Double Standard? Better Ask Hillary (and Barack and John)

When Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, the Democratic candidates were all over it. Hillary all but declared Benazir her soul mate. I suppose that paragon of foreign policy “experience” knew how corrupt Benazir’s government had been, but no matter – the corporate and corporate friendly media (NPR) proclaimed her “pro-American,” and Hillary could count on nobody knowing anything more. John Edwards was on the phone to General Musharraf, telling him to hold elections as soon as he could. General Musharraf has fairly bad press these days in the Land of the Free, so it’s OK to lean on him. Obama, who had already said he would violate Pakistani sovereignty should it be necessary to fight “terror” had some unkind words for the General too. On the other hand, when Israel cut off nearly all power to the occupied Gaza Strip, the latest outrage in a cascade of violations of international morality and law, there was not a peep out of any of them. Israel had to back down slightly thanks to international pressure. But the pressure came from human rights organizations and the EU; not the U.S. government or its “opposition” party. Neither was there the slightest expression of joy or relief when resistance fighters in Gaza ripped a hole through the “security” wall Israel had constructed on Gaza’s Egyptian border, allowing besieged Gazans the chance to enter Egypt for necessary supplies. It’s not news but it bears repeating: on Israel/Palestine, the Democrats are about as bad as can be. This is one area where they’re not even a lesser evil. Christian Zionists may gravitate towards the party of Preacher Huckabee, but the Democratic candidates, the electable ones anyway, and the Democrats in Congress, like their Republican colleagues, are owned by the Israel lobby. Won’t somebody break through the media embargo by asking Hillary and the others about it!