A Note From Ireland
--April 20th, 2008--
The item below was written in Dingle, Ireland a few days after the September 11th, 2001 attacks upon New York and Washington. It was originally entitled “The Proclamation of Dingle”. Later, I incorporated it into my book The Unauthorized World Situation Report (2005) where it stands on its own as chapter XI, with the less grandiose title, “A Note from Ireland”.
All I have done below is some minor editing and added a few links, which make it more interesting, especially the first link regarding the trip through the Ballaghbeama Pass. The U-tube video provides an idea of the surreal desolation and isolation in which I was immersed most of the day, until I walked into a tavern in Glencar in the late afternoon, six hours ahead of New York time. The television was showing reruns of the Twin Towers collapsing and of the ensuing chaos in lower Manhattan. I drank Guinness like water.
Later that evening I arrived in Dingle. I wrote the “Proclamation of Dingle” in Walker's, a ramshackle bar not for tourists, and in my room at the Benner's hotel. It was at this time in the pages of The Independent that I first came across the writings of Middle East expert, Robert Fisk, an Englishman. He wrote a very powerful piece on September 12th in the Irish Independent, entitled “The wickedness and awesome cruelty of a crushed and humiliated people”, which confirmed and informed my own outlook.
Some six months later I came upon an article in the Sunday Observer (London) entitled “Bombing Saddam is ignorance” about ex-CIA agent Robert Baer who worked in the Directorate of Operations for 25 years, mostly in the Middle East. A side remark of Baer's was a kind of vindication. From the article: “After a quarter of century abroad, Baer hardly recognises the States and is appalled at the level of public ignorance. ‘There is no debate,’ he says. ‘People will not address the question of Palestine in the context of the World Trade Centre attacks. It's not in the terms of the discussion. They simply believe that Israel has the right to defend its democracy like the US does. They don't understand that Israel gives no democratic rights to the Palestinians whatsoever. They don't see that it's not a democracy.’”
At the moment (April 20th) we are in the midst of the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign. There is talk about Iraq, but little examination of what propelled Washington into that war in the first place. There is superficial talk about terrorism, mostly as it relates to Iraq, but no examination of the meaning of the 9/11 attacks. There is no talk about the Palestinians per se. The conflict in Palestine is almost a non-subject. At any rate, very much a side issue.
Unless and until America comes to grips with why New York and Washington were attacked on September 11th, 2001, and understands what motivated the terrorist attackers, and how this country was, as a consequence, railroaded into invading Iraq based upon a pack of lies, there will be scant hope of Americans regaining control of their own country and their own fate.
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A Note From Ireland
September 14th, 2001
--Walker’s, Main Street, Dingle, Ireland--
Lost in the interior of the Iveragh Peninsula, County Kerry, en route to Dingle from Kenmare, via the Ballaghbeama Pass. SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2001. Cut off from the world and the news. Not a soul in sight. No radio in the car. Looking back at recent history, something awful was bound to happen, that’s true. I was aware of this. Still at first, upon entering the tavern at the edge of the forest in Glencar in the late afternoon, it sounded like an outlandish barroom joke. No one could have imagined destruction on such a scale, so stupendous and monumental.
Well, are you quite satisfied now, gentlemen? We should take solace in any way possible, but what, may I ask, is the point of singing “God Bless America” now? The damage has been done, and it is irreparable. The horses are out of the barn, and down the road. The peace of the West has been shattered, lower Manhattan lies in ruins, and New York will never be the same.
Under such circumstances, isn’t it high time for a little honesty and some sober self-examination for a change? Are America’s leaders, both Republicans and Democrats, ready to examine their own actions and address their own responsibility for this colossal tragedy? Are they up to it? If they continue to act bewildered, surprised and clueless, they are not. Of this particular matter, they know what happened and, more importantly, why it happened--even if they will not admit it to themselves, much less to their constituents.
