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Monday, January 11, 2010 |
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Israel: The First Post |
I recently went on my first trip to Israel and have (drum roll...) strong opinions about what is going on there. However, in this the first post, I want to introduce what I did on the trip so everyone can understand where I`m coming from in the next few posts.
First off I traveled to Israel courtesy of a generous benefactor (my grandma) late last October and stayed for two weeks. The first few days I stayed on Kibbutz Nahal Oz with some friends. Nahal Oz is right along the Gaza Strip and was probably only a half a mile away from downtown Gaza City. Unfortunately no rockets were fired when I was there as I haven`t been under fire for some time now. However, I`m guessing the Israelis didn`t mind a bit of a reprieve. I hung out with my friends in Sderot, Ashquelon, and Be`er-Sheva. (This would be where I insert the comment that Israel contains the most ridiculously high ratio of beautiful women in the world, but since I`m keeping it strictly serious I`m gonna leave that part out.)
I left Nahal Oz on a bus for Jerusalem where I stayed about a half mile away from the Old City for 10 days. There I joined a tour group that was traveling as a part of a Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center Ultimate Mission. Shurat HaDin is a law center in Israel that fights terrorism through civil lawsuits and other legal actions. Check out there website for all the pertinent information but suffice it to say that they are doing real good, not only for Israel but also for America. While you are there be sure to donate to the cause.
As a part of the 20 or so person group I traveled all around the country and got to visit many important military and political sites. Our group spoke with some top politicians i.e. Yoram Ettinger, Moshe Ya`alon, and military heroes i.e. Yair Nafshi, Avigdor Kahalani just to name a few. We also visited several current military sites along the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Lebanese and Syrian borders.
The trip focused on the current security situation for Israel so we were shutteled to as many pertinent places as could be fit into a week. During that time I befriended people in my group from all over the world and managed to stare at/sit across from an Israeli girl that looked like Alicia Keyes` twin sister (by the way if you are reading this security girl from the West Bank, you know who you are, go ahead and email me).
Overall the trip was a great time and it didn`t hurt that it was perfect weather the whole time I was there. I`m looking forward to going back as soon as I can. Now that I`ve had the experience and spoken with people who are intimately involved in the security arena in Israel I want to share my thoughts from the trip. I have several posts planned and would love to hear what people think. What is going on in Israel is closely linked to what we are dealing with so I think it is upmost importance to have an accurate grasp of what exactly is going on there. Israel has faced our common enemy far more than we have and throughout has managed to fight as humanely as possible, those who say they haven`t just don`t understand what has and is going on there. I invite anyone who thinks they have facts other than mine to wage in on the conversation. |
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010 |
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Israel Alone |
Imagine for a moment that the United States has been under rocket attack from Mexico for several years. The border states-California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas- have been hit with over 8000 rockets that have not only claimed innocent lives, but also terrorized families trying to go about normal life. When alarms go off warning of incoming rockets kids playing outside at school have to run for cover, the elderly scramble for safe rooms, and work stops while people pray for their safety.
Not satisfied with simply killing innocent civilians Mexican terrorists started kidnapping helpless people living near the border. Those kidnapped do not enjoy the privileges we afford to our prisoners but instead are kept isolated, far away from international aid groups and the public eye. No matter how we capitulated in favor of the terrorists the only thing we got in return were caskets full of the bodies of those previously kidnapped.
When our politicians finally decided to take action they were condemned by the international media before our military had even crossed the border. Demonstrations were held across the globe. Our own college campuses condemned the very thought of taking action. So caving to pressure we let the rocket attacks continue. More civilians were killed and more infrastructure was damaged. Attempted kidnappings continued all the while we gave the terrorists monetary support under the guise that it was going to help the Mexicans who needed it the most. The money instead funded ever-increasing terrorism and allowed the terrorist group that controlled the flow of money to buy public support. In order to curry international favor we continued to provide money despite knowing these facts.
Only when public outcry within the states became louder than the international condemnation did we invade the border towns in Mexico to put an end to the terror attacks. In doing so we conducted the most humane operation in history. As we went street to street looking for the terrorists, who were both fighting and hiding out in hospitals, homes, and schools, we called each house or place of business before we entered in order to warn the potential innocent residents that they had thirty minutes to leave in order to minimize civilian casualties.
