When Hyper-Patriotism Blinds Us from Humanity

Posted on February 13, 2025 by Professor Taboo

I have just recently watched for a third time the Netflix series “Surviving Black Hawk Down.” This is Ridley Scott’s documentary remake of his acclaimed 2001 film Black Hawk Down starring none other than Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Hardy, Tom Sizemore, Orlando Bloom, William Fichtner, Jason Isaacs, and Sam Shepard, along with other marquee names. The movie and later docuseries is about the U.S. “aid” involvement in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 along with the United Nations.

However, before I discuss my opinions and critique of the Ridley Scott’s docuseries and how actual participants portray those bloody days/nights, let’s get into some contextual background of 1980’s to 1993 Somalia first. This is the background Wikipedia offers…

Throughout the 1980s the Somali Rebellion escalated, eventually culminating in the full outbreak of the Somali Civil War and the collapse of the regime of President Siad Barre at the start of 1991. Food shortages began in mid-1990, the final year of Siad Barre’s rule.^[26] By early 1991, the formal economy collapsed as rebel groups toppled the Somali Democratic Republic.^[27] A severe drought hit southern Somalia in 1991–1992,^[28]^[29] while the civil war disrupted traditional coping mechanisms as law enforcement disintegrated. The famine’s primary cause was the war’s devastation of infrastructure and farmland in the inter-riverine regions.^[30]^[31]

The main rebel faction that had toppled the regime was the United Somali Congress (USC),^[32] which divided into two armed factions: one led by Ali Mahdi Muhammad, who later became president; and the other by General Mohamed Farrah Aidid, which became known as the Somali National Alliance (SNA).^[33] After losing control of Mogadishu, remnants of former President Barres forces created the Somali National Front (SNF) and withdrew south into the nations breadbasket.^[34] Serious damage was inflicted in Somalia’s agricultural regions during fighting between the SNF and Aidid’s forces, before the latter drove the SNF far into the south of the country.^[35]

The UNOSOM and UNITAF

In early 1992, as relief agencies initiated operations to respond to the humanitarian crisis, they encountered growing obstacles in delivering aid to the impacted affected inter-riverine region. The disintegration of Somali law enforcement paved the way for armed looters and criminals to steal food from storage sites and supply routes. Many thieves at Mogadishu’s sea and airport, the main supply hub, were linked to the rebel forces of Ali Mahdi and Mohamed Farah Aidid but were effectively demobilized following the rout of the SNF. With militia leaders lacking funds and Barre’s forces no longer presenting a unifying threat and, Aidid and Mahdi increasingly lost control over many young fighters, as did clan elders. As a result, many resorted to food theft for survival and income. In response to this deteriorating security situation, UNOSOM I was established in April 1992 under the leadership of Mohamed Sahnoun to help facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.^[36] In May 1992 the first UN aid shipment arrived in Mogadishu.^[37]

During August 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush launched Operation Provide Relief, deploying U.S. military transport aircraft to support the UN relief effort in Somalia.^[33] That same month, UNOSOM I head Mohammed Sahnoun secured Somali National Alliance approval for 500 peacekeepers, with further deployments requiring the groups consent. However, UN Secretary-General Boutros Ghali unilaterally announced an expansion to 3,500 troops days later, undermining the local support Sahnoun had built. Overruled by UN headquarters, he failed to delay the deployment.^[38] The large-scale intervention in late 1992 fueled nationalist opposition, bolstering Aidid’s SNA, which denounced the UN’s perceived colonial approach.^[39] By November 1992, largely owing to the mediation efforts of Mohamed Sahnoun, aid was flowing through the Mogadishu port unimpeded, with theft and banditry on the routes to famine zones averaging around 20%.^[40] That same month, Sahnoun was replaced by Ismat T. Kittani, who took a confrontational approach, deploying UNOSOM troops into politically sensitive areas and triggering a security crisis with local factions. Kittani claimed 80% of aid shipments were looted, a figure later echoed by the UN Secretariat and the U.S. State Department to justify expanding intervention, though many top UN officials and aid workers disputed the figure.^[41] In the view of some top UNOSOM I commanders, the scope of the famine was being exaggerated in order to justify using Somalia as an experiment,^[42] as the UN Secretariat believed Somalia represented an ideal candidate for a test case of a UN operation of expanded size and mandate.^[43]

