Israel and Palestine in Comics

Some of comic that depict the essence of the Israel – Palestinian conflict. We normally view comics as light and easy stuff but the message underlying it is objectively important. View it and think wisely of it issues not influence by your inherent view. This is not anti semantic. If you found this is not of your liking and not fair - I have found this blog which made compilation of comics which his review would sit on Israel side and regarded comic that critical of Israel as inflammatory. http://israelincomics.blogspot.com

Click on the picture for link of real source of the comics

Obama Irrelevant on US - Middle East Policy

That is formal voice from inside Israel government. The zionist gloated when talking about zionist control in US goverment. I think American should stop celebrating 4th of July but celebrate Israel Independent Day instead ....

Written by www.daily.pk
Sunday, 01 February 2009 01:09

"Another Israeli spokeswoman, Tzipora Menache, stated that she was not worried about negative ramifications the Israeli onslaught on Gaza might have on the way the Obama administration would view Israel. She said 'You know very well, and the stupid Americans know equally well, that we control their government, irrespective of who sits in the White House. You see, I know it and you know it that no American president can be in a position to challenge us even if we do the unthinkable. What can they (Americans) do to us? We control congress, we control the media, we control show biz, and we control everything in America. In America you can criticize God, but you can't criticize Israel."Commenting on the latest Israeli one-directional onslaught against the Palestinians of Gaza Strip, the Israeli 10th TV channel has disclosed that the Israeli genocidal forces had used half of its air force and had launched at least 2500 air raids against Gaza Strip.

Israeli Spokesman Says We Control Stupid Americans

Israel Kills Civilians

Visit this link for full story

Israelis forced mother to choose which of her children would die

This story is conveyed by volunteer of Middle East Children's Alliance who actively involved in charity activities in Gaza

Deborah Agre
Middle East Children’s Alliance
1101 Eighth Street, Suite 100Berkeley,
CA 94710
ph: (510) 548-0542
fx: (510) 548-0543
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/

Does Israel Recognize a Free Palestine State?

All we heard about Hamas charter of not Recognizing Israel State to exist, For that Hamas has given reasons for Israel to labeled them as terrorist group, What was the official reason given by the Israel and the International community for not recognizing Hamas? The reason they gave was that Hamas refused to recognize Israel and had a Charter calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.

but does Israel recognize Palestinian right for independent Palestine State? If Israel respect Palestinian right why it take so long for them to move out from occupied territory keep increasing their lad grab?

Everyone (politicians and corporate media leaders) accepted this without asking a few important questions. Which Israel should Hamas recognize? Israel has not yet stated what its international borders are. Should Hamas recognize the Israel of 1948? The Israel of 1967? The Israel of 2009 with its apartheid wall, settlements (settlements building raised by 60 percent in 2008, the year of the Annapolis “Peace Process”, according to a Peace Now report), second class Arab citizens and with East Jerusalem annexed? http://www.daily.pk/world/middle-east/9402-likud-charter-does-not-recognize-palestine.html

They could list down all the reasons to justify Israel’s reasons of occupation but their objective can be easily comprehend by taking some time to read charter of Likud Party. This charter would not much different from other Israel political parties, what differ between them is level of terror that they willing to put on Palestinian into submission in believing that would create a more safer Israel to please Israel public. It is a clear action of aggressor minds that afraid their own shadow. For what they have done to Palestinian has haunted them back of what they will get back in return. Go through some of this charter then comprehend what Zionist true intention is.. For the incidents, conflict, attacks, peace process that happened and going to happen on basis of whatever reasons are planed and sitting on this charter as objective.

In the "Peace and Security" chapter of the Likud Party platform, a recent document (1999) it says initially that:
"Peace is a primary objective of the State of Israel. The Likud will strengthen the existing peace agreements with the Arab states and strive to achieve peace agreements with all of Israel’s neighbors with the aim of reaching a comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict."

But then it says about settlements:
"The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting."

Therefore annihilating the slightest chance of a two-state solution.

On Palestinian self-rule it says:
"The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state. Thus, for example, in matters of foreign affairs, security, immigration and ecology, their activity shall be limited in accordance with imperatives of Israel’s existence, security and national needs."

Therefore annihilating any chance of seeing a Palestinian sovereign state.

