Religious authorities banned an Egyptian cleric from preaching in Friday sermons after issuing a controversial religious edict that urges Muslims to kill "any Zionist anywhere at the time of war." Safwat el-Higazi issued the edict, or fatwa, on July 13, the second day of Israel's offensive in Lebanon when he spoke on a program on a private Islamic network, Al-Nas television.
Al-Azhar, the most prominent clerical institution in the Sunni Muslim world, issued a counter-fatwa forbidding the killing of Israelis in Egypt. "Provoking the killings of Israelis inside Egypt is the ultimate terrorism," the head of al Azhar's edicts committee, Abdel Hamed el-Atrash, said in an interview published Monday in the daily Rose Al-Youssef newspaper. Al-Azhar did not address the killing of Israelis outside Egypt.
Israel Embassy spokesman Yaacov Setty commented by saying the al-Azhar fatwa "is clear ... I don't want to elaborate on that."
El Higazi's license to preach at the al-Haq mosque in Cairo's Giza district was revoked, newspapers reported. El-Higazi confirmed the license was revoked but defended his fatwa, telling The Associated Press on Tuesday that "any Israeli Zionist is a reserve in the Israeli defense army during the time of war."
John Prescott has given vent to his private feelings about the Bush presidency, summing up George Bush's administration in a single word: crap.
The Deputy Prime Minister's condemnation of President Bush and his approach to the Middle East could cause a diplomatic row but it will please Labour MPs who are furious about Tony Blair's backing of the United States over the bombing of Lebanon.
The remark is said to have been made at a private meeting in Mr Prescott's Whitehall office on Tuesday with Muslim MPs and other Labour MPs with constituencies representing large Muslim communities. Muslim MPs wanted to press home their objections to British foreign policy and discuss ways of improving relations with the Muslim communities.
Some of the MPs present said yesterday they could not remember Mr Prescott making the remark. He has been at pains to avoid breaking ranks with Mr Blair in public although he is believed to have raised concern about the bombing of Lebanon at a private meeting of the Cabinet. But Harry Cohen, the MP whose constituency includes Walthamstow, scene of some of the police raids in the alleged "terror plot" investigation, said Mr Prescott had definitely used the word "crap" about the Bush administration.
"He was talking in the context of the 'road map' in the Middle East. He said he only gave support to the war on Iraq because they were promised the road map. But he said the Bush administration had been crap on that. We all laughed and he said to an official, 'Don't minute that'." Mr Cohen added: "We also had a laugh when he said old Bush is just a cowboy with his Stetson on. But then he said, 'I can hardly talk about that can I?'
Told that others at the meeting could not recall the words, Mr Cohen said: " He did. I stand by that."
The Deputy Prime Minister's office said last night that the meeting was private and would not confirm or deny his use of the word "crap". " These discussions are intended to be private and remain within the four walls," said one official. "They are private so that there may be frank discussions."
Many Labour MPs have been infuriated by the spectacle of Mr Bush and Mr Blair jointly supporting the Israeli action. The Labour MPs went to see Mr Prescott to lodge their criticism of the Government's foreign policy and some said last night that they would be delighted if he did break ranks over the Bush administration following the outcry at the bombing of the Lebanon.
In the private discussions with Mr Prescott, the Labour MPs representing large Muslim communities pulled no punches in their criticism of Mr Blair for giving his backing to Mr Bush. Another of those who was contacted about the conversations did not deny Mr Prescott's words, but laughed and said: " I can't discuss that." When asked whether he had heard Mr Prescott use the "C-word", he said: "I don't remember that."
The Deputy Prime Minister is said to have made it clear he strongly backed the efforts by Mr Blair to persuade the Bush administration to revive the road map for Palestine and Israel. Mr Blair has given a commitment that he will give the peace process his priority when he returns from his holiday in the Caribbean.
"There was a very robust exchange of views," said the MP. " We had a row about community relations. The Deputy Prime Minister was told in no uncertain terms that the Government was relying too much on the elders in the Muslim community who didn't have the credibility that was needed."
