(To see photos of Dr. Paul Larudee and a lamb dinner at DishDash, go to my blog.)
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Someone just wrote and asked me if I was planning to go on any more trips. "Where are you going to go next?" she asked.
"I'm planning to go hide under the bed," I replied. It's cheap and easy to get to and nobody tries to shoot at you once you get there. Except maybe the dust bunnies.
"But would you go back to Iraq if you got the chance?" Let's get real here. Nobody in their right mind is going to let me back into Iraq. I figure it this way. Everyone over there KNOWS that I totally support the troops. But they probably also know that I'm not exactly supporting the "war".
"But Jane," you might ask, "if you really want to go back and embed in Iraq, why don't you just keep your mouth shut about not supporting the war -- then you might stand a chance that they would let you back in." I'm sorry, but I just can't do that. Why not? Because it wouldn't be fair to the very people who seem to want me to spin my stories toward making the "war" look good. I mean, seriously. Just look at the reality of the situation. Bush's war is bankrupting America. We are no longer a super-power because of Bush's Shock and Awe folly. And we are going to HAVE to evacuate Iraq or else face another sub-prime disaster here in the US -- only when this next one hits, we will lose our treasury, our healthcare, our infrastructure and our jobs as well as our homes.
And when the American military IS forced to get out of Iraq -- not by insurgents but by economics -- I want be over there so that I can report on the evacuation. Why? Because I'm a freaking journalist! That's only good journalism -- to want to go where there's a story. Double-duh!
Not only that, but even the Pentagon itself should be freaking THANKING me for alerting them to this new sub-prime problem. Then when the spit hits the fan dollar-wise, they won't be surprised. Why wait until they've got to pull everything together at the last moment when with a proper amount of warning they won't have to worry about last-minute packing.
"But would you like to go and report on Gaza if you have the chance?" Yeah, right. How much fun can that be. They strip-search you at the border, you live in abject poverty with no food, water or electricity, you get to watch the sewage run down the streets and the little children die slowly and painfully from bullet wounds. You get your sleep interrupted by sound bombs all night, sleep in the heat because there's no electricity to run the A/C and live on witchity-grubs because there isn't any food. And on the way out you get strip-searched again. No thanks. I'm a rational adult. I prefer to hide under the bed.
But then I got invited to a dinner in Sunnyvale, a benefit for the Free Gaza Movement. They are planning to buy a boat and sail from Cyprus to Gaza, bringing food and clothing and fuel. That sounded sort of interesting. A Mediterranean cruise. Would there be shuffleboard and a buffet?
After dinner, Dr. Hatem Bazian spoke. "The Israeli policy in Gaza is deliberate -- to promote isolation," he said. "They tell Palestinians that, 'We need to occupy you in order to bring you democracy. And if that doesn't work, then we shoot you.' Bush pushed for an election in Palestine so that there would be a victory for Fatah. However, Fatah was divided and its candidates were known to be corrupt. Their corruption was common knowledge to the Palestinians on the street, so Fatah lost the election.
"So then the United States went to Option 2: To prevent a unity government from emerging. And so they imported the El Salvador model -- to create a civil war, trying to get rid of the party that has popular support and trying to bring back the old party. So they brought in Elliot Abrams, the man who was successful in creating the El Salvador civil war." Wow! America actually brought in the original oldie-but-goodie guy who INVENTED the Salvador Model. That's a real walk down memory lane.
"Meanwhile, the Egyptians were trying to block the Islamic Brotherhood in their own country and so Egypt supported Fatah. And the Sunnis supported the enemies of Iran. But despite all their efforts, the civil war plan didn't work and so they started the siege instead." Plan C.
"Currently the Israelis are withholding fuel from Gaza. But what is ironic is that the European Union and the Palestinians pay for the fuel, not the Israelis." And also apparently the Israelis also make the EU pay Israel a gas tax as well. "It is the responsibility of an occupying power to provide necessities to the country that they are occupying, yet the Israelis are forcing the Palestinians to pay for their own occupation." Then they served us lamb shiskabobs and tabuli
Then Dr. Paul Larudee showed us a film on Gaza. "There are often up to 25 people living in one room, there are extremely narrow alleyways instead of streets and the children have no place to play." And apparently Dov Weinglass stated that it is the Israeli policy to put the people of Gaza on diets -- not to starve them to death totally, like the Nazis did at Auschwitz. Whew! I took another bite of the lamb.
