Condi Delivers Blankets to Lebanon: Global Peace Imminent!
Reed31463
In a gesture of "good faith", Rice delivers blankets to Lebanon. This gesture reminded me of another gesture of good faith that occurred in America in the summer of 1763 during the Pontiac Rebellion. This gesture is documented in General Amherst's letters to Captain Ecuyer at Fort Pitt. The commander encouraged the distribution of blankets to the Ottawa Indians. There was just one little problem with the blankets: the Fort had just dealt with an outbreak of smallpox.
Afterwards, these contaminated blankets were given to the Indians in a gesture of good faith. Documented in his letters, General Amherst sentiments were, in his own words, "...their Total Extirpation is scarce sufficient Atonement....".
My question is, Could Rice's symbolic gesture in fact represent this very sentiment? She has already stated that this is "the birth pangs of a new Middle East." Much like Bush's well known Dredd Scott answer when asked about the kind of judges he would appoint during a debate, this too is a coded message to the radical Christians of this country, we are ushering the coming of the Rapture.
This symbolic gesture towards Lebanon along with the "green light" for Israel to continue their aggression against Hezbollah, IMHO, tells me our government's true sentiment: nothing but total extirpation for Hezbollah, Iran, and Shi'ites will be acceptable to the neo-cons.
Comment # 1 ~ Alma ~ 07/26/2006 01:44 GMT Reed, I think you've got it. I hadn't thought of it in terms of history. But once I saw the beginning of your post, history seemed to zap back into my head. Very apt.
Comment # 2 ~ Rusty ~ 07/26/2006 03:41 GMT The neo-cons are foaming at the mouth for a full scale Middle East war, would love to see the fighting escalate beyond Lebanon, and are no doubt working behind the scenes with the Israeli right to incite Syria and/or Iran into intervening.
But I'm not sure how Israel's response to Hezbollah's attack inside of Israel on Israeli soldiers, which resulted in the deaths of 8 of them and the capture of 2, can be considered "Israeli aggression."
Crossing a sovereign nation's border to attack, kill, and capture that nation's soldiers was an act of war by Hezbollah. There's no other way to describe it.
Politically, Israel is in a no-win situation no matter what they do about Hezbollah and Hamas, no matter when they do it, and no matter what the world's reaction is.
If they do nothing, they are perceived as weak by Hamas and Hezbollah and are attacked. If they strike back, they are demonized as "Zionist aggressors" by Hamas and Hezbollah and are attacked.
But I'm hoping for some restraint from Israel very soon.
Comment # 3 ~ feline ~ 07/26/2006 13:25 GMT The observations and reminder about another time in our country's history when blankets were handed out is very interesting and astute.
U.S. delegacy and diplomacy is pathetic.
The long-standing tensions in the region are going to be very difficult to resolve; encouraging Israel's reaction is only going to fuel more violence. It's highly irresponsible and dangerous to ignore the urgings of the United Nations on this point.
Blankets? Ridiculous...
Only 8 members of Congress voted against H.Res.921 backing Israeli violence. Shame. Shame. Shame. Some members of Congress made some very important points during the debates of the bill; worth reading and noting there. Backing this bill and Israeli force is in violation of U.S. arms control law
Please, check out above link and look at link to Arms Trade Resource Center on that page.
Thank you for this important article, Reed; and thank you Alma and Rusty for your comments (also thank you, Rusty, for being a great editor, we couldn't do it without you!)
Comment # 4 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 07/26/2006 17:29 GMT Reed, Rusty & Feline,
The blanket gesture by Rice is absurdity at best -- laughable, particularly, when we know that BushCo. are undoubtedly thriving heartily on this dreadful situation, which they will use to their "hell-bent" advantage in every way shape and form as a lead-up to Iran. With Iraq joining Iran with efforts on behalf of Hezbollah, this will play even more greatly to the advantage of BushCo. and their goals. The fact, also, that the U.S. has no interest in calling a cease-fire is even more evidence of the use of all factors for BushCo. goals.
Of interest, here are some factual data as concerns Israel in this latest conflict:
MDA is an abbreviation for a charitable organization that helps with ambulances, etc.
MDA STATISTICS: JULY 12th TO JULY 24th, 2006
Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel: 2,200
Qassam rockets launched from Gaza since June 25th: 193
Israelis in bomb shelters: 1,000,000
MDA ambulances deployed in north: 750
Number wounded, treated by MDA: 823
Israeli civilians killed: 17
Wounded today (July 24): 49
In Northern Israel, shops have been shut down everywhere, costing about $10,000 per day in loss -- there is no tourism, etc. The fact that there are not more deaths is due to the fact that Israelis have been living in shelters.
Unfortunately, the whole dreadful situation, in my view, is being fostered on both sides of the fence.
Comment # 5 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 07/26/2006 22:02 GMT Forgive, Alma, I meant to include you. Was this somehow a repetition of another mistake made elsewhere? ;)
Comment # 6 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 07/26/2006 22:05 GMT In my post above, the cost per day is $10,000,000 per day not $10,000 as indicated. (That's what I get for trying to do this at work.)
Comment # 7 ~ Alma ~ 07/26/2006 23:29 GMT Thats okay Tahoe. I figured you didn't include me because you had already sent me the data. See, you could have gotten away with it. ;)
Comment # 8 ~ feline ~ 07/26/2006 23:56 GMT Here's a link to
House Resolution Concurrent 450
Calling upon the President to appeal to all sides in the current crisis in the Middle East for an immediate cessation of violence and to commit United States diplomats to multi-party negotiations with no preconditions. (Introduced in House)
Comment # 9 ~ feline ~ 07/27/2006 02:33 GMT Sorry the link to 450 timed out; hope this works
House Resolution Concurrent 450
Comment # 10 ~ Rusty ~ 07/28/2006 19:26 GMT Congrats, Reed, for getting this article published in OpEd News.
Comment # 11 ~ Rusty ~ 07/28/2006 19:27 GMT Thank you, Tahoe, for providing some much needed perspective on the suffering Irsaelis are enduring.
Comment # 12 ~ Rusty ~ 07/28/2006 19:29 GMT Great link again, feline, your links are better than most of my articles. We need to talk about that.
Comment # 13 ~ feline ~ 07/29/2006 04:51 GMT LOL, Rusty! The combination of our various methods of input strengthens our efforts.
Comment # 14 ~ Rusty ~ 08/03/2006 06:02 GMT It certainly does. Knowledge is power.
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