Like the "surprise" attack upon Pearl Harbor, the September 11th attacks upon Manhattan and the Pentagon represent an oceanic failure of U.S. foreign policy. Like with Pearl Harbor, America has just paid a horrific price for the folly of the reigning Washington establishment. It was their foreign policy--I repeat, their foreign policy, characterized by a double standard and routine effrontery in the Middle East--which has spread indignation and disgust with America throughout the Arab and Moslem world, where the the policies of Washington and Tel Aviv are viewed as one. How on earth could an alliance grounded in such incendiary policies be in the best interests of the United States or the interests of humanity at large?
A veritable breeding ground of Islamic zealots, with more than a few devout, homicidal maniacs--rising up to oppose the equally irrational fanaticism of Zion--has been created by Washington’s indulgent, one-sided, subservient, and downright stupid conduct. The entire world, East and West, is now forced to live with the ugly consequences that will stretch far out into the future, perhaps for the rest of our lives. Was it necessary? Do we need this?
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As in all human affairs, the purpose of a nation’s diplomacy and its foreign policy is to make friends and influence people--not to create enemies and engender hatred. There is nothing obscure, nothing mysterious about it, or difficult to understand. The primary duty, the most important obligation of America’s leaders--as trustees for the nation and all of its people--is to keep the country out of harm’s way, not lead it down a path to danger. That should be number one, above everything else, and certainly above politics--be it Left, Right or Center.
Instead, America’s leaders have opted for the path of least resistance and for their own personal aggrandizement in the world of politics. Pragmatically, and very deliberately, they have chosen to ingratiate themselves with a powerful special interest group with a private agenda. How? By having the United States pursue a one-sided, cynical foreign policy in the Middle East which backed a militant, expansionist Zionism over human rights, a “Greater Israel” instead of a just and comprehensive peace with the dispossessed Palestinians. It is this overall policy--in place for decades--which has placed all Americans at risk and in danger. That is a dereliction of duty and an unmitigated outrage.
Thanks to its politicians, America has forged a new enemy. We now face a new crusade, caught in the crossfire of a vicious blood feud in a dusty, distant land. All because it was never enough for Tel Aviv, its cheerleaders, and its drum beaters in Washington. At least not yet. Tel Aviv and its world-wide contingent of dedicated, blinkered acolytes had to have more, always more--and then some. They had to conquer and colonize the rest of Palestine, in addition to what had already be taken by force and chicanery dating back to 1917, the year of the bizarre Balfour Declaration, which document was issued by the British War Cabinet in the closing months of World War I.
And the American government had to be enlisted in this dishonest enterprise--thereby making every victim of Zionism the automatic, sworn enemy of America. This is the long-range, single-minded obsession by the Zionists and their enablers which has now blown up in our face. “Facts on the ground” in Palestine have taken on a whole new meaning in view of the facts on the streets of New York. Ask the firefighters picking through the mountains of rubble in lower Manhattan.
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Expect trouble, and nothing but trouble, when people feel entitled to that which does not belong to them and who, in turn, have convinced others of the same falsehood. A million more Ashkenazim from Russia on their way to Tel Aviv? No problem. A return of Palestinian refugees to their homes and homeland in Palestine? Certainly not! With carte blanche American support, the interlopers from Russia, Poland, Europe and America have had an unbridled field day in the Holy Land. An experiment in colonialism and naked neocolonialism has gone horribly wrong. Now come the dreadful consequences.
Let’s point out what is obvious: the Zionists were too self-absorbed and too drunk with power to share Palestine and Jerusalem with the people already there, namely, the Palestinians. No, they want it all for themselves, the Palestinians be damned. They were determined to use America--just like they had used the hapless and cynical British--to get it all. England had done its part in the scheme from 1917 to 1948, but England had outlived its usefulness and was no longer a factor. So the British were discarded. With Europe squashed by World War II and with England bankrupt, it was Washington's turn to get out in front and lead the way.
At that point and from then on, the Washington establishment said, in effect, fine, go ahead...take Palestine. Don’t bother us with the details. It’s not necessary. We are not really interested. Whatever you do is okay by us. We’ll keep the military and economic aid packages flowing in the pipeline. Don’t worry about that. And many thanks, as always, for your generous campaign contributions. We look forward to your continuing support. It has been a cozy mutual admiration society, an unholy alliance of money, votes, bombs and bullets for decades.
