Author: Jonathan Schwarz

A few months ago a book called Ariel Sharon: An Intimate Portrait came out. It’s by the late Uri Dan, who was Sharon’s longtime confidant/bootlicker. It sounds like it’s worth skimming, at least for these two parts:

From a new review in Ha’aretz:

Speaking of George Bush, with whom Sharon developed a very close relationship, Uri Dan recalls that Sharon’s delicacy made him reluctant to repeat what the president had told him when they discussed Osama bin Laden. Finally he relented. And here is what the leader of the Western world, valiant warrior in the battle of cultures, promised to do to bin Laden if he caught him: “I will screw him in the ass!”

Dear God, I hope no one tells David Broder about this!

Then there’s this, from a column by Uri Avnery:

Just before he died, Uri Dan, who had been Ariel Sharon’s loyal mouthpiece for almost 50 years, published a book in France. It includes a report of a conversation Sharon told him about, with President (George W.) Bush. Sharon asked for permission to kill Arafat and Bush gave it to him, with the proviso that it must be done undetectably. When Dan asked Sharon whether it had been carried out, Sharon answered: “It’s better not to talk about that.” Dan took this as confirmation…

Is there proof that Arafat was murdered by Israeli or other agents? No, there is none. This week I again ran into MK Zahalka, and both of us concluded that the suspicion is growing stronger, together with the conviction that Arafat’s absence is felt now more than ever.

PREVIOUSLY: “Did you tell her I’m going to kick his sorry motherfucking ass all over the Mideast?”

(Ha’aretz review via Chris Floyd, via the Angry Arab)

Arthur Silber has a post here well worth reading on the dynamics of straight white male-ism. As a charter member of said group, I can say it’s taken quite a while for me to realize that all those criticisms made of us, including the nice liberal straight white male subgroup to which I belong…all those criticisms that made me defensive and caused my brain to freeze up…all those criticisms turn out to be…accurate. The interesting thing to me is, while I had to completely reconstruct my personality in order to perceive this, I’m now much more relaxed, much less guilt-ridden, and generally much happier. I recommend this total personality reconstruction to anyone.

Be sure to also read this post by Arthur, referenced in the first. And to understand where he’s coming from, check out this post at TAPPED (including the comments) that started everything.

I wonder what would happen in the U.S. if Iran were threatening to attack us and refusing to take the use of nuclear weapons off the table—while all the while funding separatist movements here, just as bombs were going off in U.S. cities.

I bet we’d be pretty mad! Fortunately, it’s only us doing it to them, so it doesn’t count:

TEHRAN, Iran – A bomb exploded in southeastern Iran late Friday, near the site where an explosion this week killed 11 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and clashes broke out afterward between Iranian police and insurgents, Iranian news agencies reported.

“The sound of a bomb explosion was heard in one of Zahedan’s streets,” IRNA, Iran’s official news agency, reported. The report gave no further details, including whether there were casualties. The semiofficial Fars news agency said the explosion was at a school and was followed by clashes…

On Wednesday, a car bomb blew up a bus owned by the elite Revolutionary Guards in Zahedan, capital of the Sistan-Baluchestan province on the border with Pakistan.

A Sunni Muslim militant group called Jundallah, or God’s Brigade, which has been blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops, claimed responsibility for the Wednesday bombing.

Iran has accused the United States of backing militants to destabilize the country…

A majority of Iran’s population are Shiite Muslims but minority Sunnis live in southeastern Iran.

Roger Morris, author and former National Security Council staffer, has written a fantastic two-part Tomdispatch series on Donald Rumsfeld. (It turns out Rumsfeld’s history is even grimmer than you assumed.) Part II is now up here. If you haven’t read it already, Part I is here.

Harper’s has been running a three-part series with different experts evaluating the likelihood Bush will attack Iran. Part III, with think tank denizens, is now up here. Previously: Part I with independent analysts, and Part II with former CIA analysts.

Then go read McClatchy’s Baghdad Bureau blog about our current war:

We were asked to send the next of kin to whom the remains of my nephew, killed on Monday in a horrific explosion downtown, can be handed over…

So we went, his mum, his other aunt and I…

When we got there, we were given his remains. And remains they were. From the waist down was all they could give us. “We identified him by the cell phone in his pants’ pocket. If you want the rest, you will just have to look for yourselves. We don’t know what he looks like.”

Now begins a horror that surpasses anything I could have possibly envisioned .We were led away, and before long a foul stench clogged my nose and I retched. With no more warning we came to a clearing that was probably an inside garden at one time; all round it were patios and rooms with large-pane windows to catch the evening breeze Baghdad is renowned for. But now it had become a slaughterhouse, only instead of cattle, all around were human bodies. On this side; complete bodies; on that side halves; and EVERYWHERE body parts.

We were asked what we were looking for, “upper half” replied my companion, for I was rendered speechless. “Over there”. We looked for our boy’s broken body between tens of other boys’ remains’; with our bare hands sifting them and turning them.

We found him millennia later, took both parts home, and began the mourning ceremony.

Can Hollywood match our reality?? I doubt it.