The US inches ever closer to attacking Iran

Monday, July 31, 2006

News for 07-30-06

07-30-06 - Israeli air strike kills 54 civilians An Israeli air strike killed 54 civilians, including 37 children, on Sunday, prompting Lebanon to tell U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice she was unwelcome in Beirut and fuelling world pressure for a ceasefire.


07-30-06 - Israel suspends bombing after deadly Lebanon raid The announcement of the suspension of air strikes was made after Rice held talks throughout Sunday with Israeli leaders Condi knows how to lay down the law with Israel. The problem is, she rarely does.


07-30-06 - Lebanese children bear scars of Israel's high-tech firepower "I found a nine-month-old boy called Yussef Nisr wrapped in blankets in the rubble. I carried him outside toward the ambulance. And when I unwrapped him his body suddenly turned black from the contact with oxygen."


07-30-06 - Annan tells UN Council to demand Mideast truce But a dispute continued over paragraphs calling for the "immediate suspension of offensive actions from both sides" and the "immediate cessation of hostilities," which the United States opposes


07-30-06 - A rescuer carries the body of a toddler victim of an Israeli air raid on Qana


07-30-06 - Iran's Ahmadinejad signals hardening of nuclear stance Iran's president signaled that Israeli attacks against the Palestinian territories and Lebanon were causing Iran to harden its stance in the international row over its nuclear programme.


07-30-06 - "Killing people is like squashing an ant:" former US soldier


07-30-06 - Iran fails in bid to divide world powers: US official


07-30-06 - 'They found them huddled together' It was an unremarkable three-storey building on the edge of town. But for two extended families, the Shalhoubs and the Hashems, it was a last refuge.


07-30-06 - Bush submits new terror detainee bill U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill. U.S. citizens, folks.


07-30-06 - A Red Cross member carries a body after an Israeli air raid in Qana


07-30-06 - A civil defense worker carries the body of Lebanese child recovered from the rubble of a demolished building that was struck by Israeli war plane missiles 3


07-30-06 - Civil Defence workers carry a blanket with the bodies of two children recovered from under the rubble of a demolished building that was struck by Israeli war plane missiles 2


07-30-06 - Lebanese Red Cross volunteers carry a stretcher with the bodies of two children recovered under the rubble of a demolished building that was struck by Israeli war plane missiles


07-30-06 - A civil defense worker carries a body of a young Lebanese child recovered from the rubble of a demolished building that was struck by Israeli war plane missiles


07-30-06 - Iran agency retracts story on Israel revenge call Iran's conservative Fars news agency on Sunday quoted the head of the Revolutionary Guards as telling his troops to prepare for revenge on Israel, but later withdrew the story.


07-30-06 - US urges restraint after Qana But I bet our government won't be canceling any jet fuel or bomb shipments to Israel. It's what happens when a government is under the influence.


07-30-06 - Iran forces urged to prepare to hit Israel


07-30-06 - Slaughter at Qana: Just Arabs, Never Mind In other words, if the Lebanese are so stupid as to remain in their country, or they have no means of escape, unlike the upper classes and elite, they deserve to be killed. After all, they are only Arabs, hardly worth a fingernail.


07-30-06 - An Israeli soldier writes messages for the recipients of these shells


07-30-06 - State Department hid costs of Iraqi projects: paper


07-30-06 - AAI Condemns Israeli Attack on Qana; Criticizes Bush Administration's Tacit Green Light to Israel "Today's attack on Qana, which took the lives of 57 civilians, including 37 children, was tragically not unexpected," said AAI President James Zogby. "Not unlike a similar 1996 attack on Qana, massive and indiscriminate attacks on the south of Lebanon are bound to result in such massacres."


07-30-06 - Lebanon's PM thanks Hizbollah Israel has managed to unite the Arab world - against them. This is why she will never know peace. The lives of Arab children DO matter, contrary to what most Israelis evidently believe.


07-30-06 - Kuwait to give Lebanon 800 million dollar aid package


07-30-06 - U.N. council: 'Shock' over Lebanon deaths But the presidential statement, adopted unanimously by the 15-member council in an emergency session, stopped short of condemning the Israeli airstrike Sunday....U.S. Ambassador John Bolton opposed any condemnation of the attack. John Bolton does not advocate the best interests of the American people. He is a shill for Israel and should step down.


07-30-06 - Blair hardens line on Israel after cabinet criticism Downing Street slapped down the former foreign secretary Jack Straw, who at the weekend condemned Israeli action as disproportionate and likely to undermine support across the Middle East.


07-30-06 - Where Are The Suicide Bombers? "The big problem that Israel has got right now is that its behavior is generating the next generation of suicide bombers," said Robert Pape, the author of "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism."


07-30-06 - Protests follow deadly Israeli air strike


07-30-06 - Air raid hits Syria border One person was wounded when three missiles slammed into the last customs building at the crossing point, digging craters in the middle of the road, they said.
The passageway was closed by the strike.




07-30-06 - Hezbollah vows to punish Israel Hezbollah warned on Sunday it would punish Israel for the deaths of at least 51 civilians in Israeli air raids on the village of Qana, saying the Jewish state had to accept the consequences of its "massacre".


07-30-06 - Irish refused bombs sent to Prestwick airport


07-30-06 - The "Human Shield" LIE Exposed they engage in a twisted racist and depraved cost/benefit analysis wherein they choose to KILL HUNDREDS of innocent Arab civilians by using overwhelming arial force rather than risk dozens of Israeli military lives.



07-30-06 - How can 'terrorism' be condemned while war crimes go without rebuke?


07-30-06 - Not welcome in Lebanon, Rice heads home Monday Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said he did not want her to come to his country for planned meetings on Sunday, saying that after Israel's air strike, he could not hold any talks on resolving the crisis before an immediate ceasefire.


07-30-06 - Fresh ground assault on Hizbullah villages


07-30-06 - Reporters describe carnage at Qana The BBC's Jim Muir said that for some of the rescuers, experienced as they were, the emotional impact of finding so many dead children in the ruins was too much.


07-30-06 - Lebanese hold a candlelit vigil in memory of at least 56 people - more than half of then children - who were killed Sunday


07-30-06 - Caracas threatens oil cut in case of US aggression


07-30-06 - Global outrage greets Israel 'war crime' in Qana Israel's air strike on the Lebanese village of Qana sparked global outrage, with the UN Security Council deploring the deaths and Arab and Muslim leaders and thousands of livid protesters in the Middle East branding the assault a war crime


07-30-06 - CAIR Demands End to Israeli 'Terror' After 57 Civilians Killed


07-30-06 - US 'arms' flights, headed for Israel, avoid Scottish airport We are giving Israel the bombs to kill Lebanese children. Hey, I bet they only 'hate us for our freedom'.


07-30-06 - Jordan sends aid convoy to Palestinians I really don't understand why EVERYONE ELSE but Israel has to pay for the damage that Israel has done to both Lebanon and Palestine? They are never held accountable for their actions and this reinforces their belief that they are above the law.


07-30-06 - Analysis: A second Qana Massacre? a UN investigation reported in May 1996 that the deaths at the Qana base were unlikely to have been the result of an accident as claimed by the Israelis.


07-30-06 - Israeli-Canadian professor accused of spying released


07-30-06 - India expresses outrage over Israel's 'continued irresponsibility' Expressing deep condolences to Lebanese government and the people over the tragic incident, New Delhi condemned Israel's "continued irresponsible and indiscriminate bombing of Lebanon and ignoring calls for restraint".




