What do you think?

Do you know that Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing in southern Lebanon?Israel has ordered all the villagers to clear out. Israel then destroys theirhomes and murders the fleeing villagers. That way there is no one to come backand nothing to which to return, making it easier for Israel to grab theterritory, just as Israel has been stealing Palestine from the Palestinians.
.
Do you know that one-third of the Lebanese civilians murdered by Israel’sattacks on civilian residential districts are children? That is the report fromJan Egeland, the emergency relief coordinator for the UN. He says it isimpossible for help to reach the wounded and those buried in rubble, becauseIsraeli air strikes have blown up all the bridges and roads. Considering howoften (almost always) Israel misses Hizbollah targets and hits civilian ones,one might think that Israeli fire is being guided by US satellites and USmilitary GPS. Don’t be surprised at US complicity. Why would the puppet be anyless evil than the puppet master?
.
Of course, you don’t know these things, because the US print and TV media do notreport them.

Because Bush is so proud of himself, you do know that he has blocked everyeffort to stop the Israeli slaughter of Lebanese civilians. Bush has told theUN “NO.” Bush has told the European Community “NO.” Bush has told thepro-American Lebanese prime minister “NO.” Twice. Bush is very proud of hisfirmness. He is enjoying Israel’s rampage and wishes he could do the same thing in Iraq.
.
Does it make you a Proud American that “your” president gave Israel the greenlight to drop bombs on convoys of villagers fleeing from Israeli shelling, onresidential neighborhoods in the capital of Beirut and throughout Lebanon, onhospitals, on power plants, on food production and storage, on ports, oncivilian airports, on bridges, on roads, on every piece of infrastructure onwhich civilized life depends? Are you a Proud American? Or are you an Israeli puppet?
.
On July 20, “your” House of Representatives voted 410-8 in favor of Israel’smassive war crimes in Lebanon. Not content with making every American complicitin war crimes, “your” House of Representatives, according to the AssociatedPress, also “condemns enemies of the Jewish state.”
Who are the “enemies of the Jewish state”?
.
They are the Palestinians whose land has been stolen by the Jewish state, whosehomes and olive groves have been destroyed by the Jewish state, whose childrenhave been shot down in the streets by the Jewish state, whose women have beenabused by the Jewish state. They are Palestinians who have been walled off intoghettos, who cannot reach their farm lands or medical care or schools, whocannot drive on roads through Palestine that have been constructed for Israelisonly. They are Palestinians whose ancient towns have been invaded by militantZionist “settlers” under the protection of the Israeli army who beat andpersecute the Palestinians and drive them out of their towns. They arePalestinians who cannot allow their children outside their homes because theywill be murdered by Israeli “settlers.”
.
The Palestinians who confront Israeli evil are called “terrorists.” When Bushforced free elections on Palestine, the people voted for Hamas. Hamas is theorganization that has stood up to the Jewish state. This means, of course, thatHamas is evil, anti-semitic, un-American and terrorist. The US and Israelresponded by cutting off all funds to the new government. Democracy ispermitted only if it produces the results Bush and Israel want.
.
Israelis never practice terror. Only those who are in Israel’s way areterrorists.
.
Another enemy of the Jewish state is Hizbollah. Hizbollah is a militia of ShiaMuslims created in 1982 when Israel first invaded Lebanon. During thisinvasion the great moral Jewish state arranged for the murder of refugees inrefugee camps. The result of Israel’s atrocities was Hizbollah, which foughtthe Israeli army, defeated it, and drove it, with its tail between its legs, outof Lebanon. Today Hizbollah not only defends southern Lebanon but also providessocial services such as orphanages and medical care.
.
To cut to the chase, the enemies of the Jewish state are any Muslim country notruled by an American puppet friendly to Israel. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia,and the oil emirates have sided with Israel against their own kind, because theyare dependent either on American money or on American protection from their ownpeople. Sooner or later these totally corrupt governments that do not representthe people they rule will be overthrown. It is only a matter of time.
.
