BUSH'S DOCTRINE OF PRE-EMPTIVE WAR SPREADS TO ISRAEL AND COLOMBIA

The typical modus operandi of George Bush and Dick Cheney is to rain down missiles and drop bombs. These militarists still have some 10 months in office. We should all be worried about their irresponsible war mongering, especially when it comes to the U.S. attacking Iran.

For the same reason that I abhor the Bush pre-emptive war doctrine, I also condemn Israel for trying to solve the Palestinian question with tanks and helicopters. The latest Israeli incursion into Gaza last week killed over 100 Palestinians, many of whom were children shot by Israeli snipers. This is not the way to achieve piece in Israel and the surrounding territories but it is the way to keep the Israeli-Palestinian war going for the next 200 years.

We have seen the Bush doctrine also adopted by Alvaro Uribe and Colombianos. Instead of negotiating with FARC, the revolutionary group controlling much of Colombia's rural areas, Uribe wants to kill them all. Witness Colombia's illegal military foray into the jungles of Ecuador last week that killed some 18 FARC members while they slept, including four Mexican university students who were studying the revolutionary movement up close. This militaristic move by Uribe effectively killed the program of Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, to secure the release of FARC hostages, especially ailing Ingrid Betancourt, former candidate for presidency of Colombia. This action shows what Uribe and many Colombianos really want is the death of FARC members, and to hell with the release of the hostages. I condemn Uribe. This is not the way to solve Colombia's problems with FARC. It is the way that Bush and Cheney would take. Surely they encouraged Uribe to illegally cross into Ecuador and kill FARC members.