Forty More Years In The Desert

(Fair warning. I’ve been working on this essay for a fair amount of time. I’ve used my social media posts and original writings to knit this scattered mess together. I think the messiness is appropriate, considering the subject matter and volatility of the views concerning it. Also, I do not claim to be an expert on the Israel-Palestine issues. I am not an expert on world religions. And finally, I know enough about the shenanigans my country engages in to be afraid. Very afraid.)

America has had boots-on-the-ground presence in the Middle East for roughly forty years. Basically, almost my entire life. Some of my earliest real-time memories are the 1983 bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon.

I’ve kept tabs on the news from the region ever since.

Over the decades, the obvious causes of the chaos in the Middle East, from the American point of view, seem clear.

Religion and oil.

Religion is a two-fold problem for us. First, Americans tend to see Muslims as the dangerous “other,” always ready to steal our treasure and rape our women. To them, the Jews of Israel are seen as a bulwark against the evils of the followers of Mohamed.

The second, specifically to the right-wing American Evangelicals, they need there to be a State of Israel to usher in the end times and Christ's return to the world. In their end-times, the State of Israel will be destroyed, and almost every Jew (other than the ones who convert to Christianity) will be eradicated from the face of the Earth.

Wonderful people. Right?

Do I really need to move on to the oil reasons?

No?

Good. Moving on.

Since October 7, I've been scouring news sites, message boards (yes, they still exist), and social media for a feel for how America views the Hamas-Israeli war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated the ground invasion of Gaza will not be halted. If anything, it’s going to intensify.

I've thought hard about this long, and you know what? I don't know who's to blame at this point.

Hamas is a vile group that needs to be destroyed.

 On the other hand, Israel has been an apartheid state for decades as the ultra-right (who control the government lock, stock, and barrel) seem to be tacitly encouraging illegal settlers to absorb what little land the Palestinians have left a bite at a time.

Add to that the reality that Gaza is the largest open-air prison in the world, where half of the population are children.

 So no, I don't have any answers. But I do know that if the USA keeps 100% backing Israel, this is going to get so much worse before it gets better.

If it ever does.

I'm a peacenik, and I make no apologies for that. We need to talk, for real, not the proforma stuff that's happened since Rabin was assassinated by a fellow Israeli. But I'm not pro-Israel. I'm not pro-Palestine.

I am pro-stopping this insanity before it gets a thousand times worse and some monster of a human being pops a nuke.

No matter how this ends, it's going to be horrible. Right now, I'm afraid of someone popping off that aforementioned nuke. I'm one hundred percent positive one of the non-Israeli organizations over there has an old Soviet nuke hidden away.

Also, it's an open secret that Israel has nukes.

Who is the biggest puppet master behind Israel's arrogant stance as the biggest dog in the Middle East?

The United States of America.

It’s the American government, pushed hard by the right-wing pro-Israel (not pro-Jewish) lobby. That reinforces Israel vis arms, money, and if needed, military intervention.

I love my country, but let's be honest. America gets away with rape (figurative and literal), theft, murder, slavery (figurative and literal), war crimes, terrorism. Americans live with blinders on. The truth is we're the biggest, worst bullies on the block.

Just because someone is/was/could be worse doesn't make the American government the "Good Guy" anymore.

I want Americans to force the leadership (preferably through the ballot box) to make an honest attempt to do better for the world instead of claiming we already did and patting ourselves on the back.

What infuriates me is knowing this could be appreciably better for us and knowing the love of money and power won't allow that without a fight. As long as that remains a dream and not a reality, we will continue to churn the Earth in places we don’t belong and leave nothing but poisoned ground and bodies in our wake.

I fear this will be the unshakable fate of the Middle East.

Here's the depressing conclusion I've reached.

Thousands of dead kids and innocent people who never hurt anyone are okay as long as a handful of terrorists die. America, and sadly, it seems most Americans, could not care less about things that aren’t happening to them or people they know.

The recent hostage exchanges between Hamas and Israel scream “just for show.” The deal was brokered by the US (and others) as an attempt to quell the mounting ati war footing of the citizenry.

I wish I could say it won’t work.

When I was a kid, my father told me the next major war will be fought in the Middle East. By major, he didn’t mean the Gulf War or the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars. He meant the next real World War.

This war will continue until the “Superpowers” get their shit together and stop it.

At this moment, it looks like we’re committed to forty more years in the desert.

Forty years, if we’re lucky.

- Josh (11/26/2023)