Former US presidents exposes injustice in Middle East

[Kulapavana]

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD vAlign=top>Published: December 17, 2006 Author: Jimmy Carter</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- Carter responds to flood of thoughtless criticism -->I signed a contract with Simon & Schuster two years ago to write a book about the Middle East, based on my personal observations as the Carter Center monitored three elections in Palestine and on my consultations with Israeli political leaders and peace activists.

 

We covered every Palestinian community in 1996, 2005 and 2006, when Yasser Arafat and later Mahmoud Abbas were elected president and members of Parliament were chosen. The elections were almost flawless, and turnout was very high — except in East Jerusalem, where, under severe Israeli restraints, only about 2 percent of registered voters managed to cast ballots.

 

The many controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace for Israel are intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations — but not in the United States. For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts. This reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is because of the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices.

 

It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel comply with international law or to speak in defense of justice or human rights for Palestinians. Very few would ever deign to visit the Palestinian cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Gaza City or even Bethlehem and talk to the beleaguered residents. What is even more difficult to comprehend is why the editorial pages of the major newspapers and magazines in the United States exercise similar self-restraint, quite contrary to private assessments expressed quite forcefully by their correspondents in the Holy Land.

 

With some degree of reluctance and some uncertainty about the reception my book would receive, I used maps, text and documents to describe the situation accurately and to analyze the only possible path to peace: Israelis and Palestinians living side by side within their own internationally recognized boundaries. These options are consistent with key U.N. resolutions supported by the United States and Israel, official American policy since 1967, agreements consummated by Israeli leaders and their governments in 1978 and 1993 (for which they earned Nobel Peace Prizes), the Arab League's offer to recognize Israel in 2002 and the International Quartet's "Roadmap for Peace," which has been accepted by the PLO and largely rejected by Israel.

 

The book is devoted to circumstances and events in Palestine and not in Israel, where democracy prevails and citizens live together and are legally guaranteed equal status.

 

Although I have spent only a week or so on a book tour so far, it is already possible to judge public and media reaction. Sales are brisk, and I have had interesting interviews on TV, including Larry King Live, Hardball, Meet the Press, The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, the Charlie Rose show, C-SPAN and others. But I have seen few news stories in major newspapers about what I have written.

 

Book reviews in the mainstream media have been written mostly by representatives of Jewish organizations who would be unlikely to visit the occupied territories, and their primary criticism is that the book is anti-Israel. Two members of Congress have been publicly critical. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for instance, issued a statement (before the book was published) saying that "he does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel." Some reviews posted on Amazon.com call me "anti-Semitic," and others accuse the book of "lies" and "distortions." A former Carter Center fellow has taken issue with it, and Alan Dershowitz called the book's title "indecent."

 

Out in the real world, however, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I've signed books in five stores, with more than 1,000 buyers at each site. I've had one negative remark - that I should be tried for treason - and one caller on C-SPAN said that I was an anti-Semite. My most troubling experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for free, about the book on university campuses with high Jewish enrollment and to answer questions from students and professors. I have been most encouraged by prominent Jewish citizens and members of Congress who have thanked me privately for presenting the facts and some new ideas.

 

The book describes the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank. An enormous imprisonment wall is now under construction, snaking through what is left of Palestine to encompass more and more land for Israeli settlers. In many ways, this is more oppressive than what blacks lived under in South Africa during apartheid. I have made it clear that the motivation is not racism but the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize choice sites in Palestine, and then to forcefully suppress any objections from the displaced citizens. Obviously, I condemn any acts of terrorism or violence against innocent civilians, and I present information about the terrible casualties on both sides.

 

The ultimate purpose of my book is to present facts about the Middle East that are largely unknown in America, to precipitate discussion and to help restart peace talks (now absent for six years) that can lead to permanent peace for Israel and its neighbors. Another hope is that Jews and other Americans who share this same goal might be motivated to express their views, even publicly, and perhaps in concert. I would be glad to help with that effort.

[suchandra]

 

Phantom Limb Pain

 

<center>As more and more U.S. vets come back from Iraq and Afghanistan with missing limbs, increasing attention is being paid to a puzzling phenomenon: Young soldiers feel agonizing pain in a part of their body that no longer exists</center>

 

 

 

<center>By Chris Woolston and Paige Bierma</center>

 

CONSUMER HEALTH INTERACTIVE

It was only a couple of weeks after Christian Bagge came home from the war in Iraq that the torment began. Lying in his hospital bed at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Bagge suddenly felt a crushing pain in his feet.

