There is an old news story that made a strong comeback in recent weeks, particularly in the wake of Muammar Gaddafi's ouster. This story concerns rendition by Western intelligence, specifically the U.S. and UK intelligence services, of detained suspects to their home countries to be tortured or even killed. In such a case, there is a shared responsibility. If someone hires a criminal to murder an enemy, both the person who ordered the hit and the killer are equally guilty for the crime. Therefore, the CIA and MI6 are full accomplices of Gaddafi's intelligence in the torture and murder of dissenters. On 31/5/2010, armed Israeli troops intercepted the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla in the high seas, and murdered nine unarmed Turkish activists on board the Mavi Maramara, injuring scores of others, and detaining five other ships along with the Marmara. Recently, a UN report on this incident was issued (known as the Palmer Report as the investigation team was headed by Sir Geoffrey Palmer, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand). The report said that the manner in which the Freedom Flotilla was attacked was excessive and unreasonable, and that the Israeli explanation of what had happened is unacceptable, as some of the deceased suffered multiple gunshot wounds, with some in the back. Also, the report supported Israel's right to impose a blockade on the Gaza Strip to protect its security. The first and last goal of the report was to investigate the raid on the Freedom Flotilla, and in this particular point, it has condemned Israel; so what happened after that? All newspapers in Israel and the pro-Israel media in America said that the report was fair to Israel or that it has exculpated it. The Weekly Standard, the mouthpiece of the neocons, thus headlined its story on the report, “UN Report on Flotilla Incident Exonerates Israel”, and the first paragraph of the story mentioned that, “All the facts are as Israel contended and as the Commission notes "Israel faces a real threat to its security from militant groups in Gaza.” This is chutzpah. The international inquiry was not about the blockade to begin with, but about the killing of unarmed civilians at sea. The report has condemned Israel's crime –not incident- against the flotilla, and only referenced the blockade to appear ‘balanced', and so that the investigators would not be targeted by a campaign along the lines of what happened to Judge Richard Goldstone, following his original report that fully condemned Israel. Israel knows no truths, being itself a lie established atop Palestinian lands. All those who advocate for Israel are full accomplices in its crimes just like the U.S. and UK intelligence services are complicit with Gaddafi's intelligence apparatus in torturing dissenters, including Abdul Hakim Belhadj, the current leader of the rebel forces. One thing usually reminds of another; the CIA's job, ever since its creation in the wake of the Second World War, is to gather intelligence and protect the United States from other countries' operatives. However, in the George W. Bush decade, the CIA stooped to the level of the Mossad. As such, unmanned drones operated by the agency have killed around two thousand people since the year 2000, including many civilians. The CIA has thus engaged in ‘targeted killings', and walked in the footsteps of the Israeli war criminals. Meanwhile, Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz wrote a piece for the Washington Post entitled “Obama, an American Liberator”, in which they claimed that the United States has liberated Libya from the Gaddafi regime, and called on Obama to attack Syria, as well as Hezbollah and Lebanon. And in Commentary, Max Boot wrote an article under the title, “CIA must reshape the Middle East”. These three are ultra-neoconservatives, i.e. of the warmongering cabal which lobbied for the Iraq war that killed one million Arabs and Muslims, and ended with the bankruptcy of America and its dethroning as the world's only superpower. They are responsible for the killing of Arabs and Muslims, as much as George W. Bush and his radical Vice President Dick Cheney are. They continue to try even today. However, the real liberators of Libya are its people, and recall that America has left air support operations to be conducted by the European members of NATO, as America cannot guarantee jobs for its own citizens anymore, let alone intervene in a foreign country. I write all this without opposing any change in any country of the Arab world, because any change that has taken place or that will indeed take place will be against Israel before being against anyone else, and suffice it to adduce Egypt and its youths here. Finally, when the Likudniks do not lie to everyone else, they lie to one another. I have before me the Washington Times, Yedioth Ahronoth and the World Tribune, all staunch supporters of Israel. The first said that the Iron Dome hit 85 percent of its targets, and the second said that the Iron Dome intercepted 9 out of 12 rockets fired on Ashkelon, while the third said that the Iron Dome intercepted only 17 of 150 Hamas missiles and rockets. Who do we believe then? They are all lying, and I say to them, wait for Hezbollah's rockets on Haifa, Tel Aviv and Dimona. [email protected]
