:1-4
“I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” Psalm 2:7
“Say, He is God the One, God the eternal. He fathered no one nor was He fathered. No one is comparable to Him.” Quran 112:1-4

Exodus 4:22 and Jeremiah 31:9 versus Quran 112:1-4
“Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son” Exodus 4:22
“They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.” Jeremiah 31:9
“Say, He is God the One, God the eternal. He fathered no one nor was He fathered. No one is comparable to Him.” Quran 112:1-4

Some Attributes of God in The Quran
Quran 1:2-4 “Praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy, Master of the Day of Judgment.”
Quran 2:255 “God: there is no god but Him, the Ever Living, the Ever Watchful. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. Who is there that can intercede with Him except by His leave? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, but they do not comprehend any of His knowledge except what He wills. His throne extends over the heavens and the earth; it does not weary Him to preserve them both. He is the Most High, the Tremendous”

Quran 24:35″God is the Light of the heavens and earth. His Light is like this: there is a niche, and in it a lamp, the lamp inside a glass, a glass like a glittering star, fuelled from a blessed olive tree from neither east nor west, whose oil almost gives light even when no fires touches it–light upon light–god guides whoever He will to his Light; God draws such comparisons for people; God has full knowledge of everything.”

Quran 42:11 “There is nothing like Him.”

Quran 57:1-4 “Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies God—He is the Almighty, the Wise. Control of the heavens and earth belongs to Him; He gives life and death; He has power over all things. He is the First and the Last; the Outer and the Inner; He has knowledge of all things.”
Quran 59:22-24 “He is God: there is no other god but Him. It is He who knows what is hidden as well as what is in the open, He is the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy. He is God: there is no other god but Him, the Controller, the Holy One, Source of Peace, Granter of Security, Guardian over all, the Almighty, the Compeller, to whom all greatness belongs; God is far above anything they consider to be His partner. He is God: the Creator, the Originator, the Fashioner. The best names belong to Him. Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Him: He is the Almighty, the Wise.”
Quran 112:1-4 “Say, ‘He is God the One, God the eternal. He fathered no one nor was He fathered. No one is comparable to Him.’”

A statement that is common to us all
Say [Prophet], ‘People of the Book, let us arrive at a statement that is common to us all: we worship God alone, we ascribe no partner to Him, and none of us takes others beside God as lords.’ If they turn away, say, ‘Witness our devotion to Him.’ People of the Book, why do you argue about Abraham when the Torah and the Gospels were not revealed until after his time? Do you not understand? You argue about some things of which you have some knowledge, but why do you argue about things of which you know nothing? God knows and you do not. Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian. He was upright and devoted to God, never an idolater, and the people who are closest to him are those who truly follow his ways, this Prophet, and [true] believers—God is close to [true] believers.” Quran 3:64
Say [Prophet], ‘We [Muslims] believe in God and in what has been send down to us and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes. We believe in what has been given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets from their Lord. We do not make a distinction between any of the [prophets]. It is to Him that we devote ourselves.’ Quran 3:84
They say, ‘Become Jews or Christians, and you will be rightly guided.’ Say [Prophet], ‘No, [ours is the religion of Abraham, the upright, who did not worship any god besides God.’ So [you believers], say, ‘We believe in God and in what was sent down to us and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and what was given to Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we devote ourselves to Him. Quran 2:135-136
Abu Huraira reported in the book Sahih Muslim that Prophet Mohamed said: “Both in this world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all the people to Jesus, the son of Mary.”
Ibn Abbas reported in the book Sahih Elbukhari that Prophet Mohamed said to a group of Jews “We have a closer connection with Moses than you have.”

If God had so willed, He would have made you one community, but He wanted to test you through that which He has given you, so race to do good
“We revealed the Torah with guidance and light, and the prophets, who had submitted to God, [and] the rabbis and the scholars all judged according to it for the Jews in accordance with that part of God’s Scripture which they were entrusted to preserve, and to which they were witness. So [Children of Israel] do not fear people, fear Me; do not barter away My messages for a small price; those who do not judge according to what God has sent down are rejecting [God’s teaching]. In the Torah We prescribed for them a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, an equal wound for a wound: if anyone forgoes this out of charity, it will serve as atonement for his bad deeds. Those who do not judge according to what God has revealed are doing grave wrong.
We sent Jesus, son of Mary, in their footsteps, to confirm the Torah that had been sent before him: We gave him the Gospel with guidance, light, and confirmation of the Torah already revealed—a guide and lesson for those who take heed of God. So let the followers of the Gospel judge according to what God has sent down in it. Those who do not judge according to what God has revealed are lawbreakers.
We sent to you [Muhammad] the Scripture with the truth, confirming the Scriptures that came before it, and with final authority over them: so judge between them according to what God has sent down. Do not follow their whims, which deviate from the truth that has come to you. We have assigned a law and a path to each of you. If God had so willed, He would have made you one community, but He wanted to test you through that which He has given you, so race to do good: you will all return to God and He will make clear to you the matters you differed about.” Quran 5:44-48

Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian Religions
NOSTRA AETATE
PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
ON OCTOBER 28, 1965
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html
1. In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship.
One is the community of all peoples, one their origin, for God made the whole human race to live over the face of the earth.(1) One also is their final goal, God. His providence, His manifestations of goodness, His saving design extend to all men,(2) until that time when the elect will be united in the Holy City, the city ablaze with the glory of God, where the nations will walk in His light.(3)
Men expect from the various religions answers to the unsolved riddles of the human condition, which today, even as in former times, deeply stir the hearts of men: What is man? What is the meaning, the aim of our life? What is moral good, what sin? Whence suffering and what purpose does it serve? Which is the road to true happiness? What are death, judgment and retribution after death? What, finally, is that ultimate inexpressible mystery which encompasses our existence: whence do we come, and where are we going?
2. From ancient times down to the present, there is found among various peoples a certain perception of that hidden power which hovers over the course of things and over the events of human history; at times some indeed have come to the recognition of a Supreme Being, or even of a Father. This perception and recognition penetrates their lives with a profound religious sense.
Religions, however, that are bound up with an advanced culture have struggled to answer the same questions by means of more refined concepts and a more developed language. Thus in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an inexhaustible abundance of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust. Again, Buddhism, in its various forms, realizes the radical insufficiency of this changeable world; it teaches a way by which men, in a devout and confident spirit, may be able either to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or attain, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination. Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing “ways,” comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.(4)
The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.
3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.
Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.
4. As the sacred synod searches into the mystery of the Church, it remembers the bond that spiritually ties the people of the New Covenant to Abraham’s stock.
Thus the Church of Christ acknowledges that, according to God’s saving design, the beginnings of her faith and her election are found already among the Patriarchs, Moses and the prophets. She professes that all who believe in Christ-Abraham’s sons according to faith (6)-are included in the same Patriarch’s call, and likewise that the salvation of the Church is mysteriously foreshadowed by the chosen people’s exodus from the land of bondage. The Church, therefore, cannot forget that she received the revelation of the Old Testament through the people with whom God in His inexpressible mercy concluded the Ancient Covenant. Nor can she forget that she draws sustenance from the root of that well-cultivated olive tree onto which have been grafted the wild shoots, the Gentiles.(7) Indeed, the Church believes that by His cross Christ, Our Peace, reconciled Jews and Gentiles. making both one in Himself.(8)
The Church keeps ever in mind the words of the Apostle about his kinsmen: “theirs is the sonship and the glory and the covenants and the law and the worship and the promises; theirs are the fathers and from them is the Christ according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:4-5), the Son of the Virgin Mary. She also recalls that the Apostles, the Church’s main-stay and pillars, as well as most of the early disciples who proclaimed Christ’s Gospel to the world, sprang from the Jewish people.
As Holy Scripture testifies, Jerusalem did not recognize the time of her visitation,(9) nor did the Jews in large number, accept the Gospel; indeed not a few opposed its spreading.(10) Nevertheless, God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues-such is the witness of the Apostle.(11) In company with the Prophets and the same Apostle, the Church awaits that day, known to God alone, on which all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice and “serve him shoulder to shoulder” (Soph. 3:9).(12)
Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as well as of fraternal dialogues.
True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ;(13) still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should see to it, then, that in catechetical work or in the preaching of the word of God they do not teach anything that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ.
Furthermore, in her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.
Besides, as the Church has always held and holds now, Christ underwent His passion and death freely, because of the sins of men and out of infinite love, in order that all may reach salvation. It is, therefore, the burden of the Church’s preaching to proclaim the cross of Christ as the sign of God’s all-embracing love and as the fountain from which every grace flows.
5. We cannot truly call on God, the Father of all, if we refuse to treat in a brotherly way any man, created as he is in the image of God. Man’s relation to God the Father and his relation to men his brothers are so linked together that Scripture says: “He who does not love does not know God” (1 John 4:8).
No foundation therefore remains for any theory or practice that leads to discrimination between man and man or people and people, so far as their human dignity and the rights flowing from it are concerned.
The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion. On the contrary, following in the footsteps of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, this sacred synod ardently implores the Christian faithful to “maintain good fellowship among the nations” (1 Peter 2:12), and, if possible, to live for their part in peace with all men,(14) so that they may truly be sons of the Father who is in heaven.(15)
NOTES
1. Cf. Acts 17:26
2. Cf. Wis. 8:1; Acts 14:17; Rom. 2:6-7; 1 Tim. 2:4
3. Cf. Apoc. 21:23f.
4. Cf 2 Cor. 5:18-19
5. Cf St. Gregory VII, letter XXI to Anzir (Nacir), King of Mauritania (Pl. 148, col. 450f.)
6. Cf. Gal. 3:7
7. Cf. Rom. 11:17-24
8. Cf. Eph. 2:14-16
9. Cf. Lk. 19:44
10. Cf. Rom. 11:28
11. Cf. Rom. 11:28-29; cf. dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium (Light of nations) AAS, 57 (1965) pag. 20
12. Cf. Is. 66:23; Ps. 65:4; Rom. 11:11-32
13. Cf. John. 19:6
14. Cf. Rom. 12:18
15. Cf. Matt. 5:45
 

As a Western religion, Islam gives primacy to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and considers Jesus to be a holy prophet. In The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature, Tarif Khalidi brings together Islamic primary sources about Jesus from the eighth to the 18th centuries. Included are mystical works, historical texts about prophets and saints and, of course, the foundational words about Jesus in the Qur’an. “As a whole,” Khalidi explains, these writings “form the largest body of texts relating to Jesus in any non-Christian literature.” Khalidi pays particular attention to the literary quality of the texts and the role “the Muslim Jesus” has played in both Muslim piety and Muslim-Christian relations. –Editorial Review from Publishers Weekly. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
This work presents in English translation the largest collection ever assembled of the sayings and stories of Jesus in Arabic Islamic literature. In doing so, it traces a tradition of love and reverence for Jesus that has characterized Islamic thought for more than a thousand years. An invaluable resource for the history of religions, the collection documents how one culture, that of Islam, assimilated the towering figure of another, that of Christianity. As such, it is a work of great significance for the understanding of both, and of profound implications for modern-day inter-sectarian relations and ecumenical dialogue.
Tarif Khalidi’s introduction and commentaries place the sayings and stories in their historical context, showing how and why this “gospel” arose and the function it served within Muslim devotion. The Jesus that emerges here is a compelling figure of deep and life-giving spirituality. The sayings and stories, some 300 in number and arranged in chronological order, show us how the image of this Jesus evolved throughout a millennium of Islamic history.—Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press, 2001

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The following is Gordon Thomas’ description of how the Mossad assassinated Dr. Gerald Bull, a Canadian scientist and the world’s greatest expert on barrel ballistics, in Brussels, Belgium, in 1990:
Dr. Gerald Bull, a Canadian scientist, was the world’s greatest expert on barrel ballistics. Israel had made several unsuccessful attempt to buy his expertise. Each time Bull made his distaste for the Jewish state. Instead he had offered his services to Saddam Hussein to build a supergun ….
On February 17, 1990, a katsa [a Mossad case officer] in Brussels obtained copies of documents setting Babylon’s technical goals: the supergun was really going to be an intermediate range ballistics missile…
Mossad’s director general, Nahum Admoni, sought an immediate meeting with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir…
Shamir spent only a short time studying Mossad’s file on Bull….
On the afternoon of March 20, 1990, in the prime minsiter’s office, Yitzhak Shamir agreed with Nahum Admoni that Gerald had to die.
Two days later after the decision was taken, a two-man kideon team arrived in Brussels. Waiting for them was the katsa who had been closely monitoring Bull’s activities.
At 6:45 on the evening of March 22, 1990, the three men drove in a hired car to the apartment block where Bull lived. Each kideon carried a handgun in a holster under his jacket.
Twenty minutes later, the sixty-one-year-old Bull answered the chiming doorbell of his luxury apartment. He was shot five times in the head and the neck, the kideons firing their 7.65-mm pistols in turn, leaving Bull dead outside his doorway….
Once the kideon team was safely back home, Mossad’s Department of Psychological Warfare began to feed stories to the media , strongly suggesting that Gerald Bull had died because he had planned to renege on his deal with Saddam Hussein.” Source: Gordon Thomas, Gideon’s Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad, updated for 2009 (New York: Thomas Dunne St Martin’s Griffin , 2009), pages 119-121.
SUSPICIONS that former Palestinian leader and Nobel Prize winner Yasser Arafat was poisoned in 2004 by the Government of Israel with the radioactive element polonium-210 have prompted his widow Suha to ask that her former husband’s body be exhumed for testing following new findings by the Swiss Institute of Radiology in Lausanne. The Palestinian Authority has cleared the way for a possible autopsy as of July 4, 2012.

