Shlonkom Bakazay?

Yes we can.

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:46:00 -0800

So, we won the battle...

Now it's time to taste the pudding. As far as I can tell Obama has appointed a lot of old hats not representing the constituency that elected him. But he's built a broad coalition representing the spectrum, which could be the manner we may achieve a new form of politics in DC. So, let's assume for the moment he plans to be the progressive voice on the hill. I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the first 100 some-odd days, especially with the shit-storm he's inherited.

Hope is alive.
And this is the most important thing at the moment.

Now it's time to get to work.
-Lim

LBF logo

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:18:00 -0700

Obama gonna git yo mamma

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:02:00 -0700

Golly, gee willikers, I think he's a bona-fide Chi-town Hawaiian Kenyan Kansan Compound Identity freakazoid like me.

How sweet is that?

Karma police caught up with karma itself and they had coffee and donuts...or shai ooo erlgeela.

Ha ha.

He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack...

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:44:00 -0700

You didn't think I was going to let this one slip by, did you?

Col. Steven Boylan , Petraeus' spokesman. "He has a lot of energy."

Yes, indeed, a lotta energy to fuck things up.
And he will continue to fuck Iraq if he is given the opportunity.

Unbelievably, it looks like he's going to get that opportunity by the imbeciles in DC calling the shots still.

After all the damage he's caused...

Wolfowitz is so gangsta

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Tue, 15 May 2007 07:51:00 -0700

"If they fuck with me or Shaha, I have enough on them to fuck them too."

That's so awesome! He's mad gangsta.
So, now that he's fucked, you think he's gonna fuck them too?
HAHA...

And props for dating the vicious Arab chick...
You got jungle fever baby.

Brown turns his frown upside down.

Peace,
Lim

Pentagon unit ( Office of Special Plans ) defied CIA advice to justify Iraq war

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 13:21:00 -0800

As if we didn't already know this...

Their plans were so special. So special, in fact, that we are faced with a mounting defecit while people are dying at an ever higher rate... and they still can't even turn the lights on in Baghdad.
So special that throwing 20,000 more troops at this parade of violence cannot possibly make things better. They got themselves to where they are now...where we are all now. And where are these people that created the false intelligence in the lead-up to the war? Running the World Bank, fired or resigned, and trying to hide away...far away...while these many get fat on the interest of their war profiteering.
Where are Chalabi and all the other con-artists and self-deluding neocons?
And recently they passed the oil law, which completed much of the mission of the war. Now they just gotta sit and wait...and watch their crooked money come flowing in.

So special that there is a refugee crisis amounting to upwards of 3.6 million people displaced. 1.6 intra-Iraq, while approximately 2 million have fled the country.
Who is to shoulder this extremely special burden?
What special plans are they coming up with now to solve the endless problems this war has created?
I bet none.

Suzanne Goldenberg reports.

. 'Alternative' agency set up to link Saddam to al-Qaida
· Mainstream intelligence was cast aside, Senate told

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday February 10, 2007
The Guardian

An "alternative intelligence" unit operating at the Pentagon in the run-up to the war on Iraq was dedicated to establishing a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, even though the CIA was unconvinced of such a connection, the US Senate was told yesterday.
A report presented to the armed services committee by the Pentagon's inspector general, Thomas Gimble, exposes the Bush administration to new charges of manipulating intelligence to make its case for going to war against Saddam nearly four years ago.

Mr Gimble described a unit called the Office for Special Plans, authorised by then Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and overseen by the former policy chief Douglas Feith, to review raw intelligence on Iraq. The main focus of the unit was establishing a link between Saddam and al-Qaida - going against the consensus in the intelligence community that the Iraqi leader had nothing to do with the September 11 2001 terror attacks.

"The office of the under-secretary of defence for policy developed, produced and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the intelligence community, to senior decision-makers," the report says.

