Wondering what the people of the middle east think about George Bush and his recent visit?

An article in the Abu Dhabi newspaper, 7Days by columnist ALI KHALED:

Now that the dust has settled on George W Bush’s trip to the Middle East, it’s worth reassessing exactly what this visit has actually achieved. Not surprisingly, Bush’s empty, embarrassing, rhetoric amounted to little more than a desperate man’s attempt at saving what will surely be viewed as a disastrous legacy in the Middle East.
Having resided over the least accountable, and quite possibly least competent, US regime in living memory, it was hugely insulting to our intelligence having to listen to Bush’s insincere words about Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq.
For eight long years, this man has stood by and watched, with utter detachment, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories deteriorate to catastrophic levels.
And now, as he prepares to exit the White House with his reputation in tatters, he is suddenly concerned about the well-being and future of the oppressed people of the Middle East. And his grand plan? Both sides should talk to each other! “To the Palestinian people, the dignity and sovereignty that is your right is within reach,” he said in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Where was this heartwarming concern in 2002 when, as Robert Fisk relayed in A-The Great War For Civilisation-, Bush demanded, yes, that’s A-demanded-, of Israel to withdraw from Jenin, while in reality he sent Colin Powell to the Middle East on a A-peace mission- that lasted an astonishing eight days. This was a convenient distraction that essentially allowed Ariel Sharon all the time he needed to complete his “latest bloody adventure in the West Bank”. (”When I say, withdraw, I mean it,” Bush had said, for all you comedy fans out there).

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Papers in the Middle East are sharply critical of Bush’s current Middle East visit, saying the United States is obsessed with Iran and that he is backpedaling on the positions he staked out at Annapolis.

United States President George W. Bush headed for Saudi Arabia on Monday, the next stop on his eight-day trip through the Middle East. So far, it has been a journey of firsts. It was the first time he visited Israel during his presidency and was the first time an American president visited Bahrain. It is likewise the first time Bush has made a trip to Saudi Arabia.

He came bearing gifts. His adminstration informed Congress on Monday that it intended to sell Saudi Arabia $20 billion worth of arms. His message, though, has focused consistently on the need for piece between Israelis and Palestinians and on the dangers posed to the region by Iran.

It was the latter message that commentators in a number of papers in the region chose to focus on.

Read what the Arab papers have to say at Der Spiegel

KUWAIT CITY (AP) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says it is unrealistic to expect a “blinding flash” of Arab support for Israel in Mideast peace process.

She’s a frickin genius, isn’t she?

In an earlier post, “Where’s bin Laden?” I wrote about the changes to the script for the film Charlie Wilson’s War, specifically, the removal of all mentions of bin Laden, al-Qaeda or 9/11. Mike Finnigan at C&L helpfully passed on a link to “Tom Hanks Tells Hollywood Whopper in ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’” by Melissa Roddy at AlterNet.

Now, via Jonathan Schwarz at A Tiny Revolution (here and here), come two good pieces on the real history behind the film Charlie Wilson’s War.

First up is Chalmers Johnson with “Imperialist Propaganda: Second Thoughts on Charlie Wilson’s War” at TomDispatch.com:
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I was wondering today when the last mideast peace conference occured. So, I looked it up. It was in 2000. We went along trying trying trying for years……. and then came George W. No attempts under Reagan’s watch, either. If you’re curious as I am……here’s the list.

Past Mideast peace conferences

Sept. 5-17, 1978

Venue: Camp David, Thurmont, Md.

Participants: President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin

Outcome: The talks yielded the Camp David Accords, which in turn led to the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty of 1979. It was the first time Israel had signed a treaty with any of its Arab neighbors.

Oct. 30 -Nov. 1, 1991

Venue: Madrid, Spain

Participants: President George H.W. Bush, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Jordanian Foreign Minister Kamel Abu Jaber, chief Palestinian delegate Haider Abdul-Shafi and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa

Outcome: The 3-day conference was the first time Israel negotiated directly with Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians about disputed land that could become part of a Palestinian nation .

September 1993

Venue: Washington

Participants: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, PLO Executive Council Member Mahmoud Abbas and President Bill Clinton

Details: Peres and Abbas signed the Oslo Accord, which created the Palestinian Authority, which in turn agreed to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Oct. 15-23, 1998

Venue: Wye River Conference Centers, Queenstown, Md.

Participants: Clinton, Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Details: Israel agrees to hand over an additional 13% of the West Bank (bringing Palestinian control to about 40%), to release Palestinian prisoners and to lift trade restrictions. Palestinians agree to arrest militants, give up some guns and annul a clause in their charter that negated Israel’s right to exist.

January 2000

Venue: Shepherdstown, W.Va.

Participants: Clinton, al-Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak

Details: The talks fail over details of an Israeli offer to withdraw from the Golan Heights.

July 11-25, 2000

Venue: Camp David

Participants: Clinton, Arafat and Barak

Details: The talks broke down as each side accused the other of not going far enough, even as each leader argued he was doing all he could. A new round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians began shortly after these talks collapsed.

United Press International

NAJAF, Iraq, Aug. 29 (UPI) — Mahdi Army forces in Iraq have been ordered to stand down by their commander, cleric Moqtada Sadr, until early next year, one of Sadr’s aides said Wednesday.

In a statement read by senior aide Sheik Hazim al-Araji, Sadr announced he has ordered a regional cease-fire until next February and will close his political offices for the next three days, The Times of London reported.

“I direct the Mahdi Army to suspend all its activities for six months until it is restructured in a way that helps honor the principles for which it is formed,” the statement read.