07-30-06 - The 'logic' of Israel-apologists


07-30-06 - Seattle gunman angry over Iraq, Israel policy


07-30-06 - Down the Memory Hole - Israeli contribution to conflict is forgotten by leading papers


07-30-06 - Iran stops students travelling to join Hezbollah


07-30-06 - In Congress, concern over Lebanon threatens to overshadow terrorism bill The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which pushed both bills strongly, said the main thing now was passage of one or the other. Aren't you glad that AIPAC speaks for us hard-working taxpaying American citizens? Because that's who Congress bows down to. Not us.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

The 'logic' of Israel-apologists

Israel-apologists say that Israel is not at fault for any of the civilian deaths it has caused when it bombs residential areas.

They say that it is Hezbollah's fault for 'hiding among civilians'.

This is their 'logic'.

Let's use their 'logic' and apply it to the other side of the equation, as appalling as that may be.

How many Israelis are in the IDF? What percentage of the population? Israelis are conscripted into the army, in other words, drafted. So, 1/3 of the population is in the IDF.

Do those IDF ALWAYS wear their uniform? Of course not.

So, this 'citizen army' mingles with the civilians, yes?

When Hezbollah fires rockets into Israel and kills Israeli civilians, then according to the 'logic' of Israel-supporters, it's the IDF's fault for 'hiding amongst the civilians'.

To even suggest such a thing would have the Israel-apologists all up in arms, yet, they use this same 'logic' to excuse Israel of its killing of civilians.

News for 07-29-06

07-29-06 - State radio: Iran to reject U.N. proposal "Ultimatum and deadline cannot be acceptable to us," the commentary said, accusing the United States and its allies of making what it called an illegal demand by the United States, France, Germany and Britain.


07-29-06 - Mother and her six children killed in Israeli Lebanon raid The seven members of the Kharakeh family were crushed to death along with another man under the rubble of their two-storey house which was destroyed in the Israeli raid close to the town of Nabatiyeh in central Lebanon....Six civilians were also killed in an Israeli air raid on four houses in the border village of Ain Arab in southeast Lebanon....rescue workers say dozens more civilians, including a large number of children, are still buried underneath the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli air strikes around Tyre


07-29-06 - Israel rejects U.N. request for cease-fire Israel on Saturday rejected a request by the U.N. for a three-day cease-fire in Lebanon to deliver humanitarian supplies and allow civilians to leave the war zone.


07-29-06 - Israel won't ask Hizbollah to disarm Israel will not demand the immediate disarming of Hizbollah as part of a deal to end the fighting in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official said on Saturday.


07-29-06 - Lebanon oil slick 'worst environmental disaster' in Med The Mediterranean is threatened by its worst ever environmental disaster after Israel's bombing of a power plant in Lebanon sent thousands of tonnes of fuel gushing into the sea, the environment minister charged.


07-29-06 - Nasrallah says Rice mission to serve Israel Hizbollah's leader said on Saturday that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice aimed to impose conditions on Lebanon and serve Israeli interests in her mission to end war between his group and Israel


07-29-06 - 2 Indian UN peacekeepers wounded in southern Lebanon Two UN peackeepers from India were wounded Saturday in an Israeli airstrike near their border post in southern Lebanon.


07-29-06 - Venezuela's Chavez brings anti-imperialism message to Iran


07-29-06 - Hizbollah demands halt to "aggression" "They send the Israelis smart bombs and they send us blankets. If it was up to me, I wouldn't let this ship dock here. I would dump this stuff in the sea," said a Lebanese soldier watching U.S. relief goods being unloaded in Beirut.


07-29-06 - Israel not looking for Syria fight, but still getting ready


07-29-06 - Israeli paratroops learn to respect Hezbollah fighters "Yesterday afternoon after lunchtime they started attacking. It's suicidal -- they run towards the entrance of the house (containing Israeli troops) and other people shoot at the house. They try to run in and drag them (Israelis) out," said Jonathan.


07-29-06 - Israel-bound US arms flights set to land in Britain


07-29-06 - Unarmed in the Crossfire U.N. troops in southern Lebanon are literally and figuratively trapped between the two sides.


07-29-06 - ANALYSIS: U.S. not talking to its enemies Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., suggested U.S. support for Israel was coming at the expense of U.S. relations with Muslims and Arabs.


07-29-06 - First seaborne delivery of US aid arrives in Lebanon


07-29-06 - Protests in European capitals against Israeli assault in Lebanon Thousands of people demonstrated in Berlin, Bern and Paris, brandishing placards and shouting anti-Israeli slogans in protest at its offensive in Lebanon.


07-29-06 - Humanitarian aid piles up in Beirut No aid trucks have been hit, but artillery shells fell within hundreds of yards of convoys from the international Red Cross That is an outright lie by the Associated Press. Israel also managed to hit this IRC ambulance BULLSEYE on the cross.


07-29-06 - The Lies Israel Tells Itself (and We Tell on Its Behalf)


07-29-06 - Lebanon water shortage will threaten lives-U.N.


07-29-06 - Let it again be said: Not all Jews support Israel's policies


07-29-06 - Cabinet in open revolt over Blair's Israel policy


07-29-06 - Palestinian camps safe for Lebanese refugees 'We are one nation with the same plight ... and our plight is caused by the Israelis,'


07-29-06 - Lebanon part of 'war on terror', says Bush


07-29-06 - Mid-East crisis could push oil to $125


07-29-06 - Israel raid closes key crossing An Israeli air strike has closed the main border crossing from Lebanon into Syria, witnesses and officials say.


07-29-06 - Two women, divided by war, united in fear


07-29-06 - My journey on the highway of fear with families who lost everything


07-29-06 - Lebanese in US worry over safety of kin in border village


07-29-06 - Israelis withdraw from Hizbollah border stronghold Footage has also emerged of the increasingly widespread use of cluster munitions in areas with civilian inhabitants. Concern has been further heightened by the delivery to Israel by the US of at least 100 GBU-28 'bunker-buster' bombs containing depleted uranium warheads for use against targets in Lebanon.


07-29-06 - Bush renews call for multinational force for Lebanon


07-29-06 - Lebanese victims of Israeli raids buried with no tears "There are no relatives. Virtually all of them have not been claimed by their families because of the attacks,"


07-29-06 - Blasts in Baghdad as US faces stiffer Shiite resistance Bomb blasts echoed around Baghdad as sectarian death squads pursued their bloody work and the US military warned it was facing stiffer opposition in previously cooperative Shiite areas. Because of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict?


07-29-06 - Lebanese president gives full backing to Hezbollah Lahoud said he believed the UN strike was a deliberate attack, a response to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's plea two days earlier for Israel to exercise restraint.


07-29-06 - Syria denounces call for international Lebanon force "The international force proposed by (US Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice... will occupy southern Lebanon and it, instead of Israel, will be charged with eradicating the Lebanese national resistance,"


07-29-06 - AIPAC's Hold AIPAC continues to enjoy deep bipartisan backing inside Congress even after two top AIPAC officials were indicted a year ago for allegedly accepting and passing on confidential national security secrets from a Defense Department analyst


07-29-06 - Another theft at Defence HQ A large chunk of highly confidential defence data on foreign navies, particularly Israel, new-found nuclear ally USA and neighbour Pakistan, was allegedly leaked to fellow conspirators abroad by sacked IAF officer S L Surve that compromised the country's counter-plans meant for the next 20 years.


07-29-06 - Canadians protest PM's stance on Mideast crisis


07-29-06 - CAIR Condemns Attack on Seattle Jewish Center


07-29-06 - Antiwar Candidate Backs Israeli Strikes The anti-Iraq War challenger in Connecticut's upcoming Democratic primary has issued strong statements backing Israel's military operations in Lebanon, but his campaign boosters are being painted as anti-Israel by supporters of Senator Joseph Lieberman.


07-29-06 - Hagel Decries U.S. 'Crisis Diplomacy' in Mideast Hagel's views on the Middle East are not in keeping with those of many other members of Congress or the Bush administration Yeh. It looks like he is speaking up for American interests, not those of AIPAC.