Policing Academia
Since the late 1970s, “AIPAC more than tripled its spending on college programs as Israel came under fire… In 2003, AIPAC brought 240 college students on all-expenses-paid to Washington, D.C., for four days of intensive advocacy training”–Mearsheimer & Walt
The Campus Watch branch of the Israel lobby works to blacklist and silence North American Middle East Studies professors whose scholarship could be considered critical of Israel and Zionism.
Read about the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL)’s “attempt to determine what should be read in our nation’s schools, what should be read in our nation’s libraries, and what should publicly be discussed at public forums. Through its 31 offices across the country, the ADL monitors school curricula, library acquisition lists, and public conferences and symposiums, working behind the scenes to stifle intellectual freedom.” Source: An Act of a Censorship–American Library Association Becomes Another Israeli Occupied Territory, By Jeffrey Blankfort, Middle East Labor Bulletin, Vol. 4 No. 3, Fall 1993, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/article0019749.html

See also “Campus Watch” at: http://www.campus-watch.org/about.php

Hasbara Handbook: Promoting Israel on Campus
The World Union of Jewish Students, March 2002, http://www.muzzlewatch.com/wp-content/wujshasbara
“Seven Basic Propaganda Devices” that “engage the emotions” & “downplay rationality”:
1. Name Calling (attaching negative meanings to ideas or people)
2. Glittering Generality (name calling in reverse )
3. Transfer (transfer the prestige of one concept/symbol to another)
4. Testimonial (enlist the support of somebody admired or famous)
5. Plain Folks (convince listeners that the speaker is a ‘regular guy’)
6. Fear (remind people that Palestinian terrorists operate globally, see next slide for this one)
7. Bandwagon (bandwagon effect through poorly conducted polls)

The World Union of Jewish Students seeks
“To promote Zionism, strengthen the ties of Jewish students worldwide with the State of Israel as the central creative factor in Jewish life, and to pursue this through the encouragement of Aliya, strengthening the State of Israel and increasing the ties between the Jewish communities in Israel and the Diaspora.”—Mission Statement
Compare/contrast with the Mission Statement of The Muslim Student’s Association of the United States and Canada:
“The aims and purposes of MSA shall be to serve the best interest of Islam and Muslims in the United States and Canada so as to enable them to practice Islam as a complete way of life.” http://www.msanational.org/about/constitution/

Israel Hasbara Committee
What happens when a fly falls into a coffee cup? http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/d/190620022
The Englishman throws away the cup of coffee and walks away.
The American takes out the fly and drinks the coffee.
The Chinese eats the fly and throws away the coffee.
The Japanese drinks the coffee with the fly, since it was extra.
The Israeli sells the coffee to the American, the fly to the Chinese, and buys himself a new cup of coffee.
The Palestinian blames the Israeli for the violent act of putting the fly in his coffee; asks the UN for aid, takes a loan from the European Union to buy a new cup of coffee; uses the money to purchase explosives, then blows up the coffee house, where the Englishman, the American, the Chinese, and the Japanese are all trying to explain to the Israeli that he was too aggressive.

European Union countries remained divided over how to deal with Holocaust denial: “We would really have problems with arresting one of our citizens and handing him over to another country for denying the Holocaust.” Haaretz, 2/15/2007. Reuters, “Diplomats: EU still divided over how to handle Holocaust denial,” Haaretz, 15 February 2007, accessed 24 December 2007, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/826540.html
Satloff said he wants to make the Holocaust an “Arab story” even though it was once a “European story.” R. Satloff, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories of the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands, New York: Public Affairs, 2006, page 18
“the holocaust represents an ideological weapon to silence critics of Israel and an industry of extortion to enrich a number of Jewish organizations.” Finkelstein, After Auschwitz : Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, New York: Verso, 2000, page 149.
Paul Yule, Henry Kissinger, Peter Novick, Norman G Finkelstein, Gulie Ne’eman Arad, Elan Steinberg, and Elie Wiesel, After Auschwitz: Battle for the holocaust, Videorecording, New York, N.Y.: Cinema Guild [distributor], 2001.
Speaking at the dedication of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993, Present Clinton said that the holocaust “contributed, indeed made certain the long overdue creation of the nation of Israel” After Auschwitz. The Holocaust in American Life, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999, page 1.
The Nazi Holocaust in Europe has been used by the Israel lobby as an ideological weapon to excite pity for Israel and silence its critics
Furioso sees in the Holocaust a new religion (Holocaustianity) that exhibits “a grotesque mimicry of Christianity” Furioso listed 20 examples of similarities such as “Christianity blamed the Jews for the crucifixion. Jewry blames Christianity for the Holocaust…” Giuseppe Furioso, “A New Religion,” In Mark Green, ed., Persecution, Privilege & Power: Reconsidering the Zionist Narrative in American Life, Thirty Essential Articles on the Most Pressing Issue of our Time, 2007, pp 131-133.
In 1980 the US Congress created the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council with a mandate to sponsor annual national and local observances (Days of Remembrances) and to create the U.S. Holocaust memorial Museum. “[Since] there is no museum of slavery, what would we think of the Germans if they said well of course the holocaust was terrible thing, but what is really important is to build a Berlin museum for American black slavery”–P. Novick , After Auschwitz
Paul Yule, Henry Kissinger, Peter Novick, Norman G Finkelstein, Gulie Ne’eman Arad, Elan Steinberg, and Elie Wiesel, After Auschwitz: Battle for the holocaust, Videorecording, New York, N.Y.: Cinema Guild [distributor], 2001.

Oliver Stone: Jewish control of the media is preventing free Holocaust debate
Jewish control of the media is preventing an open discussion of the Holocaust, prominent Hollywood director Oliver Stone told the Sunday Times… adding that “Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed]”… Stone said that Israel had distorted “United States foreign policy for years,” adding he felt U.S. policy toward Iran was “horrible.”–Haaretz, 7/30/2010, http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/oliver-stone-jewish-control-of-the-media-is-preventing-free-holocaust-debate-1.304108

An empire of their own: how the Jews invented Hollywood / Neal Gabler
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history, this “wonderful history of the golden age of the movie moguls” (Chicago Tribune ) is a provocative, original, and richly entertaining group biography of the Jewish immigrants who were the moving forces behind the creation of America’s motion picture industry. Amazon.com

On September 12, 1991, President George Bush complained on television about the Israel Lobby
the “powerful political forces” lined up against “the lonely little guy” in the White House who wanted no more than a four-month delay of $10 billion loan guarantees requested by Israel to resettle Soviet Jewry in Israel following the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Source: Jonathan Jeremy Goldberg, Jewish power: inside the American Jewish power establishment, New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1996, pages xvi-xvii.

The Soviet Jewry migration movement claimed that “the Soviet Jewish community was suffering a slow death of assimilation” Gal Beckerman, “Soviet Jewry: The Struggle to Lift the Iron Curtain,” JTA Archive, http://archive.jta.org/topic/soviet-jewry  

Sen. Edward Kennedy – ‘A great friend of Israel’
Jerusalem Post, 08/27/2009
<> http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=153120
NB: On the eve of the assassination of President JF Kennedy in November 1963, his administration was battling to (1) register the Israel lobby as a foreign lobby and (2) reverse Israel’s Dimona nuclear weapons development program through U.S. inspections.
Grant F. Smith, Spy Trade: How Israel’s Lobby Undermines America’s Economy, Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, Inc., Washington, DC, 2008, page 29.

Israel clashed with the Soviet Union over Jewish emigration
“The main objective of Zionism was to bring about mass immigration into Israel of Jews from the countries to which they had been ‘dispersed,’ with particular attention focused on the Soviet Union… Stalin might have permitted a small stream of emigration, as an investment in Israel’s socialist beginnings, but what the Israeli leadership had set in progress was a mass exodus, which could only be seen as a damaging brain drain. Israel staged a series of political propaganda events to further this end, some of them on Soviet territory. For example, Stalin himself was aware that Golda Meir, then Israel’s ambassador to Moscow, was very active among Soviet Jews; her sphere of influence included several high-ranking figures and their family members. The Soviet foreign ministry was irritated by Israel’s repeated demands for permission to hold ‘cultural and educational events’ on Soviet territory, events that would involve Soviet Jews… This gave rise to the Doctors’ Plot, an alleged attempts to poison Stalin; a campaign was also launched to combat the so-called cosmopolitans, and restrictions were placed on the number of Jews hired to work for the government apparatus or admitted to higher education and training for state institutions. Matters came to a head in February 1953 when a bomb was detonated outside the Soviet embassy in Tel Aviv, wounding three embassy staff. Although the Israeli government was quick to apologize and vowed to find the perpetrators, the Kremlin announced that it was breaking off diplomatic relations. Within four months of Stalin’s death, however, diplomatic relations with Israel had been restored. This came after a crackdown by the new Soviet leadership on the organizers or perpetrators of any blatantly anti-Semitic activity… During the Six-Day War, Israel ignored Soviet demands for an immediate cease-fire. After the Golan Heights were captured, the USSR severed its diplomatic relations.” Source: [former head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service] Yevgeny Primakov, Russia and the Arabs: Behind the Scenes in the Middle East from the Cold War to the Present, Translated from the Russian by Paul Gould, New York: Basic Books, 2009, pages 255-259
President Nixon was reported saying (in the Nixon-era Oval Office tapes released by the Nixon Library) that the United States “can’t blow up the world because of it [the emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union].”—JTA, 12/13/2010, http://blogs.jta.org/politics/

Kissinger said Jews were ‘self-serving’
By Ron Kampeas · November 18, 2011
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/11/18/3090358/kissinger-said-jews-were-self-serving
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Henry Kissinger in 1972 called Jews “self-serving” because of pleas from the community for the Nixon administration to increase the pressure on the Soviet Union to allow its Jews to leave.
“Is there a more self-serving group of people than the Jewish community?” Kissinger, who is Jewish, asks Leonard Garment, also Jewish, in transcripts of a 1972 exchange released this week by the State Department and reported by The Associated Press.
Garment, a special counsel to President Nixon, replied: “None in the world.”

The Jackson-Vanik Amendment
[“the United States shall not conclude any commercial agreement with any such country, during the period beginning with the date on which the President determines that such country— (1) denies its citizens the right or opportunity to emigrate”]
“During the Cold War, the United States and the West used the issue of human rights as a platform to question the policies and ultimately the legitimacy of the Soviet Union. One aspect of that strategy was the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the 1974 Trade Act, which denied normal trading relations to non-market economies that restricted emigration rights. The amendment was particularly targeted to the Soviet Union’s practice at the time to deny Jews permission to emigrate.” The Legacy and Consequences of Jackson-Vanik: Reassessing Human Rights in 21st Century Russia , When: February 4, 2010; Where: Woodrow Wilson Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1424&fuseaction=topics.item&news_id=588828
According to some, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s duplicity regarding Jackson-Vanik “would come to involve hiding a secret letter in which the Soviets backed off from a deal under which they would be waived from Jackson-Vanik in exchange for allowing 60,000 Jews to emigrate. (The jig was up only when the Soviets angrily printed the letter in one of their newspapers.)” JTA, 12/13/2010, http://blogs.jta.org/politics/

The Administration has begun consultations with Congress and interested groups on the possibility of graduating Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union from the provisions of the Jackson-Vanik amendment.
“The Jackson-Vanik Amendment is contained in Title IV of the 1974 Trade Act. It effectively denies unconditional normal trade relations to certain countries, including Russia, that had non-market economies and that restricted emigration rights.  Normal trade relations may be extended, on a conditional basis, to a country subject to the law only if the President determines that it complies with the freedom of emigration requirements of the amendment.  Semi-annual reports on continued compliance of that country must be submitted to Congress.  The President may also waive the emigration requirements.
Since 1994, Russia has been found in compliance with the Amendment’s freedom of emigration requirements.  It continues to be subject to semi-annual compliance reviews.  Ending the application of the Jackson-Vanik provisions to Russia requires legislation by Congress.  This is a prerequisite to the extending unconditional or permanent normal trade relations to Russia.
Jackson-Vanik has been an extraordinary success in securing freedom of emigration in the Soviet Union and its successor states.  Since 1975, 573,000 refugees — many of them Jews, evangelical Christians and Catholics — from areas of the former Soviet Union have been resettled in the United States.  The Russian Jewish community in the United States today numbers between 750,000 and 1 million, though some estimates are twice as high.  An estimated 1 million more Jews have immigrated to Israel during that time. For fiscal year 2001, 3,875 refugees from Russia were resettled.”–The White House, http://georgewbush-
whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011113-16.html
“That [Jewish] emigration [from the Soviet Union] existed at all was due to the actions of “realists” in the White House… In 1969, we introduced it into the presidential channel as a humanitarian issue because we judged that a foreign policy confrontation would lead to rejection and an increase of tensions with the Soviets. As a result, Jewish emigration rose from 700 a year in 1969 to near 40,000 in 1972. The total in Nixon’s first term was more than 100,000. We also submitted, with some success, several hundred hardship cases at regular intervals. To maintain this flow by quiet diplomacy, we never used these figures for political purposes.” Henry Kissing, Washington Post, 12/26/2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/23/AR2010122304552.html

Israel backs lifting Jackson-Vanik
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 22, 2012, h
ttp://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/06/22/3098876/israel-backs-lifting-jackson-vanik
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel endorsed removing Russia from Jackson-Vanik trade restrictions.
“Israel supports Russia’s graduation from Jackson-Vanik,” a senior Israeli official told JTA this week. “The reasons Russia is included in Jackson-Vanik are no longer relevant.“ The official made the comment in the wake of a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate earlier this week by a bipartisan slate of senators that would find Russia “in full compliance with the freedom of emigration requirements” of the law. The original amendment, named for the late U.S. Sen. Henry Jackson (D-Wash.) and the late U.S. Rep. Charles Vanick (D-Ohio) was passed in the early 1970s — over the strident objections of the Nixon administration — at a time when the former Soviet Union was inhibiting Jewish emigration. 
At the behest of Jewish groups, Congress set to rid Russia of Jackson-Vanik restraints
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 14, 2012,
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/11/14/3111881/at-the-behest-of-jewish-groups-congress-set-to-sunset-jackson-vanik-for-russia
WASHINGTON (JTA) — At the behest of leading U.S. Jewish groups, Congress is set to free Russia from the Jackson-Vanik restrictions, the Soviet-era law aimed at exerting pressure on Russia to loosen its emigration restrictions… The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote Friday to graduate Russia from the 1974 law named for the late Sen. Henry Jackson (D-Wash.) and Rep. Charlie Vanik (D-Ohio), which conditioned trade on freedom of emigration… A letter to Congress in June from eight Jewish groups was seen as key to advancing the legislation, which is likely to be considered by the Senate after Thanksgiving. The bill has bipartisan support and is expected to pass and be signed by President Obama. “Our argument was and is that the amendment was intended to gain the freedom of Soviet Jews and it’s accomplished that 10 times over,” said Mark Levin, the executive director of NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia, which originally lobbied for Jackson-Vanik and has led the Jewish organizational push for its removal…

