Middle East – Page 30 – Antiwar.com Blog

I Love the Smell of Vindication in the Morning

Lord knows, I tried to warn you: Andrew Sullivan is no peacenik. In the last 24 hours of his hysterical Iran!revolution!fascism!democracy!whiskey!sexy! typeathon, Sullivan has relapsed and rediscovered all his old drinking buddies from the Saddam!liberation!fascism!democracy!whiskey!sexy! days: Michael Ledeen, Glenn Reynolds, Michael Totten, Christopher Hitchens… What, no Laurie Mylroie yet?

Sure, sure, he also links to a Pat Buchanan piece advocating nonintervention, saying he agrees “for now,” but that’s typical of Sullivan’s fluttering, erratic style of punditry, which never pauses long enough to consider its own contradictions. But read his blog for a few hours, and you’ll get the general thrust, whether Sullivan is aware of it or not in his green delirium: something must be done!

Did Ahmadinejad Win Fair & Square – and Cheat, Too?

Juan Cole presents a compelling case that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the Iranian presidential election altogether, pointing to the sheer lopsidedness of the results, both nationally and in specific areas, as proof of their absurdity. Robert Fisk, on the other hand, cites an Iranian friend arguing that Ahmadinejad’s victory isn’t really that hard to believe:

“The election figures are correct, Robert. Whatever you saw in Tehran, in the cities and in thousands of towns outside, they voted overwhelmingly for Ahmadinejad. Tabriz voted 80 per cent for Ahmadinejad. It was he who opened university courses there for the Azeri people to learn and win degrees in Azeri. In Mashad, the second city of Iran, there was a huge majority for Ahmadinejad after the imam of the great mosque attacked Rafsanjani of the Expediency Council who had started to ally himself with Mousavi. They knew what that meant: they had to vote for Ahmadinejad.” â€¦

“You know why so many poorer women voted for Ahmadinejad? There are three million of them who make carpets in their homes. They had no insurance. When Ahmadinejad realised this, he immediately brought in a law to give them full insurance. Ahmadinejad’s supporters were very shrewd. They got the people out in huge numbers to vote â€“ and then presented this into their vote for Ahmadinejad.”

Still, Ahmadinejad’s almost 2-to-1 victory over Mousavi is reason for skepticism. Last week, we ran a story about Ahmadinejad’s rivals complaining of too many ballots being printed, presumably for stuffing the boxes in Ahmadinejad’s favor. Is it possible that Ahmadinejad’s henchmen bought into the Mousavi hype a bit too much, cheated overzealously to avoid the predicted runoff, and then got blindsided by a much better turnout for their guy than anyone expected? That is, is Ahmadinejad’s 63% total masking a much more modest but nonetheless real majority? And will the recount reveal such a result, thereby undermining Ahmadinejad at the same time that it confirms his victory?

UPDATE: “Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin — greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday’s election.” Read the rest.

UPDATE 2: But on the third handâ€¦

Excellent Interview: Goodman-Barstow

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman did an excellent interview last week with David Barstow, a New York Times reporter who recently won the Pulitzer prize for his April, 2008 story about Rumfeld’s “Force Multiplying” generals sent on combat missions to America TV news studios to lie us into war (and all the giant piles of cash money they made selling military hardware). In the interview Barstow discusses his story, the recently repudiated Pentagon Inspector General report which denied his claims and the TV networks’ continued blackout on his story.

Remember Fallujah?

Friday on Antiwar Radio I’ll be talking with Mark Manning whose award-winning film “The Road to Fallujah,” about his travel there just after the massacre of November, 2004, recently premiered. (2-4 eastern.)

It is a great film and should be a great interview as well.

(The best part about watching films like this noticing how little American TV portrays what it is like for those left alive in the country they helped destroy.)

Aid for Gazans

Prof. Floyd Rudmin sends the following:

Material aid to Palestinians in Gaza can be given by donations to the following aid agencies. These are not listed in any order of priority.

1) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been responsible for the necessities of life for refugees in Gaza since 1948. UNRWA runs hospitals and schools, and provides basic food supplies for Palestinian families long trapped in Gaza. Donations can be made online here. Donations by bank transfer and international checks are also possible.

2) The Norwegian People’s Aid (Norsk Folkehjelp) has been actively helping Palestinians since 1987 and opened a local office in Gaza in 1996, with a focus on supporting women’s rights and development. Donations can be made online here. Select "Gaza" as the "Cause" which you wish to support.

3) Action by Churches Together (ACT) International is a Swiss-based alliance of Protestant and Orthodox churches to provide aid during emergencies. On January 14, ACT International delivered 3 truckloads of food, milk, and medicine to the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. Donations can be made following instructions here via bank transfers or international checks. The Church World Service is a member organization, accepting online donations here, for fund #6824, "2009 Gaza Humanitarian Response." Church World Service meets all 20 Better Business Bureau standards and has a 2-star rating by Charity Navigator.

4) Medecins sans frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) runs a clinic in Gaza and has 21 tons of medical supplies and a team of surgeons set to enter Gaza as soon as allowed. MSF meets 19 of 20 Better Business Bureau standards and has a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator. Donations can be made online here.

5) The United Palestinian Appeal (UPA) is a registered US charity with a focus in Gaza on first aid training and mobile clinics. The UPA meets 19 of 20 Better Business Bureau standards and has a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator. They are now fund raising for medical and food supplies. Donations can be made online here.

6) American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) is a registered US charity, founded in 1968, to give aid to impoverished Palestinian families. On January 9, ANERA delivered 81 pallets of fortified milk to Gaza. ANERA meets all 20 Better Business Bureau standards and has a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator. Donations can be made online here.

7) Oxfam America is a well-known aid agency. It meets all 20 Better Business Bureau standards and has a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator. Oxfam has established a "Middle East Crisis" fund to help with emergency medical needs. Donations can be made online here.

8) The International Medical Corps (IMC) delivers aid to Gaza via Heart-to-Heart International, International Relief Teams, and The Bridge Foundation. The IMC meets all 20 Better Business Bureau standards and has a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator. Donations can be made online here or by 24-hour phone line.

9) Episcopal Relief & Development operates in Gaza via the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. It supports the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza and is sheltering 400 Gazans displaced by the conflict. Episcopal Relief & Development meets all 20 Better Business Bureau standards and has a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator. Donations can be made online here, where you can select the "Middle East" fund.

10) CARE was established in 1945 to deliver aid to war-torn Europe. It is now one of the most reputed U.S. aid NGOs, active in Gaza since 1948, with a focus on food security and clean water. CARE meets all 20 Better Business Bureau standards and has a 3-star rating by Charity Navigator. Donations can be made online here.

11) World Vision is a Christian relief agency with field offices in many countries, including Gaza. World Vision meets all 20 Better Business Bureau standards and has a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator. Donations can be made online here.

12) Medical Aid for Palestine is a registered Canadian charity established in 1982. It is subsidized by two government agencies: the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Secrétariat à l’Aide Internationale du Québec (SAI). Donations can be made online here.

Floyd Rudmin is a professor of psychology in Arctic Norway.

Jerusalem Post Cranks Out More Hasbara Fodder

In the course of approving news links this morning, I read this article from the Jerusalem Post that claims that Hamas has taken to seizing and selling truckloads of international aid “to the highest bidders.” I looked for a few minutes for a mention of this in other publications, but the only material I found were stories that mentioned the one in the Post.

Of course it’s not completely implausible that Hamas would do such a thing in order to raise funds to fight the invading Israeli Army, but newspapers like the Jerusalem Post do not inspire confidence that this story is true, especially since Hamas is normally an organization that spends money on charitable works in Palestine. This is likely just another bit of fodder to disseminate to the worldwide hasbara machine.

Until we see corroboration by any other news organization, this item will not be presented as news. I guess that’s what Israel gets for banning press coverage.