On 9 December 1992, American troops began landing on the Somali coastline at Mogadishu under UNITAF (Operation Restore Hope). A total 17,800 US Marines and 10,000 US Army infantry were deployed.^[44] The famine in Somalia was already concluding as the troops began landing.^[45] The United States had various motives for military involvement in Somalia. The US armed forces wanted to prove it’s capability to conduct major ‘Operations Other Than War‘, while the US State Department wanted to set a precedent for humanitarian military intervention in the post-Cold War era.^[43] The United Nations Secretariat believed Somalia represented an ideal candidate for a test case of a UN operation in expanded size and mandate.^[43] The United Nations’ intervention, backed by U.S. Marines, has been credited with helping end the famine in Somalia, though the starvation had been improving in the worst-affected areas before troops arrived.^[46][47] In November 1994, the Washington-based Refugee Policy Group NGO estimated that of the approximately 100,000 lives that were saved as a result of international assistance, 10,000 had been after the deployment of U.S. troops in December 1992.^[48]

Within this framework above the United States got trapped in playing world police force once again as it has so, so, SO many times in recent history without an explicit exit plan so as to not end up the bad-guy or the invading military force in the eyes of the native population and the rest of the world. That is precisely what I loathe and despise about our country’s arrogant involvement in world affairs at the EXPENSE of U.S. military personnel and forces! I also often despise our military soldiers on the ground inside high-tension deployments and their super naive, prejudice, velcro’d-out testosterone-overloaded outlook on the native population and culture, as several of these American Battle of Mogadishu servicemen testify in this docuseries. Yuk! 🤢🤮 Man it rubs me wrong and raw!

And before I get into this and my negative and positive opinions about the entire Mogadishu operation, I want to remind any hyper-conservative, MAGA tRumpel supporters of the same cocky attitude, that George W. Bush put all of our valuable servicemen and women at high risk in the wasted, useless campaigns of Iraq 2003–2011 and the more useless, wasteful conflict in Afghanistan 2001–2021 where far too many American military lives were lost for, no reason, NO GAIN whatsoever for the U.S., for the world, or for the native countries we attacked and invaded. Neither Afghanistan or Iraq are better off. Period. Fact.

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The best part of Ridley Scott’s docuseries “Surviving Black Hawk Down” is that he gives ample interview time to the Somalis who lived through those horrific days and nights in October 1993. They bluntly speak about how indiscriminately the American Ranger forces and Army helicopter gunmen fired upon unarmed Somali citizens, including women and children from above up in the air. No wonder most all Somalis hated the U.S. armed forces, turned against them, and joined Mohamed Farah Adid’s rebel forces! Duh. This is clearly when hyped-up over-testosteroned, velcroed-up boys in our military get way out of hand and far too cocky! Way to go Rangers. 🙄 You just made your own job 10-times harder. Dumb.

Because the American forces wanted to impose their military cockiness it is no wonder the Somali militia wanted to kill Americans:

Throughout the documentary the interviewed Ranger and Delta Force (ex)servicemen talk as if killing Somalis is nothing, that it is a favor to the world. But when it comes to their own squad/platoon mates, it is an atrocity, a human violation, and punishable by brute force. When did global fairness, global justice, or even fair humane treatment for all humans sway and go over to ONLY an American point-of-view and justification!? When? This disturbed and bothered me greatly listening to these ex-servicemen. One of them, Ranger David Diemer, talks about killing Somalis indiscriminately as if they had no worth on this planet, no family, no children.

I couldn’t believe my ears and what I was hearing him say. But when he talked about how the Somalis felt they had to fight back, to him EVERYONE there was a shooter and he would shoot any of them whether they were carrying a weapon or not! It was utterly astonishing to listen to him talk so callously. 🤦‍♂️

And then there was Tom Satterly, a member of the U.S. Delta Force who joined forces with the Army Rangers in the Battle of Mogadishu. This man truly believed (back then) that he and Delta were the best and “untouchable” and everything they did for America was always right, always moral, and always the best thing for the world. Those are essentially HIS words, I sh*t you not.

