[Reader-list] God's little Bush

[Prof.Alok Rai]

 The Abbas article referred to at the bottom of the page is accessible at
the Haaretz site - but here it is anyway. Enjoy - then tremble.

Alok Rai

*****

Road map is a life saver for us,' PM Abbas tells Hamas

By Arnon Regular



Selected minutes acquired by Haaretz from one of
last week's cease-fire negotiations between
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and
faction leaders from the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and
the Popular and Democratic Fronts, reveal some of
the factors at play behind the scenes in the
effort to achieve a hudna.




Abbas opened the session after
hearing scathing criticism from
faction leaders for his Aqaba
speech in which he defined
their activities as
"terrorism." He began with a
broad review of his two
meetings with Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon and the Aqaba
summit.


"After seven days we did not reach agreement in
Cairo on either the hudna or the united
leadership. These points were later discussed
in contacts in Gaza and in my view, the two
points are the ones that should be on the
table."

Abbas said: "The descriptions of what happened
at Sharm el Sheikh and in Aqaba are vague in
parts and in some parts are inventions, so this
is an opportunity to talk about what happened
since the PA accepted the road map on December
20," he said. "Despite our reservations we
decided not to make them an obstacle, believing
that the road map was a life saver for a tiger
whose head was caught in the neck of the
bottle."

Abbas said "we were told that [President George
] Bush is committed to the establishment of a
viable Palestinian state beside the state of
Israel, so based on our saying that we are
ready to try that experiment, that is what was
determined."

He explained to the faction leaders that with
regard to the first phase of the road map,
there was an agreement with the Americans that
"the Palestinians would speak publicly about
their commitments according to the map and then
the Israelis would do the same thing." From
there, he moved on to describe what happened at
the summits. He said that Bush told the Arab
leaders that he is fully committed to a
solution based on his vision speech from June
24, 2002 and is ready to move forward "if there
is help on your part."

"The Arabs supported him and I said we are ready
to fulfill our commitments as they appear in
the map," said Abbas. He said the discussion of
the start of the implementation of the map
dealt with Gaza, where he said that Palestinian
Authority institutions "are 75 percent
destroyed, while in the West Bank they are 100
percent destroyed."

He emphasized that at that stage he made clear
to the participants at the Sharm summit that
"we need time and capabilities to stand on our
feet. And I explained that I had already spoken
with Ariel Sharon about reaching a hudna
between all the Palestinian factions."
According to Abbas, "Bush exploded with anger
and said `there can be no deals with terror
groups.' We told him that they are part of our
people and we cannot deal with them in any
other way. We cannot begin with repression,
under no circumstances, and I made clear to
Bush that Sharon already agreed with that."

He said that he presented Bush with the
deliberations about the hudna that he had with
Sharon in Jerusalem after he was appointed
prime minister. He explained to Bush that the
dialogue between the Palestinian factions that
began in Cairo and continued in Gaza were on
the verge of completion. He said that Bush said
"a case-fire is not the whole story" - Bush
meant that a hudna is only the start of the
process of disarming the groups.

Abbas outlined the political contacts during the
Aqaba summit and said he added the prisoner
issue at the three-way session with Bush and
Sharon. "I told them the prisons are the
election district for a campaign of calm in the
Palestinian territories." He said Bush then
turned to Sharon "with the following words,
`look what you can profit from this, that
holding onto the prisoners only creates
tension.'"

Abbas said: "We were asked what we need if
Israel withdraws and we said `that there not be
raids, chases, assassinations or house
demolitions, because that kind of activity will
destroy everything.'"

Abbas tried to placate the faction leaders by
telling them that Palestinian Security Minister
Mohammed Dahlan had raised the exact same
issues with John Wolf, the American monitor of
the road map. He tried to explain that in the
wake of the failed attempt on Abdel Aziz
Rantisi's life, the PA was now insisting on an
end to the assassinations.

He went on to explain his speech in Aqaba. "We
did not speak of our rights but only of our
commitments. Bush was impressed by that and
mentioned the prisoners and settlements in his
speech." On the matter of the right of return,
Abbas said "that right appears in all the
previous initiatives, and is not under
discussion now. Bush asked, if that's the case,
why mention the settlements now, and I told him
the settlements are happening now. The Israelis
use the excuse of natural growth and I told
them that according to U.S. statistics, 33
percent of settlements are empty. We said the
growth should happen westward, and not on our
territory."

Abbas said that at Aqaba, Bush promised to speak
with Sharon about the siege on Arafat. He said
nobody can speak to or pressure Sharon except
the Americans.

According to Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush
said: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I
struck them, and then he instructed me to
strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am
determined to solve the problem in the Middle
East. If you help me I will act, and if not,
the elections will come and I will have to
focus on them."

