MATTHEWGOODONLINE

It’s weird to think that I woke up in my own bed this morning but will be performing tonight in another city in another country. It’s only a 30-minute flight away, mind you, but it’s still strange.

I took Nyquil at around 8:30 last night and went to bed. This meandering head cold is really, really pissing me off. So tonight will be a rather interesting experiment in under rehearsed hilarity, but I’m sure that it’ll all be fine in the end.

The death toll in yesterday’s deadly bombings in Baghdad has risen to 68, with an additional 120 people injured. The murder of 8 Israelis brutally gunned down in Jerusalem still holds the top spot on most news websites though.

Of course, many Israelis will want to see some sort of reaction to the massacre, which will only make matters worse. Given that Hamas applauded the attack, the Israelis, and those that support them, have been given a new lease on their desire to engineer the removal of Hamas from power and have Abbas, who rightly condemned yesterday’s brutal attack, reinstated. Then, of course, they can resume negotiations.

Unfortunately, what will get lost in all of this is that violence begets violence, and that in the days ahead more innocent lives will most likely be lost on both sides because of it.

We’ve become desensitized to bad news regarding Iraq, which is why yesterday’s events in Baghdad are receiving the usual casual coverage. And as I said yesterday, it was also Muslims blowing up other Muslims, so that has to be taken into account as well regarding bias – a reality that you can disagree with but isn’t any less true by you doing so.

Anyway. Off to the airport to being this great American adventure. Best to everyone.

First up this morning, two quick film reviews…

Redacted

Based on the rape and murder of a teenaged Iraqi girl in Mahmoudiya (and the execution of other members of her family) by US Marines manning a nearby checkpoint, the film is a wake up call that received little to no attention in the United States. While the crime is one of the major focuses of the film, another important aspect is the pressures faced by the individual that finally came forward and revealed that it happened.

Into The Wild

Great cinematography, great performances. Didn’t like the story.

Worth Your Time To Read

An op-ed by Seumas Milne published by The Guardian today is one that should be read if you have the time. An excerpt…

“The attempt by western politicians and media to present this week’s carnage in the Gaza Strip as a legitimate act of Israeli self-defence - or at best the latest phase of a wearisome conflict between two somehow equivalent sides - has reached Alice-in-Wonderland proportions. Since Israel’s deputy defence minister, Matan Vilnai, issued his chilling warning last week that Palestinians faced a “holocaust” if they continued to fire home-made rockets into Israel, the balance sheet of suffering has become ever clearer. More than 120 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces in the past week, of whom one in five were children and more than half were civilians, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. During the same period, three Israelis were killed, two of whom were soldiers taking part in the attacks.

So what was the response of the British foreign secretary, David Miliband, to this horrific killing spree? It was to blame the “numerous civilian casualties” on the week’s “significant rise” in Palestinian rocket attacks “and the Israeli response”, condemn the firing of rockets as “terrorist acts” and defend Israel’s right to self-defence “in accordance with international law”. But of course it has been nothing of the kind - any more than has been Israel’s 40-year occupation of the Palestinian territories, its continued expansion of settlements or its refusal to allow the return of expelled refugees.

Nor is the past week’s one-sided burden of casualties and misery anything new, but the gap is certainly getting wider. After the election of Hamas two years ago, Israel - backed by the US and the European Union - imposed a punitive economic blockade, which has hardened over the past months into a full-scale siege of the Gaza Strip, including fuel, electricity and essential supplies. Since January’s mass breakout across the Egyptian border signalled that collective punishment wouldn’t work, Israel has opted for military escalation. What that means on the ground can be seen from the fact that at the height of the intifada, from 2000 to 2005, four Palestinians were killed for every Israeli; in 2006 it was 30; last year the ratio was 40 to one. In the three months since the US-sponsored Middle East peace conference at Annapolis, 323 Palestinians have been killed compared with seven Israelis, two of whom were civilians.

But the US and Europe’s response is to blame the principal victims for a crisis it has underwritten at every stage. In interviews with Palestinian leaders over the past few days, BBC presenters have insisted that Palestinian rockets have been the “starting point” of the violence, as if the occupation itself did not exist. In the West Bank, from which no rockets are currently fired and where the US-backed administration of Mahmoud Abbas maintains a ceasefire, there have been 480 Israeli military attacks over the past three months and 26 Palestinians killed. By contrast, the rockets from Gaza which are supposed to be the justification for the latest Israeli onslaught have killed a total of 14 people over seven years.

