Breakthrough #1 Crash Course

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="057285a1erlcgo.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>TurnTheTide</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TurnTheTide"><U><B>home</B></U></A><B>     /   </B><FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><A HREF="index_site_map.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TurnTheTide"><U><B>LINK TO SITE MAP</B></U></A></div> <div>  <B>Breakthrough #1 Crash Course</B>   |   <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthrough Story 2"><U>Breakthrough Story #2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthrough Story 3"><U>Breakthrough Story #3</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthrough Story 4"><U>Breakthrough Story #4</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthrough Story 5 "><U>Breakthrough Story #5 </U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="056d2c00dkelyh.png"> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index_site_map.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TurnTheTide"><U><B>LINK TO SITE MAP</B></U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>WHAT IS A HUMAN BEING? WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE HUMAN SPECIES IN 2003? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0bfa5980.jpg" border=0 width="165" height="152" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>R. Buckminster Fuller</B></div> <div> <I><B>The human species is in "final exam" to determine if its qualifes to go on. </B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0c1a7ad0.jpg" border=0 width="167" height="173" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Jacob Bronowski</B></div> <div> <B>Humans are in a "time of mutation." A mutation that could become a cancer or a better fitting species. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0c397da0.jpg" border=0 width="151" height="218" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Thomas Berry</B></div> <div> <B>Humans are choosing the next geologic age: Either an "Ecozoic Age of mutually enhancing relationships with Earth's larger community of life systems." Or a "Technozoic Age in which humans use their freedom of determination to set themselves at odds with the entire non-human community." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0d091970.jpg" border=0 width="145" height="151" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Miriam MacGillis</B></div> <div> <B>You are a star's way of seeing a star... You are irreplaceable and unrepeatable.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0c78ecc0.jpg" border=0 width="142" height="204" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Carl Sagan </B></div> <div> <B>Yes, intelligent life will destroy itself once it has the power to do so ... unless it is guided by some higher purpose. </B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Breakthrough #1 Crash Course</I></div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="1__my_crash_course_on_reality"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>1. Breakthrough #1: My Crash Course on Reality:</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>"THERE IS NO CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS IN THE</B></div> <div> <B>EVER-GROWING UNDERGROUND KINGDOM OF DEAD CHILDREN"</B></div> <div> <I><B>A JOURNEY INTO THE EYE OF THE STORM OF TERRORISM</B></I></div> <div> <B>By McGregor Smith, Jr. </B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>The good, the bad, and the incredibly ugly.</B></I></div> <div> Thanks to the Haywood County Peace Fellowship, I have completed two-years in a “crash course” on reality.</div> <div> The course began when Doug Wingeier, a member, volunteered to go to Israel and Palestine. He served as an international observer with a Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron. Doug is a retired seminary professor/dean who resides at Lake Junaluska.</div> <div> The course is not over. But already I've changed my mind about many things. Particularly about what is real and not real in the conflict going on in the Holy Land. The course reconnected me to many teachers who inspired me in the 20<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century.  </div> <div> Now I am taking a timeout. </div> <div> I am assessing what this 77-year-old grandfather has learned since joining the Peace Fellowship two years ago. The “crash course” has been the adventure of my life. I am now working with colleagues on a web site. We will share on the Internet lessons from the course. The web site address is <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.TurnTheTide.info" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.TurnTheTide.info"><U><B>www.TurnTheTide.info</B></U></A></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>.  </B></FONT></div> <div> The timeout was occasioned by a comment from a friend. </div> <div> He read material we were considering for the web site. He advised it was too negative. In these trying days we need to consider “what is good and beautiful.” Couldn't I find some “bright spots to write about?” </div> <div> I agree we need bright spots. There are, surprisingly, many to be found.</div> <div> I have found much that is good and beautiful. Too often the good and beautiful is eclipsed by an ugly reality that is as negative as it can get. </div> <div> I believe there is only one way for the bright spots to overcome the dark ones. We must look unflinchingly at reality as it is: the good, the bad and the incredibly ugly. We must choose the reality we want for our grandchildren tomorrow. Then we must work hard to bring that reality into being.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Einstein announced the storm's beginning</B></I></div> <div> For two years I have lived close-up to scenes of unbelievable terror and hatred. I have recorded awesome acts of courage and compassion. I have received and catalogued more than 1,000 reports from the “eye” of an unimaginable storm of terrorism.  </div> <div> The storm of terrorism rages worldwide. </div> <div> It did not begin September 11, 2001. It has raged in the Holy Land for decades. </div> <div> <B>This breakthrough is the understanding that the global storm of terrorism is centered in Israel and Palestine. Unless we understand what is going on in the “eye of the storm,” our war against terrorism will last forever and resolve nothing. It will grind on and on. The lives of Israelis, Palestinians, Americans and Jews worldwide will become less and less secure.</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <B>This breakthrough is that Americans were being prepared for the storm half century ago.</B></div> <div> Beginning with the prophetic vision of Albert Einstein, we were warned by insightful men and women of the approaching storm. These included scholars and teachers from every discipline in the fields of science and religion. They were preparing us for the catastrophe of 9/11, and especially for the time of chaos and fear that would follow. </div> <div> In the 1940's Einstein announced that the storm was beginning. If we did nothing to avoid the storm, it would bring unimaginable terror. The storm warnings began with the explosion of the first atomic bomb. </div> <div> When we entered the Nuclear Age, Einstein told us, the reality in which humans lived changed forever. But the way humans thought about reality did not change. Our “old type of thinking” was the cause of the storm. Unless we were able to master “a new type of thinking,” he said, “humankind would drift into unparalleled catastrophe.” </div> <div> In the 1970's R. Buckminster Fuller said the storm would be the ultimate “test” for the human spirit. He described it as a “final exam to determine if the human species qualified to go on.” </div> <div> In the 1980's Jacob Bronowski said the storm was like entering a time of “mutation.” The mutation was irreversible. There were two possible outcomes for the human species. One outcome would be for our species become a “cancer.” That would bring unparalleled catastrophe to humans and to the Earth. Or, as some mutations do, our species could become a “better fitting species.” Humans would use their freedom to choose and their intelligence to master a “new type of thinking.” They would create a civilization in which humans lived in harmony with each other and with nature. </div> <div> In the 1990's Thomas Berry said the storm would bring to an end the 65-million-year Cenozoic Era. The bio-geologic era that began with the extinction of dinosaurs. The final exam would be to choose between two new eras: two different ways of thinking about reality. One choice would be an “Ecozoic Era.” Humans would learn to “live in a mutually enhancing relationship with Earth's larger community of life systems.” The other choice would be a “Technozoic Era.” Humans would “use their freedom of determination to set themselves at odds with the entire non-human community.”  </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Israel and Palestine in the “eye of the storm”</B></I></div> <div> Einstein, Fuller, Bronowski and Berry were not alone. Many great teachers warned that our “old type of thinking” would lead to more war, terror, and catastrophe. They sought to prepare us for the storm by instilling a “new type of thinking.” A type of thinking that would lead to compassion, reconciliation, and peace. </div> <div> As a teacher in a community college, I was exposed to those ideas from the 1960's through the 90's. I worked on grants from the U.S. Dept. of Education's “Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.” With colleagues in colleges and universities around the United States we sought to “prepare.” </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >We created a curriculum called “Earth Literacy.” The meaning of literacy was redefined. It included the need for educational institutions to address the central problem Einstein raised. How humans could use their intelligence and freedom of determination in ways to insure a future of peace, rather than one of terror. This new kind of literacy raised three questions: </FONT>(Earth Literacy centers: (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.genesisfarm.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.genesisfarm.org"><U><U>www.genesisfarm.org</U></U></A></FONT> & <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.narrowridge.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.narrowridge.org"><U><U>www.narrowridge.org</U></U></A></FONT> )</div> <div> How can human communities learn to live in mutually enhancing relationships with other human communities? </div> <div> How can humans learn to live in mutually enhancing relationships with the larger community of all life on Earth? </div> <div> How can humans learn to change their “old way of thinking?”</div> <div> If we cannot create a system of education that answers these three questions, our species is in trouble. We will continue to drift toward “unparalleled catastrophe,” toward an unending storm of terrorism, toward becoming a cancer, toward flunking our “final exam.”</div> <div> The two-year crash course made it clear Israel and Palestine are at the “eye of the storm.” The “final exam” is taking place there. In the storm's eye, the “old type of thinking” and the “new type of thinking” can be seen in the starkest contrast. </div> <div> The Holy Land is the logical site for humans to be tested. Do we qualify or not qualify to “go on?” </div> <div> The three belief systems at the heart of the worldwide storm of terrorism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, have their roots there. All claim to be descended from Abraham. Abraham's call from God came in this place. That is why we call the land “Holy.” Each of these religions claims to worship the God that “Father Abraham” worshiped. In the scriptures of each, the main agenda of that God is peace. </div> <div> One lesson stood out clearly as I studied hundreds of acts of “terror and hatred” and “acts of courage and compassion.” The storm of terrorism is not the agenda of the “God of Abraham.” It is the agenda of humans. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>The only way for humanity to prevail</B></I></div> <div> My crash course began when Doug Wingeier loaded my computer with a dozen documents. All came from Jews in the Peace Movement in Israel and Palestine. He linked me to web sites of Non-Government Organizations. NGOs organized by Israeli Jews working with Palestinian Muslims and Christians. </div> <div> I opened one web site. Parents of children killed by terrorists had created it: Israeli parents of children killed by Palestinian suicide bombers. Palestinian parents of children killed by the Israeli army. These mothers and fathers are a thorn in the side of “warlords” in both Israel and Palestine. By military standards, they should be natural enemies. Yet some 500 parents of murdered children refuse to be “enemies.” They reach out to console each other. They are leaders in the movement for peace. </div> <div> To meet real “peace experts,” this is the place to meet them. To experience the good and beautiful in the midst of a reality as ugly as it gets, this is the place to experience it. To find a bright spot that is overcoming incredible darkness, these mothers and fathers can show it to you. </div> <div> Judge for yourself. </div> <div> Meet and listen to Nurit Peled-Elhanan. A Palestinian suicide bomber murdered Nurit's 14-year-old daughter Smadari. Smadari was on her way home from school in Jerusalem with her best friend. Both were killed instantly by the blast. </div> <div> Nurit speaks for mothers and fathers whose children have been murdered in the war of terrorism in the Holy Land:</div> <div> “We have been made to pay the highest price for a war that should have ended long ago, by letting careless, ruthless and cynical politicians use the lives of our children as chips in their deadly games, turning our children's blood into the cheapest merchandise in the political market… </div> <div> “We are the ones to tell the world there is no clash of civilizations, that in the ever-growing underground kingdom of dead children there is no clash of civilizations… that the golden age of both Islam and Judaism was when the two lived side by side, nurturing each other and flourishing together.</div> <div> “We are the ones who keep telling the world that the only way for humanity to prevail is to join us in raising this ancient voice, that has always been there, the voice of motherhood and fatherhood, raise it until it deafens all other voices.</div> <div> “We demand that the world redefine its values and priorities, redefine crime, guilt, the rights of children and the duties of adults and therefore redefine education and justice, and make it very clear that anyone who kills a child will never be able to live in peace in this world. Not even as Cain.</div> <div> “We are the ones who know that if we don't raise this voice very soon there will be nothing left to say or write or hear except for the perpetual cry of mourning and the silenced voices of dead children.” </div> <div> How does Nurit feel about the Palestinian suicide bomber who killed her daughter? Ask her: </div> <div> "I have been asked many times if I feel any need to avenge the murder of my little girl, who was killed just because she was born Israeli, by a young man who felt hopeless to the point of murder and suicide, just because he was born Palestinian.</div> <div> "I quote the Hebrew poet Bialik who said, 'Satan has not yet created a vengeance for the blood of a small child'.</div> <div> “The war is not between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people, but these life-destroying men who call themselves leaders.”</div> <div> If the war is not between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people, why are the leaders not held responsible by the rest of the world? Why in decades of war have they not been made accountable for their life-destroying actions? It is because: </div> <div> "The US is reluctant and bored with the situation. And the rest of the world is going on as if blood has never been shed." </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>A tour of bright spots in the darkness of never-ending terror</B></I></div> <div> In my crash course I saw examples of what I believe Einstein meant by a “new type of thinking.” I understood his meaning not in abstract concepts or erudite philosophies. I understood it in tangible flesh-and-blood statements and in actions. </div> <div> This understanding is available to you. You can visit the eye of the storm of terrorism on the Internet. You can see the stark contrast between Nurit Peled-Elhanan's “new type of thinking” and the “old type of thinking” that is leading Israel into a never-ending war of terror, and ultimate catastrophe. And that is leading America, close behind Israel, toward the same fate.</div> <div> First, visit Nurit's “The Parents Circle - Family Forum” web site: <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.theparentscircle.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.theparentscircle.com"><U><U>www.theparentscircle.com</U></U></A></FONT>. </div> <div> <B>On the Home Page of this and other Israeli web site, choose the tab for "English" version.</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT></div> <div> Then tour four more “bright spots” among many available. Available in a land that seems darkened by never-ending, always-escalating cycles of violence and revenge. Violence perpetuated by Israelis and Palestinians taught from childhood to hate each other. Taught by leaders that peace is impossible. Impossible because the “other side doesn't want peace.” </div> <div> Here are four of the "islands of peace" recommended on TurnTheTide's web site. </div> <div> More than 500 veteran Israeli army officers and soldiers created their own web site. These tough military men refuse to serve any longer in the Palestinian occupied territory. They refuse to fight in what they call “Sharon's war of the Settlements.” They provide a bright spot that is overcoming darkness. View their “Courage to Refuse” web site at <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.seruv.