Vietnam and Yom Kippur Wars were closely connected, newly released U.S. documents reveal
Secret documents contain Henry Kissinger’s conversations with Golda Meir and former South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu
… Fortunately for Israel, Washington does not only consist of the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department, but also Congress. Thanks to Israel’s power in Congress, it has fared better than other, smaller allies, like South Vietnam. In the absence of congressional support, they did not win the administration’s affection; this is why Saigon fell and Jerusalem hasn’t… When [Richard] Holbrooke [now representing President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Afghanistan-Pakistan tangle] considers the present challenges, he remembers Vietnam, as does Gen. David Petreus, the commander of the forces in Afghanistan, who also wrote his doctorate at Princeton about the relations between the diplomatic echelon and the military echelon in the Vietnam War.
Haaretz, 10/17/2010, http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/vietnam-and-yom-kippur-wars-were-closely-connected-newly-released-u-s-documents-reveal-1.319467

Watch this video clip: Former US Secretary Hillary Clinton explains how the US government created the Al Qada jihad in Afghanistan in the 1980s but she did not explain that the reason was to force the Soviet Union to lift a ban on the emigration of Soviet Jews to Palestine, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzQ2KZWfjgs
An estimated 1 million more Jews have immigrated to Israel [since 1975]-–The White House, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011113-16.html
See the next four slides from topic 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzQ2KZWfjgs

Fulbright Called for U.S. Defense Pact With Israel But Was Labeled Anti-Semite
Neff, Donald. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Washington: Sep 30, 1997. Vol. XVI, Iss. 2; pg. 96
It was Zionists who especially despised him. [J. William Fulbright] had earned the ever-lasting enmity of Israel and its friends as early as 1963, when his Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on foreign lobbies, including Israel’s lobby. The hearings concluded that Israel operated “one of the most effective networks of foreign influence” in the United States. It found that Israel used tax-free dollars donated to the United Jewish Appeal for charities in Israel in the United States to influence U.S. opinion.
These funds eventually were used to purchase the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, to establish and maintain the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and to pressure U.S. newspapers to support Israel and to attack critics of Israel, among other activities. Fulbright revealed that the Zionist pursuit of promoting Israel included “placement of articles on Israel in some of America’s leading magazines,” arranging for radio and TV programs sympathetic to Israel, and subsidizing trips to Israel by such “public opinion molders” as Christian clergymen, academics and mass media representatives.(2)
As the years went on, Fulbright became an increasingly outspoken critic of Israel. During the 1973 war in the Middle East said that the best way to have peace was the United States and the Soviet Union refuse to provide Arabs and Israelis weapons, adding: “but we are not going to do that…. Somewhere around 80 percent of the Senate of the United States is completely in support of Israel and of anything Israel wants.” In December, while the Senate debated the award to Israel of more aid, Ful-bright observed that “instead of rearming Israel, we could have peace in the Middle East at once if we just told Tel Aviv to withdraw behind the 1967 borders and guarantee them.”(3)

In this book Stealth PACs: How Israel’s American Lobby Seeks to Control U.S. Middle East Policy (1990), Richard Curtiss listed 114 pro-Israel PACs (political action committees) active during the 1978-1988 election cycles. Out of th 114 PACs only two (Women’s Pro-Israel National PAC and Jewish Republican PAC, both in the District of Columbia) are listed under names that indicate their pro-Israel affiliation. The remaining 112 are stealth PACs whose names vary from Hollywood Women’s Political Committee (California) and Desert Caucus (Arizona) to Tennesseans for a Better Government (Tennessee) and Delaware Valley (Pennsylvania).

Political Suicide
“It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel comply with international law or to speak in defense of justice or human rights for Palestinians. Very few would ever deign to visit the Palestinian cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Gaza City or even Bethlehem and talk to the beleaguered residents. What is even more difficult to comprehend is why the editorial pages of the major newspapers and magazines in the United States exercise similar self-restraint, quite contrary to private assessments expressed quite forcefully by their correspondents in the Holy Land.”— President Jimmy Carter, 12/8/2006, http://www.cartercenter.org/news/editorials_speeches/latimes_palestine_081206.html
Political Fear
“I can tell you from personal experience that, at least in the Congress, the support Israel has in that body is based completely on political fear—fear of defeat by anyone who does not do what Israel wants done. I can also tell you that very few members of Congress—at least when I served there—have any affection for Israel or for its Lobby. What they have is contempt, but it is silenced by fear of being found out exactly how they feel. I’ve heard too many cloakroom conversations in which members of the Senate will voice their bitter feelings about how they’re pushed around by the Lobby to think otherwise. In private one hears the dislike of Israel and the tactics of the Lobby, but not one of them is willing to risk the Lobby’s animosity by making their feelings public… if Congress is completely silent on the issue, the press will have no one to quote, which effectively silences the press as well… The Lobby’s principal objectives are to keep money flowing from the U.S. treasury to Israel, requiring a docile Congress and a compliant administration.” James Abourezk, Former US Senator from South Dakota, December 3, 2006, http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/pg-abourezk.html

London Times: “Carefully documented. Mr. Brenner is able to cite numerous cases where Zionists collaborated with anti-Semitic regimes, including Hitler’s”
1986
“A minnow can swallow a whale…It’s by now an open secret that in 1957 the American Jewish Committee interceded with the Bureau of the Census in Washington and besought it not to ask questions about income related to national groupings in the 1960 census, for fear that the comparatively high income levels of the Jewish minority would lead to anti-Semitic outrages. The Bureau complied.” Pages 58 and 61
“Again the Jewish Committee asked that they [the special issue’s staff of Forbes magazine who were preparing the 1985 list of the 400 richest Americans] not focus on the ethnicity or religion of their subjects. Forbes decided that such forebearance is prudent.” Page 64
“The Intelligentsia, Israel, and the Jews…The New York Times, easily the most important daily, is owned by the Sulzbergers. Katherine Graham, of Jewish descent, owns the Washongton Post and Newsweek. Wlater Annenberg owns TV Guide, the world’s largest selling magazine. US News and World Report and The Atlantic Monthly are owned by Mort Zuckerman. Leonard Stern owns the Village Voice. Sam Newhouse owns Vanity Fair, Vogue, Gentleman’s Quarterly, Mademoiselle and The New Yorker… Jews founded the three TV networks [CBS, ABC, and NBC].” Pages 323-324
Money can lead the elite as the media can lead & mislead the public
PRO-ISRAEL PAC CONTRIBUTIONS TO 2010 CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES: http://www.washington-report.org/pdf/2010pac_charts_november
Politicians collect money for their own campaigns — we all know that. But many of them also raise a separate pot of money, commonly called a leadership political action committee, to help other politicians: http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/industry.php?txt=Q03&cycle=2010
“The Jews ho run America…with the election of councilman Eric Garcetti to the position of Los Angeles mayor, the three most populated cities in America will soon have Jewish mayors. Michael Bloomberg has been mayor of New York City for 12 years. Rahm Emanuel, after finishing up his service as Obama’s Chief of Staff, has been mayor of Chicago for two years. Now Garcetti rounds out the triumvirate.” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 5/22/2013, http://www.jta.org/2013/05/22/news-opinion/the-telegraph/the-jews-who-run-america

Party Politics and Pressure Groups
“Two characteristics almost always set political parties apart from pressure groups: the manner in which they participate in political conflicts, and their membership base. In the first place, political parties have as their primary goal the conquest of power or a share in its exercise. They try to win seats at elections, to name deputies and ministers, and to take control of the government. Pressure groups, on the contrary, do not seek to win power themselves, or to participate in the exercise of power; they endeavor, instead, to exert an influence on those who wield power, to bring “pressure” upon them: hence their name. Secondly, political parties draw their support from a broad base, whereas pressure groups represent a limited number with a particular or private interest… Political parties strive to acquire power and to exercise it—by electing town councilors, local officials, mayors, senators, and deputies, and by choosing cabinet ministers and the head of state… Pressure groups seek to influence the men who wield power, not to place their own men in power, at least not officially. However, certain powerful groups actually have their own representatives in governments and legislative bodies, but the relationship between these individuals and the groups they represent remains secret or circumspect” page 101.
Source: Maurice Duverger, Party Politics and Pressure Groups: A Comparative Introduction, Translated by David Wagoner, Maritime College of the city University of New York, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1972, pages 1-2, 101.

Committee on Agriculture

Committee on Appropriations

Committee on Armed Services

Committee on the Budget

Committee on Education and Labor

Committee on Energy and Commerce

Committee on Financial Services

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Committee on Homeland Security

Committee on House Administration

Committee on the Judiciary

Committee on Natural Resources

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Committee on Rules

Committee on Science and Technology

Committee on Small Business

Committee on Standards of Official Conduct

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

Committee on Ways and Means

Joint Economic Committee

Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies

Joint Committee on Taxation

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
 

House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

111th Congress
United States House of Representatives
Committee Offices
http://www.house.gov/house/CommitteeWWW.shtml

“. . .it is not far from the truth to say that Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work”–Woodrow Wilson
The committee is “the eye, the ear, the hand, and very often the brain” of Congress–Speaker Reed

Subcommittee Jurisdiction
The regional subcommittees shall have jurisdiction over the following within their respective regions:
Matters affecting the political relations between the United States and other countries and regions, including resolutions or other legislative measures directed to such relations.
Legislation with respect to disaster assistance outside the Foreign Assistance Act, boundary issues, and international claims.
Legislation with respect to region- or country-specific loans or other financial relations outside the Foreign Assistance Act.
Resolutions of disapproval under section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act, with respect to foreign military sales.
Legislation and oversight regarding human rights practices in particular countries.
Oversight of regional lending institutions.
Oversight of matters related to the regional activities of the United Nations, of its affiliated agencies, and of other multilateral institutions.
Identification and development of options for meeting future problems and issues relating to U.S. interests in the region.
Base rights and other facilities access agreements and regional security pacts.
Oversight of matters relating to parliamentary conferences and exchanges involving the region.
Concurrent oversight jurisdiction with respect to matters assigned to the functional subcommittees insofar as they may affect the region.
Oversight of all foreign assistance activities affecting the region.
Such other matters as the Chairman of the Full Committee may determine.

U.S. SENATE
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) Norm Coleman (R-Minn.)**
Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.)
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Al Franklen (D-Minn)
Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.)*
Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)**
Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.)
Carl Levin (D-Mich.)**
Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.)
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.)
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
14. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.)
15. John Adler (D-N.J.)*
16. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.)
17. Howard Berman (D-Calif.)
18. Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
19. Stephen Cohen (D-Tenn.)
20. Susan Davis (D-Calif.)
21. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.)
22. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.)
23. Bob Filner (D-Calif.)
24. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
25. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)
26. Jane Harman (D-Calif.)
27. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
28. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.)
29. Steve Kagen (D-Wisc.)
30. Ron Klein (D-Fla.)
31. Sander Levin (D-Mich.)
32. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.)
33. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.)
34. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)*
35. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.)
36. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
37. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.)
38. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)
39. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.)
40. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)
41. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)
42. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)
43. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.)
44. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)
Elected to Congress for the first time–** Senators who were re-elected…Democrat Rahm Emanuel was re-elected to his Illinois House seat, but left Congress to serve in the Obama administration as White House chief of staff… At least two senators, Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) and Michael Bennet (D-Col.), have Jewish roots, but do not identify as Jewish. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 1, 2009 http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/05/1000795/the-chosen-jewish-members-in-the-111th-us-congress#
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 5, 2008, http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/05/1000795/the-chosen-jewish-members-in-the-111th-us-congress#

“Obama kick-starts transition, eyes Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff,” Haaretz, November 5, 2008
“The Chosen: Jewish members in the 111th U.S. Congress”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 11/5/2008 and 7/1/2009
There are 13 Jews (out of 5 million), 3 Hispanics (out of 46 million), 2 Asians (out of 17 million), and 1African American (out of 38 million) in the Senate of the 111th Congress.
There are 2 Muslim Americans and 3 Arab Americans in the House of Representatives of the 111th Congress

U.S. SENATE

Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)**
Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)
Ben Cardin (D-Md.)**
Carl Levin (D-Mich.)
Al Franken (D-Minn.)
Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)**
(Note: Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who is projected to win his re-election bid, does not identify a religion, but notes that his mother is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor.)
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Susan Davis (D-Calif.)
Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.)*
Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)
Brad Sherman (D-Calif.)
Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)
Jared Polis (D-Colo.)
Ted Deutch (D-Fla.)
Lois Frankel (D-Fla.)*
Alan Grayson (D-Fla.)*
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)
Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
Brad Schneider (D-Ill.)*
John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)
Sander Levin (D-Mich.)
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.)
Steve Israel (D-N.Y.)
Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.)
Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.)
Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.)
David Cicilline (D-R.I.)
Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.)
Eric Cantor (R-Va.)

* Newly elected to House in Tuesday’s elections. (Note: Alan Grayson had served in the House but lost his seat in the 2010 midterm elections.)

