James A. Dahlgren - Commentaries

James Dahlgren

James A. Dahlgren
Commentary
jdahlgren@justiceandhumanity.com

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August 11^th, 2006

Justice for Palestine

I'm getting tired of complaining about Israel and its arrogant attitude towards Palestinians and the population of Lebanon, but every day the news from the region makes it hard not to. The United States and France have been negotiating a draft U.N. resolution that will be worthless. The call for Israel to stop aggressive action is meaningless as long as the U.S. is willing to accept Israel's assertion that acts like bombing the international airport, fuel depots, bridges, highways, and convoys of civilians trying to flee the conflict all qualify as acts of self-defense.

By continuing to supply Israel with munitions and jet fuel, the United States shares culpability with Israel for the destruction in Lebanon. This U.S. Israeli alliance, which shows no regard for the innocent people in Lebanon, inevitably increases the mistrust and dislike of the United States which is already widespread in the Moslem population around the world. Even if The United States doesn't care how it is viewed by foreigners, it should care about the ethics of its actions. Characterizing all of Israel's military action as self-defense, while labeling any action taken against Israel as terrorism is a distortion of reality. Israel's policy of taking land from Palestinians for Israeli settlements is unfair. Separating farmers from their fields by building the "security fence" creates intolerable conditions for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. We need to remember that the Palestinian uprising and subsequent suicide bombings didn't start until Palestinians had endured close to two decades of Israeli occupation. The Israeli occupation wasn't just a matter of exerting political control over Gaza and the West Bank, it included forcing thousands of Palestinians from their homes, farmlands, and grazing pastures to create new settlements for Israelis.

Lumping suicide bombers fighting Israeli oppression together with the fanatics that hit The World Trade Towers, the Madrid train station, and the London subways is a gross oversimplification. Attacking civilians is always wrong, but the Palestinians that are trying to resist Israeli expansionist policies have very limited options. It is very understandable that faced with intolerable conditions they resort to the only means of resistance available to them.

The United States can't force Israel to stop its inhumane treatment of Palestinians, but it can stop being an active partner in this injustice. Wouldn't it be nice if United States foreign policy actually supported the principals of human rights, freedom, and justice? The United States doesn't have to abandon its commitment to defend the state of Israel, but it should stop backing Israel in its abuse of the people of Palestine. We should stop providing Israel with foreign aid until Israel agrees to comply with U.N. resolutions 242 and 338. As long as Israel refuses to return the lands seized from Palestinians in 1967, Palestinians will have a legitimate reason to attack Israel. By insisting on compliance with U.N. resolution 1559, calling for disarmament of Hezbollah, and ignoring resolutions that call for returning land to Palestinians, the United States stands with Israeli expansionism and against justice for the people of Palestine. It sure would be refreshing to have the United States stand on the side of justice for a change.

August 4^th, 2006

Traditional Values

The call for a return to traditional American values always surfaces at some point during election season. It resonates with some that are deluding themselves with vague images of Norman Rockwell paintings. While they've been abdicating their responsibility to provide a check on the president's power, politicians in both houses of Congress have brought up the important issue of flag desecration. What does it matter if the president routinely declares that he isn't bound by any laws that Congress passes? After all, it has been an American tradition for presidents to ignore the law when they see fit. Why should Congress bother itself about ballooning National debt and deficit, destruction of the environment, war profiteering, and other trivial issues when we have homosexuals that want to get married? Traditional American values are clearly being threatened by those blue state elitists that want to undermine our freedom. Freedom, American style, is to be exalted, not exercised.

At the core of traditional American values is racism. It was racism that the majority of the founding fathers used to justify slavery. Andrew Jackson had racism in his heart when he ignored the Supreme Court and gave Cherokee land in Georgia to white settlers, sending the Cherokee down the "trail of tears". Traditional American values allowed lynch mobs to pose proudly for incriminating photographs with no fear of legal repercussions.

Few Americans today will openly call for a return to slavery or the extermination of Native Americans, but the underlying attitude that white Americans are superior to other people is alive and well. The way our soldiers frequently refer to the Iraqis that they are "liberating" as rag heads or sand niggers illustrates this. It is well passed time to confront reality and to reject traditional American values, replacing them with values based on the American promise of equality and justice for all instead of on the American reality of racism.

July 28^th, 2006

Poor Pathetic Tony Blair

It's pathetic seeing English Prime Minister Tony Blair rushing across the Atlantic to try to influence President George Bush's Mid East policy. He is being portrayed in the English media as Bush's poodle. He's supposedly a rather astute fellow. Did he really think that kissing Bush's posterior would garner him respect and influence? If you play the part of a lap dog, you're going to be treated as such.

England played a large part in creating many of the problems we face in the Mid East and Arab world. English diplomats promised Palestine to both the Jews and Arabs during World War One to get their support in the war, then decided to hold on to it when the war was over. The plot to overthrow the nascent democracy in Iran was hatched by England. The United States followed through on it after Iran found out about it and shut down the British embassy. This led to the tyranny of the Shah, which in turn led to the Islamic revolution in Iran and the rise of militant Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Islamic world.

British soldiers marched into Baghdad declaring that they were there as liberators not occupiers in the 1920's. The English proceeded to draw the current Iraq borders on a map insuring that the Kurds wouldn't have their own country, but instead have their people as minorities in several states. They topped it off by installing a Sunni as King of this overwhelmingly Shiite country, and hanging around for a couple decades pumping oil out of the ground. England couldn't have done a better job of setting the stage for the current situation in Iraq. Bush couldn't have had a better junior partner for invading Iraq. The British certainly had the experience, and the Iraqis certainly knew what to expect when this time it was American soldiers saying they were liberators not occupiers.