Mr Feith's office was the source for some of the most glaring examples of faulty intelligence during the run-up to the war. In 2002 it promoted the idea that there had been a meeting between the lead September 11 hijacker, Mohammed Atta, and an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in April 2001. The intelligence community has never established this.

To finish article

I like the new season of 24

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Tue, 6 Feb 2007 22:24:00 -0800

Although jingoistic and following particular stereotypes in times past, 24's new season has thoroughly impressed me. I especially like Wayne Palmer, Karen Hayes, and the new Arab-American girl's character. And I love to hate Tom Villars (sp?) for all the obvious reasons. Also, I watched it in HD. Spectacular!

I've got more to say about this, but I'll leave it for later.

Is Iran arming the Sunni insurgency in Iraq?

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Tue, 6 Feb 2007 20:36:00 -0800

Taking a page out of the US book? Speaking clearly about the Iran-Contra affair whereby America armed both Iraq and Iran during the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s...and watched the two countries duke it out. Oliver North, Eliot Abrams...you know.

I wouldn't be surprised. Sure, sometimes some of their Shia "brothers and sisters" in Iraq might get caught in the crossfire on accident...but really, does Iran really care about any Iraqis? Isn't there a little bitterness left over from that war where millions died? Enough to arm the Sunni insurgency and keep Iraq in chaos?

I forgot where exactly I heard about this first, but I did hear about it somewhere.
Food for thought, anyway.

Never Said Better: BRING OUR TROOPS HOME

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Tue, 6 Feb 2007 10:08:00 -0800

I find myself agreeing with so many Republicans.
Please check this out.

And another video: George Bush: Because he says so

While I'm at it...another really funny video

And something Helena Cobban directed me to that was interesting, a political music video.

Choosing the worse of two evils: John McCain offers no insight to anything

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Sun, 4 Feb 2007 22:11:00 -0800

Once, long ago, I had a lot of respect for this man. But now, I can't stay quiet about him any longer. I thought his experience as a POW could offer a person like our current Emperor some insight into the cruelity and folly of war. But I was very wrong. He has toed the line of all the Emperor's ideas as of late. And somebody's gotta start calling him out on this.

John McCain says "War detractors offer no ideas" in this headline. But McCain is a parrot and almost rivals Tony Blair's poodle dogish behavior in the lead up to the war with his current support of Our King's plan. Thus, he offers no insight to anything. Choosing the worse of two evils... more specifically, sending 20,000 some odd troops into Iraq versus not sending them... is folly to the highest order.

So, I propose a vote of No Confidence in John McCain.

How bout you?

Black President

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Sun, 4 Feb 2007 20:35:00 -0800

I'm not talking David or Wayne Palmer here. He's the real thing.
We hope so, anyway. Let's see.

The Obama Revolution

Is Michel Aoun bipolar?

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 20:57:00 -0800

Just wondering, because that's what I heard tonight from a good source.
Like he's taking some heavy pills for bi-polar disorder.
I'm being totally serious.
Anybody hear the same?

Da Bears in Da Superbowl! DOWN WID DA DOUBTERS!

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 02:58:00 -0800

Coming to America: "As you know, on the occasion of my daughter's wedding, I cannot refuse a request..."

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:07:00 -0800

Back in the US of A.
My nephew is getting baptized and I'm going to be the Godfather.
I'm already so proud of him. He's impressively fast at learning. Not even 9 months and is he's about to walk!

I've gotta start practicing my Brando impersonation. There was a time I could do it pretty well, but I tried again recently and I don't remember it being that difficult.

What else is cooking?

I saw Apocalypto.
Loved it. The subtleties of symbolism and plot are fascinating.
There are truly not enough films about the indigenous peoples of North America.

At the moment, I'm watching Ms. Collateral Damage (Madeleine Albright) wax holier than thou about the Iraq war on CSPAN.
How obscene! Why do I watch this repulsive pornography?

Speaking of pornography, here's a few things...