** Senators who were re-elected Tuesday.
“The Chosen: Jews in the 113th Congress”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 7, 2012
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/11/07/3111351/jews-in-the-113th-congress

Weiner admits to lying about underwear photo
GTA, June 6, 2011
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/06/06/3088039/weiner-acknowledges-inappropriate-relationships
“(JTA) — U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner acknowledged inappropriate Internet relationships with at least six women but said he would not resign or split up with his wife.
Weiner (D-N.Y.) said he had lied last week when he denied sending a lewd underwear photo to a 21-year-old college student over Twitter and claimed that his account had been hacked.
“I’ve brought pain to people I care about the most and people who believe in me,”  Weiner said at a news conference Monday in New York. “I apologize to my wife and family. I apologize to my friends and supporters.”
Weiner, who is Jewish and an ardent  pro-Israel lawmaker [emphasis added], said none of the relationships had ever become physical, nor had he met any of the women.
In saying he would not resign, Weiner said, “Nothing about this should reflect in any way on my official duties or on my oath of office.”
He is married to Huma Abedin, a top aide to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

111th Congress
United States House of Representatives
[Jewish Members of] Committee on Foreign Affairs
Howard L. Berman Chairman
D-CA, 28th District
Gary L. Ackerman Vice Chair
D-NY, 5th District
Brad Sherman D-CA, 27th District
Robert Wexler D-FL, 19th District
Ron Klein D-FL, 22nd District
[All] Members of the Committee

Howard L. Berman Chairman
D-CA, 28th District

Gary L. Ackerman Vice Chair
D-NY, 5th District

Eni F.H. Faleomavaega D-American Samoa

Donald M. Payne D-NJ, 10th District

Brad Sherman D-CA, 27th District

Robert Wexler D-FL, 19th District

Eliot L. Engel D-NY, 17th District

Bill Delahunt D-MA, 10th District

Gregory W. Meeks D-NY, 6th District

Diane E. Watson D-CA, 33rd District

Russ Carnahan D-MO, 3rd District

Albio Sires D-NJ, 13th District

Gerald E. Connolly D-VA, 11th District

Michael E. McMahon D-NY, 13th District

John S. Tanner D-TN, 8th District

Gene Green D-TX, 29th District

Lynn Woolsey D-CA, 6th District

Sheila Jackson Lee D-TX, 18th District

Barbara Lee D-CA, 9th District

Shelley Berkley D-NV, 1st District

Joseph Crowley D-NY, 7th District

Mike Ross D-AR, 4th District

Brad Miller D-NC, 13th District

David Scott D-GA, 13th District

Jim Costa D-CA, 20th District

Keith Ellison D-MN, 5th District

Gabrielle Giffords D-AZ, 8th District

Ron Klein D-FL, 22nd District

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Ranking Member
R-FL, 18th District

Christopher H. Smith R-NJ, 4th District

Dan Burton R-IN, 5th District

Elton Gallegly R-CA, 24th District

Dana Rohrabacher R-CA, 46th District

Donald A. Manzullo R-IL, 16th District

Edward R. Royce R-CA, 40th District

Ron Paul R-TX, 14th District

Jeff Flake R-AZ, 6th District

Mike Pence R-IN, 6th District

Joe Wilson R-SC, 2nd District

John Boozman R-AR, 3rd District

J. Gresham Barrett R-SC, 3rd District

Connie Mack R-FL, 14th District

Jeff Fortenberry R-NE, 1st District

Michael T. McCaul R-TX, 10th District

Ted Poe R-TX, 2nd District

Bob Inglis R-SC, 4th District

Gus Bilirakis R-FL, 9th District
Shelley Berkley D-NV, 1st District
Congressional delegation presses China on Iran, JTA, 8/20/2009
The delegation expressed “deep disappointment with recent multi-billion-dollar energy deals signed with Iran by Chinese state-owned companies,” said a statement from the office of U.S. Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee who is leading the bipartisan delegation.
See also: “Israel Makes Case to China for Iran Sanctions”, The New York Times, 6/8/2010
Wexler urges Pollard release: WASHINGTON (JTA, August 5, 2011) — Robert Wexler, one of President Obama’s closest Jewish confidantes, urged him to release Jonathan Pollard… Wexler, who now directs the Center for Middle East Peace, was the Obama campaign’s chief Jewish proxy in the 2008 election and remains close to the White House. http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/08/05/3088865/wexler-urges-pollard-release

111th Congress
United States House of Representatives
Committee on Foreign Affairs
[Jewish Members of] Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
Gary L. Ackerman Chairman
D-NY, 5th District
Brad Sherman D-CA, 27th District
Robert Wexler D-FL, 19th District
Ron Klein D-FL, 22nd District
[All] Subcommittee Members

Gary L. Ackerman Chairman
D-NY, 5th District

Russ Carnahan D-MO, 3rd District

Michael E. McMahon D-NY, 13th District

Sheila Jackson Lee D-TX, 18th District

Shelley Berkley D-NV, 1st District

Joseph Crowley D-NY, 7th District

Mike Ross D-AR, 4th District

Jim Costa D-CA, 20th District

Keith Ellison D-MN, 5th District

Ron Klein D-FL, 22nd District

Brad Sherman D-CA, 27th District

Robert Wexler D-FL, 19th District

Eliot L. Engel D-NY, 17th District

Gerald E. Connolly D-VA, 11th District

Gene Green D-TX, 29th District

Dan Burton Ranking Member
R-IN, 5th District

Joe Wilson R-SC, 2nd District

J. Gresham Barrett R-SC, 3rd District

Jeff Fortenberry R-NE, 1st District

Michael T. McCaul R-TX, 10th District

Bob Inglis R-SC, 4th District

Gus Bilirakis R-FL, 9th District

Dana Rohrabacher R-CA, 46th District

Edward R. Royce R-CA, 40th District
Shelley Berkley D-NV, 1st District

111th Congress
United States House of Representatives
Committee on Foreign Affairs
[Jewish Members of] Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade
Brad Sherman D-CA, 27th District
Chairman
[All] Subcommittee Members

Brad Sherman Chairman
D-CA, 27th District

Gerald E. Connolly D-VA, 11th District

David Scott D-GA, 13th District

Diane E. Watson D-CA, 33rd District

Michael E. McMahon D-NY, 13th District

Sheila Jackson Lee D-TX, 18th District

Ron Klein D-FL, 22nd District

Edward R. Royce Ranking Member
R-CA, 40th District

Ted Poe R-TX, 2nd District

Donald A. Manzullo R-IL, 16th District

John Boozman R-AR, 3rd District

J. Gresham Barrett R-SC, 3rd District
Ron Klein D-FL, 22nd District

111th Congress
United States House of Representatives
[Jewish Members of]
Committee on Financial Services
The Committee oversees all components of the nation’s housing and financial services sectors including banking, insurance, real estate, public and assisted housing, and securities. The Committee continually reviews the laws and programs relating to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and international development and finance agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman
Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY)
Brad Sherman (D-CA)
Ron Klein (D-FL)
John Adler (D-NJ)
[ALL] Members of the Committee
Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, PA
Rep. Maxine Waters, CA
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, NY
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, IL
Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, NY
Rep. Melvin L. Watt, NC
Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, NY
Rep. Brad Sherman, CA
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, NY
Rep. Dennis Moore, KS
Rep. Michael E. Capuano, MA
Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, TX
Rep. William Lacy Clay, MO
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, NY
Rep. Joe Baca, CA
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, MA
Rep. Brad Miller, NC
Rep. David Scott, GA
Rep. Al Green, TX
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, MO
Rep. Melissa L. Bean, IL
Rep. Gwen Moore, WI
Rep. Paul W. Hodes, NH
Rep. Keith Ellison, MN
Rep. Ron Klein, FL
Rep. Charles Wilson, OH
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, CO
Rep. Joe Donnelly, IN
Rep. Bill Foster, IL
Rep. Andre Carson, IN
Rep. Jackie Speier, CA
Rep. Travis Childers, MS
Rep. Walt Minnick, ID
Rep. John Adler, NJ
Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, OH
Rep. Steve Driehaus, OH
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, FL
Rep. Alan Grayson, FL
Rep. Jim Himes, CT
Rep. Gary Peters, MI
Rep. Dan Maffei, NY
Republican Members
Rep. Spencer Bachus, AL
Rep. Michael N. Castle, DE
Rep. Peter King, NY
Rep. Edward R. Royce, CA
Rep. Frank D. Lucas, OK
Rep. Ron Paul, TX
Rep. Donald A. Manzullo, IL
Rep. Walter B. Jones , NC
Rep. Judy Biggert, IL
Rep. Gary G. Miller, CA
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, WV
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, TX
Rep. Scott Garrett, NJ
Rep. J. Gresham Barrett, SC
Rep. Jim Gerlach, PA
Rep. Randy Neugebauer, TX
Rep. Tom Price, GA
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, NC
Rep. John Campbell, CA
Rep. Adam Putnam, FL
Rep. Michele Bachmann, MN
Rep. Kenny Marchant, TX
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, MI
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, CA
Rep. Bill Posey, FL
Rep. Lynn Jenkins, KS
Rep. Christopher Lee, NY
Rep. Erik Paulsen, MN
Rep. Leonard Lance, NJ

Barney Frank marries longtime partner
July 8, 2012
(JTA) — U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) married his longtime partner Jim Ready.
Frank and Ready were married Saturday evening in a ceremony officiated by the governor of Massachusetts.
Frank, 72, who will retire from Congress at the end of the current term after 16 terms in the House of Representatives, came out as gay in 1987, the first congressman to do so of his own volition.
He is reportedly the first sitting member of Congress to enter a same-sex marriage.
Frank and Ready, 42, met at a November 2005 political fund-raiser in support of gay rights in Ready’s hometown of Ogunquit, Maine.
In 2004, Massachusetts became the first American state to allow same-sex couples to be legally married; today eight states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriages.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/07/08/3100111/barney-frank-marries-longtime-partner

Committees
Standing
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Appropriations
Armed Services
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Budget
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Energy and Natural Resources
Environment and Public Works
Finance
Foreign Relations
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Judiciary
Rules and Administration
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Veterans’ Affairs

Special, Select, and Other
Indian Affairs
Select Committee on Ethics
Select Committee on Intelligence
Special Committee on Aging

Joint
Joint Committee on Printing
Joint Committee on Taxation
Joint Committee on the Library
Joint Economic Committee

111th Congress
United States Senate
Committees

“. . .it is not far from the truth to say that Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work”–Woodrow Wilson
The committee is “the eye, the ear, the hand, and very often the brain” of Congress–Speaker Reed

111th Congress United States Senate
[Jewish Members of]
Armed Services Committee
Carl Levin (Michigan)
Chairman
Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut)
[All] Members of the Committee
DEMOCRATS
Carl Levin (Michigan)
Chairman
Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Robert C. Byrd (West Virginia)
Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut)
Jack Reed (Rhode Island)
Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii)
Bill Nelson (Florida)
Ben Nelson (Nebraska)
Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Jim Webb (Virginia)
Claire McCaskill (Missouri)
Mark Udall (Colorado)
Kay R. Hagan (North Carolina)
Mark Begich (Alaska)
Roland W. Burris (Illinois)

REPUBLICANS
John McCain (Arizona)
Ranking Member
James M. Inhofe (Oklahoma)
Jeff Sessions (Alabama)
Saxby Chambliss (Georgia)
Lindsey Graham (South Carolina)
John Thune (South Dakota)
Mel Martinez (Florida)
Roger F. Wicker (Mississippi)
Richard Burr (North Carolina)
David Vitter (Louisiana)
Susan M. Collins (Maine
Watch:
Fmr. Sen. Hagel Testifies at Senate Confirmation Washington, DC, Thursday, January 31, 2013
Hearing–Confirmation Hearing: US Senator Lindsey Graham [38th mn to 51st mn]:
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Fmr-Sen-Hagel-Testifies-at-Senate-Confirmation-Hearing/10737437704-3/

Fmr. Sen. Hagel Testifies at Senate Confirmation Hearing–Confirmation Hearing: US Senator Edward “Ted” Cruz [1:45th mn to 1:55th mn]:
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Fmr-Sen-Hagel-Testifies-at-Senate-Confirmation-Hearing/10737437704-4/

“Jewish Michigan Senator Carl Levin… heads the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, and in that capacity has been influential in defense policy, helping to maintain record levels of defense assistance for Israel.” Haaretz, March 8, 2013
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/jewish-michigan-senator-carl-levin-won-t-seek-re-election-in-2014-1.508080

111th Congress United States Senate
Armed Services Committee
[Jewish Members of] SUBCOMMITTEE ON AIRLAND
Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut)
Subcommittee Chairman
[All] SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBERS ON AIRLAND
Senator Lieberman
Subcommittee Chairman
Senator Bayh
Senator Webb
Senator McCaskill
Senator Hagan
Senator Begich
Senator Burris
Senator Thune
Ranking Member
Senator Inhofe
Senator Sessions
Senator Chambliss
Senator Burr

111th Congress United States Senate
[Jewish Members of]
Committee on Rules and Administration
Charles E. Schumer, NY
Chairman
Dianne Feinstein, CA
[All] Members of the Committee
Members

Charles E. Schumer, NY
Chairman

Robert Bennett, UT
Ranking Member

Majority Members
Robert C. Byrd, WV

Daniel K. Inouye, HI

Christopher J. Dodd, CT

Dianne Feinstein, CA

Richard J. Durbin, IL

E. Benjamin Nelson, NE

Patty Murray, WA

Mark L. Pryor, AR

Tom Udall, NM

Mark Warner, VA
Jean Parvin Bordewich, Staff Director
Jason Abel, Chief Counsel
Minority Members
Mitch McConnell, KY

Thad Cochran, MS

Kay Bailey Hutchison, TX

C. Saxby Chambliss, GA

Lamar Alexander, TN

John Ensign, NV

Pat Roberts, KS

111th Congress United States Senate
[Jewish Members of]
Select Committee on Intelligence
[All] Members of the Committee
2009-2010
Democrats
Republicans
Dianne Feinstein, California
Chairman
Christopher S. Bond,
Missouri
Vice Chairman
John D. Rockefeller IV,
West Virginia
Orrin Hatch, Utah
Ron Wyden, Oregon
Olympia J. Snowe, Maine
Evan Bayh, Indiana
Saxby Chambliss, Georgia
Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland
Richard Burr, North Carolina
Russell D. Feingold, Wisconsin
Tom Coburn, Oklahoma
Bill Nelson, Florida
James Risch, Idaho
Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island    
Dianne Feinstein, CA
Chairman [sic]

111th Congress
United States Senate
[Jewish Members of]
Committee on Foreign Relations
Kerry, John F. (D-MA) , Chairman [a Catholic of Jewish background]
Feingold, Russell D. (D-WI)
Boxer, Barbara (D-CA)
[All] Members of the Committee
Kerry, John F. (MA) , Chairman
Dodd, Christopher J. (CT)
Feingold, Russell D. (WI)
Boxer, Barbara (CA)
Menendez, Robert (NJ)
Cardin, Benjamin L. (MD)
Casey, Robert P. (PA)
Webb, Jim (VA)
Shaheen, Jeanne (NH)
Kaufman, Edward E. (DE)
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. (NY)
Lugar, Richard G. (IN), Ranking Member
Corker, Bob (TN)
Isakson, Johnny (GA)
Risch, James E. (ID)
DeMint, Jim (SC)
Barrasso, John (WY)
Wicker, Roger F. (MS)