His feet, however, were not there. After the 23-year-old National Guard soldier's unit was hit by two bombs on an Iraqi road in June 2005, Bagge woke up in a military hospital in Germany with one leg amputated above the knee and the other below the knee.

It was when the Texas hospital began to wean Bagge off narcotics that the mysterious pain began. "It came on suddenly and feels like someone is smashing my toes with a hammer," says the Oregon-born youth.

What Bagge was experiencing is called phantom limb pain (PLP), a puzzling condition that's receiving increased attention as more and more U.S. vets come home from Iraq and Afghanistan with missing limbs.

A mysterious pain

As reported in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, almost all amputees feel at least some sensations in the missing limb. At first, the phantom limb feels intact, even movable. While a few lucky patients merely feel mild tingling or sensations of heat or cold, 60 to 80 percent of amputees suffer actual pain.

Phantom limb pain sometimes mimics the pain that afflicted the limb before it was amputated. In other cases, it creates new agony unlike anything a person has ever felt before. Some patients with the condition even feel as if the missing limb has been twisted or distorted into impossible positions. In Bagge's case, the pain was severe. "On the pain scale of one to 10, I'd say it was a six or a seven," he says. "But then again, my '10' is getting both of my legs blown off."

James Roper, M.D., is the chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he has worked with hundreds of amputees over the years. "The most common description of phantom pain is that it's like a severe cramping, as if someone's foot is being crushed in a vise," says Roper. "Other patients tell me it's like a red-hot, searing, burning, or a sharp shooting pain." Many times the brain seems to reproduce the pain the patient felt in that limb before it was amputated. "I'll have veterans tell me, 'It feels like when I first got shot,' " Roper says.

Phantom limb pain usually shows up within days of the amputation. However, some people first feel the pain years or even decades after losing a limb. One patient, described in a 1999 issue of the journal Pain, felt new pain in a lower leg that hadn't existed for 44 years. It's no wonder a 2004 report from the American Pain Foundation called the condition "one of the most mysterious forms of pain known in medicine."

But progress has been made. Not long ago, people with phantom limb pain were often told that they were either imagining things or going crazy. While many questions remain, there's no longer any doubt that phantom limb pain is a physical problem arising from the severed nerves that once connected the missing limb.

Here's a leading theory, as best researchers can explain it: The nerves remaining in the stump continue to send messages to the brain, and the brain scrambles to process the information. As explained by the American Pain Foundation, the brain has a hard time fathoming the loss of a limb, so it tries to re-create the limb using the nerve signals as a guide. For reasons that nobody understands, the brain often translates those signals into pain. It's as if the brain needs strong, impossible-to-ignore reassurance that the limb still exists.

"The experience of the pain is just as real as if the limb were still there," says Roper "But the truth is, there isn't a very good explanation yet as to exactly what causes it."

Zeroing in on treatment

At this time, there is no single treatment for phantom limb pain. Doctors typically have to sort through many different possibilities to find the best approach for each individual patient.

Christian Bagge and his doctors tried many different treatments, and most of them were not very effective, according to the Oregon native. "We tried tons of stuff: hot and cold baths, heating pads, self-massage, electrical nerve stimulation, and drugs," he says. "Some of the stuff that worked for other guys didn't work for me, and vice versa." While the hot and cold baths seemed to work and self-massage helped as well, Bagge says his worst pain usually came on at night. At that point, narcotic pain medications were his first choice.

Treatment can be extremely challenging, according to Roper. "We're a lot better off than we were after World War II," he says, noting that advances in research, better pain medications, and state-of-the-art prosthetics have greatly helped today's amputees. "But there is still much room for improvement."

According to reports from the American Pain Foundation, medications that calm nerves are a standard treatment. Options include anti-seizure drugs such as carbamazepine (Tegretol, Epitol) or tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline. Some painkillers, including opioids and lidocaine, may also be effective. Often it’s a trial and error process to find what works best, and there are several drugs within these categories of medication that can be combined for effective pain relief.

Medications can be combined with alternative pain-relieving therapies, including transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), acupuncture, or biofeedback. While these techniques haven't been thoroughly tested for how well they relieve phantom limb pain, a small 2005 study published in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback suggests that biofeedback can bring relief.

Besides pain-relieving therapies, overcoming phantom pain usually requires psychological treatment. Losing a limb, after all, is a traumatic and life-changing event for anyone, and patients need social support as they gradually return to their lives. According to Roper, patients have a better chance of success if they work with a team of specialists, including doctors, surgeons, psychologists, and physical and occupational therapists. Also crucial: well-fitted and functioning prosthetics.

