Hedges denounces U.S. foreign policy

The U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are the "worst foreign policy blunders in American history," said Senior Fellow at the Nation Institute and keynote speaker of the annual Palestine Center Conference Chris Hedges.

Hedges added that the U.S. occupation of Iraq has created "atrocity producing situations" because of the human nature of those fighting to "lash out" when someone they fight with gets shot or killed.

Hedges said that Israel has separate national lines around the Gaza Strip in order to "create ghettos." He said that Israel is trying to drive middle-class Christians out of the West Bank.

Hedges claimed that right-wing Christians' language is "toxic." He said that if evolution and creationism are given equal time in any educational forum, "We've already lost." He stated that atheists have similar hateful language calling them "secular fundamentalists." He is concerned that this atheism rhetoric "has seeped into the universities."

Talking about America's possible future involvement in the Middle East, Hedges said "If we go to war with Iran, I will no longer pay my income taxes."

Hedges has spent over two decades as a war correspondent for organizations such as the New York Times. He has reported on American involvements in the Middle East.

Republican Jewish Coalition speaks on behalf of Israel

Radio host Dennis Praeger emceed the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Salutes GOP Governors reception atop the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis this afternoon. Governors Jon Huntsman (R-AR), Sonny Perdue (R-GA) and Linda Lingle (R-HI) along with Praeger made the case for a McCain-Palin office and why they'd serve – especially Jewish Americans – best.

The RJC favors strong support of Israel. “I don’t know if there are two nations on earth who share more than the American people, the Jewish people and the people of Israel,” Israeli ambassador to the United States Sallai Meridor said.

The major challenges facing America and Israel include Iran, terrorism and promoting peace Meridor said. As Praeger opened the program he said, “Auschwitz was not liberated by peace activists. Peaceful resistance against evil does not [work].” Praeger said the Democrats may have good intentions, but they lack the wisdom to resolve the issues of the day.

Gulf Coast governors Haley Barbour (R-MS), Charlie Crist (R-Fla.), Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Rick Perry (R-TX) and Arnold Schwarzenneger (R-CA) all were scheduled to attend prior to Hurricane Gustav, Praeger said. Republican Jewish Coalition national chairman David Flaum will still speak at the Republican National Convention on Thursday evening as planned.

U.S. should not preemptively attack Iran

U.S. should not preemptively attack Iran

At the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a discussion was held on the implications of relations between the United States and Iran. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, said that Iran must make a concession before the U.S. will negotiate them, the hostility of the region and the “clumsiness” that the problem has been handled has been a problem.

The U.S. has lived with a nuclear armed Russia, China, Pakistan, India and Israel for many years, deterrence will work with Iran as well, but preemptive war will not work, Brzezinski said. Iran is looking to build up its nuclear program to be secure in the region, but it is incorrect to say that they will use nuclear weapons to attack Israel or give them to Hezbollah, he said. The Iranian government is not very popular among the Iranian people and they will not support military action against other nations, they are only building up nuclear weapons to ensure security and safety in a volatile region, Brzezinski said.

The U.S. needs to be willing to lower sanctions on Iran, if the Iranian government promises not to use their uranium for nuclear weapons, Brzezinski said. However, the U.S. should not back down on nuclear proliferation and thereby unintentionally legitimizing the use of force to gain respect and power in the Middle East, he said.

Israel’s airstrike on Syria still creating political puzzlement

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) held a discussion on “Israel’s Airstrike on Syria’s Nuclear Reactor: Preventive War and the Nonproliferation Regime.” In September of 2007, Israel attacked what was rumored to be a partially constructed nuclear facility in Syria, and this facility has remained a subject of speculation in the months following the attack. Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, explained that there was very little information pertaining to this Syrian site immediately after the raid. Now, seven months after the fact, Kimball said U.S. intelligence believes that the site was a small nuclear facility under construction for Syrian military purposes.

David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said that Israel’s airstrike on Syria is a very strange and almost bizarre issue. Albright said that there was no doubt in his mind that a plutonium producing nuclear reactor was being constructed in Syria. He explained that there had been too much debate on whether a reactor was present and not enough discussion on whether Israel should have attacked the site in the first place. Albright also said that The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not been paying enough attention to illicit nuclear trading; evidence had been obtained showing that Syria had used a North Korean trading company in order to get ahold of the nuclear materials needed for the facility.

Avner Cohen, a senior fellow at USIP, agreed with Albright and said the situation was “quite bizarre” and caused a lot of political puzzlement. Cohen explained that this attack was similar to Israel’s attack on Iraq in 1981, but also very different. In 1981, Cohen said that Israel attacked the Iraqi-an site on their own and acknowledged, defended, and justified their actions after the fact. The 2007 attack on Syria, however, was accomplished with communication with North Korea, and was not acknowledged. Cohen explained that not only did Israel not acknowledge the attack, but Syria also said nothing and made no complaints other than an air space violation. According to Cohen, this response of a “very loud silence” is the main difference between the two Israeli-an attacks.

Leonard Spector, the deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, talked about the attacks correlation with Iran. He said that the deliberate silence following the incident does not serve as a “green light” for taking action in Iran. Spector also talked about the Six Party talks and explained that though these talks are making progress, they are still “a far way from home.” Spector said that construction of the nuclear site in Syria was under way during the Six Party talks and nuclear exports with North Korea were taking place during these talks.

White House Gaggle

Briefer: Tony Fratto,

President’s Schedule:

At 9.45 am, President Bush is briefed on the Midwest flooding situations. At 10:20 am, the President meets with the Former Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in the Oval Office of the White House. This afternoon, President Bush will make remarks in honor of Black Music Month.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto will brief the press at 12.30 pm today.

Flooding in the Midwest

Fratto was asked if they know what kind of economical impact this will have; and he said that the President will hear about this in this morning’s meeting and Fratto will get a readout from it that will give us a better view. “Obviously the human cost is something that you cannot put a value on … the impact on agriculture is also very substantial.” It has been a very well integrated effort both on federal and local levels, Fratto said.

The President is traveling to the region on Thursday but no exact itinerary has been announced yet.
When asked about the 27 levees that are said to be at risk, Fratto was questioned about the President’s confidence in the job of the Army Corps of Engineering’s. He responded that the Corps takes this very seriously and maintaining levees around the country is one of their top priorities. We will wait to see what will come out of the meeting and the Corps will report on those levees and the ones that have broken this morning.

When asked about the impact on food cost that are already high, Frattos said that food prices are very volatile and it is too early to speculate, but Ed Lazear of the White House Economical Council as well as the Department of Agriculture are looking at this right now.

Fratto was asked if the President has been told by Administrator Paulison or others, that this flooding is on the scale comparable with Hurricane Katrina, and he responded that he had not heard that comparison. “I am not sure that anyone would make those kinds of comparisons between really different kinds of natural disasters. …It is a very large significant scale affecting tens if not hundreds of thousands of people, and we’ve got life lost and money lost. He continued: “Katrina and the hurricane that followed …was one of the all time unusual natural weather events that this or any country ever had to deal with. This flooding is significant and has been referred to as one in 500-year-flood.” Fratto also said; “I think that the team that is involved in this, clearly learned lots of lessons from Katrina, and I think that those lessons appear to be paying off.”

Furthermore, Fratto talked about the importance of communication, integration and being able to anticipate what the needs are going to be, in dealing any kind of natural disaster.


Israel and Hamas
When asked about a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, Fratto said that he had not heard that.