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08-07-2006, 10:15 PM
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Noam Chomsky on the Lebanon War
Noam Chomsky is the world's leading linguist. He's also probably our top Mideast scholar. Chomsky's grasp of Mideast history, the conflict and the issues is as close to encyclopedic as I've seen.
This is why you never see him on US TV talk shows. They've banned Chomsky from US television because he's too smart. He would make every one of the FOX, CNN, MSNBC etc pundits and so called experts look foolish. Moreover, he can't be controlled. He talks truth and this is why the Zionists despise him. Noam Chomsky on Israel, Lebanon and Palestine By Kaveh Afrasiabi of Global Interfaith Peace http://informationclearinghouse.info/article14404.htm 08/07/06 Do you agree with the argument that Israel's military offensive in Lebanon is "legally and morally justified?" Noam Chomsky: The invasion itself is a serious breach of international law, and major war crimes are being committed as it proceeds. There is no legal justification. The "moral justification" is supposed to be that capturing soldiers in a cross-border raid, and killing others, is an outrageous crime. We know, for certain, that Israel, the United States and other Western governments, as well as the mainstream of articulate Western opinion, do not believe a word of that. Sufficient evidence is their tolerance for many years of US-backed Israeli crimes in Lebanon, including four invasions before this one, occupation in violation of Security Council orders for 22 years, and regular killings and abductions. To mention just one question that every journal should be answering: When did Nasrallah assume a leadership role? Answer: When the Rabin government escalated its crimes in Lebanon, murdering Sheikh Abbas Mussawi and his wife and child with missiles fired from a US helicopter. Nasrallah was chosen as his successor. Only one of innumerable cases. There is, after all, a good reason why last February, 70% of Lebanese called for the capture of Israeli soldiers for prisoner exchange. The conclusion is underscored, dramatically, by the current upsurge of violence, which began after the capture of Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 25. Every published Western "timeline" takes that as the opening event. Yet the day before, Israeli forces kidnapped two Gaza civilians, a doctor and his brother, and sent them to the Israeli prison system where they can join innumerable other Palestinians, many held without charges -- hence kidnapped. Kidnapping of civilians is a far worse crime than capture of soldiers. The Western response was quite revealing: a few casual comments, otherwise silence. The major media did not even bother reporting it. That fact alone demonstrates, with brutal clarity, that there is no moral justification for the sharp escalation of attacks in Gaza or the destruction of Lebanon, and that the Western show of outrage about kidnapping is cynical fraud. Much has been said about Israel's right to defend itself from its enemies who are taking advantage of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, thus causing the latest chapter in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Do you agree? NC: Israel certainly has a right to defend itself, but no state has the right to "defend" occupied territories. When the World Court condemned Israel's "separation wall," even a US Justice, Judge Buergenthal, declared that any part of it built to defend Israeli settlements is "ipso facto in violation of international humanitarian law," because the settlements themselves are illegal. The withdrawal of a few thousand illegal settlers from Gaza was publicly announced as a West Bank expansion plan. It has now been formalized by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, with the support of Washington, as a program of annexation of valuable occupied lands and major resources (particularly water) and cantonization of the remaining territories, virtually separated from one another and from whatever pitiful piece of Jerusalem will be granted to Palestinians. All are to be imprisoned, since Israel is to take over the Jordan valley. Gaza, too, remains imprisoned and Israel carries out attacks there at will. Gaza and the West Bank are recognized to be a unit, by the United States and Israel as well. Therefore, Israel still occupies Gaza, and cannot claim self-defense in territories it occupies in either of the two parts of Palestine. It is Israel and the United States that are radically violating international law. They are now seeking to consummate long-standing plans to eliminate Palestinian national rights for good. The United States has refused to call for an immediate cease-fire, arguing that this would mean a return to the status quo ante, yet we are witnessing a "back to the past" re-occupation of parts of Lebanon, and Lebanon's rapid decline to political chaos by the current conflict. Is the US policy correct? NC: It is correct from the point of view of those who want to ensure that Israel, by now virtually an offshore US military base and high-tech center, dominates the region, without any challenge to its rule as it proceeds to destroy Palestine. And there are side advantages, such as eliminating any Lebanese-based deterrent if US-Israel decide to attack Iran. They may also hope to set up a client regime in Lebanon of the kind that Ariel Sharon sought to create when he invaded Lebanon in 1982, destroying much of the country and killing some 15-20,000 people. What will be the likely outcome of this "two-pronged" crisis in Lebanon and the occupied territories, in the near and long-term? NC: We cannot predict much. There are too many uncertainties. One very likely consequence, as the United States and Israel surely anticipated, is a significant increase in jihadi-style terrorism as anger and hatred directed against the United States, Israel, and Britain sweep the Arab and Muslim worlds. Another is that Nasrallah, whether he survives or is killed, will become an even more important symbol of resistance to US-Israeli aggression. Hezbollah already has a phenomenal 87% support in Lebanon itself, and its resistance has energized popular opinion to such an extent that even the oldest and closest US allies have been compelled to say that "If the peace option is rejected due to the Israeli arrogance, then only the war option remains, and no one knows the repercussions befalling the region, including wars and conflict that will spare no one, including those whose military power is now tempting them to play with fire." That's from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who knows better than to condemn the United States directly. What steps do you recommend for the current hostilities to be brought to an end and a lasting peace established? NC: The basic steps are well understood: a cease-fire and exchange of prisoners; withdrawal of occupying forces; continuation of the "national dialogue" within Lebanon; and acceptance of the very broad international consensus on a two-state settlement for Israel-Palestine, which has been unilaterally blocked by the United States and Israel for thirty years. There is, as always, much more to say, but those are the essentials. Noam Chomsky is Professor of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is the author of numerous books, and his latest is Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy (2006). Kaveh Afrasiabi is the founder and director of Global Interfaith Peace, and a former political science professor at Tehran University. He is the author of After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press). |
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08-08-2006, 12:24 AM
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#2 |
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Mo' holla fo' yo' dolla!