Now, with ever increasing opposition within his own party, Tony Blair wants to insert the concept of fair play in to the foreign policy that he's been supporting with George Bush. It's comical how bully's get a new found interest in justice and fair play when they grow old and week and aren't able to push everyone around anymore. When the sun never set on the British Empire, did they pay any attention to the toady's that kissed up to them trying to court favor? Of course not. Now that the United States is making it's play for world domination is it going to listen to voices of moderation from such as Tony Blair? No way! What's the point of spending more on the military than the rest of the world combined if you can't force your will on others? England had it's turn at attempting world conquest. Now it's The United States turn to give it a shot, and poodles like P.M. Blair certainly aren't going to stand in the way.

July 27^th, 2006

Self-Defense?

The justification of self-defense is rather weak when one is defending property that was taken by force from someone else. Secretary Rice insists that a cease-fire will be meaningless unless it is accompanied by conditions that will lead to a lasting peace. This is true, but she continues to ignore the refusal of Israel to return lands seized in 1967. As long as Israel refuses to return to the pre 1967 border, there will be no enduring peace. Destruction of Hezbolah may buy peace for a time, but as long as the grievance remains, violence will return.

The countries in the Arab world that have been supporting The United States are becoming increasingly concerned. They know that their positions are far from the views of their populations, and they fear the instability that may ensue. While it may not be possible to make the U.S. more unpopular, that unpopularity is driving greater militancy. It is clear that if all the Arab nations were true democracies, the U.S. would have no friends in the Arab world.

July 20^th, 2006

Mess In The Middle East

As the turmoil in the middle east goes into its second week I can't help thinking about how many times I've heard people refer to Israel's right to defend itself and the need to enforce the U.N. resolution requiring disarmament of Hezbollah. Almost no one mentions the right of Palestinians to take back land that was taken from them by force and the U.N. resolutions requiring Israel to return the land seized in 1967.

I can understand Israel's position. After centuries of persecution in Europe which culminated in the attempted genocide of the holocaust, Jews, unlike western politicians, are very serious when they say "never again"y are willing to go to any length to protect themselves and their state. This doesn't alter the fact that Israel was created by Europeans taking land from Palestinians and then expanded by doing more of the same.

A U.N. dominated by Europe and the U.S. authorized the creation of Israel with no concern for the Palestinians. Palestine was already under British control since England had reneged on promises made during WWI to give it to Jews to create a state and to turn it back over to the Arabs. At least Brittan was content with exercising political and economic control. With the creation of Israel millions of Palestinians were displaced with a massive influx of European immigrants.

The United States got to make up for turning away shiploads of European Jews fleeing the Nazi's during WWII. Europe got to assuage its conscience for centuries of mistreatment, and at the same time get rid of millions of Jews that survived the Nazis. And the beauty of it was that the Palestinians were the ones left paying the price. And they are still paying the price.

At this point, regardless of the legitimacy of its creation, Israel isn't going away. The situation is such a mess that it may well be hopeless. For there to be any chance of a lasting peace, the United States must stop being so one sided in its support of Israel and recognize that Palestinians have very legitimate reasons for calling for the destruction of Israel. While Israeli's is being asked to give up land for peace in the form of all the land seized in 1967, Palestinians are being asked to give up land for peace in the form of the entire original U.N. mandate for the creation of Israel.

July 13^th, 2006

Guantanamo Debate

As the congress debates how to treat detainees at Guantanamo Bay, we would do well to remember the words of Thomas Paine "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."

President Bush has repeatedly reminded us that these are dangerous men who were picked up on the battlefield, but the lawyers that have been trying to represent them assert that only about ten percent of them were detained in that way. At this point I find the lawyers to be more credible than President Bush. Many of the prisoners were turned over to coalition forces by warlords of questionable reputation with their own agendas in exchange for bounties and may have done nothing wrong.

It is a travesty that they are even debating weather or not coerced confessions should be allowed. One individual who Egyptian authorities coerced into confessing to having been at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, was later proven by British surveillance photographs to have been in England at the time. This individual was released after the British evidence proved his confession to be false. One can only wonder how many other "confessed terrorists" are being held that aren't fortunate enough to be exonerated by British intelligence. While the argument that you need coercion to find a ticking bomb may be valid, coerced confessions clearly are not.

July 10^th, 2006

Decriminalize Marijuana

As Americans we face a multitude of challenges as we move forward in the twenty first century. Global warming, the state of health care, terrorism, and Iraq to just mention a few. In comparison, our marijuana laws may appear to be a trivial problem. They don't seem so trivial to the 755,000 people arrested for marijuana in 2004, 90% of whom were arrested simply for possession. As with any intoxicant, some people's lives are detrimentally affected by using marijuana, but many more use it without adverse effects. The disruption to people's lives caused by the legal system greatly outweighs any harm from marijuana itself.

Unlike most of the problems we face, solving this problem would cost us nothing and would actually save money. It doesn't require any new technology, and the only hearts and minds that need to be won over are those of our representatives that would have to pass the legislation. Billions of dollars and countless hours of police and court time are consumed in the "war" against marijuana. We would all be better served by allocating these resources elsewhere. It is high time we decriminalized marijuana.

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