Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Violence in the Middle East
Even the Energy Secretary echoes ridiculous White House spin regarding the situation in Iraq, even as the situation in Iraq deteriorates to a level of violence never before seen in the three-and-a-half years of the US occupation.
Over 6,000 civilians have died in the last two months, according to the UN. Six thousand. As driftglass writes, this is not sporadic violence. This is total war.
Now might a good time to revisit the assurances of the administration that Iraq has “turned a corner,” and turned back from the “abyss.” Now might be a good time to remember Vice President Cheney’s assurance that the insurgency is in its “last throes.” How about Bill Kristol’s self-assured predictions regarding Iraq.
President Bush issued the first veto of his presidential career today, vetoing the Castle Bill to provide funding for research using embryos that would be discarded anyway. Press Secretary Snow maintained it was a moral decision. This despite the fact that a majority of US citizens support increased funding for stem cell research. Bush’s veto was defended by Karl Rove, the president’s most important domestic advisor, with a flagrant lie: there’s “more promise from adult stem cells than from embryonic stem cells.”
Israel continued its offensive in Lebanon today, targeting a food processing plant, and aid convoy, and the nations largest milk factories, adding to the emerging humanitarian crisis. About 500,000 Lebanese have been displaced, and are facing food, water, and medicine shortages. Ten of thousands of Israelis have also been displaced, according to the LA Times, but are not suffering from the same shortages. The death toll for the war now stands at about 295 Lebanese and 25 Israelis, mostly civilians.
There are concrete political consequences for supporting rampant military responses in retaliation for terrorism: Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has maintained that his government is planning a cross-border military action into Iraq to hunt down Kurdish PKK guerillas (categorized as terrorists by Europe and America). The US has warned him not to, calling such action “unwise.” Erdogan shot back, “Terrorism is terrorism everywhere," Erdogan said in Istanbul. "It is not possible to agree with a mentality that tolerates country A and displays a different attitude when it comes to country B.” He dismissed the US ambassador’s warning and hinted that his military will pursue PKK militants into Iraq pending “new developments.”