HILLARY IS SCARY

My problems with Hillary are not only her
lack of candor and carelessness with truth.
Those are obvious and troubling, but fairly
common among politicos. My most serious
concern is with who is supporting her and
why.

She is popular with both Wall Street and the
Israel lobby. That is bad news for anyone
hoping for peace in the Middle East (M.E.).
Hillary is with the Israelis in getting tough
with Iran. There are strong indications that
will lead to war.

Wall Street likes war. It's good for business,
great for the economy (in the short run, where
they live.) The Street is happily married to the
military/industrial complex. (Can you say: "The
road to fascism"?) They prosper together, but
need war or the threat thereof to justify our
insanely bloated "defense" (really war) budget.

The Israel lobby wants us to become and remain
dominant in the M.E. That will require us to
maintain permanent bases there, along with the
more or less steady hostilities that will face us
with other folks in the region. What's in it for us?
Oil, of course, the only reason we went there in the
first place. Wall Street will be pleased, along with
Haliburton and the host of other war profiteers
feeding at the military trough.

Mr. Bush and his neo-cons are joined at the hip
with Israel. He called Mr. Sharon a "man of
peace," understanding full well that Sharon's plan
for peace has always been complete and total
subjugation and control over the Palestinians,
who would be (and are now being) reduced in
territory to a few disconnected Bantustans much
like the reservations for our native Americans.
Don't think, incidentally, that anything will
change under Hillary. She's as committed to
Israel as Bush ever was. Maybe more so, Bush
has close family (and business) ties with the
Saudis. Hil doesn't.

Turning now to another obsession of the neo-
cons: their rant about "Islamofascism." It's pure
hog-wash of the most mischievous and dangerous
kind. The term is an oxymoron, like "an army of
one." Fascism, historically, is a super-nationalistic
dictatorship supported and maintained in
power by a country's industrial and financial elite.
We ourselves are moving in that direction!
Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia all
show elements of fascism,but none of them are
hostile to us or expansionist in foreign policy.
They have no interest in establishing any kind
of "caliphate," as the neos claim.

Islam is fundamentally and thoroughly inter-
national. For Muslims, their religious identity
trumps any and every national identity. While
Iran is nationalistic, it is not expansionist (as
Fareed Zacharia pointed out in Newsweek
(Oct. 29, '07). It offers a helping hand to fellow
Shia in Iraq and Lebanon (Hezbollah) and to
Sunnis in Palestine (Hamas). But the Pales-
tinians are legitimately and heroically fighting
a brutal, illegal military occupation of their
homeland (the West Bank) by U. S.-supported
Israel.

Iran is as hostile to al Qaeda and the other
Sunni crazies (like the Taliban) as we are. It is
not anti-West, not seeking war, and is not anti-
Semitic. It's own Jewish population (25,000)
lives in peace and are represented in the Irani
parliament. They want friendly relations with
us, and have repeatedly sought unconditional
negotiations with us, only to be rudely ignored.
They are not in any way part of a so called
Islamofascist bloc or movement. They have no
interest in a "restored caliphate" of any kind.
If you are interested in Iran, their aims and
their history, and their brand of Islam, I highly
recommend The Shia Revival, by Vali Nasr.
He is an American Muslim, born in Iran, and
is conversant in all the languages of the M. E.,
where he travels extensively and has friends
high in most of the governments. His book is
becoming a classic.

Wall Street may not be happy long if we go to
war with Iran. They may stop or radically alter
the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. That could
increase the price of oil so much it throws us
into a world depression. It will pretty well unite
the one billion, six hundred million Muslims
in the world against us, and pour gasoline on
world-wide terrorism. Can we really afford
another George Bush, even if she's from New
York instead of Texas?