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.seruv.org"><U><U>www.seruv.org</U></U></A></FONT>.</div> <div> Another NGO is a world-class Israeli/Palestinian think-tank. Israeli and Palestinian experts from many fields conduct research together. Projects identify and propose methods for reaching peaceful solutions to major issues at the root of the conflict. Educators from Israel and Palestine collaborate on peace education projects offered in dozens of schools in Israel and Palestine. View this bright spot at the “Israel/Palestine Center for Research & Information:” <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.ipcri.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ipcri.org"><U><U>www.ipcri.org</U></U></A></FONT>. </div> <div> A professor of Anthropology at Ben Gurion University created an NGO for Israeli Jews seeking to stop the bulldozing of Palestinian homes by the Israeli army. These Jews have worked with Palestinians to rebuild a few of the thousands of homes demolished in the war of terrorism. Their web site tells the story of a 23-year-old American woman crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer when she attempted to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian physician's home. View the ugly and beautiful side by side on the “Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions” web site: <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.icahd.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.icahd.org"><U><U>www.icahd.org</U></U></A></FONT>. </div> <div> Another Israeli NGO publishes a “War Crimes Manual.” It distributes the manual to Israeli officers and soldiers. The manual lists military orders that, if obeyed, constitute war crimes. Military personnel who obey these laws could be subject to prosecution in an international court of law. To experience another thorn in the side of the “warlords” visit “Gush Shalom's” web site: <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.gush-shalom.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.gush-shalom.org"><U><U>www.gush-shalom.org</U></U></A></FONT>. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>On Capitol Hill criticism of Israel is all but forbidden</B></I></div> <div> I spent the fist year of my crash course collecting and cataloguing documents on my computer. Most were from participants in the Israeli Peace Movement and from international observers. Some reported successful peace demonstrations by Israelis and Palestinians that seemed too good to be true. Others reported acts of terrorism by both sides that seemed too horrible to be true. </div> <div> I sent these documents to an American Jewish friend. I asked if she thought they were “for real.” Sondra replied they were. She said many liberal Jews in America were deeply concerned about Israel's military agenda. She introduced me to American Jewish peace organizations that support the Peace Movement in Israel and Palestine. </div> <div> Why hadn't I heard of these before? She explained: </div> <div> The Israeli lobby led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was too powerful. The Christian Zionist lobby was almost as powerful. The voices of the peacemakers were drowned out by the voices of the war-makers. </div> <div> I received a letter from former Illinois Republican Paul Findley. He served in Congress from 1961 - 1983. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee for 16 years. Findley wrote that neither he nor anyone else on the U.S. Congressional Foreign Relations Committee could engage in debate on the Middle East policy without jeopardizing re-election.   </div> <div> “On Capitol Hill,” Findley said, “criticism of Israel is all but forbidden, treated as downright unpatriotic, if not anti-Semitic. </div> <div> “Absence of free speech was assured when those few who spoke out - Senators Adlai Stevenson and Charles Percy, and Reps. Paul McCloskey, Cynthia McKinney, Earl Hilliard, and myself - were defeated at the polls by candidates heavily financed by pro-Israel forces.”   </div> <div> Against that dark reality, a bright spot is becoming brighter. During my two-year crash course, the Israeli Peace Movement among American Jews has grown larger. Here are two examples. </div> <div> This year Rabbi Michael Lerner's “Tikkun Community” is holding its second annual Conference and "Teach-In for Congress" in Washington, DC. Visit Tikkun's web site at <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >www.tikkun.org.</FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >This year the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace launched an impressive Internet petition drive. The petition seeks to bring Israelis living in illegal Jewish settlements in Palestine back to Israel. To read the petition, go to: </FONT><A HREF="http://bringthemhome.btvshalom.org/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://bringthemhome.btvshalom.org/"><U><U>http://bringthemhome.btvshalom.org/</U></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >. The web site is </FONT><A HREF="http://www.btvshalom.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.btvshalom.org"><U><U>www.btvshalom.org</U></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >. </FONT></div> <div> Both Tikkun and the Jewish Alliance sponsor their own Peace Proposals. Both proposals support plans that Israeli and Palestinian citizens have worked on for years. All proposals agree that a just peace will require: return of the occupied territory, an evacuation of Israeli settlements in Palestine, and an independent state of Palestine next to the state of Israel, with international guarantees of security for both states.</div> <div> Anything less will perpetuate the Storm of Terrorism in the Holy Land. Anything less will perpetuate the Storm of Terrorism worldwide. Anything less will continue humankind's drift toward “unparalleled catastrophe.”    </div> <div>  </div> <div> <I><B>Six billion dollars in leverage in the right direction</B></I></div> <div> During the second year of my crash course we created the TurnTheTide web site. </div> <div> “We” include four colleagues. Two are members of the Haywood County Peace Fellowship: Doug Wingeier and Mark Rouch, a retired Methodist minister who directed the Intentional Growth Center at Lake Junaluska. The others are: Bill Holden a retired aeronautical engineer and industrial psychologist living in California, and Bill Price, a retired executive director of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research in Washington DC. </div> <div> TurnTheTide provides Israeli peacemakers an opportunity to make their case for peace in America. Just as Israeli war-makers are provided many opportunities in America to make their case for war. </div> <div> TurnTheTide seeks to provide a bigger perspective on the worldwide Storm of Terrorism. For more than half a century there have been warnings the storm was coming. We were told what we must do to calm the storm and avoid the consequences. We must understand that the eye of the storm is over Israel and Palestine.</div> <div> TurnTheTide supports a “Citizen Diplomats Peace Proposal for the Holy Land.” The proposal was inspired by Israeli and Palestinian citizens who reach out to each other under the banner, “we refuse to be enemies.” The proposal is for the United States to reprioritize its $3 billion annual aid package to Israel. War aid should be changed to peace aid. The shift of $3 billion away from war and $3 billion toward the cause of peace would provide $6 billion in leverage in the right direction. It could tip the scales from cycles of terror and hatred to reconciliation and peace. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Perpetual deception is critical </B></I></div> <div> Finally, my timeout to assess what I have learned in the crash course was occasioned not only by advise from my friend to look for bright spots. I also want to respond to news reports about an influential 20<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century teacher not on my list of those who sought to instill a “new type of thinking.” </div> <div> Leo Strauss is in the news thirty years after his death in 1973. His influence, according to stories in the New York Times and The New Yorker magazine, is shaping global policies.</div> <div> Seeing Strauss' name at this time was an “ah-ha!” experience for me. </div> <div> Suddenly, I understood better what Israeli and Palestinian parents of children killed by terrorism are up against. Strauss was a German Jewish political philosopher who arrived in the United States in 1937. His view of reality contrasted sharply with the view of reality held by the German Jewish physicist Albert Einstein. </div> <div> Strauss' philosophy fit perfectly the belief system Einstein called an “old type of thinking.” Three news reports spell out how the views of devotees of Strauss “brought about a crucial change in direction of the American intelligence community.” According to The New Yorker magazine, a small group of Strauss's doctoral graduates from the University of Chicago now shape American foreign policy in the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans. </div> <div> On May 5, an article by James Atlas, on page 1 of the Sunday “Week in Review” section of the New York Times, described how Leo Strauss' thinking has shaped the course of America's “war on terrorism.” The title of the article: “Leo-Cons; A Classicist's Legacy: New Empire Builders.” </div> <div> On May 8, the Inter Press Service published a background story on Strauss headlined, “Strong Must Rule the Weak, said Neo-Cons' Muse.” The writer, Jim Lobe, included an interview with Shadia Drury, author of <I>Leo Strauss and the American Right</I> published in 1999. Lobe's article can be found on the Internet at: <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0508-02.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/"><U><U>http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0508-02.htm</U></U></A></FONT>.</div> <div> On May 12, investigative reporter Seymour M. Hersh wrote the lead article in The New Yorker magazine titled, “Selective Intelligence.” Hersh detailed how “Straussian” policy advisors and analysts in the Pentagon reinterpreted intelligence information. By re-analyzing data from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency, they arrived at conclusions that fit their own beliefs. They used their reinterpreted intelligence to shape American public opinion and justify the war on Iraq.</div> <div> Here is a thumbnail sketch of Strauss's "old manner of thinking," as understood by Shadia Drury and Jim Lobe:</div> <div> Like Plato, Strauss thought that in society some are fit to lead, and others to be led. Plato thought leaders had to be people with high moral standards so they could resist the temptations of power. Strauss thought those who are fit to rule are those who realize there is no morality and that there is only one natural right, the right of the superior to rule over the inferior. </div> <div> Like the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, Strauss thought, the fundamental aggressiveness of human nature could be restrained only through a powerful state based on nationalism. Because mankind is intrinsically wicked, he has to be governed. Such governance can only be established, however, when men are united - and they can only be united against other people.  </div> <div> Like Machiavelli, Strauss thought that if no external threat exists, then one has to be manufactured. A political order can be stable only if it is united against an external threat. Perpetual deception of the citizens by those in power is critical because they need to be led, and they need strong rulers to tell them what's good for them. </div> <div> Strauss thought that the world was a place where isolated liberal democracies lived in constant danger from hostile elements abroad, and where policy advisers may have to deceive their own publics and even their rulers in order to protect their countries. </div> <div> Strauss thought that religion was the glue that held societies together. Secular society was the worst possible thing because it led to precisely the traits that might encourage dissent and weaken society's ability to cope with external threats. Leaders needed citizens that could be manipulated like putty.