BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

An Interview with Historian Michael Oren on the Tangled Web of US Involvement from the age of Jefferson to Today by Michael J. Totten MJT: So tell us, Michael, why does America’s involvement in the Middle East 200 years ago matter today? What does it have to do with September 11 and Iraq? Oren: Well it matters, Michael, because many of the same issues that Americans are facing today in the Middle East were confronted by America’s founding fathers – Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington. For example, they had to confront the issue of state-sponsored terrorism in the Middle East. They had to face a threat to the United States, and decide whether to generate military power and then project that power thousands of miles from the United States. They had to decide whether to involve the United States in an open-ended and rather expensive bloody war in the Middle East. This was, of course, the Barbary War, America’s first overseas military engagement and America’s longest overseas m...

By JAMES KIRCHICK When Barack Obama was running for president, he vigorously reassured voters of his firm commitment to America's special relationship with Israel. Indeed, he worked to beef up his pro-Israel bona fides long before he even announced his intention to run. In a 2006 speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Obama recounted a helicopter tour over the Israeli border with the West Bank. "I could truly see how close everything is and why peace through security is the only way for Israel," he said. In that same speech, Obama called the Jewish State "our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy." During the primary and general election campaigns, Obama dispatched a stream of high-profile Jewish supporters to canvas Florida, and in a 2008 AIPAC speech, he went so far as to declare that Jerusalem must remain the "undivided" capital of Israel. For all the qualms that anti-Obama "smears" would dep...

Pushed Saudi-funded textbook that wildly fabricates history (excerpt) by Aaron Klein The Obama administration's reported pick Charles Freeman for a top intelligence post once peddled a book to U.S. public schools that falsely claims Muslims inhabited North America far before European explorers. The book, funded by Saudi Arabia, also contains widely inaccurate anti-Israel Arab propaganda. Charles "Chas" Freeman, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War, is slated to head the National Intelligence Council, according to multiple reports. Yesterday, it came to light Freeman has financial ties to the infamous bin Laden family – including dealings he defended after Sept. 11, 2001. Freeman served as president of the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington-based Saudi backed nonprofit that received tens of thousands of dollars per year from the bin Laden family and other Saudi donors. In 2003, Freeman's council joined with California-based Arab World an...

Condi! Snap out of it! Ease the day-to-day life of the Palestinians? Did anyone take her to see any of the kassam damage, suicide bombing remains or the yeshiva shooting site? The willful ignorance here is just astounding and knows no bounds! ~~~~~~~~~ US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, arriving here on Saturday evening, described talks between Israel and the Palestinians as "pretty fruitful," and stressed that she was not bringing any bridging proposals of her own. Rice was hosted for a working supper by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. No statement was issued after the discussions. Speaking on her way to the region, Rice said, "I am not coming to insert American ideas into this process. What is useful right now is for the parties to continue what I think is a pretty fruitful discussion between them." Speaking to reporters aboard her plane, Rice said she would focus on three issues in her two-day visit to the region - easing Palestinian movement and access in the ...

FUNNY BECAUSE IT'S SOMEWHAT TRUE! I love the Onion. When I worked I would often spend my lunch hours reading the free papers around NYC and trying not to choke on a tuna sandwich from laughing. I know from writing & performing comedy that truth is the funniest material there is. Here's a couple on recent events from The Onion that are not to be missed! The Mideast Peace Talks At last week's historic Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, MD, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sat down to begin the peace process. Here is what they agreed on: Jews will have East Jerusalem from January to June and Palestinians will have it from June to December To just meet again in another seven years The Gaza Strip is the rightful land of anybody who is nuts enough to live there Each country gets a pass on one rocketing per year Matzo/falafel cross-marketing campaign could be huge To at least fight over some nicer land Leave Becky Reynolds, wh...

REUNITED... AND IT FEELS SO GOOD? TWEEDLE DEE & TWEEDLE DUM Tweedledum and Tweedledee Agreed to have a battle; For Tweedledum said Tweedledee Had spoiled his nice new rattle. Just then flew down a monstrous crow, As black as a tar-barrel; Which frightened both the heroes so, They quite forgot their quarrel. - Lewis Carroll

Two Years after I Called for a Redeployment of U.S. Forces from Iraq, Bush Refuses to Provide the American People with a Responsible Exit Strategy (one comment - when did EXIT STRATEGY = SURRENDER? It doesn't. And no right wing nutjob's semantics is going to make me believe getting our troops out in an orderly and sane manner is the same as surrender. No matter how many times they say it.) "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." - Pres. Bush, at the Athena Performing Arts Center at Greece Athena Middle and High School Tuesday, May 24, 2005 in Rochester, NY - SOURCE by Rep. John Murtha [November 17, 2007] marks the two year anniversary of my public call for the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq. Two years ago, I was convinced that the President's lack of strategy in Iraq was harming our military, our international credibility, and the strength of our...

ANNAPOLIS OVER RICE Has Condi COMPLETELY lost it? While I don't like her, I have to respect a woman with her education and position. But... how many more "difficult and painful choices" must those darn JOOOZ make? Enough is enough. Don't these guys get it? Don't answer that - I already know. It's this equation: OSLO, RINSE, REPEAT = Annapolis I haven't said too much about the Annapolis Conference because other bloggers with a bigger focus on the Middle East are doing a fine job of covering it and mostly, because I think its a damn joke. An excuse for politicos to come to D.C. and hit Potomac Mills Outlet Center probably. Otherwise, an exercise in egos & futility. No Palestinian will be happy with anything LESS than the total annhiliation of Israel and its people. A P.A. state? Are they nuts? Abbas a negotiating partner? Does he truly speak for all of Palestine? Of course NOT! Olmert, Bush, Rice, Abbas and Company are all so drunk on themselves...

HEY TOM FRIEDMAN - HAND, FOREHEAD, STAPLE! After three years, Tom Friedman finally answered the Clue Phone about the Bush Middle East policy. Or lack thereof.. Friedman's making me ill just looking at him... BLECH. And his words... oy. Why do I still read him? Well, I don't regularly but ocassionally,like a horrible accident, something catches my eye and I can't look away. Now tell me, did someone slip him the red pill?: "Can anyone look at what is happening � Palestinians, gripped by a collective madness, committing suicide, and Israelis, under a leadership completely adrift, building more settlements so fanatical Jews can live in the heart of Palestinian-populated areas � and not conclude the following: That these two nations are locked in an utterly self-destructive vicious cycle that threatens Israel's long-term viability, poisons America's image in the Middle East, undermines any hope for a Palestinian state and weakens pro-American Arab moderates. No, ...