"Based on my experience, the people who do the best in recovery seem to be the ones who have a whole team working with them and do everything they can to get active again," Roper says. "They're most likely to engage in the activities that are meaningful to them and provide them enjoyment in life. It's truly amazing what the human spirit can overcome."

Unfortunately, many amputees are still living with unnecessary pain. A 2006 study published in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that 53 percent of all patients with phantom limb pain -- 38 percent of them with severe pain -- hadn't received any treatment at all.

Long-term prognosis

Most phantom sensations, including pain, tend to become less vivid over time. Many patients say that it feels like the phantom limb gradually shrinks.

For Christian Bagge, the episodes have decreased in both intensity and frequency. Whereas they used to stop him in his tracks several times a day for 10 minutes at a time, now they come on mainly at night, and only a couple of times per week.

"I think I've just gotten used to it," says Bagge, who is now 24 and walks -- even runs -- on prosthetic legs. He still receives physical therapy at the Brooke Army Medical Center and takes mild pain relievers for his nighttime pain. "I have pain during the day, but it's manageable. When you're busy doing other things, you can forget it about it. But at night, when everything is quiet, that's when the pain dial gets turned up."

The day we spoke to Bagge was the day he had officially retired from the National Guard. He plans to go back to college, maybe even law school one day, and aims to return to his teenage (pre-military) vocation of playing drums in his brother's Christian rock band -- if, he says, he can get his prosthetic legs to keep the beat. For now, he and his wife are building a new house in San Antonio, and Bagge has been booked as a motivational speaker for several gigs around the country.

Asked why he thought his phantom pain had diminished, Bagge turns to his dreams. "My theory is that my brain has finally started to accept that my limbs are gone," says Bagge. "The military psychologist here -- you know, the one every guy who comes back from war has to go to -- says that when you start dreaming about your prosthetics is when your brain really accepts it."

"And now I've started to dream that I'm running, even flying, with these legs."

-- Chris Woolston, MS, and Paige Bierma, MA, are contributing editors at Consumer Health Interactive. Bierma has reported for Health+Safety, HealthLeaders, and other medical publications. Woolston has written for WebMD, Health, Hippocrates, and other health and science publications. He is the co-author of Generation Extra Large: Rescuing Our Children from the Obesity Epidemic (Perseus, 2004).

 

 

References

 

Interview with Christian Bagge, former Oregon National Guard member, Iraq war veteran, and amputee

 

Interview with James Roper, M.D., Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Alabama.

 

Nikolajsen, L. and T.S. Jensen. Phantom limb pain. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2006. 87(1): 107-116.

 

American Pain Foundation. Questions and answers: Phantom limb pain. February 2006. http://www.painfoundation.org/page.asp?file=QandA/Phantom.htm.

 

Cleveland Clinic Phantom Limb Pain. December 2006. http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/3600/3692.asp?index=12092&src=news

 

Rajbhandari, S.M. et al. Diabetic neuropathic pain in a leg amputed 44 years previously. Pain. 1999. 83: 627-629.

 

Hanley, M.A. et al. Self-reported treatments for lower-limb phantom pain: descriptive findings. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. February 2006. 87(2): 270-277.

 

Harden et al. Biofeedback in the treatment of phantom limb pain: a time-series analysis. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. March 2006. 30(1): 83-93.

 

<hr align="left" size="1" width="50%">

Reviewed by Michael Potter, MD, an attending physician and associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who is board-certified in family practice.

 

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[Bhakta Don Muntean]

Carter is a jack-ass who doesn't know the facts - or - he does and he's too stupid to see them for what they are...in a "convert or die" scenario - we know what his choice would be...

 

This democrat idiot has a history you know....

[Guest guest]

Every picture tells a story. Don't it?

[Guest guest]

The only prez that had a clue, and you call him a jack ass?

 

Bush lover, this dude has destroyed the US military, and you kiss his okole.

 

Carter had ideas that would have worked, if you nazis would not have subverted his plans with your criminal activity.

 

What a crock you come up with, carter created peace between egypt an israel, are you upset that such a thing got in your way? The camp david accords were obvious statesmanship, not demagogery that we see now where the criminal in the white house refuses to even consider any solution except the FINAL Solution.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

[...] carter created peace between egypt an israel[...]