The Israel Lobby’s Sources of Power
The wide-open nature of the American political system
Small groups committed to a single issue can exercise considerable influence if the rest of the population is largely indifferent—When asked why he and his colleagues signed a controversial legislation pushed by the Israel lobby, one U.S. Senator said: “There is no political advantage in not signing. If you do sign you don’t offend anyone. If you don’t you might offend some Jews in your state.”
American Jews are relatively prosperous and well educated
Favorable image of Israel
Absence of effective opposition
Mearsheimer and Walt, p. 140-141

It should be emphasized that Israel controls the lobby, not the other way around
1. “Israelis were the only ones entitled to decide Israeli policy”
2. “American Jews should stand publicly united with Israel and air disputes only in private.”
Mearsheimer and Walt, The Israel lobby and U.S. foreign policy (2007), page 123-124.
Poll: 65% of Jewish Israelis say U.S. Jews should criticize Obama’s Mideast policy:
B’nai B’rith survey also found 54% of Jewish Israelis believe Jewish advocacy groups who work with foreign governments should always support Israeli policy. Sixty-five percent of Jewish Israelis believe U.S. Jews should criticize the Obama administration’s policy toward Israel, according to a survey published in June that was conducted on behalf of the B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem. Haaretz, 6/15/2010, http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/poll-65-of-jewish-israelis-say-u-s-jews-should-criticize-obama-s-mideast-policy-1.296386

Jerusalem/El-Quds in Quran 17:1, John 19:18, and Psalm 137:5
“Glory to Him who made His servant travel by night from the sacred place of worship [in Mecca] to the furthest place of worship [in Jerusalem], whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him some of Our signs: He alone is the All Hearing, the All Seeing”—Quran 17:1

“Here [in Jerusalem] they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle”—John 19:18

“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill”—Psalm 137:5
The Aqsa Mosque

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The Western/
Buraq Wall

The Planning Crisis in East Jerusalem
UNITED NATIONS, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, occupied Palestinian territory, Special focus, APRIL 2009
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_planning_crisis_east_jerusalem_april_2009_english
“Since 1967, the Israeli authorities have demolished thousands of Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied Palestinian territory, including an estimated 2,000 houses in East Jerusalem.”

Fairuz’s “Zahrat al-Mada’in” (“The Flower of All Cities”):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cVRDNcQkKA&feature=related
 I
To you, oh City of Prayer
I pray.
To you, the one with the most beautiful buildings
The flower of all cities.
To you Jerusalem,
The City of Prayer,
I pray.
II
It is to you that our eyes journey everyday;
They roam through the narrow streets of your temples
And reach out to the old churches,
Wiping out the sorrow from the mosques.
III
Oh the night of Isra,
The path for those who ascended to heaven,
Our eyes journey to you every day
And I pray.
IV
The child in the cave
And His mother Mary
Are two crying faces.
Crying for those who have been forced out of their homes,
Children without shelter
Those who defended it and died in the smoke of wars.
And peace became a martyr
In the Land of Peace
And justice collapsed by the smoke of wars.
When the city of Jerusalem fell
Love subsided
And in your hearts, war resided.
V
The glowing anger is coming
And I am full of faith
The glowing anger is coming
I’ll overcome my sorrows.
From all paths,
Riding horses of fear,
And like the glowing face of God,
It’s coming.
The gate to our city will never shut
For I am going to pray.
I will knock on doors,
And I’ll open all doors.
And you, oh river of Jordan,
Will wash my face with your holy water,
And you will wash away all traces of barbarism
And we’ll defeat the forces of evil.
VI
The house is ours,
And Jerusalem is ours.
And with our hands,
We will bring to Jerusalem
Its beauty and peace.
And to Jerusalem
Peace is coming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cVRDNcQkKA&feature=related
One of the most popular Arabic songs about Jerusalem is Fairuz’s “Zahrat al-Mada’in” (“The Flower of All Cities”). Fairuz, an Arab-Christian, sings about the significance of Jerusalem to humanity, to peace, and to the three monotheistic religions. She also hints to the Israeli occupation of the city, the dispossession of the Palestinians, and their eventual return.
Nasser Al-Taee, “Voices of peace and the legacy of reconciliation: popular music, nationalism, and the quest for peace in the Middle East,” Popular Music 21/1, 2002, pp. 41–61).

Khamenei: Iran prepared to assist those who confront Israel
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 3, 2012
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/02/03/3091508/khameini-iran-prepared-to-assist-those-who-confront-israel

(JTA) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country is prepared to assist those who would confront Israel and the United States. “From now on, in any place, if any nation or any group confronts the Zionist regime, we will endorse and we will help,” the leader of Iran’s theocracy said in a Friday sermon translated by the Associated Press. “We have no fear expressing this.” Khamenei called Israel “a cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut.”

U.S. Unconstitutional Commitment to the Security of the State of Israel
1. “The bonds between the United States and Israel are unbreakable and the commitment of the United States to the security of Israel is ironclad… I and my administration have made the security of Israel a priority. It‘s why we‘ve increased cooperation between our militaries to unprecedented levels. It‘s why we‘re making our most advanced technologies available to our Israeli allies. It‘s why, despite tough fiscal times, we‘ve increased foreign military financing to record levels. And that includes additional support –- beyond regular military aid -– for the Iron Dome anti-rocket system… So make no mistake, we will maintain Israel‘s qualitative military edge… You also see our commitment to our shared security in our determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Here in the United States, we‘ve imposed the toughest sanctions ever on the Iranian regime… You also see our commitment to Israel‘s security in our steadfast opposition to any attempt to de-legitimize the State of Israel. As I said at the United Nations last year, ‗Israel‘s existence must not be a subject for debate,‘ and ‗efforts to chip away at Israel‘s legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States.‘ So when the Durban Review Conference advanced anti-Israel sentiment, we withdrew. In the wake of the Goldstone Report, we stood up strongly for Israel‘s right to defend itself. When an effort was made to insert the United Nations into matters that should be resolved through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, we vetoed it… No vote at the United Nations will ever create an independent Palestinian state. And the United States will stand up against efforts to single Israel out at the United Nations or in any international forum. Israel‘s legitimacy is not a matter for debate. That is my commitment; that is my pledge to all of you [AIPAC Policy Conference 2011].‖–President Barack Obama (5/22/2011)
2. “I am a Zionist… You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist‖— U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden (Shalom TV, 3/27/2007).
3. “I have a deep personal commitment to Israel.” —Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Haaretz, 4/20/2010)
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Publisher of the ‘Atlanta Jewish Times’ suggests Mossad should assassinate Obama: Andrew Adler, the owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, a weekly newspaper serving Atlanta’s Jewish community, devoted his January 13, 2012 column to the thorny problem of the U.S. and Israel’s diverging views on the threat posed by Iran. Basically Israel has three options, he wrote: Strike Hezbollah and Hamas, strike Iran, or “Three, give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place, and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.”
Adam Horowitz, “Publisher of the ‘Atlanta Jewish Times’ suggests Mossad should assassinate Obama,” MondoWeiss, January 20, 2012, http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/publisher-of-the-atlanta-jewish-times-suggests-mossad-should-assassinate-obama.html

U.N. General Assembly adopts nine resolutions condemning Israel
JTA, December 19, 2012
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/12/19/3114936/un-general-assembly-adopts-nine-resolutions-condemning-israel
“(JTA) — The United Nations General Assembly adopted nine resolutions on the topics of Palestinian rights and the Golan Heights.
The resolutions adopted Tuesday criticized Israel for “the continuing systematic violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people,” and focused on “the extremely difficult socioeconomic conditions being faced by the Palestine refugees” in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. One resolution condemned Israel for continuing to hold the Golan Heights, and demanded Israel to return the land to Syria…
By the end of this week, the current 2012 UN General Assembly session is set to adopt 22 country-specific resolutions on Israel — and only four on the rest of the world combined”

Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS
Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights
One year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which found Israel’s Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal; Israel continues its construction of the colonial Wall with total disregard to the Court’s decision. Thirty eight years into Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, Israel continues to expand Jewish colonies. It has unilaterally annexed occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and is now de facto annexing large parts of the West Bank by means of the Wall. Israel is also preparing – in the shadow of its lanned redeployment from the Gaza Strip – to build and expand colonies in the West Bank. Fifty seven years after the state of Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless. Moreover, Israel’s entrenched system of racial discrimination against its own Arab-Palestinian citizens remains intact… We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace.
9 July 2005, http://www.bdsmovement.net/call

“…a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification”—President George Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796, http://web.archive.org/web/20080924022539/http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/farewell/sd106-21

The United States is currently involved in
five major wars involving the security of Israel:
(1) the war in Palestine-Israel since the late 1940s
(2) the war in Afghanistan since the early 1980s
(3) the war in Iraq since the early 1990s
(4) the war on terrorism since September 11, 2001
(5) the war in Libya since March 2011
The United States is also involved in other conflicts
(in Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Sudan, Lebanon) involving the security of Israel
Without Israel’s security concerns and U.S. commitment to Israel’s security, the United States would not be involved in all those costly and unnecessary wars and conflicts which have tarnished the image of the United States around the world and contributed heavily to the Federal government debt of nearly $16 trillion in 2012
Veteran Washington Post columnist Walter Pincus has urged the U.S. administration to reevaluate the extent of the defense aid that the United States provides to Israel. Pincus, who has been reporting on intelligence, defense and foreign policy for the Washington Post for 45 years, says “If Israel can reduce its defense spending because of its domestic economic problems, shouldn’t the United States – which must cut military costs because of its major budget deficit – consider reducing its aid to Israel?” Haaretz, 10/24/2011,
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/leading-u-s-columnist-says-defense-aid-to-israel-should-be-slashed-1.391623
America on the Zionist rack (cartoonist: John Kloss), http://sydwalker.info/blog/2010/10/30/uncle-sams-israel-lobby-triple-major-influence

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General Education courses
A gymnasium of the mind
Knowledge beyond one’s specialty
Writing and thinking across disciplines
Working in collaboration with others
Thinking critically & reasoning logically
Developing some computer skills
Sensitivity to others’ cultures & problems

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Have Fun But Not Too Much!
“But perhaps the biggest reason why intellectuals excoriated entertainment was that they understood all too well their own precariousness in a world dominated by it. For whatever the overt content of any particular work, entertainment as a whole promulgated an unmistakable theme, one that took dead aim at the intellectual’s most cherished values. That theme was the triumph of the senses over the mind, of emotion over reason, of chaos over order, of the id over the superego, of Dionysian abandon over Apollonian harmony. Entertainment was Plato’s worst nightmare. It deposed the rational and enthroned the sensational and in so doing deposed the intellectual minority and enthroned the unrefined majority.
Therein, for the intellectuals, lay utmost danger and deepest despair. They know that in the end, after all the imprecations had rung down around it, entertainment was less about morality or even aesthetics than about power—the power to replace the old cultural order with a new one, the power to replace the sublime with fun.”—Neal Gabler, Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1998, page 21.

Critical thinking tips
Think about thinking
Learn how to unlearn
Know the ‘what’ and the ‘who’
Synthesis versus analysis
Wisdom versus knowledge
Academia versus the media
Facts versus judgments
Truth as a thinking virtue
Action versus reaction
Justice as a social virtue
Resist appeals to prejudices
Be prepared for different perspectives
Don’t believe everything you think
Learn the habit of gathering and examining
evidence before forming conclusions
Be always aware of illusions
Think sometimes outside the box
Truth that Matters to Society
“Scientists must seek not just truth in general but truth that matters, and truths that matter not just to scientists but also to the larger society in which they live and work”
Philip Kitcher, “On the Autonomy of the Sciences,” Philosophy Today, 2004, pp. 51-57.
Consider the Big Picture
“Many people fall for mistaken common beliefs regarding their health because medicine today does not look at the human body as a whole. For many years there has been a trend for doctors to specialize, looking at and treating just one part of the body. We can’t see the forest for the trees. Everything in the human body is interconnected. Just because a component found in a food helps one part of the body function well, it does not mean that it is good for the entire body. When picking your food and drink, consider the big picture. You cannot decide whether a food is good or bad simply by looking at one ingredient found in that food.”
Hiromi Shinya, MD, The Enzyme Factor: Diet for the Future that will Prevent Heart Disease, Cure Cancer, Stop Type 2 Diabetes, Council Oak Books, San Francisco & Tulsa, 2007, page 12

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Be always wary of illusion and pseudo-events
“Historian Daniel Boorstin, in his path breaking study The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, was describing how everywhere the fabricated, the inauthentic and the theatrical were driving out the natural, the genuine and the spontaneous from life until reality itself had been converted into stagecraft. As Boorstin saw it, Americans increasingly lived in a “world where fantasy is more real than reality,” and he warned, We risk being the first people in history to have been able to make their illusions so vivid, so persuasive, so ‘realistic’ that they can live in them”–Neal Gabler, Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1998, page 4.
The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel J. Boors: First published in 1962, this wonderfully provocative book introduced the notion of “pseudo-events”—events such as press conferences and presidential debates, which are manufactured solely in order to be reported—and the contemporary definition of celebrity as “a person who is known for his well-knownness.” Since then Daniel J. Boorstin’s prophetic vision of an America inundated by its own illusions has become an essential resource for any reader who wants to distinguish the manifold deceptions of our culture from its few enduring truths. Amazon.com

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“Is Google Making Us Stupid?”
“The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient, automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best way”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out the mental movements of what we’ve come to describe as knowledge work. Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters—the Googleplex—is the Internet’s high church, and the religion practiced inside its walls is Taylorism… Drawing on the terabytes of behavioral data it collects through its search engine and other sites, the company carries out thousands of experiments a day and uses the results to refine the algorithms that increasingly guide how all of us find information and extract meaning from it. What Taylor did for the work of the hand, Google is doing for the work of the mind… It would be rash to jump to the conclusion that the Internet is undermining our moral sense. It would not be rash to suggest that as the Net reroutes our vital paths and diminishes our capacity for contemplation, it is altering the depth of our emotions as well as our thoughts” p. 150 & 221.
“In stark contrast [to the printed book], the Internet encourages the rapid, distracted sampling of small bits of information from many sources. Its ethic is that of the industrialist, an ethic of speed and efficiency, of optimized production and consumption—and now the Net is remaking us in its own image. We are becoming ever more adapt at scanning and skimming, but what we are losing is our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection.”