On Jerusalem:
"Jerusalem is the eternal, united capital of the State of Israel and only of Israel. The government will flatly reject Palestinian proposals to divide Jerusalem, including the plan to divide the city presented to the Knesset by the Arab factions and supported by many members of Labor and Meretz."

Therefore annihilating any chance for future peace negotiations because east Jerusalem as capital of a future Palestinian state is non-negotiable for any Palestinian. . http://www.daily.pk/world/middle-east/9402-likud-charter-does-not-recognize-palestine.html

It is established that the Likud party charter does not recognize Palestine and will not accept a sovereign Palestinian state

What Hollywood Celebrities Got To Say

It seems like you can hardly watch TV, listen to talk radio, or open a newspaper without coming across some celebrity complaining to millions of people that their "dissent is being squashed". At Right Wing News believe that these celebrities have a right to say whatever they want and want more people to know about their views. Their fans and people who are thinking about voting for a Democrat 2004 should be aware of what these prominent leftists believe. That's why RWN compiled some insightful foreign policy statements and deep thoughts from celebrities since 9/11 just so you can see where they stand. Enjoy the wisdom!

"When I see an American flag flying, it's a joke." -- Robert Altman

"They're sheep. They like him (Bush) enough to credit him with saving the nation after 9/11. Three thousand people get killed, and everybody thinks they're next on the list. The president comes along, and he's got his six-guns strapped on, and people think he's going to save them." -- Ed Asner

"I also think that there is a strong streak of racism, and whenever we engage in foreign adventures. Our whole history in regime change has been of people of different color." -- Ed Asner

"I not only think that they (U.S. leaders) are misguided, but I think they know exactly what they are doing and I think that they are men who are possessed of evil." -- Harry Belafonte

"The real terrorist threats are George W. Bush and his band of brown-shirted thugs." -- Sandra Bernhard

"I think America has no experience with terrorism or even with war. In Europe, we know a little bit more about these things." -- Bono

"I'm saying that the moral climate within the ruling class in this country is not that different from the moral climate within the ruling class of Hitler's Germany." -- David Clennon, star of the hit CBS television series "The Agency,"

...I'm not comparing Bush to Adolf Hitler - because George Bush, for one thing, is not as smart as Adolf Hitler. And secondly George Bush has much more power than Adolf Hitler ever had." -- David Clennon, star of the hit CBS television series "The Agency,"

...I'm saying that we (Americans) have sunk pretty low and I'm saying that you can look at the moral climate in Germany in 1933. We have to ask ourselves if we found ourselves in Nazi Germany, what would we do. Now I say, let the inspection process take its course." -- David Clennon, star of the hit CBS television series "The Agency,"

"You can't beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people revenge-seeking. These days it only matters who's in charge. Right now that's us -- for a while at least. Our opponents are going to resort to car bombs and suicide attacks because they have no other way to win. ...I believe (Rumsfeld) thinks this is a war that can be won, but there is no such thing anymore. We can't beat anyone anymore." -- George Clooney

"I think war is based in greed and there are huge karmic retributions that will follow. I think war is never the answer to solving any problems. The best way to solve problems is to not have enemies." -- Sheryl Crow

I think the U.S. is terrifying and it saddens me. You only have to look at the state of affairs in America. I do worry about my children. As a parent you are always concerned... I just want them to be in a place where they are going to be strong enough to be able to make the right choices. Unfortunately we're in a position where people are so irresponsible that human life holds so little value to them. -- Tom Cruise explains why he wants his kids to be raised in Australia instead of America

"I just wish men would quit thinking they could just duke it out with each other. I don't have all the facts, and who knows what's really the truth, but I don't really respect (Bush's) way of dealing with this situation. It would have been great to have someone really, really smart in that office, and someone who is globally aware." -- Sandy Duncan

"I don't know if a country (America) where the people are so ignorant of reality and of history, if you can call that a free world." -- Jane Fonda

"(W)hen Communist U.S.S.R. was a superpower, the world was better off. The right-wing media is trying to marginalize the peace movement." -- Janeane Garofalo

"This (Iraq) is a manufactured conflict for the sake of geopolitical dominance in the area." -- Janeane Garofalo

