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News :: Protest Activity |
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CU stand against terror Saturday |
Current rating: 0 |
by Ricky Baldwin
Email: baldwinricky (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified!)
Phone: 328-3037 |
03 Aug 2006
Modified: 08:49:28 AM |
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This Saturday August 5 members of the local community will stand against US-backed state terror ongoing in Lebanon and elsewhere from 2-4 pm at Main and Neil in Champaign. All are welcome. |
Just as Lebanon was beginning to recover from years of war that made it an icon for destruction (and the butt of years of gallows humor, punchline: "Beirut"), the Israeli military attacked, bombing civilian targets, targetting infrastructure and now invading the South for a full-scale “sweep” a la Gaza.
Among the targets: a well-established UN outpost and a pair of Red Cross ambulances.
The tenderbox
The justification for such gross violations of international law and human morality? The foreign-backed militia group Hezbollah's capture - or "kidnapping", depending on who you listen to and exactly where they were taken - of a couple of Israeli soldiers involved in operations along the Lebanese border.
The Israeli government claims the soldiers were inside Israel when they were taken, but several accounts suggest Hezbollah may have caught them red-handed inside Southern Lebanon.
Israel only pulled its occupation forces out of Southern Lebanon a few years ago.
At any rate tens of thousands of civilians now lie dead, hundreds of thousands homeless, and a country has been plunged back into ruin, ostensibly in response for something the Israeli army does all the time in Palestinian territories.
In fact, it was US and Israeli sabre-rattling in the wake of unfavorable Palestinian elections (that is, the US and Israel didn't like the results) that produced the tenderbox we now see fully alight.
Israel began bullying the Palestinians anew as soon as they elected leaders Israel didn't like. The spark came when Hezbollah bit back. Now it's the civilians - in Lebanon and to some degree in Israel - who are paying the price for the actions of others.
Meanwhile, who benefits? Hezbollah and its leaders (increasingly popular in the Islamic world), the Israeli Right (enjoying the same in Israel) and of course the US elites, whose strategic interests in the region are served.
Off the leash
Our government’s response has not been subtle. In UN talks, the US and Britain alone have acted to block an immediate cease fire, and the US has accelerated arms shipments to Israel. What clearer signal could there be?
Our government, after all, sees Israel as its pitbull in the region. Its job is to maintain US strategic interests in the region, i.e. control of the world's oil supply. (We don't much need their oil, but much of the world does. Control of this oil is about all we have left to hold over some heads, e.g. Europe, China...) Israel, no doubt, sees itself somewhat differently but is aware of its role as an American instrument.
Bush could stop this madness with one phone call, but our government is using Israel to do “our” dirty work. In other words, these crimes are being committed indirectly in our name.
What do YOU think about that?
PROTEST!
Saturday
August 5
2-4pm
One Main (corner of Neil)
Champaign
Sponsored by the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort (AWARE).
Come and bring your own sign or borrow one of ours.
www.anti-war.net |
See also:
http://www.anti-war.net
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org
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This work is in the public domain |