Israel kills 34 kids in Qana, Lebanon

34 youths among 56 dead in Israeli strike

By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago



QANA, Lebanon - Israeli missiles hit several buildings in a southern Lebanon village as people slept Sunday, killing at least 56, most of them children, in the deadliest attack in 19 days of fighting.



Source

Saturday, July 29, 2006

News for 07-28-06

07-28-06 - Security Council reaches accord on Iran Because of Russian and Chinese demands, the text is weaker than earlier drafts, which would have made the threat of sanctions immediate. The draft now essentially requires the council to hold further discussions before it considers sanctions.


07-28-06 - Hezbollah politicians back peace package European Union officials said Friday the proposals form a basis for an agreement, increasing the pressure on the United States to call for a cease-fire


07-28-06 - A woman injured in an Israeli attack, Muntaha Shaito, 38, cries after hearing that her mother's dead body was still inside a van in the road since the attack


07-28-06 - Nour lost her sister and mother during an Israeli warplane strike on her house


07-28-06 - Palestinians at the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp, near the southern coastal city of Saida, distribute aid to people who fled border villages in south Lebanon These people have very little, but they give all that they can because they know what it is like to be refugees. They even gave to Americans who became refugees because of Hurricane Katrina.


07-28-06 - Iran again insists no arms, money for Hezbollah Asefi, however, said the real issue was "why the United States backs this Zionist regime and its crimes of killing young and old innocent people."


07-28-06 - UN calls for humanitarian truce The UN humanitarian chief has called for a 72-hour truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow aid into southern Lebanon and casualties to be removed.


07-28-06 - LEBANON-SYRIA: Palestinians still stranded on Syrian-Lebanese border


07-28-06 - Israeli bombs kill 13 in Lebanon Warplanes repeatedly bombed hill villages near the southern port of Tyre and hundreds of artillery rounds crashed across the border from Israel, killing 10 people, including a Jordanian. Three people died in air strikes in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanese security sources said.



07-28-06 - China approves five-billion-dollar petrochemical venture with Kuwait


07-28-06 - Situation for civilians in southern Lebanon unacceptable: ICRC The International Committee for Red Cross has condemned the situation of thousands of people trapped by war in south Lebanon as unacceptable and said Israel must do more to spare civilians.


07-28-06 - Israel backed by army of cyber-soldiers Israel?s Foreign Ministry must avoid direct involvement with the campaign but is in contact with international Jewish and evangelical Christian groups, distributing internet information packs. Propaganda alert, folks.


07-28-06 - Hezbollah rocket hits Israeli hospital


07-28-06 - US earmarks 10 million dollars for Lebanese army


07-28-06 - Former Canadian professor is not a Hezbollah spy, says son Falah said Israeli officials accused his father of taking photos of Israeli military installations for Hezbollah, adding that there was "supposedly a military antenna" in one of the shots. He has not been charged.


07-28-06 - US 'outrage' over Israeli claims The US state department has dismissed as "outrageous" a suggestion by Israel that it has been authorised by the world to continue bombing Lebanon.


07-28-06 - Former US secretary of state urges ceasefire talks Christopher further warned that as the underdog in the continuing strife, Hezbollah "continues burnishing its reputation within the Arab world," while every day the US supports further Israeli violence "our already tattered reputation sinks even lower."


07-28-06 - Bush apologizes to Blair over bombs sent to Israel


07-28-06 - Mother, Children Escape Lebanon


07-28-06 - Guns in the Closet At home in a town in southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah fighter waits to be called to action.


07-28-06 - Lebanese want protection from Israel


07-28-06 - Oxfam blasts 'hand-wringing' Bush-Blair Mideast talks


07-28-06 - Israel's Vietnam syndrome by Patrick J. Buchanan Then there is the danger the Shia of Iraq will, in solidarity with their co-religionists in Lebanon, turn on the Americans for the blank check Bush gave the Israeli Air Force to work its will in Lebanon.


07-28-06 - In Israel's sights, Lebanon truckers face death In Lebanon, everyone's guilty, according to Israel.


07-28-06 - Israel to deploy Patriot missiles near Tel Aviv


07-28-06 - Israel Charged with Systematic Harassment of U.S. Marines General R.H. Barrow charged that Israeli troops were deliberately threatening the lives of Marines serving as peacekeepers in Lebanon. There was, he wrote, a systematic pattern of harassment by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that was resulting in "life-threatening situations, replete with verbal degradation of the officers, their uniform and country."



07-28-06 - War freezes judicial work, including Hariri probe


07-28-06 - Syrians see spirit of warrior Saladin in Hezbollah leader


07-28-06 - One dead, 5 hurt in Seattle Jewish centre shooting Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Vice President Amy Wasser-Simpson told the Seattle Times in a story on its Web site that a man got through security at the building and shouted, "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel," then began shooting. Why would this guy feel the need to say such a thing, particularly the first part?


07-28-06 - Washington risks a wider conflict While previous administrations, despite commitment to the strategic alliance with Israel, kept at least some distance in earlier crises, the US under George W Bush immediately adopted Israel's primary war aim. ....There are signs of a rapprochement between radical Sunni and Shia factions which could rebound massively on the US


07-28-06 - Iran's the war culprit, says Bush


07-28-06 - Lebanese set aside differences to help


07-28-06 - Aussie veto stopped US war crimes In one instance, Major General McNarn vetoed a US plan to drop a range of huge non-precision bombs on Baghdad, causing one angry US Air Force general to call the Australian a "pencil dick".


07-28-06 - Krauthammer?s "Morality" Most folks, when they start defending Israel's every bad deed, lose their moral compass pretty quickly. Always remember, not all Jews support Israel's behavior.


07-28-06 - The "hiding among civilians" myth So the analysts talking on cable news about Hezbollah "hiding within the civilian population" clearly have spent little time if any in the south Lebanon war zone and don't know what they're talking about. Hezbollah doesn't trust the civilian population and has worked very hard to evacuate as much of it as possible from the battlefield.


07-28-06 - Israelis continue to back strong military response Israel Defense Forces First Sergeant Rafael Ezra has little sympathy for civilians killed by Israeli attacks. "I think they need to choose better where they live." Generations of people who have been raised to believe that they are above the law. And why shouldn't they? Has Israel ever abided by international law? Who has repeatedly blocked any punitive action as a result? This has only reinforced this notion of supremacy. And it has rubbed off on our government.


07-28-06 - Lebanon: Are the Yanks Coming?


07-28-06 - DFAT unable to warn convoy of danger The DFAT spokesman says the Department understands that a German journalist travelling in the convoy "had been in regular contact with the IDF".


07-28-06 - UN observers leave Israel-Lebanon border


07-28-06 - On a Red Cross mission of mercy when Israeli air force came calling They have already attacked two Lebanese Red Cross ambulances in Qana, killing two of the three wounded patients inside and injuring all the crew - a clear and apparently deliberate breach of Chapter IV, Article 24 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions


07-28-06 - Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah The Saudis were putting the West on notice that they would not exert pressure on anyone in the Arab world until Washington did something to halt the destruction of Lebanon, Saudi commentators said


07-28-06 - Anger in India over Israeli war on Lebanon Irrespective of their religion, Indians are reacting with fury after seeing on television the near-total destruction of southern Lebanon that had rebuilt itself after decades of civil war.


07-28-06 - Straw slams Israel's use of 'disproportionate' violence Mr Straw said Mr Howells was right to tell the Israelis: "If you want to go for Hezbeollah, go for Hezbollah, don't go for the whole Lebanese nation."