"In a situation like this, of course you identify with everyone who's suffering. (But we must also think about) the terrorists who are creating such horrible future lives for themselves because of the negativity of this karma. It's all of our jobs to keep our minds as expansive as possible. If you can see (the terrorists) as a relative who's dangerously sick and we have to give them medicine, and the medicine is love and compassion. There's nothing better." -- Richard Gere

"America has never paid any attention to other people, so it's absurd for Bush to say that it's all in the best interests of the Iraqi people." -- Richard Gere

"Yes, (Bush is a) racist. We all knew that but the world is only finding it out now. As Texas's governor, Bush led a penitentiary system that executed more people than all the other U.S. states together. And most of the people who died from (the) death penalty were Afro-Americans or Hispanics. (Bush) promoted a Conservative program, designed to eliminate everything Americans had accomplished so far in matters of race and equality." -- Danny Glover

"A sad figure (Bush) – not too well educated, who doesn't get out of America much. He's leading the country towards Fascism." -- Larry Hagman

"This is a racist and imperialist war. The warmongers who stole the White House (you call them "hawks", but I would never disparage such a fine bird) have hijacked a nation's grief and turned it into a perpetual war on any non-white country they choose to describe as terrorist." -- Woody Harrelson

"The war against terrorism is terrorism. The whole thing is just bullsh*t." -- Woody Harrelson

"I believe - though I may wrong because I am no expert - that this war is about what most wars are about: hegemony, money, power and oil." -- Dustin Hoffman

"Have we gone to war yet? We f****** deserve to get bombed. Bring it on." -- Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders

"Let's get rid of all the economic (expletive) this country represents! Bring it on, I hope the Muslims win!" -- Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders

"It is an embarrassing time to be an American. It really is. It's humiliating. " -- Jessica Lange

"What can I say? I hate Bush; I despise him and his entire administration, everything he represents and everything he has tried to do, not only internationally, which is horrific, but domestically as well. In my country the atmosphere is poisoned. Unbreathable for those of us who are not on the right. So thank you for inviting me to this festival and allowing me to leave there for a few days." -- Jessica Lange

"I don't believe war is a way to solve problems. I think it's wrong. I don't have respect for the people that made the decisions to go on with war. I don't have that much respect for Bush. He's about war, I'm not about war - a lot of people aren't about war." -- Avril Lavigne

"Too many people are being bowled over by Bush and Tony Blair in Britain. It's ludicrous to expect the whole world to follow what they want. America doesn't have the moral right to tell other people what to do. To say the whole world has to fall into line is you-know-what. I hope more people will rise up." -- Spike Lee

"Melt their weapons, melt their hearts, melt their anger with love." -- Shirley MacLaine on her anti-terrorism policy

"We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly." -- Bill Maher, Politically Incorrect

"America has an almost obscene infatuation with itself. Has there ever been a big, powerful country that is as patriotic as America? And patriotic in the tinniest way, with so much flag waving? You'd really think we were some poor little republic, and that if one person lost his religion for one hour, the whole thing would crumble. America is the real religion in this country." -- Norman Mailer

"The WTC was not just an architectural monstrosity, but also terrible for people who didn't work there, for it said to all those people: 'If you can't work up here, boy, you're out of it.' That's why I'm sure that if those towers had been destroyed without loss of life, a lot of people would have cheered. Everything wrong with America led to the point where the country built that tower of Babel, which consequently had to be destroyed. And then came the next shock. We had to realize that the people that did this were brilliant. It showed that the ego we could hold up until September 10 was inadequate." -- Norman Mailer

"Americans can't admit that you need courage to do such a thing. For that might be misunderstood. The key thing is that we in America are convinced that it was blind, mad fanatics who didn't know what they were doing. But what if those perpetrators were right and we were not? We have long ago lost the capability to take a calm look at the enormity of our enemy's position." -- Norman Mailer on 9/11

"Just so you know, we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas." -- Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks at a concert in London

"I fear that our true motivation is about oil and our own flailing economy; about the failure to destroy Al Qaeda and about revenge. This war is wrong and this war is un-American. " -- Dave Matthews

