Is Peace Possible?

Nate over at Get In Their Face has an excellent video up on the Middle East Crisis. He says:

I keep reading and viewing and listening; trying desperately to understand what's happening between Israel & Lebanon with more than an ignorant American's perspective. This video helped tremendously because it explained some of my gut instincts to what I have been watching on the corporate media sources.

The movie is about an hour long, but I recommend that you take the time to watch it. The following statement by Prof. Robert Jensens speaks volumes:

US Journalists are emeshed in symbiotic relationships with the powerful. Instead of being independent and critical, journalists are typically dependent on policy makers and are unwilling to raise the crucial and critical questions. Rather than monitoring the game of power, most journalists are a part of that game.

Interestingly enough over at Whiskey Bar Billmon touches on this very issue, well somewhat.

Stop the presses. Tom Ricks, intrepid war correspondent for the Washington Post, has an urgent news flash. He reports that in the months following the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the U.S. Army forgot the lessons of Vietnam!

Billmon points out that it is probably truly shocking to read this in the newspaper, well not really since the Blogsphere has been writing about it for 3 years now. I am wondering who tipped Ricks off.

Today over at Firedoglake, George Soros was the guest at their Book Salon. I found this comment in among the many that were posted there "but I am cynical enough to believe that the media’s propaganda imperative trumps its profit imperative. Yes, they want to make money if at all possible, but ultimately the giant corporate parent stands to make more money from Republican control of government than they do off of readers/viewers/consumers."

And here is the comment from George Soros:

Recent events in the Middle East represent a significant escalation. The war on terror has turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. What had been a false and misleading metaphor has turned into a real war. We have the Sunni insurrection and the Shiite death squads spawned by the occupation of Iraq, Hamas spawned by the occupation of the West Bank, Hezbollah spawned by the occupation of South Lebanon, not to mention other trouble spots such as Somalia. What more evidence do we need to show that the war on terror has been counter productive. Killing and mistreating civilians creates victims who turn into perpetrators.

The aggression against Israel is real and Israel has an unquestioned right to defend itself and remove Hezbollah from its borders. But using excessive force against civilian targets is counter productive and will have severe adverse consequences. While we must allow Israel to defend itself, unquestioning support for its actions will prove harmful to Israel. I am deeply worried.

"Severe adverse consequences," those are the key words. I have seen many people complain and get angry when "democrats" speak of the Middle East Crisis. They feel that we are going against Israel. I hope that they finally get it: that the effects of the current situation between Israel/Lebanon/Palestine are the concern. Mr. Soros is not the only person deeply worried.