I have asked so many international students from that area “would terrorism go down if the U.s. were willing to deal with the I/P conflict in a far more fair and balanced way” Every single student I ask says ” immediately, tomorrow” the situation in the middle east would change. Infuriating that we continue to ignore this issue in the debates. Demonstrates just how powerful the lobby continues to be. The issue is shut down in the debates

Laura could bring Jimmy Carter, Norm Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Rep Moran, Meirsheimer, Walt, Former Rep Findley, my friends Art and Peggy Gish who are real walk your talk Jesus love your neighbor folks who have been to Israel and lived with the Palestinians for the last 15 years off and on. Peggy was in Iraq before the invasion of Iraq with CPT and after the invasion with a total accumulated time in Iraq close to 4 years. Seymour Hersh used some of CPT’s records. Peggy and CPT were interviewing prisoners that were released from Abu Gharib the summer of 2003 and family members of prisoners in Abu Gharib.

Peggy Gish “be not afraid”
http://bop.nppa.org/2008/web_s…..;place=2nd

Art Gish on one of his many trips to Israel
http://bop.nppa.org/2008/web_s…..;place=2nd

CPT tried to hand over these reports to U.S. military officials during the fall of 2003 and military officials sent them away. Hersh used some of their reports.

There are plenty of people to speak from the other angle..Senator Lieberman, Rep Ros Lehtinen, Dershowitz, Dennis Ross, etc etc. Plenty of folks who call themselves liberal or progressives but take a hard wrong turn on the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

Amy Goodman has the greatest collection of interviews from both sides. Amy is one of the only journalist who addresses this issue

Now if this had been a Pro-American march and rally, it would rate days of comments and footage on all the major news channels!

this is a great one and half hour listens
http://www.normanfinkelstein.c…..38;ar=1464

Norman’s website
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/

Finkelstein has been hammered by the radical side of the I lobby
http://www.camera.org/index.as…..rticle=985

No less than the French wanted the Germans out of France during WW2.

Or any American would resent having the local county government or state government taken over by someone from Iraq who speaks a different language–has a very different cultural,religous background/outlook.

Americans were the outsiders in Vietnam. Americans are the outsiders in Iraq. We definitely are not the “good guys” to many Iraqis who have seen family and loved ones killed by soldiers/aircraft coming and leaving under the Stars and Stripes.

That they want Americans out is not what is puzzles.

That Americans can not/do not/will not see or understand this basic thought/reaction on the part of Iraqis to this bellicose American Occupation is the unworked puzzle.

Suspicions mar US-China military relations – 20 Oct 08

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXZduNbl5zE

The October 14, 2008 editorial in the Fayetteville, NC Observer “Our View: Military Domestic Violence Needs More Aggressive Prevention,” focused on the murder of four military women in North Carolina and contained a startling comment: “In a way, it’s surprising that there aren’t more bodies piling up at military bases all over this nation.” The Observer is the newspaper that serves Fort Bragg, one of the military’s largest bases.

I simply cannot see the US remaining in Iraq up to 2011 (or even 2010) if the SOFA is not accepted and the Iraq and US government have to punt (An extension of the UN mandate? Some SOFA-lite?). What do you see happening with the exit of US troops sooner than they planned vis a vis the Sunni’s vs the Shia in Iraq. It is often said that the occupation itself drives most of the violence. If so, then the exit of US forces should reduce violence…or will there be renewed ethnic violence and cleansing?