07-28-06 - Bush aims for rapid Lebanon force


07-28-06 - Made in the UK, bringing devastation to Lebanon - the British parts in Israel's deadly attack helicopters


07-28-06 - Bush and Blair lay out Lebanon plan but warn Tehran


07-28-06 - As the shells fall around them, Hizbullah men await the Israelis


07-28-06 - Orthodox Jews participate in an anti-Israel rally in front of the Israeli consulate


07-28-06 - A fishing harbour in Byblos, north of Beirut, is covered with oil


07-28-06 - Lebanese refugees, who fled their homes due to the Israeli offensive, sleep in a public park turned into a shelter for displaced people in Beirut


07-28-06 - Congress to E.U.: List Hezbollah as terrorist The letter to Javier Solana, the top E.U. foreign official, was dated July 29 and initiated by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.).


07-28-06 - U.S. plans $4.6 billion in Mideast arms sales An equal opportunity arms dealer, we are.


07-28-06 - Russia's list of terrorist organizations does not include Hamas or Hezbollah The Russian Federal Security Service's top official in charge of fighting international terrorism, Yuri Sapunov, said Hamas and Hezbollah were not a major threat to Russia and were not regarded as terrorist groups worldwide.


07-28-06 - Israel's actions might provoke a revolt of Iraqi Shiites


07-28-06 - Mideast conflict blamed for rise in anti-Semitic incidents Katz is skeptical that anti-Semitism is on the rise, saying comments against the actions of Israel could be interpreted as anti-Semitic. "If you criticize the state of Israel, you will be referred to as being anti-Semitic," said Katz.



07-28-06 - 100,000 Whiners for War Crimes


07-28-06 - Support sagging for Canada's Conservatives: poll "It's reasonable to speculate that some of the softening of Conservative support, at least in Quebec, may be linked to Canada's alignment with the U.S. foreign policy (on Israel), coupled with major investments in military capabilities," he said.


07-28-06 - Israel has a long history of abusing the United Nations

Friday, July 28, 2006

Website down - again

I'm not sure why, but my website is down again. Last weekend it was down until Monday morning. Looks like that will be the case this weekend too. It could be the work of hoodlums, or it could be crappy webhosting service. Who knows. I'm getting 404 errors but then I'm locked out of the ftp.

Anyway, I have three back-ups: this blog, a group on Google News, and a blog on Yahoo.

News for 07-27-06

07-27-06 - US sanctions two India firms for transfers to Iran


07-27-06 - Major powers come closer to Iran resolution: diplomats


07-27-06 - House report criticizes US intelligence on threats


07-27-06 - Canadian wife of UN observer bombed in Lebanon blames Israel "The building was clearly marked. Their vehicles are clearly marked. They are clearly marked as UN. So why were they firing on that base ... Why did they bomb the UN site?"


07-27-06 - Lebanon to sue Israel for "barbaric destruction" - PM Israel already beat them to the punch.


07-27-06 - Pentagon denies bomb-carrying flights broke rules in Britain The Pentagon denied that chartered flights carrying bunker-busting bombs to Israel through British airports violated procedures.


07-27-06 - Israel calling up 30,000 reserve soldiers Asked whether entire villages should be flattened, he said: "These places are not villages. They are military bases in which Hezbollah people are hiding and from which they are operating." Thousands of civilians are believed trapped in the border villages, according to humanitarian officials. International Red Cross spokesman Hisham Hassan said their teams that have visited border villages under heavy bombardment, have found families hiding in schools, mosques and churches, or huddled together in homes they hope will withstand the barrage



07-27-06 - Israeli Justice Minister: IDF Entitled to Kill Everyone in South Lebanon Bush again embraced Israel's effort in Lebanon today - even after the Justice Minister's comments.



07-27-06 - US blocks Security Council move to condemn Israeli attack on UN post The United States blocked the U.N. Security Council from issuing a statement that would have condemned Israel's bombing of a U.N. post on the Lebanon border, in which four military observers were killed.


07-27-06 - New Intelligence Pinpoints Iranian Regime Explosives Factories: Tehran's Technology Fuels Iraqi Insurgency BS alert. I've never seen anyone with this kind of information feel the need to take out a PR alert on it, unless of course it was BS.


07-27-06 - Health minister says 600 civilians killed in Israeli offensive on Lebanon Up to 600 civilians are believed to have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, with 382 confirmed dead and the rest either known to be buried under the rubble of buildings or missing, the health minister told The Associated Press on Thursday.


07-27-06 - Oil spill adds to Lebanon's agony Along Lebanon's sandy beaches and rocky headlands runs a belt of black sludge, 10,000 to 30,000 tonnes of oil that spilled into the Mediterranean after Israel bombed a power plant...."We have never seen a spill like this in the history of Lebanon. It is a major catastrophe,"


07-27-06 - Iran remains a 'grave' world threat: Bolton


07-27-06 - Iran says won't cut oil production if Syria attacked


07-27-06 - Israel warplanes strike Lebanon, kill five One policeman and two civilians died when Israeli attacks ripped along the Bekaa, an AFP photographer said. Two other people, a man and a woman, died when the southern village of Kafra was bombarded, police said.



07-27-06 - Blair to tell Bush: we need a ceasefire


07-27-06 - Senator: Israel's reaction 'excessive'


07-27-06 - Little Relief - Humanitarian supplies finally begin to trickle into southern Lebanon, but local leaders say they?d rather have peace. "America sells bombs to the Israelis," he says, "so they can drop them here. And tell me, what did (U.S. Secretary of State) Condoleeza Rice do? There is something more important than food and water now, and that is peace." Kevin Sites of Yahoo! reports from on the ground in Lebanon.


07-27-06 - Woman Recounts Escape From Lebanon "At one point, we just said, 'That's it. We're going to die.' And I don't want my family back home to know that. And I kept (the fear) away from them."


07-27-06 - Lebanon arrests 40 'Israel spies'


07-27-06 - Security Council expresses shock at bombing The United States, Israel's closest ally, insisted on dropping any condemnation or allusion to the possibility that Israel deliberately targeted the U.N. post Tuesday in the town of Khiam near the Lebanese-Israeli border....Wang told reporters he remains frustrated at the difficult negotiations on such an important issue, and said this would definitely affect "working relations" in the council on other issues, including Iran. While he named no names, it was clear that Wang's frustration was aimed at the United States. Read that quote again.


07-27-06 - Fox News Says Hezbollah 'Certain' To Nuke Major City Following the ceaseless bombing of Lebanon, Fox News has gone thermonuclear in its mission to drive fear into the hearts of Americans by insisting that Hezbollah's use of a nuclear device in a major US or Israeli city is inevitable and that only increased surveillance of Americans can stop it.


07-27-06 - It was August of 2005, war plans for Iran drawn up by Cheney One year before Hezbollah abducted the Israeli soldiers, Cheney's plans to attack Iran were being drawn up


07-27-06 - The turbulent march of history past Beirut woman's window A vivid memory still stencilled into her head came in 1976 when militiamen massacred Shiites, Druze and Palestinian refugees in the nearby Karantina camp, now closed. "A boy whose voice had not even broken kept pleading: 'Don't kill me'. They dragged him off to the corner of the street and shot him," she says. "I can still hear his voice in my head, begging for his life, as they dragged him off."



07-27-06 - Analysts: Lebanon conflict could widen "Some analysts believe that the prospect of open war between Syria and Israel grows more likely the longer the current conflict continues," The moment the neocons have been waiting for.


07-27-06 - Lawmakers form pro-Israel caucus A bipartisan slate of lawmakers is forming a pro-Israel caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. Yes, I was just thinking minutes ago - we need another pro-Israel group in Congress. We really lack these kinds of things.


07-27-06 - Al-Qaeda vows to avenge Israel onslaughts on Lebanon, Gaza Al-Qaeda second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri has vowed that the network would carry out attacks against Israel and its US backers to avenge the Israeli offensives against Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.


