The Flashlight Oct. 21-27, 2006
THE FLASHLIGHT, October 21-27, 2006
[Editorial Note. New sources which have been consulted regularly for the last three months are Haaretz.com, a liberal journal in English, Tel Aviv, Israel and An-Naharonline.com, in Arabic, Beirut, Lebanon, published by the liberal Greek Orthodox Christian Tueni family. New sources to be consulted regularly are the Daily Star, in English, Beirut, Lebanon, published by the secular Shia Muslim Mrouwe family; and Daily Kos, the best known liberal American blog.
The organization that sponsored the talk by Rami Khouri, cited this week, is the Coalition for Justice in the Middle East. It is a Stanford student organization, with an Arab and a Jew as co-presidents. Its logo shows a dove with the scale of justice in its beak. ]
US Politics: General
Daily Kos 10-27. The average of four new polls gives Democrats a 14.8% lead over Republicans. The Ipsos poll which is supplied to AP and AOL, gives the Democrats a 19% lead. The polls show the Democrats taking 20 to 35 seats in the House of Representatives, where 15 new seats are enough to take control. The Senate races are closer, and both parties reportedly are taking money from House races for Senate races. Negative smear attack ads are increasing.
W Post. Independent voters favor Democrats two to one, 59 pts to 34.
Races
Daily Kos 10-27. In the Ohio Senate race Brown (D.) leads DeWine (R.) 57 to 37. The Republican National Committee has given up and is shifting money from Ohio to other states.
W Post 10-22. Democrats seem assured of taking Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Montana, and Rhode Island as well. They have a chance of taking those in Tennessee, Virginia, and Missouri. The Democratic Senate incumbent in New Jersey is in danger, however. Six new seats are necessary for them to take control.
Sketch of Nancy Pelosi, possible next Speaker of the House
CBS 60 Minutes. 10-22. Rep. Pelosi of San Francisco is the daughter of the mayor of Baltimore (D’Alessandro). She had five older brothers. She is married to Paul Pelosi, a wealthy investment banker. They have four daughters and a son and five grandchildren. Nancy is a disciplinarian at home and in the House. In the latter, an important means of control is the one hundred million dollars she has raised personally for Democratic candidates. Far from being a leftist she emphasizes centrist issues She does not allow any Republican attack to go unanswered. She talks tough, but says her attacks on Republicans are professional, not personal. She has called them immoral, illegal, and criminal, but says that these are her gentle attacks. If she becomes Speaker, she will probably encourage some committee investigations of the Administration, but opposes any talk of impeachment of the President. If elected, Nancy will be the first woman to hold the office of Speaker, breaking the “marble ceiling.”
[Barack Obama. The Senator says that after the election he will consider running for President. TIME magazine and David Brooks, conservative columnist for the NY Times, praise him highly. He voted against the Iraq War, unlike Hilary Clinton, which is an example of his good judgment. But unlike Hilary and most other Presidential contenders, he is relatively inexperienced. How would he emerge from Karl Rove’s sliming?]
Iraq
10-26. CNN. 96 Americans have been killed so far this month, the highest number since the beginning campaign of the war. There is no sign of improvement.
10-22. CBS 60 Minutes. $800 million dollars allocated by the US for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense have been stolen by phony contractors. The money just disappeared into Middle East banks. Much of the equipment delivered to the Iraqi Army has been junk. There was no US oversight and no American seems to care to look into this, only a single Iraqi judge. In addition, 40-50% of oil profits are going to the insurgents, mostly Sunni.
10-25. CNN. According to star correspondent Michael Ware (the one with the Australian accent) in Iraq the Shia are drifting under Iranian control and the Sunni’s, under al-Qaida. But a majority of Sunnis probably hate al-Qaida.
10-24 NY Times. In an op-ed John Tierney reported that near half of all Iraqis are married to their first and second cousins. This serves to explain why family, clan, and tribal feuds play such a role in Iraq.
The Israeli-Lebanese War of the Summer of 2006: Perspectives and Consequences.
By Rami Khouri, a Greek Orthodox Christian from Nazareth, Palestine, Editor at Large for the Daily Star, Beirut. Speech on the Stanford campus, 10-23-06. Attended by Carol Rose, Mary Matossian, George Heaton and about 200 other people.
