by James Glaser
February 25, 2004

I have never been able to figure out why those in Washington can't be honest with the rest of us. I keep thinking about those people killed in the September 11th terrorist attack and I wonder why they had to die.

I watch as those in Congress question the people in charge of our FBI and CIA and nobody asks the question, WHY? They ask about what we knew before or what the White House knew and when did they know it, but for some strange reason nobody wants to know why these people had to die or why the terrorists wanted to attack.

Nobody wants to admit that these 3000 people died for Israel, but they did. They died because America has decided that we will back Israel at all cost. Nobody that pushed for that policy ever dreamed that it would cost us three thousand lives in one crack. I am sorry if that offends someone, but it is the truth and the sad thing is that it isn't a secret. The rest of the world knows it.

I don't know why we won't discuss our stance when it comes to Israel. I am not saying it is right or wrong, but I do think the American people have the right to know that our Middle East policy is what got us into trouble. We should be debating if it is worth it or not.

I am real sick of George Bush saying that they hate our freedom or those on the religious right that claim, this is a religious war that has been going on for centuries and this is the latest flare up.

Hey if George Bush wants to back Israel so that he can some how get a temple built that will bring on Armageddon, that is OK, but tell us that is what we are doing. Let us all decide if we think we can make Christ come back down here on our terms, not his.

Now in my way of thinking George Bush and his Religious Right zealots are just as fanatical as the Muslim fundamentalists who have become terrorists. The Muslims think if they terrorize us enough we will stop helping Israel. George's Christian fundamentalists think if they do just the right things over in the Holy Land, Jesus Christ will have no choice but to come back down here.

You know right after the 9/11 attack, Osama bin Laden got on television and told us why he attacked us. Here is what he said, "As for America, I say to her and to her people only a few words. I swear by Almighty God who raised the skies without a pillar that America and those who live in America will not dream of security before we live it as a reality in Palestine and before all the infidel armies leave the land of Mohammed, praise and peace be upon him. God is great. Glory to Islam. Peace be upon you and God's compassion and blessing."

True, the man is as hard to understand as an American politician, but really if you throw out the religious stuff, Osama is telling us to get our armies out of Saudi Arabia, that is the Land of Mohammed, where Islam's most holy place is, Mecca. We have pretty much done that. We still have some troops there but the bulk of them have left. I don't know if we did it because of this threat, but we did move on out of Saudi Arabia. Second, Osama tells us we can't have security in America until the Palestinian people have security and that is where our Israeli policy comes into play.

It is not unpatriotic to talk about this. Hey a guy had three thousand of our people killed and then he tells us on a video tape, why he did it and our nation won't even talk about it. In fact we make up other reasons for him attacking us. Now is that crazy or what?

Osama is a fanatic, the guy is insane, the guy is a religious zealot, and you know what else, he is not the only one. There are lots of Muslims that believe that as long as the people in Palestine are living like shit, we should too. I don't care what you believe, but for me I have to say, Osama has kept America from feeling secure ever since he told us he would.

Let's say we kill Osama. Do you really think that will be the end of it?

Someday we are going to have to work on the Israeli/Palestinian problem. Not because Osama bin laden is threatening us, but because it is the right thing to do. The people in Israel are not secure, the Palestinians are not secure, and now the Americans do not feel secure.

We know what the problem is and we are doing nothing really except pouring money into Israel and giving them military equipment which adds people to bin Laden's cause. Remember even if we do get things straightened out over there, we can still hunt down Osama, that doesn't change.

The real point here is that the American people have a right to decide if they think it is all worth it. I know there is a lot of money involved here and a lot of it is political money, but it is time we realize that Americans are dying for our Israeli policies.

It is no longer a secret. So let's start telling it like it is. No more Washington games, no more Washington Bullshit, we were attacked on September 11th because of our national foreign policy. Those 3,000 people died because we back a Jewish State in the Middle East. It is time we acted like adults and started working on a way to bring security to both Israel and Palestine and in turn ourselves.

At least we can now admit what the problem is.