07-27-06 - Diplomatic divide over Lebanon crisis widens At the United Nations in New York, China warned the United States that its opposition to a statement condemning an Israeli attack on a U.N. post in Lebanon that killed four observers could jeopardize U.N. negotiations on Iran's nuclear ambitions.


07-27-06 - Israel's Man at the UN The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) calls Bolton "one of Israel's truest friends in the world."....Bolton is a longtime member of the advisory board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, which has offices in Washington and Jerusalem....Senate staffers investigating Bolton found that Bolton prevented a State Department memo accusing Israel of violating U.S. arms-export laws from reaching the desk of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell....In December 2005 the Zionist Organization of America honored Bolton with its annual Defender of Israel Award. I fail to see just exactly what this man has done for AMERICA at the UN.


07-27-06 - Proposed resolutions note civilians The resolutions, all currently in committee, follow on frustration expressed last week by a number of lawmakers that a resolution supporting Israel failed to call on all sides to protect civilians.


07-27-06 - Iranian president wants Lebanon cease-fire Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for a cease-fire in Lebanon and criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East on Wednesday, saying Washington wants to "recarve the map" of the region with Israel's help


07-27-06 - Norway 'Nazi cartoon' irks Israel Israel's ambassador to Norway has complained to press regulators about a cartoon showing Israeli PM Ehud Olmert as a Nazi concentration camp commander


07-27-06 - Only Hizbullah can defend against an Israeli invasion "The Israelis are radicalising Lebanon, even liberal democrats like me. I took part in last year's demonstrations against Syria. I was a critic of Hizbullah. Now I cannot help but support Hizbullah's fighters who are defending our country."


07-27-06 - Bombs shatter the quiet lives of working-class Lebanese


07-27-06 - Americans Showing Isolationist Streak, Poll Finds


07-27-06 - Aid groups fear UN deaths fallout "As a result of this incident, drivers and truck owners are losing confidence in UN assurances,"


07-27-06 - Belgian couple to accuse Israel of war crimes


07-27-06 - Ground invasion ruled out - for now


07-27-06 - Tying the hands of the United Nations "The Americans are always obstructive at the UN unless there is something they want." An example was the expected UN resolution on Iran's nuclear programmes, which the US strongly supports.


07-27-06 - Britain to allow US flights carrying bombs to Israel their hazardous contents, The Times said. It said that the diplomatic row was more about procedure than principle, and quoted an unnamed senior government official saying flights through Prestwick "will be allowed to continue".



07-27-06 - Israeli strikes may boost Hizbullah base "This support for Hizbullah is by default. It's due to US and Israeli actions,"


07-27-06 - Hizbullah seen as tougher foe than expected


07-27-06 - Hezbollah names tied to AMIA bombing Hezbollah - it's everywhere you need it to be.


07-27-06 - Israeli military to investigate itself over UN killings Uhh..ok.


07-27-06 - Anti-Americanism prompts push for "citizen diplomacy"


07-27-06 - Howard asks Israel to keep Australians safe He says Mr Olmert called him to express his thanks for Australia's diplomatic support.


07-27-06 - Israel claims 'green light' for war Israel insists it has been given the green light from the world to press on with its deadly assault on Lebanon and called up more troops, after suffering its biggest single-day military loss in the conflict.


07-27-06 - Israel nixes major U.N. role in Lebanon Dan Gillerman also said Israel would not allow the United Nations to join in an investigation of an Israeli airstrike that demolished a post belonging to the current U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. Four U.N. observers were killed in the Tuesday strike...His refusal to conduct a joint investigation will be a slap to U.N. officials, who have specifically sought to partner with Israel to investigate the bombing.




07-27-06 - Analysis: Bush foreign policy struggling Strong support in Congress for Israel is further complicating efforts to find common ground with allies. Here's why Congress 'support's Israel. And again.


07-27-06 - Anger in the Arab World


07-27-06 - America - an Orwellian Nightmare Our politicians fall all over themselves to please a foreign nation. George Washington is rolling in his grave.


07-27-06 - Door slams hard on any who would criticize Israel Palestinians have a right to a viable state, and a lot of Jews agree with that. Innocent people in Lebanon, site of recent Israeli missile strikes, have a right to live and not be bombarded with disproportionate force that can be seen as military-supported terror.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

It was August of 2005, war plans for Iran drawn up by Cheney

One year before Hezbollah abducted the Israeli soldiers, Cheney's plans to attack Iran were being drawn up:


August 1, 2005 Issue
Copyright © 2005 The American Conservative



Deep Background



In Washington it is hardly a secret that the same people in and around the administration who brought you Iraq are preparing to do the same for Iran. The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing—that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack—but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.

Philip Giraldi is former CIA.

http://www.amconmag.com/2005_08_01/article3.html

As detailed in an article by author James Bamford for Rolling Stone, the Iran war plans by AIPAC and the neocons were stymied with the federal investigation of them both.

Here is an excerpt:

War with Iran has been in the works for the past five years, shaped in almost complete secrecy by a small group of senior Pentagon officials attached to the Office of Special Plans. The man who created the OSP was Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy. A former Middle East specialist on the National Security Council in the Reagan administration, Feith had long urged Israel to secure its borders in the Middle East by attacking Iraq and Iran. After Bush's election, Feith went to work to make that vision a reality, putting together a team of neoconservative hawks determined to drive the U.S. to attack Tehran.


The entire article can be found here.

America - an Orwellian Nightmare

What an Orwellian nightmare America has turned out to be; Black is white, Up is down, Israel is a democracy deserving of our unconditional support.

Our politicians fall all over themselves to please a foreign nation. George Washington is rolling in his grave.

Is this what he fought for? Is this the America that those ragtag 'rebels' envisioned? Hardly. If that is so, then they never would have fought at all.

America was supposed to be INDEPENDENT. Clearly, it is not.

How much more does one have to say or do to get this message through to the American public at large?

News for 07-26-06

07-26-06 - Iran: The Next War by James Bamford War with Iran has been in the works for the past five years, shaped in almost complete secrecy by a small group of senior Pentagon officials attached to the Office of Special Plans. The man who created the OSP was Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy. A former Middle East specialist on the National Security Council in the Reagan administration, Feith had long urged Israel to secure its borders in the Middle East by attacking Iraq and Iran. After Bush's election, Feith went to work to make that vision a reality, putting together a team of neoconservative hawks determined to drive the U.S. to attack Tehran. We've still got some true patriots in the federal government. God bless them. Read this article in its entirety and witness the abject treachery of the neocons, some of whom are STILL IN OFFICE. This is one of those articles that will be put in the margin of my companion website - permanently.


07-26-06 - UN calls for Mid-East ceasefire


07-26-06 - Siniora's agony over Lebanon's plight "Is the value of human life less than in Lebanon than that of citizens elsewhere? Are we children of a lesser God? Is an Israeli teardrop worth more than a drop of Lebanese blood?"


07-26-06 - Israel's heaviest losses fuel doubts over strategy the city of Tyre was hit in a major Israeli air strike. Sixteen people, including six children, were injured when a seven-storey building that had been used as a Hizbullah community centre collapsed


07-26-06 - Israeli Sisters Need Donations For Life-Saving Surgery The sisters, Janna and Halla Awad, are Arab Israeli Muslim. They are currently at Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami


07-26-06 - Nine Israelis killed in Lebanon Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in fierce clashes with Hezbollah militants in south Lebanon.


07-26-06 - Many Americans stuck in southern Lebanon "I tell you honestly, from my heart, I love everyone. I don't care their religion or their belief," Tehfi said. "But I don't understand what I saw. It was a massacre. It was a massacre."


07-26-06 - Israel troops 'ignored' UN plea The UN report says each time the UN contacted Israeli forces, they were assured the firing would stop.


07-26-06 - Israeli strike hits lorry carrying aid An Israeli air strike on Wednesday hit a lorry carrying medical and food supplies donated to Lebanon by the United Arab Emirates, killing its Syrian driver and wounding two others, security sources said.