In other news, Gen. George Casey said, "I think it's probably going to be the summer, late summer, before you get to the point where people in Baghdad feel safe in their neighborhoods." [source] I don't know about you, but I'm going to remember this and revisit this again in the summer. We'll see if he's full of shit or not...or out of a job.

I'm seeing the phenomenon of blaming the Iraqis for all that is wrong in Iraq, more and more...
Now that brain-drain has effectively cut-out most Iraqis with any sort of western leanings, it is going to be difficult to get Iraq on its feet. Is it their fault that they want to leave a place so violent? I ask all those saying it's Iraqis to blame, why is it so violent after 4 years of war? Who started the war? Why wasn't there any WMD? Why was the war persecuted with so many lies?

Perhaps because they couldn't have had the war without the lies.

So, who's fault is it really?

COP-OUT, please?

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 20:03:00 -0800

This is how the subtext to the headline today on CNN's website reads, "Rice explores peace in the Middle East":

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice explored opportunities for a fresh start in the stalled effort at a political compromise between Israel and the Palestinians.

At the start of a week-long trip to the region, she warned that an enduring peace cannot be stamped "made in America."

Of course, it's true...but it's the ultimate cop-out and just a way to stave of criticism for all the inaction by the American government regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the last 5 years and heavy bias towards the Sharonian ideal while Israel runs rampant radicalizing the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, much like the US government has radicalized Iraq.

But how convenient for the looney toons in the WH...because now they can have their excuse to have a war on Iran.

The world gone crazy...stoking the flames of extremism seems like one of the objectives of this administration.

Start anew

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 07:07:00 -0800

I've decided to start blogging again.
Politics has gotten more interesting all of the sudden.
And I've got several snarls left in me yet.
I'll see how it goes anyway.

So, I'm hearing talk about the possibility of democrats being able to block more funding of the Iraq debacle.
Amazing, no?

Why'd it take so damn long? And T.Snow is now saying supporting this stance is unpatriotic.
Is that the last and shortest straw? Almost tantamount to saying John Murtha is a weeny, spineless liberal...
Chabuduo anyway...

We are now entering the densely ironic phase of this very predictable war.
Meaning, I could have predicted (and subsequently did predict) that this war would go this badly.
I mean, that's why I was so against it to begin with.
The possibility of failure was high based on the original premise and all the following premises, as we have seen.
And now, since talk of this troop increase has been discredited by just about every bona fide expert on Iraq...we're at yet the same point again. To be clear, a physical place, a sort of crossroad we've reached many a time...
Which end will the knife turn on?
One ring to rule them all? (Fascism) Or all rings to rule nothing? (Chaos, Anarchy)
Those are the choices Iraq as a complete entity faces now.
Not to say there isn't some grey area.
Point is,
even the best possible one is a bad one.

So, whether or not they put more troops in...doesn't really matter. Because we don't really know which direction to expect if we do, or if we don't.

While it would be better they didn't, they will...and they will see the negative effects of it a couple steps down the road.
And there will be another senate hearing about it that will amount to nothing. Where we'll see more experts discredit the original decision to have the troop increase. Some of course saying, I told you so.
So what? So what? So what?
Iraq's fucked. And the world is so much worse off for it.
Everybody knows this much now.
And believe me, that's enough.

But what do I really think about said troop increase?

20,000??? Are you kidding me?
Are they deliberately trying to make a bad situation worse?
That's what I'll say. Talk about kindling...
It screams disaster. And they are crazy for talking about putting such a small amount in such a manner.
It's foolish to the highest order.

And even trying to fathom the possibility of an exponential increase in troops, say upwards another 100-150,000, to a total of 250,000...would simply be impossible for American Armed Forces to absorb at the moment.

