By SJ Otto
For most of the last 30 years, foreign policy in US Congress and the presidency has been treated less of a series of foreign policy issues and more of a set of religious tracts—policies that absolutely have not been debated or discussed in any way, shape or form. Unlike the days of Ronald Reagan when that president was challenged for his meddling in Central America, no one from either party, Democrat or Republican, have dared to challenge US imperialism. The generals have run our foreign policy and they have not had any challenges to their designs for world conquest and control—until now.
A number of new members of congress now challenge foreign policy edicts, including the really big one, criticism of Israel. That has been done by Representative Ilhan Omar. The Minnesota Democrat was accusedof anti-Semitism after asserting that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was buying lawmakers.
As I posted earlier this month: Anyone in Congress, who criticizes Israel in any way shape or form, is labeled anti-Semitic. There are those who support a boycott of Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. Supporting that position is being labeled anti-Semitic. It should come down to a position of freedom of speech. Democrats and Republicans can label anyone anti-Semitic for just criticizing or suggesting a boycott of Israel. There are lots of reasons for opposing Israel and those reasons have nothing to do with being against Jews. For years people have been debating the Palestinian issue all across the nation and in schools and colleges. But in Congress all those in office treat the nation of Israel as a sacred cow. That nation practices a form of Apartheid. Its people have been electing fascist like war mongers who seem to be OK with endless war against their neighbors and constant persecution of the Palestinian and other Arabs. But Congress listens to Jewish groups that insist that Jews need Israel as a homeland and anyone who dares criticize that sacred cow is anti-Semitic, hating Jews.
TheFox Newsarticle, that accused Omar of being anti-Semitic also accused her of having had “attended a travel delegation to a South American country sponsored by a radical anti-American and anti-Israel organization that supports countries opposed to the U.S. and calls for the return of Guantanamo Naval Base to Cuba.”
That “anti-American” group is called Witness for Peace. Fox made the accusation that group “opposed America’s actions in South America aimed at stopping the spread of communism.” It sounds as if Witness for Peace is some kind of front for communism, but it isn’t. It is actually a religious oriented group that tried to stop Reagan and other US right-wing leaders of supporting right-wing murder squads and other acts of violence against legal protesters in various Latin American countries. Other conservative news outlets have shared this exaggerated news story, such as Flipboard.
The big news story today is in Venezuela. As with Israel, to not support the US policy of absolute control of the Latin American governments is something no one is supposed to question, that is not in the mainstream press and not in Congress. The military establishment has decided that Nicolas Maduro is a socialist tyrant and to disagree with that is the equivalent of an act of treason. Again Fox News:
“She also grabbed headlines after first accusing the U.S. government of leading a coup against Venezuelan socialist tyrant Nicolas Maduro and then attempting to grill Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration's new special envoy for Venezuela.”
She is not the only member of Congress who has opposed the anti-Maduro bandwagon. Politicoreports that Bernie Sanders has also been Critical of the US meddling in Venezuela and much of his condemnation is from his own party, the Democrats:
“Florida Democrats are denouncing Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for refusing to call Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro a dictator — a politically explosive issue in the nation’s biggest swing state.
Sanders also would not say whether he considered Venezuela’s assembly leader, Juan Guaidó, as the nation’s interim president, which is the position of the United States and a majority of Latin American countries European countries.”
Imperialism in Latin America is a Sacred Tenet. Both parties have gone along with blatant meddling in the affairs of Latin America. All of Latin America is treated as if it the entire continent is just one big colony. Sovereignty means nothing to the members of either US party. There is absolutely no respect for any kind of debate on this issue. The military complex has decided that Maduro is a dictator and he must go.
There is a positive side to this. With more minority people getting elected, there are more people holding office who can, and will, challenge our imperialistic foreign policy. We have Sanders and Omar, along with Rashida Tlaib, the freshman representative from Michigan, who was also critical of Israel.
We hear such clap trap from such publications as The Atlantic:
“AIPAC’s influence, which does not include payments to politicians, is only a small part of why the U.S.-Israel alliance is almost universally supported in Congress. Her comments, and the backlash they provoked, show how fractured the American debate over Israel has become. Omar is the new face of anti-Israel criticism on the left, and yet her use of anti-Semitic tropes undermines her credibility.”
In other words, it is implied that such people as her are just ignorant and hateful.
We also have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is challenging the greatest pillar in US conservative politics and that is capitalism itself. One thing we have to do is to support these new politicians as much as possible. Send them cards of encouragement. Donate to their campaigns. This is the first time in decades that we have had people in congress who are actually debating the issues that the right-wing and centrist politicians have avoided. This could be our time to shine. Let’s not miss this opportunity.
