[pjw] INFO: MLK's birthday, Iraq 34 years later, Ceasefire in Gaza?

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi
First up, yesterday was the actual birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. 
Which prompts me to remember that George HW Bush named that day as when 
Iraq had to get out of Kuwait or he'd bomb them. He kindly waited till the 
next day and then started the carnage known as the "Gulf War." I will be 
addressing the 34th (!) anniversary at tomorrow's Friday rally and 
carrying the now-updated sign with our scoreboard flipped from 33 to 34.

https://pjw.info/images/gw34yl.jpg

It also reminded me-- not sure why it took till now to realize it-- that 
known racist Donald Trump will be sworn in as President on the national 
holiday dedicated to Dr. King. Hmm.

ANYWAY you've probably all heard that there is a deal for a ceasefire in 
Gaza, and while Netanyahu seems determined to keep dragging things on the 
current President is assuring us the ceasefire will take place on Sunday 
-- the 19th-- the last day of his presidency. This kind of feels like a 
reverse October Surprise? Where Netanyahu, like the Iranians, negotiated 
with the person they wanted to be president (Trump/Reagan) and then the 
news was announced during the inauguration. Reverse I say if Biden gets 
any credit.

But as noted by Trita Parsi in the piece below, he doesn't really get any 
credit for letting the violence continue so long.

He backs up his analysis with links to news stories.

OK, happy January 16...
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:59:41
From: Trita Parsi


Biden worked 'tirelessly around the clock' — to prevent a ceasefire
Time to acknowledge that the president chose the circumstances that led to 
US complicity
Responsible Statecraft
Jan 16, 2025
  https://responsiblestatecraft.org/biden-ceasefire-credit/

There is little doubt that President-elect Donald Trump’s posture 
vis-a-vis Israel is a key reason why a ceasefire in Gaza has finally been 
achieved. According to a diplomat briefed on the matter, this was “the 
first time there has been real pressure on the Israeli side to accept a 
deal 
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/15/israel-war-gaza-ceasefire-hostages-news-hamas/) 
.”

This means that for 15 months, Israel has dropped American bombs on 
children in tents 
(https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/world/middleeast/israel-airstrike-humanitarian-zone-gaza.html) 
, on refugees sheltering in schools 
(https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/16/israel-bombs-another-un-run-school-in-gaza-without-warning-killing-20) 
, and on patients seeking help in hospitals 
(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-gaza-hamas-hospital-bombing-rcna175237) 
without President Joe Biden exerting any “real pressure” on Israel to 
stop.

And once the mere posture of pressure was exerted on Israel by an envoy 
representing a man who isn’t even President yet, lo and behold, a 
ceasefire was secured.

All these senseless deaths 
(https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-war-toll-likely-significantly-undercounts-deaths-says-study-2025-01-09) 
, all the American credibility lost 
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/25/israel-united-states-credibility-confrontation) 
, all the Biden voters who stayed home in protest 
(https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/kamala-harris-gaza-israel-biden-election-poll) 
on November 5 could have been avoided.

The truth of the matter is that every day for the past year, Biden could 
have secured a ceasefire by using America’s vast leverage.

And every day for the past year, from all the evidence we have today, 
Biden chose not to.

That is the crux of the matter. It is precisely the fact that Biden chose 
this path that will damage America for years to come. It wasn’t that he 
lacked the ability or strength to stop the carnage. It’s not that he 
really wanted to stop it but sadly couldn’t. It wasn’t that his hands were 
tied. It wasn’t that Congress forced him. Or that polls showed that he or 
Kamala Harris would lose the elections if they pressed Israel. It wasn’t 
any of that.

Biden was simply in on it. He was on board with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 
war plans. He even attended the war cabinet 
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdEolmetFfQ)  where the plans were 
adopted.

In an exit interview with the Times of Israel, Biden’s outgoing ambassador 
to Israel even bragged about the Biden administration never exerting 
pressure on Netanyahu to halt the killing. “Nothing that we ever said was, 
Just stop the war 
(https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-ambassadors-farewell-warning-you-cant-ignore-the-impact-of-this-war-on-future-us-policymakers) 
,” Ambassador Jack Lew proudly declared.

By willingly making America complicit, Biden’s decisions will have 
profound and long-lasting strategic repercussions for the American people 
on par with the damage George W. Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq inflicted 
on America’s standing, credibility, and security, as well as on the 
region’s stability.

Biden’s own acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center 
(NCTC), Brett Holmgren, told CBS that "anti-American sentiment fueled by 
the war in Gaza is at a level not seen since the Iraq war 
(https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1269378844283291) ." Terrorist groups 
such as Al Qaeda and ISIS are recruiting on these sentiments and issuing 
the most specific calls for America in years, according to Holmgren.

So every bomb Biden provided Israel to drop on children in Gaza was not 
only morally monstrous; it also made Americans less safe.

It will take years for America to recuperate from the damage Biden has 
inflicted on our standing, our moral compass, our credibility, and on our 
security. America is still recovering from the sins of the Iraq invasion.

But there will be no healing at all, no bouncing back, unless we admit the 
errors, hold those responsible accountable, and learn to do better. Just 
as Bush’s Iraq invasion and Global War on Terror gave birth to the 
strongest anti-war sentiments among Americans seen in decades, made 
war-mongering bad politics, and the epithet “neocon” an insult, Biden’s 
bearhug strategy on and blind deference to Israel must forever be 
remembered as the original sin that led America down the path of 
complicity in what most likely amounts to genocide.

Trita Parsi is the co-founder and Executive Vice president of the Quincy 
Institute for Responsible Statecraft.