07-26-06 - Marines in Lebanon remember '83 bombing they were ordered back after Christian militiamen allied with Israel massacred hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Beirut. The Marines, along with British, French and Italian troops, were expected to provide a modicum of order to help the fragile Lebanese government get on its feet.


07-26-06 - Weeks of war to come, says Israeli general "But the shelling started in the morning and went on until after 7pm. You cannot imagine the anguish of the unarmed men and women peacekeepers who were there."


07-26-06 - 'Why do they give weapons to Israel and food to us?' "Is he just trying to fatten us up before he gives Israel bigger bombs to kill us?" Stunning hypocrisy.


07-26-06 - A Nigerian U.N. employee, his wife and five Lebanese people were buried when the bomb flattened their home Three of the five Lebanese were removed, including the body of a child


07-26-06 - Bombardment hits Lebanon's children hard Children account for more than a third of the hundreds of people killed and half of the 700,000 displaced by the conflict, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF said.


07-26-06 - China presses UN council to condemn Israeli attack Chinese U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya agreed even before formal deliberations began, however, to soften his draft text by deleting a call for an immediate end to the fighting in Lebanon and a reference to the "apparently deliberate targeting" of U.N. troops by Israeli forces.


07-26-06 - Dump Condi: Foreign policy conservatives charge State Dept. has hijacked Bush agenda Mr. Perle, pointing to the effort by the State Department to undermine the Reagan administration?s policy toward the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, has accused Miss Rice of succumbing to a long-time State Department agenda of meaningless agreements meant to appease enemies of the United States If Condi has the neocons pissed, then she must be doing something right. Perle wants the US to attack Iran. These neocons shouldn't be anywhere near our government for their willful deception of the American people. They should be in jail.


07-26-06 - Israel using chemical weapons: doctors Killed by Israeli air raids, the Lebanese dead are charred in a way local doctors, who have lived through years of civil war and Israeli occupation, say they have not seen before.


07-26-06 - Rogue elements blamed for UN attack "Clearly there are rogue elements on both sides of the border. There is a rogue element in the Israeli military machine and it's about time the world called a spade a spade and recognised that element has been there for several years and continues. This guy will be out of a job for saying that, no doubt.


07-26-06 - CAIR Asks Bush to Protect Americans Under Attack By Israel U.S. citizens trapped in S. Lebanon describe horrific scenes


07-26-06 - Analysis: U.S. charts own Mideast course "We wanted a cease-fire, an immediate cease-fire," Saniora said, with Rice and others at his side. "The more we delay the cease-fire, the more we are going to witness (that) more are being killed, more destruction and more aggression against the civilians in Lebanon."


07-26-06 - Israel army collecting bodies of Hezbollah


07-26-06 - Putin's billion-dollar arms sale risks souring Western détente HUGO CHÁVEZ, the ardently anti-American President of Venezuela, arrives in Russia today to sign a billion-dollar arms deal that has infuriated and alarmed the US.


07-26-06 - China demands apology after Israel kills UN worker "The Chinese side ... demands that the Israeli side open a comprehensive investigation, apologize to the Chinese side and the victim's family and help the Chinese side in carrying out the mourning activities,"


07-26-06 - Lebanon receives EU aid promises, UN delivery, Jordanian aid The world continued its mobilisation to aid war-smashed Lebanon, as the European Union promised tens of millions of dollars, the United Nations sent a convoy of trucks to the south of the country and Jordan began flying in medical help.


07-26-06 - U.S. wants to deal "aggressively" with Kurdish PKK


07-26-06 - Hezbollah Captures 2 Israeli Soldiers The militant group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers during clashes Wednesday across the border in southern Lebanon This was the original article from the Associated Press. Were those soldiers captured in Lebanon, or Israel? According to the author of this article, it was Lebanon.


07-26-06 - On visit to U.S., Iraqi leader takes heat for Israel comments "The Israeli attacks and airstrikes are completely destroying Lebanon's infrastructure," Maliki said in remarks reported by the New York Times. "I condemn these aggressions and call on the Arab League foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo to take quick action to stop these aggressions. We call on the world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression."


07-26-06 - International criticism follows deadly Israel raid on UN post "There were 14 other Israeli firings close to this position by the Israeli side, and the firing continued during the UNIFIL rescue,"


07-26-06 - 'Luck' saves UN officer from Khiam blast US ambassador John Bolton says Israel insists it was an "operational mistake".


07-26-06 - Hundreds march for peace to Israeli embassy "The media is trying to portray this as a proportional conflict, when really what we see is one of the biggest militaries in the world -- that being Israel -- bombarding mostly a civilian population in Lebanon,"


07-26-06 - Putin and Ahmadinejad discuss Mideast crises


07-26-06 - Lebanese Americans flee conflict zone Many houses in Chihin had been bombed, she said, and the Israelis also dropped leaflets telling the residents to leave their homes. "But when a group of people tried to escape, they bombed the cars. They had to gather up the children's remains in plastic bags,"



07-26-06 - Lebanese cope, once again, amid the ruin of war Up to 750,000 people have been driven from their homes as Israeli shelling has destroyed electricity and water supplies


07-26-06 - Could U.S. Troops End Up in Lebanon? This would be a disaster. We should STAY OUT OF IT. This is NOT 'our war'.


07-26-06 - Mideast fighting rises to new pitch UNIFIL has a history of being fired on by the Israeli military dating back to its inception in 1978. Several UNIFIL soldiers were killed and wounded in the 1980s and 1990s by Israeli tank fire, artillery shelling, and airstrikes against their positions and convoys.....In April 1996, Israeli artillery shelled the UNIFIL Fijian battalion's headquarters, killing more than 100 Lebanese who were seeking shelter there during an earlier Israeli offensive against Hizbullah. In January 2004, a French OGL officer was killed by an Israeli tank shell
Evidently, UNIFIL has been in their sights before.


07-26-06 - Time for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon


07-26-06 - Time won't help Israel disarm Hizbullah Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz as much as admitted his contempt for noncombatant immunity when, according to Israeli army radio on July 24, he ordered the destruction of 10 multistory buildings in the Shiite-inhabited suburbs of Beirut for every rocket hitting Haifa.



07-26-06 - Britain to protest US use of airport to send missiles to Israel British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is planning to make a formal complaint to the United States over the alleged use of a Scottish airport as a staging post for the transport of missiles to Israel.


07-26-06 - Frustration as summit fails to end conflict A US state department official travelling with Ms Rice denied the US had been isolated, a view disputed by other sources at the conference It's what happens when you have a government that is under the influence.


07-26-06 - Ceasefire is the only option Vanessa Redgrave
Unicef special representative


07-26-06 - Shocked at Israeli atrocities? Don't be.


07-26-06 - Lebanon: Winners and Losers What an Orwellian nightmare America has turned out to be; Black is white, Up is down, Israel is a democracy deserving of our unconditional support. Our politicians fall all over themselves to please a foreign nation. George Washington is rolling in his grave. Is this what he fought for? Is this the America that those ragtag 'rebels' envisioned? Hardly. If that is so, then they never would have fought at all. America was supposed to be INDEPENDENT. Clearly, it is not. How much more does one have to say or do to get this message through to the American public at large?


07-26-06 - Five Myths That Sanction Israel's War Crimes


07-26-06 - The case of the USS Liberty: anatomy of an Israeli provocation


07-26-06 - Schumer and Clinton Pressed To Reappoint Bolton Senators Schumer and Clinton are facing increasing pressure from pro-Israel groups to renounce another Democratic filibuster in light of the escalating war in the Middle East. Pro-Israel groups LOVE John Bolton. He puts ISRAEL first, ALWAYS!