There was one very true thing that Tom Satterly, ex-Delta Force, did say in the docuseries at the end that was indeed profoundly true. But, BUT it shows the narrow-mindedness of angry American soldiers when they are put into an impossible powder-keg of a situation by clueless American politicians and a Commander-in-Chief. Watch this and you’ll see/hear exactly what I mean:

There is such a huge disconnect from humanity from these servicemen, that it baffles the brain of any normal, decent, human being. I get it. It is the Fog of War. Our adrenaline is pumping so massively that we military-men lose our sane cognition. I’ve seen this a hundred thousand times in military men in conflict. It is part of the Fight or Flight mentality—kill, kill, kill or die—that all humans possess. It doesn’t make its behavior or consequences right, moral, or universal. But it does exist and rears its ugly head whether we like it or not.

If there is anything I do recommend about Ridley Scott’s docuseries Surviving Black Hawk Down, it is this: it will amply show you how brutally inhumane all people will get in severe, life-threatening conflict. Is it worth it in the ultimate end?

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

A Wider Lens

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Professor Taboo

For the sake of higher, broader awareness and education…
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Though I am a history fanatic and quite familiar with the two world wars (politically and militarily), I watched an excellent 3-part series recently about events surrounding the World War I conflict, but it was NOT from the typical Western European perspective. It was from the “conscripted” perspective, or rather from the nations who were promised much from the principle Allied nations but in the end were grossly betrayed by them despite the enormous cost in life and blood of their own fathers and sons-in-arms.

As a 20th century born American, this was a perspective I knew very little about from my secondary schooling, collegiate years, or mainstream U.S. media. Today, out of necessity, I have completely relearned the events on my own accord. It wasn’t too long into the study that I learned my naïvety was larger than I had expected. Humbled, I pursued a more broadly educated view for the sake of my right to vote, taxpayer-responsibility, and my now refined middle-aged American

citizenship and wisdom. Furthermore, it mattered because my own children could one day be faced with international conflicts and wars, or more disturbing, serve in my nation’s armed forces in conflicts abroad that were created in 1917-18 and later 1947-48, or be casualties of future 9/11 attacks, and clueless about why! How is that possible you may ask!?

Naive is the democratic citizen who does not think their nation’s foreign affairs influence or dictate their present economy, employment, and taxes, even their own family — whom could very well serve giving the “ultimate sacrifice” for that same nation’s armed forces abroad. Very foolish is the same citizen who hasn’t a firm grasp of the full history behind their nation’s foreign affairs which led to and/or fuels conflicts abroad, and therefore perpetually binds and chains their national foreign policy, economy, employment, and taxes for near seventy years, seven decades, i.e. almost a century, with no end in sight. What has been the cost, both realized and still unrealized? The answer is likely much more than you and most could ever imagine.

I am currently reading (actually it is further reading) Alison Weir’s acclaimed book, “Against Our Better Judgement: The hidden history of how the U.S. was used to create Israel.” Some reviews on Weir’s hard work:

“This provocative book documents a history that is essential in understanding today’s world. Scholarly, yet readable, it is a must for all Americans. We all need to know what we have spent by coddling Israel and its aggressions, and why the cost has become more than we have bargained for.”
— James Abourezk, former U.S. Senator

“The main messages from Weir’s history are that the Jewish community has not legitimately needed a homeland-refuge from anti-Semitism and that Americans must take back their country by insisting that their elected officials place the interests of the United States before those of Israel.”
— Karin Brothers, freelance writer for RINF.com

“The United States has a moral prestige in the Near and Middle East unequalled by that of any other great power. We would lose that prestige and would be likely for many years to be considered as a betrayer of the high principles which we ourselves have enunciated…”
— Loy Henderson, U.S. Senate Department

“Prodigiously documented… Alison Weir must be highly commended for throwing such a brilliantly hard light on the relationship between the United States and Israel. I hope this marvelous book gets all the attention it deserves.”
— Ambassador Andrew Killgore, Publisher, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

If you are like me — a voting, taxpayer-responsible, loving parent, middle-aged (or not) American citizen who deeply cares about my local, state, and federal economy, jobs, tax-rates, and family members who serve, or could serve, in our armed forces — and you’re EXHAUSTED about the U.S. constantly getting dragged into Near and Middle Eastern conflicts, then you will want, NO… you are vehemently required to learn the real roots of the blood-ridden region and history! Broaden your lens, broaden your perspective.