By the end of the campaign we occupied some of the territory that had previously been used as staging grounds for terrorism. We did this in an effort to be able to police the areas so that we could ensure no rockets would be fired from there again. We did not tear down existing buildings, or move in a large number of Americans in order slowly take over the areas through increased demographics, but rather, helped build up the infrastructure in order to get the towns back on their feet.
After all this we began to build a wall along the border between the USA and Mexico in order to ensure the safety of our own people, not just to keep out what were perceived to be unwanted Mexicans. For all of our actions we became the black sheep of the United Nations. Speeches were given at the UN by foreign ambassadors decrying the state of affairs between the United States and Mexico. Foreign universities and religious organizations called for divestment from all American intellectuals and businesses in order to show their solidarity with the plight of the Mexicans. News organizations carried stories to the masses about the plight of the Mexicans faced with the evil Americans who oppressed them at every turn. No mention of the rocket attacks or kidnappings were offered up in the articles that called for our immediate withdraw from ‘occupied’ Mexican territories that we lawfully held as a result of military action.
All the while our problems with Mexico continued we faced an ever-present threat from Canada, who, on several occasions, had previously attempted invasions and constantly made promises to their citizens that they would one day reclaim the ‘occupied’ territory that we lawfully took from them after they preempted an attack on us.
Most Americans would be outraged by the Mexican terrorist attacks and would call for a unilateral military solution to the problem. The fact that we conducted military action as humanely as possible would actually irritate a lot of people who would have preferred swift and decisive bombing to targeted killings several years after the attacks started.
Of course we all know that the series of events described above never happened to the USA but they did happen, and continue to do so, to Israel. Substitute Palestinians for Mexicans, and Syrians for Canadians. Now why when we see the issue so clearly when it pertains to the USA do we become muddled in moral equivocation when it comes to Israel and the problems it has with all of its neighbors? Is it because we erroneously believe what the mainstream media tells us when it comes to the legitimacy of the state of Israel? If we have fallen into the trap of believing the likes of Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, or Jimmy Carter we have been mislead. Not one of them can truthfully answer to the facts on the ground and are left making moral platitudes that only pertain in their own make believe world.
To deny Israel the right to self-defense is to deny their claim to legitimate statehood, which the UN approved in 1948. Of course this is just what Israel’s critics want to do. Due to reasons beyond any sane person’s comprehension Israel’s critics continue to spew hatred aimed at the Jewish nation solely because of their own racist hatred and jealousy. When firmly held opinions contradict fact the only answers can either be immense ignorance or racist ideology.
The reason why freedom loving people of the USA should care about Israel is twofold: first because freedom is under attack in Israel, and second because we cannot sit around watching as the Jewish people are again discriminated against. Jews in Europe are once more under attack and are retreating to Israel for some sense of a normal life. If they cannot find peace and safety in their own country they will not find it anywhere. With the destruction of Israel and the desire to see the “Mediterranean Sea turn red with the blood of the Jews”, Israel’s enemies will not be satisfied with anything less than the complete destruction of not only Israel, but all the Jews that inhabit it. What we do as Israel’s number one ally in the next few years will be critical for Israel’s existence. However, due to the massive ignorance of the current administration concerning Israel, and the Middle East as a whole, there doesn’t seem to be much reason for hope. Israel seems poised once again to be alone in the midst of enemies on all sides.
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Monday, January 18, 2010 |
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Shurat HaDin |
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In lieu of a more complete post to come soon check out Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center. In my opinion they are doing as much as anyone to fight the funding of terrorism. We all know that without money terrorism ceases to exist on the scale that we have seen over the last 30 or so years. Well “we” meaning everyone except the New York Times. |
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010 |
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You Ain`t In If You Askin` |
There are people and then there are people who ask dumb questions. Of course there are people who ask dumb questions and there are just plain dumb people. Which of course leads me to my third point that there are lots more just plain dumb people who also happen to ask very dumb questions than just plain dumb people.
One of these aforementioned people who asked me a dumb question was Jamie McDougall a promoter for a book by Cilla McCain. Here’s Jamie in his/her own words:
“My name is Jamie McDougall, and I work with Dorothy Thompson at Pump up Your Book Promotion. We represent authors who would like to get the word out about their book online. I am representing Cilla McCain, an author touring in March with her true crime book Murder In Baker Company: How Four American Soldiers Killed One of Their Own .”
Fair enough Jamie, what do you want from me?
