April 18, 2006

SHALL WE AVERT CATASTROPHE? B

WORLD POLITICS AS AN INDICATOR OF THE STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT

OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS

Francoise Hall

Number of Words: 14,844

Number of Pages: 78

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................................................ 2

AID TO POOR NATIONS............................................................................................................ 3

TERROR......................................................................................................................................... 6

EXTRADITION............................................................................................................................. 8

WEAPONRY.................................................................................................................................. 9

SERBIA AND DARFUR............................................................................................................. 12

THE INVASION OF IRAQ......................................................................................................... 13

IRAN............................................................................................................................................. 16

ISRAEL-PALESTINE.................................................................................................................. 20

Map, Israel-Palestine, 2001................................................................................................ 35

Table 1: Fatalities, Al-Aqsa Intifada................................................................................. 38

Table 2: Ethnicity of Population in the Occupied Territories............................................ 40

Table 3: Population Density, Israel and Palestine.............................................................. 48

Table 4: Jewish Population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip........................................... 49

LATIN AMERICA....................................................................................................................... 52

THE ENVIRONMENT................................................................................................................ 53

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION........................................................................................ 54

WITHIN THE UNITED STATES................................................................................................ 55

THE 9/11 ATTACKS (September 11, 2001)................................................................................ 58

MY CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................................... 68

REFERENCES............................................................................................................................. 74

April 18, 2006

SHALL WE AVERT CATASTROPHE?

WORLD POLITICS AS AN INDICATOR OF THE STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT

OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS

AID TO POOR NATIONS

RHETORIC

2002:

March:

As he creates the Millennium Challenge Corporation, promising $10,000,000,000 to combat poverty in Adeveloping@ countries, President W. Bush declares:

AI carry this commitment in my soul@ (p. 4).

2003:

Spring:

Scholar Philip Zelikow (main author of the 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States which articulates President Bush=s doctrine of Aanticipatory self-defense,@ and later, executive director of the 9/11 Commission) claims seeing:

Athe new centrality of moral principles [in the Bush administration]@ (pp. 4 and 81-82; David Griffin, 2006; see pp. 10 and 61 of the present document).

FACTS

2005:

1. The Millennium Challenge Corporation has disbursed Aalmost nothing.@ Its director resigns Aafter failing to get the program moving@ (p. 4).

2. United States development aid as a percentage of the country=s national income, is near the lowest level among donor countries. U.S. aid is 90 percent Aphantom@ B aid the dollars of which eventually return to the donor country, which they then benefit.

On average, rich countries give 0.1 percent of their national income in Areal@ (Anon-phantom@) aid (p. 266).

2005 (continued)

3. President Bush:

a. Rejects a call from Prime Minister Tony Blair to double aid to Africa (p. 4).

b. Refuses to join other industrial countries in cutting the unpayable debt of African countries, unless the action is accompanied by a corresponding reduction in aid (p. 4).

4. John Bolton, President Bush=s new ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.), demands that all occurrences of the phrase Amillennium development goals@ be deleted from the 2005 summit preparatory document dealing with poverty, sexual discrimination, hunger, primary education, child mortality, maternal health, the environment and disease (Bolton later agrees to some compromises) (pp. 4 and 266; see pp. 17-19 of the present document).

2006:

April:

Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank (and author, in 1992, of the Defense Planning Guidance), is considering delaying the promise of debt relief for some countries in Africa because of their internal corruption (p. 134; CounterSpin, May 1, 2006; see pp. 15 and 60 of the present document).

Note: The consensus among the neo-conservative leaders of the U.S., is that, in poor countries, domestic corruption is the principal challenge facing the U.S., because it deters private investment (p. 134).

1. As ambassador to Indonesia, under the dictatorship of President Suharto (president 1967-1998), Wolfowitz did not once make public mention of corruption. At the time, Indonesian President Suharto was earning the title of the most corrupt world leader in recent history, amassing a family fortune estimated at 15,000,000,0000-35,000,000,000 U.S. dollars B a fortune which far outstripped those of second-place Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines), and third-place Mobutu Sese Seko (the Congo) (p. 134).

Wolfowitz=s most important initiative as ambassador was to sponsor a deregulation of the banking sector, which set the stage for Indonesia=s economic collapse in 1997 (pp. 134-135).

2. Before March 2005, when he became President of the World Bank, Wolfowitz was the architect of post-war reconstruction in Iraq B perhaps the biggest corruption scandal in history (p. 134).

TERROR

RHETORIC

2001:

President George W. Bush responds to the request by the government of Afghanistan for evidence of Osama bin Laden=s involvement in the 9/11 attacks, before handing him over to the United States:

AIf you harbor terrorists, you=re a terrorist. If you aid and abet terrorists, you=re a terrorist B and you will be treated like one@ (p. 6; Noam Chomsky, 2003, pp. 204 and 260).

2005:

1. Thomas Friedman, columnist for the New York Times, denounces AIslamo-fascism@ and declares that its:

Aexcuse makers [are] just one notch less despicable than the terrorists, and also deserve to be exposed@ (p. 24).

2. Max Boot, senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, asked why the U.S. should spend massively on arms, while China should refrain, declares that it is because:

Awe guarantee the security of the word, protect our allies, keep critical sea-lanes open and lead the war on terror [while China threatens others and] could ignite an arms race@ (p. 7).

FACTS

2004:

April:

The Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), responsible for the investigation of suspicious financial transfers, has a total of 120 employees. Of these, 4 are tracking the finances of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and 23 are enforcing the (illegal) United States= embargo against Cuba (pp. 32-33).

2005:

May:

A report by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concludes:

AIraq has become a magnet for Islamic militants, similar to Soviet-occupied Afghanistan two decades ago, and Bosnia in the 1990's . . . Iraq may prove to be an even more effective training ground for Islamic extremists than Afghanistan was in Al Qaeda=s early days, because it is serving as a real-world laboratory for urban combat@ (pp. 18 and 268).

July:

In Iraq, prior to the U.S.-British invasion, suicide attacks were virtually unknown. During the period March 2003-July 2005, the number of such attacks is estimated to have been 400. During the period 1980-2003, there were 315 such attacks worldwide (pp. 21 and 269).

EXTRADITION

RHETORIC

2005:

1. By overwhelming majorities, the United States House and Senate pass a bill barring aid to countries which refuse U.S. requests for extradition (p. 6).

2. Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI, urges Europe to speed the United States=s demands for extradition:

AWe are always looking to see how we can make the extradition process go faster. We think we owe it to the victims of terrorism to see to it that justice is done efficiently and effectively@ (p. 6).

FACT

2005:

* The U.S. refuses Venezuela=s request to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, indicted for the bombing of a Cubana airliner which resulted in the death of 73 people (p. 5).

WEAPONRY

RHETORIC

2005:

January:

Senate majority leader Bill Frist justifies the invasion of Iraq on the grounds that:

Adangerous weapons proliferation must be stopped. Terrorist organizations must be destroyed@ (p. 25).

FACTS

1997:

1. The U.S. Space Command, AVision for 2020,@ calls for:

Adominating the space dimension of military operations to protect U.S. interests and investments [as well as the development of] space-based strike weapons [which would enable] the application of precision force from, to and through space. [Such force will be needed because] the globalization of the world economy [will lead to] a widening economic divide, deepening economic stagnation, political instability, and cultural alienation [likely to provoke unrest and violence among] the >have-nots=@ (pp. 10 and 267).

2. President Clinton announces that the U.S. is entitled to resort to:

Athe unilateral use of military power [to ensure our] uninhibited access to key markets, energy supplies, and strategic resources@ (pp. 10, 86 and 95).

1999:

* The United States Senate rejects the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (p. 76).

2000:

* The United States, under President George W. Bush, rescinds the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty (p. 76).

* At the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference, the U.S., under President Bush, is alone in rejecting an otherwise unanimous call for:

Aan unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals@ (p. 75; see p. 11 of the present document).

2002:

September:

The National Security Strategy of the United States articulates President Bush=s doctrine of Aanticipatory self-defense,@ specifying that the U.S. will act against emerging threats before they are fully formed. The document uses the events of 9/11 to justify a very bellicose foreign policy. Phillip Zelikow, later to be executive director of the 9/11 Commission, is one of its prime authors (pp. 81-82; David Griffin, 2006; see pp. 3 and 61 of the present document).

2003:

October:

The Air Force Space Command releases its AStrategic Master Plan FY06 and Beyond@ which extends the Clinton doctrine of control of space for military purposes to Aownership@ of space, which Amay mean instant engagement anywhere in the world@ (Emphasis in the original; pp. 11 and 267).

2004:

* The U.S. accounts for 95 percent of total global military space expenditures (pp. 12 and 267).

July:

The Bush administration announces is opposition to a verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT, or FISSBAN, United Nations, 1993) which, according to Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), would:

Acap and make public all inventories of fissile material still available, and serve as a starting point for future arms reductions@ (p. 71).

President Bush=s opposition is on the grounds that effective verification:

Awould require an inspection regime so extensive that it could compromise key signatories= core national security interests@ (p. 76).

November:

At the meeting of the United Nations Committee on Disarmament, the United States casts the sole vote in opposition to a verifiable FISSBAN. The vote is 147 to 1, with two abstentions (Israel and Britain) (p. 76).

2005:

* U.S. military expenditures approximate those of the rest of the world combined (pp. 7 and 266).

* Arms sales by 38 North American companies (one of which is based in Canada) account for more than 60 percent of the world=s total (pp. 7 and 266).

March:

Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, signs the National Defense Strategy of the United States, 2005 which will:

Aenable us to project power anywhere in the world from secure bases of operation [in view of] the importance of influencing events before challenges become more dangerous and less manageable@ (pp. 11 and 267).

May:

1. General James Cartwright, head of the Strategic Command, announces the development of new space weaponry that would allow the U.S. to launch an attack:

Avery quickly, with very short time lines on the planning and delivery, any place on the face of the earth@ (pp. 11 and 267).

2. The United States is alone in explicitly renouncing Article VI of the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) which demands from nuclear states Agood faith@ efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons (p. 75).

At the NPT review conference, the statement of the Bush administration, is that:

Athe United States balances its obligations under Article VI, with our obligations to maintain our own security and the security of those who depend on us@ (pp. 76 and 276-277; see p. 9 of the present document).

