The reason journalists were so cynical in 1967 is that they had been shocked in 1963 by the conflict in Vietnam. That was the year a Buddhist monk brought down the President of South Vietnam by immolating himself, and made Americans aware of Vietnam. Of course this was followed by the assassination of JFK. Television had recently become the dominant media in the US, and the control of television was evolving. So there was TMI for journalists to accept the Official Story. In fact, less than a year later during the Tet Offensive, Cronkite called US involvement in Vietnam a quagmire, and LBJ decided to not run for reelection.
Israel benefited from the tumult of 1968, and the Six Day War became a feather in Israel's cap. Of course that led to the Yom Kippur War, and Meir's threat to nuke the Soviet Union, followed by the OPEC oil embargo. Given the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian Revolution, the US came to depend on Israel, and vice versa. This has led Israel to where it is today; which is to say, Israel is a US problem.
Speaking of US problems, compare the USS Liberty to the USS Pueblo; it demonstrates that the US doesn't need Israel to screw up a mission.
The reason journalists were so cynical in 1967 is that they had been shocked in 1963 by the conflict in Vietnam. That was the year a Buddhist monk brought down the President of South Vietnam by immolating himself, and made Americans aware of Vietnam. Of course this was followed by the assassination of JFK. Television had recently become the dominant media in the US, and the control of television was evolving. So there was TMI for journalists to accept the Official Story. In fact, less than a year later during the Tet Offensive, Cronkite called US involvement in Vietnam a quagmire, and LBJ decided to not run for reelection.
Israel benefited from the tumult of 1968, and the Six Day War became a feather in Israel's cap. Of course that led to the Yom Kippur War, and Meir's threat to nuke the Soviet Union, followed by the OPEC oil embargo. Given the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian Revolution, the US came to depend on Israel, and vice versa. This has led Israel to where it is today; which is to say, Israel is a US problem.
Speaking of US problems, compare the USS Liberty to the USS Pueblo; it demonstrates that the US doesn't need Israel to screw up a mission.
Well said.
No Mask Left to Wear
Israel really is as evil as it looks—
no metaphor, no hidden hand,
just the weight of the boot,
the math of the dead,
the children who wake to no breakfast
and sleep to the sound of the bombs.
No myth of safety, no righteous war,
just the geometry of prisons,
the calculus of borders,
the slow erasure of a people
written in laws and bullets.
The world watches, debates,
turns its face like a coward—
calls it "conflict," not conquest,
"defense," not destruction.
But the blood remembers.
The land remembers.
No lie lives forever.
No armor stays unbroken.
What is built on bones
will tremble.