Volume 5 Issue 20…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…May 24, 2002

Pressure on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat increased with calls for reforms and elections early next year. Israel’s military incursions show the Palestinian Authority’s leadership structure is too weak to shoulder the responsibilities of security and military defense, leaving Palestinians totally vulnerable and disorganized. Not only is the Palestinian Authority unable to protect the people, it is incapable of appropriately responding during and after Israeli military attacks. Reorganization is an opportunity to utilize skilled visionaries, such as Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a Representative on the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Dr. Ashrawi speaks insightfully about Israeli occupation and the "stolen lives" that burden Palestinian families. Her vision transcends military solutions. She envisions using international forums to highlight the horrors of Israeli occupation. International forums, such as the International Court of Justice, International War Crimes Tribunal, UN Committees on Indigenous Peoples, Refugees and Occupation, UNESCO, UN High Commission on Human Rights, etc., can put Israeli incursions on trial and pressure Israel to end occupation.

Under Ariel Sharon, Israel's actions deny Palestinians the right of self-determination by continually destroying their administrative, educational and other socioeconomic and political infrastructure. Destroying records makes it impossible for Palestinians to establish land claims and their "right of return." Moreover, by confiscating files Sharon can better target assassinations. Preventing statehood, Israel does not have to compensate Palestinians and rebuild their communities.

Boldly demanding compensation and reparations from Israel and the United States for the deaths and destruction, Palestinians will be making their case for statehood. Those supporting Dr. Ashrawi see no reason to wait for Israeli and U S acceptance before declaring statehood. In 1948, Israel declared statehood first, then sought acceptance. Twenty minutes later, America recognized Israel. Setting a clear vision of Palestinian needs, Dr. Ashrawi's rationale moves Palestinians beyond the cycle of suicide bombs and endless destruction to preparations for statehood.

A Poet for Peace, Dr. Ashrawi merits kudos for envisioning the true role of leadership in a civil society. Her non-military solution includes the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, if they do as Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland - exchange guns and bombs for votes. Kudos to Dr. Hanan Ashrawi!

Disgruntled wants to know: Coca-Cola employees claim the international beverage giant sells out-dated products in minority communities. Coke denies the accusation, but admits to selling soda at reduced prices in these areas. Why would Coke sell sodas at discount prices in black areas when white people pay full price?

Disgruntled says: Cornered by the muckraking media on dialing for dollars from his White House office, former VP Al Gore crooned "No Controlling Legal Authority." Topping the national security adviser charts, Condoleezza Rice sang "Nonspecific" so many times on what Bush knew and when he knew it her sour notes sounded like an Al Gore remix.

Disgruntled feels: Poetic! After the 9-11 attack, Bush flew around on Air Force One acting like a scared cat. Months after the fact, to raise money for Republicans off the national tragedy, the spin machine has him looking like Captain Kirk at the helm of the Starship Enterprise. There is a disconnect between fantasy and reality. Reports received before 9-11 show the dream team of Bush-Cheney failed to connect the dots. Asked about the unheeded warnings, Bush whined like a spoiled brat.

Some words are hard to pronounce--

He-li-cop-ter is most vexing

(A-pa-che or Co-bra is impossible)

But how it can stand still in the sky

I cannot understand-- What holds it up?

What bears its weight? (Not clouds, I know)

It sends a flashing light--so smooth--

It makes a deafening sound; the house shakes

(There are holes in the wall by my bed)

Flash-boom-light-sound -- I have a hard time sleeping.

(I felt ashamed when I wet my bed,

but no one scolded me).

Plane--a word much easier to say--

It flies, tayyara,

My mother told me, a word must have a meaning

A name must have a meaning

Like mine, Hadeel, the cooing of the dove.

Tanks, though, make a different sound

They shudder when they shoot

Dabbabeh is a heavy word, as heavy as its meaning.

Hadeel--the dove--she coos

Tayyara--she flies; dabbabeh--she crawls

My Mother--she cries, and cries and cries

My Brother--Rami--he lies DEAD

And lies and lies, his eyes Closed.

Hit by a bullet in the head.

(Bullet is a female lead--rasasa--she kills,

My pencil is a male lead--rasas--he writes)

What's the difference between a shell and a bullet?

(What's five-hundred-milli-meter-

Or eight-hundred-milli-meter-shell?)

Numbers are more vexing than words--

I count to ten, then ten-and-one, ten-and-two

But what happens after ten-and-ten,

How should I know? Rami, my brother, was one

Of hundreds killed-- They say thousands are hurt,

But which is more

A hundred or a thousand (miyyeh or alf)

I cannot tell--- So big--so large--so huge--

Too many, too much.