. . .
. . .
. . .
Think sometimes outside the box
Link the nine dots with four straight lines without lifting the pen

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What Is Culture?
Culture is all that is manmade: it includes the language, religion, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, socio-economic status, educational level, occupation, personal experience and personality, technologies, and material objects that are passed from one generation to another
Culture is learned
Culture is not static
Culture is not monolithic
Culture is like the software of the (hardware) body
Culture tends to shape our information environment, mold our mental models/mindsets/stereotypes, influence our worldview, and impact our judgment and decision making

Culture and the iceberg analogy
Less than 10% of the iceberg is visible
More than 90% of the iceberg is invisible
The “Tip of the iceberg” idiomatic expression:
Only the part of something that can be easily observed, but not the rest of it, which is hidden.
Surface culture
Deep culture

Source: Moore, James L, III; Milner, H Richard, “Beyond Cultureblindness: A Model of Culture With Implications for Gifted Education,” Roeper Review 27. 2 (Winter 2005): 97-103.
Surface versus Deep Culture
“The body is the hardware and culture is the software.” A Macintosh computer and an IBM computer serve the same functions, but do so in different ways due to different software. So it is with different groups – all people eat and sleep; eating and sleeping are universal, but different groups eat different foods (pork vs. beef vs. no meat) for different reasons (to celebrate, because of traditions, because of folklore) and in different ways (fork vs. chopsticks; utensils vs. hands)… Conceptually, many people also describe culture using an iceberg analogy. Above the surface of the iceberg are cultural artifacts – music, fashion, and art, for example. However, as described next, what is beneath the surface is termed “invisible culture” or “deep culture.” Deep culture includes traditions, beliefs, values, norms, and symbolic meanings. Deep culture, using the computer analogy, is the software.”
a small (one ninth) manifestation of a larger problem

‘Arab/Muslim-centric’ map oriented with the south at the top
‘Euro-centric’ map oriented with the north at the top

Mecca, Arabia
Culture and Ethnocentrism

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The ‘outward’ الظاهر vs. the ‘inward’ الباطن
You may think about the Quran story of the encounter between Prophet Moses and a man referred to in the Quran as “one of Our servants—a man to whom We had granted Our mercy and whom We had given knowledge of Our own.” This man is known outside the Quran story as Elkhadir. The story is reported in Quran chapter 18 or surah of The Cave, verses 60-82. It is also reported in hadith books, including elbukhari.
The story teaches us that seeking knowledge requires patience. It teaches us that we need to think critically & deeply beyond the kind of surface knowledge that we receive from our five senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch). Indeed if the five senses were enough to inform us correctly about the world, we do not need to spend so much time and resources on science and learning, i.e., on universities.
Moses was concerned with what is apparent or obvious: the ‘outward’ الظاهر.
In contrast to the unidentified man (Elkhadir), Moses was not patient enough to think deeply about the big picture, about the context of what he saw, about the ‘inward’ الباطن
وَإِذۡ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِفَتَٮٰهُ لَآ أَبۡرَحُ حَتَّىٰٓ أَبۡلُغَ مَجۡمَعَ ٱلۡبَحۡرَيۡنِ أَوۡ أَمۡضِىَ حُقُبً۬ا (٦٠) فَلَمَّا بَلَغَا مَجۡمَعَ بَيۡنِهِمَا نَسِيَا حُوتَهُمَا فَٱتَّخَذَ سَبِيلَهُ ۥ فِى ٱلۡبَحۡرِ سَرَبً۬ا (٦١) فَلَمَّا جَاوَزَا قَالَ لِفَتَٮٰهُ ءَاتِنَا غَدَآءَنَا لَقَدۡ لَقِينَا مِن سَفَرِنَا هَـٰذَا نَصَبً۬ا (٦٢) قَالَ أَرَءَيۡتَ إِذۡ أَوَيۡنَآ إِلَى ٱلصَّخۡرَةِ فَإِنِّى نَسِيتُ ٱلۡحُوتَ وَمَآ أَنسَٮٰنِيهُ إِلَّا ٱلشَّيۡطَـٰنُ أَنۡ أَذۡكُرَهُ ۥ‌ۚ وَٱتَّخَذَ سَبِيلَهُ ۥ فِى ٱلۡبَحۡرِ عَجَبً۬ا (٦٣) قَالَ ذَٲلِكَ مَا كُنَّا نَبۡغِ‌ۚ فَٱرۡتَدَّا عَلَىٰٓ ءَاثَارِهِمَا قَصَصً۬ا (٦٤) فَوَجَدَا عَبۡدً۬ا مِّنۡ عِبَادِنَآ ءَاتَيۡنَـٰهُ رَحۡمَةً۬ مِّنۡ عِندِنَا وَعَلَّمۡنَـٰهُ مِن لَّدُنَّا عِلۡمً۬ا (٦٥) قَالَ لَهُ ۥ مُوسَىٰ هَلۡ أَتَّبِعُكَ عَلَىٰٓ أَن تُعَلِّمَنِ مِمَّا عُلِّمۡتَ رُشۡدً۬ا (٦٦) قَالَ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسۡتَطِيعَ مَعِىَ صَبۡرً۬ا (٦٧) وَكَيۡفَ تَصۡبِرُ عَلَىٰ مَا لَمۡ تُحِطۡ بِهِۦ خُبۡرً۬ا (٦٨) قَالَ سَتَجِدُنِىٓ إِن شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ صَابِرً۬ا وَلَآ أَعۡصِى لَكَ أَمۡرً۬ا (٦٩) قَالَ فَإِنِ ٱتَّبَعۡتَنِى فَلَا تَسۡـَٔلۡنِى عَن شَىۡءٍ حَتَّىٰٓ أُحۡدِثَ لَكَ مِنۡهُ ذِكۡرً۬ا (٧٠) فَٱنطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا رَكِبَا فِى ٱلسَّفِينَةِ خَرَقَهَا‌ۖ قَالَ أَخَرَقۡتَہَا لِتُغۡرِقَ أَهۡلَهَا لَقَدۡ جِئۡتَ شَيۡـًٔا إِمۡرً۬ا (٧١) قَالَ أَلَمۡ أَقُلۡ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسۡتَطِيعَ مَعِىَ صَبۡرً۬ا (٧٢) قَالَ لَا تُؤَاخِذۡنِى بِمَا نَسِيتُ وَلَا تُرۡهِقۡنِى مِنۡ أَمۡرِى عُسۡرً۬ا (٧٣) فَٱنطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا لَقِيَا غُلَـٰمً۬ا فَقَتَلَهُ ۥ قَالَ أَقَتَلۡتَ نَفۡسً۬ا زَكِيَّةَۢ بِغَيۡرِ نَفۡسٍ۬ لَّقَدۡ جِئۡتَ شَيۡـًٔ۬ا نُّكۡرً۬ا (٧٤) ۞ قَالَ أَلَمۡ أَقُل لَّكَ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسۡتَطِيعَ مَعِىَ صَبۡرً۬ا (٧٥) قَالَ إِن سَأَلۡتُكَ عَن شَىۡءِۭ بَعۡدَهَا فَلَا تُصَـٰحِبۡنِى‌ۖ قَدۡ بَلَغۡتَ مِن لَّدُنِّى عُذۡرً۬ا (٧٦) فَٱنطَلَقَا حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَيَآ أَهۡلَ قَرۡيَةٍ ٱسۡتَطۡعَمَآ أَهۡلَهَا فَأَبَوۡاْ أَن يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيہَا جِدَارً۬ا يُرِيدُ أَن يَنقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُ ۥ‌ۖ قَالَ لَوۡ شِئۡتَ لَتَّخَذۡتَ عَلَيۡهِ أَجۡرً۬ا (٧٧) قَالَ هَـٰذَا فِرَاقُ بَيۡنِى وَبَيۡنِكَ‌ۚ سَأُنَبِّئُكَ بِتَأۡوِيلِ مَا لَمۡ تَسۡتَطِع عَّلَيۡهِ صَبۡرًا (٧٨) أَمَّا ٱلسَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتۡ لِمَسَـٰكِينَ يَعۡمَلُونَ فِى ٱلۡبَحۡرِ فَأَرَدتُّ أَنۡ أَعِيبَہَا وَكَانَ وَرَآءَهُم مَّلِكٌ۬ يَأۡخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصۡبً۬ا (٧٩) وَأَمَّا ٱلۡغُلَـٰمُ فَكَانَ أَبَوَاهُ مُؤۡمِنَيۡنِ فَخَشِينَآ أَن يُرۡهِقَهُمَا طُغۡيَـٰنً۬ا وَڪُفۡرً۬ا (٨٠) فَأَرَدۡنَآ أَن يُبۡدِلَهُمَا رَبُّہُمَا خَيۡرً۬ا مِّنۡهُ زَكَوٰةً۬ وَأَقۡرَبَ رُحۡمً۬ا (٨١) وَأَمَّا ٱلۡجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَـٰمَيۡنِ يَتِيمَيۡنِ فِى ٱلۡمَدِينَةِ وَكَانَ تَحۡتَهُ ۥ كَنزٌ۬ لَّهُمَا وَكَانَ أَبُوهُمَا صَـٰلِحً۬ا فَأَرَادَ رَبُّكَ أَن يَبۡلُغَآ أَشُدَّهُمَا وَيَسۡتَخۡرِجَا كَنزَهُمَا رَحۡمَةً۬ مِّن رَّبِّكَ‌ۚ وَمَا فَعَلۡتُهُ ۥ عَنۡ أَمۡرِى‌ۚ ذَٲلِكَ تَأۡوِيلُ مَا لَمۡ تَسۡطِع عَّلَيۡهِ صَبۡرً۬ا (٨٢). سُوۡرَةُ الکهف، من الآية 60 إلى الأية 82
(60) Moses said to his servant, ‘I will not rest until I reach the place where the two seas meet, even if it takes me years!’ (61) but when they reached the place where the two seas meet, they had forgotten all about their fish, which made its way into the sea and swam away. (62) They journey on, and then Moses said to his servant, `Give us our lunch! This journey of ours is very tiring,’ (63) and [the servant] said, ‘Remember when we were resting by the rock? I forgot the fish—Satan made me forget to pay attention to it—and it [must have] made its way into the sea.’ ‘How strange!’ (64) Moses said, ‘Then that was the place we were looking for.’ So the two turned back, retraced their footsteps, (65) and found one of Our servants—a man to whom We had granted Our mercy and whom We had given knowledge of Our own. (66) Moses said to him, ‘May I follow you so that you can teach me some of the right guidance you have been taught?’ (67) The man said, ‘You will not be able to bear with me patiently. (68) How could you be patient in matters beyond your comprehension?’ (69) Moses said, ‘God willing, you will find me patient. I will not disobey you in any way.’ (70) The man said, ‘If you follow me then, do not query anything I do before I mentioned it to you myself.’
(71) They travelled on. Then, when they got into a boat, and the man made a hole in it, Moses said, ‘How could you make a hole in it? Do you want to drown its passengers? What a strange thing to do!’ (72) He replied, ‘Did I not tell you that you would never be able to bear with me patiently? (73) Moses said, ‘Forgive me for forgetting. Do not make it too hard for me to follow you.’ (74) And so they travelled on. Then, when they met a young boy and the man killed him, Moses said, ‘How could you kill an innocent person? He has not killed anyone! What a terrible thing to do!’ (75) He replied, ‘Did I not tell you that you would never be able to bear with me patiently?’ (76) Moses said, ‘From now on, if I query anything you do, banish me from your company—you have put up with enough from me.’ (77) An so they travelled on. Then when they came to a town and asked the inhabitants for food but were refused hospitality, they saw a wall there that was on the point of falling down and the man repaired it. Moses said, ‘But if you had wished you could have taken payment for doing that.’ (78) He said, ‘This is where you and I part company. I will tell you the meaning of the things you could not bear with patiently: (79) the boat belonged to some needy people who made their living from the sea and I damaged it because I knew that coming after them was a king who was seizing every [serviceable] boat by force. (80) The young boy had parents who were people of faith, and so, fearing he would trouble them through wickedness and disbelief, (81) we wished that their Lord should give them another child—purer and more compassionate—in his place. (82) The wall belonged to two young orphans in the town and there was buried treasure beneath it belonging to them. Their father had been a righteous man, so your Lord intended them to reach maturity and then dig up their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. I did not do [these things] of my own accord: these are the explanations for those things you could not bear with patience.’ Quran 18:60-82

Read the Quranic story on the next slide:

Moses’ meeting with an unidentified figure
(60) Moses said to his servant, ‘I will not rest until I reach the place where the two seas meet, even if it takes me years!’ (61) but when they reached the place where the two seas meet, they had forgotten all about their fish, which made its way into the sea and swam away. (62) They journey on, and then Moses said to his servant, `Give us our lunch! This journey of ours is very tiring,’ (63) and [the servant] said, ‘Remember when we were resting by the rock? I forgot the fish—Satan made me forget to pay attention to it—and it [must have] made its way into the sea.’ ‘How strange!’ (64) Moses said, ‘Then that was the place we were looking for.’ So the two turned back, retraced their footsteps, (65) and found one of Our servants—a man to whom We had granted Our mercy and whom We had given knowledge of Our own. (66) Moses said to him, ‘May I follow you so that you can teach me some of the right guidance you have been taught?’ (67) The man said, ‘You will not be able to bear with me patiently. (68) How could you be patient in matters beyond your comprehension?’ (69) Moses said, ‘God willing, you will find me patient. I will not disobey you in any way.’ (70) The man said, ‘If you follow me then, do not query anything I do before I mentioned it to you myself.’
(71) They travelled on. Then, when they got into a boat, and the man made a hole in it, Moses said, ‘How could you make a hole in it? Do you want to drown its passengers? What a strange thing to do!’ (72) He replied, ‘Did I not tell you that you would never be able to bear with me patiently? (73) Moses said, ‘Forgive me for forgetting. Do not make it too hard for me to follow you.’ (74) And so they travelled on. Then, when they met a young boy and the man killed him, Moses said, ‘How could you kill an innocent person? He has not killed anyone! What a terrible thing to do!’ (75) He replied, ‘Did I not tell you that you would never be able to bear with me patiently?’ (76) Moses said, ‘From now on, if I query anything you do, banish me from your company—you have put up with enough from me.’ (77) An so they travelled on. Then when they came to a town and asked the inhabitants for food but were refused hospitality, they saw a wall there that was on the point of falling down and the man repaired it. Moses said, ‘But if you had wished you could have taken payment for doing that.’ (78) He said, ‘This is where you and I part company. I will tell you the meaning of the things you could not bear with patiently: (79) the boat belonged to some needy people who made their living from the sea and I damaged it because I knew that coming after them was a king who was seizing every [serviceable] boat by force. (80) The young boy had parents who were people of faith, and so, fearing he would trouble them through wickedness and disbelief, (81) we wished that their Lord should give them another child—purer and more compassionate—in his place. (82) The wall belonged to two young orphans in the town and there was buried treasure beneath it belonging to them. Their father had been a righteous man, so your Lord intended them to reach maturity and then dig up their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. I did not do [these things] of my own accord: these are the explanations for those things you could not bear with patience.’ Quran 18:60-82
Prophet Mohamed said “God bless Moses, we wished that he had patience until God tells us more about their story”

“the six-pack of problems” that leads many of us unconsciously to accept false ideas:
(1) We prefer stories to statistics;
(2) We seek to confirm, not to question, our ideas;
(3) We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence in shaping events;
(4) We sometimes misperceive the world around us;
(5) We tend to oversimplify our thinking; and
(6) Our memories are often inaccurate.

