Stick around long enough and the world may actually come to your front door.
Or, at least, blow your mind.
In my politically active days I was ardently opposed to the war in Vietnam. Most of the world has come around to the view that that war was the turning point to any claim the United States may have had to a moral high ground in international relations. I believe I called that one right.
When war criminals George W. Bush and his boss, Vice-President Cheney, decided to use 9/11 as an opportunity to invade Iraq, they were roundly supported by people on both the left and the right. I proudly put a bumper sticker on my car announcing "Barbara Lee speaks for me." She was and is my representative in Congress (she's now running for the Senate.) It was Barbara Lee who was the sole representative to vote against that invasion of Iraq. That too, has turned out to be the right call. It was a shameful moment, when America proved it knows how to make the same mistake twice. It handed Iran a prize on a silver platter, and opened the flood gates to the Taliban, ISIS, Hamas and other islamist zealots. It contributed in a significant way to the hatred many in the Muslim world feel toward Western ways. Instead of modeling democracy, America (and its allies) chose to seek change by means of killing machines. When bombs drop on your heads it's hard to believe the guys dropping the bombs have a nuanced understanding of the difference between ordinary Muslims and radical islamists.
Now, once again, we are standing behind Bibi Nethanyahu in his campaign to root out Hamas, no matter how many children of Gaza have to die in the process. Even Biden, whom I have come to admire since he picked up the reins from the anti-democracy party led by a cheap fraud of a hustler, even Biden, is giving money and arms to this misguided attempt to prove that two wrongs can make a right, this time on the part of Israel.
I'm very pro-Jewish. Very pro-Israel. I understand the desire of Jews to have a homeland after the Holocaust Experience. I want them to succeed as a country. But I believe this use of bombs is not the way to go and is in the long run counter-productive. I believe that they are only generating more hatred. Another generation - as if three generations were not already enough - is learning to hate Israel with such passion that some will even be willing to become suicide bombers. I want them to stop bombing Gaza not because I am anti-Israel, but because I am pro-Israel.
Argue with me. Go ahead. I have no claim to certainty here. But I do believe that's what is going on.
And after living in Saudi Arabia, where women, until recently, could not drive or go to the movies without permission from a father or a husband, where every day I watched religious police bash people with clubs for not closing their stores fast enough at prayer time, I never thought I'd say this: not only does Barbara Lee speak for me. But so does Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, Turki Al-Faisal.
At least on this issue. I'm sure if I knew more of his views, I might well find things to disagree on.
But on this issue, he speaks for me.
Start at the beginning of his speech at minute 1:35 if you want to skip the introduction.
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