"Many families have been devastated tonight. This just is not right. They did not deserve to die. If someone did this to get back at Bush, then they did so by killing thousands of people who DID NOT VOTE for him! Boston, New York, DC, and the planes' destination of California-- these were places that voted AGAINST Bush!" --Michael Moore, Michaelmoore. com, September 12

"I like America to some extent." -- Michael Moore

"The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich. The U.S. government claims to bring democracy to Iraq; however, no country in the world takes such an assertion seriously. It is an illusion." -- Michael Moore

"(T)he passengers were scaredy-cats because they were mostly white. If the passengers had included black men those killers, with their puny bodies and unimpressive small knives, would have been crushed by the dudes." -- Michael Moore on Flight 93

"Since 9-11, more people have died in Afghanistan and Iraq than in New York that day — and for not a very good reason." -- Viggo Mortensen from Lord of the Rings

"I think that people like the Howard Sterns, the Bill O'Reillys and to a lesser degree the bin Ladens of the world are making a horrible contribution. " -- Sean Penn

"Don't you want to know what's real and what's not? I remember when I was a kid, you know, this whole Cold War thing. They had us scared of the Russians. 'The Russians, the Russians, the Russians.' So it's almost like what's real and what's not?" -- Queen Latifah

"I just think we are a little bit of an arrogant nation and maybe this is a little bit of a humbling experience ... what has our government done to provoke (9/11) that we don't know about?" -- Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson

"In this time when a citizenry applauds the liberation of a country as it lives in fear of its own freedom...when people all over the country fear reprisal if they use their right to free speech, it is time to get angry. It is time to get fierce." -- Tim Robbins

"How will the bombing of Baghdad, a city of five million, accomplish a regime change?" -- Susan Sarandon

"I think that we see war as a virtual thing and we even get to believe that bombs fall on top of cardboard cutouts and stuff like that. They don't. They kill real people, real children, real mothers and millions of innocent people." -- Shakira

"I just feel that there are always pacifist solutions, and I think that the leaders know the exit to the conflict, it's just that sometimes they don't want to use them. They just want to continue playing their little game of power. And I feel that us people have the responsibility and also the obligation to demand to our leaders to give us the pacifist solutions. To give us a world in peace." -- Shakira

"They control culture. They control ideas. And I think the revolt of September 11th was about `F-- you! F-- your order." -- Oliver Stone on American corporations

"A Republican/Conserva tive candidate trying with fading hopes to unseat respected Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy made a last-ditch effort to win headlines by devising ads in which she blatantly misquoted Barbra Streisand, fabricating outrageous quotes and completely misrepresenting Ms. Streisand's deep opposition to the Iranian dictator, Saddam Hussein." -- From Barbra Streisand's homepage

"We have a president for whom English is a second language. He's like 'We have to get rid of dictators,' but he's pretty much one himself." -- Robin Williams

(c) http://www.rightwingnews.com/ quotes/celeb. php

THE FACTS ABOUT HAMAS AND THE WAR ON GAZA - SEEING THROUGH THE LIES

Seeing Through the Lies

The Facts About Hamas and the War on GazaBy

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN

The record is fairly clear. You can find it on the Israeli website, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. Israel broke the ceasefire by going into the Gaza and killing six or seven Palestinian militants. At that point—and now I’m quoting the official Israeli website—Hamas retaliated or, in retaliation for the Israeli attack, then launched the missiles.

Now, as to the reason why, the record is fairly clear as well. According to Ha’aretz, Defense Minister Barak began plans for this invasion before the ceasefire even began. In fact, according to yesterday’s Ha’aretz, the plans for the invasion began in March. And the main reasons for the invasion, I think, are twofold. Number one; to enhance what Israel calls its deterrence capacity, which in layman’s language basically means Israel’s capacity to terrorize the region into submission. After their defeat in July 2006 in Lebanon, they felt it important to transmit the message that Israel is still a fighting force, still capable of terrorizing those who dare defy its word.And the second main reason for the attack is because Hamas was signaling that it wanted a diplomatic settlement of the conflict along the June 1967 border. That is to say, Hamas was signaling they had joined the international consensus, they had joined most of the international community, overwhelmingly the international community, in seeking a diplomatic settlement. And at that point, Israel was faced with what Israelis call a Palestinian peace offensive. And in order to defeat the peace offensive, they sought to dismantle Hamas.As was documented in the April 2008 issue of Vanity Fair by the writer David Rose, basing himself on internal US documents, it was the United States in cahoots with the Palestinian Authority and Israel which were attempting a putsch on Hamas, and Hamas preempted the putsch. That, too, is no longer debatable or no longer a controversial claim.The issue is can it rule in Gaza if Israel maintains a blockade and prevents economic activity among the Palestinians.

