Wednesday, September 1, 2010 • Volume X, Number 2,410

Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up
 

(The tone of W.H. Auden’s famous poem marking the outbreak of World War II with Germany’s invasion of Poland, surely applies to the crisis situation concerning appeasement of a now nearly nuclear Iran—Ed.)

SEPTEMBER 1, 1939
W. H. Auden

I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.…

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.

 

Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.…

 

Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

Weekly Quotes

“I want everybody to be very clear: The United States is going to be unwavering in its support of Israel’s security and we are going to push back against these kinds of terrorist activities.… The message should go out to Hamas and everybody else who is taking credit for these heinous crimes, that this is not going to stop us from not only ensuring a secure Israel but also securing a longer-lasting peace.”—U.S. President Barack Obama, in a special announcement following a White House meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, condemning the attack which killed four Israelis near Kiryat Arba. (Jerusalem Post, September 1)

“Terror will not determine the borders of Israel or the future of settlements.”—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, responding to the terror attack which killed four Israelis near Hebron. Netanyahu has ordered Israel’s security forces to “pursue the attackers without any diplomatic restraint.” (New York Times, August 31)

“[T]onight I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.… This completes a transition to Iraqi responsibility for their own security. U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq's cities last summer, and Iraqi forces have moved into the lead with considerable skill and commitment to their fellow citizens.

“[A] transitional force of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq with a different mission: advising and assisting Iraq's security forces; supporting Iraqi troops in targeted counterterrorism missions; and protecting our civilians. Consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all U.S. troops will leave by the end of next year.…

“I'm mindful that the Iraq war has been a contentious issue at home. Here, too, it's time to turn the page. This afternoon, I spoke to former President George W. Bush. It's well-known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one can doubt President Bush's support for our troops or his love of country and commitment to our security.…

“As we speak, al Qaeda continues to plot against us, and its leadership remains anchored in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. We will disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda, while preventing Afghanistan from again serving as a base for terrorists. And because of our drawdown in Iraq, we are now able to apply the resources necessary to go on offense. In fact, over the last 19 months, nearly a dozen al Qaeda leaders—and hundreds of al Qaeda's extremist allies—have been killed or captured around the world.…

“The pace of our troop reductions [in Afghanistan] will be determined by conditions on the ground, and our support for Afghanistan will endure.”—U.S. President Barack Obama, in a televised speech from the Oval Office, announcing the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. Obama said that it was time for America to refocus its energies inward, and to “restore our economy, and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work. To strengthen our middle class, we must give all our children the education they deserve, and all our workers the skills that they need to compete in a global economy.” (CNN, September 1)

“It would be nice if President Obama could finally find it in himself to give his predecessor the credit he deserves.”—U.S. Senator John McCain, in a Wall Street Journal column, reminding President Obama that it was President G.W. Bush who supported the Iraq “Surge” in 2007, which has allowed Obama to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq. House of Representatives Republican leader John Boehner, referring to former U.S. Senator Barack Obama, commented that “[s]ome leaders who opposed, criticized and fought tooth-and-nail to stop the surge strategy now proudly claim credit for the results.… One lawmaker rejected the idea the surge would reduce violence in Iraq, saying ‘in fact, I think it will do the reverse.’” (Wall Street Journal, August 31)

“Tehran is waiting for a U.S. exit to ramp up its efforts at destabilization and reclaiming the ground it has lost in Iraq the past several years.… Our lack of strategic patience is something that, over time, our adversaries have come to count on and our allies to fear—in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.”—Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, warning about the dangers of withdrawing too quickly from Iraq, and commenting on the weakness of U.S. foreign policy. (Washington Post, August 31)

“The naval commandos arrived at the Mavi Marmara with the intent to kill.”—Israeli Arab MK Hanin Zuabi, who was on the Mavi Marmara in support of the anti-Israel flotilla, in testimony before a UN probe of the incident, claiming that IDF naval commandos were going to use lethal force from the outset. Israel has refused to recognize the UN probe, claiming it lacks neutrality. Meanwhile, IDF Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, the IDF coordinator for government activities in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, told the Israeli-sponsored independent Turkel inquiry, that “there was no justification for the flotilla, because there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.… There isn’t hunger in Gaza, now or in the past.… [The flotilla] was intended to strengthen the Hamas terror entity, and not to aid the citizens of Gaza.” (Ha’aretz, August 31)

“I…regret with every fibre of my being the loss of those who died.. Tears, though there have been many, do not encompass it.… [But] on the basis of what we do know now, I still believe that leaving Saddam in power was a bigger risk to our security than removing him and that, terrible though the aftermath was, the reality of Saddam and his sons in charge of Iraq would at least arguably be much worse. I can't regret the decision to go to war.”Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in his new memoire Journey, restating his case for going to war in Iraq, and that he has no regrets doing so, despite the loss of life that ensued. (Globe and Mail, September 1)

