Headlines for 12-31-08

A Stand For Justice

With Iran, Obama Needs More Carrot, Less Stick By Scott Ritter A clean break with the neoconservative policies of the Bush administration is a prerequisite for success, and achieving this requires great imagination and courage. President-elect Barack Obama has demonstrated the potential for both of those qualities. I hope that promise is realized.



Clueless in Gaza by Philip Giraldi Is this a deliberate attempt to create a widening conflict that will draw in Iran among other players?


Obama Adviser Aligns with White House in Criticism of Rocket Attacks on Israel Before running for president, he provoked suspicion among Israelis and some US Jewish groups when he expressed sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians. But after winning the Democratic nomination earlier this year he veered in the other direction, voicing strong support for Israel in a speech in Washington to the Israeli lobby group Aipac.


Neocons, NYT Demand More War, Torture - by Philip Giraldi It is astonishing that the New York Times would even print a piece advocating torture, but the article is just one more indication of the access that the neocons have to the nation's editorial pages.


Iranian official Israeli offensive in Gaza similar to Hitler's actions A senior Iranian Parliament member compared the Israel Air Force strikes in the Gaza Strip to Adolf Hitler's actions during World War II.


IAF uses new US-supplied smart bomb The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.




Hezbollah watches for now as Israel hits Hamas


George Washington's warnings and U.S. policy towards Israel Americans shouldn't be in the position of endlessly debating Israel's security situation and its endless religious and territorial conflicts with its neighbors. That should be for Israeli citizens to do, not for Americans. But that distinction -- between the U.S. and Israel -- barely exists because our political leaders have all but eliminated it, and have thus imposed on U.S. citizens responsibility for the acts of Israel. In doing so, they have systematically ignored the unbelievably prescient warnings issued by George Washington in his 1796 Farewell Address, and have thereby provoked exactly the dangers he decried Against the insidious wiles... I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens..


Turkey ends Israel-Syria peace effort over Gaza Turkey said on Monday it was ending efforts to organise peace talks between Israel and Syria because of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.


Ex-U.S. Army engineer Kadish pleads guilty to spying for Israel An 85-year-old former U.S. Army engineer on Tuesday admitted he passed classified documents to the Israelis in the 1970s and 1980s. Kadish said he believes he was promised that the government will not seek imprisonment at his February sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Iris Lan said prosecutors promised only that they would not oppose or challenge a sentence that included no prison time.


A spy goes to work for a thinktank the Middle East Forum has hired Steve Rosen, once the head of policy development for the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Rosen is accused of stealing highly classified information from the U.S. government and passing it on to Israeli government officials.