Phil, you continue to delight and amaze me -- the way you persistently continue to ask the hard questions. It's like watching a man take a graceful leap into a deep river gorge, not knowing exactly what lies at the bottom. Of course no one would do a foolhardy thing like this in ordinary times, but what we are living through now is extraordinary and fraught with peril. So you can do no other and I admire you for that.
Reading through the extensive excerpts from 'Esau's Tears' -- an engaging short trip through a lot of history told from the point-of-view of the anti-Semitic impulse -- here are some of my impressions.
First, I'm glad you introduced this book to the discussion because it cuts us right to the chase -- I am convinced that the right-wing Israel Lobby is holding us in thrall, Jew & Gentile alike, by continuously conjuring up the European/Russian exterminations and pogroms of the last two centuries. I am also convinced that what the Zionists are presenting us with is a distortion of this history -- the very essence of really effective propaganda -- I am also convinced that it is propaganda which drives all wars, and that ordinary people if left to themselves would never go to war except in cases of true national defence to drive out an invading/occupying foreign army.
So historical 'anti-semitism' does have to be seriously looked at if The Question about today's Iraq war is to be addressed. Charges of anti-semitism is modern Zionist stock-in-trade, now a little shopworn but still effective, American Jewish fears of anti-semitism are important, and so are gentile fears of being labeled anti-semitic.
Here are some quotes from 'Esau's Tears' that resonated with me:
"America is our Palestine: here is our Jerusalem." Rabbi Max Lillienthal, 1867
"The British case, like the American, does not offer much support for Hertzl's beliefs." p.356, circa late 19th/early 20th centuries
"Jewish leaders claimed that not only was America a land of unusual freedom and toleration but also that American ideals and Jewish ideals had a deep kinship, exceeding that of any modern nation." p. 371, circa 1914
Also noted on that same page/time was widespread American moral indignation toward the Russian pogroms of 1903.
My comment on this excellent history is this -- America is not and has never been Europe or Russia. America has never persecuted Jews. America's shame is the historic genocide of indigenous peoples, and black African slavery followed by apartheid. Today in America, it is not Jews who are the vulnerable ethnic group -- it is blacks.
So finally, getting to The Question: why are we in Iraq? When the war first began, and before the war began, I did not believe any of the Bush Administration reasons for it. I knew about the decade of killing sanctions on Iraq which followed the destruction of that country during the Gulf War 1991. The 'real reasons' I settled on were: first oil, second Israel, in that order of priority. But lately I have been wondering if 'oil' carries any weight, despite the fact that the Iraq Ministry of Oil was the only element of Iraqi civilization and infrastructure protected by the American army. So where does that leave me?
Phil, you continue to delight and amaze me -- the way you persistently continue to ask the hard questions. It's like watching a man take a graceful leap into a deep river gorge, not knowing exactly what lies at the bottom. Of course no one would do a foolhardy thing like this in ordinary times, but what we are living through now is extraordinary and fraught with peril. So you can do no other and I admire you for that.
Reading through the extensive excerpts from 'Esau's Tears' -- an engaging short trip through a lot of history told from the point-of-view of the anti-Semitic impulse -- here are some of my impressions.
First, I'm glad you introduced this book to the discussion because it cuts us right to the chase -- I am convinced that the right-wing Israel Lobby is holding us in thrall, Jew & Gentile alike, by continuously conjuring up the European/Russian exterminations and pogroms of the last two centuries. I am also convinced that what the Zionists are presenting us with is a distortion of this history -- the very essence of really effective propaganda -- I am also convinced that it is propaganda which drives all wars, and that ordinary people if left to themselves would never go to war except in cases of true national defence to drive out an invading/occupying foreign army.
So historical 'anti-semitism' does have to be seriously looked at if The Question about today's Iraq war is to be addressed. Charges of anti-semitism is modern Zionist stock-in-trade, now a little shopworn but still effective, American Jewish fears of anti-semitism are important, and so are gentile fears of being labeled anti-semitic.
Here are some quotes from 'Esau's Tears' that resonated with me:
"America is our Palestine: here is our Jerusalem." Rabbi Max Lillienthal, 1867
"The British case, like the American, does not offer much support for Hertzl's beliefs." p.356, circa late 19th/early 20th centuries
"Jewish leaders claimed that not only was America a land of unusual freedom and toleration but also that American ideals and Jewish ideals had a deep kinship, exceeding that of any modern nation." p. 371, circa 1914
Also noted on that same page/time was widespread American moral indignation toward the Russian pogroms of 1903.
My comment on this excellent history is this -- America is not and has never been Europe or Russia. America has never persecuted Jews. America's shame is the historic genocide of indigenous peoples, and black African slavery followed by apartheid. Today in America, it is not Jews who are the vulnerable ethnic group -- it is blacks.
So finally, getting to The Question: why are we in Iraq? When the war first began, and before the war began, I did not believe any of the Bush Administration reasons for it. I knew about the decade of killing sanctions on Iraq which followed the destruction of that country during the Gulf War 1991. The 'real reasons' I settled on were: first oil, second Israel, in that order of priority. But lately I have been wondering if 'oil' carries any weight, despite the fact that the Iraq Ministry of Oil was the only element of Iraqi civilization and infrastructure protected by the American army. So where does that leave me?