Mr. Khouri began by saying that American news coverage of last summer’s war in the Middle East was abominable: both inaccurate and incomplete. It was anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and pro-Israeli. [These remarks did not apply to UK news, like the Guardian, used by The Flashlight.]
The main fault of news coverage was underestimation of the importance of Hizbollah. Hizbollah stood up to the Israeli Army for 34 days, better than an Arab army before. The Israelis occupied only a few border towns. Hizbollah rockets went right over Israeli defenses. Hizbollah secrecy was effective. Hizbollah was able to intercept Israeli military signals. The organization itself was impenetrable. Further, Hizbollah fighters were brave, willing to fight and die.
Mr. Khouri stressed that Hizbollah is an unusual Middle East organization: efficient, incorruptible, accountable, and it delivers consistently on its promises. It is opposed to “terrorism” – that is, attacks of American and European civilians.
The response of the world press to Hizbollah’s triumph, outside of the US and Israel, representing five of the six billion people on earth, was of one of glee. Hizbollah was portrayed as David facing the US-enabled, nuclear armed, Israeli Goliath. Most of the heterogeneous Lebanese supported Hizbollah. The US, which backed 100% the Israeli attacks, including the air attacks that killed 1200 helpless Lebanese civilians, lost even more respect in the world. Mr. Khouri acknowledged that Hizbollah also killed civilians, but said if Hizbollah is held accountable then Israel and the US should also be held accountable.
Mr. Khouri concluded that from now on all Middle Eastern issues are linked together. The core issue is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He predicted a big new drive for regional peace.
What the Arabs want is:
1. Support in their struggle again abusive Arab governments (i.e. Egyptian, Saudi, and Jordanian)
2. An end to the long record of Israeli abuses of Palestinians
3. An end to the “predatory” military policies of the US and other Western powers.
He said that al-Qaida is not popular with most Arabs. The Islamists, who do not support attacks on US and European civilians, are popular
He warned that if war between Israel and its Muslim neighbors breaks out again, it will be savage and much more destructive than the 34 day war of last summer.
[Editorial Note. New sources which have been consulted regularly for the last three months are Haaretz.com, a liberal journal in English, Tel Aviv, Israel and An-Naharonline.com, in Arabic, Beirut, Lebanon, published by the liberal Greek Orthodox Christian Tueni family. New sources to be consulted regularly are the Daily Star, in English, Beirut, Lebanon, published by the secular Shia Muslim Mrouwe family; and Daily Kos, the best known liberal American blog.
The organization that sponsored the talk by Rami Khouri, cited this week, is the Coalition for Justice in the Middle East. It is a Stanford student organization, with an Arab and a Jew as co-presidents. Its logo shows a dove with the scale of justice in its beak. ]
US Politics: General
Daily Kos 10-27. The average of four new polls gives Democrats a 14.8% lead over Republicans. The Ipsos poll which is supplied to AP and AOL, gives the Democrats a 19% lead. The polls show the Democrats taking 20 to 35 seats in the House of Representatives, where 15 new seats are enough to take control. The Senate races are closer, and both parties reportedly are taking money from House races for Senate races. Negative smear attack ads are increasing.
W Post. Independent voters favor Democrats two to one, 59 pts to 34.
Races
Daily Kos 10-27. In the Ohio Senate race Brown (D.) leads DeWine (R.) 57 to 37. The Republican National Committee has given up and is shifting money from Ohio to other states.
W Post 10-22. Democrats seem assured of taking Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Montana, and Rhode Island as well. They have a chance of taking those in Tennessee, Virginia, and Missouri. The Democratic Senate incumbent in New Jersey is in danger, however. Six new seats are necessary for them to take control.