SERBIA AND DARFUR

RHETORIC (Serbia)

1999:

April:

Referring to the bombing of Serbia, begun on March 24^th, by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Tony Blair declares:

AThe new generation draws the line . . . [and is fighting] for values, . . . for a new internationalism where the brutal repression of whole ethnic groups will no longer be tolerated, . . . and those responsible for such crimes [will] have nowhere to hide@ (Noam Chomsky, 2000, p. 1).

May:

In a letter published in the New York Times, under the heading AA Just and Necessary War,@ President Bill Clinton writes:

A[By bombing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY, that is, Serbia and Montenegro)], we are upholding our values, protecting our interests, and advancing the cause of peace . . . We cannot respond to such tragedies everywhere, but when ethnic conflict turns into ethnic cleansing, where we can make a difference, we must try, and that is clearly the case in Kosovo . . . Had we faltered, the result would have been a moral and strategic disaster@ (Noam Chomsky, 1999, p. 3).

FACT (Darfur)

2005:

March:

The United States recognizes that genocide is being committed in Sudan=s Darfur region. However, fearing that the International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction might extend to itself, the U.S. threatens to veto Security Council Resolution 1593 (March 31, 2005), which authorizes referral of the Darfur situation to the ICC for investigation and prosecution. The United States relents, agreeing not to veto but to abstain, only after the addition of language to the Resolution preventing funding of the investigation by the United Nations. This means that the investigation is unlikely to proceed. The U.S., therefore, has effectively prevented the prosecution of the crime of genocide in Darfur. (The added wording in the Resolution may be in violation of the U.N. Charter and the Rome Statute which forms the basis for the ICC) (pp. 229 and 296).

THE INVASION OF IRAQ

RHETORIC

2002:

September:

On September 7^th, during a joint press conference with President Bush in Washington, Prime Minister Tony Blair describes:

Athe catalogue of attempts by Iraq to conceal its weapons of mass destruction, not to tell the truth about it, over not just a period of months, but over a period of years@ (p. 27; see p. 14 of the present document).

FACTS

1980's:

* United States and Britain help Iraqi President Saddam Hussein develop missiles, nuclear weapons, and virulent strains of anthrax and other biotoxins (pp. 28-29).

2002:

May:

The U.S. and Britain renew their bombings of Iraqi targets (p. 26).

July:

1. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top advisers meet secretly. The official transcript of the meeting (leaked in May 2005, as part of a series of documents known as the ADowning Street Memos@) shows that U.S. President Bush has by then already decided to attack Iraq (p. 26).

2. A July 23^rd memo from foreign policy aide Matthew Rycroft, to the British ambassador to the United States, David Manning, describes a plan for Aspikes of activity@ against Iraq, in an attempt to concoct a pretext for an invasion. (This is the most important revelation of the ADowning Street Memos@ leaked in May 2005) (p. 27).

2002 (continued)

September:

1. On September 5^th, U.S. and British planes destroy President Saddam Hussein=s airbase, in Iraq=s western desert. The raid destroys military communications, anti-aircraft defenses, and Iraqi planes, thus clearing the way for the planned invasion. This is the most important raid of the Apre-war war@ against Iraq (See The Invasion of Iraq, Rhetoric, p. 13 of the present document for the speech by Tony Blair two days later) (p. 27).

2. The U.S. and British bombings of Iraqi targets increase sharply (p. 26).

October:

1. The U.S. Congress authorizes the use of force against Iraq (p. 26).

2. The U.S. invites the United Nations to either endorse its plan to use violence, or become Airrelevant@ (p. 26).

2003:

March:

1. On March 5^th, British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith counsels Blair that:

Aregime change cannot be the objective of military action . . . [and, therefore, it will be] necessary to create the conditions in which we could legally support military action@ (p. 26).

2. On March 19^th, the U.S. and Britain invade Iraq.

3. Lieutenant General Michael Moseley, commander of the joint U.S.-British operation in Iraq, explains that, during the nine months since June 2002, he has overseen almost 22,000 sorties, hitting 391 Acarefully selected targets@ B operations which have Alaid the foundation@ for the military conquest (pp. 26-27).

2003 (continued)

April:

U.S. troops allow a massive looting of Iraq=s National Museum. Some 20,000 pieces disappear, of which, to date, 15,000 have not been recovered (p. 30).

May and November:

Pentagon official Paul Wolfowitz berates the Turkish military for not compelling the Turkish government to accept the request of the U.S. that its military be allowed to enter Turkey in order to open a front from Turkey into Iraq. Wolfowitz requests an apology from Turkish military leaders. Polls show that 95 percent of the Turks oppose the U.S. request (pp. 133 and 285).

2005:

March:

Two years after the U.S.-British invasion, more than half of Iraq=s archeological sites, including most of the major Sumerian sites, have been destroyed (p. 30).

IRAN

RHETORIC

Before 1979:

* In 1953, a coup organized by the United States and Britain destroys the Iranian parliamentary system and imposes Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi, who becomes a murderous dictator (1953-1979). He is overthrown in 1979 (p. 169).

When Shah Pahlevi was in charge of Iran, Henry Kissinger, as U.S. Secretary of State (1973-1977), held that:

AThe introduction of nuclear power will both provide for the growing needs of Iran=s economy and free remaining oil reserves for export or conversion to petrochemicals@ (p. 73).

2005:

* Shah Pahlevi is no longer in charge. In a March 9^th article in the Washington Post, Henry Kissinger writes:

AFor an oil producer, such as Iran, nuclear energy is a wasteful use of resources@ (p. 73).

Asked about his reversal, Kissinger responds:

AThey were an allied country [before 1979]@ (pp. 73 and 276; see also p. 24 of the present document).

2006:

April:

The U.S. House of Representatives passes a resolution to impose full economic sanctions on Iran until it stops its uranium enrichment program (Free Speech Radio News, May 2, 2006).

2006 (continued)

May:

1. Testifying before the House Sub-committee on National Security, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, dismisses insinuations that the U.S. is preparing to attack Iran. Asked by Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) the legal basis for the U.S.=s military presence in Iran at the present time, Bolton answers:

AArticle 51 of the UN Charter provides for the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense. That=s a pretty good basis@ (Free Speech Radio News, May 2, 2006).

Kucinich:

AHypothetically, is pre-emption self defense?@ (Free Speech Radio News, May 2, 2006).

Note: Kucinich meant Aanticipatory self-defense@ defined (probably by Condoleezza Rice) as Athe right of the United States to attack a country that it thinks could attack it first.@ This is preventive war, not pre-emptive (Emphasis added; p. 82; Noam Chomsky, 2003, p. 12).

Pre-emptive war might fall within the framework of international law. Thus, in 1983, if Russian bombers had been detected approaching the U.S., with the clear intent to bomb, from the military base in Grenada which the Reagan administration claimed was there, then, under a reasonable interpretation of the U.N. Charter, a pre-emptive attack destroying the planes and perhaps even the Grenadan base would have been justifiable (Noam Chomsky, 2003, p. 12).

Preventive war falls within the category of war crimes (Noam Chomsky, 2003, p. 12).

Bolton answers Kucinich firmly:

AIt certainly can be. Absolutely B as the Secretary General=s own High-level Panel recognized.@

Note: Bolton is referring to the December 2004 Report of the United Nations High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. He has not, however, completed the thought of the Panel.

The Panel firmly endorsed the principles of the Charter, namely, that force can be lawfully deployed only when authorized by the Security Council, or under Article 51 of the Charter, which permits:

Athe right of individual or collective self-defense, if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security@ (pp. 79-80 and 278).

Article 51 is commonly interpreted with sufficient latitude to allow the use of force when:

Athe necessity of self-defense [is] instant and overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, no moment for deliberation@ (pp. 80 and 278).

The High-level Panel concluded that:

AArticle 51 needs neither extension nor restriction of its long-understood scope [and] should be neither re-written nor re-interpreted@ (pp. 80 and 278).

The Panel specified further that:

AFor those impatient with [this conclusion about Article 51], the answer must be that, in a world full of perceived potential threats, the risk to the global order and the norm of non-intervention on which it continues to be based, is simply too great for the legality of unilateral preventive action, as distinct from collectively endorsed action, to be accepted. Allowing one to so act, is to allow all@ (pp. 80 and 278).

Referring to the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the effect that Iran has not halted its uranium enrichment program, as requested by the Agency, Bolton explains his upcoming resolution to the U.N. Security Council which invokes Chapter 7 of the Charter to have the Council impose sanctions.

Both the Sub-committee and Bolton know that the other four of the five permanent members of the Security Council (with veto power) have already announced their position B Great Britain and France will support the resolution, Russia and China will oppose it.

Bolton declares that should the Council vote negatively, the U.S. will act unilaterally:

AAnd while it would be desirable to have the anonymous Security Council when we adopt this resolution under Chapter 7, directing Iran to comply mandatorily with the IAEA resolutions, it is not impossible that we would proceed without them.@

2. In Iran, a senior Revolutionary Guard commander announces that, should the U.S. do something Aevil,@ Israel will be the Guard=s first target (Free Speech Radio News, May 2, 2006).

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

RHETORIC

1958:

* President Eisenhower (president 1953-1961) puzzles about:

Athe campaign of hatred [in the Arab world] against us, not by the governments but by the people [who are] on Nasser=s side [supporting independent secular nationalism]@ (p. 202).

2004:

* President George W. Bush labels Israel=s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon (prime minister 2001-2006), a Aman of peace@ (p. 172).

November:

President Bush hails the death of Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian National Authority, as an opportunity for the realization of his Avision@ for a democratic Palestinian state (p. 171).

FACTS

Late 1800's:

* The Zionist movement is founded, with the goal of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Zionist colonies begin to be formed in Palestine (Encyclopedia).

World War I:

* With the help of the Arabs, the British gain control of Palestine from the Turkish empire (Encyclopedia).

1917:

* In the Balfour Declaration, Britain promises aid to Zionist leaders for the establishment of a Jewish Anational home@ in Palestine. At the same time, however, Britain promises Arab leaders support for the creation of independent Arab states B Palestine being one of these (Encyclopedia).

1922;

* The League of Nations assigns Palestine as a mandate to Great Britain. Mandated Palestine is later called cis-Jordan (literally, Aon this side of the [River] Jordan B from the river to the sea) (p. 175; Encyclopedia).

1937:

* The Peel commission finds the British promises to Zionists and Arabs irreconcilable and recommends the partition of Palestine. The Arabs refuse (Encyclopedia).