Source: Thomas Kida Don’t believe everything you think : the 6 basic mistakes we make in Thinking, 2006.
Don’t believe everything you think:
6 basic mistakes we make in thinking

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Hacking & Leaking
“Who are hackers? Why do they hack? There are no simple answers to these questions… While each hacker has a distinct story, there are common themes which appear throughout many of the stories. Rebellion against all symbols of authority. Dysfunctional families. Bright children suffocated by ill-equipped teachers. Mental illness or instability. Obsession and addiction”—Suelette Dreyfus, quoted on page 17.
“I want to set up a new standard: ‘scientific journalism.’ If you publish a paper on DNA, you are required, by all the good biological journals, to submit the data that has informed your research—the idea being that people will replicate it, verify it. So this is something that needs to be done for journalism as well. There is an immediate power imbalance, in that readers are unable to verify what they are being told, and that leads to abuse”—Julian Assenge, quoted on page 44.

As a student at Indiana State University… I will commit my energies to the pursuit of truth, learning, and scholarship—Adopted by the Indiana State University Student Government Association, April 17, 2002

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ISU Freshmen Academic Expectations in Fall 2005
I expect college to help me improve my ability to:
Find new ways to think about problems 92.1%
Effectively communicate my ideas by speaking 91.3%
Evaluate opposing points of views 90.4%
Effectively communicate my ideas in writing 89.3%
Solve complex problems 88.3%
Understand and appreciate other cultures 87.6%
Intelligently discuss politics or current events 80.7%
Use computers or the internet 77.2%

Source: ISU Office of Strategic Planning, Institutional Research and Effectiveness:
http://irt2.indstate.edu/home/index.htm

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Academic Integrity
“Academic honesty boils down to three simple but powerful principles:
[1] When you say you did the work yourself, you actually did it
[2] When you rely on someone else’s work, you cite it. When you use their words, you quote them openly and accurately, and you cite them too
[3] When you present research materials, you present them fairly and truthfully. That’s true whether the research involves data, documents, or the writings of other scholars
These are bedrock principles… They apply to everyone in the university, from freshmen to professors. They’re not just principles for students. They’re principles for academic honesty across the entire university”
Source: Charles Lipson (2004), Doing Honest Work in College (The University of Chicago Press), quoted in “A Faculty Guide to Academic Integrity 2009-2010,” Indiana State University, page 2.

Academic integrity: Facts versus judgment
Academic integrity requires that moral and political judgment be grounded in facts, not the other way around (as the following four slides could indicate).

The New York Times and the Iraq War
“Over the last year this newspaper has shone the bright light of hindsight on decisions that led the United States into Iraq… Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged — or failed to emerge”—The New York Times, May 26, 2004
“The New York Times Company, major newspaper publisher and media company. The New York Times Company owns newspapers, television and radio stations, and electronic information services. The company’s flagship publication, the New York Times, is one of the most influential newspapers in the world. The company owns the Boston Globe and numerous regional daily newspapers. The company also owns the International Herald Tribune newspaper. The company’s Information Services Group runs a news service and a features syndicate, and publishes the company’s newspapers on the Internet.”—1993-2009 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved, Accessed 8/20/2009 at: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588169/New_York_Times.html

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The New York Times and the Iraq War
“this war is the most important liberal, revolutionary U.S. democracy-building project since the Marshall Plan… it is one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad and it is a moral and strategic imperative that we give it our best shot”— Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, November 30, 2003

Professor Bernard Lewis and the Iraq War
Jacob Weisberg regards Bernard Lewis, who received the National Humanities Medal from President Bush in 2006 and the Irving Kristol Award from his disciples at the American Enterprise Institute in 2007, as “the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq.”[1]
[1] Jacob Weisberg, “Party of Defeat: AEI’s Weird Celebration,” Slate, 14 March 2007, accessed 30 June 2007, http://www.slate.com/id/2161800

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Professor Bernard Lewis and Vice President Dick Cheney
US Vice President Dick Cheney considers Bernard Lewis his intellectual and political mentor on the Middle East when he said “You simply cannot find a greater authority on Middle Eastern history — from classical Islamic civilization, to the Ottoman Empire, to the modern period — than this man [Lewis Bernard] and his works.”… After listening to Bernard Lewis’ advice on “the history and the way forward in the Middle East” following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney said “I decided that day that this was a man I wanted to keep in touch with, and whose work I should follow carefully in the years ahead. Since then we have met often, particularly during the last four-and-a-half years, and Bernard has always had some very good meetings with President Bush… More than three decades ago, at the height of a secular era, he wrote a prescient article titled The Return of Islam. In the 1970s he studied the writings of an obscure cleric named Khomeini, and saw the seeds of a movement that would deliver theocratic despotism. In 1990, he wrote The Roots of Muslim Rage, which anticipated the terrorism of that decade. And in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media.”[1]

[1] Dick Cheney, “Vice President’s Remarks at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia Luncheon Honoring Professor Bernard Lewis,” Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1 May 2006,
The White House, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/05/20060501-3.html

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Topic 1:
Global Geopolitics of the Middle East
Topic 1 will introduce you to the Global Geopolitics of the Middle East, especially
(1) its strategic geographic location
(2) its significance in world history and culture
(3) its role in the global economy
(4) its relations with the United States.

Global Geopolitics of the Middle East
(1) Strategic geographic location
(2) Significance in world culture
(3) Role in world economy
(4) Relations with the United States whose government continues to commit itself to the security of the State of Israel

Naming and defining the region
The Orient
The East
The Levant
The Near East
The Middle East
The Arab World
The Islamic World
North Africa and Southwest Asia

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3

The Term “Middle East”
The term “Middle East” describes a region that is neither Near East nor Far East
It was used by American naval historian Captain Alfred T. Mahan in 1902 in reference to an indefinite area around the Persian/Arabian Gulf
It became better known when the British government applied “Middle East Command” to military forces in the area extending from the central Mediterranean into the Indian subcontinent in the late 1930s
It became more familiar in the United States and Europe during World War II when the Middle East Command Headquarters was moved to Cairo
See also: Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patters: Places, Peoples, and Politics, Fourth Edition, Westview Press, 2006
CIA

Significance in World History and Culture
Cradle of Civilization
The Middle East is often referred to as the “cradle of civilization” because the first known cities, states, and forms of writing began in the region
Birthplace of Monotheism
Islam, Christianity, and Judaism
Heartland of Islam
Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem

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“Arabia was indeed the first staging post in the spread of modern humans around the world”
“Abstract: A major unanswered question regarding the dispersal of modern humans around the world concerns the geographical site of the first human steps outside of Africa. The southern coastal route model predicts that the early stages of the dispersal took place when people crossed the Red Sea to southern Arabia, but genetic evidence has hitherto been tenuous. We have addressed this question by analyzing the three minor west-Eurasian haplogroups, N1, N2, and X. These lineages branch directly from the first non-African founder node, the root of haplogroup N, and coalesce to the time of the first successful movement of modern humans out of Africa, 60 thousand years (ka) ago. We sequenced complete mtDNA genomes from 85 Southwest Asian samples carrying these haplogroups and compared them with a database of 300 European examples. The results show that these minor haplogroups have a relict distribution that suggests an ancient ancestry within the Arabian Peninsula, and they most likely spread from the Gulf Oasis region toward the Near East and Europe during the pluvial period 5524 ka ago. This pattern suggests that Arabia was indeed the first staging post in the spread of modern humans around the world.”
Source: “The Arabian Cradle: Mitochondrial Relicts of the First Steps along the Southern Route out of Africa,” The American Journal of Human Genetics, 26 January 2012, http://
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929711005453

Etymology of “Europe”
In ancient Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess whom Zeus abducted after assuming the form of a dazzling white bull. He took her to the island of Crete where she gave birth to Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. For Homer, Europe (Greek: Εὐρώπη, Eurṓpē; see also List of Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later, Europa stood for central-north Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to the lands to the north— Source: Britannica & Wikipedia encyclopedias.
With no definite etymology of the word “Europa”, one can think or speculate about the word “Arabia” (from which the Phoenicians came) and/or the word “Awruba” (a tribe from the region of North Africa where the Phoenicians founded Ancient Carthage and settled throughout the Carthaginian empire)??!!
Europa and the bull on a Greek vase. Tarquinia Museum, circa 480 BC

Sumer (Akkadian Shumerum)

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The Flood Tablet, relating part of the Epic of Gilgamesh
–Neo-Assyrian, 7th century BC, From Nineveh, northern Iraq
Assyrian relief of Gilgamesh, god-king of Sumer
The British Museum, http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/t/the_flood_tablet.aspx
Gilgamesh, the hero-king of Uruk
Gilgamesh may have been an actual king ruling in the city of Uruk around 2700 BC, but he was later deified and became the hero of many stories and eventually an epic. The Sumerian king-list, composed around 2100 BC, calls Gilgamesh the son of the goddess Ninsun and mentions that his father was a ‘lillu’ (spirit) who later became a high priest of Kullab (an area of Uruk). In the later epic, his father is Lugalbanda, another Sumerian hero king.
By the late third millennium BC, Gilgamesh became known as a ‘king of the underworld’. There are five surviving Sumerian stories about him (dating around 2000 BC), some of which were reformulated into a great Babylonian epic. The best-known version of the epic comes from the Assyrian royal library at Nineveh in the seventh century BC.

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Babylonia (Babili, “Gate of God”)

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King Hammurabi of Babylon, d. 1750 BC
Receiving the Law from the Sun God, Shamesh (right).
Hammurabi’s Code was a landmark in social justice. It is the earliest legal code known in its entirety.
Hammurabi said that he promulgated the law “so that the strong should not harm the weak.”
Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) was the sixth ruler of a line of Amorite kings, who had established themselves at the city of Babylon around 1900 BC. For the first thirty years of his reign, Hammurapi appears to have been a minor local ruler. Hethen launched a series of military campaigns and gained control of much of Mesopotamia, defeating the major kingdoms of Larsa (south Mesopotamia), Eshnunna (east of the River Tigris) and then Ashur. Mari, an important city on the River Euphrates, was also captured (the walls of Mari were levelled two years later). Hammurapi’s territory now shared a northern border with Aleppo in Syria, one of the other great political centres of the time.
The British Museum, http://www.britishmuseumshoponline.org/invt/cmcn387520?__utma=1.1114606307.1257431658.1257431658.1257431658.1&__utmb=1.17.10.1257431658&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1257431658.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=british%20museum&__utmv=-&__utmk=145349044
Hammurabai head replica

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Egyptian Pyramids
Built between 2700 bc and 1000 bc to serve as royal tombs
Encarta

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Carthage
Encarta

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Arabic
Roman
Greek
Phoenician Alphabet
The Phoenicians developed the first phonetic alphabet

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19

Holy Sepulchre
Jerusalem
Encarta

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23

St. Paul’s Trip to Arabia
“I did not go to anyone for advice, nor did I go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went at once to Arabia and then I returned to Damascus.” Gallatians 1(16-17)

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25

“The Bible Came From Arabia”
By
Kamal Salibi
London: Jonathan Cape
1988
Kamal Salibi, a former professor of history at the American University of Beirut

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“[Prophet], say, ‘God speaks the truth, so follow Abraham’s religion: he had true faith and he was never an idolater.’ The first House [of worship] to be established for mankind was the one at Becca [Mecca]. It is a blessed place; a source of guidance for all people; there are clear sign in it; it is the place where Abraham stood; whoever enters it is safe. Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to God by people who are able to undertake it. Those who reject this [should know that] God has no need of anyone.” Quran 3:95-97
Holy Mosque in Makkah/Mecca (The Holiest City in Islam)

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21

Al-Idrisi
Abu Abdullah Mohammed Ibn al-Sharif al-Idrisi (1100-1165), an Arab geographer from North Africa, is the author of one of the greatest maps of the medieval world. He joined the court of Roger II of Sicily at Palermo in about 1145.
His major geographic works include a silver planisphere (weighing 400 kg) showing a world map, a sectional map of the world, and a geography text, the Book of Roger, that contains information from his own travels and reports from others. Christopher Columbus used the map which was originally taken from Al-Idrisi’s work. The IDRISI GIS software (named after Al-Idrisi) was developed by the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University.
South
North
West
East
al-Idrisi’s world map, Arabic, (oriented with South at the top)
Arab/Muslim Perspective in Medieval Maps

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Admiral
adobe
Alcohol
Alfalfa
Algebra
Algorism
Almanac
Arsenal
Cable
Caliber
Camel
Candy
Coffee
Cotton
Emir
Gazelle
Giraffe
Magazine
Mattress
Mecca
Monsoon
Safari
Sahara
Sofa
Sugar
Syrup
Tariff
Zero
Arabic Numerals
Source: Al-Mawrid English-Arabic Dictionary
From top:
Modern Arabic (western)
Early Arabic (western)
Arabic Letters (used as numerals)
Modern Arabic (eastern)
Early Arabic (eastern)
Early Devanagari (Indian)
Later Devanagari.
Source: http://islam.org/Mosque/ihame/Sec3.htm
Examples of English Words
Derived from Arabic