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop</B></I></div> <div> After reading Drury's and Lobe's description of Strauss' “old manner of thinking,” I re-read Nurit Peled-Elhhanan's account of “careless, ruthless and cynical politicians playing their deadly games, turning their children's blood into the cheapest merchandize in the political market.” Her description fit perfectly a society governed by the “Straussian doctrine:" Politicians who believed it was necessary for them to deceive their own citizens; it was necessary to manipulate them like putty; it was necessary to manufacture external threats to unite them against other people…and to keep themselves in power. </div> <div> In the “eye of the storm” of terrorism, the blueprint of Strauss' thinking was unmistakable. If not his, it was that of “life-destroying leaders” who thought like he did. The good news was that this “old manner of thinking” by Israeli politicians had led Israeli army officers and soldiers to refuse to serve in the occupied territory of Palestine. It had led Israeli citizens to organize to help rebuild homes of Palestinian citizens destroyed by the Israeli army. It had led Israeli and Palestinian parents, whose children were murdered by the terrorist regimes, to refuse to be manipulated. They refused to become enemies. </div> <div> I went back to the web site of the “Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.” There I read the story of a ceremony by a coalition of Israeli peace groups honoring Rachel Corrie. Rachel was the young American crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer. Shortly before she was killed while attempting to prevent a house demolition, she wrote the following in her e-mail diary:</div> <div> “I just want to write to my Mom and tell her that I'm witnessing this chronic, insidious genocide and I'm really scared, and questioning my fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. This has to stop. </div> <div> “I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don't think it's an extremist thing to do anymore..."</div> <div> Rachel was a victim of an “old manner of thinking.” Her death was the result of a philosophy that preaches “there is only one natural right, the right of the superior to rule over the inferior.” </div> <div> I believe all Americans need to take Rachel's advice seriously. </div> <div> In Jim Lobe's article, the author Shadia Drury gave an example of the “ironic inconsistency” that results from Strauss' idea that the elites of society must deceive their citizens. Her example was the global policy now being pursued by America. She pointed out that the Bush administration is defending “its anti-terrorist campaign by resorting to idealistic rhetoric.” </div> <div> “They really have no use for liberalism and democracy,” Drury said, “but they're conquering the world in the name of liberalism and democracy.” </div> <div> The New York Times article and The New Yorker magazine article were not about Straus's influence on the thinking of leaders in Israel. Both articles dealt with the powerful influence of Strauss's thinking on American foreign policy: a policy shaped by “key neo-conservatives” in the Pentagon and the U.S. Defense Department. The "old manner of thinking" of disciples of Leo Strauss plays the defining role in determining U.S. strategy for pursuing the “war on terrorism.” </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>A choice between life and death, blessing and curse</B></I></div> <div> Against that dark backdrop, here are two bright spots: two teachers who I think provide an antidote for the poison of the perspective on reality held by some of Strauss' graduate student "disciples." </div> <div> One teacher was the astronomer Carl Sagan. </div> <div> Sagan's view on reality had a dark side, but it was open-ended. He thought Earth was now in the third stage of development that any planet where life exists in the Universe would go through. In the first stage, intelligence would emerge. In the second stage, intelligent life would invent technology. In the third stage, intelligent life would invent a technology powerful enough to destroy itself. </div> <div> He asked the question: when intelligent life develops a technology powerful enough to destroy itself, will it destroy itself? Sagan's response to his own question was: yes, intelligent life will destroy itself… UNLESS: Unless that intelligent life is guided by a “higher purpose” for its existence. </div> <div> A “higher purpose” would be to become a “better fitting species,” instead of a cancer. </div> <div> The other teacher is Miriam Therese MacGillis, a Dominican Sister.</div> <div> MacGillis' view on reality is that the basic assumptions of our “old type of thinking” are inadequate. They are inadequate because they are untrue. Humans are not fundamentally aggressive and intrinsically wicked. They do not need strong leaders to manipulate them for their own good. Because the assumptions of our "old type of thinking" are untrue, our institutions are not working. We do not have a road map or an ethic to pass on to the next generation. </div> <div> MacGillis' “new manner of thinking” is based on different assumptions. She would say that, as a human being: “you are a star's way of seeing a star. You are the unfolding Universe thinking about itself. You are irreplaceable and unrepeatable. The human is the being in which the Earth has awakened into consciousness…has become spiritually aware and self-reflective.” </div> <div> Our choice between an “old type of thinking” and a “new type of thinking” will determine our view of reality. Our view on what it means to be human. Our choice will determine the kind of world we pass on to