07-26-06 - Israel lobby out in force to disparage Americans stranded in Lebanon


07-26-06 - Ceasefire quickest solution to Mideast bloodshed: think tank


07-26-06 - 'The troops thought: this guy's got balls'


07-26-06 - Indulging folly The US alliance with Israel has been a fact of international life for decades, but seldom has Washington acted so blatantly in support of the country and with such disregard for the rest of the international community. Our unconditional support of Israel's actions is not in the best interests of THIS COUNTRY, America.


07-26-06 - The neocon resurgence


07-26-06 - 'When it is over, the IDF will have to take a good look at itself'


07-26-06 - Precise Destruction


07-26-06 - Ex-aide slams Britain over Lebanon Britain's moral authority over the crisis in the Middle East is being undermined by its close relationship with the US, a former top aide to Tony Blair has said. The work of our mighty Israel lobby here in the US is bringing others down with us, evidently.


07-26-06 - Dean calls Iraqi PM an 'anti-Semite' Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki an "anti-Semite" for failing to denounce Hezbollah for its attacks against Israel. Ridiculous. The Iraqi PM IS a Semite.


07-26-06 - Congress Cautioned On Support of Israel The vast majority of folks in Congress are beholden to AIPAC or Israel. This is the definitive proof.


07-26-06 - Jewish voters dis Bush: Israel?s defender deserves better President Bush hasn?t just correctly filled out some American Israel Political Action Committee questionnaire. He?s put American lives where other politicians? mouths have been. What has he gotten in political returns? Bupkis.



07-26-06 - War Trashes Lebanese Economic Comeback Israel's bombardment has dealt a devastating blow to Lebanon's fragile economy, just as it was recovering from a yearslong slump.


07-26-06 - India condemns Israeli bombardment

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Israel lobby out in force to disparage Americans stranded in Lebanon

You can read their obnoxious and bigoted filth here and here

They seek to downplay/deny the refugee crisis Israel has created.

Evidently the main tactics being used here are :

  • that these Americans somehow aren't real Americans because they are Muslim, wear the hijab, or are Arab.


  • that these Americans are guilty for visiting Lebanon - which was at peace weeks ago - but then came under heavy bombardment by Israel. Israel is targeting civilians, ambulances, UN peacekeepers. But, yet, it's still the fault of these Americans for not being psychic - and not seeing this huge operation coming.


  • that the State Department has warned these folks not to go there, thus they are at fault for what Israel is doing to the civilians. This despite the fact that there are warnings issued for Israel and yet Americans still visit there during this period of conflict. Somehow, those Americans are not to blame for their own deaths/plight, but the Americans in Lebanon are.


  • that these folks are terrorists or terror-supporters anyway for simply being Muslim/Arab, or somehow less thans for wanting to visit family back home in Lebanon during the time that it was peaceful.


  • If it only were a handful of people with like views, one could pass it off as the usual 'trolling' done in cyberspace. But it is clearly a concerted effort to disparage those Americans that are stranded in Lebanon with the most likely intention being to exonerate Israel of or deflect attention away from its behavior.

    News for 07-25-06

    07-25-06 - Iran stays defiant on uranium enrichment


    07-25-06 - Harris Poll: Despite News Reports, More Americans Believe Iraq Had WMD Sixty-four percent(64%) say it is true that Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al Qaeda (the same as 64% in February 2005). Wow.


    07-25-06 - Deadly Israel raid on UN post overshadows Lebanon crisis meet The deaths, which UN chief Kofi Annan said were the result of Israel's "apparently deliberate targeting" of a UN post, also drew a strong protest from France, whose officers currently command the nearly 30-year-old UN force....."There were 14 other Israeli firings close to this position by the Israeli side and the firing continued during the UNIFIL rescue,"


    07-25-06 - Israeli raid kills family of seven as Lebanon toll nears 400 The seven civilians, including at least two children, were killed in the village of Nabatyieh on Tuesday while another civilian died in a raid on the eastern region of Baalbek.


    07-25-06 - Three Indians hurt, one in coma, in Lebanon


    07-25-06 - Chinese UN observer killed in Israeli air strike


    07-25-06 - Pipeline talks to continue: Iran Iran Monday stressed that talks on a tri-nation gas pipeline project with India and Pakistan would 'continue till the final result is achieved'.


    07-25-06 - 'Save us,' she screamed as another shell landed "They hit us very aggressively," he said. "They didn't leave a single house standing, and there are still people there, buried under the rubble."


    07-25-06 - Lebanon aid appeals: where you can donate An estimated 800,000 people have been affected by the Israeli bombing, with the United Nations launching an emergency appeal for $150m (£81m) to help them. On the page, there are links to the various agencies to which people can donate.


    07-25-06 - Israeli bomb kills UN observers the four, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, had taken shelter in a bunker under the post after it was earlier shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery. A rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble.


    07-25-06 - Iran anger at Lebanon aid 'block' Turkey and Saudi Arabia have stopped Iran using their air space to send humanitarian relief to Lebanon, media in Iran have said.


    07-25-06 - Hezbollah says Israeli response a surprise Komati said his group had anticipated negotiations to swap the Israeli soldiers for three Lebanese held in Israeli jails, with Germany acting as a mediator as it has in past prisoner exchanges....Komati said Hezbollah has weapons made in various countries, including the United States, France, China and Russia. "Some of our fighters carry M16s. So you think we buy them from America?"



    07-25-06 - Aid door to Lebanon closed: UN agencies But, asked later for comment on the Israeli move, Pagonis said it did not appear "to address the immediate situation we are confronted with right now" -- the absence of safe passage authorization for the supplies waiting in Syria.


    07-25-06 - Israel 'targeting fleeing civilians'


    07-25-06 - Lebanon president says Israel uses phosphorous arms


    07-25-06 - ICRC - Bulletin No. 3 - Lebanon Lebanese Red Cross ambulances suffer new security incidents


    07-25-06 - Roundup: Israeli girl killed in Hezbollah's rocket attack An Arab Israeli girl was killed on Tuesday when a rocket fired by Lebanese Hezbollah hit her house in a village in northern Israel, medical sources said.


    07-25-06 - Bombings Hit Lebanese Children Hardest


    07-25-06 - Iran president warns of hurricane in Middle East Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned on Tuesday that the conflict between Lebanon and Israel could sweep through the entire Middle East like a hurricane.


    07-25-06 - Rice's Mideast visit draws mixed reviews Rice left the Middle East after meetings Tuesday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. U.S. officials touted one public victory that they considered key: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after meeting Rice that Israel would allow humanitarian assistance to move into Lebanon by land, air and sea. Oh wow. Wasn't that nice of them? Olmert then said: his government "will not hesitate to take severe measures against those who are aiming thousands of rockets and missiles against innocent civilians for the sole purpose of killing them." Then he better take action against his own military because that is exactly what they are doing.


    07-25-06 - Malaysia calls Israeli action in Lebanon 'unconscionable'


    07-25-06 - Republican Jews urge Bolton confirmation "Ambassador Bolton has expressed President Bush?s unwavering support of Israel in a time of crisis," Naturally. Before you know it, whale feces will be discovered at the bottom of the ocean. Will wonders never cease?


    07-25-06 - White House release calls for Israel to hit Syria


    07-25-06 - Anger grows as Lebanese seek refuge Ali Hamadeh, another Red Cross volunteer, says that the center received a call the other day from a man who said his house in Aitaroun had been hit by an Israeli missile and collapsed on top of 30 people inside. "He couldn't reach them under the rubble and we couldn't get there either because of the bombings," says Mr. Hamadeh. "If anyone was badly injured ... they will be dead by now."



    07-25-06 - Bush: No contradiction in US Mideast policy US President George W. Bush said he saw no contradiction in sending humanitarian aid to Lebanon in the face of Israeli strikes while speeding deliveries of weapons to Israel. The rest of the world knows different.


