SHARON'S BRUTAL PHILOSOPHY >By Holger Jensen* >(Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 12) > >During the Lebanese invasion of 1982, Sharon gave a >revealing interview to Amos Oz, a leading Israeli >author, in which he bluntly explained his military >doctrine and railed against pacifist Jews who thought >he was being too tough. It was published in the daily >Davar on Dec. 17, 1982. Excerpts: > >"You can call me anything you like. Call me a monster >or a murderer. ... Better a live Judeo-Nazi than a >dead saint. > >"Even if you prove to me that the present war in >Lebanon is a dirty immoral war, I don't care. Even if >Galilee is shelled again by Katyushas in a year's >time, I don't really care. We shall start another war, >kill and destroy more and more, until they will have >had enough. > >"Let them tremble, let them call us a mad state. Let >them understand that we are a wild country, dangerous >to our surroundings, not normal, that we might go >crazy if one of our children is murdered, just one! If >anyone even raises his hand against us we'll take away >half his land and burn the other half, including the >oil. We might use nuclear arms. > >"Even today I am willing to volunteer to do the dirty >work for Israel, to kill as many Arabs as necessary, >to deport them, to expel and burn them, to have >everyone hate us. ... And I don't mind if after the >job is done you put me in front of a Nuremberg Trial >and then jail me for life. Hang me if you want, as a >war criminal. > >"What you don't understand is that the dirty work of >Zionism is not finished yet, far from it." > >* Holger Jensen is international editor of the Rocky >Mountain News.
What is the point of posting this stuff. A majority of posters on this board agree that Sharon is probably not the best guy for this situation. Most also agree that Arafat definitely has to go. This could be argued ad naseum over and over and over again on this board, but it already has. Just my opinion, but I don't enjoy clicking into a thread titled Bush's "Man of Peace" that might be interesting but is only the same stuff that has been posted in countless other threads on the same topic. At the very least make the title of threads like this something similar to "Sharon: Another Article Talking About How Bad A Guy He Is!"
If we're offering a show of hands for yet another poster who sees the futility in these discussions and no longer gives a rat's ass..... ...chalk me up.
Here's Jensen's retraction of the column in question: http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_1089802,00.html Quotes I attributed to Sharon were not his April 16, 2002 This is a mea culpa. I made a grievous error in not verifying the authenticity of 20-year-old quotes attributed to Ariel Sharon that I used in my Saturday column on the Israeli leader. As it turns out, they were made not by Sharon but another unnamed Israeli soldier who died 11 years ago. The interview in question was conducted by Amos Oz, one of Israel's leading authors and prominent in the Peace Now movement. He had access to many Israeli generals and politicians of that era but identified some of his interview subjects only by letters of the alphabet, leaving it it up to his readers to decide who they were. The interview with "Z" was published in the Israeli newspaper Davar on Dec. 17, 1982 (Davar ceased publication in 1996) and later republished in Oz's collection of interviews titled "In the Land of Israel." I was in both Beirut and Israel that year and remember the uproar it caused. When the interview first appeared after the invasion of Lebanon, "Z" was widely assumed to be Sharon because the interviewee was described as a military man "with a certain history," about 50 years of age, heavyset and a prosperous farmer. All this fit the stocky Sharon, who had a farm, was the right age and certainly had "a history." Sharon had lost his job as defense minister after being held indirectly responsible for a massacre of Palestinian refugees by Israel's Lebanese Phalange allies in Beirut. The military man interviewed by Oz justified the invasion of Lebanon, dismissed the massacre of Palestinians as one of the harsh realities of war -- "how can you call 500 Arabs a massacre?" -- and spoke contemptuously of Israeli pacifists as those with "soft and delicate hands." Oz never revealed who "Z" was, saying he had promised to protect his identity. He held to that promise when I telephoned him Monday, but confirmed that it was not Sharon. "I have never met or interviewed Sharon," Oz said. The Middle East is full of mythology. History is rewritten to promote the viewpoints of Israelis or Palestinians and both sides in the conflict suffer from selective recall when it suits their purpose. My job is to cut through mythology, not add to it. So there it is. Another myth exploded, leaving much egg on my face. My critics will doubtless be delighted, and my supporters disappointed -- but not nearly as disappointed as I am in myself for not going to the source of those quotes in the first place. After 33 years in this business I should know better. My apologies to all.
Its strange to see how De-sensitized we have all become to all of this violence. While there are battles raging in the world, with weaponry that those April tax filings we made are paying for, yet we would rather talk about favorite type of music or about favorite foods. I think that is pathetic. The apathy felt towards governmental actions, change and policy is horrible. By not analyzing the actions of your nation we are jepordizing the freedoms we have for our grandchildren. Though I was born in New York, my family is from a country in which is a virtual dictatorship, Pakistan, giving me even more pride and sense of responsibility to safeguard these freedoms as an American. That sense of indifference is a disease in this nation and many take for granted our society and the apathy is a slap in the face to the founding father's of this country who strived against oppression and tyranny. So, go ahead, go back to your favorite pizza forum and live in ignorance of the world around you.