The Blockade

The blockade, incidentally, was implemented before Hamas came to power. The blockade doesn’t even have anything to do with Hamas. The blockade came to—there were Americans who were sent over, in particular James Wolfensohn, to try to break the blockade after Israel redeployed its troops in Gaza.The problem all along has been that Israel doesn’t want Gaza to develop, and Israel doesn’t want to resolve diplomatically the conflict, both the leadership in Damascus and the leadership in the Gaza have repeatedly made statements they’re willing to settle the conflict in the June 1967 border. The record is fairly clear. In fact, it’s unambiguously clear.Every year, the United Nations General Assembly votes on a resolution entitled “Peaceful Settlement of the Palestine Question.” And every year the vote is the same: it’s the whole world on one side; Israel, the United States and some South Sea atolls and Australia on the other side. The vote this past year was 164-to-7. Every year since 1989—in 1989, the vote was 151-to-3, the whole world on one side, the United States, Israel and the island state of Dominica on the other side.We have the Arab League, all twenty-two members of the Arab League, favoring a two-state settlement on the June 1967 border. We have the Palestinian Authority favoring that two-state settlement on the June 1967 border. We now have Hamas favoring that two-state settlement on the June 1967 border. The one and only obstacle is Israel, backed by the United States. That’s the problem.Well, the record shows that Hamas wanted to continue the ceasefire, but only on condition that Israel eases the blockade. Long before Hamas began the retaliatory rocket attacks on Israel, Palestinians were facing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza because of the blockade. The former High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, described what was going on in Gaza as a destruction of a civilization. This was during the ceasefire period.What does the record show? The record shows for the past twenty or more years, the entire international community has sought to settle the conflict in the June 1967 border with a just resolution of the refugee question. Are all 164 nations of the United Nations the rejectionists? And are the only people in favor of peace the United States, Israel, Nauru, Palau, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Australia? Who are the rejectionists? Who’s opposing a peace?

International Court of Justice

The record shows that in every crucial issue raised at Camp David, then under the Clinton parameters, and then in Taba, at every single point, all the concessions came from the Palestinians. Israel didn’t make any concessions. Every concession came from the Palestinians. The Palestinians have repeatedly expressed a willingness to settle the conflict in accordance with international law.The law is very clear. July 2004, the highest judicial body in the world, the International Court of Justice, ruled Israel has no title to any of the West Bank and any of Gaza. They have no title to Jerusalem. Arab East Jerusalem, according to the highest judicial body in the world, is occupied Palestinian territory. The International Court of Justice ruled all the settlements, all the settlements in the West Bank, are illegal under international law.Now, the important point is, on all those questions, the Palestinians were willing to make concessions. They made all the concessions. Israel didn’t make any concessions.I think it’s fairly clear what needs to happen. Number one, the United States and Israel have to join the rest of the international community, have to abide by international law. I don’t think international law should be trivialized. I think it’s a serious issue. If Israel is in defiance of international law, it should be called into account, just like any other state in the world. Mr. Obama has to level with the American people. He has to be honest about what is the main obstacle to resolving the conflict. It’s not Palestinian rejectionism. It’s the refusal of Israel, backed by the United States government, to abide by international law, to abide by the opinion of the international community.And the main challenge for all of us as Americans is to see through the lies.

Note: Norman Finkelstein is author of five books, including Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Beyond Chutzpah and The Holocaust Industry, which have been translated into more than 40 foreign editions. He is the son of Holocaust survivors.

THE HUMILIATION OF AMERICA

I post this article because world need to be exposed for more neutral article like this one. In this kind of online media only that this kind of view can be published which would not have it place in Jewish control media... World already heard enough of Zionist views and you need this kind article to jolt your sense back to reality..

