Brainwashed Children

Brainwashed children are a self-fulfilling prophecy. School teachers maintain their self-respect with a dictum. If one generation matures without any knowledge of history, philosophy and fine arts, we lose our culture and our civilization forever.

Since 1947 Palestinian and American children have been inflicted with increasingly clever programs to alter their mindsets. That’s three generations given to mindless jingoism, rampant racism and perpetual war.

The leaders of both countries have denounced the aim to negotiate in order to reach peaceful agreements. It is high treason to talk to a perceived enemy. Each leader realizes that compromising with a foreign power could destroy his local support and perhaps lead to his assassination.

All the 1947 kids have grown up many of them nasty.

They say that revolution is a long term proposition. If that is true, the wingnuts have certainly paid their dues. I wonder if progressives are willing to pay the price to reverse the process.

Diplomacy Might Work in America

“I also know that real change has never been easy, and it won't be easy this time either. The status quo in Washington will fight harder than they ever have to divide us and distract us with ads and attacks from now until November.” Barack Obama

Karl Rove’s Newsweek article offers much sage advice to Obama especially this tidbit.

5. Stop the attacks. They undermine your claim to a post-partisan new politics. You soared when you seemed above politics, lost altitude when you did what you criticize. Attacks are momentarily satisfying but ultimately corrode your appeal.

McCain: The GOP nominee-in-waiting rapped his Democratic rival for opposing his idea to suspend the tax on fuel during the summer, a proposal that McCain believes will particularly help low-income people who usually have older cars that guzzle more gas.

"Obviously Sen. Obama does not understand that this would be a nice thing for Americans, and the special interests should not be dictating this policy."

The Arizona senator deflected questions about his record on the Bush administration's tax cuts _ he initially opposed them but now supports. Huff Post

Petraeus and Crocker Make a Case for Diplomacy

Bill Scher, Tom Paine

Based on the opening statements from Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker, shifting blame onto Iran for the continuing violence in Iraq appeared to be a major objective of their congressional testimony. Establishing that blame helps conservatives make a justification for launching an additional war with Iran.

But those Iran talking points crumbled under simple questioning. Media headlines today focus on Petraeus' plan to "pause" what was only a trickle of troop withdrawals, and the frustration of senators from both parties at the lack of a plan to eventually end the occupation. If the goal was to put a spotlight on Iran, Petraeus and Crocker failed.

Both tried to raise alarms that so-called Iranian-backed "special groups" (which, as my colleague Rick has noted, may not really exist) are fomenting violence and cannot go "unchecked."

But, as Washington Independent's Spencer Ackerman flagged, Sen. Jack Reed forced Crocker to acknowledge than Iran also has ties to the Shia militia with which we're allied (though Crocker said our friends are out of the "overt" militia business.) Democracy Arsenal's Ilan Goldenberg noted Sen. Barbara Boxer's observation "that the President of Iran gets the red carpet treatment [when visiting Iraq] and our President has to sneak into the country," indicating that the Iraqi government does not see Iran as a major threat, and the Iraqi people are less likely to shoot at Iranian leaders. Petraeus had acknowledged that Iran "presumably" wants a "Shiite democratic" state to succeed, and Crocker later described meeting with Iran's president was "in the category of a normal relationship" between the two neighboring countries.

They never backed off their claims from the opening statements, but they never successfully squared the claims with all that we know about the Iraq-Iran relationship.

And they certainly didn't produce any sort of case for attacking Iran. Even if you accept that "special groups" are adding to Iraq's sectarian violence, Petraeus' and Crocker's acceptance of a degree of Iranian regional influence bolsters the case for serious diplomacy to ensure Iranian cooperation in stabilizing Iraq.

The Petraeus-Crocker duo was treated as untouchable when they testified last year. Yesterday, they were mere mortals, questioned respectfully but open to challenge.

And challenging potential half-truths, false assumptions and misinformation is what's needed to avert another unnecessary war.