Palestine--Falasteen--I'm used to,

It's not so hard to say,

It means we're here--to stay--

Even though the place is hard on kids and mothers too

For soldiers shoot and airplanes shell, and tanks boom

And tear gas makes you cry

(Though I don't think it's tear gas that makes my mother cry)

I'd better go and hug her; sit in her lap a while

Touch her face (my fingers wet)

Look in her eyes until I see myself again

A girl within her mother's sight.

If words have meaning, Mama, what is Is-ra-el?

What does a word mean, if it is mixed with another--

If all soldiers, tanks, planes and guns are Is-ra-el-i

What are they doing here, in a place I know

In a word I know--(Palestine)

In a life that I no longer know?

For all the talk of a "special relationship" between the US and Israel, it's clear that for US policymakers there's nothing particularly special about support for Israel or rejection of Palestinian rights. For all the talk about peace in the Middle East, it's clear that US policymakers are not much concerned about peace.

Instead, the primary aim of US Middle East policy is US dominance over the region and its oil resources, through support for regimes that play our game and through our ever-increasing military presence. To the degree that US policymakers believe backing Israeli conquest and aggression advances US business interests, support for Israel continues. To the degree that peace helps solidify US control, peace is acceptable.

But U.S. policy is driven neither by unquestioned support for Israel nor concern for people's suffering in conflicts. Any hope for real peace requires getting past this rhetoric to the reality of U.S. policy. That reality is clear: The central principle of every U.S. administration since the end of the World War II has been that the resources of the region do not truly belong to the people of the region, but instead exist for the benefit of Americans. (Email rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu or visit www.nowarcollective.com for the complete essay.)

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is looking forward to his summer vacation. When asked for his comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro said, "I am making a long list of all the things I want to do."

After the Civil War (1865), black Americans in Louisiana valued highly the right to vote. Without political power, they had no hope of protecting either their lives or property. Knights of the White Camellia, White League and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) terrorized blacks. Their primary aims were to intimidate black and white Republicans, prevent the implementation of Reconstruction policies and restore the plantation economy. From 1868 to 1876, white Democrats used terror tactics against blacks and Republicans for control of Louisiana's politics. There were many murders, massacres and lynchings. Four of the bloodiest grew out of disputes over the election of 1872.

Cabildo Battle (March 5, 1873) -- Democratic supporters of John McEnery fought the Metropolitan Police of New Orleans, an integrated militia that protected Republican Governor William Pitt Kellogg. McEnery and Kellogg claimed victory in the 1872 election and established dual military forces and legislatures. Bloody battles ensued when McEnery tried to seize the Cabildo Metropolitan Police headquarters. Kellogg retained power with the help of federal troops.

Colfax Massacre (April 1873) -- Hundreds died in the bloodiest massacre during Reconstruction. Under the command of black Civil War veterans and militia officers, former slaves took control of Colfax, Louisiana when Democrats, aided by Confederate veterans, tried to seize power. Whites slaughtered about fifty blacks that had laid down their arms and surrendered. Estimates are more than 100 blacks were massacred.

Coushatta Massacre (1873) - The White League brutally targeted Marshall Harvey Twitchell and his family. They arrested and executed his brother, two brothers-in-laws, and three other whites, while Twitchell was in New Orleans. Accompanied by federal troops, he returned to Coushattta and restored Republican rule. Under constant terror attacks by Democrats, in 1876 another brother-in-law was murdered. Twitchell barely escaped with his life, but lost both arms in the battle

Battle of Liberty Place (September 14, 1874) The Metropolitan Police fired on the Crescent City White League. About 600 Metropolitan Police and 3,000 black militia faced roughly 8,400 White League militia. Eleven Metropolitan Police were killed and sixty wounded; sixteen White Leaguers were killed and forty-five wounded. A monument stands near the battle site in honor of the White Leaguers killed; it does not mention Metropolitan Police casualties.

These are just a few of the bloody incidences that occurred in Louisiana, a microcosm of the terror that characterized American democracy in action. (Source: http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab11.htm)

Our nation and the world are filled with the sounds of war and death. A wake-up call, 9-11 showed Americans are vulnerable; it shattered our illusion of safety and destroyed our myopic view of the world. Terrorists took our planes and flew them into buildings. The fact that their targets were the World Trade Center and Pentagon should be cause enough to ask questions.

Over the years, we watched congressional inquiries and investigations into the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. With interest, we read about the Pearl Harbor bombing probe and its findings. We watched Watergate and Whitewater hearings. Special prosecutors spent millions of dollars, only to tell us that they found virtually nothing. Now, we are attacked, and few seem to want to know "WHY."