Like any other people, the Palestinians have the right to resist occupation - or to self-defence - whether they choose to exercise it or not. In spite of Israel’s disengagement in 2005, Gaza remains occupied territory, both legally and in reality. It is the world’s largest open-air prison, with land, sea and air access controlled by Israel, which carries out military operations at will. Palestinians may differ about the tactics of resistance, but the dominant view (if not that of Abbas) has long been that without some armed pressure, their negotiating hand will inevitably be weaker. And while it might be objected that the rockets are indiscriminate, that is not an easy argument for Israel to make, given its appalling record of civilian casualties in both the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.

The truth is that Hamas’s control of Gaza is the direct result of the US refusal to accept the Palestinians’ democratic choice in 2006 and its covert attempt to overthrow the elected administration by force through its Fatah placeman Muhammad Dahlan. As confirmed by secret documents leaked to the US magazine Vanity Fair - and also passed to the Guardian - George Bush, Condoleezza Rice and Elliott Abrams, the US deputy national security adviser (of Iran-Contra fame), funnelled cash, weapons and instructions to Dahlan, partly through Arab intermediaries such as Jordan and Egypt, in an effort to provoke a Palestinian civil war. As evidence of the military buildup emerged, Hamas moved to forestall the US plan with its own takeover of Gaza last June. David Wurmser, who resigned as Dick Cheney’s chief Middle East adviser the following month, argues: “What happened wasn’t so much a coup by Hamas but an attempted coup by Fatah that was pre-empted before it could happen.”

Yesterday, Rice attempted to defend the failed US attempt to reverse the results of the Palestinian elections by pointing to Iran’s support for Hamas. Meanwhile, Israel’s attacks on Gaza are expected to resume once she has left the region, even if no one believes they will stop the rockets. Some in the Israeli government hope that they can nevertheless weaken Hamas as a prelude to pushing Gaza into Egypt’s unwilling arms; others hope to bring Abbas and his entourage back to Gaza after they have crushed Hamas, perhaps with a transitional international force to save the Palestinian president’s face.”

A suicide bombing has killed a women and wounded nine others in the Israeli town of Dimona. Nothing can justify such an action, not even what has befallen Palestinians in Gaza because of the recent blockade, though I am sure that was the impetus. While some might think it justifiable, I’ll not condone such actions; just I do not condone the Israeli blockade and the miserable sufferings that it has caused, which is something considering conditions in Gaza prior to its institution. It should also be pointed out that the attack was not the work of Hamas, but rather that of Fatah’s military wing.

President Bush has unveiled the largest budget proposal in US history - $3.1 trillion dollars. As one might expect, the national security budget is being increased while other areas are being deceased, such as healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Today the Pentagon is also revealing its 2009 budget which, if approved in its entirety, and when adjusted for inflation, will be the largest of its kind since the Second World War.

The situation in Chad continues to deteriorate.

The legal team representing Canadian Guantanamo detainee, Omar Khadr, have asked that the charges against him be dropped. Khadr was only 15 years of age when he was taken into US custody, which, given precedents, made him a child soldier at the time. France has also recently claimed that the case against Khadr is suspect because of that very reason. US military prosecutors disagree, of course, claiming that Khadr ‘conducted surveillance in civilian clothing’ and that he was not a member of any recognized force, but rather a terrorist organization.

A US Surge in Afghanistan may be in the works.

The US Military has killed nine civilians during operations south of Baghdad. An internal investigation is, of course, underway, which will, as is usually the case, lead to nothing more than an apology and monetary compensation. Local witnesses claim that the death toll was, in fact, higher, and that a significant number of them were members of a single family.

There is new emerging evidence that Philip Zelikow, the head of the 9/11 Commission, had to ‘go through Karl Rove’ despite the fact that the inquiry was passed off as being independent of White House scrutiny.

Lastly, tomorrow is Super Tuesday. Should be interesting.

Lebanon is fighting a War on many fronts. There is the War on Terror in Naher Al Bared Refugee camp, which continues on its 4th week of fighting. The army today released that they have made considerable progress in the fight and that they are close to an end. What is “close” no one really knows. We keep on hearing “in the next few days” but then weeks pass and the fighting continues. Many of the Palestinians in the camp have been displaced, their homes taking over by terrorists and then bombed by the military. Saudi Arabia has pledged $12 Million to aid those displaced.

Another act of terror was the assassination of MP Eido on Wednesday. The government supporters blamed Syria, while Syria blamed them. All while a news anchor, Sawsan Darwish, for NBN TV station, which is a pro-Syrian/anti- government station, commented by accident on air “Why were they late in killing him [Eido]?,” She then said “they’re [anti-Syrian Politicians] driving us crazy,” “Ahmed Fatfat [Anti-Syrian MP] is left. I’m counting them,” she said as she and the sound engineer laughed. The comments caused a huge stir. How could this woman be so insensitive, just because this man had an opposing political view, was his death justified? How could she go on and gloat about who will be next as if this death comes as no surprise, it seemed as if what had just happened was amusing. How could I ever support anti government politics, when it’s people like this that represent it.