our grandchildren. </div> <div> Two years into my crash course, I cannot guess which choice we will make as a species. But I have found in the “eye of the storm” of terrorism reasons for hope. That hope dates back more than 3,000 years to the Hebrew prophet Moses. Moses attributed the choice we are now making to God. The God of Jews. The God of the Muslims. The God of the Christians. </div> <div> In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses tells us God said: </div> <div> “I am going to give you a choice. The choice is between life and death. It is between a blessing and a curse. I hope you will choose life, so your children may live.” God goes on to say something like this: “If you choose death, you will have no excuse. The understanding you need to choose life is not in some far off place. You don't need experts to go and bring it back to you. The understanding you need is already in you. It is in your heart and on your lips.”</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>A light unto the world</B></I></div> <div> I think the Israeli and Palestinian parents of children murdered in the Storm of Terrorism understand the choice humans are making. The understanding needed to choose life is in their hearts and on their lips. </div> <div> They are teaching the world, in a pragmatic way, the “new type of thinking” Einstein said would be needed. It is the type of thinking humans will need to become a “better fitting species,” rather than a cancer. </div> <div> I believe these Israeli and Palestinian parents ARE the “light unto the world” the Holy Land was meant to be. I think the “world” had better listen to them. </div> <div> <B>This Breakthrough is that we can find reasons for hope even in the "eye of the storm" of terrorism; that the story we are taking part in is far bigger than most of us imagine; that the path that is ending is where we must decide if our species has a "higher purpose" on Earth, or not. </B></div> <div> <B>Note:</B>  <B>References to Miriam MacGillis, Carl Sagan, Thomas Berry, Jacob Bronowski, R. Buckminster Fuller, and Albert Einstein are from a research project conducted in the 1980's by Dr. Helen Wallace and the Council of Grandmothers. Wallace's “Council” was modeled on the 16</B><B>th</B><B> century Iroquois Federation of Six Nations' Council of Grandmothers. The function of the Iroquois Grandmothers was to apply the “Seventh Generation Test” to decisions by the Federation Chiefs. The test was to ask the question: what will be the consequences of the Chiefs' decision seven generations in the future? The modern Council applied the Seventh Generation Test to decisions made by Chiefs in the 20</B><B>th</B><B> century. Wallace's Grandmothers presented the results of their test in what they called the “100-Million-Year Business Report for Planet Earth.” I described the 20th century Council of Grandmothers and their "Business Report" in a book, </B><I><B>Now That You Know: A Journey Toward Earth Literacy, </B></I><B>published by </B><B>Earth Knows, a project of the Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center in Washburn, Tennessee: </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.narrowridge.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.narrowridge.org"><U><B><U>www.narrowridge.org</U></B></U></A></FONT><B>.  All royalties go to support Earth Literacy experiential programs at Narrow Ridge and the Genesis Farm Earth Literacy Center in Blairstown, New Jersey, 41A Silver Lake Rd., Blairstown, N.J.     </B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><U>************************</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The ghost of Leo Strauss haunts the Capitol in Washington </B></div> <div> <B>May 4, 2003: excerpts from the New York Times "Week in Review" Section 4</B></div> <div> <I><B><U>Leo-Cons; A Classicist's Legacy: New Empire Builders </U></B></I></div> <div> <B>By JAMES ATLAS </B></div> <bR> <div> ALL right, so weapons of mass destruction haven't yet been found in Iraq. And no firm link has been established between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. So what was the war in Iraq about, then? According to one school of thought, our most recent military adventure turns out to have been nothing less than a defense of Western civilization -- as interpreted by the late classicist and political philosopher Leo Strauss. </div> <div> If this chain of events seems implausible, consider the tribute President Bush paid in February to the cohort of journalists, political philosophers and policy wonks known -- primarily to themselves -- as Straussians. ''You are some of the best brains in our country,'' Mr. Bush declared in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, ''and my government employs about 20 of you.'' </div> <bR> <div> <B>May 12, 2003: EXCERPTS FROM THE NEW YORKER  ARTICLE:</B></div> <div> <B>"Selective Intelligence" by Seymour M. Hersh</B></div> <div> They call themselves, self-mockingly, the Cabal - a small cluster of policy advisers and analysts now based in the Pentagon's “Office of Special Plans.” In the past year, according to former and present Bush Administration officials, their operation,which was conceived by Pal Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, has brought about a crucial change of direction in the American intelligence community. These advisers and analysts, who began their work in the days after September 11, 2001, have produced a skein of intelligence reviews that have helped to shape public opinion and American policy toward Iraq. They relied on data gathered by other intelligence agencies and also on information provided by the Iraqi National Congress, or I.N.C., the exile group headed by Ahmad Chalabi. By last fall, the operation rivaled both the C.P.A. and the Pentagon's own defense Intelligence Agency, the D.I.A., as President's Bush's main source of intelligence regarding Iraq's possible possession of weapons of mass destruction…</div> <div> W. Patrick Lang, former chief of Middle East Intelligence at the D.I.A.: “The Pentagon has banded together to dominate the government's foreign policy, and they've pulled it off. They're running Chalabi. The D.I.A. has been intimidated and beaten to a pulp. And there's no guts at all in the C.I.A.”