Is The World Blind?

It is NOT unpatriotic to want to know facts. It is not "caving in to terrorists" to actually try to understand why they want to kill you.



Beirut's "towers"



Beirut under Israeli bombardment.

Juan Cole explains what Bin Laden was referring to when he said he first conceived the idea of attacking US skyscrapers when the Israelis destroyed the "towers" of Beirut.

Beirut had been among the more advanced cities in the Arab world. I saw it in 1968 and 1974 before the civil war when it was called the Geneva of the Middle East. Although there was fighting in Beirut 1975-1981 by local militias, in fact by the early 1980s the situation had calmed down substantially and the economy was roaring back.

Then Ariel Sharon took it into his head to invade Lebanon in 1982... Sharon's proposed puppet ruler, Bashir Gemayyel, used to keep posters of Hitler in his locker at college. He was promptly assassinated and the whole scheme fell apart.

The invasion killed some 18,000 persons, half of them innocent civilians. During this period Sharon turned the task of guarding the disarmed and helpless Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps over to his allies, the fascist Phalangist paramilitary. The latter promptly murdered hundreds of defenseless Palestinians.

One of the 9/11 hijackers, Ziad Jarrah, was a Lebanese Sunni who was 8 when the Israelis invaded his country and wrought so much destruction. He obviously was deeply traumatized by the experience.

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 was a wanton act of aggression and destruction that ended up radicalizing the Lebanese Shiites and leading them to develop the technique of suicide bombing. A majority of Israelis was disgusted with the war, and in the aftermath Sharon was politically marginalized for two decades. Somehow he has managed to rehabilitate himself and now pursues his agenda of killing without any let or hindrance.

None of this justifies the monstrous attack on the US of September 11. As Gandhi pointed out, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

But it is in the interests of all Americans for our government to find a way for Israelis and Arabs to live in peace and justice with one another... We need someone in the White House who will do more than ignore Arafat and kiss Ariel Sharon's enormous backside.