"Children under the age of five," stated Dr. Larudee, "have stunted growth. 40 million litres of sewage per day flow into the Mediterranean because there is no fuel to process it. 107 different types of medications are completely unavailable. Water is 10 times more polluted than international standards allow. Kidney failure is rampant. There is NO FUEL AT ALL -- even to power the generators at the hospitals. 123 people have died so far because they can't get even the simplest medical treatment. 1,500 people are on the waiting list for medical care." People are always saying that Gaza is like a jail but it sounds like these people would be better off at San Quentin.
Stillwater is a freelance writer who hates injustice and corruption in any form but especially injustice and corruption paid for by American taxpayers. She has recently published a book entitled, "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips For Touring Today's Middle East". According to Ms. Stillwater, "It's a fabulous and entertaining book. I loved writing it. And I hope that you will love reading it too." It's available at http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719 or you can special order it at any independent bookstore.
I sorta knew Dr. Larudee's name was spelled wrong -- but I do have trouble remembering names. Just ask my kids. So I went back and changed it. Thanks again. Dr. Larudee is an amzaing person and I wouldn't want to spell his name wrong. And, yes, I will try to avoid getting shot in Iraq. Anbar province is fairly safe. But you know that if I do, I'll still keep on blogging from Heaven!!
by
Jane Stillwater (395 articles, 0 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 51 comments)
on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 11:35:33 AM
Gaza is still deemed to be occupied territory with Israel the occupying power and therefore at law responsible. There is fault on all sides but by stating that this is all self inflicted you seem to be stating that Israel is blameless and right even when it might be wrong. It is difficult to engage in reasoned discussion with a person who appears to not to be prepared to consider things from the point of view of the other side.
My personal opinion is that if I can't persuade somebody else I'm right then perhaps I might be wrong. With respect to Israel and Gaza I have formed the view after considerable study and reflection that Israels' actions in Gaza amount to slow form of genocide. I am prepared to argue my case and stand ready to be corrected
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kwalsh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 117 comments)
on Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 9:26:15 PM
Some parents in India deliberately cripple their children. As they grow deformed, they offer a pitiful sight to the public. They encourage more passers-by to drop money into the beggar bowl.
The Palestinian beggar bowl philosophy is more ambitious. They have impressed three generations with hatred, religious fanaticism and the conqueror's zeal. They believe if they make enough commotion the suckers will give them what they want just to shut them up.
Prolonged suffering doesn't register with anybody outside of India.
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Jason Paz (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 39 comments)
on Monday, May 12, 2008 at 6:10:48 AM
You really want to do something about the plight of self-inflicted, overcrowed living quarters with 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 or more living in one room...get thee on a boat for Southern California or any of the southern border states.
Some are called garage conversions; some are called vans or trucks; others are called apartments or houses where humans are jammed into sardine can, one-toilet, unsanitary quarters.
The occupants of this squalor are illegal aliens from south of the border, encourage to come here by their own government and by Bush's open door, close a blind eye immigration policies.
Frequently these inhuman conditions don't bring the freedom and financial rewards these people are seeking, but death. If not death in the beginning, they are faced with poverty as bad as that at home and in constant fear of deportation, because they are here illegally in the first place.
Our government uses them to get dirt cheap labor and their own prey on them through blackmail, extortion and crime.
Some are virtually locked into those places for weeks until they can be relocated. It's not uncommon for them to be forgotten about and go without food and/or water. They are not limited to men, but include women and children.
We have displacement of humans here, too. We allow people to be herded like animals, too.
If you're inclined to cry over self-inflicted crises, home would be a good launching pad for we are as bad as anyone else.
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Sandy Sand (129 articles, 0 quicklinks, 144 diaries, 1121 comments)
on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 12:10:18 PM
I agree with everything you said,but do not understand your ditto to Shimshon,who apparently doesn't understand the Israeli/palestinian issues are much more complex, than Hamas
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GUY P. FRASER (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 54 comments)
on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 2:22:16 PM
After returning from an interfaith Compassionate Listening journey to Israel/Palestine that I coordinated I can tell you that we heard truths on both sides. While that is nothing new, I think it's not quite fair to harness Mr. Olmert with Sharon's policies even if he was his No. 2 once upon a time. I think that people on all sides have to reach beyond the history and the posture of revisting the case for victim hood and find common purpose in a new mission that offers boths sides security and the human rights necessary to live and prosper.
Shalom-Salaam-Peace,
Larry Snider
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Larry Snider (7 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 8 comments)
on Monday, May 12, 2008 at 3:41:54 PM
