reed writes

Henry Siegman, director of the U.S./Middle East Project, is a visiting research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is a former Senior Fellow on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations and, before that, was national director of the American Jewish Congress from 1978 to 1994. Here is what he wrote in Ha’aretz, Israel’s largest daily newspaper.

By Henry Siegman

Following Israel’s bloody interdiction of the Gaza Flotilla, I called a life-long friend in Israel to inquire about the mood of the country. My friend, an intellectual and a kind and generous man, has nevertheless long sided with Israeli hardliners. Still, I was entirely unprepared for his response. He told me—in a voice trembling with emotion—that the world’s outpouring of condemnation of Israel is reminiscent of the dark period of the Hitler era. (more…)

Yesterday I wrote about Dr. Carlo Sprenger’s theory (pt. 1)on how to bring about peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The good professor advocates what he calls “therapeutic diplomacy”, which would presumably put the two “patients” on a “couch”; they’d confess all of their past mistakes. Then they’d come to their senses, reach a consensus individually on what transgressions they may have committed in the past and then hug one another and get on with their lives.

Easier said than done. (more…)

Carlo Strenger, the chairman of the clinical graduate psychology programme at Tel Aviv University, is the author of “The Designed Self.”

Professor Strenger advises U.S. Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, to pursue what he (Strenger) calls “therapeutic diplomacy” to reach some sort of compromise solution to the Israeli-Palestinian impasse.

It’s a long shot and it might worth trying…but how to proceed? The challenge is daunting.

( You can see professor Strenger’s thesis here.  My variation will follow).

In the meantime, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is of the opinion that Israeli policies in the Occupied Territory of The West Bank and the blockaded territory of The Gaza Strip amount to a form of Apartheid.

His allegation is, of course rejected by most Jewish groups and by Israel’s allies, including Canada. The Province of Ontario legislature, for example, has passed a resolution condemning what has come to be called “Apartheid Week”, an anti-Israel protest movement, supported by students and faculty at The University of Michigan in the U.S.

This one-sided movement is doomed to failure, if for no other reason than it divides rather than unites. The very name evokes anger and outrage.

The foundational problem of what is, by any stretch, a profound and ongoing crisis, is the inability of both Palestinians and Israelis to come to terms with their own history either separately or together, a point made by the professor from Tel Aviv.

Professor Strenger maintains that neither side has had the moral strength to admit its respective mistakes and shortcomings. Until that happens he suggests, no road to a lasting peace can be opened.

At this increasingly crucial point in time, there is tremendous suffering, fear and anger on both sides. And both are in desperate need of assistance…and… perhaps a measure of what psychologists call “tough love.”

In the case of nations, the “tough love” should originate with the world body known as The United Nations. But the U.N. seems paralyzed when it comes to the Mideast.

Professor’s Strenger contends that all efforts at peacemaking will undoubtedly fail, because those who are in a position to help, assume that there is some rationality on both sides.

But as we have seen from very recent history…

• the firing of Palestinian rockets into Israel,
• the Israeli assault on Gaza,
• the Hamas refusal to recognize The Jewish State,
• the assasination of a Palestinian leader in a foreign country by Israeli Secret Agents,
• the assasination of a peacemaking Israeli Prime Minister by an Israeli Jew,
• the ongoing expansion of illegal Israeli settlements,
• the failure of the U.N. to implement its own resolutions,
• the angry rhetoric from both sides and much much more…

there is no rationality and the dearly-hoped-for peace settlement appears to be more elusive than ever.

As this untenable situation wears on – and wears down the patience of those on both sides of the divide – the situation becomes much more volatile day by day.

While professor Strenger’s suggestion is apt, there is little precedent for the application of “therapeutic diplomacy” by any of those who wish to help bring about peace, with the exception of George Mitchell’s successful negotiations between two enemies in Northern Ireland.

Clearly, when it comes to the Middle East, the parties cannot solve this problem by themselves. So the solution must come from outside the region and from outside government…at least to begin with.

