The NYT columnist who has supported 4 wars on Muslims in 6 years decries the Islamic disregard for human life.
By Glenn Greenwald
November 11, 2009 -- "Salon" -- David Brooks' column today perfectly illustrates what lies at the core of our political discourse: namely, self-loving tribalistic blindness laced with a pathological refusal to accept responsibility for one's actions. Brooks claims there is a unique evil that one finds in the "fringes of the Muslim world":
"Most people select stories that lead toward cooperation and goodness. But over the past few decades a malevolent narrative has emerged.
"That narrative has emerged on the fringes of the Muslim world. It is a narrative that sees human history as a war between Islam on the one side and Christianity and Judaism on the other. This narrative causes its adherents to shrink their circle of concern. They don't see others as fully human. They come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so.
"This narrative is embraced by a small minority. But it has caused incredible amounts of suffering within the Muslim world, in Israel, in the U.S. and elsewhere. With their suicide bombings and terrorist acts, adherents to this narrative have made themselves central to global politics. They are the ones who go into crowded rooms, shout "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," and then start murdering."
...... The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq has resulted in the deaths of many Iraqi civilians . . . Many international organizations, governments and non-governmental organizations have counted excess civilian casualties using such methods; however all have reported different numbers. Reports range from 128,000 to 1,033,000.
That's at least 128,000 innocent human beings -- at least -- whose lives were eradicated by the war Brooks repeatedly cheered on. It also resulted in this: "More than 4 million Iraqis have now been displaced by violence in the country." But Brooks accuses Islamic fanatics -- but not himself -- of "causing incredible amounts of suffering."
Brooks also justified the Israeli attack on Gaza, including its worst excesses -- a war that wiped out the lives of 1,400 Palestinians (including 252 children under the age of 16) and that entailed "the shooting of civilians with white flags, the firing of white phosphorus shells and charges that Israeli soldiers used Palestinian men as human shields," all of which, according to a U.N. investigation, were "the result of deliberate guidance issued to soldiers." He also cheered on the Israeli bombing campaign of Lebanon and derided those calling for a cease-fire, even as the war wiped out more than 1,000 Lebanese people, at least 300 of whom were women and children, during which "Israeli warplanes also targeted many moving vehicles that turned out to be carrying only civilians trying to flee the conflict." And Brooks is now demanding escalation of the war in yet another Muslim country, this one in Afghanistan -- making it the fourth separate war on Muslims he's cheered on in the last six years alone.
So here's a person who is constantly advocating and justifying the killing, bombing, and slaughtering of Muslims, including well over 100,000 innocent civilians. And yet today he writes a column saying: Look over there at those radical Muslims; can you believe how degraded and inhumane they are? In fact, he says, "they" -- those Muslims over there -- "don't see others as fully human. They come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so."
That's from the same person who cheerleads for the endless deaths of Muslims and destruction of the Muslim world while thinking that it makes him strong, resolute, Churchillian, righteous and noble -- exactly that which he accuses "fringe Muslims" of doing. And even as he blames the U.S. for "absolving" radical Muslims for the "evil" of their choices, Brooks will never make the connection between what he does and its results because he believes he is free from accountability and that his righteousness justifies the killings he desires -- again, exactly that which he says today is the hallmark of Islamic monsters ("They come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so").
The tribalistic narcissism and depraved refusal to accept responsibility for the consequences of one's actions on vivid display here is hardly unique to Brooks. The very same people who express such moral outrage and self-righteous horror over events like the Fort Hood shootings themselves have immense amounts of innocent human blood on their hands, but they simply avert their eyes from what they have caused or believe that they are too inherently Good to be responsible, let alone culpable, for what they unleash.
UPDATE: Ramesh Ponnuru reads this and claims to believe that the point I was making is this: "If you didn't oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you have no standing to object to the Ft. Hood murders." That has nothing to do with what I wrote.
If one needs to reduce my point to a single sentence, one can try this: "if you constantly cheer on one war after the next that results in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings and the extreme suffering of millions more (as Brooks has done -- beyond Iraq and Afghanistan -- and continues to do), then you can't coherently claim that the targets of your wars have a unique disregard for human life; that they -- but not you -- "don’t see others as fully human"; that they -- but not you -- "cause incredible amounts of suffering"; and that they -- but not you -- "come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so."
Brooks advocates exactly that which he condemns -- and he does so over and over again. That doesn't mean his condemnations are wrong (criminals can coherently condemn other crimes). But it does mean that his claim that such sentiments are unique to Muslim radicals is plainly false.
UPDATE II: Brooks' claim here recalls the statement of Gen. William Westmoreland that "the Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does a Westerner; life is plentiful, life is cheap in the Orient, and as the philosophy of the Orient expresses it, life is not important." The willingness of Gen. Westmoreland -- of all people -- to make that claim of superiority about "the Orientals" versus Westerners strikes me as quite similar to neocon David Brooks' similar claims about those Muslims over there versus people like him (h/t reader cl).
Yesterday, or this morning, not sure I heard a speech. Mr. Netanyahu, i believe it was and he spun all the cliches .. talked about everything .. how Israel had the right to defend themselves .. true, but .. how the Israeli army was the mos moral on earth .. untrue, but .. how Israel is willing to work with any who want peace .. all those words we have heard so often.
