As’ad AbuKhalil writes:
Not only are US policies instigating civil wars in several parts of the Middle East, but the US government consistently supports the most thuggish and most brutal factions: the warlords in Somalia, the Lebanese Forces and PSP in Lebanon, the Dahlan armed gangs in Palestine, the various Sunni and Shi`ite militias in Iraq, the warlords in Afghanistan, etc. Enjoy the new Middle East.
The LA Times reports:
BAGHDAD – As tribal leaders from Iraq’s troubled Al Anbar province met last week with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, pledging their support to clean out Al Qaeda insurgents, it soon became clear that they were as good as their word.
That day, at a mosque in the town of Ramadi, armed tribesmen seized four men – two Iraqis and two non-Iraqi Arabs – whom the tribesmen believed to be Al Qaeda fighters. The men pleaded for their lives, “for the sake of Islam, and for the sake of the prophet,” according to a man who witnessed the incident during group prayers.
Their bodies were found a few hours later in a dumpster.
But if the Americans leave there’ll be rivers of blood?
Mark Ruffalo asks thugmeister George to step down because “we are not torturers.” Well, most Americans may not personally engage in torture, but the US government has a long history of doing so in their names. Why act the fool and pretend otherwise?
Lawrence of Cyberia reviews the 1992 Bijlmermeer air disaster in “Specialty Chemicals,” and offers several reasons why Americans should never forget it.
Ethnic cleansing, enabled by the U.S. government, examined by Ilan Pappe in his new book, “The ethnic cleansing of Palestine,” occurring at this very moment in Palestine.
As’ad AbuKhalil picks an old bone with The Nation:
Nir Rosen on Hizbullah (the Nation magazine refused to run the piece because it was not sufficiently pro-Israel. Yes, you may quote me on that. I know what the editor of the magazine wrote).
Steve in Beirut posted an eyewitness account of the same 22 September Victory Celebration that Nir Rosen writes about, and this is a video interview with Sonia, Hizbullah supporter, recorded by Steve following the rally.