1947:

February:

The British turn over the APalestine problem@ to the United Nations (Encyclopedia).

1948:

May:

The British High Commissioner for Palestine departs the country. Israel proclaims the State of Israel in Palestine. Most Palestinian Arabs flee from the territory.

Israeli historian Benny Morris, would later write:

AThe refugee problem was caused by the attacks of Jewish forces on Arab villages and towns, and by the inhabitants= fear of such attacks, compounded by expulsions, atrocities, and rumors of atrocities B and by the crucial Israeli cabinet decision, in June 1948, to bar a refugee return . . . Some 700,000 Palestinians were driven into exile, and another 150,000 would leave while under Israeli rule@ (pp. 175, 185 and 291; Encyclopedia).

1949:

January:

An armistice gives Israel 50 percent more land than it had in May 1948. Jordan annexes the Arab-held area adjoining its territory, and Egypt occupies Gaza (Encyclopedia).

December:

Jordan concludes an armistice with Israel, and early in 1950, formally annexes the West Bank (Encyclopedia).

1956:

October:

Egyptian president Gamal Abdal Nasser (president 1956-1970) nationalizes the Suez canal. Britain and France respond by invading the area of the Suez canal. Israel conquers the Gaza strip and the Sinai Peninsula (Encyclopedia).

November:

Israel withdraws its troops from Sinai (Encyclopedia).

1957:

March:

Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza. United Nations forces arrive in Sinai and Gaza to prevent violence between Egypt and Israel (Encyclopedia).

1967:

June:

The Six-Day War. Israel attacks Egypt and Syria. Jordan attacks Israel. In six days, Israel occupies:

1. The Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula of Egypt.

2. The Golan Heights of Syria.

3. The West Bank (under Jordanian rule since 1949).

4. The Arab sector of East Jerusalem (under Jordanian rule since 1949) (p. 198; Encyclopedia).

Aharon Barak, President of Israel=s Supreme Court, stipulates the law of the state:

AJerusalem is the capital of Israel, East Jerusalem is Israel=s territory, and Israel is sovereign to act there regardless of international law@ (p. 198).

1968:

May:

The United Nations Security Council condemns the annexation of Jerusalem by Israel (Resolution 252). The Council Aurgently calls upon Israel@ to rescind any measures taken with regard to the legal status of Jerusalem, and to take no further measures (p. 198).

1970's:

* Military strategist and Labor leader Moshe Dayan, expresses his goal of:

Acreeping annexation [and] creeping transfer [of] as much of the remaining population in the territories as possible@ (p. 291).

* In the 1970's, Dayan tells Israel=s Labor cabinet:

A[We must tell the Palestinian refugees in the territories that] we have no solution. You shall continue to live like dogs, and whoever wishes may leave, and we will see where this process leads@ (pp. 191 and 291; Encyclopedia).

1971:

* The fanatic Israeli Gush Emunim settler movement takes holds. The Palestinian resistance increases. By 1987, it would develop into the First Intifada (popular uprising) (p. 174).

February:

President Anwar Sadat of Egypt (president 1970-1981) offers a full peace treaty to Israel, in return for Israeli withdrawal from the Egyptian Sinai (which Israel has occupied since 1967). The Golda Meir Labor government rejects Sadat=s offer. General Ariel Sharon continues to expand his control of the Sinai and builds the all-Jewish city of Yamit.

Although the Egyptian offer conforms to the official policy of the United States, the United States backs Israel=s rejection of it, and adopts the policy of Astalemate@ B no negotiations, only force, propounded by U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger (pp. 173, 185 and 188; Encyclopedia; see also p. 16 of the present document).

1973:

October:

On October 6^th, the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria attack Israel in the Sinai and the Golan Heights. Israel is in danger of losing the war. The United States declares a nuclear alert (p. 173; Encyclopedia).

November:

On November 9^th, Israel and Egypt sign a cease-fire specifying that Egypt will regain both banks of the Suez canal (p. 173; Encyclopedia).

1974:

* The Palestinian National Council, led by President Yasser Arafat, Aimplicitly posits@ the idea of a two-state settlement B an idea which embodies the concepts of Israeli withdrawal form the West Bank and Gaza, Arab recognition of the right of Israel to live in security, and the establishment of a Palestinian state (p. 177; Finkelstein, p. 302. See 1983 and 1988 of the present document).

1976;

* Syria initiates a resolution which calls for a two-state settlement on the international (pre-June1967) borders. The resolution incorporates the wording of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which is the basic diplomatic document for a two-state solution. The resolution is backed by the major Arab states and by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), under President Arafat. The United States vetoes the resolution and continues to support Israeli expansion into the occupied territories (p. 176).

1977:

May:

Israel=s right-wing Likud party defeats the Labor party for the first time, and Menachem Begin becomes Prime Minister (prime minister 1977-1983) (Encyclopedia).

* Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Jerusalem in a peace gesture toward Israel (Encyclopedia).

1979:

March:

1. Israel invades Lebanon in an attempt to eliminate the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) bases used in raids against North Israel (Encyclopedia).

2. At Camp David, near Washington, D.C., the United States and Israel accept the offer that Sadat had made in 1971, with, in addition, the idea of Palestinian national rights in the occupied territories (p. 173; Encyclopedia).

June:

Israel withdraws its troops from Lebanon (Encyclopedia).

1980's:

* Throughout the 1980's, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat repeatedly offers negotiations toward a diplomatic settlement. Israel flatly refuses any discussions, and in this rejectionism, is backed by the United States (p. 177).

1981:

June:

Isarel, under Prime Minister Menachem Begin, bombs the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq (Finkelstein, p. 41; Encyclopedia)

October:

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated by Muslim fundamentalists. He is succeeded by Hosni Mubarak (president 1981- present) who becomes a dictator and has the support of the United States (p. 169; Encyclopedia).

1982:

* In response to the U.S.-supported invasion of Lebanon by Israel, the Lebanese organize Hezbollah, to drive the invaders out of the country (p. 168).

April:

Israel withdraws from nearly all of the Sinai. The melodrama of the evacuation of the settlers from Yamit is dubbed by Ha=aretz, the most prestigious Hebrew daily, AOperation National Trauma 1982@ (pp. 195 and 292; Encyclopedia).

June:

Israel re-invades Lebanon, advancing to Beirut, in a second attempt (after its failure in 1979) to eliminate the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) bases used in raids against North Israel. PLO forces withdraw from Beirut (Encyclopedia).

September:

From September 16^th to 18^th, the Israeli massacre Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila camps, in Beirut. Ariel Sharon, then Israel=s Defense Minister, allows the massacres to occur.

Later, the Commission of Inquiry into the Events at the Refugee Camps in Beirut (the Kahan Commission), established by the Israeli government and chaired by Yitzhak Kahan, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, faults Sharon for his negligence (complacency). Sharon loses his post as defense minister (Wikipedia, AAriel Sharon@).

1983:

* The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is forced to move its headquarters to Tunis, Tunisia (Encyclopedia).

* In his book, The fateful triangle B the United States, Israel and the Palestinians (1983, London, England: Pluto; 1999, Cambridge, MA: South End), Noam Chomsky, recasts the debate on the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Until then, in the United States, the debate typically had juxtaposed the position of the AArabs@ against that of the AIsraeli.@ Chomsky sees the settlement favored by the international community as a third pole which should enter the debate, and coins the term Ainternational consensus@ to give it expression. Registered in numerous forms B most notably, United Nations resolutions B this international consensus supports a two-state settlement incorporating the provisions of U.N. Revolution 242:

1. Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza.

2. Arab recognition of Israel=s right to live in security.

3. The establishment of a Palestinian state.

Chomsky documents that the Palestinian leadership and key Arab states have come around to supporting the international consensus for a two-state settlement, whereas Israel and the United States are its major (indeed, before long, its only) opponents (p. 177; Finkelstein, p. 302. See 1974 and 1988 of the present document).

1985:

* A huge explosion in a Beirut mosque kills 80 and wounds 200, mostly women and girls who were leaving the mosque through the particular exit where the bomb was placed. The terrorist attack, aimed at a Muslim cleric who escaped, is traced to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Saudi intelligence, operating with the help of the British (p. 166).

* In Israeli-occupied Lebanon, Israel, under President Shimon Peres (prime minister 1984-1986 and 1995-1996), targets Aterrorist villagers@ in AIron Fist@ operations (pp. 166-167).

* Israel bombs Tunis, Tunisia, killing 75 B both Tunisians and Palestinians. The United States assists the operation by not informing Tunisia, its ally, that the bombers are on the way B though the Sixth Fleet certainly knew. Tunis houses the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz praises the attack. In a unanimous vote, except for the abstention of the United States, the United Nations Security Council condemns the attack as an Aact of armed aggression@ (p. 167).

1987:

December:

The AFirst Intifada,@ (popular uprising) against Israeli rule begins in the occupied territories. It would last until 1993 (the Oslo agreements) (Finkelstein; Encyclopedia).

1988:

November:

At a November meeting in Algiers, the Palestinian National Council (the parliament in exile of the Palestinian people) unilaterally declares the independence of the Arab State of Palestine, and officially calls for a two-state settlement in terms of the international consensus. Thus, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), under Yasser Arafat=s leadership, in effect renounces terrorism, and accepts Israel=s right to co-exist with an independent Palestine (p. 177; Encyclopedia; Wikipedia, APalestinian National Council.@ See 1974 and 1983 of the present document).

1989:

* Israel returns the Taba strip to Egypt. It is the last portion of the Sinai which it holds (Encyclopedia).

* By the end of his term, U.S. President Ronald Reagan (president 1981-1989) has vetoed 19 United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning Israel (p. 189).

May:

The Israeli coalition government, headed by Yitzhak Shamir (prime minister 1986-1990 and 1990-1992) and Shimon Peres (prime minister 1984-1986 and 1995-1996), reaffirms the Israeli political consensus for a Apeace plan@:

1. There can be no Aadditional Palestinian state@ between Jordan and Israel B Jordan already being a APalestinian state.@

2. The fate of the occupied territories will be settled Ain accordance with the basic guidelines of the [Israeli] government@ (p. 177).

