"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

We Can't Let This Happen

Glenn Greenwald:

Ultimately, it seems we are painting ourselves into a corner. We continue to block a cease-fire and attach ourselves to the Israeli military effort on every level. But, as even neoconservatives like Lowry are acknowledging, it seems increasingly clear that the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah is not going to produce anything resembling a victory. Neither the U.S. nor Israel can afford to simply have this war peter out without having a credible claim to victory. So what are the realistic options other than escalation?

If there is a significant escalation against Syria or Iran, it must be resisted by the populace here at home. This means politically savvy resistance, because this won't bring about a wholesale collapse of the government, and conducting some proto-revolutionary crap will only alienate people. What needs to happen is for the popular consensus to be foursquare against more war, and for representatives who supports it to loose their jobs come November.

This will cause people to pay attention.

Here's another hint. Politically savvy anti-war activism doesn't revolve around "defending the people of Palestine and Lebanon". While that's a laudable humanitarian cause, protecting the people of Israel is equally worthy, and conspicuous by its absence. This is not the right message. If you don't want this to be Our War too, we need to make the case in terms of costs and benefits to us, to Americans, and the hard sad fact is that the civilians caught in the middle of all this don't figure into that equation other than in a "making more enemies/bolstering terrorist recruiting" sense.

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