Sadr did not offer an explanation for enacting the ceasefire, leading to speculation his decision may have been based on an attempt to limit violence in Iraq.

The announcement comes after 52 people were killed in the Iraqi city of Karbala this week, where Mahdi Army forces clashed with Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council soldiers.

The British newspaper said Sadr’s fellow Shiite leaders have recently been vying for power in Iraq, severely disrupting the Islamic denomination’s ranks.

by Larry C Johnson
cross posted from No Quarter

America and the world are entering an extremely dangerous and volatile period and it will be up to senior U.S. military officials and members of Congress to stop the rush to a new war with Iran. The evidence is alarming and disturbing and today’s speech by President Bush before the Veteran’s of Foreign War should not be dismissed as mere political posturing. According to AFP:

US President George W. Bush branded the Islamic Republic “the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” citing its backing of Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Shiite fighters killing US troops in Iraq.

“And Iran’s active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust,” he told the American Legion veterans group.

Bush’s claims are disingenuous and dishonest.
The causus belli for the war in Bushworld consists of terrorism, attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Let me address these in order.

Terrorism

It is true that Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism. However, while Iran has American blood on its hands, Al Qaeda-a Sunni movement-not Iran has killed more Americans in terrorist attacks. Nonetheless, Iran pioneered the use of terrorism as an extension of its foreign policy towards the United States. Iran, at a minimum, had a direct role in two attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon in the 1980s, the kidnapping and murder of CIA Chief William Buckley, the kidnapping and murder of U.S. Marine Colonel Rich Higgins, the execution on board TWA 847 of U.S. Navy Diver Robert Stethem, and the bombing of the U.S. military housing complex in Dharan, Saudi Arabia in June 1996. And it paid what price? Nothing of any consequence. President Ronald Reagan, President George Bush Senior, and President Bill Clinton failed to mount a credible response to these attacks. One could argue that Iran could assume it can attack the United States without fear of retaliation.

read more HERE

The L.A. Times
Cross posted at Crooks and Liars

In the dining hall of a U.S. Army post south of Baghdad, President Bush was on the wide’screen TV, giving a speech about the war in Iraq. The soldiers didn-t look up from their chicken and mashed potatoes.

As military and political leaders prepare to deliver a progress report on the conflict to Congress next month, many soldiers are increasingly disdainful of the happy talk that they say commanders on the ground and White House officials are using in their discussions about the war.

And they-re becoming vocal about their frustration over longer deployments and a taxing mission that keeps many living in dangerous and uncomfortably austere conditions. Some say two wars are being fought here: the one the enlisted men see, and the one that senior officers and politicians want the world to see.

“I don-t see any progress. Just us getting killed,” said Spc. Yvenson Tertulien, one of those in the dining hall in Yousifiya, 10 miles south of Baghdad, as Bush’s speech aired last month. “I don-t want to be here anymore.”

Morale problems come as the Bush administration faces increasing pressure to begin a drawdown of troops.

read more HERE

By LOLITA BALDOR
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Army’s top general said Tuesday that lengthening U.S. tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan beyond the current 15 months would be too stressful and risky for troops. Gen. George Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, also said he didn’t know when officials would be able to cut the length of soldiers’ tours back to 12 months.

“I don’t see going beyond the 15 months,” Casey said. “I’ve been there in Iraq, I’ve watched the nature of the combat and the stresses and strains that it puts on these soldiers.”

He said the 90-day extension ordered by officials earlier this year can pass quickly, but staying longer would hurt troops.

“Any more than that, it puts our soldiers at a level of stress and a level of risk that right now I’m not comfortable with,” he told reporters in an appearance at the National Press Club. “So it would be very hard for me to recommend going beyond the 15 months and … we want to get down from 15 months as quickly as we can.”

In an often blunt assessment of the state of the Army, Casey acknowledged that the long and repeated battlefield tours have knocked the Army out of balance, so it can no longer provide ready forces as quickly as it should for other missions.

“We’re consumed with meeting the current demands and we’re unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as we would like for other contingencies, nor are we able to provide an acceptable tempo of deployments to sustain our soldiers and families for the long haul,” said Casey. Before taking over as chief of the Army earlier this year, Casey was the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

read more HERE

By RICHARD LARDNER and ERICA WERNER

Another “slap on the wrist” for dirty deeds done by our own side to our own soldiers. - JS

WASHINGTON - The Army censured a retired three’star general Tuesday for a “perfect storm of mistakes, misjudgments and a failure of leadership” after the 2004 friendly-fire death in Afghanistan of Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

Army Secretary Pete Geren asked a military review panel to decide whether Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who led Army special operation forces after the Sept. 11 attacks, should also have his rank reduced.

In a stinging rebuke, Geren said Kensinger “failed to provide proper leadership to the soldiers under his administrative control” when the Army Ranger and former pro football star was killed in 2004.

Geren said that while Kensinger was “guilty of deception” in misleading investigators, there was no intentional Pentagon cover-up of circumstances surrounding Tillman’s death - at first categorized by the military as being from enemy fire.

“He let his soldiers down,” Geren said at Pentagon news conference. “General Kensinger was the captain of that ship, and his ship ran aground.”

Geren said he has directed a review panel of four’star generals to decide whether Kensinger, a three’star, should have his rank reduced. If Kensinger is demoted to major general, his monthly retirement pay of $9,400 would be cut by about $900, according to Army officials.

“Had he performed his job properly, had he performed his duty, we wouldn’t be standing here today,” Geren said.

read more HERE