December:

On December 6^th, the United States accepts without qualifications the Israeli Apeace plan@ of May, and it becomes the Athe Baker Plan.@

On the same day, the United Nations General Assembly once again calls for an international peace conference under U.N. supervision, with the announced goal of laying the basis for a diplomatic settlement on the international (pre-June 1967) borders, with guarantees for the security of all states in the region Awithin secure and internationally recognized borders,@ and with the new Palestinian state Aunder the supervision of the United Nations for a limited period, as part of the peace process@ (Resolution 44/42). The vote is 153 to 3, with the United States, Israel, and Dominica opposed. Belize abstains (p. 290).

1990's:

* Israeli settlement and cantonization of the occupied territories proceed steadily through the 1990's B with the full support of the United States (pp. 176, 178-179 and 190).

1991:

* Iraq bombs Israel with missiles (Encyclopedia).

1993:

* The Oslo agreements do not mention Palestinian national rights. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat is assigned the role of a policeman for Israel in the occupied territories (p. 178).

1994:

* Israel allows limited Palestinian self-rule in Jericho and the Gaza Strip.

* Yasser Arafat is named president of the newly established Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Pursuant to the Oslo accords, the Authority is a transition body which, during the next five years, will negotiate a final status agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel (Encyclopedia; Wikipedia, APalestinian National Authority@).

1995:

November:

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (prime minister 1974-1977 and 1992-1995) is assassinated by a right-wing Israeli extremist (Encyclopedia).

1996:

* Yasser Arafat is elected president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), in elections which President Clinton deems acceptable. Subsequently, all demands by Arafat for new elections are denied. In the views of the United States and Israel, his re-election would have been assured, thus giving him a fresher mandate and the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas new credibility (pp. 171-172 and 289; Encyclopedia; Wikipedia, AHamas@).

* The conservative Likud government, led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (prime minister, 1996-1999), makes the first official mention by Israel of the possibility of a Palestinian state B saying, in the words of David Bar-Illan, Director of Communications and Policy Planning in the Office of the Prime Minister, that Palestinians can call whatever fragments of Palestine are left to them Aa state,@ if they like, or they can call it Afried chicken@ (p. 178 and 290).

February:

Benjamin (AFuad@) Ben-Eliezer, Minister of Housing and Construction, under Prime Minister Shimon Peres (prime minister 1984-1986 and 1995-1996), explains:

AIt is no secret that the government=s stand, which will be our ultimate demand, is that as regards the Jerusalem areas B Ma=aleh Adumim, Givat Ze=ev, Beitar, and Gush Etzion B they will be an integral part of Israel=s future map. There is no doubt about this . . . I build quietly. My goal is to build and not encourage opposition to my efforts . . . What is important to me is to build, build, build, and build some more@ (pp. 200 and 292).

1997:

May:

Israel=s Labor party, under the leadership of Ehud Barak, recognizes for the first time the Palestinian=s right to self-determination, and does not rule out in this connection the establishment of a Palestinian state with limited sovereignty in areas excluding major Jewish settlement blocs (p. 178; Encyclopedia).

1998:

* Shlomo Ben-Ami (who, in 2000, would become the chief negotiator at Camp David, under Prime Minister Ehud Barak) publishes the goals of the Israeli doves. Ben-Ami writes:

AThe Oslo peace process [is to lead to a] permanent neo-colonial dependency [with some form of local autonomy for the Palestinians in the occupied territories]@ (pp. 178-179).

1999:

* Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (prime minister, 1999-2001) sign an agreement to finalize their borders and determine the status of Jerusalem by the year 2000 (Encyclopedia).

2000:

* The rate of post-Oslo settlement expansion reaches its peak during the year 2000 B the last year of the terms of both Israel=s Labor Prime Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. President Bill Clinton (p. 179).

July:

At Camp David, U.S. President Clinton and Israel=s Prime Minister Barak make an offer that would leave Israel in control of 13 percent of the West Bank. Ehud Barak=s final offer reduces this to 12 percent. The U.S.-Israeli proposal establishes three cantons formed by two Israeli salients extending from Israel well into the West Bank. Palestinian National Authority President Arafat rejects the proposal (p. 179).

September:

Following the breakdown of the negotiations at Camp David, a second intifada, Athe Al-Aqsa Intifada,@ breaks out (pp. 169 and 183; Noam Chomsky, 2003, p. 180).

December:

President Clinton proposes Aparameters@ which go farther toward a possible settlement. Both Prime Minister Barak and President Arafat accept these parameters as the basis for further efforts. Both express Areservations.@ Barak=s Areservations,@ some of them quite significant, are outlined in a 20-page letter to President Clinton (pp. 181 and 290).

2001:

* During the tenure of U.S. Presidents George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) and Bill Clinton (1993-2001), the U.S. has vetoed seven United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning Israel (p. 189).

* The map of the West Bank which is reproduced on page 35 of the present document, is published by Survival of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (Chomsky, 2006, back of title page).

January:

High-level Israeli-Palestinian negotiators take the Clinton parameters as the basis for further efforts, and address their Areservations@ at meetings in Taba. Israel reduces its demands by 50 percent beyond Camp David B instead of proposing to annex 13 percent of Palestine, as at Camp David, it proposes to annex 6-8 percent. The Taba draft has a clear emphasis that its implementation would not threaten the Jewish character of the State of Israel.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak calls off the negotiations four days early, claiming that there was no hope for progress:

AIt doesn=t make any difference why I ended it. It had to end because it wasn=t going anywhere@ (pp. 181-182).

The negotiators differ, their final joint statement declaring:

A[We] have never been closer to reaching an agreement and it is thus our shared belief that the remaining gaps can be bridged with the resumption of negotiations@ (pp. 181-182).

March:

Ariel Sharon is elected Prime Minister of Israel (Wikipedia, AAriel Sharon@).

Map, Israel-Palestine, 2001 (p. 180).

2002:

April:

The Israeli Defense Forces carry out Operation Defensive Shield, in Bethlehem, Jenin, Nabus and Ramallah. It is the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War, and culminates in the siege of the Jenin refugee camp (Finkelstein, p. 37; Wikipedia, AOperation Defensive Shield@).

June:

President Bush outlines a plan for peace, in which he calls for an independent Palestinian state to exist side by side with the Israeli state. The European Union, Russia and the United Nations later join the U.S. in developing these principles into a Aroad map to peace@ (Wikipedia, Aroad map@).

December:

Unofficial but prominent Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, supported by the usual broad international consensus, present the Geneva Accord, a detailed proposal for a two-state solution. Israel rejects the proposal. The United States does not support it (p. 176 and 290).

President Bush votes against yet another General Assembly resolution condemning the annexation of Jerusalem by Israel, thereby reversing the hitherto official position of the United States in opposition to the annexation (pp. 198 and 292).

2003:

March:

Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat appoints a Prime Minister B Mahmoud Abbas [also known by the Arab honorific title (kunya) as AAbu Mazen@]. This is the first step on the Aroad map to peace,@ and is at the demand of the United States and Israel, who wish to sideline Arafat in the peace process. (Abbas would resign after only seven months) (Wikipedia, AMahmoud Abbas@; Wikipedia, Aroad map@).

April:

The United States releases the details of the Aroad map to peace@ process (Wikipedia, Aroad map@).

June:

President Bush visits the Middle East (Wikipedia, Aroad map@).

November:

B=Tselem (the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories), reports the number killed from the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada (September 2000) through November 2003 (Table 1, below).

Table 1: Fatalities, Al-Aqsa Intifada (September 2000 through November 2003) ^(a)

Ethnicity	Number Killed (Number of minors included)	By Whom killed	Where killed
Palestinians ?Residence Residents of the Occupied Territories ?Residence	2,236 (428) 48 (1) 32 (3)	Israeli Security Forces Israeli Security Forces Israeli Civilians	In the Occupied Territories Within Israel In the Occupied Territories
Total Percent Children	2,316 (432) 19 percent
Israelis Civilians Civilians Members of the Israeli Security Forces Members of the Israeli Security Forces	376 (74) 196 (30) 178 (-) 77 (-)	Palestinians, Residents of the Occupied Territories Palestinians ?Residence Palestinians ?Residence Palestinians, Residents of the Occupied Territories	Within Israel In the Occupied Territories In the Occupied Territories Within Israel
Total Percent Children	827 (104) 13 percent
Ratio Palestinian to Israeli killed	2.8:1

(a) Norman Finkelstein, pp. 96-97 and 221. (The Al-Aqsa Intifada is also known as Athe Second Intifada@).

2003 (continued)

December:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announces his Adisengagement plan@ B a pullout by Israel from the Gaza Strip and isolated out-posts in the northern West bank. He makes clear that this is just one side of a triangle whose other sides are the completion of the Separation Wall in the West Bank, and the Astrengthening of control@ over the settlement blocs. The plan is unilateral, pointedly rejecting any Palestinian participation (p. 194).

Sharon is explicit about his intentions:

AIt is clear that in the West Bank, there are areas which will be part of the State of Israel, including major Israeli population centers, cities, towns and villages, security areas and other places of special interest to Israel@ (p. 194).

2004:

* The Israeli Ministry of the Interior announces that:

2. During 2004, the number of Israelis moving to settlements within the Occupied Territories has increased by 6 percent. (This is approximately from 374,590 in 2003 to 398,500 in 2004, Table 2, below) (p. 193; American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2006).

3. The Jewish population in East Jerusalem is more than 200,000 (Table 2, below) (p. 193).

* The ethnicity of the population in the Occupied Territories (Arab areas occupied by Israel since 1967), reveals a sizeable proportion of Jews (Table 2, below).

Table 2: Ethnicity of Population in the Occupied Territories

(2004) ^(a)

Occupied Territory	Arab	Jewish	Total Population	Percent Jewish	Number of Israeli Settlements
West Bank	2,237,000	201,000	2,438,000	8.3	140
Gaza Strip	1,275,000	7,500	1,282,500	0.6	21
East Jerusalem	200,000	170,000	370,000	46.0	9
Golan Heights	20,000	20,000	40,000	50.0	30
Total	3,732,000	398,500	4,130,500	9.7	200

^(a) The data are for 2004, and, therefore, before the August 2005 evacuation of the 7,500 settlers in the Gaza Strip. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2006.

2004 (continued)

* The illegality of the takeover of Palestinian land and resources by Israel is not in serious question. Its illegality has been accepted by the United Nations Security Council, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the states which are parties to the Geneva Conventions, many governments, academic writers, and, in 2004, unanimously by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which included U.S. Justice Thomas Buergenthal (p. 176).