During the speech, it sounded like Mr. Netanyahu, i was thinking .. bs, Net you haven't mentioned the settlements or your wall yet! So stick it, man.
I didn't hear him mention the planned Israeli Apartheid wall 85 percent inside the West Bank, nor that it result in a further, 9.5 percent of the West Bank, land grab "and 35,000 West Bank Palestinians between the barrier and the Green Line that marks the 1967 border with Israel".
Nor did i hear mention of the 2004 World Court resolution being ignored by Israel calling for bits to be torn down and building delayed.
Nor did I hear mention that Israel had ignored it's own High Court ruling.
I thought Netanyahu was holidaying in an orchard at cherry picking time.
AFP notes that 85 percent of the planned wall is inside the West Bank, and it would leave 9.5 percent of the West Bank and 35,000 West Bank Palestinians between the barrier and the Green Line that marks the 1967 border with Israel.
The World Court issued a resolution in 2004 calling for those parts of the barrier that are inside the West Bank to be torn down and for further construction in the territory to cease. Israel and Western countries have ignored the World Court resolution.
Israeli forces open fire on Apartheid Wall protestors, wounding five Report, ISM, 28 July 2003
Moving towards the fence despite tear gas thrown by Israeli soldiers (Photo: ISM, 2003)
Today activists from the International Solidarity Movement, working with local Palestinians and Israelis succeeded in opening a small but symbolic hole in the Wall of Apartheid in the village of Anin, west of the city of Jenin.
Israeli soldiers waiting for marchers to approach (Photo: ISM, 2003)
The Israeli Occupation Forces responded by opening fire with rubber bullets on members of the International Solidarity Movement who were taking part in a non-violent demonstration against the Israeli Apartheid Wall [termed the "security fence" by the Israeli authorities].
Five ISM activists were injured by the rubber bullets fired at close range by the IOF from behind the fence the activists were attempting to tear down. Two were hospitalised. Several other Israeli and ISM activists were injured by sound grenades exploding in close proximity, or by tear gas canisters fired directly at their bodies.
Thomas is injured (Photo: ISM, 2003)
The demonstration was called by local Palestinians from Anin and the surrounding villages, of whom approximately 250-300 participated together with 50 ISM and 30 Israeli activists. The goal of the demonstration was to symbolically force open the gate in the Apartheid Wall, which separates the village of Anin from over 11,000 dunams/2,750 acres of its land.
Activists withstood tear gas and rubber bullets long enough to force open the gate. The activists had intended to also pull down segments of the fence. However, due to the injuries the group sustained this action had to be aborted.
The officially stated reason for building the ’security fence’ is to prevent the unauthorised passage of Palestinians out of the West Bank. However, the route of the so-called ’security fence’ does not follow the internationally recognised pre-1967 borders of the State of Israel. The Israeli authorities refuse to publish the official path of their ’security fence’.
However, research carried out by the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, the planned route for the fence will isolate a number of Palestinian villages and rob a great many more of their farmland. Thereby, enabling the acquisition of even more Palestinian land by the Israeli state. B’Tselem estimates that the Apartheid Wall will cause direct harm to at least 210,000 Palestinians in 67 cities, towns and villages.
The action in Anin is one of many planned by Palestinians living in the affected areas to oppose this internationally condemned injustice being perpetrated on the long suffering Palestinian people in the name of security. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1759.shtml
Activist confronts Netanyahu at Washington conference Press release, CODEPINK, 10 November 2009
CODEPINK activist Midge Potts.
The following press release was issued by CODEPINK on 9 November 2009:
At the Annual Conference of the United Jewish Federations in Washington, DC, during the plenary session by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, CODEPINK peace activist Midge Potts stood up with a banner that said "End the Siege of Gaza" and shouted "Stop the blockade of Gaza, Shame on you, Netanyahu." She was dragged out of the meeting by security guards.
"When I heard that Netanyahu was speaking in Washington, DC, I felt compelled to do something," said Potts, a Navy veteran, resident of Springfield, Missouri and candidate for US Senate. "Netanyahu's Washington visit comes just after our Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution rejecting the Goldstone report, a UN report that aimed to hold Israel accountable for its actions during the 22-day invasion of Gaza that left over 1,400 dead. As an American whose government is giving free rein to Israel's war crimes and is paying -- through our taxes -- for the bombs and bullets that are killing Palestinians, I had to stand up. I hope my symbolic action will show the people of Palestine that there are many Americans who believe in human rights for all and are determined to change our government's policy to reflect these values."
During his talk, PM Netanyahu lauded the Israeli army, saying it was "as moral as any army on earth" and thanked both President Obama and the US Congress for rejecting the Goldstone report. "It is appalling to us, as peace activists, that Israel committed such atrocities against the people of Gaza and that the US Government is trying to cover up those crimes. As defenders of human rights, we must stand up and demand accountability."
As part of CODEPINK's commitment to human rights, it is working with a broad coalition to organize, in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, a massive march on 31 December from inside Gaza to the Israeli border. The March calls on Israel to lift the inhumane siege that is keeping 1.5 million people imprisoned. Already, participants have signed up from 32 countries. They include writers (American Alice Walker), actors (Syrian Duraid Lahham), members of Parliament (from France to the Philippines), diplomats (from Japan to the Netherlands), as well as doctors, lawyers, professors and students. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10886.shtml
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