Sketch of Nancy Pelosi, possible next Speaker of the House
CBS 60 Minutes. 10-22. Rep. Pelosi of San Francisco is the daughter of the mayor of Baltimore (D’Alessandro). She had five older brothers. She is married to Paul Pelosi, a wealthy investment banker. They have four daughters and a son and five grandchildren. Nancy is a disciplinarian at home and in the House. In the latter, an important means of control is the one hundred million dollars she has raised personally for Democratic candidates. Far from being a leftist she emphasizes centrist issues She does not allow any Republican attack to go unanswered. She talks tough, but says her attacks on Republicans are professional, not personal. She has called them immoral, illegal, and criminal, but says that these are her gentle attacks. If she becomes Speaker, she will probably encourage some committee investigations of the Administration, but opposes any talk of impeachment of the President. If elected, Nancy will be the first woman to hold the office of Speaker, breaking the “marble ceiling.”
[Barack Obama. The Senator says that after the election he will consider running for President. TIME magazine and David Brooks, conservative columnist for the NY Times, praise him highly. He voted against the Iraq War, unlike Hilary Clinton, which is an example of his good judgment. But unlike Hilary and most other Presidential contenders, he is relatively inexperienced. How would he emerge from Karl Rove’s sliming?]
Iraq
10-26. CNN. 96 Americans have been killed so far this month, the highest number since the beginning campaign of the war. There is no sign of improvement.
10-22. CBS 60 Minutes. $800 million dollars allocated by the US for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense have been stolen by phony contractors. The money just disappeared into Middle East banks. Much of the equipment delivered to the Iraqi Army has been junk. There was no US oversight and no American seems to care to look into this, only a single Iraqi judge. In addition, 40-50% of oil profits are going to the insurgents, mostly Sunni.
10-25. CNN. According to star correspondent Michael Ware (the one with the Australian accent) in Iraq the Shia are drifting under Iranian control and the Sunni’s, under al-Qaida. But a majority of Sunnis probably hate al-Qaida.
10-24 NY Times. In an op-ed John Tierney reported that near half of all Iraqis are married to their first and second cousins. This serves to explain why family, clan, and tribal feuds play such a role in Iraq.
The Israeli-Lebanese War of the Summer of 2006: Perspectives and Consequences.
By Rami Khouri, a Greek Orthodox Christian from Nazareth, Palestine, Editor at Large for the Daily Star, Beirut. Speech on the Stanford campus, 10-23-06. Attended by Carol Rose, Mary Matossian, George Heaton and about 200 other people.
Mr. Khouri began by saying that American news coverage of last summer’s war in the Middle East was abominable: both inaccurate and incomplete. It was anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and pro-Israeli. [These remarks did not apply to UK news, like the Guardian, used by The Flashlight.]
The main fault of news coverage was underestimation of the importance of Hizbollah. Hizbollah stood up to the Israeli Army for 34 days, better than an Arab army before. The Israelis occupied only a few border towns. Hizbollah rockets went right over Israeli defenses. Hizbollah secrecy was effective. Hizbollah was able to intercept Israeli military signals. The organization itself was impenetrable. Further, Hizbollah fighters were brave, willing to fight and die.
Mr. Khouri stressed that Hizbollah is an unusual Middle East organization: efficient, incorruptible, accountable, and it delivers consistently on its promises. It is opposed to “terrorism” – that is, attacks of American and European civilians.
The response of the world press to Hizbollah’s triumph, outside of the US and Israel, representing five of the six billion people on earth, was of one of glee. Hizbollah was portrayed as David facing the US-enabled, nuclear armed, Israeli Goliath. Most of the heterogeneous Lebanese supported Hizbollah. The US, which backed 100% the Israeli attacks, including the air attacks that killed 1200 helpless Lebanese civilians, lost even more respect in the world. Mr. Khouri acknowledged that Hizbollah also killed civilians, but said if Hizbollah is held accountable then Israel and the US should also be held accountable.
Mr. Khouri concluded that from now on all Middle Eastern issues are linked together. The core issue is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He predicted a big new drive for regional peace.
What the Arabs want is:
1. Support in their struggle again abusive Arab governments (i.e. Egyptian, Saudi, and Jordanian)
2. An end to the long record of Israeli abuses of Palestinians
3. An end to the “predatory” military policies of the US and other Western powers.
He said that al-Qaida is not popular with most Arabs. The Islamists, who do not support attacks on US and European civilians, are popular
He warned that if war between Israel and its Muslim neighbors breaks out again, it will be savage and much more destructive than the 34 day war of last summer.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 8:26 AM
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