Tomorrow: In an attempt to pick up where Dr. Stenger leaves off, I propose a place to start.

Invasion and/or Assassination As An Official Policy Will Always Come Back To Bite You.

Ask America

Way back in 1961, the CIA Deputy Director of Plans, Richard Bissell laid plans for an invasion of Cuba in order to unseat Fidel Castro.

The invasion did not spark a popular uprising by the Cuban People and Bissell’s plan to organize the murder of the Cuban Leader failed as well.

The depths to which government officials can sink is illustrated by Bissell’s plan.

He recruited members of U.S. organized crime – specifically Sam Giancanana, among others to poison Fidel, in the hope that Castro’s death would enable the invasion to succeed.

The murder plot failed, but President John F. Kennedy had been “had”

If Kennedy had cancelled the invasion, there was the real possibility that the CIA force of angry Cuban exiles might take over the government of Guatemala and so the invasion of Cuba went ahead. It failed dismally. It was denounced by Kennedy and forced the resignation of the Director of The CIA, Allen Dulles.

In the end, Castro’s forces captured hundreds of the CIA-sponsored invaders and eventually traded them for 50 million dollars worth of medical and other supplies.

All of this is contained in a recently-released top secret CIA report on the CIA fiasco.

The report contains damning evidence of an American shadow government, which operates in secret, following illegal policies with unlimited funds and – according to American politician Dr. Ron Paul – threatens American democracy. There is now a growing group of Americans who are calling for the dissolution of the CIA itself.

• When a government attempts to make policy by unlawful means, whether by invading another country or murdering political leaders, the door is opened to disaster.

We’ve seen it in Central America, in the Caribbean, in Iran, in Afghanistan, in Iraq and the new revelations about The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba shows us the roots of this failed approach to foreign policy. Congressman Paul believes that Israel is treading on dangerous ground.

More from Dr. Ron Paul, a U.S. Congressman from Texas in this video.

As Prime Minister Harper flies into the human rights wasteland of  China an awful lot of Canadians are mystified.

We don’t know anymore where we stand, especially when it comes to human rights.

Our government has -

• Abandoned the principle of real respect for human rights.

• Turned a blind eye to torture and abuse.

• Muzzled legitimate inquiry by government bodies, including the Military Police Complaints Commission.

• Covered up improper and inappropriate behaviour by our military.

• Stonewalled our Parliament.

• Betrayed the Canadian people.

• And generally lied all over the place.

When Canadians look at Stephen Harper, what do we see? A flesh and blood human being with emotions, sensibilities and compassion?

Or do we see instead, a robotic leader, programmed for expediency?

Perhaps he’s something in between.

A creature of opportunism certainly.

Someone who – from time to time – raises a moistened finger on high, to detect the direction of the prevailing wind and then proceeds to smile upon those who might bolster him, or suck the life out of those who might oppose or criticise.

Examples of this kind of behaviour are legion.

Here’s one from way back when.

Members of the Progressive Conservative Party went to bed one night hoping for pleasant dreams; they woke next morning and discovered they were about to live through a nightmare.

Overnight, Reform/Alliance leader Harper had seduced Peter MacKay, ( son of Elmer ), into a betrayal of the  P.C. Party. Just as the father had acted as the secretive midwife in the birthing of Brian Mulroney as Prime Minister, so the son became the willing nursemaid to Mr. Harper – Prime Minister-to-be.

If a few values, ethics and some honour had to be sacrificed, these were the fellows to do it…but only if they could benefit personally and they both did. Carnal union was what counted.

If the Liberals under Chretien and Martin were slovenly -

- the New Conservatives under Harper and Mackay are slatternly.

The performance of His Highness Harper and various Court Jesters (including MacKay the Younger), reached a fever pitch just recently, with the attempted assassination of Richard Colvin, victim of a thousand Conservative cuts.

We all remember Richard Colvin (Don’t We?).

He was the upstanding, upright, loyal and competent public servant, who was to have appeared before Canada’s Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) earlier this year. The Commission had called on anyone with information on the treatment of Afghan prisoners, to come forward.

