U.S. looks at reopening Iraq-Israel oil pipeline

[Herschel]

The U.S. has asked Israel to report on the feasibility of pumping oil from the Kirkuk wells to the refineries in Haifa.

G2 Bulletin reported exclusively last April that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon offered to reactivate the old Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline in a move certain to bring sharp reactions in an already tense Middle East. The U.S. request came in a telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem.

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http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37005

Wonderful news. Perhaps this could defray the cost of the liberation of Iraq and aid our ally, Israel.

[sushi]

1. This is not something

to be decided only by foreigners. It needs the approval of the democratic government of Iraq, which will be elected in the near future.

[Ahava]

3. You really think so?

The pro-Saddam hangers-on and the people starved for democracy look like they are in for a long long fight.

[sushi]

7. I'm hoping!

:)

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Exactly, Susui

I hope that a future Iraqi government will do normal business with Israel. Nevertheless, a colonial regime has no business determining on behalf of the Iraqi people how their resources are to be allocated.

There is no legitimate government in Iraq right now. What passes for such is an American viceroy and his hand picked native quislings.

Free elections to choose an interim government and write a constitution should be held sooner rather than later. The sooner Bush and his gang of thieves leave and the less they have to say about Iraq's future, the better the Iraqi people will be.

[sushi]

10. I know it's not polite

to say this but I will. There is no end to the arrogance of the current US government. I very much hope the Democrats' candidate will win in November, and be a true leader and, more importantly, a uniter.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Ahava]

4. Response to Slur:

By blurring the distinction between nationality and religion, Israelis find themselves frequently accused of living in a theocratic state and in many ways it would seem Israel fits the mold of a sacred state. Gutmann presents the following refutation to this charge:

The organs of government and state power neither derive their legal authority from religion or church nor their legitimation from any divine source. It cannot be claimed with any semblance of realism that state and church are coequal partners in the governance of the state. Indeed, all legal powers of the religious institutions and organs are ultimately devolved upon them by the state. (Emanuel Gutman, AReligion in Israeli Politics,@ in Jacob Landau, ed., Man, State, and Society in the Contemporary Middle East, NY: Praeger, 1972, p. 123.)

The situation in the Arab world is very different. While, for example, Turkey was a major power for centuries and had extensive dealings with the Western European states and Russia and underwent a gradual Westernization process, most Arab states had no such secularizing experience. Instead, Arab nationalism has been tied to the early Islamic revolt against Western imperialism. In addition, the relationship of religion and politics in Islam allows for no distinction. According to Lewis: "In Islam religion is not, as it is in Christendom, one sector or segment of life regulating some matters while others are excluded; it is concerned with the whole of life--not a limited but a total jurisdiction...a community, a loyalty, a way of life." (Robert Lacey, AThe Kingdom, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981, p. 516.)

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

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[Darranar]

6. What "liberation of Iraq"?

[Jack Rabbit]

11. The liberation of the Iraqi people

. . . from their mineral rights.

[sushi]

12. Disgusting, isn't it

One of the early acts of the future democratically elected government of Iraq will surely be to cancel any "laws" made before it came to power, especially laws that it disagrees with.

Unless the occupying forces are trying to force a puppet government on the Iraqis, so they can boss it around. I wonder if that is what "bringing democracy to Iraq" means.