By Dave Lindorff

I got an urgent email from an uncle of mine yesterday evening. A
sweet man, retired career military and very religious, he was genuinely
worried about an email he had received purporting to convey an article
said to have been written by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and
published on June 29, 2008 alleging that much of the Obama campaign's
"small donations" over the Internet had actually come from several Arab
sources overseas.

By Dave Lindorff

In the last few days, both the Israeli military and the US military have fired missiles into homes, in an effort to target what they said were terrorists, in the process killing many innocent civilians.

But what a contrast we see in both the reporting on these events, and in the response within the two countries!

 It seems so very apparent to me that religious faith is the problem in nearly all of our disagreements in the Middle East and here at home.
    Faith is defined in most dictionaries as: “belief in something for which there is no proof.” It seems a shame that in the 21st century, so many people are living with blind faith, when people don’t have the moral backbone to question their own faith (most will readily question the faith of others, we end up with people willing to die for many things of faith that have no foundation in truth.
    Truth and faith do not go together. Faith is what makes the Jewish people believe they are Gods chosen people. Faith is what makes Christians believe that the Bible is Gods infallible word.
    Faith is what makes Muslims believe the Koran is Gods guidance to them.

US / Iranian rhetoric is at fever pitch. Both sides are claiming to have “evidence” of military foul play. Both sides are holding military exercises in each others faces and the Gulf is so full of warships it must be highly dangerous to navigate. Both sides are threatening a massive military response to any use of force. Both presidents have backed themselves into political corners and neither shows the slightest sign of backing down.

A second US carrier strike group has just arrived in the Gulf bringing the total number of US (and allied) warships there to about 50 and a third group, headed by USS Reagan has just been ordered to rendezvous in the Western Pacific with destroyers from Pearl Harbour before sailing to the Gulf.

In scenes reminiscent of the 6th Armies assault on Stalingrad, president Bush’s “surge” appears to be a last ditch, all or nothing attempt to bring a military victory in Baghdad that it cannot realistically achieve.

Battle for Baghdad: City braces itself for US surge
Urban fighting amid the ruins
By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Published: 28 January 2007

Lina Massufi, a 32-year-old Iraqi laboratory assistant with two children, is a widow - her husband was killed by US troops when he accidentally drove down a closed road in 2003. In the past three months she has seen her house raided and her furniture smashed 12 times.

A little noticed "incident" occurred this week which brings to mind the potential for the much anticipated October "November Surprise" by Karl Rove & Neo-Cons. The Israeli Air Force apparently did a "fly-by" of a German Navy vessel off the Coast of Lebanon, allegedly firing either shots or missiles. I remember thinking back when the Israeli assault on Lebanon began back in July that it represented "premature warjaculation", as far as influencing the upcoming Congressional elections. Everyone knows you don't role out a new product line before Labor Day... so is this incident the precursor for an upcoming "November Surprise"?

Israeli jets clash with German ship near Lebanon

(Reuters) - Two Israeli warplanes and a German navy vessel have clashed off the Lebanese coast, the Defence Ministry in Berlin said on Wednesday without giving further details. Germany daily Der Tagesspiegel earlier on Wednesday quoted a junior German defence minister as telling a parliamentary committee that two Israeli F-16 fighters flew low over the German ship and fired two shots....

Call For An Immediate Cease-Fire in Lebanon
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/85

Every day in Iraq, Bush's "victory" results in the murder of 100 civilians. In Afghanistan, the resurgent Taliban is on the attack.

But the Bush Administration, the Neocons, and the Corporate Media are once again "marketing" a war - this time in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.

Former CIA Director James Woolsey, a leading Neocon, said this about the crisis in Lebanon: "The last thing we ought to do is start talking about cease-fires and the rest."

George Bush needs a new war. Big time. How nice of the Israelis to give him one, so he doesn’t have to lie us into it this time.

From The Times, U.K.:

Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran

ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.

The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.