But would putting only 20,000 more troops in make sure Iraq becomes a fascist religious state or a continued chaotic chasm of violence? Lets get down and dirty with this one.
Yes...
There's simply no way of knowing.
In many ways, the fascist secular state appears to have been better compared with the ever-narrowing field of options facing Iraq and Iraqis now. And that's the real travesty of the whole matter. That we've regressed so greatly. One would like to say, two steps backward, then eventually one step foward. But can we now? Can we really expect any improvement with Iraq in the coming years, even if democrats are steering more?

I doubt it.

So, yes...things have gotten more interesting.
And I wanna exhume my thoughts for you in the coming weeks.
haha
Thanks...
bye,
Lim

Mr. Please Please rest in peace

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 04:13:00 -0800

If there could have been a divine source of musical inspiration walking amongst us, it was James Brown. Now he's left us for greener pastures. Thank you James, for all the good times past and good times to come.

I'm gonna tell you the story of when I saw him live in concert, on accident, sometime.

Peace,
Lim

They lied their way into Iraq. Now they are trying to lie their way out: Gary Younge

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 12:41:00 -0800

Bush and Blair will blame anyone but themselves for the consequences of their disastrous war - even its victims

Gary Younge
Monday November 27, 2006
The Guardian

'In the endgame," said one of the world's best-ever chess players, José Raúl Capablanca, "don't think in terms of moves but in terms of plans." The situation in Iraq is now unravelling into the bloodiest endgame imaginable. Both popular and official support for the war in those countries that ordered the invasion is already at a low and will only get lower. Whatever mandate the occupiers may have once had from their own electorates - in Britain it was none, in the US it was precarious - has now eroded. They can no longer conduct this war as they have been doing.
Simultaneously, the Iraqis are no longer able to live under occupation as they have been doing. According to a UN report released last week, 3,709 Iraqi civilians died in October - the highest number since the invasion began. And the cycle of religious and ethnic violence has escalated over the past week.

The living flee. Every day up to 2,000 Iraqis go to Syria and another 1,000 to Jordan, according to the UN's high commissioner for refugees. Since the bombing of Samarra's Shia shrine in February more than 1,000 Iraqis a day have been internally displaced, a recent report by the UN-affiliated International Organisation for Migration found last month.

Those in the west who fear that withdrawal will lead to civil war are too late - it is already here. Those who fear that pulling out will make matters worse have to ask themselves: how much worse can it get? Since yesterday American troops have been in Iraq longer than they were in the second world war. When the people you have "liberated" by force are no longer keen on the "freedom" you have in store for them, it is time to go.

To finish reading article...clickity clack.

Republican shit finally hits the fan

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Thu, 9 Nov 2006 22:55:00 -0800

Hallelujah!

Rejoice!

Praise be...

And Americans aren't as dumb as we/you thought they were. Sure, it took long enough, but we ain't that stupid after all. Ha. This is the most important part of this victory. It's a signal to the world...
The giant has awaken and quickly destroyed the hubris of Cheney and Co.

We will see what practical implications this victory has in the coming months, but there has been a notable shift in rhetoric already I think.

Perhaps more later...

CNN surprise: "But I think there is a big possibility ... for extreme criticism and because undoubtedly there was arrogance and stupidity from the US"

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 08:49:00 -0700

Let me put that up here again...because I simply don't believe CNN has regarded this as news.

Alberto Fernandez, director of the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of Near East Affairs, made his comments on Saturday to the Qatar-based network.

Shouldn't he be charged with inciting violence? or is he actually quelling it by stating the plain truth?

Here's exactly what was said:

"But I think there is a big possibility ... for extreme criticism and because undoubtedly there was arrogance and stupidity from the United States in Iraq," the diplomat told Al Jazeera.

Straight talking to the Al Jazeera crowd? WOW....talk about change of tactic. It is the appropriate course of action on the PR psyops campaign. Save some soldiers by being real. So, I commend State for cleaning up some of the mess Defense and WH precipitated. See here for more on that.

But of course, this is a drop in the bucket. It won't change the actual course of this war on its own. There needs to be more creative ways to connect people with one another on a human level. There needs to be intelligent people who actually know something about Iraq handling the situation. Not ignorant morons with moral blindfolds...