Look, this is a message board on the internet for a Rocket's website. What is pathetic, and let's see if you can follow me here, is that you keep bringing up thread after thread about it. If you feel so strongly (and I respect your feelings certainly) go do something about - start a not for profit organization to help those in need, spend a day helping fundraise, etc, etc. From every single one of the thousands of threads I've read on this topic, it is pretty apparent that everyone's mind is set on the issue (if that isn't clear just look at the article you posted when there was a perfectly clear rebuttal by the author explaining how much of a dumbass he was for writing the article in the first palce that you neglected to include yet obivously wasn't difficult to find) and isn't going to change. Maybe an article posting a current event in the conflict or an interesting new take on the situation would be useful, but this kind of ridiculous article posting in blatant attempts to gain more sypmathy for one side or the other, is what seems pathetic to me.
F D Khan Don't you think that articles such that you posted here contribute to the so-called apathy that you see? Obviously Mr. Jensen wrote an article which damns Sharon and then has to admit it was blatantly inaccurate. Your posting it only added more fuel to the fire.
Shouldn't you be back in Pakistan martyring yourself or something? or making me a bigger Bokhara for my new dining room table? You're incessant one-sidedness to this whole affair is probably the number one or two reason why I've given in to apathy. Now....back to my pizza.
Not that it matters in regards to my points, but I have volunteered over the last 10 years every time a group of Bosnian Refugees or Palestinian Refugees come to Houston to live. I sat there and listened to their stories, saw the tears in their eyes and tried my level best to help them regain some semblance of a life. I even hired a Bosnian refugee part time in my office to help him get on his feet. Yes, I think this has impacted me and I hope to share my experiences, observations and articles that I feel are relavant on this BBS, and I will not refrain from doing so. If I feel the premises that most have on this conflict is a contrast from the truth, I feel it is my responsibility to bring the point up. Obviously, every time I open my mouth (or my keyboard), I automatically get a sarcastic remark from RocketManTex and then a follow up from Buck or Franchise2001.
This is great. I am glad to hear you actively support your views in such a positive way, which is important. The problem is you are not spreading the truth. You are just advancing your one-sided view on the matter (others on the board do act similarly i agree). This thread in particular should make that obvious.
You are an ignorant idiot Pole, I've read a few of your little sarcastic remarks that you throw out everywhere. At least other people respond with their opinions or articles. And obviously with your vast idiocy you don't know that none of the "martyrs" are from Pakistan, and actually Pakistan helped the US in Afghanistan. And most women don't even wear burkha's there, so why don't you learn how to spell it before you say it. By the way, don't ever try to insult me like that again. You're lucky that you're hiding behind that computer or I'd show you what I mean personally. I know you're type, act all arrogant and sarcastic behind the computer but a timid little sh*# in real life.
The reasons you always get a sarcastic remark from me are... (1) the one-sidedness of your posts (2) the questionable nature of the sources of the articles you link to -and- (3) the fact that this is a friendly, Rockets-related website and that the Middle East-related threads you start are meant to cause division among the posters here. On top of that, when Buck Turgidson provides a link that proves your original article is pure bullsh*t, you reply with an asinine comment like "Its strange to see how De-sensitized we have all become to all of this violence". In my opinion, it's strange to see how you have become so de-sensitized to the truth. FD, if you want to engage in a serious discussion on a BBS regarding the situation in the Middle East, why don't you go to a freaking website about the situation in the Middle East!.
RocketManTex, I replied before I read Buck's article, If I am wrong, I will very gladly admit that. Now you start many threads about the SAME thing but from a different view point, and If you don't want to talk about it why the hell have you posted here three times? If you don't want to read about it, get out of the thread and don't post to it three times and don't do a "roll-eyes" throw in a sarcastic remark and then expect someone not to comment about it.
A Bokhara is a Pakistani rug. I have no idea why you thought I'd want a veil for my dining room table. The irony in the above statement is overwhelming.
FD, show me one thread that I've started about the SAME thing but from a very different viewpoint. The reason I've posted to this one three times is not because I want to talk about the Middle East. It's because I want to point out to the other posters on this BBS how full of sh*t you are. But I'm going to stop posting on this thread now. FD, you are doing a wonderful job of showing everyone how full of sh*t you are. You don't need my help.
Maybe it's because for the last 7 months we have seen about 10000 of these BS propaganda pieces posted ???????? There is a big difference in starting a thread about events in the middle east and posting this type of crap,which obviously wasn't even true.
FD Khan is not a radical and has well reasoned opinions. Your post is an embarrassment for you. BTW, FD Khan a a native New Yorker, not that that should make any difference.