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Excellent stuff, Mark.
 Keep bringing it - don't let the wingnuts get you down. |
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08-08-2006, 05:51 AM
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Wow ... this quote: "no state has the right to "defend" occupied territories," really resonates with me.
I just started "Rogue State" by William Blum. What a head-spnner regarding what the United States does with its power. I can tell you this: "Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy" by Chomsky is next. (Although "Manufacturing Consent" was a BEAR to read ....) |
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08-08-2006, 08:54 AM
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GIVE ME SOME MORE ORANGE
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Noam Chomsky to smart for Fox news? Ummm, riiight.
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08-08-2006, 10:13 AM
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Quote:
"top Mideast scholar"? Also nah. "agitprop-ist for the Left"? Definitely, yeah! |
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08-08-2006, 10:32 AM
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#6 |
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Is this the same Noan Chomsky who has for 30+ years written about how bad capitalism and the Unites States are and believes socialism is the best way to go, yet he never goes and lives in any socialist country and stays in the U.S.? Maybe he enjoys being unhappy living in such a bad country? If this guy really believed what he wrote, he would be living in Cuba or some other socialist country by now. He won't though because the guy is a coward and it's safer to throw stones in this country than in those countries run by dictators, that he hypocritically believes is a better system. That Noam Chomsky? Sorry if I'm not impressed or interested in what that hypocrite has to say about anything. He's a coward, plain and simple amd has been propped up by academia since they share his idiot beliefs.
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08-08-2006, 11:29 AM
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Quote:
 . Chomsky is the guy who still supports the Pol Pot genocide (2-3 million dead in the Killing Fields) in Cambodia and thinks that the North Vietnamese didn't do any mean stuff after they took over South Vietnam. He is pretty sure that Stalin and Mao were just misunderstood and got a lot of bad press.For anyone with any doubt, I suggest a book called The Chomsky Reader. His record of deliberate dishonesty is stunning. I never thought much of the guy but when his record is laid out in black and white, it is clear he is one of the biggest intellectual frauds in history. I'm pleased he is so clear on the mideast. Usually, you can figure out what's right by finding out what Chomsky says and then doing the exact opposite. It's a good ethical rule of thumb that is almost never wrong. This article gives me a little more confidence I'm on the right track on the current to-do in Lebanon. That said, he's a terrific writer. He has made a career out of convincingly arguing that black is white and wrong is right. |
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08-08-2006, 03:58 PM
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#8 | |
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Mo' holla fo' yo' dolla!
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Quote:
Not surprisingly, the usual cast of right-wingnuts fails to take on a single point Chomsky made in the interview Mark posted - opting instead for the usual attack on the messenger. |
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08-08-2006, 06:43 PM
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08-08-2006, 09:17 PM
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#10 |
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I was going to say that's mighty rich for a leftist to spout complaints of attacking the messenger and not the message.
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08-09-2006, 12:32 AM
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#11 | |
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Mo' holla fo' yo' dolla!
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08-09-2006, 02:59 AM
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Quote:
Maybe you mean THIS one?:
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08-09-2006, 03:07 AM
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I am interested .... for two reasons,
ONE: His quote about having "no right to 'defend' occupied territories" resonates with me. TWO: He was a 1-on-1 guest on my favorite show, Real Time with Bill Maher. When the panelists came out, one of them tore into Chomsky as a fraud. I'm not sure where I stand on this guy, but my mind is open. One thing I learned long ago is that 'truth' and 'untruth' are not as easily discerned as we were taught they were back when (I) attended a whitebread Catholic elementary school in Westminster CO where I obediently attended mass and then recited the pledge of allegiance every morning. You guys wanna REALLY turn your heads around? I'm reading this one now, (after Osama's excellent review, remember?), and so far I'm re-thinking a great many things.
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08-09-2006, 05:48 AM
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My guess is could start with your posts, but I know, for the typical lefty thinkers and snobs, personal attacks are only ok when you do it.
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08-09-2006, 05:53 AM
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#15 | |
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Mo' holla fo' yo' dolla!
Join Date: Dec 2002
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08-09-2006, 06:01 AM
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#16 |
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Mo' holla fo' yo' dolla!
Join Date: Dec 2002
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