A New Middle East?

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice used what a polite observer might call a malapropism in describing the carnage in Lebanon as the "birth pangs of a new Middle East." More like a bang I'd say. Ms. Rice is unmarried and presumably childless. As with the delivery room, she also wasn't speaking while Israeli bombs fell about her. If the same expression had been used by Bush some commentators would have called the analogy sexist. But I'll give her some rope, at least enough for a noose. Perhaps we are awaiting the birth of Rosemary's baby: a monster.

So, while we ponder this deliverance let's consider the old Middle East. Taken over by imperialistic European powers, basically France and Britain, who saw to it that compliant, puppet governments were installed and who acted through those marionettes to keep the populations repressed, or at least tame, carving up artificial countries and mixing ethnicities willy-nilly. Lebanon itself was carved out of the French mandate of Syria specifically to have a Christian population and president. So it's kind of odd to hear people decrying Syria's involvement in what was once part of Syria.

After the big one, WW II, came the new big boy on the block and since that time that oil rich region has been considered a "vital national security interest" of the United States. To counter Soviet influence, to beat down independent nationalistic movements, to keep the spigots flowing, the US helped to overthrow independence-minded regimes -- such as the democratically elected Mossadegh government in Iran -- and to put in place brutally repressive regimes such as Iran's Shah. In the midst of this Israel was founded as an explicit religious, racialist country. It pushed the Palestinians out of their homes to make way for this Jewish state and its expansionist policy has continued for nearly a half-century seizing ever more Palestinian lands. Along the way Israel wrote laws that kept Palestinians away from their homes and allowed the Israeli government to grab them because of abandonment. Neat trick, huh?

Israel started aggressive wars against neighboring Arab states and continues to hold their territory such as the Golan Heights from Syria (which contains the headwaters of the Jordan river) and the Shebaa farms area of Lebanon (I heard an Israeli on the radio say Shebaa actually belongs to Syria, not Lebanon. This thief remembers his victims!) In fact, if you go back and read contemporaneous news reports of the Hezbollah capture of those two Israeli soldiers, the accounts state that the events occurred inside Lebanon and was the result of an Israeli border excursion! Whatever the "truth" current conventional wisdom is that this particular Israeli war was in the works for over a year and Hezbollah merely provided the pretext.

The source of MidEast turmoil has been the heavy-handed exploitation of the region by the Western powers, their support for anti-democratic, oppressive regimes, and the Israelis' murderously harsh treatment of Palestinians and neighboring Arab states, all done with Western aid and collusion (propaganda, diplomacy, UN vetoes, money, arms, etc.). One might think for a "new" Middle East to be born the US would first have to stop meddling in those peoples' affairs.

Israel intends to decimate Hezbollah. It is not paranoia to think that the US, British and Israeli "deciders" are and have been working together these past few years in a coordinated plan to transform the area from the Mediterranean to the Pakistani border. (For the Israeli lobby freaks, this morning Stanley Fischer was on the news speaking about the Lebanese war's likely effects on the Israeli economy. Mr. Fischer is an American citizen, an economist, once an official of the World Bank, the IMF, Citigroup, US government adviser to Israel. He's also an Israeli citizen and is now Governor of the Bank of Israel.) Iraq and Lebanon are being served up now (the Palestinians are always on the menu) with Syria and Iran as the next course. Israel has been trying to secure its home base for 48 years yet remains unsuccessful. We had our Man in Iran -the Shah- which the Iranians overthrew 27 years ago. Now we complain about the Mullahs. If we really wanted a region populated with friendly, cooperative governments and peoples we would have acted almost the opposite. Some might think we'd have some brains and learn. "Don't take me long to look at a horseshoe!" said the blacksmith as he stared at his burnt fingers.

But now we are committed to creating a new Middle East. We'll call this the spreading of democracy. It might cost a few thousand lives, or a few hundred thousands the way Iraq is going, or a few million if we nuke Iran. The US is recycling its counterinsurgency doctrine from VietNam, which itself grew out of popular resistance movements in WW II. It was easy to ally with the Viet Minh when we were all fighting the Japanese invaders but how many Frenchmen do you suppose realized that once that was done they would then turn against the French as just another foreign invader? One premise of counterinsurgency doctrine supposedly is to win hearts and minds. The US pushed the Israelis to allow the Palestinians to hold elections and they elected Hamas. Immediately thereafter we pulled the plug and plugged up their money and have left them to starve and rot, unless the bombs and missiles kill them first. Elected Hamas representatives now sit in Israeli jails as kidnapped hostages. It is obvious that what Bush and Blair and Olmert think of as democracy is not what most of the world thinks of as democracy.

The Virgin Rice's "new" Middle East looks to me a lot like the "old" Middle East, just a bit more brutal and dangerous. Today's events are tomorrow's history and to use an ancient historical expression (attributed both to Seneca and Plutarch): let's call a spade a spade. The next time you see Bush or Rice or Olmert etc. on the news consider this: are these the faces and voices of mass murderers? Will true freedom and liberty and democracy and the rule of law come soon enough for these persons to be called to account within their natural lifespans?