Pardon My Politics

Are you an unintentional anti-Semite? The U.S. State Department’s “Office of Global Anti-Semitism” in its 2008 report to Congress warns not just of conscious, intentional anti-Semitism but of another lurking form of potential bigotry: unintentional anti-Semitism.

This consists of criticisms of Israel, which, though true, might be manipulated by others to Israel’s detriment. To avoid assisting Israel’s enemies, the State Department recommends that every comment about Israel (including its leaders and military) first be scrutinized for whether it could put Israel in a bad light. If so, it shouldn’t be said. Only then can we consider ourselves “free from anti-Semitism.” (more…)

On April 9, ABC News correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburgh broke an exclusive story on World News Tonight that provided new details surrounding how top Bush administration officials signed off on the use of harsh interrogation tactics in the “war on terror.”

Indeed, vice president Dick Cheney, secretary of state Colin Powell, attorney general John Ashcroft, CIA director George Tenet, and national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, grouped in the National Security Council’s Principals Committee, gave the U.S. military and the CIA a green light to torture suspected al-Qaeda operatives and other “enemy combatants.” (more…)

Five former secretaries of state met in Athens, Ga. recently to formulate bipartisan foreign policy suggestions for the next president. All five former secretaries (Powell, Kissinger, Albright, Baker and Christopher) agreed on two important recommendations: The U.S. should open a dialogue with Iran, and the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay should be closed.

The first recommendation is a no-brainer, but it will have to wait for a new president because the only kind of diplomacy the Bush Administration understands is gunboat diplomacy. The second recommendation (closing the prison camp at Gitmo), should begin immediately. Guantanamo prison, and what has transpired there during George Bush’s war of terror, is an embarrassment to America. (more…)