by Bill Harrison

Much has been made in this year’s early presidential campaign of voter concerns about John McCain’s age as an alleged defect for his candidacy. These concerns are clearly indicated in polling on the matter but should they really serve as a cause for worry? History suggests they should not.

By all accounts Senator McCain’s health and energy levels are excellent notwithstanding the injuries he suffered as a result of his service to our country in Vietnam and his bout with skin cancer. And, of course, his genetics would suggest that he is likely to be long-lived if his lively 96 year old mother Roberta is any indicator. But let’s take a little stroll down history’s memory lane of the past century for some examples of “seasoned” leaders who proved crucial to their countries at times of great change and tumult.

Most famously we have the case of Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, born in 1874, who became British prime minister in May1940 having attained the age of 65 and would lead Britain through its “darkest hour” of the Blitz and World War II which ended shortly before his 70th birthday. Although turned out of office in favor of Labor’s Clement Atlee before war’s end, Churchill would be returned to the prime ministership in 1951 shortly before his 75th birthday. During this second prime ministership he successfully ended the Malay rebellion that had plagued the Atlee regime as the British Empire began to unravel.

Across the English Channel we have the examples of two of the greatest political figures of the twentieth century in continental Europe in the form of Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle. Adenauer, fondly (or not so fondly depending on one’s political perspective) referred to as “Der Alte”, became West Germany’s first postwar chancellor at the age of 73 and served in that capacity until leaving office at the age of 87. During this crucial period of German history Adenauer, in concert with De Gaulle, sponsored the German-French rapprochement that has continued to this day along with sponsoring the precursors of what was to become the EU and Germany’s entrance into NATO.

De Gaulle, of course, was a mere younster of 50 when he became head of the Free French forces following the fall of France in the spring of 1940 and the establishment of the collaborationist Vichy regime by the Nazis. Following the end of World War II and playing a brief role in the provisional French government that followed, de Gaulle retired from politics before being summoned to power and forming the Fifth French Republic in 1958 at the age of 68. During this time of crisis for France over independence for the former departement of Algeria, de Gaulle forever marked his greatness by standing up to the revanchist forces who opposed Algerian independence and such opposition was marked by no small threats upon his own life. He remained in power until 1969 and under his leadership France regained some of its former glory by setting forth something of an independent stance between East and West while at the same time standing foursquare behind the forces of liberal democracy against the threat of Soviet communism. If ever a political leader were named appropriately it would be de Gaulle.

Moving further along the timeline of the twentieth century we come to the figure of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir who took office shortly before her 71st birthday on March 17, 1969. Known as the “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics, before that sobriquet was applied to her British counterpart Margaret Thatcher, Mrs. Meir’s term of office was marked by her singlemindedness in hunting down and eliminating the Palestinian perpetrators of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 and by her stalwart leadership during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and the acceptance of a “two state” solution to the Palestinian question whose framework, no matter how tenuous, continues to this day. But it was her leadership before and during the Yom Kippur War which will mark her place in Israeli history. Against the advice of such firebrands as General David Elazar who urged a preemptive strike on massing Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, Meir resisted (wisely) along with Moshe Dayan knowing that Israel might need outside assistance if the Arabs attacked and that a preemptive strike no matter how warranted might jeopardize that support. As we all know, Israel prevailed in that war following the “surprise” attack by the armies of Egypt and Syria and the smashing of Egyptian forces finally resulted in what would later become the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty signed during the Carter administration which while hardly guaranteeing peace for the region has prevented another Arab-Israeli war during the past thirty years.

Our tour here ends with a man whose 90th birthday we will celebrate next month, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela of South Africa. Mr. Mandela, long held prisoner under South Africa’s apartheid regime, became president of that nation shortly before attaining his 76th birthday and who, with his deputy president the Afrikaaner F.W. de Klerk, ushered in a new era in the history of that rich and beautiful nation which stands today in stark contrast to the horror of its neighbor Zimbabwe under the ruthless oppression of Robert Mugabe. Under Mandela’s leadership South Africa started the process of racial reconciliation that continues to the present and the reintegration of that country into the international community.

In this silly season of presidential politics before the real game begins in late August, there’s little sillier than focusing on a candidate’s age.

“Imagine there’s no countries/it isn’t hard to do/nothing to kill or die for/and no religion too/imagine all the people/living life in peace.”
- John Lennon, Imagine

With the American Democratic Party’s formal consummation of its dalliance with the Fresh Prince of Thin Air, we had anticipated at least some airing of the lamentations of regret typically following such ill-advised intercourse. Hearing little to none, we are compelled to re-examine the cultural circumstances which make it possible for a farce such as this to come to pass.

Though much discussed, the Obama ascendancy still baffles: the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy has turned the keys over to a very junior Senator whose scant voting record is the furthest left of any in the Senate. Really? It has been called “the audacity of hope.” We call it merely, audacity; that strain of defiant, reckless, irresponsible audacity one expects from a sixteen year old, not from a national institution that – at one time anyway – was of significant weight and consequence.

(more…)

Hilarious and nauseating at once is mankind’s chronic inability to retain wisdom acquired at the cost of much blood, toil, tears, and sweat. This tragicomedy was played out for us in no uncertain terms upon our recent Stateside pilgrimage to one of the more forgotten shrines to the cause of Liberty: the Alamo.

Internationally acclaimed as our mastery of history is, we must admit our general ignorance heretofore of this brief but profound chapter in the American story. Upon being made aware, however, we were somewhat stunned (as so often we are) at the parrallels between then and now, and the lessons afforded those with eyes to see and ears to hear. (more…)

From 1922 through 1928 the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Palestine was relatively peaceful. However, in late 1928 a new phase of violence began with minor disputes between Jews and Arabs about the right of Jews to pray at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem.

