Israel must fulfill its obligations even if Palestinians fail to honor theirs
A secure Israel is a priority for Jews around the world, even for those who have no desire to ever permanently live there. That is why Jews are so concerned about the United States government 's attitude toward the State of Israel and the pressures it appears to be bringing to bear upon Israel's government. Let's get out of Afghanistan and Iraq now
There was a time when our government under President George W. Bush believed we would never leave Iraq and would retain some kind of permanent base there. Now we have signed agreements with Iraq's government committing us to leave permanently no later than December 31, 2011, and if any referendum in Iraq requires that we leave by June 30, 2010, we have agreed to do so. If I had my way, we would leave at once. I believe we will gain nothing by delaying our departure from Iraq to equal the inevitable American casualties. Does anyone think the Iraqis will come to love or even like us? I don't. The Iraq model is inapplicable in Afghanistan
President Obama has so far received high marks from the vast majority of his supporters and even from many non-supporters. He has fulfilled, particularly by his cabinet appointments, our hope and belief that he would be moderate in his policies. He has disappointed and antagonized those in the Democratic big tent who were hoping he would support radical left positions. The New York Times of February 22nd reported, "The Obama administration has told a federal judge that military detainees in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their imprisonment there, embracing a key argument of former President Bush's legal team." The argument made by Bush was that federal courts "have no jurisdiction to hear such a case because the prisoners are noncitizens being held in the course of military operations outside of the United States." Who has more freedom?
I was truly astonished to read the recent comments of two British experts who, in The New York Times of October 22nd, criticized the United States "for what they described as its overly militaristic approach to fighting terrorism and warned of a further erosion of civil liberties." The two "experts" are Stella Rimington, former director general of Britain's domestic intelligence agency MI5. The other is Ken MacDonald, the top prosecutor for England and Wales who assails what he refers to as the "Guantanamo model, in which the rights of defendants are severely curtailed or eliminated by governments in search of a response to the terrorism threat." According to the Times, Ms. Rimington says "that she hoped the next president would stop using the phrase 'war on terror.' She also said there had been a huge overreaction to the attacks on September 11, 2001, explaining it 'got us off on the wrong foot because it made people think terrorism was something you could deal with by force of arms primarily.'" Bush is one of the few who really understands
We are now getting down to the homestretch as we wrap up the Democratic primary and begin the race to the November general election. We will be electing the next president of the United States, and almost everyone expressing an opinion, informed or uninformed, believes the Democratic candidate will be Barack Obama. I am a supporter of Hillary Clinton, but I too believe the odds of her defeating Barack Obama are overwhelmingly against her. It looks as if Senator Obama will prevail in the Democratic primary before or at the Democratic convention. Between Catholics and Jews
Before he was murdered by Islamic terrorists, journalist Daniel Pearl said, "My father is Jewish; my mother is Jewish; I am Jewish." After he spoke those words, his captors decapitated him. I believe Pearl's words should become part of the Jewish prayer book and recited every day by Jews. I am not an observant Jew. But I love God and I believe God loves me. I attend synagogue on special occasions and always on the high holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. I have had Pearl's last words carved into the tombstone which will adorn my grave upon my death, which I hope won't be for another eight to ten years. My tombstone will also have etched upon it the most important prayer in the Jewish religion, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." For good measure, my tombstone will carry that brief prayer in Hebrew and in English, as well as in transliteration, so that those unable to read Hebrew will be able to chant along with those who do. The questions asked about Obama
Barack Obama's speech last week addressing his 20-year relationship with his radical pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was very well done, yet unconvincing. Obama sought to explain that relationship and why he could not end this close association, despite the minister's hate-filled rhetoric. He said, "There will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Rev. Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?" Yes, those are the questions that people are asking. Torture as a counter-terrorism tool
For several years, Democrats in Congress have been denouncing the Bush administration for defending the use of torture to get information from terrorists. Then Democrats were denounced for not attempting to pass legislation barring torture and, in particular, waterboarding. Finally, both houses of Congress, having passed the controversial legislation, sent the bill to the White House for signature. President George W. Bush, true to his word, vetoed the bill on March 8. The Democratic Congress has done its job on this issue. They don't have the votes to override the veto. Their only recourse now is to make the use of torture one of the major issues in the general election in November. Surprisingly, Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee who was one of the first members of Congress to denounce the use of torture supported the President's veto. His support of the President on the legislation is in contradiction to his statement, according to The New York Times on October 27, 2007, calling waterboarding "very exquisite torture." Heretofore, McCain was unalterably opposed to torture, no ifs, ands or buts. Now that he will be the Republican candidate, he apparently has weakened in his resolve. Using Israeli militias
Hamas-governed Gaza is fighting a war of attrition against Israel. According to the New York Times of January 19th, "Hamas resumed firing Kassam rockets toward the Israeli border town of Sderot, along with other militant groups like Islamic Jihad and Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which is affiliated with Fatah. On Thursday, at least 40 rockets were launched, half of them landing in Israel, hitting two houses in Sderot and lightly wounding four Israelis, with a dozen more treated for shock. On Friday, at least 31 more rockets were fired toward Israel and 16 landed, but no one was wounded, the Israeli Army said. One rocket landed within 40 yards of a nursery school, which was open, said David Baker, an Israeli government spokesman. Since Tuesday, the army said, 130 Kassams have been launched; about half have landed in Israel and the remainder in Gaza." Pakistan a weak and unstable ally
The tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto is further proof that Pakistan is a weak reed and an unstable partner for the United States to rely on. Musharaf himself is in constant danger of assassination and has survived at least three attempts on his life by Islamic terrorists. I believe Musharaf sincerely wants to help the United States prevail against the Islamic terrorists. However, he is largely unable to pursue the terrorists who apparently are everywhere in Pakistan, including within the Pakistani army. In Pakistan today, there are those who believe it was those elements in the Pakistani armed forces that killed Benazir Bhutto. We can be sure that the kind of conspiracy theories that appeared after the assassination of President Kennedy are swirling in even larger numbers in Pakistan today. Those theories are being aided by the Pakistan government's initial refusal to allow an independent investigation of the assassination and the Pakistani government's initial accounts of how Bhutto was killed. First, the government announced that Bhutto was shot. They then changed their story to say she was not shot, but suffered a fractured skull as a result of striking her head on the car's sunroof as she dropped back into the vehicle when the shooting began, which in turn was followed by the suicide bomber and gunman blowing himself up. |
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