</div> <div> The Special Plans Office developed a close working relationship with the Iraqi National Congress, and this strengthened its position in disputes with the C.I.A. and gave the Pentagon's pro-war leadership added leverage in constant disputes with the State Department. Special Plans also became a conduit for intelligence reports from the Iraqi National Congress to officials in the White House…</div> <div> There was another level to Chalabi's relationship with the United States: in the mid-nineteen-nineties, the C.I.A. was secretly funneling millions of dollars annually to the Iraq National Congress. Those payments ended around 1996, a former C.I.A. Middle East station chief, told me (Hersh), essentially because the agency had doubts about Chalabi's integrity. (In 1992, Chalabi was convicted in absentia of bank fraud in Jordan. He has always denied any wrongdoing.) “You have to treat them with suspicion,” another former Middle East station chief said of Chalabi's people. “The I.N.C. has a track record of manipulating information because it has an agenda. It's a political unit - not an intelligence agency.”</div> <div> (The director of the Special Plans operation, Abraham Shulsky, like Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, was a student of Leo Strauss at the University of Chicago.) Both men received their doctorates under Strauss in 1972…The Straussian movement has many adherents in and around the Bush Administration…they include William Kristol, the editor of the <I>Weekly Standard</I>, and Stephen Cambone, the Under-Secretary of defense for Intelligence. </div> <div> Some former intelligence officials believe that Shulsky and his superiors were captives of their own convictions, and were merely deceiving themselves. Vincent Cannistraro, former chief of counter-terrorism operations and analysis at the C.I.A., worked with Shulsky at a Washington think-tank after his retirement. He said, “Abe is very gentle and slow to anger, with a sense of irony. But his politics were typical for his group - the Straussian view.” The group's members, Cannistraro said, “reinforce each other because they're the only friends they have, and they all work together. This has been going on since the nineteen-eighties, but they've never been able to coalesce as they have now. September 11th gave them the opportunity, and now they are in heaven. They believe the intelligence is there. They want to believe it. It <I>has </I>to be there.”</div> <div> Robert Pippin, the chairman of the Committee on Social Thought at (the University of) Chicago and a critic of Strauss, told me, “Strauss believed that good statesmen have powers of judgment and must rely on an inner circle. The person who whispers in the ear of the King is more important than the King. If you have that talent, what you do or say in public cannot be held accountable in the same way…” </div> <div> Stephen Holmes, a law professor at New York University: “The whole story is complicated by Strauss's idea - actually Plato's - that philosophers need to tell noble lies not only to the people at large but also to powerful politicians.”   </div> <div> A former intelligence official: “One of the reasons I left was my sense that they were using the intelligence of the C.I.A. and other agencies only when it fit their own agenda. They didn't like the intelligence they were getting, and so they brought in people to write their own stuff. They were so crazed and so far out and so difficult to reason with - to the point of being bizarre. Dogmatic, as if they were on a mission from God…” </div> <div> The Pentagon flew Chalabi and hundreds of his supporters, heavily armed, into Iraq, amid tight security, over angry objections from the State Department. Chalabi is now establishing himself in Baghdad. His advocates in the Pentagon point out that he is not only a Shiite, but also, as one scholar put it, “a completely Westernized businessman” (he emigrated to England with his parents in 1958, when he was a boy), which is one reason the State Department doubts whether he can gain support among Iraqis.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>NEXT: </B><A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Introduction to Four More Breakthrough Stories & the Voice of Peacemakers</B></U></A><B> </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>RELEVANT ARCHIVE  RESOURCES TO "CRASH COURSE":</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id81_1__strong_must_rule_the_weak_said.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthru 1 Documents"><U><B>1. Strong Must</B></U></A><B> Rules the Weak, said Neo-Cons' Muse</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id81_4__atlanta_journal_constitution_the.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthru 1 Documents"><U><B>2.  Atlanta Journal-Constitution</B></U></A><B>: the President's real goal in Iraq </B></div> <div> <A HREF="id81_6__speech_by_senator_chuck_hagel.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthru 1 Documents"><U><B>3.  Speech by Senator</B></U></A><B> Chuck Hagel</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id81_7__united_nations_resolutions_vetoed_by.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthru 1 Documents"><U><B>4.  United Nations Resolutions</B></U></A><B> vetoed by the United States</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id81_9__the_new_math_israel_s_numbers.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthru 1 Documents"><U><I><B>5.  The "New Math":</B></I></U></A><I><B> </B></I><B>Israel's numbers dilemma.</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id81_10__leo_strauss_and_the_straussians.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthru 1 Documents"><U><B>6.  Leo Strauss </B></U></A><B>and the Straussians: turning history topsy-turvy</B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>