    07-25-06 - Syrian Says Israel Drives U.S. Policy Hezbollah has its own sources of arms, Moustapha said, while contending that ideologues in the Bush administration and pro-Israeli lobbyists are driving U.S. support for Israel to unprecedented levels. "What Israel says is immediately adopted" by the administration, he said. "Whatever Israel wants becomes immediate U.S. policy in the Middle East."


    07-25-06 - JINSA Strongly Supports Bolton Nomination Naturally, since JINSA is a neocon outfit.


    07-25-06 - No Exit - American citizens are caught in the crossfire in southern Lebanon while trying to flee the fighting. "I didn't see any Hezbollah fighters in our village," says Mr. Chahine, "so why are they bombing there?"


    07-25-06 - Democrats decry Maliki's comments on Israel U.S. congressional Democrats expressed alarm on Tuesday over Iraq's denunciation of Israel in the Middle East conflict, and some said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's address to Congress should be canceled unless he apologizes. Oh dear. It would seem that this government in Iraq may be up for another 'regime change' if they keep criticizing Israel like that. It's not allowed by the US. For, the 'democracy' that the neocons want to visit on the Middle East can best be defined as follows: the installation of Israel-friendly governments.


    07-25-06 - One Day in Tyre In one southern Lebanese city, fear and hardship reign as victims fill the hospitals; bodies pile up in the morgue; ambulances are attacked; food, water and fuel supplies run low; and missiles strike the heart of downtown.


    07-25-06 - Syria, Iran lack full Hizbollah control: US official Syria can do far more to rein in Hizbollah, such as stopping arms flows into Lebanon, but is not capable of putting the militia "out of business," a top U.S. counterterrorism official said on Tuesday. Oh you just hush your mouth now. Olmert told Condi and Bush that it's all Syria and Iran's fault!


    07-25-06 - Saudi unveils huge Mideast aid package, warns of war A statement issued by the royal court demanded a halt to the "killing and destruction" by the Israeli military, warning that its determination to press ahead with its twin offensives risked plunging the whole region into war.


    07-25-06 - Kidnapped in Israel or Captured in Lebanon?


    07-25-06 - Iran warns the west: ignore us at your peril Iran claims that no amount of western effort can bring a breakthrough, with key parties shut out of the negotiating room.


    07-25-06 - Israel plans to stay in Lebanon


    07-25-06 - As the Price of Oil Soars, So Does Its Power to Shape Politics From Washington to Beijing For months, the United States has sought to tighten the noose around Iran by getting the United Nations Security Council to threaten sanctions over its suspected nuclear weapons program. Iran says its nuclear program is civilian in nature. Russia, China and some European leaders, fearful that Iran could follow through on its threat to turn off the oil spigot in reply, even if temporarily, have resisted.



    07-25-06 - No security clearances revoked over Plame


    07-25-06 - Beirut students ridicule US vision of 'new Middle East' Mansour added: "People giving weapons and machinery to Israel to crush Lebanon aren't the best people we should look to for a solution."


    07-25-06 - Iraqi Shi'ite militia ready to join fight The plan reflects the potential of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah to strengthen radical elements in Iraq and neighboring countries and to draw other regional players into the Lebanon conflict.


    07-25-06 - Americans blame Hezbollah for Lebanon conflict: poll Most believe Washington should stay neutral: 65 percent said the United States should keep out of the conflict. Another 31 percent said the US should take Israel's side and less than 0.5 percent said Washington should back Hezbollah.


    07-25-06 - Annan's bombing claims 'shock' Israel Yeh, well I'm sure Israel's BOMBING of the UN post resulting in the deaths of four internationals was MORE shocking, arrogant SOBs.


    07-25-06 - Bad Habits Are Hard To Break A little over ten years ago, the IDF shelled a UN base at Qana, Lebanon, where 800 refugees had sought shelter. More than 100 died. Despite witness accounts to the contrary, Israel called that an accident as well.


    07-25-06 - Hundreds of Americans stranded in Lebanon


    07-25-06 - Rice says need to keep focus on Palestinian state A Palestinian official said Abbas told Rice that a more fanatical group might emerge in Lebanon if Hizbollah is cowed, noting that when Israel pushed out Palestinian guerrillas from Lebanon in the 1980s they were replaced by Hizbollah. That's our Condi, blowing more smoke up Abbas' shorts.


    07-25-06 - Lebanese POWs - Israel's dirty little secret


    07-25-06 - Attacks 'may boost' Hezbollah's popularity


    07-25-06 - Clark deplores Israeli strike


    07-25-06 - In Europe, more understanding for Israel?s plight, especially in the East Hungarian newspapers have been balanced on the war, said Yahel Vilan, a counselor at the Israeli Embassy in Hungary.....Hungarian television programs have had the Israeli ambassador on daily since the conflict began, while the Lebanese ambassador has been on only once.
    Yep, there's that Israeli 'balance' they're always looking for. Notice that there is no concern about it HERE in America - because they know they've got our media 'balanced' for them, lock stock and barrel.


    07-25-06 - Israeli actions compared to Nazis' A British lawmaker compared Israeli actions in Lebanon to the Nazi razing of the Warsaw Ghetto.


    07-25-06 - Letter calls for more Syria sanctions Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) want Bush to implement all the sanctions in the Syria Accountability Act, which they initiated and which Congress passed in 2003. Bush implemented partial sanctions two years ago. Ya didn't think we could go for a week without Israel's agents in Congress putting forth some more legislation on behalf of that nation?


    07-25-06 - Oman says it won't boycott Israel The United States recently has made such agreements conditional on ending the boycott against Israel; similar language was included this year in the U.S.-Bahrain free trade agreement. A clause that has been built into any possible trade deals with Arab countries. Another sign that the United States is Israel-occupied territory.


    07-25-06 - Madison's Warning and the Israel Lobby the real question of moment is not the red-herring of Israel's right to defend itself, but rather what possible U.S. national interest is at stake that requires America to put its security at risk on Israel's behalf.


    07-25-06 - While Lebanon burns


    07-25-06 - Syria Emerges Front and Center by Patrick J. Buchanan With its devastation of Lebanon, its blockade of the West Bank and Gaza, and its determination to destroy the Palestinian Authority, Israel is creating failed states on three borders. How this serves Israel's or America's interests is difficult to see. Buchanan treads gently into the night with this piece. Frankly, after his previous 2 articles, I'd be surprised it he hadn't received death threats from the usual suspects.


    07-25-06 - Volunteers move pets to safety in Lebanon


    07-25-06 - Israel and the Irony of UN Resolutions


    07-25-06 - Muslims on front line as racism rises across EU The inquiry by the European Network against Racism highlights a trend towards "increased tolerance for discriminatory behaviour particularly against immigrants and Muslims". It adds that "a lack of political will to address racism is sometimes evident and disturbing". As long as anti-Semitism is down, then all is hunky dory.


    07-25-06 - . . . No, It's Survival After lambasting Israel in an article a week ago, some excerpts from which were read aloud on last weekend's McLaughlin Group, Cohen is now sucking the royal Israel ass good.


    07-25-06 - Democratic Opponent of Clinton Criticizes Actions of Israel Jonathan Tasini, the antiwar candidate mounting a Democratic primary challenge against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, said this week that Israel had "committed many acts of brutality and violations of human rights and torture."


    07-25-06 - It's Disproportionate. . . Perhaps Israel will get its buffer zone and Hezbollah rockets will stop falling on Haifa for the time being. But ultimately Israel will be less secure, and so will the rest of us.


    07-25-06 - Greek protesters topple Truman statue in anti-war demo In a move harking back to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Greek leftists pulled down a statue of former U.S. President Harry S. Truman as part of an anti-war demonstration on Tuesday against the Israeli bombing of Lebanon.


    07-25-06 - Bolton Lied