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The Arab World's Silence Has Left The Last Word To Those We Call Extremists
The Guardian (UK) ^ | 8-22-2006 | Alain Gresh

Posted on 08/21/2006 6:04:55 PM PDT by blam

The Arab world's silence has left the last word to those we call extremists

While Israel receives unanimous western support, this crisis is dragging the region ever faster into the abyss

Alain Gresh
Tuesday August 22, 2006
The Guardian (UK)

Killers slaughter dozens of civilians in Iraq every day just because they are Sunni Muslims. Suicide attacks are increasingly common in Afghanistan, where they used to be unknown. On the Gaza Strip, 1.5 million Palestinians are caught in a trap, hemmed in by the Israeli offensive and the decision by the US and the EU to freeze all direct aid. The sudden escalation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon may drag Syria and Iran into a regional conflict. And the Iran nuclear crisis remains unresolved.

Not since 1967 has the Middle East suffered so many simultaneous high-intensity crises. They are all linked by many threads, making partial solutions more difficult and dragging the region ever faster into the abyss. For many western observers there is no doubt about the culprit: Hizbullah, which aims to destroy Israel and unsettle the western camp. The analysis, predominant among politicians and the media, is close to that of the US neoconservatives: a new world war has started.

One leading US neocon ideologue, William Kristol, proudly proclaims that "it's our war," since he believes that in the face of an across-the-board attempt to destabilise the west, the Israeli government, led by Ehud Olmert, is undoubtedly "on the right side". Even as Lebanon was being bombed, the G8 issued a statement from its meeting in St Petersburg, signed by France, proclaiming Israel's "right to defend itself."

True, the initial Hizbullah attack on July 12 on an Israeli patrol led to six deaths and the capture of two soldiers. This was hardly an. . . .

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2006israelwar; arab; arabworld; call; extremists; geopolitics; last; left; silence; those; word; worlds; wot

1 posted on 08/21/2006 6:04:57 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
Even if we accept that the Hizbullah incursion was illegal, how do we regard the systematic destruction of Lebanon? Under international law such action counts as a war crime. Who could imagine that the stated objective, to rescue two soldiers, justifies the death and destruction caused by Israel's bombing? Is a Lebanese life is worth less than an Israeli life?

the question should be "is a muslim life worth less that an Israeli life.

YES!

2 posted on 08/21/2006 6:11:22 PM PDT by Ouderkirk (Don't you think it's interesting how death and destruction seems to happen wherever Muslims gather?)
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To: blam

Gee, a supposed scholarly article by a distinguised diplomat that once again, fails to mention that the Hama and Hezbollah charters call for the destruction of Israel.

What an ignorant POS.


3 posted on 08/21/2006 6:12:12 PM PDT by pissant
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To: blam
The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, hailed by political leaders and the media as a courageous act, destroyed what remained of the Oslo accords

There was also this teensy-weensy little five year campaign of suicide bombings and hundreds of Israeli dead from it, that may have had something to do with it. Just saying.

4 posted on 08/21/2006 6:15:47 PM PDT by denydenydeny
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To: blam

The title of the article makes sense, in light of the article's contents, only if you consider Israel and other stridently pro-Western survival forces to be the "extremists".


5 posted on 08/21/2006 6:28:33 PM PDT by thoughtomator (There is no "Islamofascism" - there is only Islam)
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To: blam
[ The Arab World's Silence Has Left The Last Word To Those We Call Extremists ]

Actually it proves being a muslim makes you a "time bomb"...
The proper Immam or Mullah can light the fuse..

On the otherhand some muslims are duds.. A Mosque is an ammo dump..

The ammo are muslims(that can acquire explosives) not explosives themselves...

Quite simple when you look at the Qu'ran and hadiths(source of the Qu'ran)..
Muslims are "time bombs"...

6 posted on 08/21/2006 6:35:30 PM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole.)
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To: blam

Who read this garbage? The answer lies in the comments printed with the article.


7 posted on 08/21/2006 7:15:58 PM PDT by dervish
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To: blam
Even if we accept that the Hizbullah incursion was illegal, how do we regard the systematic destruction of Lebanon? Under international law such action counts as a war crime.

I am so tired of this kind of legalism. The terrorists hide behind legalisms, just like they hide behind women and children. If the terrorists are firing rockets from Lebanon, THAT IS THE WAR CRIME, IDIOT.

8 posted on 08/21/2006 7:23:14 PM PDT by KellyAdmirer
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To: blam

Catholics used to call the most extreme among them Saints.


9 posted on 08/21/2006 9:04:04 PM PDT by Mike Darancette (This space for rent.)
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To: blam

"On May 26, Israel had a leader of the Islamic Jihad assassinated. Lebanese militants are still held in Israeli prisons."

... Er, terrorist criminal killers of women and children in terrorist attacks - 'militants' my foot.


10 posted on 08/21/2006 9:22:22 PM PDT by WOSG
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To: KellyAdmirer

"how do we regard the systematic destruction of Lebanon?"

We call that a legitimate response.


11 posted on 08/21/2006 9:22:59 PM PDT by WOSG
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