* The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), issues its Arab Development Report which inquires into the Aissue of freedom in the Arab world, and its relationship to good governance and human development.@ The Report deplores:

Athe repeated use of the veto, or threat of its use by the United States, [which] has limited the effectiveness of the Security Council in establishing peace in the region@ (p. 170).

* In Lebanon, after 22 years of fighting, Hizbollah has now driven Israel out of the country (p. 168).

March:

The quadriplegic cleric Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and six bystanders, are killed by an Israeli helicopter gunship. Yassin was the co-founder (in 1987) and leader of the Palestinian Islamist organization, Hamas. The United Nations passes a resolution condemning the assassination (pp. 23 and 189-190).

2004 (continued)

July:

The World Court issues an advisory ruling that the building by Israel of a ASeparation Wall@ dividing the West Bank, violates international law (p. 45).

With the overwhelming support of both political parties, the United States Congress passes resolutions condemning the decision of the World Court. The Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, takes a particularly strong stand condemning the Court (p. 45).

November:

On November 11^th, Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat, dies. Arafat was founder (1957) and leader of the Fatah movement, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (1969-2004), and President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) (1993-2004). Since the Al-Aqsa Intifada (September 2000), by order of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Arafat had been confined to his headquarters in Ramallah (p. 171; Wikipedia, AArafat@).

Arafat would be succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas.

2005:

* Israel appropriates 80 percent of the water extracted from West Bank aquifers. It consolidates this arrangement by building the ASeparation Wall,@ purportedly for Asecurity@ (p. 174).

* During the first nine months of 2005:

1. An estimated 14,000 settlers moved to the West Bank.

2. An estimated 8,500 settlers left Gaza.

3. More land was taken in the West Bank than was abandoned in the Gaza Strip (pp. 200-201).

* The Israeli government quietly goes ahead with a plan in the West Bank, which would bar all Palestinians from any road used by the Israelis (pp. 191-192 and 292).

* By 2005, U.S. President George Bush has vetoed seven United Nations resolutions concerning Israel (p. 189).

2005 (continued)

* The United Nations resolutions vetoed by Presidents Ronald Reagan (president 1981-1989), George H. W. Bush (president 1989-1993), Bill Clinton (president 1993-2001), and George W. Bush (president 2001- present), include:

1. A call for a U.N. observer force in the territories to reduce violence.

2. Condemnation of all acts of terror and violence.

3. The establishment of a monitoring apparatus.

4. An expression of concern over the killing by Israel of United Nations employees and the destruction of a U.N. World Food Program warehouse.

5. Reaffirmation of the illegality of deportation.

6. An expression of concern over the Separation Wall cutting through the occupied West Bank.

7. Condemnation of the assassination of the quadriplegic cleric Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and six bystanders, in March 2004. [Yassin was the co-founder (in 1987) and leader of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas].

8. Condemnation of an Israeli military incursion into Gaza, killing many civilians and doing extensive damage to property (pp. 23 and 189-190; Wikipedia, AYassin@).

2005 (continued)

* President Bush goes to new lengths to encourage the occupation by:

4. Formally recognizing Israel=s right to retain West Bank settlements.

5. Continuing to provide the needed support for Israel=s expansion into the West Bank.

6. Supporting the building of the Separation Wall which is to encompass all settlement blocs, creating three ABantustans@ on the West Bank.

The three cantons are:

7. Jenin-Nablus.

8. Ramallah.

9. Bethlehem-Hebron.

The Israeli northern salient (Ariel) is to extend to the Israeli-controlled Jordan valley, just as the southern salient (Ma=aleh Adumim) already does (pp. 180, 190-191 and 292).

January:

Mahmoud Abbas wins the Palestinian general elections and becomes the new president of the Palestinian National Authority, succeeding Yasser Arafat (Wikipedia, AMahmoud Abbas@).

March:

Anticipating the June 2005 elections in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has gained considerable support, the United States House of Representatives passes a resolution condemning Athe continuous terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hezbollah.@ The Senate follows with unanimous endorsement of a similar resolution. In fact, Hezbollah has not carried out a terrorist attack for at least the past decade (p. 168).

May:

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meets President George Bush, in the White House (Wikipedia, AMahmoud Abbas@).

2005 (continued)

August:

Israel=s Adisengagement plan@ B its pullout from the Gaza Strip B is actually an expansion, as then Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu makes clear:

AIsrael will invest tens of millions of dollars in West Bank settlements as it withdraws from the Gaza Strip@ (p. 193).

This AOperation National Trauma 2005@ reaches heights of drama far above that of AOperation National Trauma 1982.@ Prime Minister Ariel Sharon explains:

AThere are about a quarter of a million Jews living in areas [of the West Bank]. There are many children there, religious families with many children. What am I supposed to say? >You cannot live there anymore?= You were born there! You were born there!@ (pp. 197, 199 and 292).

September:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon informs the United Nations that, in view of Hamas= commitment to violence, should the organization be permitted to run in Palestinian elections, Israel would disrupt the elections. (Israel subsequently backs away, on the grounds that it would be Aimpractical@ (pp. 172 and 289).

President Bush presses Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to require that all candidates renounce violence and Aunlawful or non-democratic methods@ (pp. 172 and 289).

Out-going United States ambassador Daniel Kurtzer confirms the U.S.=s commitment to the retention by Israel of West Bank settlements:

AIn the context of a final status agreement, the United States will support the retention by Israel of areas with a high concentration of Israeli population@ (pp. 199-200 and 292).

2005 (continued)

October:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announces that Israel is abandoning its commitment to freeze settlement at the first stage of the Aroad map to peace,@ reiterating that Israel will never give up the large West Bank settlement blocks, home to the vast majority of settlers. He reveals that in the past year, he has received a letter from President Bush acknowledging that Ademographic realities@ would have to be taken into account in determining the border between Israel and a future state of Palestine (pp. 172 and 289).

November:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declares that Israel intends to keep control of the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. The three Palestinian cantons, therefore, are to be completely surrounded by Israel (pp. 193, 198-199 and 292).

2006:

* The demographic situation is such that:

1. Jews make up more than 10 percent of the population in the Occupied Territories (Table 2, p. 40 of the present document. Jews made up 10 percent in 2004).

2. The population density in the Gaza Strip is 13 times that in Israel.

With (6,352,117 / 10,233,866) x 100 = 62 percent of the population in the whole of cis-Jordan, the Jews occupy (20,330 / 26,331) x 100 = 77 percent of the land.

With (2,460,492 + 1,421,257) / 10,233,866 x 100 = 38 percent of the population of cis-Jordan, the Arabs occupy (5,641 + 360) / 26,331 x 100 = 23 percent of the land (Table 3, below) (p. 193).

Table 3: Population Density, Israel and Palestine (2006) ^(a)

Country/Occupied Territory	Population (Estimated)	Land Area (square kilometers)	Population Density (pop./sq. km.)
Israel	6,352,117	20,330	312
West Bank	2,460,492	5,641	436
Gaza Strip	1,421,257 ^(b)	360	3,948
Total	10,233,866	26,331	389

^(a) Israel:

Population: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), The World Factbook.

Land Area: Madrid Autonomous University, Medina Project.

West Bank and Gaza Strip:

Population and Land Area: Infoplease, Palestinian State (proposed).

^(b) Excludes the 7,500 settlers who were evacuated in August 2005.

2006 (continued)

3. From 2000 to 2005, the Jewish population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip increased by 21 percent (Table 4, below).

Table 4: Jewish Population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,

by Year ^(a)

Year	Jewish Population	Percent Increase in previous Number of Years stated
1970	1,514
1977	5,023	232 (in 7 years)
1980	12,424	147 (in 3 years)
1985	B
1990	76,000	512 (in 10 years)
1995	146,207	92 (in 5 years)
2000	203,067	39 (in 5 years)
2005	246,248 ^(b)	21 (in 5 years)

^(a) American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2006.

^(b) Excludes the 7,500 settlers who were evacuated from the Gaza Strip in August 2005.

2006 (continued)

January:

1. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffers a massive stroke and remains in coma. He is succeeded by Ehud Olmert (ABC News, May 5, 2006; Wikipedia, AAriel Sharon@).

2. Ismail Haniya (more commonly Haniyeh), senior political leader of Hamas, wins the Palestinian legislative (parliamentary) elections and becomes the new Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority.

Mahmoud Abbas remains President of the Palestinian National Authority (Ha=aretz, May 4, 2006; Wikipedia, AIsmail Haniyeh@).

The United States and some European countries cut off aid to the Hamas-led government which they consider to be a state sponsor of terrorism.

April:

On April 30^th, the Israeli government announces that:

It has changed the planned route of the West Bank Separation Wall. The new route will extend deep into the West Bank near Jerusalem, putting Atens of thousands@ settlers on the Israeli side of the Wall, and isolating Athousands@ of Palestinian villagers from access to the City.

It will speed up the construction of the Wall.

It has carried out raids in Tulkarm, Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron, killing a mother of five (in Tulkarm), and arresting 40 people (Free Speech Radio News, May 1, 2006).

2006 (continued)

May:

1. Ehud Olmert is installed as Israel=s new Prime Minister. He is the new leader of the Kadima party, founded in November 2005 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (Wikipedia, AKadima@).

Olmert explains that he plans to move 60,000 settlers in isolated areas of the West Bank and have them join the 340,000 settlers in the main settlement blocs, which, he anticipates, will become a permanent part of the state of Israel. Olmert gives his reasoning:

AThe continuation of scattered settlements throughout the West Bank creates an inseparable mix of populations that will threaten the existence of the state of Israel as a Jewish state@ (Democracy Now!, May 5, 2006; ABC News, May 5, 2006).

2. Khaled Meshal, Hamas leader, in exile in Syria, reiterates the conditions under which Hamas would be willing to move toward peace with Israel:

AIf Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem, acknowledges the right of return, lifts its siege, dismantles the settlements, dismantles the [Separation] Wall, and releases the prisoners, then it is possible for us as Palestinians and Arabs to take a serious step to match the Zionist step@ (Ha=aretz, May 4, 2006).

3. Fatah [the Palestinian National Liberation movement, the largest organization in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)] is now the official opposition to Hamas (Wikipedia, AFatah@).

LATIN AMERICA

2000:

* For the first time, U.S. military and police assistance to Latin America exceeds economic and social aid. Even at the height of the Cold War, economic had always far exceeded military aid (p. 107).