*****










Global Eye -- Errand Boy

By Chris Floyd



So now we know. After all the mountains of commentary and speculation, all
the earnest debates over motives and goals, all the detailed analyses of
global strategy and political ideology, it all comes to down to this:
George W. Bush waged war on Iraq because, in his own words, God
"instructed me to strike at Saddam."

This gospel was revealed, appropriately enough, in the Holy Land this
week, through an unusual partnership between the fractious children of
Abraham. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz was given transcripts of a
negotiating session between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and
faction leaders from Hamas and other militant groups. Abbas, who was
trying to persuade the groups to call a cease-fire in their uprising
against Israeli forces, described for them his recent summit with Ariel
Sharon and Bush.

During the tense talks at the summit, Bush sought to underscore the kind
of authority he could bring to efforts at achieving peace in the Middle
East. While thundering that there could be "no deals with terror groups,"
Bush sought to assure the rattled Palestinians that he also had the
ability to wring concessions from Sharon. And what was the source of this
wonder-working power? It was not, as you might think, the ungodly size of
the U.S. military or the gargantuan amount of money and arms the United
States pours into Israel year after year.

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No, Bush said he derived his moral heft from the Almighty Himself. What's
more, the Lord had proven his devotion to the Crawford Crusader by
crowning his military efforts with success. In fact, he told Abbas, God
was holding the door open for Middle East peace right now -- but they
would have to move fast, because soon the Creator and Sustainer of the
Universe would have to give His attention to something far more important:
the election of His little sunbeam, Georgie, in 2004.

Here are Bush's exact words, quoted by Haaretz: "God told me to strike at
al-Qaida and I struck them, and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam,
which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle
East. If you help me, I will act, and if not, the elections will come and
I will have to focus on them."

You can't put it plainer than that. The whole chaotic rigmarole of
Security Council votes and UN inspections and congressional approval and
Colin Powell's whizbang Powerpoint displays of "proof" and Bush's own
tearful prayers for "peace" -- it was all a sham, a meaningless exercise.

No votes, no inspections, no proof or lack of proof -- in fact, no earthly
reason whatsoever -- could have stopped Bush's aggressive war on Iraq. It
was God's unalterable will: the Lord of Hosts gave a direct order for
George W. Bush to "strike at Saddam."

And strike he did, with an awesome fury that rained death and destruction
on the mustachioed whore of Babylon, with a firestorm of Godly wrath that
consumed the enemy armies like so much chaff put to the flame -- and with
an arsenal of cruise missiles, cluster bombs, dive bombers and assault
helicopters that killed up to 10,000 innocent civilians: blasted to pieces
in their beds, shot down in their fields and streets, crushed beneath the
walls of their own houses, boiled alive in factories, ditches and cars,
gutted, mutilated, beheaded, murdered, women, children, elders, some
praying, some wailing, some cursing, some mute with fear as metal death
ripped their lives away and left rotting hulks behind. This was the work
of the Lord and His faithful servant, whom He hath raised high up to have
dominion over men.

And this is the mindset -- or rather, the primitive fever-dream -- that is
now directing the actions of the greatest military power in the history of
the world. There can be no doubt that Bush believes literally in the
divine character of his mission. He honestly and sincerely believes that
whatever "decision" forms in his brain -- out of the flux and flow of his
own emotional impulses and biochemical reactions, the flattery and
cajolements of his sinister advisers, the random scraps of fact, myth and
fabrication that dribble into his proudly undeveloped and incurious
consciousness -- has been planted there, whole and perfected, by God
Almighty.

And that's why Bush acts with such serenity and ruthlessness. Nothing he
does can be challenged on moral grounds, however unethical or evil it
might appear, because all of his actions are directed by God. He can twist
the truth, oppress the poor, exalt the rich, despoil the Earth, ignore the
law -- and murder children -- without the slightest compunction, the
briefest moment of doubt or self-reflection, because he believes, he truly
believes, that God squats in his brainpan and tells him what to do.

And just as God countenanced deception on the part of Abraham, just as God
forgave David for the murders he ordered, just as God blessed the armies
of Saul as they obliterated the Amalekites, man, woman and child, so will
He overlook any crime committed by Bush and his minions as they carry out
His will. That's why Bush can always "do whatever it takes" to achieve his
goals. And by his own words to Abbas, we see that he places his election
in 2004 above all other concerns, even the endless bloodshed in the Middle
East.

So what new crimes will the Lord have to countenance to keep His appointed
servant in power?

'Road Map a Lifesaver for Us,' PM Abbas Tells Hamas
Haaretz, Thursday June 26, 2003