If you truly care about humanity and this life-giving and sustaining planet, by re-examining this history and its bridle on current affairs in the region, then you will discover just how much our nation’s past is controlling our present and possibly your future generations! And hopefully, you can find the determination do something about it!

So it seems quite proper to close with this,

الله يكون معك

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For starters, more information:

IfAmericansKnew.org
Behind the Balfour Declaration of 1917 – Institute for Historical Review

And my own references/blog-posts and their links:

Canaanites Killed & Removed From Native Lands
Religious Imperialism Alive Still

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Religious Imperialism Alive Still

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Professor Taboo

A few months ago I got lured into what I thought was a discussion and dialogue over American-Syrian foreign policy. My college friend had an obvious hatred for President Obama and Democratic policies. The discussion, turned heated debate, was regarding the treatment of Syria by President Obama and Syria’s perceived lack of respect for American threats against Assad’s regime and his use of chemical weapons on Syrian citizens. My conservative college friend’s stance on Syria, Islāmic regimes, and basic American foreign policy in the Middle East was one of ‘enforced power‘ applied through America’s alliance with Israel.

zahal_israel_defense_forces_inspection_1949

New Israeli army on parade – 1949

In my attempt to give more historical background to America’s long Israeli support in matters of Middle Eastern conflicts, including our MASSIVE costly mistake in invading Iraq for WMD’s, I stressed how prudent and utterly cautious the U.S. should be when involving itself in Middle Eastern matters so soon after invading Iraq. I eventually let him know that the 1949 U.N. creation of the nation of Israel was a horrible blotch on the U.S. and Western nation’s historical political record in the eyes of Palestinians, Syrians, and Islāmic nations in the region. It is the major reason the area has seen so much violence and blood-shed for the last 65-years toward Israel and Western powers.

My friend blew his top and began using Biblical passages – as if they were God-ordained entitlements – that Israel “belonged there” for several millennia. That’s when I knew I was facing an all too common Christian-Zionist misconception of the region’s history which is TOO OFTEN naïvely understood and ignorantly proclaimed by conservative (Puritan?) American politics. Here are at least 10 reasons why their belief is based in gross fabrication as inspired from the work of Dr. Juan Cole from the University of Michigan.

The ancient geographical history of Judaism begins in Mesopotamia, loosely modern-day Iraq and Syria, not Jerusalem or the Levant.
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The actual settlement of Jerusalem and its surrounding region was founded between 3000 to 2600 BCE by a Semitic people (possibly Canaanites), the common ancestors of modern Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, and Jordanians. However, outside of Old Testament passages, Judaism as a state or kingdom did not exist in or around Jerusalem. To date, there has been no archeological evidence found of a “Kingdom of David” or of Solomon’s Temple claimed in the Bible during this period.
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The settlement of Jerusalem was named in honor of Shalim, (salem) from the Canaanite religious pantheon, found on inscriptions in Syria. According to the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (1999), the word Jerusalem means “built-up place of Shalim.” Modern Judaism wrongly translates the word as City of Peace, and has romanticized its historical context as their own at the exclusion of Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians.
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Strictly from Biblical sources, i.e. not from additional independent sources, Judaism asserts that the prophet Moses led slaves inside ancient Egypt. Judaism asserts slave labor and a major slave revolt by Jews in ancient Egypt followed by a mass exodus into the Sinai Peninsula. Judaism also asserts a Jewish invasion of Palestine by fleeing slaves from Egypt. Yet no Egyptian records or evidence during the reign of Ramses II, as recorded at Luxor, exists to support any of these claims. Furthermore, the only archeological evidence of a monotheistic worship happening inside Jerusalem doesn’t take place until around 1000 BCE. All evidence prior to 1000 BCE clearly demonstrates common Canaanite deities were worshiped. And even in this case, as noted in #4 below, substantial evidence of a monotheistic religion beginning in Jerusalem doesn’t begin happening until after 900 BCE as a small sect or population!
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There is no definitive proof that Jerusalem was even inhabited between 1000 and 900 BCE. No archeological evidence of glorious palaces, great states or kingdoms, or recognized kings of the region by Assyrian tablets, which record even the minutest events throughout the Middle East, has been discovered. But once again, strictly from Biblical sources only, Judaism asserts these buildings, kings, and states existed. The independent archeological records simply are not there.
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Finally, with much exhaustion, a Jewish group known as the Hasmoneans did rule Jerusalem briefly between 168 and 37 BCE. This is a grossly different time span (almost a 2,200 year difference) from what Zionist Judaism claims: 3000 BCE to present? Yet even during this period (168 – 37 BCE) the reign over Jerusalem was with the significant help of Parthia. The archeological and historical sources clearly show the Assyrians ruled Jerusalem and the region in 722 to 597 BCE when the Babylonians conquered it. They lost it in 539 BCE to the Achaemenids of ancient Iran and ruled until Alexander the Great took the entire Levant in the 330’s BCE. Alexander’s descendants, the Ptolemies, ruled until 198 BCE when his other descendants, the Seleucids, took it. Enter the well-known King Herod of Parthian heritage from 37 to 6 BCE, at which time the Romans conquered all of Palestine. The Romans and then later the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium, or later Constantinople, or modern Istanbul) reigned from 6 BCE until 614 CE when the Iranian Sassanian Empire conquered Jerusalem. They ruled until 629 CE when the Byzantines took it back. But wait! The fighting and conquering isn’t over!
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Beginning in 637 CE, the Muslim Arabs put siege to Jerusalem and conquered it a year later. They ruled until 1099 CE when all the European Crusaders took it. It is at this point when the Jewish and Muslim inhabitants of Jerusalem fought side-by-side but were horrifically murdered in mass by Christian Crusaders. The Gesta Francorum, the chronicle of the First Crusade, states “…[our soldiers] were killing and slaying [women and babies alike] even to the Temple of Solomon, where the slaughter was so great that our men waded in blood up to their ankles…” The estimated genocide is calculated today to be between 10,000 to 25,000 lives.
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Saladin