Small victories are still victories, though. And this is a bit of a watershed moment to me. So we'll see if this is a drop or if it will really rain.

Keith Olberman shlon qawi!

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 20:34:00 -0700

The guy I used to spend endless hours watching on Sportscenter growing up as a kid....
is now tearing a new asshole in many a person through his 'special comment' feature during the past several months.

I'd like to collect a list of them in this post, but we'll start with the most recent one.

I'll add more later.

The truth about Pat Tillman

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 14:35:00 -0700

Let his untimely and unfortunate death not go in vain. Learn the truth.

A sidenote: When I was growing up, I watched NFL football. And I watched Pat Tillman play. What a great player...

So, my heart goes out to his family. They've been treated cruelly and deserve some better answers.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

UPDATE:

Published on Friday, October 20, 2006 by Truthdig
After Pat’s Birthday
Kevin Tillman Honors Late Brother's Birthday with Plea to Speak up for Democracy
by Kevin Tillman

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.

Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin was discharged in 2005.

Senator Lindsey Graham makes the argument for the Geneva Convention

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 14:13:00 -0700

Republican senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, makes the argument.

Chalabi's INC are first grade con artists or mere vehicles of delusion?

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Fri, 8 Sep 2006 15:42:00 -0700

WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's no evidence Saddam Hussein had a relationship with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his al Qaeda associates, according to a Senate report on prewar intelligence on Iraq. Democrats said the report undercuts President Bush's justification for going to war.

The declassified document being released Friday by the Senate Intelligence Committee also explores the role that inaccurate information supplied by the anti-Saddam exile group the Iraqi National Congress had in the march to war.

read more

I told you those INC assholes were crooks...chalabi and the other con artists (or vehicles for delusion...depending on how you look at the situation). Meaning--- Were INC doing the con?...or was the WH and Pentagon doing the believing just because the ends would justify the means? Or was it a little of both? That's my question.

UPDATE:

The administration's version was based in part on intelligence that White House officials knew was flawed, according to Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing newly declassified documents released by the panel.

If they knew the intel was flawed, then surely they were willfully deluding themselves.

And this whole Armitage expose stinks to high hell...
who's to say he's not just another foot soldier of the WH. I've been hearing all this talk that he was very independent-minded at State...and that's not what I remember whatsoever.

Chomsky on Lebanon

noreply@blogger.com (liminal) — Fri, 1 Sep 2006 01:39:00 -0700

To not fully acknowledge the following would be an error. Here's Chomsky's latest piece published in the Guardian.

In Lebanon, a little-honoured truce remains in effect - yet another in a decades-long series of ceasefires between Israel and its adversaries in a cycle that, as if inevitably, returns to warfare, carnage and human misery. Let's describe the current crisis for what it is: a US-Israeli invasion of Lebanon, with only a cynical pretence to legitimacy. Amid all the charges and counter-charges, the most immediate factor behind the assault is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This is hardly the first time that Israel has invaded Lebanon to eliminate an alleged threat. The most important of the US-backed Israeli invasions of Lebanon, in 1982, was widely described in Israel as a war for the West Bank. It was undertaken to end the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's annoying calls for a diplomatic settlement. Despite many different circumstances, the July invasion falls into the same pattern.

What would break the cycle? The basic outlines of a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict have been supported by a broad international consensus for 30 years: a two-state settlement on the international border, perhaps with minor and mutual adjustments.

The Arab states formally accepted this proposal in 2002, as the Palestinians had long before. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has made it clear that though this solution is not Hizbullah's preference, they will not disrupt it. Iran's "supreme leader" Ayatollah Khamenei recently reaffirmed that Iran too supports this settlement. Hamas has indicated clearly that it is prepared to negotiate for a settlement in these terms as well.

