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Day: July 19, 2006

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Perspective, Political

Where are the Christians?

Pat Buchanan calls the shots in Where are the Christians? An excerpt follows:

When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unleashed his navy and air force on Lebanon, accusing that tiny nation of an “act of war,” the last pillar of Bush’s Middle East policy collapsed.

…

Let it be said: Israel has a right to defend herself, a right to counter-attack against Hezbollah and Hamas, a right to clean out bases from which Katyusha or Qassam rockets are being fired and a right to occupy land from which attacks are mounted on her people.

But what Israel is doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians, collective punishment on innocent people, to force them to do something they are powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them. Such a policy violates international law and comports neither with our values nor our interests. It is un-American and un-Christian.

But where are the Christians? Why is Pope Benedict virtually alone among Christian leaders to have spoken out against what is being done to Lebanese Christians and Muslims?

When al-Qaida captured two U.S. soldiers and barbarically butchered them, the U.S. Army did not smash power plants across the Sunni Triangle. Why then is Bush not only silent but openly supportive when Israelis do this?

Democrats attack Bush for crimes of which he is not guilty, including Haditha and Abu Ghraib. Why are they, too, silent when Israel pursues a conscious policy of collective punishment of innocent peoples?

Britain’s diplomatic goal in two world wars was to bring the naive cousins in, to “pull their chestnuts out of the fire.” Israel and her paid and pro-bono agents here appear determined to expand the Iraq war into Syria and Iran, and have America fight and finish all of Israel’s enemies.

That Tel Aviv is maneuvering us to fight its wars is understandable. That Americans are ignorant of, or complicit in this, is deplorable.

Already, Bush is ranting about Syria being behind the Hezbollah capture of the Israeli soldiers. But where is the proof?

Who is whispering in his ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a “cakewalk,” that he would be Churchill, that U.S. troops would be greeted with candy and flowers, that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace?

How much must America pay for the education of this man?

For my part too much in blood and bone. Too much in credibility. Too much in values.

Perspective

Oh no —“ Catholic Zionists

The Catholic Neocon Observer notes in A Prayer for Lebanon that:

Catholic bloggers, in addition to their expected reflexive support for Israel, seem now to be saying that the Church has adopted Premillenial Dispensationalism as official doctrine…

For those unfamiliar there’s a great wiki on Dispensationalism. It states in part:

Almost all dispensationalists reject the idea that a lasting peace can be attained by human effort in the Middle East, and believe instead that “wars and rumors of wars” (cf. Matt 24:6) will increase as the end times approach. Dispensationalist beliefs often underlie the religious and political movement of Christian Zionism.

You may also wish to cross reference the wiki on Christian Zionism which begins:

Christian Zionism is the belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is in accordance with Biblical prophecy, and is a necessary prerequisite for the return of Jesus to reign on Earth. This belief is commonly, though not exclusively, associated with evangelical Protestants around the world.

…and, I guess, neocon Roman Catholics too.

For my part, the creation of a Jewish state in the Middle East accomplished two things. It somewhat appeased the guilt feeling of the European and American governments who did very little to help the Jews who suffered and were killed under the Nazi German conquests in Europe. It also removed the human reminders of that tragedy from Europe —“ Hey, send them someplace else —“ they make me sad…

I am no advocate for the destruction of Israel. Every person deserves his place in the world. Terrorism is pure evil and no one should be subjected to it. States should do all they can, in keeping with proper doctrine and morals, to stop terrorism.

The fact remains that an earthly Jerusalem is just that —“ earthly. It matters not a bit that it was rebuilt after Rome destroyed it. It matters not a bit that the Zionists chose Palestine rather than Uganda for the Jewish state. When it is safe it is a fine tourist destination. It is not our salvation – that already happened.

We await the appearance of the new and heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem where Christ reigns for eternity. Come Lord Jesus…

Current Events, Perspective

The Iron Boot*

Max Boot, Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) published an opinion piece, Let Israel Take Off the Gloves, calling on Israel to ignite the flames of war across the Middle East.

Mr. Boot relies on the over exaggerated capabilities of the Israeli Defense Forces (i.e., the cultural myth that Israel has been victorious in various wars against impossible odds). It isn’t 1967 or 1973 any longer. The U.S. is stretched a little thin and isn’t going to be able to cover Israel’s back. We have North Korea, Kosovo, Iraq, China, our own protection here at home, and many other hot spots to worry about.

His CFR bio notes that Mr. Boot has been called one of “the 500 most influential people in the United States in the field of foreign policy” which is scary.

A much more realistic analysis appears in the UPI. See: U.S., Israel face spreading war.

The UPI states:

No one appears to want a full-scale war between states to break out in the Middle East, with the possible exception of Iran’s firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Well, no, add Mr. Boot to that list.

There are people who want this. Mr. Boot and those like him will be back home armchair quarterbacking the deaths of million —“ including our own sons and daughters, all for the greater glory of themselves.

God save us from the Max Boots of the world.

* Sadly, Mr. Boot probably uses this as his regular moniker and would probably be proud of it.

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