"I am saying that I think it is wholly unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapons capability and I think we have got to be prepared to confront them, if necessary militarily. I think there is no alternative to that if they continue to develop nuclear weapons. They need to get that message loud and clear."—Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a BBC interview, supporting, if necessary, military action against Iran to thwart its nuclear weapons program. (The Guardian, September 1)

“[Obama]’s got a very full plate of very big issues, and I think he does not want to create the impression that he’s so preoccupied with these two wars that he’s not addressing the domestic issues that are uppermost in people’s minds.… From the first, he’s been decisive and he’s been willing to make big decisions.”—U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, commenting on U.S. Pres. Barack Obama’s decision making skills and the dilemmas of leadership. (New York Times, August 29)

“There have only been a few moments when [Obama]’s tried to focus the nation’s attention on Afghanistan because, quite frankly, it’s competing with the other priorities. It’s probably one of the reasons public support has fallen, because they see the costs but they don’t know his thinking about it.”—President of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass, commenting on Pres. Obama’s flagging domestic support for the war in Afghanistan. Haass opposes the Obama administration’s policy that U.S. forces will begin to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by 2011. (New York Times, August 29)

“When President Obama was seeking the White House, he criticized Republicans for not doing enough on Darfur and insisted that he would make Sudan a priority. ‘What we have done has not been enough,’ he told me in a 2006 interview when I was guest host for a ‘Charlie Rose’ segment on Sudan. He added that Washington needed ‘a sustained diplomatic effort to put pressure on Sudan.’ Yet these days, Mr. Obama is presiding over an incoherent, contradictory and apparently failing Sudan policy. There is a growing risk that Sudan will be the site of the world’s bloodiest war in 2011, and perhaps a new round of genocide as well.… But so far [Obama] has been unengaged, and his administration has been less successful than the last Bush administration in getting Sudan to alter its behavior.… [I]n a place like Sudan, American diplomatic malpractice could lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths.”—Columnist Nicholas Kristof, criticizing the U.S. President’s inaction to prevent another war in the Sudan. (New York Times, August 29)

“I am not going to hide from you that one of those who participated in writing [Pres. Obama’s Cairo] speech transferred parts of my book ‘A New Vision for Muslims and the West,’ which he referred to U.S. interests converging with the best interests of the Muslim world.”—Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the leader of the Park51 Ground Zero Mosque initiative, in an interview with Egyptian Radio Horytna, claiming that much of Obama’s speech in Cairo was taken from Rauf’s book. Rauf specifically mentions chapter six of his book, “If you examine this chapter you will find that [Obama’s] speech to Cairo was all taken from this section.” White House staff involved in drafting Obama’s speech included speechwriter Ben Rhodes, political advisor David Axelrod, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and Rashad Hussain, a deputy associate counsel later appointed by the president as special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. (CNSNews, August 27)

“It increasingly seems as if the policy makers attending like physicians to the American economy are peering into their medical kits and coming up empty, their arsenal of pharmaceuticals largely exhausted and the few that remain deemed too experimental or laden with risky side effects. The patient—who started in critical care—was showing signs of improvement in the convalescent ward earlier this year, but has since deteriorated. The doctors cannot agree on a diagnosis, let alone administer an antidote with confidence. This is where the Great Recession has taken the world’s largest economy, to a Great Ambiguity over what lies ahead, and what can be done now.… The growing impression of a weakening economy combined with a dearth of policy options has reinvigorated concerns that the United States risks sinking into the sort of economic stagnation that captured Japan during its so-called Lost Decade in the 1990s.”New York Times economics writer Peter Goodman, analyzing the Obama administration’s lack of a firm economic policy. (New York Times, August 29)

“Lawyers for two of the three accused are asking the public to:

“1.Not to speak to the media. Refer them to the defendant’s lawyers.

“2.Not to speculate or give their opinion about the case against the defendants or the defendants themselves, even in private. It is more than likely that some people are under surveillance and anything could be used against the defendants. This is of CRITICAL importance. [The preceding two sentences were cited by the Globe and Mail, but no longer appear on the Montrealmuslims.ca forum post.—Ed.] According to defence lawyers, said [sic] can be used against the defendants. This includes conversations over the phone, email communication, Facebook postings, etc.

“3.If and when public support is needed, a support committee will be created which all will be invited to participate in.

