London�s Turn To Reap The Bitter Harvest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) July 7, 2005 -- "Nothing America could have done would have provided al Qaeda and its new generation of cloned groups a better recruitment device than our unprovoked invasion of an oil-rich Arab country�It was as if Usama bin Laden, hidden in some high mountain redoubt, were engaging in long-range mind control of George Bush, chanting invade Iraq, you must invade Iraq."

They are words of Richard Clark, Bush�s former counterterrorism czar. Clark wrote these words in his book, Against All Enemies; Inside America�s War on Terror.

I am inclined to slightly disagree with Mr Clark not in the substance of his claim, but in the nature of its impact. The invasion of Iraq simply fanned an already raging fire. Specifically, al Qaeda�s anger originated not with the invasion, but with the UN Security Council sanctions principally maintained by the US and UK. It is now generally believed that those sanctions killed up to a million people. I can only reiterate Madeleine Albright�s now grotesque and infamous comments on the matter; �It is a price worth paying�.

I therefore find it particularly galling that the likes of George Bush and Tony Blair can stand up in front of the world and talk to us about cowardly acts, and that unlike us, al Qaeda do not value the sanctity of human life.

If al Qaeda were playing a game of let�s see who can kill more people, then someone should tell them that Bush and Blair are ahead by a very wide margin; a factor of thousands. It�s not even a contest.

The truth is that London, like Madrid and New York before, is reaping the bitter harvest of the policies sown and nurtured by these leaders. We can condemn terrorism to the nth degree, and so we should, hoping that those responsible for the acts perpetuated in London, as well as their accomplices, are found and justice duly administered. Yet, we cannot ignore the fact that their motivation goes beyond that of merely wishing to extinguish freedom in our society. We cannot pretend to be ignorant of their true purpose and aspirations.

We also cannot ignore the idea that western leaders are at least as guilty and as responsible for London�s gross misfortune. The fact that even the American public is now beginning to recognise that the war in Iraq has made them less safe at home, as well the extent to which this attack on London was deemed entirely predictable, simply reinforces this proposition.

Our leaders are beholden to, and act for and on behalf of vested interests with few scruples as to the impact on the life of others; whether they live in the East or the West. However, what is particularly galling is the fact that they appear before us in nice suits and ties, only to tell us that the bad guy is wearing a robe and a turban, and has a long beard.

Even if or when the question of Iraq were settled, there is still the question of Israel and the Palestinians.

If there is one subject I have received a high level of feedback on, both favourable and unfavourable, it is the Israeli-Palestinian problem. However, this is not only a problem in its own right, but it is intrinsically related to the problem in Iraq. In addressing the issue, given some of this feedback, I have decided to err on the side of prudence � unlike me some of you might say, but the solution is simple enough. To illustrate my point I will rely on the testimony of one who was a part of the US military and political establishment during both the Clinton and Bush (the younger) Administrations.

General Tony Zinni was Commander in Chief of CENTCOM (General Norman Schwarzkopf�s old role) from 1997 to 2000. He was also President Bush�s special envoy to the Middle East from November 2002 to March 2003. Just like Richard Clark, Zinni was well connected and knew exactly what was going on. He appeared on CBS News� 60 Minutes Programme in May of last year and made comments that the so-called free but self-censored media routinely refuses to mention. Zinni claimed that it was a number of neoconservatives, many of them Jewish, who had pushed for the war in Iraq, with �strengthening the position of Israel� being a primary purpose.

Zinni further added that this was �the worst-kept secret in Washington". When member of the Bush Administration then claimed �the road to Jerusalem leads though Baghdad�, Zinni countered by saying that it was fully the opposite; �the road to Baghdad leads through Jerusalem�.

All type of attempts have been made to evade this issue, but the truth is that unless there is justice for the Palestinians, then terrorists will continue to attack Israel and those in the West who are deemed to support them.

Until and unless we can persuade our politicians to deal honestly with this issue, then we will continue to suffer its repercussions and consequences. Many Europeans understand this issue to some extent and blame Israel for the current problem. In a November 2003 poll by the EU, 59% of respondents designated Israel the greatest threat to world peace, ahead of countries such as Iran and North Korea.

In the US, things are slightly different. The problem is that many Christian Conservatives� support Israel because it is written in Revelation that all Jews must be in Israel and Jerusalem in particular, in order for the second coming of Christ to take place!

Bush and the Republican Party would not dare to upset that constituency.

Of course, Bin Laden and his cohorts, in their desire to liberate Arabs and Muslims from western infidels, are at the very least as staggeringly hypocritical as the western leaders they consider their archenemies. If they were sincere about justice, they would be planting bombs in government buildings in Khartoum, Sudan, in response to the horrors inflicted on the people of Darfur.

Then there are the Chinese, who continue to stall on imposing sanction on Sudan, because it is the source of much of their oil.

Whether we live in a democracy, autocracy, tyranny or in some theological hellhole, like the people who so tragically lost their lives in London today, we are all nothing but pawns. We the people, we the innocent, the average person who goes about their daily life without a thought of hurting another soul, have effectively become both tradable and disposable. We are in a game where those who can, ruthlessly impose their will on our lives, while we suffer the consequences.

Yet, ponder on this; what Londoners rightly consider as a catastrophe of historic proportions, is for Iraqi�s nothing more than an everyday experience.

Jonathan Ledwidge is the author of the book A Mannequin for President - www.amannequinforpresident.com

More information can be found online at http://www.amannequinforpresident.com

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