The US and Israel continue to block this political settlement, as they have done for 30 years, with brief and inconsequential exceptions. Denial may be preferred at home, but the victims do not enjoy that luxury.

US-Israeli rejectionism is not only in words but, more importantly, in actions. With decisive US backing, Israel has been formalising its programme of annexation, dismemberment of shrinking Palestinian territories and imprisonment of what remains by taking over the Jordan valley - the "convergence" programme that is, astonishingly, called "courageous withdrawal" in the US.

In consequence, the Palestinians are facing national destruction. The most meaningful support for Palestine is from Hizbullah, which was formed in reaction to the 1982 invasion. It won considerable prestige by leading the effort to force Israel to withdraw from Lebanon in 2000. Also, like other Islamic movements including Hamas, Hizbullah has gained popular support by providing social services to the poor.

To US and Israeli planners it therefore follows that Hizbullah must be severely weakened or destroyed, just as the PLO had to be evicted from Lebanon in 1982. But Hizbullah is so deeply embedded in society that it cannot be eradicated without destroying much of Lebanon as well. Hence the scale of the attack on the country's population and infrastructure.

In keeping with a familiar pattern, the aggression is sharply increasing the support for Hizbullah, not only in the Arab and Muslim worlds beyond, but also in Lebanon itself. Late last month, polls revealed that 87% of Lebanese support Hizbullah's resistance against the invasion, including 80% of Christians and Druze. Even the Maronite Catholic patriarch, the spiritual leader of the most pro-western sector in Lebanon, joined Sunni and Shia religious leaders in a statement condemning the "aggression" and hailing "the resistance, mainly led by Hizbullah". The poll also found that 90% of Lebanese regard the US as "complicit in Israel's war crimes against the Lebanese people".

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, Lebanon's leading academic scholar on Hizbullah, observes that "these findings are all the more significant when compared to the results of a similar survey conducted just five months ago, which showed that only 58% of all Lebanese believed Hizbullah had the right to remain armed, and hence continue its resistance activity".

The dynamics are familiar. Rami Khouri, an editor of Lebanon's Daily Star, writes that "the Lebanese and Palestinians have responded to Israel's persistent and increasingly savage attacks against entire civilian populations by creating parallel or alternative leaderships that can protect them and deliver essential services".

Such popular forces will only gain in power and become more extremist if the US and Israel persist in demolishing any hope of Palestinian national rights, and in destroying Lebanon.

Even King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Washington's oldest ally in the region, was compelled to say: "If the peace option is rejected due to the Israeli arrogance, then only the war option remains, and no one knows the repercussions befalling the region, including wars and conflict that will spare no one, including those whose military power is now tempting them to play with fire."

It is no secret that Israel has helped to destroy secular Arab nationalism and to create Hizbullah and Hamas, just as US violence has expedited the rise of extremist Islamic fundamentalism and jihadi terror. The latest adventure is likely to create new generations of bitter and angry jihadis, just as the invasion of Iraq did.

Israeli writer Uri Avnery observed that the Israeli chief of staff Dan Halutz, a former air force commander, "views the world below through a bombsight". Much the same is true of Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice and other top Bush administration planners. As history reveals, that view of the world is not uncommon among those who wield most of the means of violence.

Saad-Ghorayeb describes the current violence in "apocalyptic terms", warning that possibly "all hell would be let loose" if the outcome of the US-Israel campaign leaves a situation in which "the Shia community is seething with resentment at Israel, the US and the government that it perceives as its betrayer".

The core issue - the Israel-Palestine conflict - can be settled by diplomacy, if the US and Israel abandon their rejectionist commitments. Other outstanding problems in the region are also susceptible to negotiation and diplomacy. Their success can never be guaranteed. But we can be reasonably confident that viewing the world through a bombsight will bring further misery and suffering, perhaps even in "apocalyptic terms".

· Noam Chomsky's most recent book is Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy; he is emeritus professor of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology www.chomsky.info