Indeed Bush and Israel may be hastening the process in their frantic effort tooverthrow the governments of Syria and Iran. Both governments have more popularsupport than Bush has, but the White House Moron doesn’t know this. The Moronthinks Syria and Iran will be “cakewalks” like Iraq, where ten proud divisionsof the US military are tied down by a few lightly armed insurgents.
.
If you are still a Proud American, consider that your pride is doing nothinggood for Israel or for America.
.
On July 20 when “your” House of Representatives, following “your” US Senate,passed the resolution in support of Israel’s war crimes, the most powerful lobbyin Washington, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), quicklygot out a press release proclaiming “The American people overwhelming supportIsrael’s war on terrorism and understand that we must stand by our closest allyin this time of crisis.”
.
The truth is that Israel created the crisis by invading a country with apro-American government. The truth is that the American people do not supportIsrael’s war crimes, as the CNN quick poll results make clear and as was madeclear by callers into C-Span.
.
Despite the Israeli spin on news provided by US “reporting,” a majority ofAmericans do not approve of Israeli atrocities against Lebanese civilians. Hizbollah is located in southern Lebanon. If Israel is targeting Hizbollah, whyare Israeli bombs falling on northern Lebanon? Why are they falling on Beirut? Why are they falling on civilian airports? On schools and hospitals?
.
Now we arrive at the main point. When the US Senate and House ofRepresentatives pass resolutions in support of Israeli war crimes and condemnthose who resist Israeli aggression, the Senate and House confirm Osama binLaden’s propaganda that America stands with Israel against the Arab and Muslimworld.
.
Indeed, Israel, which has one of the world’s largest per capita incomes, is thelargest recipient of US foreign aid. Many believe that much of this “aid” comesback to AIPAC, which uses it to elect “our” representatives in Congress.
.
This perception is no favor to Israel, whose population is declining, as thesmart ones have seen the writing on the wall and have been leaving. Israel issurrounded by hundreds of millions of Muslims who are being turned into enemiesof Israel by Israel’s actions and inhumane policies.
.
The hope in the Muslim world has always been that the United States wouldintervene in behalf of compromise and make Israel realize that Israel cannotsteal Palestine and turn every Palestinian into a refugee.
.
This has been the hope of the Arab world. This is the reason our puppets havenot been overthrown. This hope is the reason America still had some prestige in the Arab world.
.
The House of Representatives resolution, bought and paid for by AIPAC money, isthe final nail in the coffin of American prestige in the Middle East. It showsthat America is, indeed, Israel’s puppet, just as Osama bin Laden says, and as amajority of Muslims believe.
.
With hope and diplomacy dead, henceforth America and Israel have only tooth andclaw. The vaunted Israeli army could not defeat a rag tag militia in southern Lebanon. The vaunted US military cannot defeat a rag tag, lightly armed,insurgency drawn from a minority of the population in Iraq, insurgents, moreover, who are mainly engaged in civil war against the Shia majority.
.
What will the US and its puppet master do? Both are too full of hubris andparanoia to admit their terrible mistakes. Israel and the US will eitherdestroy from the air the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon, Palestine, Syria,and Iran so that civilized life becomes impossible for Muslims, or the US and Israel will use nuclear weapons to intimidate Muslims into acquiescence toIsrael’s desires.
.
Muslim genocide in one form or another is the professed goal of theneoconservatives who have total control over the Bush administration. Neocongodfather Norman Podhoretz has called for World War IV (in neocon thinking WWIII was the cold war) to overthrow Islam in the Middle East, deracinate theIslamic religion and turn it into a formalized, secular ritual.
.
Rumsfeld’s neocon Pentagon has drafted new US war doctrine that permitspre-emptive nuclear attack on non-nuclear states.
.
Neocon David Horowitz says that by slaughtering Palestinian and Lebanesecivilians, “Israel is doing the work of the rest of the civilized world,” thusequating war criminals with civilized men.
.
Neocon Larry Kudlow says that “Israel is doing the Lord’s work” by murderingLebanese, a claim that should give pause to Israel’s Christian evangelicalsupporters. Where does the Lord Jesus say, “go forth and murder your neighborsso that you may steal their lands”?
.
The complicity of the American public in these heinous crimes will damn Americafor all time in history.
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reaganadministration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.