Black Americans know our government's history of targeting leaders for character assassinations or guilt by association. Whether Democrat or Republican, not for one moment do we assume our government is totally innocent. Our reading of history tells us that something is rotten in Denmark. The Government Affairs Committee Hearings held February 7, 2002 and chaired by Senator Joe Lieberman called for a 9-11 investigation. President Bush asked Senator Tom Daschle to limit the investigation, because it would "take resources and personnel away from the efforts in the war on terrorism."

Americans have a right to know everything about 9/11, and we have a right to know the connection between this "War on Terrorism" and the energy industry. We have a right to know why VP Dick Cheney refuses to turn over documents to the General Accounting Office. The Concerned Black Clergy (CBC) (www.concernedblackclergy.com/) will confer with Senators Daschle and Lieberman and seek further information about the congressional investigation of 9/11. We will support congresspersons that believe a full and thorough investigation is in order.

brew@thedailybrew.com

Washington insiders are abuzz with speculation about when the next shoe will drop. Revelations that President Bush hid warnings of the 9-11 terrorist attacks has put the Bush Administration into full damage control mode. No one inside the beltway believes these revelations will be the end of the story.

The real story is the certainty that any highly publicized investigation into the intelligence gathering process will reveal the Bush Administration's counter-terrorism activities in the months preceding the 9-11 attacks. It is there that the next shoe will drop. A publicized investigation into 9-11 leads, inexorably, to the activities of FBI Deputy Director John P. O'Neill.

Osama bin Laden's main antagonist from within US law enforcement, O'Neill investigated the bombings of the World Trade Center in 1993, a US base in Saudi Arabia in 1996, the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-Es-Salaam in 1998, and the USS Cole last year. In short, O'Neill had been the FBI point man on Al Qaeda. It is impossible to examine the FBI's role in pursuing terrorism before 9/11 without examining O'Neill's work.

John O'Neill will never testify. He quit the FBI weeks before 9-11 to serve as Director of Security at the World Trade Towers; he died in the attacks. But, O'Neill's story did not die. French analysts Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie claim in their book, "bin Laden: Hidden Truth," that O'Neill complained the State Department and the oil lobby that makes up Bush's entourage were the main obstacles to investigating terrorism and the role played by Saudi Arabia.

They charge the Bush administration slowed down FBI investigations of Al Qaeda and terrorism in Afghanistan in order to do a deal with the Taliban for an oil pipeline across Afghanistan. Bush has proven beyond a shadow of doubt his fealty to the oil industry. The deal for an oil pipeline across Afghanistan is now a fact, complete with shiny new bases all over central Asia for the US military to use while guarding it. The Bush family's long standing business dealings with Saudi rulers is well documented, as is the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.

D.C. insiders are betting an investigation will happen. Bush's surrogates are trying to change the odds, terming the inquiry a "fishing expedition" in public and strong-arming GOP congressional representatives in private. The battle for the public's perception of this inquiry will certainly become a centerpiece of the fall political season, since if the Democrats gain a majority in the House this fall, a wide ranging investigation becomes an absolute certainty. If democracy under George Bush stays true to form, look for the Supreme Court to involve itself in a number of these congressional races.

Email greg@gregpalast.com Don't believe everything you read in the papers about Venezuela. Hugo Chavez was not unpopular and did not resign. The resignation myth was the capstone of a year-long disinformation campaign against the former paratrooper who took office with 60% of the vote. The Bush White House is quoted as stating that Chavez's being elected by "a majority of voters" did not confer "legitimacy" on the Venezuelan government. The assertion was not unexpected from a US administration selected over the opposition of the majority of American voters.

Chavez's real crime was passage of two laws. The first ordered big plantation owners to turn over untilled land to the landless. The second nearly doubled, from roughly 16% to 30%, royalties paid for extracting Venezuela's oil. Venezuela was once the largest exporter of oil to the USA, bigger than Saudi Arabia. This explains Chavez's unpopularity - at least within that key constituency, the American petroleum industry.

Email www.truthout.com In a BBC Newsnight interview, CBS anchorman Dan Rather said, "Patriotism run amok" was in danger of trampling the freedom of American journalists. Admitting he shrunk from taking on the Bush administration, Rather graphically described the pressures to conform that built up after the 9-11 attacks. "It is an obscene comparison - you know I am not sure I like it - but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. And in some way, the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of tough questions."

Email bjaeventserv@aol.com I love your style! Diversity brings on controversy. Controversy brings about change in some form or another. You said your paper was viewed as controversial, but it is a good thing!

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