by Robert C. Sage

Created on: January 17, 2008

Dubya did what his administration does best - flying off to far away places for meaningless photo ops. It makes good press at home, giving him the ability to trumpet his commitment to peace, freedom and democracy at the same time that he funds war, torture and tyranny. Comparing notes with Israel on mutual attempts to trump up charges against Iran to justify another series of pre-emptive strikes was the real purpose of visiting the Middle East. All the rest was mere ceremony. Dubya played up the routine gamesmanship that we play with Iran to make it sound like war is imminent, hoping to find provocation enough to satisfy his Zionist masters. He valiantly hunted in vain for a ray of hope for any Arab support of military adventurism in Persia.

The Arabs know only too well the neo-con methods of blowing up any impression of a provocation to launch war. They want no part of it. They witnessed the American intelligence of conclusive proof of Saddam's WMDs and connections to al-Qaeda and 9-11. They see what has happened in Iraq, how millions have had their lives devastated, how American belligerence has trashed the "cradle of civilization" and turned it into a toxic waste dump of depleted uranium dust. Of course, the Arab elites received Dubya politely into their midst. There was no need to slight him, lest he decide to send the CIA to stir up trouble.

It is true that Dubya met with Israeli P.M. Olmert and Palestinian President Abbas, but he was unable to get Israel to keep promises to remove or even slow the pace of land confiscations and settlement building on the West Bank. It is sad that Fatah's leadership has chosen to trust Israel, without credible evidence of a commitment to co-existence. America and Europe fund the Fatah acceptance of Israeli slow stepping and going through the motions.
The Fatah leadership is coddled in relative luxury, while most Palestinians are deprived of fundamental freedom of movement and economic liberty. Israel's oppressive security personnel treat most Palestinians like animals, not human beings.

Israel has democratic practices only for Jews, definitely not for Muslims or even Christians. The police state methods, use of torture, denial of private property rights, overt racial and religious discrimination are well documented, yet many in the west persist in claiming Israel is a democracy. Was America truly a democracy when we had legalized slavery? From the current perspective that all human beings are created equal, certainly the historical

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