2003:

* In one year (mid-2002 to mid-2003), the number of Latin American troops trained by U.S. programs increases by more than 50 percent (p. 107).

THE ENVIRONMENT

FACTS

2005:

February:

At the American Association for the Advancement of Science, annual meeting, leading U.S. climate researchers release compelling evidence that human activities are responsible for global warming, and predict major climatic effects (pp. 17 and 268).

April:

Congress enacts the United States Energy Policy, 2005. If implemented, the Policy will permit drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), thus depleting domestic supplies and increasing long-term dependence on oil imports (p. 37).

June:

In preparation for the July 2005 Group of Eight Nations (G8) summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the scientific academies of the G8 nations (including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences), join the scientific academies of China, India and Brazil, in calling for urgent action to head off a potential environmental disaster:

AThe scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify prompt action. It is vital that all nations identify cost-effective steps that they can take now, to contribute to substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions@ (pp. 16-17).

Within the month, Washington succeeds in having language calling for prompt action removed, as well as such statements as AOur world is warming.@ This is in line with the expressed opinion of President George W. Bush that global warming is too uncertain a matter to justify anything more than voluntary measures (pp. 17 and 267).

2006:

May:

The World Conservation Union releases its annual report of endangered species. Of more than 40,000 species assessed, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, and one in three amphibians are in danger of extinction (Free Speech Radio News, May 2, 2006).

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

RHETORIC

2004:

* After the 2004 elections, Colin Powell, Secretary of State, informs the public that President George W. Bush has won a mandate from the American people to continue pursuing his Aaggressive@ foreign policy (p. 214).

FACTS

2004:

* In the 2004 elections, George Bush received the votes of just more than 30 percent of the electorate, and John Kerry slightly less than 30 percent (p. 220).

2005:

* The United States and Israel are alone in opposing a United Nations treaty being debated by the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Ato protect and promote cultural diversity@ (p. 230 and 296-297).

* The United States stands almost alone in opposing international supervision of the Internet, insisting that it alone must control its governance (pp. 230 and 296).

WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

FACTS

1980-2005:

* During the period 1980-2005, incarceration has increased dramatically. Throughout this 25-year period, crime rates in the United States have remained at about the same level as those of Europe. Incarceration rates, however, which, in 1980, were similar to those in Europe, by 2005, had jumped to 5-10 times those of Europe. Populations most likely to be imprisoned include blacks and, more recently, women. Over half of those in federal prisons are serving a sentence for drug-related crimes (p. 230).

1983-1998:

* During the 15-year period 1983-1998, the average wealth of the top 1 percent of the U.S. population increased by 42 percent. The average wealth of the bottom 40 percent of the population decreased by 76 percent (p. 211).

2000-2005:

* Fifty years of a sustained decline in infant mortality, first slows and then reverses during the period 2000-2005. By 2005, U.S. infant mortality is similar to that of Malaysia, a country whose average income is a quarter that in the Untied States (pp. 245 and 299).

* Reflecting the institutionalization of state-corporate control, the number of registered lobbyists in Washington more than doubles during the period 2000-2005 (pp. 236 and 297).

2003:

October:

The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a bill that could require the international studies departments of universities to show more support for American foreign policy, or risk their federal funding (p. 239).

2004:

* The Census Bureau data reveal that:

10. For the first time on record, household incomes have failed to increase for five consecutive years.

11. Median pre-tax real income is at its lowest point since 1997.

12. The poverty rate has increased for four consecutive years, and is now 12.7 percent.

13. The median earning for full-time male workers has decreased by 2.3 percent.

14. Inequality continues to rise, even when gains from stock holdings are excluded. Given the extremely narrow concentration of stock ownership, including them would further widen the inequality (p. 212).

* The United States Congress passes a bankruptcy law which sides with industry, against the borrower. In 2001, about half of the bankruptcy filings were precipitated by health care costs (pp. 243-244).

2005:

* The United States is virtually the only industrial nation to have the death penalty (p. 230).

* The United States is the only nation to sentence juveniles for life, without the possibility of parole. The country has 2,225 such juveniles, while together, South Africa, Israel and Tanzania have 24, and the rest of the world has none. Some states in the U.S. permit such sentencing for children as young as ten. Such practices are in violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the United States and Somalia are the only countries not to have ratified (pp. 230-231and 297).

* The House Agricultural Committee votes to remove 300,000 people from food stamps, and cut off school breakfasts and lunches for 40,000 children (p. 212).

2005 (continued)

April:

The United States is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, it effectively rejects its terms when it casts a negative vote on two separate United Nations resolutions B one specifying the right to food, and the other, the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The votes are 52 to 1 both times (pp. 231 and 297).

July:

By mid-2005, the average hourly wages for production and non-supervisory workers were still below the low point of the 2001 recession (p. 212).

September:

At the United Nations World Summit, the United States again formally reaffirms its agreement with the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (pp. 80, 231, 297).

2006:

* The giant government contractor Haliburton (of which Vice-President Dick Cheney was chief executive before joining the government) has received a $385,000,000 Acontingency contract@ from the federal government to build a network of Adetention centers@ (prisons) across the country. The project is to start when the authorities give the go-ahead and are to be managed by the Department of Homeland Security. Each center will have the capacity for 5,000 people (Hightower Lowdown, May 2006, p. 1).

THE 9/11 ATTACKS (September 11, 2001)

RHETORIC

The Official Myth:

America, because of its goodness, was attacked by fanatic Arab Moslems. (Unless specified otherwise, all references in this section are to David Griffin, 2006).

September:

* September 12^th: President George W. Bush announces his intention to lead a monumental struggle of good vs. evil.

* September 13^th: President Bush declares that the next day will be a national day of prayer and remembrance for the victims of the terrorist attacks.

* September 14^th: Surrounded by Billy Graham, a cardinal, a rabbi and an imam, President Bush delivers a sermon in the national cathedral, in which he makes an unprecedented declaration of war from a cathedral:

AOur responsibility in history is already clear B to answer these attacks and rid the word of evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful but fierce when stirred to anger. In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America because we are freedom=s home and defender. And the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time. We ask almighty God to watch over our nation and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. And may he always guide our country. God bless America.@

FACTS

1. The U.S. Government is capable of doing such a Thing:

a. The United States has often used deceit to begin wars:

i. The American-Mexican war (1846-1848, the false claim that Mexico had shed American blood on American soil).

ii. The Spanish-American war (1898, the Aremember the Maine@ incident).

iii. The war in the Philippines (1899-1901, the false claim that the Filipinos fired the first shot).

iv. The Vietnam war (1964-1973, the Gulf of Tonkin hoax).

b. The United States has organized false flag terrorist attacks and blamed them on its enemy. NATO, for instance, in Western Europe, during the Cold War.

c. The United States has planned operations which would kill Americans. An example is the 1962 Operation Northwoods, devised three years after Fidel Castro had overthrown the pro-American dictator, Fulgencio Batista. The plan contained various pretexts which would provide justification for military intervention in Cuba.

2. American Leaders have dreamed of establishing a Permanent Global Hegemony: A APax Americana,@ had been a long-standing idea, first officially articulated in the Defense Planning Guidance, 1992, drafted by neo-conservative Paul Wolfowitz, on behalf of then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. (In February 2005, Paul Wolfowitz would become president of the World Bank) (p. 134; CounterSpin, May 1, 2006; see pp. 5 and 15 of the present document).

It was known that achieving this goal would require:

a. Control of the world=s oil.

b. A technological transformation of the military in which fighting for space would become central.

c. An enormous increase in defense spending.

d. A modification of the doctrine of preventive attack.

e. An event which would make the American people ready to accept these imperialistic policies.

In his 1997 book, The Grand Chessboard, Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote that only a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat B similar to Pearl Harbor which mobilized the American people for World War II B could overcome the reluctance of the American people to authorize the money and human sacrifice necessary for this imperial ambition.

In 2000, the document, ARebuilding America=s Defenses, by the neo-conservative think-tank, the Project for the New American Century, focused on the transformation of the military, and noted:

AThis process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor.@

After 9/11, the attacks were treated like a new Pearl Harbor. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld declared that 9/11:

Acreated the kind of opportunities that World War II offered to re-fashion the world.@

The opportunities which 9/11 provided to actualize the dream, included:

a. The attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq.

b. The enormous increase in the military budget.

c. The hoped-for military transformation.

d. Turning the new idea of pre-emptive warfare into official doctrine. The new doctrinal change was announced in the National Security Strategy of the United States, 2002 which said that America will act against emerging threats before they are fully formed.

Note: Griffin means Aanticipatory self-defense@B preventive war. See p. 17 of the present document for the definition of pre-emptive war.

3. The Government can keep Secrets. Examples include the atomic bomb Manhattan Project, and the war in Indonesia, secret from 1957 to 1995.

4. The 9/11 Commission was not independent from the Executive Branch. Its executive director, Phillip Zelikow, was essentially a member of the Bush administration.

Phillip Zelikow:

a. Was one of the prime authors of the National Security Strategy of the United States, 2002 which articulated the new doctrine of Aanticipatory self-defense.@

b. Had worked with Condoleeza Rice on the National Security Council in the administration of President George H. W. Bush (1989-1993).

c. During the Clinton years (1993-2001), wrote a book with Condoleeza Rice.

d. In 2001, worked for Condoleeza Rice (then National Security Advisor) in the transition phase to the National Security Council of President George W. Bush (2001- present).

e. Was appointed to President Bush=s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

5. The Bush Administration did not provide Proof that the Attacks were carried by al-Qaeda Terrorists under the Direction of Osama bin Laden:

a. Ring leader=s Mohamed Atta=s baggage, found in the Boston airport from which Flight AA-11 departed, contained his will!

b. Several of the 19 men are still alive.

c. Secretary of State Colin Powell promised to provide a white paper providing proof that the attacks were planned by Osama bin Laden, but never produced such a paper. British Prime Minister Tony Blair did provide such a document, but it begins with the admission that it does not purport to provide a prosecutable case against Osama bin Laden in a court of law.

d. President Bush refused the Taliban=s offer to hand over bin Laden, if the United States provided evidence for his involvement in 9/11.

e. The video allegedly found in Afghanistan, which the Bush administration said provided sufficient proof of bin Laden=s involvement, is probably planted evidence. The bin Laden who, in the video, admits responsibility for the attacks, does not look like the bin Laden in all the other videos.

f. In June 2001, when Osama bin Laden was already America=s most wanted criminal, he spent two weeks in a Dubai hospital, treated by an American doctor and visited by the local CIA agent.

g. After 9/11, the United States military allowed bin Laden to escape on at least four occasions, the last one being in the battle of Torabora.

