Middle East & North Africa Archives - Page 246 of 633

Repudiate the Carter Doctrine

by John Feffer, Michael Klare | Jan 23, 2009

Twenty-nine years ago, President Jimmy Carter adopted the radical and dangerous policy of using military force to ensure U.S. access to Middle Eastern oil. "Let our position be absolutely he clear," he said in his State of the Union address on January 23, 1980. "An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region [and thereby endanger the flow of oil] will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force."

Chomsky: Undermining Gaza

by Sameer Dossani, Emily Schwartz Greco | Jan 16, 2009

Noam Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert. Sameer Dossani interviewed him about the conflict between Israel and Gaza. This is the first of two interviews between Chomsky and Dossani.

Poem: ‘In Gaza’

by Michael Rosen, Melissa Tuckey | Jan 16, 2009

In Gaza, children,
you learn that the sky kills
and that houses hurt.
You learn that your blanket is smoke
and breakfast is dirt.

Poem: ‘Scarecrow’

by Fady Joudah, Melissa Tuckey | Jan 16, 2009

The rice field birds are too clever for scarecrows,
They know what they love, milk in the grain.

Israel and the United States: Up In Arms

by Frida Berrigan, John Feffer | Jan 14, 2009

In answering questions before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton acknowledged what she called the “tragic humanitarian costs of conflict in the Middle East, and the pain and suffering of Palestinian and Israeli civilians." She continued by saying that "we cannot give up on peace."

Obama and Israel

by John Feffer, Ian Williams | Jan 9, 2009

On January 5 John Bolton, the former unconfirmed U.S. envoy to the United Nations, advocated in The Washington Post a "three-state solution" to the Palestinian problem. This "solution" involved returning Gaza to Egypt and the West Bank to Jordan because the Palestinian state has manifestly failed.

Israel: Mini-Me?

by John Feffer | Jan 6, 2009

There is a deep affinity between the United States and Israel. I’m not talking about the Israel Lobby, which concentrates its influence in Washington. Or the connections between neoconservatives and the Israeli right wing. Or the rhapsodizing of fundamentalist Christians, who embrace Israel as part of their scenario for the Apocalypse.

Obama: Listen to Iraqi Opinion

by Erik Leaver, Eric Stoner | Jan 5, 2009

In discussing his plans for the Iraq War during the presidential campaign, one group that Barack Obama seldom, if ever, mentioned as supporting his proposed policy was the Iraqi people.

Gaza Attacks: Murder with Impunity

by John Feffer, Mustafa Qadri | Dec 30, 2008

It was about midnight last Sunday when my phone rang. “I’m not sure I will survive tonight, the Israelis are bombing us everywhere.” It was Mahmoud, a young resident of Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt. We first met when I visited the troubled coastal territory after Israel dismantled its settlements there in September 2005. On December 27, just before midday, Israel’s powerful air force, the fourth largest in the world, commenced a deadly air assault on over 40 separate locations in the Gaza Strip. The strikes were as calculated as they were cold – the targets were almost entirely people and facilities vital to the Hamas government. In one of the areas hit, where police officers had gathered for a parade, body parts were strewn along a courtyard.

Feinstein: Bad Choice for Intelligence

by John Feffer, Stephen Zunes | Dec 23, 2008

Ignoring the pleas of those calling for a more credible figure, Senate Democrats have instead chosen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to lead the Senate Committee on Intelligence. Feinstein was among those who falsely claimed in 2002 — despite the lack of any apparent credible evidence — that Saddam Hussein had somehow reconstituted Iraq’s arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, as well as its nuclear weapons program.