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Islamic Calligraphy

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Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry
Source: Mustapha Tallas, Shaer Wa Qaseeda: Mukhtarat Shierya, volume 1, pp. 39-40, 119-120
Arabic culture is saturated with poetic speech
“Since the people of the Arabian Peninsula [and the Arab world in general] speak a variety of dialects, the inhabitants of different regions can only communicate easily by using classical Arabic, as established by Islamic scholars, or modern standard Arabic, the form of the language generally used by the media. Beyond their regional differences, however, all forms of Arabic have certain features in common. Chief among these is the age-old importance accorded to poetic expression—evidence for which predates the coming of Islam—which still exists today in Arabic culture, both Bedouin and urban. Whether it is in the form of Sufi poetry, with its emphasis on mysticism, the repetition of the name of Allah in the form of a litany or dhikr, or the versification of the sacred texts, or of profane love poetry, which may at times glorify the state of intoxication (despite its prohibition by the Muslim religion), Bedouin culture is saturated with poetic speech.” – Etienne Dehau and Pierre Bonte, Bedouin and Nomads: Peoples of the Arabian Deserts, Thames & Hudson, 2007, page 9
Watch also: BBC World News: Arabic poetry becomes reality TV hit, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9UQMjpu8no

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Arabic Cuisine
Ful Medamis (Simmered Fava Beans)
Khouzi Ala Timman (Lamb Shanks and Rice)
Fatayer Spanikh (Triangle Spinach Pies)
Sfiha, lahm Bi’Ajeen (Flat Lamb Pies)
Tabouleh (Burghul and Parsley Salad)
Tamar Al Gibna (Dates with White Cheese)
Kabab Mashwi (Ground Meat Kebab)
Source: Tess Mallos, The Complete Middle East Cookbook, 1993
Dried Beans

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Arabic Music

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Religious Affiliations of Arab Americans
Based on Zogby International Survey (2002)

The majority of Arab Americans are Christian

Source: Arab American Institute,
http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics
*Catholic include Roman Catholic, Maronite, and Melkite (Greek Catholic)
** Muslim includes Sunni, Shi’a, and Druze
***Orthodox includes Antiochian, Syrian, Greek, and Coptic

Ethnicity of America’s 7 Million Muslims in 2001
Source: Mosque Study 2001, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), http://www.cair-net.org/mosquereport/

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Definition of Race Categories Used in the 2010 Census
1. “White” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “White” or reported entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan, or Caucasian.
2. “Black or African American” refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “Black, African Am., or Negro” or reported entries such as African American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian.

3. “American Indian or Alaska Native” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. This category includes people who indicated their race(s) as “American Indian or Alaska Native” or reported their enrolled or principal tribe, such as Navajo, Blackfeet, Inupiat, Yup’ik, or Central American Indian groups or South American Indian groups.

4. “Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “Asian” or reported entries such as “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” and “Other Asian” or provided other detailed Asian responses.
5. “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “Pacific Islander” or reported entries such as “Native Hawaiian,” “Guamanian or Chamorro,” “Samoan,” and “Other Pacific Islander” or provided other detailed Pacific Islander responses.
6. “Some Other Race” includes all other responses not included in the White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander race categories described above. Respondents reporting entries such as multiracial, mixed, interracial, or a Hispanic or Latino group (for example, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or Spanish) in response to the race question are included in this category.
Source: Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010, http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02

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Strategic Geographic Location
Source: Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patters: Places, Peoples, and Politics, Fourth Edition, Westview Press, 2006, page 4, Map 1-1 (“The Middle East as tricontinental hub, centrally located at the heart of the World-Island”).

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4

The Arab League (League of Arab States) includes: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen—Non-Arab League members :Turkey, Iran, and Israel

Strategic Waterways

Strait of Gibraltar

Gibraltar: overseas territory of the UK
Population: 28,000
Area: 6.5 sq km
CIA
Britain weighs legal action against Spain on Gibraltar
“Tensions over the rocky outpost at the mouth of the Mediterranean to which Spain lays claim have turned into one of the worst rows in years between the two European Union states.”–Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/12/us-gibraltar-spain-idUSBRE97B0AS20130812
Spain may ask U.N. for support over Gibraltar: El Pais
“Centuries of friction over Gibraltar, a British overseas territory to which Spain lays claim, flared up this month after Spain complained that an artificial reef being built by Gibraltar would block its fishing vessels.” –Reuters,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/11/us-spain-gibraltar-idUSBRE97A04U20130811

Turkish Straits: The Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus

The Bosporus Strait, or the Istanbul Strait is about 700 to 3700 m wide
CIA

Strait of Tiran

Strait of Tiran

Land boundaries of Saudi Arabia
Total: 4,431 km
Border countries:
Iraq 814 km
Jordan 744 km
Kuwait 222 km
Oman 676 km
Qatar 60 km
UAE 457 km
Yemen 1,458 km
The exchange of territory under the Jordan-Saudi Arabia Treaty of Amman in 1965 lengthened Jordan’s Gulf of Aqaba coastline by 24 km
CIA

Middle East Journal; Summer 1968; 22, 3; P. 348

Strait of Bab el-Mandeb

Strait of Hormuz

The Suez Canal

The Suez Canal
The difference in sailing time to the East from Europe was cut down markedly with the introduction of the Suez Canal
Video: Modern Marvels: Suez Canal (50 mn). Synopsis: “Since the ancient pharaohs’ time, the Isthmus of Suez has been the gateway to trade between East and West. It’s thought that the pharaohs could connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean using a system of small canals; but the desert sands buried them. Not until mid-19th century did mankind readdress the problem. Since its completion in 1869, the Suez Canal has been a vital link in world trade and a point of controversy in geopolitics. Today, more than 20,000 ships transit the canal yearly.”

President Nasser of Egypt declares the Nationalization of the Suez Canal Company on July 26, 1956
It is estimated that during the decade of work (1859-1869), over 1.5 million Egyptians were forced to work on the canal, 125,000 of whom perished.
When the Egyptians declared the nationalization of the Suez Canal in July 1956, France and Britain decided to freeze Egyptian assets in European banks, foreign pilots retreated from running the Canal affairs, and Britain, France, and Israel launched the Tripartite Aggression
Today more than 20,000 ships transit the Suez Canal yearly.
The Suez Canal is 163 km (101 mi) long. The minimum bottom width of the channel is 60 m (197 ft) and ships of 16 m (53 ft) draft can make the transit. The canal can accommodate ships as large as 150,000 dead weight tons fully loaded.

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Gulf Cooperation Council
External Security Challenges
“Iran—and Iraq under Saddam Hussein—opposes the inclination of the GCC states to seek assistance from international powers to balance the region’s security equation, arguing that Gulf security affairs should be restricted to the states of the Gulf. We might recall that the GCC countries have been at the forefront of those calling for this, as was mentioned in the statement of their first summit in 1981. However, Iran and Iraq did not propose a viable alternative regional security vision, and their words were contradicted by their actions. The actions of these two countries over the past decades espoused the opposite of what they had called for; this led to complications and to a strengthening of the international component of Gulf security.”
HE Abdulrahman Al Attiyah, “Security in the Gulf Region,” in Arabian Gulf Security: Internal and External Challenges, The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, 2008, pp. 13-18.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
OPEC’s mission is to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital to those investing in the petroleum industry.
Algeria
Angola
Ecuador
Iran
Iraq
Kuwait
Libya
Nigeria
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Venezuela

Top U.S. petroleum foreign suppliers of crude oil and products in 2012
(Annual-Thousand Barrels):
Canada (1,081,385)
Saudi Arabia (497,570)
Mexico (377,350)
Venezuela (348,316)
Russia (174,683)
Iraq (173,317)
Nigeria (161,429)
Colombia (157,966)
Source: U.S. Energy Information Agency http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_a.htm
U.S. petroleum imports from OPEC countries: 1,557,591
U.S. petroleum imports from Non-OPEC countries:
2,320,659

USA-UAE Relations
The United States has enjoyed friendly relations with the U.A.E. since 1971.
Private commercial ties, especially in petroleum (the U.A.E. is the only GCC state to allow private-sector participation in its oil and gas sector), have developed into friendly government-to-government ties, which include security cooperation.
The U.A.E. is the United States’ single largest export market in the Middle East and North Africa region, with $14.4 billion in exports (in 2008) and more than 1000 U.S. firms operating locally (in 2013).
There are nearly 50 weekly non-stop flights to the U.A.E. from six U.S. cities.
The U.A.E. is a leading partner in U.S. counterterrorism efforts, providing assistance in the military, diplomatic, and financial arenas since September 11, 2001. In 2009, the U.A.E. was the largest foreign buyer of U.S. defense equipment. U.A.E. ports host more U.S. Navy ships than any port outside the U.S.
Source: Background Note: United Arab Emirates, March 16, 2011, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5444.htm
U.S. Relations With United Arab Emirates, June 11, 2013, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5444.htm
According to one U.S. Embassy official in Abu Dhabi, there are some 40,000 American citizens living in the United Arab Emirates in 2011, up from some 30,000 a few years ago.

USA-Egypt Relations
“Ties With Egypt Army Constrain Washington
WASHINGTON — Most nations, including many close allies of the United States, require up to a week’s notice before American warplanes are allowed to cross their territory. Not Egypt, which offers near-automatic approval for military overflights, to resupply the war effort in Afghanistan or to carry out counterterrorism operations in the Middle East, Southwest Asia or the Horn of Africa.
Losing that route could significantly increase flight times to the region.
American warships are also allowed to cut to the front of the line through the Suez Canal in times of crisis, even when oil tankers are stacked up like cars on an interstate highway at rush hour. Without Egypt’s cooperation, military missions could take days longer…
“We need them for the Suez Canal, we need them for the peace treaty with Israel, we need them for the overflights, and we need them for the continued fight against violent extremists who are as much of a threat to Egypt’s transition to democracy as they are to American interests,” said Gen. James N. Mattis, who retired this year as head of the military’s Central Command.”
The New York Times, 8/17/2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/world/middleeast/us-officials-fear-losing-an-eager-ally-in-the-egyptian-military.html?hp&_r=0

The Power of the Israel Lobby and the Making of U.S. Middle East Foreign Policy
Paul Findley’s They dare to speak out (1985)
Edward Tivnan’s The Lobby (1987)
Jonathan Jeremy Goldberg’s Jewish power (1996)
James Petras’s The Power of Israel in the United States (2006)
Mearsheimer & Walt’s The Israel lobby and U.S. foreign policy (2007).
Mark Green (ed.)’s Persecution, Privilege & Power (2008)
Jeff Gates‟ Guilt by Association: How Deception and Self-Deceit Took America to War (2008)

U.S. Commitment to the Security of
the State of Israel is Unconstitutional
1. “The bonds between the United States an d Israel are unbreakable and the commitment of the United States to the security of Israel is ironclad… I and my administration have made the security of Israel a priority. It‘s why we‘ve increased cooperation between our militaries to unprecedented levels. It‘s why we‘re making our most advanced technologies available to our Israeli allies. It‘s why, despite tough fiscal times, we‘ve increased foreign military financing to record levels. And that includes additional support –- beyond regular military aid -– for the Iron Dome anti-rocket system… So make no mistake, we will maintain Israel‘s qualitative military edge… You also see our commitment to our shared security in our determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Here in the United States, we‘ve imposed the toughest sanctions ever on the Iranian regime… You also see our commitment to Israel‘s security in our steadfast opposition to any attempt to de-legitimize the State of Israel. As I said at the United Nations last year, Israel’s existence must not be a subject for debate,‘ and ‗efforts to chip away at Israel‘s legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States.‘ So when the Durban Review Conference advanced anti-Israel sentiment, we withdrew. In the wake of the Goldstone Report, we stood up strongly for Israel‘s right to defend itself. When an effort was made to insert the United Nations into matters that should be resolved through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, we vetoed it… No vote at the United Nations will ever create an independent Palestinian state. And the United States will stand up against efforts to single Israel out at the United Nations or in any international forum. Israel‘s legitimacy is not a matter for debate. That is my commitment; that is my pledge to all of you [AIPAC Policy Conference 2011].‖–U.S. President Barack Obama (5/22/2011)
2. “I am a Zionist… You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist‖— U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden (Shalom TV, 3/27/2007).
3. “I have a deep personal commitment to Israel.” —U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Haaretz, 4/20/2010)

Ten years ago today the debate over the Iraq war came to Congress in the form of a resolution promoted by the Bush administration. The war in Iraq will cost the United States as much as $5 trillion. It played a role in spurring the global financial crisis. Four thousand, four hundred and eighty eight Americans were killed. More than 33,000 were injured.
As many as 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi civilians were killed. The monetary cost of the war to Iraq is incalculable. A sectarian civil war has ravaged Iraq for nearly a decade. Iraq has become home to al-Qaeda.
The war in Iraq was sold to Congress and the American people with easily disproved lies. We must learn from this dark period in American history to ensure that we do not repeat the same mistakes. And we must hold accountable those who misled the American public. –Former presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December 2012, Page 11,
http://www.wrmea.org/wrmea-archives/520-washington-report-archives-2011-2015/nov-dec-2012/11464-what-they-said-iraq-ten-years-a-million-lives-and-trillions-of-dollars-later.html
Iraq: Ten Years, a Million Lives and Trillions Of Dollars Later
Iraqis inspect the site of a car bomb in central Baghdad’s Karrada district, Sept. 30, 2012. Nine car bombs and a shooting occurred that day in six Iraqi cities and towns, killing at least 15 people and wounding 42, officials said. (W.G. Dunlop/AFP/GettyImages)
Iraqi security personnel inspect the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad, May 30, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Thaier al-Sudani
More than 1,000 killed in Iraq violence in May 2013—Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/01/us-iraq-violence-idUSBRE95004P20130601

The Department of Defense has updated the Unified Command Plan (UCP), a key strategic document that establishes the missions, responsibilities, and geographic areas of responsibility for commanders of combatant commands.  DoD, 12/23/2008, http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/MAP12-08
Unified Command Plan 2008

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