“I think your blog site would be an excellent ‘stop’ for Cilla McCain and am wondering if you would be interested in hosting her in March (weekdays only). Hosting her would consist of putting up a guest post written by Cilla, putting up an interview of Cilla, putting up a spotlight of Cilla’s book (book cover, synopsis, excerpt, link to her website), reviewing Cilla’s book, or a multi-day stop consisting of a combination of these things.”
This paragraph raises a few questions in my mind of which first and foremost is “How much am I getting paid for this Jamie?” The second question that arises is a bit more complicated. Before I get ahead of myself let’s look at the synopsis of Cilla’s book that Jamie included in the email.
“ Murder in Baker Company begins as a journey to uncover the truth about what happened to Army Specialist Richard Davis. By using court transcripts, personal interviews, and police records, Cilla McCain unfolds the events of the case and soon reveals a disturbing, eye-opening look into today’s military that goes beyond the Davis case and that affects all troops and their families. Soldiers are handed antipsychotic drugs and sent into battle. Treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder is stigmatized. Gang members carry their affiliation from the streets to the barracks. And many of our soldiers are forced to face down two separate enemies, one in the same uniform they wear. By the end of the book the reader will learn the devastating truth about the injustice and disrespect our military families are forced to endure when their soldier dies a non-combat death.”
You may have read that and found it quite intriguing. Maybe you want to check into the book further. I, however, want to punch glass when I read crap like this.
Do I know anything about Cilla McCain? No. Do I know anything about Spc. Richard Davis or the events in Cilla’s book? No. What I do know, without knowing anything about her book, is that it is more likely than not garbage. Yep garbage. Kindling for my backyard fire pit would be a better description.
I criticize her book for the same reason I criticize ignorant Americans in general. Both times I returned home from my deployments I was asked the same slew of questions by inquisitive, concerned, and informed people: “Did you kill anybody?” “Did anyone near you get hurt?” “What is the worst thing you saw?” “Come clean, I know you wasted some people.” WTF am I supposed to say in response to these people and WTF are they really after? Do they want to see me break down and cry retelling stories of bloody friends or mutilated children after a bombing so they can console me? Do they have some type of disgusting ‘need’ to hear the worst of the worst? Did I even see anything bad? Are they going to be disappointed when I tell them that I didn’t kill anyone or that I never saw anyone hurt? Or are they going to be disgusted when I tell them that I killed 18 people if pregnant women count as two and not one, if not than I only killed 14 people? Who knows? Perhaps no matter what my response is they are going to respond in disbelief thinking that I must be lying. It’s a no-win situation for me or any other veteran who faces these dumb ass questions.
In such a vein lies Cilla McCain’s book. Where are the mainstream books celebrating soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan? Where are the Saturday morning cartoons honoring today’s soldiers as heroes to a younger generation? Where is the ‘common’ soldier profiled for doing common things? Where are the movies about Iraq and Afghanistan vets devoid of outlandish, preposterous, PTSD infested bullshit? You won’t find any of these things because ‘common’ isn’t cool in these 21st century ‘enlightened’ times. The only way to make money (and that’s what its really all about isn’t it Jamie?) is to talk about the worst of the worst no matter whether or not its representative or the vast majority of soldiers or not (see Abu Gharib).
People need to wake up and check themselves to see what is wrong with them before they ask the ‘pressing’ questions to soldiers in which others must certainly have to die for a ‘satisfactory’ answer to be given.
A book like Cilla McCain’s only hurts the national and international view of the American military. The American military is by far and away one of the most humane militaries ever to grace planet Earth. The American military is comprised of millions of self-sacrificing, hard working, patriotic, and honorable men and women. To draw attention to a small band of bad apples like all news outlets do is a disgrace to the 99.9% of those in the military who tow the line. Before you read McCain’s book understand what you are getting yourself into. Without the majority of those in the military doing what is right day in and day out, a book like hers wouldn’t seem so outlandish. But then again if you are like most of the people who ask me dumb questions her book is right up your alley. Read it and get your fix for all the blood, PTSD, drugs, gang affiliation stories you can handle.
Hope that helps Jamie.
By the way I’m hereby announcing that my forthcoming book based upon my wholly ‘common’ experiences is in the works. I’ll be sure to use harsh language throughout so at least most Americans can feel a little uneasy no matter what I’m talking about. Jamie, you wanna pump that up when I’m finished?
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