Media Monitors Network (MMN)

"Given that Iran was more of a threat, was the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq undertaken to have a “demonstration effect” to scare the stronger Iranians into better behavior? If so, the intervention seems to have had the counterproductive effect of spurring Iran to covertly accelerate its nuclear program. Also, it demonstrates only that the best way to fight the Americans is with guerrilla warfare. Anyway you cut it, the radical Iranian regime is the main beneficiary of the naively muscular U.S. policy toward Iraq."

"One way or another, the interaction between Israeli-Palestinian peace and the functioning or malfunctioning of democracy in both countries could not be more obvious. While the conventional wisdom of the Bush administration and many on the Israeli right holds that democracy--Palestinian, Iraqi--must precede peace and stability, this appears to be a luxury we in Israel are increasingly unable to afford. On the contrary, Israeli-Palestinian peace, or even far-reaching unilateral separation initiated by Israel, could have the beneficial effect on Israeli democracy of finally removing or at least minimizing a divisive political issue that has been stymieing the system for nearly two decades."

"The Saudi government is now in a bind. It is facing serious challenges from within and pressures from the U.S."

"In spite of the seriousness of this crisis, it is a manageable crisis that can be contained by the different Palestinian groups and tendencies within the framework of the Palestinian political leadership. How can we be so sure? Simply because the Israeli offers creating these different reactions are not generous enough to justify this internal division."

"Powell stood before the world and declared the existence of WMD undeniable, based not on definitive evidence, but on one potentially drunk person’s unsubstantiated allegations. Worse still, this testimony was not something the American intelligence agencies received directly, but rather one achieved through another foreign government. And so, ladies and gentlemen, one of the ways in which the case for war was manufactured was done so by playing ‘broken telephone’ (these intelligence boys and girls sure have a lot of time on their hands)."

"Every child here learns that all the Jews in the world will come to Israel sooner or later. They will have no choice, since the Goyim (Gentiles) hate the Jews, and so the anti-Semites will come to power in all countries in due course. Israel exists in order to offer them a haven when they are compelled to flee, once the inevitable comes about."

"The Democrats, a/k/a “War Party Lite,” are set to convene in Boston. Their proposed Party platform indicates that there will be no withdrawal, under a John Kerry Administration, of U.S. troops from Iraq in the near future. Instead, additional troops, via an internationalizing of the conflict, will be sent to support Iraq’s puppet regime. Kerry’s anti-Vietnam War persona is history. If the Democrats win in November, expect more, and not less, war."

"What the poll's results show is that while Arab Americans appear not yet to know John Kerry and still have some concern about his Middle East policies, nevertheless, they are so alienated from President Bush's policies on Palestine, Iraq, and civil liberties that they have rejected the Republican candidate."

"The destructive earthquake that hit Iran in December 2003 has renewed the polemic about whether Washington must resume its quiet dialogue with Tehran."

"Moore likes to play the big, innocent kid from the heartland, a kind of latter-day Spanky McFarland, only much older, happily shuffling along with a beat-up baseball cap instead of beanie, keeping the faith with values absorbed in 1950s Flint, Michigan, but asking bright-eyed, impertinent questions about serious things. He's America's backyard Socrates in baggy pants and gym shoes."

"The International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion could be the ladder that world leaders, including Israeli and US, use to climb down the tree of oppression and occupation. If this opportunity is ignored, the result will only be more bloodshed and killing. The US and our Israeli neighbors must come to the realization that military occupation and security can never peacefully coexist."

"It is easy to create this confusion when one does not differentiate between “Jewish” and “Israeli”. Everything becomes mixed up: anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, criticism of Israel, criticism of Sharon. Such a mix-up is convenient for those interested in manipulations, but it not good for the Jews. “Jew” and “Israeli” are not the same."

"Liberation of Afghanistan has never been a bed of roses. When in 1747 the state of Afghanistan was formed and liberated from Empire of Great Moguls, Ahmad Shah Durrani established his rule from Mashad to Kashmir and Delhi. The second Anglo-Afghan war (1878-80), that brings Amir Abdur Rahman to the throne, a British protectorate in 1881. The British retain effective control over Kabul's foreign affairs, but after third Anglo Afghan War in 1919, the Treaty of Rawalpindi gave full independence to Afghanistan."

"In America, the obsession with Islam as a symbol of all that runs counter to Western ideals and Western ambitions did not begin with September 11. It began almost a decade ago, when Samuel Huntington wrote a book in which he argued that the "clash of civilizations" -- namely Islam and the West -- was inevitable."

"Countering concerted pressure from the United States and its allies, the fourteen Justices, five from the European Union, have decided to apply the universal principles of justice to the actions of an Occupation that in its malicious intent, its devastating effects, its lengthening history, and its potential for fueling wars has no parallels in recent times."

While a student at Harvard, George W. Bush, Jr., said, “People are poor because they are lazy!” He also revealed to Professor Yoshi Tsurumi, how he hated “labor unions, social security, environmental protection, Medicare and public schools.” Since seizing office, Bush’s policies - “Bushonomics 101” -have created an America, that resembles Argentina or Mexico, with a widening income gap, between a few “haves” and many “have-nots.”

"It is even more disgusting to see those Arabs/Muslims ignoring all the facts and many no doubt driven by personal ambitions have adopted the line that US intervention in Iraq was for humanitarian reasons. Those people are either in the new Iraqi government or in distant lands. They should try and convince the relatives of the victims of the recent war if they are really convinced of their claims."

"Pragmatically, if the American people are to be made really safer, the US Government will have to address the causes of terrorism—with Palestine and Kashmir—atop, which are Muslim world’s bleeding wounds."

"Ask yourself a few simple questions. Does your government consider you less of an American than you were four years ago? Did you personally do anything to deserve a demotion to second class citizenship? Did the Democrats stand up for you when your civil rights were assaulted? Did Kerry or Edwards utter a word in your defense?"

"If a terrorist attack occurs between now and Nov. 2, the administration would be much more likely to postpone the election if the Republican ticket is behind in the polls. That kind of unprecedented manipulation of the U.S. presidential election system should be strictly off-limits."