6. The Attacks did not come as a Surprise to the United States:

a. In the three days prior to 9/11, an extraordinarily high volume of put options were purchased:

i. For the two airlines, and only the two airlines, which were going to be affected (American and United Airlines).

ii. For Morgan Stanley Dean Whitter which occupied 22 stories in the World Trade Center.

The 9/11 Commission recognized that for United Airlines, 95 percent of these purchases were by a single U.S.-based institutional investor, but, it added, that this investor had Ano conceivable ties to Al-Qaeda.@

b. President Bush stayed at his highly publicized location in the Florida school, remaining there another half hour after the strike on the second tower, and even delivering an address on television, thereby announcing to the world that he was still at the school. The secret service did not, as is standard procedure, rush the president to a safe location when it became obvious, with the second strike, that terrorists were using planes to attack high-value targets.

c. Beginning at 9:26 a.m., Vice-president Dick Cheney, in the presidential emergency operation center, under the White House, was repeatedly told about an airplane heading for the Pentagon. He did not order an evacuation. The plane struck at 9:38 a.m.

7. Even if unexpected, the Attacks could have been prevented:

a. Standard operating procedures specify that at any sign of a possible hijacking of an airplane, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) should immediately (within minutes) notify the North American Aerospace Command (NORAD), which in turn contacts the nearest air force base with fighters on alert, and issues a scramble order for jet fighters to identify the problem.

Had the procedures been followed, AA-11 (World Trade Center, North Tower, 8:46 a.m.), UA-175 (WTC South Tower, 9:03 a.m.) and AA-77 (the Pentagon, 9:38 a.m.) all would have been intercepted before they struck.

8. The Towers and Building 7 were subjected to Controlled Demolition:

a. The Collapses had all the Features of a Controlled Demolition:

The Towers and Building 7 were completely motionless before they suddenly and totally collapsed.

The Towers and Building 7 imploded on themselves, straight down.

The buildings collapsed at virtually free-fall speed, meaning that the lower floors were offering virtually no resistance.

The collapses were total, meaning that the steel columns in the core of each building would have had to be broken into rather small segments.

Great quantities of molten steel was produced.

Numerous witnesses have described many explosions both before and during the collapses.

Virtually everything (including concrete, desks and computers), except the steel, was pulverized into very tiny dust particles.

a. Accessibility to the Buildings: Marvin Bush and Wert Walker III, President Bush=s brother and cousin, respectively, were principals of the company in charge of security for the World Trade Center.

b. All Evidence destroyed Aexcept a Passport@: All the steel at the site was removed before it could be properly investigated, and put on ships for Asia to be melted down B the biggest destruction of forensic evidence in history.

However, the passport of one of the hijackers of AA-11 (North Tower) was allegedly found in the rubble!

d. Controlled Demolition Company did the Clean-up: Controlled Demolition Company, one of the few companies in the world authorised to do controlled implosions, was brought in to do the clean-up for the World Trade Center. Mark Oiseaux, president of the Company, has explained that to make a building collapse on itself, takes enormous planning, the explosives having to be placed just right, so that they can explode in precisely the right order.

e. No Federal Official has participated in any Public Debate on the Subject: To date, the official government story has not been publically defended either by any member of the Bush administration, any member of the 9/11 Commission, or any federal scientists B in particular, the scientists of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) who gave the official reasons for the collapse of the buildings.

9. A Missile, not Flight AA-77, struck the Pentagon:

a. Hani Hanjour, supposed to be piloting AA-77, was incapable of performing the difficult maneuver which the plane did before hitting the Pentagon.

b. Allegedly, AA-77, after making a U-turn in the Mid-west, flew back to Washington Aundetected@ by the military for 40 minutes, (8:58-8:38 a.m.) even though the military knew by then that hijacked airliners were being used as weapons!

c. The Pentagon is the best defended building on the planet. It is protected by batteries of surface-to-air- missiles which shoot down any aircraft entering its air space without a U.S. military transponder. Also, it is within a few miles of Andrews Air force Base which has at least three squadrons, with fighter jets on alert, at all times.

d. Unlike the strikes on the Twin Towers, the strike on the Pentagon did not create a detectable seismic signal. Moreover, the damage and the debris were inconsistent with a strike by a large airliner, such as a Boeing 757.

e. Evidence was destroyed. Shortly after the strike, government agents picked up debris and carried it off. Shortly thereafter, the entire lawn was covered with dirt and gravel, literally covering any remaining forensic evidence. In addition, the videos from security cameras on the nearby CITGO gas station and Sheraton Hotel, were immediately confiscated by FBI agents, and, to date, the Justice Department has refused to release them.

f. The Military shot down Flight 93: Much evidence points to Flight 93 having been shot down over Pennsylvania by the military, following the order of Vice-president Dick Cheney. Much testimony from witnesses on the ground points to the plane having been shot down. The testimony of a pilot points to jets having been sent by NORAD=S Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS).

g. None of the Airplane Black Boxes were released: None of the black boxes on the hijacked planes have been released to the public.

10. The Bush Administration puts a low Priority on the AWar on Terror@:

a. The Bush administration has largely ignored the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. In particular, its chairman, Thomas Kean, has pointed to the failure of the government to make any serious effort to secure nuclear materiel B the central element of a program to prevent nuclear terror (Noam Chomsky, 2006, pp. 31-32).

b. The 2005 Report of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, authored by the 9/11 Commission members four years after the submission of their final report:

Afound that the Bush administration and Congress have made >minimal= or >unsatisfactory= progress [on 8 of their 14 recommendations] for overhauling the government to deal with terrorist threats@ (Noam Chomsky, 2006, pp. 31-32).

MY CONCLUSIONS

1. AApocalypse Soon.@ It is hard to disagree with those who predict Aapocalypse soon.@ Some of the many dire warning are:

2004:

a. Graham Allison, in his book, Nuclear terrorism (Times Books) reports that Athe consensus of the national security community,@ is that:

Aa dirty bomb [attack] is inevitable [while an attack with a nuclear weapon is highly likely, if fissionable materials, (the essential ingredient in nuclear weapons) are not retrieved and secured]@ B which they have not been (pp. 9 and 267).

b. Strategic analysts John Steinbruner and Nancy Gallagher, warn, in Daedalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Summer), that:

A[the Bush administration=s military programs and its aggressive stance carry] an appreciable risk of ultimate doom@ (pp. 9 and 267).

c. Bruce Blair, President of the United States Center for Defense Information, warns, in the Washington Post (September 19), that though transportation is the Achilles= heel of nuclear weapons security, many hundreds of nuclear weapons are being transported daily across Russia, and that:

A[the theft of one nuclear bomb] could spell eventual disaster for an American city, . . . the seizure of a ready-to-fire strategic long range nuclear missile or group of missiles capable of delivering bombs to targets thousands of miles away, could be apocalyptic for entire nations, . . . [and the threat of hackers breaking into military communication networks and transmit launch orders, all constitute] an accident waiting to happen@ (pp. 15-16 and 267).

d. Former Senator Sam Nunn, writes, in the Financial Times (December 6), that:

Athe chances of an accidental, mistaken or unauthorized nuclear attack might be increasing. We are running an unnecessary risk of an Armageddon of our own making [as a result of policy choices that leave] America=s survival [dependent on] the accuracy of Russia=s warning systems and its command and control@ (p. 14).

Nunn is referring to the sharp expansion of U.S. military programs, which tilt the strategic balance in ways that make:

ARussia more likely to launch upon warning of an attack, without waiting to see if the warning is accurate@ (pp. 14 and 267).

2005:

a. Michael MccGwire, British former strategic analyst for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), writes, in International Affairs (January):

A[Under current policies, largely driven by the U.S.], a nuclear exchange is ultimately inevitable . . . If present trends persist, we are virtually certain to see a return to nuclear arms racing, involving intercontinental ballistic systems and space-based assets (offensive and defensive), reactivating the danger of inadvertent nuclear war [with a probability that] will be extremely high@ (pp. 69 and 276).

b. Robert McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 1961-1968, warns, in Foreign Policy (May-June), that:

ACurrent U.S. nuclear weapons policy is immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary, and dreadfully dangerous. [It creates] unacceptable risks to other nations and to our own B [both the risk of] accidental or inadvertent nuclear launch, [a risk which is] unacceptably high, [and the risk of nuclear attack by terrorists]@ (pp. 8-9 and 267).

c. William Perry, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 1993-2001, expresses a judgement, which Robert McNamara endorses:

AThere is a greater than 50 percent probability of a nuclear strike on U.S. targets within a decade@ (p. 9).

2006:

Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Media Studies at New York University, New York, warns:

AWhat we are dealing with is extremely frightening. [It is the threat to] our freedom to vote. The Bush administration has an apocalyptic agenda [which has its] roots in dominion theology, . . . end-time theology B the sooner we destroy the planet, the sooner He will come back. This is the reason behind the administration=s economic policies which are destroying the U.S. infrastructure, for their smugness toward the environment, for their use of tactical nuclear weapons, and for their [sine qua non] subversion of the will of the electorate. We are facing a theocratic movement [which uses its] close ties to certain industries and corporation, and to neo-conservatives [in order to further its goal of] the creation of a Christian Republic@ (Mark Miller, 2006).

2. The United States a AFailed State.@ According to Noam Chomsky=s definition, the United States has the two principal characteristics of a Afailed state@:

a. A state which does not protect its citizens from violence, and perhaps not even from destruction. This may be for one, or both, of two reasons:

The decision makers are unable to give protection to the society.

The decision makers regard the protection of citizens as lower in priority than the short-term power and wealth of the dominant sectors of the society.

a. A state which exempts itself from the laws of war and other international norms B an Aoutlaw state.@ The leadership of such a state is contemptuous of international law and treaties, dismissing such instruments as biding only on others, not on itself (pp. 38 and 109).