On the other hand, the Palestinian Brotherly War that continues to draw blood from Hamas and Fatah fighters in Gaza has spilled over into some of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps. Tensions were highest at El Bedawi Refugee camp, where Fatah and Hamas supporters clashed. Later in Ain El Halweh refugee camp a Hamas representative was attacked. Of course both Hamas and Fatah leaders in the camps deny that they are promoting violence between their different factions. And so though it looks like most Palestinians in the camps are supporting Palestinian unity, the tensions will not disappear until the problems in Gaza are resolved, a feat that will not be easily accomplished from the looks of things. For a good opinion peace check this article out.

And as if this was not enough for Lebanon to deal with, today a Palestinian militant group launched 3 rockets at Northern Israel followed by Israel launching 5 of its own at Southern Lebanon. Do these people not learn? And why the hell are Palestinians shooting rockets at Israel when they continue to fight amongst themselves in Gaza. Do they really believe that launching a few rockets will free their land? I can’t help but think this is another ploy by Syria to try and draw Lebanon into another war with Israel.

With every passing day I think this is it, it can’t get worse. But it does get worse. I still feel numb to it all. I still don’t feel threatened by what is going on around me. I still wonder if what I feel is normal and it makes me question myself more when I hear my friends’ concerns about their own safety. My mother arrived last night, and as soon as she saw an army check point she wept, remembering all the soldiers that have been killed in that last month. She told me how she really wanted my brother and I to visit them instead but convinced her self that all will be well. My brother and his family arrive on Wednesday, my dad the following Wednesday, and I continue to be optimistic that this will be a good a summer. Am I delusional? I really don’t know.

Obviously it’s been a busy week, which would be why I’ve done little more than cut and paste old Dear San Diego entries. I find myself writer, producer, and primary musician sixteen hours a day of late, so please excuse the lack of entries.

A great deal has occurred over the last week, most notably the official apology and compensation package given Maher Arar by the Canadian government and the idiotic comments of US Ambassador David Wilkins, who actually had the audacity to criticize the Canadian government’s attempts to have Arar removed from American security watch lists.

Things in Iraq remain the same, things in Afghanistan remain the same, tensions between Hamas and Fatah have escalated, Lebanon is heading down the road to civil war, US involvement in Somalia remains underreported, as does the newly approved policy authorizing US forces to take whatever action is deemed necessary against suspected Iranian agents in Iraq if they are considered a threat.

Amidst all of these I would like to use the majority of this entry to focus on a recent statement by the new US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. During his first press conference since assuming office, Gates remarked last Friday…

“It’s pretty clear that a resolution that in effect says that the general going out to take command of the arena shouldn’t have the resources he thinks he needs to be successful certainly emboldens the enemy and our adversaries.�?

This was, of course, in response to the suggestion that a Congressional resolution could oppose President Bush’s proposed troop surge, which is ironic considering that troops have already begun to be deployed.

I wanted to draw specific attention to Mr. Gates words for one simple reason, one that has to do with the democratic reality within highly militarized states, such as the United States.

The first article of the Constitution of the United States empowers Congress, not the Presidency, and certainly not the military as commanded by the President. Thus, when the President, Vice President, or Secretary of Defense claim that Congressional resolutions won’t hinder administrational decisions, which all three of have of late, they are, in essence, claiming that the people, by way of their elected representatives, have absolutely no power over use of their own military, which, it should never be forgotten, exists at the behest of the people within any democratic society, not beyond them. Of course, that reality with regards to the United States, is, in and of itself, a subject of some enormity, so I’ll not delve into it here. The basic point though is that key officials have, over the last week, claimed that the power of Congress doesn’t a) matter with regards to the deployment of the military, or b) that ways can be found around Congressional attempts to usurp the authority of the administration with regards to the deployment of the military.

Looking at this, one should immediately be drawn to the democratic rhetoric espoused by this administration with regards to other nations, primarily those in which they are currently militarily engaged. If, in the United States, Congress is so easily disregarded, what sort of message does that send to fledgling democracies, never mind those guerrillas or sectarian groups fighting within them?

The Bush administration’s refusal to acknowledge the power of Congress should not be overlooked, and the damage caused by that position should be carefully weighed with regards to the future of the Presidency itself, no matter who is in office.