These arguments led to an outbreak of Arab violence in August 1929 when Haj Amin al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem, fomented Arab hatred by accusing the Jews of endangering the mosques and other sites holy to Islam. Observers heard Husseini issue the call: Itback al-Yahud “Slaughter the Jews!”

On August 22, 1929 the leaders of the Yishuv met with the British Deputy High Commissioner to alert him of their fears of a large Arab riot. The British officials assured them that the government was in control of the situation. The following day the Riots of 1929 erupted throughout the Palestine Mandate, lasting for seven days.

On Friday, August 23, Arab mobs attacked Jews in Jerusalem, Motza, Hebron, Safed, Jaffa, and other parts of the country. The Old City of Jerusalem was hit particularly hard. By the next day, the Haganah was able to mount a defense and further attacks in Jerusalem were repulsed. But, the violence in Jerusalem generated rumors throughout the country, many carrying fabricated accounts of Jewish attempts to defile Muslim holy places, all to inflame the Arab residents. Villages were plundered and destroyed by Arab mobs. While attacks on Jews in Tel Aviv and Haifa were thwarted by Jewish defenses, there were Jewish deaths in Hebron, where 67 Jewish men and women were slaughtered and Safed, where 18 Jews were killed, as well as scattered other losses totaling 133 Jewish deaths, with more than 300 wounded.

The Arab violence in Hebron was one of the worst atrocities in the modern history of Israel. On the afternoon of Friday, August 23, 1929 Jerusalem Arabs came to Hebron with false reports of Jews murdering Arabs during the rioting there, even saying thousands of Arabs had been killed. Despite the fact that Jews and Arabs in Hebron had been on good terms, a mass of frenzied Arab rioters formed and proceeded to the Hebron Yeshiva where a lone student was murdered. The next day, the Jewish Sabbath, the killing continued as an Arab mob of hundreds surrounded homes where Jews sought refuge, broke in and murdered scores of Jews in a bloody rampage.

The dead Jews that day included Eliezer Dan Slonim, a man highly esteemed by the Arabs. He was the director of the local English-Palestine bank whose many clients were Arabs, and was the sole Jewish member of the Hebron Municipal Council. He had many friends among the Arab elders, who had promised to protect him. Twenty-two people died in Slonim’s house that day including his wife and two young children.

By the end of the riot, during which the British police did nothing to protect the Jews or stop the violence, sixty-seven Jews were dead and hundreds wounded. The survivors were isolated in a police station for three days while the Arabs rampaged through their houses, stealing and destroying Jewish property, unmolested by the British authorities. At the end of the three days the Jews were sent to Jerusalem, exiled from their homes for the crime of being a victim of the Arab riot. Hebron’s ancient Jewish quarter was empty and destroyed. For the next 39 years no Jew lived in Hebron, not until after it was liberated by the Israeli military during the Six Day War in 1967.

The British Colonial Secretary, Lord Passfield, announced the formation of a Commission of Inquiry, which began its investigation of the riots in September 1929. (see Shaw Commission of Inquiry) A British expert was engaged to study the matter (the Hope-Simpson Report), and a new policy whitepaper was issued by Lord Passfield (the 1930 White Paper)

~from PalestineFacts.org

The Secret History of the CIA by Joseph J. Trento

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Prima Lifestyles; 1st edition (October 23, 2001)
• ISBN: 978-0761525622

The Secret History of the CIA by Joseph J Trento is a revealing look at the origin of the Central Intelligence Agency, and its evolution over the years. Joseph J Trento presents the CIA as an organization full of corruption, self-serving bureaucracy, and an almost cultural denial of the facts.

The picture Trento paints of the CIA is a bleak one. After World War II, the CIA was formed almost behind the back of President Truman, as former intelligence agents from World War II continued their covert operations without the government’s permission. Truman eventually relented and the CIA was born as an official government agency.

Almost from the beginning, the Soviets penetrated the CIA, operating as double agents and spies for decades, through the Cold War and beyond. The CIA itself is presented as almost incapable of recruiting their own agents–those they do recruit are almost universally revealed as double agents working for one arm of the Soviet government or another.

The most fascinating parts of the book, however, are the revelations about the CIA’s recruitment of Nazi war criminals after the end of WWII; the disturbing facts surrounding the Kennedy brothers (who Lyndon B. Johnson dubbed Murder Inc.) as well as the Soviet-sponsored assassination of J.F.K. which was certainly an eye-opener for me. I won’t give away too much, here. Suffice to say, it is a tale of Byzantine complexity, involving the Soviet coup against Khrushchev; the failed CIA assassination attempts ordered by J.F.K and his brother against Fidel Castro; and one Lee Harvey Oswald of questionable loyalties and even more questionable history.

After reading this section of the book, you will never be able to watch another Oliver Stone movie again–his butchering of the J.F.K. assassination is laughable at best.

Trento follows the secret documents of the CIA and KGB up to near-present days, chronicling the failures of various individuals within the ranks of the CIA, as well as the organization itself.

It is a highly captivating read–and while one should never accept the opinions or biases of one historian, or one history, it is as informative a glimpse at our Nation’s intelligence fiascos as any I have read. It is a complicated narrative, with a vast cast of historical figures, whose loyalties are never black and white, and whose qualities are more often than not their fatal flaws as well. This dynamism gives the book a depth rarely found even in fiction.

I highly recommend the book to anyone with some time to spare, and curiosity to match. You won’t regret the hours spent, or the sleep lost, reading it to the very end.

The Secret History of the CIA can be purchased at Amazon.com