The Commission already knew of detainees being mistreated even while in Canadian custody.

Mr. Colvin responded, and did so quietly. He submitted a sealed affidavit to the MPCC outlining his concerns about the transfer of Afghan detainees from Canadian custody into the hands of the Afghan Secret Police.

The affidavit asserted that Mr. Colvin had knowledge of possible improprieties and possible Canadian complicity in the torture of Afghan prisoners.

To the government’s horror, the MPCC managed to have the affidavit unsealed and began to undertake an investigation.

The Jesters and their Head Clown then moved in quickly to castrate the MPCC – there’s no other term for it. (It was a slow and painful process).

Colvin had to be trashed.

Stage Two –

The case of Mr. Colvin was re-worked into the shape of a political football. It was snatched from the Judicial body – the MPCC – and handed off to a toothless, uninformed, partisan committee of politicians.

True, documents and emails were given to the committee. But these items were so heavily censored as to be worthless.

It was an exercise in which the government employed bullshit, bafflegab and censorship to confuse the M.P.’s – and the tools of character assassination and mendacity to confuse the Canadian public.

The government, having emasculated the Military Police Complaints Commission and undermined the parliamentary committee, then used senior members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Diplomatic Corps to dismember a loyal, competent, discreet but courageous public servant by means of jingoistic rhetoric and nationalist grandstanding.

This nonsense has been ongoing for about 3 years now – the government frantically pushing and pulling simultaneously.

How ignorant we are as a nation!

In the process, it has become crystal clear to anyone with a half-pint-sized brain, that our stand on torture has been and continues to be more in the American or perhaps even the Chinese tradition than in our own.

Set one’s conscience aside and forge ahead. (So much for the esteemed Dalai Lama).

The voices calling for a full, public judicial Inquiry into Canadian complicity in torture, have been muted by the propaganda onslaught and the principles involved have been obscured by a torrent of indecipherable and contradictory gobbledegook.

None of this is about criticising the Canadian Armed Forces, although that’s what Harper and Company want people to believe. (Shades of George Bush).

But lets get real here.  It’s really about whether we have an interest in upholding real Canadian values, which include respect for the rule of law, both domestic and international.

And lets not forget the history because future generations won’t.

Our war in Afghanistan was the result of an illegal invasion by the U.S. and Britain. It involved the planning and waging of an aggressive war…the very charge that was faced by those German officials, who claimed they “didn’t know”, or were “only following orders.”

Our government knew back when they took office, that the Afghan Secret Police engaged in torture. Harper knew. Foreign Affairs Minister MacKay knew. General Hillier knew. Defence Minister Cannon knew. Other top officials in Ottawa also knew and tried to hide the truth. They were complicit.

That’s a war crime.

In the end of course, chickens will come home to roost and murder will out.

But in the meantime…Harper’s off-handed attitude to torture will go down well in China. (In any case, Harper and President Hu have made a cosy kinda deal).

Harper will speak “respectfully” to the Chinese on the issue of human rights, as long as they don’t mention the “T”-word

Neither of these people is in a position to lecture anyone on the subject.

As for the rest of us?-Here’s My Take.

Mr. Colvin’s testimony revealing Canadian government complicity in torture, has provided this country with an amazing opportunity.

Canada can once again be a leader by having a full judicial and public Inquiry into this entire business.

Richard Colvin is no rogue or renegade. He holds one of the most senior positions at Canada’s  embassy in Washington D.C. – appointed by the very people who are now trying to crush him.
We should be proud of him.

He has nothing to gain from being truthful, except the wrath of those who may have known about and been complicit in torture…not just of so-called Taliban, but also of innocent civilians who were never given the benefit of any complete investigation by those who arrested them and turned them over to the Afghan Secret Police.

It all goes back to a very high military level.

From the get-go, it was always a “scumbag body-count” operation – and those are words right out of General Rick Hillier’s mouth.

Do We Need A Public Inquiry??

You Bet We Do!!