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Obama On Israel

“Nobody’s suffering more than the Palestinian people.”
– Barack Obama in Iowa, March 11th, 2007

Last week, when Barack Obama became the first major candidate to break the silence on the situation in Gaza, he didn’t criticize Israel, whose blockade of a civilian population has been roundly condemned by human rights organizations, nor did he call for restraint from the United States’ top ally in the Mideast. Instead, he fired off a letter to U.N. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad with a resounding message—one that could have been mistaken for words straight from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) website. “The Security Council should clearly and unequivocally condemn the rocket attacks against Israel.… If it cannot…I urge you to ensure that it does not speak at all,” Obama wrote, adding he understood why Israel was “forced” to shut down Gaza’s border crossings.
Obama’s Israel Shuffle by Justin Elliot, Feburary 1st, 2008

If Obama does become the next president of the United States, we need to start demanding the “change” that his entire campaign has run on. Unilateral support of Israel will get votes, but it is not change in any shape or form.

Rendition; Justine Sharrock In Mother Jones

I watched Rendition last night and was relieved. It frays my nerves any time Hollywood does anything remotely political and timely, and I was prepared for some ham-fisted Bruce Willis politick, where the torture is ultimately justified and everyone goes home relieved, the ticking time bomb avoided. This wasn’t the case, and it was fairly entertaining to boot.

Today the March / April 2008 issue of Mother Jones arrived, and it has a very excellent feature by Justine Sharrock, titled Am I a Torturer? Sharrock follows two representative veterans who’re conflicted about their time spent in Iraq, “softening up” prisoners under the direction of their superiors. Media coverage of US-sponsored torture has slid off the radar these days, but the aftereffects are still being felt by all involved.

As of today’s date, the latest issue of Mother Jones isn’t online yet, but I encourage people to check back and hopefully they’ll post this article in its entirety.