“4.Soon there will be a letter circulated calling for the presumption of innocence and a fair and transparent process. All are asked to sign on to these letters.…

“Until the courts render a decision, Montreal Muslims upholds the principle that the accused are innocent until proven otherwise. Montreal Muslims also urges the public to not pass judgement on a community for accusations laid against individuals.”Statement on the Montrealmuslims.ca forum, imploring Canadian Muslims to close ranks and not discuss with anyone the arrest of three Muslim men for alleged terrorist activities. (Montrealmuslims.ca, September 1, Globe and Mail, August 28)

“The prophet peace be upon him said ‘every child is born with the nature of Islam, but the parents make him a Jew or a fire-worshipper or a Christian.’”Excerpts from a Montreal Muslim children’s magazine published by the family of the man who used the online name Qutz, now believed to be Ottawa terror suspect Misbahuddin Ahmed. (National Post, September 1)

Short Takes

FOUR KILLED IN HAMAS TERROR ATTACK—(Jerusalem) Four Israelis travelling by car near Hebron were murdered by Hamas terrorists. One of the four was a pregnant woman. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it a “normal reaction” to Israel’s “occupation crimes.”. The murderous attack—celebrated by crowds on Gaza’s streets—has shattered three years of relative calm in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Israel has launched an operation across the West Bank in search of the killers, and the Palestinian Authority has arrested dozens of suspected Hamas operatives in the last two weeks. (Washington Post, Jerusalem Post, August 31)

ANTISEMITIC ACTS AT LITHUANIAN, FRENCH SYNAGOGUES—(Tel Aviv) A pig’s head with a Star of David engraved on its forehead, wearing a Hasidic hat and Hasidic side-locks was discovered at the entrance to a synagogue in Kaunas, Lithuania. A Jewish community leader in Kaunas said that the act “may have been a provocation by a nationalistic organization.” Meanwhile, a synagogue in Drancy, France, received an envelope containing bullets, death threats and drawings of swastikas. (Ynet News, August 24, Jerusalem Post, August 25)

FORMER IAEA INSPECTOR: IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM “A THREAT”—(Jerusalem) Former UN chief of nuclear inspections Olli Heinonen has said that the Iranian nuclear program is a “threat”, in an interview published in Le Monde given shortly before he stepped down from his position as deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Heinonen said that Iran has enough uranium to make two bombs, but that to refine its current stockpile for only two bombs “does not make sense.” (Jerusalem Post, August 26)

ROADSIDE BOMBS KILL 14 U.S. SOLDIERS IN AFGHANISTAN—(Kabul) Five U.S. soldiers were killed when a bomb struck their vehicle on the outskirts of Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan. Another two died in a similar strike, raising the death toll to fourteen in the last three days. A Canadian soldier serving in Afghanistan died of his wounds after being evacuated to a military hospital in Germany. U.S. forces have suffered 49 casualties in August, down from 66 in July. (Globe and Mail, August 31)

CIA MAKING SECRET PAYMENTS TO KARZAI ADMINISTRATION—(Washington) According to an anonymous source, multiple members of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration are on a secret CIA payroll in order to have better access to information that would otherwise not be available to American intelligence analysts. Despite the rampant corruption in the Karzai government, the CIA continues this policy because Karzai seems unaware of the moves that members of his own government make. CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano denied the claim saying “this anonymous source appears driven by ignorance, malice, or both.” (Washington Post, August 27)

ISRAEL TRYING TO BLOCK RUSSIAN ARMS SALE TO SYRIA—(Tel Aviv) Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Russian PM Vladimir Putin to stop the sale of advanced anti-ship missiles to Syria. The P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missile is deemed to be a major danger to Israeli naval vessels. Russia and Israel have been engaged in a discreet dialogue over arms sales in the region, and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is scheduled to visit Moscow—the first ever visit by an Israeli Defense Minister to the Russian capital. Meanwhile, France has offered to sell helicopter-mounted HOT anti-tank missiles to the Lebanese army. (Ha’aretz, August 27)

BIDEN IN IRAQ—(Baghdad) U.S. Vice President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Iraq to preside over the change of command of U.S. forces remaining in Iraq, as well as to commemorate the official end of U.S. combat operations there. Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III will replace General Ray Odierno as overall commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. Biden also met with Iraqi political leaders to attempt to facilitate a compromise plan that will end the political deadlock that has prevented the formation of a coalition government since elections there in March. (New York Times, August 30)

 
On Topic
Jerusalem Post, August 4, 2010
Yaakov Katz

Israel's Deterrence Needs a Boost

Jewish Tribune, July 14, 2010
Jonathan Spyer

The Forgotten Minority

National Post, July 31, 2010
Joseph Joffe

Never Go Home

Please urge colleagues, friends and family to visit our website to receive the ISRANET Daily Briefing by email.

The ISRANET Daily Briefing is a service of CIJR. We hope that you find it useful, and that you will support it and our pro-Israel educational work by forwarding a minimum $90.00 tax-deductible contribution [please send a cheque or VISA/MasterCard information to CIJR]. All donations include a membership-subscription to our respected quarterly ISRAFAX print magazine, which will be mailed to your home.

CIJR's ISRANET attempts to convey a wide variety of opinions on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world for its readers' educational and research purposes. Reprinted articles and documents express the opinion of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Institute.

Home ISRAFAX ISRANET Daily Briefing Communiqué ISRANET Contact Us
 
© Canadian Institute for Jewish Research. For additional information, please contact our webmaster at aaron@isranet.org.