 

Really 'carter' made peace?? There is one difference - the leader of Egypt was an honorble person and the leaders of Iran and Syria are not - what to speak of the leaders of Hamas - the leader of Egypt wasn't hate personified with an islamist agenda - Oh and what was the result of this - for the national leader of Egypt? As for the rest of your posting -

[Kulapavana]

 

Carter is a jack-ass who doesn't know the facts - or - he does and he's too stupid to see them for what they are...

 

as a president of USA Carter had access to more facts than you or me ever will. I admire his courage in facing the Jewish mob bent on lynching him in public for daring to speak the obvious truth about Israeli atrocities and their true intentions. That is why propaganda workers like you hate him with a passion.

[Guest guest]

he is honest as well.

 

The grave difference in carter and those who followed is truthfulness. The present fool is the most despicable liar, has nothing but evil motives behind every move he makes. He should be impeached and turned over to the Hague for prosecution for war crimes. His administration is full of those who actively engaged in high treason to destroy Carter.

 

I mean, BDM notes the demogogery of ahmadinajak, but he doesnt admit that rumsfeld propped him up. He refuses to admit that the students who held the hostages, led by the present leader of Iran, were encouraged to not give in to carter, that they should wait until their friendly reagan took office.

 

Oh well, carter had qualifications to lead, but the electorate are too easily manipulated by the theocrats.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

as a president of USA Carter had access to more facts than you or me ever will. I admire his courage in facing the Jewish mob bent on lynching him in public for daring to speak the obvious truth about Israeli atrocities and their true intentions. That is why propaganda workers like you hate him with a passion.

 

Now it's a "jewish mob" not the 'zionist mob' - yup yer an anti-semite and - not much of a devotee. I'll say it again - Carter is a jack-ass who is making a very big mistake.

[Kulapavana]

Investigation to be launched into racist article in ultra-orthodox magazine

Report, Adalah, 7 December 2006

 

In a letter received by Adalah on 23 November 2006, the State Prosecutor's Office in Israel announced that a criminal investigation for racial incitement into the publication of an article in Issue 160 of the ultra-orthodox Hassidic World magazine will be launched.

 

Adalah Attorney Abeer Baker sent a complaint to the Attorney General on 23 August 2006, demanding the opening of an immediate investigation on the grounds that that the article, written by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, contains racist statements and opinions which constitute incitement against Arabs in general and Muslims in particular.

 

The article, entitled "All Arabs' Intentions are Bad," states that Arabs are an inferior, imbecilic people full of hatred, that they are deceitful and hypocritical savages similar to donkeys and take delight in killing. The author also describes Arabs as more cruel than the Nazis, and writes that Christians are pigs and Muslims are camels because they live in the past, just as a camel chews over food many times.

--------------------

 

these types of behavior on BOTH sides only fuel the war and hatred. will you condemn ALL such hate mongering BDM?

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

these types of behavior on BOTH sides only fuel the war and hatred. will you condemn ALL such hate mongering BDM?

 

Well for the last five years that's what I've been doing - I have hundreds of postings here that are very critical of Israel and the U.S. on many points - you just choose to deny these postings - it's you who doesn't "condemn ALL such hate mongering" when you defend president psycho of Iran...along with all others of his islamist ilk.

[Guest guest]

 

Well for the last five years that's what I've been doing - I have hundreds of postings here that are very critical of Israel and the U.S. on many points - you just choose to deny these postings - it's you who doesn't "condemn ALL such hate mongering" when you defend president psycho of Iran...along with all others of his islamist ilk.

 

The nobel peace prize went to an Islamist this year for helping millions rise above their poverty.

They can't all be bad, surely!

It would certainly help if some of these western leaders and banks around the world took a leaf out of this Muhammod Yunus' book.

Just goes to show it's what part of an instruction one focuses on and follows that counts.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

The nobel peace prize went to an Islamist this year for helping millions rise above their poverty.

They can't all be bad, surely!

It would certainly help if some of these western leaders and banks around the world took a leaf out of this Muhammod Yunus' book.

Just goes to show it's what part of an instruction one focuses on and follows that counts.

Islamist and Islamic are two different terms - with two very different meanings - Islamists do not speak for mainstream Islam - that you cannot understand that - isn't my problem - it's your problem.

 

Quote:

 

It would certainly help if some of these western leaders and banks around the world took a leaf out of this Muhammod Yunus' book.

 

Reply:

 

Actually - it's the Islamist world which should learning the 'proper perspective' out of the example of the noted fellow...