3. The United States an AOrwellian State.@ Perhaps it should not be surprising that a nation whose public airwaves, for a substantial proportion of the time, carry deceit in the form of advertisements, is also a nation where deceit is an accepted part of life. The fraudulence of the U.S. government toward its people is systematic and consistent over a broad range, perhaps all, areas of endeavor. The line of continuity in this mendacity is increased power for the government itself and increasingly ambitious imperialism abroad. Perhaps even George Orwell (1903-1950) could not have predicted the entrenchment of this behavior today.

4. The Egoic Level of Consciousness. The development of consciousness in humanity today is at the Aegoic@ level, with many large pockets still at the lower Amythic-membership@ level. Cosmo-centrism, omnipotence and immortality are the primary objectives of nation states (Aldous Huxley, 1944/2004; Ken Wilber, 1977-2001, in particular, A theory of everything, 2001; my own, AGlobal Trends B Predictable Atrocities,@ 2005; and my summary of Marilyn Stockstad, 2005).

The United States is the most powerful of all states, and is aiming for a global empire, with little regard for either the well-being of humanity as a whole, or its life-sustaining environment. For U.S. leaders, the high probability of a discontinuity in human affairs, with millions (if not billions) of deaths, engendered by one or a combination of the following forces, is a very secondary consideration:

a. Nuclear radiation.

b. Biological weapons.

c. Global warming.

d. Biotechnology.

e. Nanotechnology.

f. Robotics.

g. The end of the age of oil.

h. The exponential growth in world population.

i. The limit to the availability of fresh water.

j. The extinction of species.

k. Disease epidemics of either new infectious diseases (such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS), or animal disease spreading to humans (such as HIV/AIDS and Avian Flu).

l. The unsustainable use of resources (fish, land, rare metals) (David Noble, 1997/1999); Lloyd Dumas, 1999; Francoise Hall, December 2004; Francoise Hall, June 2005).

An Opportunity lost for Growth in Consciousness. In 2004, Amos Elon, one of Israel=s most prominent intellectuals (now in self-exile), in an interview published by Ha=aretz (December 23), describes the German Jewry before World War II:

A[They were] the secular elite of Europe. They were the essence of modernism B leaders who made their livelihood from brainpower and not from brawn, [they were] mediators and not workers of the land B journalists, writers, scientists. If it all had not ended so horribly, today, we would be singing the praises of Weimar culture. We would be comparing it to the Italian Renaissance. What happened there in the fields of literature, psychology, painting and architecture did not happen anywhere else. There had not been anything like it since the Renaissance@ (pp. 210 and 294).

This is a heart-wrenching and all-too-rare commentary on what does not happen because of war. Saving the planet and its biosphere is a spiritual achievement which humankind might be able to achieve, if it manages to avoid a sudden, apocalyptic cataclysm.

Encouraging the Development of Consciousness. Two ways seem the most propitious to help raise the level of consciousness beyond the egoic where, in the majority (at least in the United States), it is today. (The Bush Administration may be at the high mythic-membership level, and might benefit more from a different approach to entice its growth to the egoic level):

Point to happenings and concepts which are outside the box of cosmo-centrism, omnipotence and immortality, and which in order to be understood, must engender a stretch of consciousness to a breadth and depth beyond the egoic stage. For instance, one can regularly point to the oneness of humanity and its dependence for life on a healthy biosphere.

Point to the costs of war in terms of opportunities lost, opportunities which, after a critical time passes, can never be recaptured. An example is Amos Elon=s description of the German Jewry before World War II. Had the Jewry of the Weimer culture been allowed to thrive in the manner of the Italian Renaissance, we might not be facing today the regressive, apocalyptic agenda of the Bush II Administration.

REFERENCES

All page numbers refer to:

Chomsky, Noam. 2006. Failed states B the abuse of power and the assault on democracy. New York: Henry Holt/Metropolitan.

Other references to Noam Chomsky:

Chomsky, Noam

1999. The new military humanism B lessons from Kosovo. Monroe, ME: Common Courage.

2000. A new generation draws the line B Kosovo, East Timor and the standards of the West. New York: Verso.

2003. Hegemony or survival B America=s quest for global dominance. New York: Henry Holt/Metropolitan.

For the section on 9/11:

Griffin, David Ray, 2006. Speech, A9/11 B The Myth and the Reality,@ Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, CA, March 30. Re-broadcast on TUC Radio, April 7, 14 and 21, 2006.

http://www.tucradio.org.

See also, by David Ray Griffin:

2004. The new Pearl Harbor B disturbing questions about the Bush administration and 9/11. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch/ Interlink.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, A9/11 B Outsourced by the CIA,@ June 11, 2004 (21 pages).

2005. The 9/11 Commission Report B omissions and distortions. Northapmton, MA: Olive Branch/ Interlink.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AThe 9/11 Report B an Analysis,@ June 18, 2005 (19 pages).

Other References:

ABC News, May 5, 2006

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1924179.

American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, Jewish Virtual Library.

Ethicist in Occupied Territories:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Pease/settlepop1.html.

Increase in Jewish Population:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Pease/settlepop.html.

Columbia Encyclopedia. 2000. 6^th Edition. New York: Columbia University/Gale Group.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), The World Factbook B Rank Order, Population.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html.

CounterSpin, AThe World Bank B with Ann-Louise Colgan, Africa Action,@ Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), April 28 - May 4, 2006.

http://www.fair.org.

Democracy Now! WBAI, New York, May 5, 2006.

http://www.democracynow.org.

Dumas, Lloyd. 1999. Lethal arrogance B human fallibility and dangerous technologies. New York: St. Martin=s.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, ANuclear Power B an Infallible Technology for Infallible Humans?@ May 6, 2004 (16 pages).

Finkelstein, Norman. 2005. Beyond chutzpah B On the misuse of anti-semitism and the abuse of history. Berkeley, CA: University of California.

Free Speech Radio News, May 1, 2006.

http://www.fsrn.org.

Free Speech Radio News, May 2, 2006.

http://www.fsrn.org.

Ha=aretz, May 4, 2006.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/712083.html.

Hall, Francoise,

ADisposable People B Population Reduction without War,@ December 4, 2004 (unpublished).

AGlobal Trends B Predictable Atrocities,@ June 4, 2005 (29 pages) (unpublished).

Hightower Lowdown, Vol. 8, No. 5, May 2006.

Huxley, Aldous. 1944/2004. The perennial philosophy B an interpretation of the great mystics, East and West. New York: HarperCollins/ Perennial Classics.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AThe Himalayas of the Soul and the Religion of Technological Progress,@ February 27, 2006 (19 pages).

Infoplease (Pearson Education), Almanacs.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0776421.html.

Madrid Autonomous University (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid), Medina Project.

http://uam.es/otroscentros/medina/israel/isrgendat.htm

McKibben, Bill. 2003. Enough B staying human in an engineered age. New York: Henry Holt/Owl.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, ABesting God B Genetic Engineering, Nanotechnology and Robotics,@ April 24, 2004 (9 pages).

Miller, Mark Crispin, 2006, Speech by the same title as his 2005 book, Fooled again B How the Right stole the 2004 elections, and why they=ll steal the next one too (New York: Perseus/Basic Books),@ Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, CA, May 4. Re-broadcast on TUC Radio, Part 1, May 10, 2006.

http://www.tucradio.org.

Noble, David. 1997/1999. The religion of technology B the divinity of man and the spirit of invention. New York: Penguin.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, ATechnology driven by Faith in God.@ April 5, 2004 (24 pages); A Timeline I B The Changing Attitude toward Technology,@ April 14, 2004 (2 pages); ATimeline II B Science and Technology in the Service of the State,@ April 14, 2004 (2 pages).

Stokstad, Marilyn. 2005. Art history. 2^nd Edition, Revised. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AThe History of Western Art B A Pictorial Representation of the Evolution of Consciousness,@ March 25, 2006 (103 pages).

Wikipedia.

http://www.wikipedia.org.

Wilber, Ken.

1977/1993. The spectrum of consciousness. 20^th Anniversary Edition. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AA Transpersonal View of War B War as a Substitute for Cosmo-centrism and Immortality during the Egoic State in the Development of Consciousness,@ November 5, 2005 (103 pages).

1979/2001. No boundary B Eastern and Western approaches to personal growth. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, ALines, not Boundaries,@ January 31, 2006 (14 pages).

1980/1996. The Atman project B a transpersonal view of human development. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AA Transpersonal View of War B War as a Substitute for Cosmo-centrism and Immortality during the Egoic State in the Development of Consciousness,@ November 5, 2005 (103 pages).

1981/1996. Up from Eden B a transpersonal view of human evolution. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AA Transpersonal View of War B War as a Substitute for Cosmo-centrism and Immortality during the Egoic State in the Development of Consciousness,@ November 5, 2005 (103 pages).

1983/2001. Eye to eye B the quest for the new paradigm. 3^rd Edition, Revised. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AObstacles to an Integral Paradigm of Knowledge,@ January 10, 2006 (14 pages).

1983/2005. A sociable God B (1983 subtitle: a brief introduction to a transcendental sociology), 2005 subtitle: toward a new understanding of religion. Boston: Shambhala.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AA Transpersonal View of War B War as a Substitute for Cosmo-centrism and Immortality during the Egoic State in the Development of Consciousness,@ November 5, 2005 (103 pages).

Editor. 1984/2001. Quantum questions B mystical writings of the world=s great physicists. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AMysticism and Science,@ February 11, 2006 (10 pages).

1995/2000. Sex, ecology, spirituality B the spirit of evolution. 2^nd Edition, Revised. Boston: Shambhala.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AA Transpersonal View of War B War as a Substitute for Cosmo-centrism and Immortality during the Egoic State in the Development of Consciousness,@ November 5, 2005 (103 pages).

1996. A brief history of everything. Boston: Shambhala.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AA Transpersonal View of War B War as a Substitute for Cosmo-centrism and Immortality during the Egoic State in the Development of Consciousness,@ November 5, 2005 (103 pages).

2000/2001. The eye of spirit B an integral vision for the world gone slightly mad. Boston: Shambhala.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AA Transpersonal View of War B War as a Substitute for Cosmo-centrism and Immortality during the Egoic State in the Development of Consciousness,@ November 5, 2005 (103 pages).

2000. Integral psychology B consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AIntegral Psychology,@ January 22, 2006 (16 pages).

2001. A theory of everything B an integral vision for business, politics, science and spirituality. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Summarized in Francoise Hall, AAn Integral Vision,@ March 12, 2006 (21 pages).

***