Upon the incursions and invasions of the European Crusaders, the great Sultan Saladin led his Egyptian and Syrian Muslims against the Christian armies, conquering much of the Levant and freeing Muslim slaves, then put siege to Jerusalem in 1187 CE and conquered it less than a month later. Saladin, in unprecedented military fashion of the time recognizing the historical significance of Jerusalem to so many, allowed non-combatant Christians to leave and allowed Jews the choice to return. Muslims ruled Jerusalem until the end of World War I, or in sum for about 1,192 years!
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To conclude #5, advocates of Zionist Judaism did not found Jerusalem. Judaism as a firm stable known religion or as a kingdom did not begin until around 200 BCE. And the Hasmonean dynasty only ruled Jerusalem (in part) for about maybe 170 years.
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Perhaps the most notable part of Jerusalem’s history is in 136 CE after the Bar Kochba revolt against Roman authority failed. Some of the Jews in Jerusalem remained, but firmly under the rule of Rome and then Byzantium. Many converted to Christianity to escape the harsh oppression. After 638 CE and the Arab Muslim invasion, 90% of Jerusalem converted to Islam! Thereafter, the entire region was almost exclusively Muslim for the next 1,300 plus years. Palestinians are the legitimate descendants of Jerusalem, Eastern Israel, and the region!
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In 1947 the virtual city and region of peace was completely turned upside down. Despite the above historical and archeological chronicle of Judaism, the United Nations enacted the Partition Plan for Palestine following World War II and Jewish Holocaust. This plan for the State of Israel developed from the post-war British political and military withdrawal from Palestine as well as wide Western sympathy for Jews and the Holocaust. Suddenly, it seemed, the U.N. and West completely forgot what European Crusaders did to Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem in 1099 CE in the aftermath of the First Crusade. Naturally, Palestine breaks out into civil war shortly after Resolution 181 (II) of the United Nations General Assembly implementing the partitioning of Palestine. All out war followed between Arab militias and Jewish militias eventually leading to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Because of Western powers and alliances with Zionist Israel, and dare I say ignorance, the region has seen very little peace ever since. Today tensions, violence, and terrorism trickle over into other contemporary conflicts from Western nations over-meddling in the Middle East, i.e. Iraq and Afghanistan, based indirectly on religious imperialist differences.
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1967 Six Days War

The 4^th Geneva Convention of 1949 along with the Hague Regulations of 1907 explicitly forbids occupying powers (i.e. Britain or Jewish Europeans) to alter the lifestyles of non-combatant civilians who are occupied. It furthermore explicitly forbids the immigration of people from the occupiers’ country into the occupied territory (i.e. Palestine). Western nations of the U.N., including the United States, sat idle as the newly formed State of Israel removed Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem, usurped Palestinian property and settled on their property, annexed districts of Jerusalem, all in gross violation of International Law. Ironically, to state mildly, the Nazis began the same violations in 1938 and 1939 Europe.
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Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin

Past and present Israeli governments have not been united, much less consistent, about how East Jerusalem and the West Bank should be settled and managed once they were taken over. Comically, this is reminiscent of Judaism’s long history of sectarian division and fragmentation going all the way back to 37 CE. The Judaization of Galilee, a region in northern Israel, was implemented throughout the 1960’s and ‘70’s but with limited success. Prime Minister and Nobel Prize winner Yitzhak Rabin was primarily responsible for bringing Israelis to peaceful coexistence with Palestine through the Oslo Peace Accord in 1993 and granting Palestinians their right to become a recognized state and withdrawing Jews from Gaza and Jericho. For these proceedings Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Jewish-Zionist elements in 1995, specifically Yigal Amir, and elements that are now associated with current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. As late as 2000, rhetoric and hints of Palestinian assurances by post-Rabin Israeli officials have been given but fourteen years and counting none have materialized.
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The archeological record and linguistic history of Jerusalem and Levant show who has the most legitimate claim to sovereignty from best to least, in chronological order, by the number of years settled:
In the end, the only real claim Judaism has for Jerusalem and a state of Israel is based subservient to Persians, Greeks, and Romans when they ruled Palestine. To make assertions to inhabit Jerusalem and the Palestinian region based on Biblical history, is like Americans claiming the European continent as legitimately theirs because of their ancestors, or Mexico claiming the southwest United States as their own because prior to the 18^th century CE it belonged to them. Spain could then lay claim of southwest America prior to them! Yet, in a post-WWII world, by pandering to the West’s sympathies and political imperialism, Zionist-Jews robbed western Palestine and expelled Palestinians from their legitimate homeland while the “civilized” Western nations turned their heads.

Christian Biblical Fundamentalism

My conservative college friend no longer acknowledges me. Because I questioned and disagreed with his political, religious, and social positions, he no longer speaks to me. In fact, many of my former college and seminary friends – yes, I attended three years of seminary in Jackson, MS – no longer speak to me much less listen to me. My more moderate college friends and my current liberal friends enjoy having these types of discussions and examinations. Why they do, compared to the far-right fundamentalists, I cannot specifically answer. I can speculate, but without any level of communication it is impossible to figure his or the far-right’s obstinacy.

For the last twenty-three years, my once biblical fundamentalism has been increasingly deprogrammed and deconstructed until finally there was no intellectual basis for it whatsoever. It eventually became all together Pagan or non-religious until I finally determined my current “title” or label: Freethinking Humanist.

I recently read a post from one of my favorite bloggers, 500 Questions, where he examines whether the canonical Bible is divinely inspired (click here for that post). He delves into the power and persuasion of memetics or the transfer of information or stories socially over the span of many generations. If popular and useful enough, the meme can take on a life of its own becoming seemingly factual. It is an excellent post if you have a chance to read it!

My now former conservative friend is a microcosm of a larger global problem: religious extremism or literalism. When I study all the world’s various faiths and social systems, I am appalled by how much of humanity’s history is filled with religious conflict and imperialism. More striking is how much of it has been born from the Abrahamic religions. If historians compiled the top ten worst moments in human history so far, half of them would be religiously based with the Crusades of Jerusalem topping all of them. Two to three more would be politically-religiously based.

In light of what I’ve written here, in an age where geneticists and modern genetics have determined time and again that all of humanity has less than a 1% difference with each other, it is appalling that religious extremism and imperialism still exists. Ninety-nine percent of us have the same tools genetically to live in peace and prosper together! Everything outside of that 1% is taught to us (truthfully or falsely) by our parents, family, and community. What does that say about potential change and world peace?

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**Nov. 22nd, 2014 — More Information:

“Few Americans today are aware that US support enabled the creation of modern Israel. Even fewer know that US politicians pushed this policy over the forceful objections of top diplomatic and military experts. As this work demonstrates, these politicians were bombarded by a massive pro-Israel lobbying effort that ranged from well-funded and very public Zionist organizations to an “elitist secret society” whose members included Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.”