The Humiliation of America
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

"Early Friday morning the secretary of state was considering bringing the cease-fire resolution to a UNSC vote and we didn't want her to vote for it," Olmert said. "I said 'get President Bush on the phone.' They tried and told me he was in the middle of a lecture in Philadelphia. I said 'I'm not interested, I need to speak to him now.' He got down from the podium, went out and took the phone call."

"Let me see if I understand this," wrote a friend in response to news reports that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert ordered President Bush from the podium where he was giving a speech to receive Israel's instructions about how the United States had to vote on the UN resolution.

"On September 11th, President Bush is interrupted while reading a story to school children and told the World Trade Center had been hit--and he went on reading. Now, Olmert calls about a UN resolution when Bush is giving a speech and Bush leaves the stage to take the call. There exists no greater example of a master-servant relationship.

"Olmert gloated as he told Israelis how he had shamed US Secretary of State Condi Rice by preventing the American Secretary of State from supporting a resolution that she had helped to craft. Olmert proudly related how he had interrupted President Bush's speech in order to give Bush his marching orders on the UN vote.Israeli politicians have been bragging for decades about the control they exercise over the US government. In his final press conference, President Bush, deluded to the very end, said that the whole world respects America. In fact, when the world looks at America, what it sees is an Israeli colony.

Responding to mounting reports from the Red Cross and human rights organizations of Israel's massive war crimes in Gaza, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted 33-1 on January 12 to condemn Israel for grave offenses against human rights.On January 13, the London Times reported that Israelis have gathered on a hillside overlooking Gaza to enjoy the slaughter of Palestinians in what the Times calls "the ultimate spectator sport."It is American supplied F-16 fighter jets, helicopter gunships, missiles, and bombs that are destroying the civilian infrastructure of Gaza and murdering the Palestinians who have been packed into the tiny strip of land.

What is happening to the Palestinians herded into the Gaza Ghetto is happening because of American money and weapons. It is just as much an attack by the United States as an attack by Israel. The US government is complicit in the war crimes.Yet in his farewell press conference on January 12, Bush said that the world respects America for its compassion.

The compassion of bombing a UN school for girls?

The compassion of herding 100 Palestinians into one house and then shelling it?

The compassion of bombing hospitals and mosques?

The compassion of depriving 1.5 million Palestinians of food, medicine, and energy?

The compassion of violently overthrowing the democratically elected Hamas government?

The compassion of blowing up the infrastructure of one of the poorest and most deprived people on earth?

The compassion of abstaining from a Security Council vote condemning these actions?

And this is a repeat of what the Israelis and Americans did to Lebanon in 2006, what the Americans did to Iraqis for six years and are continuing to do to Afghans after seven years. And still hope to do to the Iranians and Syrians.In 2002 I designated George W. Bush "the White House Moron." If there ever was any doubt about this designation, Bush's final press conference dispelled it.Bush talked about connecting the dots, but Bush has failed to connect any dots for eight solid years. "Our" president was a puppet for a cabal led by Dick Cheney and a handful of Jewish neoconservatives, who took control of the Pentagon, the State Department, the National Security Council, the CIA, and "Homeland Security." From these power positions, the neocon cabal used lies and deception to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, pointless wars that have cost Americans $3 trillion, while millions of Americans lose their jobs, their pensions, and their access to health care."These obviously very difficult economic times," Bush said in his press conference, "started before my presidency."Bush has plenty of liberal company in failing to connect a $3 trillion dollar war with hard times. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities blames Bush's tax cut, not the wars, for "the fiscal deterioration.

"Bush told the White House Press Corps, a useless collection of non-journalists, that the two mistakes of his invasion of Iraq were:

(1) Putting up the "mission accomplished" banner on the aircraft carrier, which, he said, "sent the wrong message," and

(2) the absence of the alleged weapons of mass destruction that he used to justify the invasion.Although Bush now admits that there were not any such weapons in Iraq, Bush said that the invasion was still the right thing to do.The deaths of 1.25 million Iraqis, the displacement of 4 million Iraqis, and the destruction of a country's infrastructure and economy are merely the collateral damage associated with "bringing freedom and democracy" to the Middle East.Unless George W. Bush is the best actor in human history, he truly believes what he told the White House Press Corps.What Bush did not explain is how America is respected when its people put a moron in charge for eight years.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration.

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01142009.html