And with what result? Innocent civilians throughout the region--most especially in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq--have been hammered, and hammered hard. Over the years they have paid a staggering price in death, trauma and mayhem. Meanwhile, American politicos sat on their hands and pretended everything was fine and dandy. Of late, contemptuous and ignorant Arab-bashing commentators have been treated with reverence. Those who questioned the nonsense were smeared, marginalized and effectively silenced. Now the inevitable repercussions have come home to America. We are reaping the whirlwind from hell. It is a huge political scandal, one which no amount of rhetoric and flag-waving can expunge or disguise.
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Let’s call a spade a spade: it is the office holders in Washington, the influence peddlers in Washington, and the diplomats from Washington who have brought this atrocity down upon themselves, down upon New York, down upon the Pentagon, down upon the hijacked airline passengers, and down upon the rest of us--the innocent bystanders who are going to have to live with the consequences. In brief, this nightmare was avoidable and largely self-inflicted.
Are we on the verge of yet another world war? The question remains exactly the same today as it was back in 1953 when Dr. Alfred Lilienthal, warned us of the inherent injustice to the Palestinians and of the dangers of Zionism to the world at large and to the Jews themselves in his ground-breaking book, What Price Israel? (1953). More recently (1995), there is former Illinois Congressman Paul Findley’s Deliberate Deceptions, Facing the Facts about the U.S.-Israeli Relationship. There have been other clear warnings, equally ignored and ridiculed.
Are we forever bound hand and foot to the chariot of Zion? May I be so bold to ask why? To enforce the status quo of military occupation? Is that what it comes down to? For the sake of humanity, rein in this madness, before it’s too late. At present, America is saddled not just with Israel--our so-called “ally” who is nothing of the sort--but with all of that errant entity’s many extreme and redoubtable enemies, to boot. The worst of both worlds.
Will a solitary brave soul in the U.S. Congress or in the Senate please stand up and tell the truth? Most unlikely. Opportunism, evasion and hypocrisy are the order of the day. The Congress and the Senate are benighted, suborned, and in denial. The honorable members lack backbone, not to mention wisdom, and are poleaxed/paralyzed with the fear that they might lose an election. For the vast majority, that is their ultimate concern: the next election, the money, the votes. They and the Israel-can-do-no-wrong lobby, U.S. branch, have made a monkey out of Uncle Sam.
And no one has any idea--I mean no idea whatsoever--when or where it will all end. Further disasters appear almost certain. The conflict in the Middle East, which Washington has nurtured and enflamed by its misguided policies at the behest of Tel Aviv, is a work-in-progress. There is no endgame. All bets are off. We are flying blind.
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And let me hasten to make the point, in case you missed it, that all of this mess was entirely, absolutely avoidable. That’s the rub. It is as simple as A, B and C. America’s military response to September 11th will be C. The September 11th atrocity itself is B. Washington’s counter-productive and amoral policies in the Middle East spanning decades is A. Like the recoil from a machine-gun, B and C follow from A. Without A, there would be no B and C. The responsibility for and consequences from A cannot be negated, relinquished, avoided or wished away by simply deploring and condemning B, and then launching C. Item A has to be acknowledged and dealt with first. There has to be some recognition and appreciation of cause and effect.
Terrorism? You want to fight terrorism, gentlemen? Honestly and for real? Fine. Then let’s go ahead and do that by all means at our disposal. But please be advised that you cannot be serious about fighting terrorism, without removing the hatred and the resentment which causes it, and you cannot begin to do that without a comprehensive review and reevaluation of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. This problem is not a question of Right v. Left or Conservative v. Liberal. The West no longer has the luxury of such theories, pointless talk, and academic diversions.
The issue at hand is right versus wrong, and saving the planet. Period. Nothing less. No more nonsense. For those in power in Washington, what would be most desirable is a return to basic principles. This would mean the resurrection of an independent, honorable, benevolent and a noninterventionist foreign policy, as set forth by George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson two centuries ago. Is that too much to ask? Perhaps it is. God bless America, indeed.
Walker's, Dingle, "Next Parish, America"