Gaza and the Endless Tragedy of War 
"Gaza to be sure, was already a cauldron. But it has got that way in no small part because of flawed western policies: first through allowing the Israeli Palestinian conflict to stew, and then attempting to isolate Hamas -- which was democratically elected three years ago -- and doing nothing to lift the Israeli siege that has turned Gaza into a prison for the 1.5 million inhabitants.
"None of these conflicts is at all easy, but rarely are they responsive to brute military force. The record suggests force breeds extremism and, in extremis failed states.
"Israel's regular attempts to enhance its security and break the regional logistics by force well illustrate this. The occupation of Palestinian territory after the 1967 Six Day War has locked it in a deadly embrace with its Palestinian neighbors that only the creation of an independent Palestinian state can break.
"Happily, the superficial-muscularity of the Bush-Cheney era -- the idea that you can bomb people into moderation and alignment with western interests is about to end."
The diplomatic focus on the Israel Gaza conflict was lost when an endless series of rockets was the Hamas response to the Israeli blockade, which naturally made existence in Gaza miserable.
If United States diplomats had attempted to illustrate how mutually beneficial cooperation could be economically advantageous to both Israel and Gaza, a vision of prosperity and peace might have emerged, instead of this tragic war with over 800 killed.
Of course, in both Israel and Gaza those determined to wage war to express anger at what they feel justified in feeling had to be overcome through outlining what peaceful cooperation was capable of achieving.
This could have been proven to both sides if U.S. diplomats had the total honesty of admitting the tragic truth of the misguided Vietnam War and the endless air strikes that killed an estimate 2 ½ million or more Vietnamese and Cambodians and over 59,000 U.S. service personnel.
Admitting the truth that the Iraq War was launched on misinformation of weapons of mass destruction threatening the U.S. proved to be non-existent and the Iraq War was according to Alan Greenspan "largely about oil."
But the Iraq War has left 600,000 to more than one million Iraqis dead, along with 4,222 U.S. service personnel deaths while 2 ½ million Iraqis have fled.
The illusion that U.S. citizens live in apparently is that we are safer. George Bush was not impeached and the delusion is lessening as the U.S. economic system collapses and billions of dollars are printed to bail out our entire system.
Israelis and Palestinians could both benefit from the self-destructive economic damage the U.S. has achieved by comprehending two important facts:
Deregulation of our economic system promoted by Ronald Reagan is always destined to lead to a dead end.
War doesn't solve problems, it only generates more deaths, along with destruction and debt that will burden future generations.
KEYWORDS: Gaza Tragedy, Lessons to be Learned from Analyzing War, Vietnam War
Sign up for a Complimentary Member Account... Join the community! It's fast. And it'll allow you to take advantage of all this site's great features!
| < Debt Ridden U.S.A. Keeps Printing Money by the Billions (as China Backs Out of Buying U.S. Bonds) | The Right's Strategy: Thwart Obama by Thrashing FDR > |