Muslim Labour MPs also told Mr Prescott that they needed to retain their own credibility in their communities, which was one of the reasons why they had signed a controversial letter calling for a change in British foreign policy. They said it was not helpful for the Government to have attacked their letter.
Mr Prescott has been accused in the past of making his feelings known about the Republican administration in the White House. He became friendly with Al Gore, the unsuccessful Democrat presidential candidate in 2000, during the negotiations on the Kyoto treaty and allegedly told Mr Gore after his defeat that he was sorry he lost the race to Mr Bush.
Mr Prescott is also known to have used the word "crap" in relation to political events before. Earlier this month, he angrily rejected claims that he could resign over the row about his links to the bid by the tycoon Philip Anschutz for a super-casino at the Millennium Dome as "a load of crap".
Mr Prescott was left in charge by Mr Blair when the Prime Minister went on his delayed holiday but has largely taken a back seat while John Reid, the Home Secretary, has led for the Government on security and the alleged terror plot to blow up planes across the Atlantic.
Behind the scenes, Mr Prescott had to contend with growing backbench demands for Parliament to be recalled to debate the crisis in the Middle East. It remains an option, in spite of the ceasefire in the Lebanon. Campaigners claimed they had the signatures of more than 150 MPs from all parties for a recall. Significantly, they included Ann Keen, the parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, who is on paternity leave following the birth of his second child. Jim Sheridan, the Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, resigned as the parliamentary private secretary to the defence ministers over the bombing of Lebanon.
Mr Prescott has been keen to show Labour MPs that he is prepared to listen to their grievances but has insisted on party discipline to avoid splits. He will be furious at his alleged remarks being repeated, but the signs of dissent within the Cabinet are becoming greater.
Straight-talker's way with words
* Posing with a crab in a jar at the Millennium Dome, while Peter Mandelson was standing for election to Labour's ruling national executive committee, he said to cameramen: "You know what his name is? He's called Peter. Do you think you will get on the executive, Peter?"
* When asked why a car was transporting him and his wife 200 yards to the Labour Party Conference in 1999:
"Because of the security reasons for one thing and second, my wife doesn't like to have her hair blown about. Have you got another silly question?"
* On the Millennium Dome: "If we can't make this work, we're not much of a government."
* "The green belt is a Labour achievement, and we mean to build on it." (Radio interview, January 1998)
* On the Tories at the 1996 Labour conference: "They are up to their necks in sleaze. The best slogan for their conference next week is " Life's better under the Tories" - sounds like one of Steven Norris's chat-up lines."
* When asked by a journalist about Peter Law's decision to quit the Labour Party after 35 years: "Why are you asking me about this? I don't care, it's a Welsh situation, I'm a national politician."
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2006 21:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
HT to Drudge
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2006 21:04 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Labour is gpoing to follow the post-Clinton Democrats and go off the deep end so far that Cameron will start to look good.
Sorry, Britain and Europe. Not to sound isolationist, but I'll oppose any attempt to pull your asses out of this sling.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/16/2006 21:08 Comments ||
Top||
#4
What the heck would you expect from a pinko Labourite? That's the kind of thing they're known for - a compulsive identification with anything anti-American. Don't get me wrong - they'll sidle up to the Democrats - since the Dems are all about implementing anti-American policies anyway. But anytime Americans elect a pro-American government to power, the majority of Labour Party politicians aren't shy about giving us a piece of their mind.
#7
The only reason Britain has any influence left in the world is its "special relationship" with the US. The empire was mortally wounded at Ypres and Paschendale. It bled out during the Blitz. V-J Day marked the start of the long slow recessional. Standing amongst the ruins of empire, Prescott has succumbed to the EUro-elite disease of rationalizing his relative weakness by belittling the strong. Without the US, Britain would be just another Lilliputian.
#8
Time to cut Tony and the UK lose. Sorry that is just how I feel teh BBC's daily attacks on my nation thatr are see and believed around the world. The UK just like Germany can FOAD. No use for the UK or hte majority of it's citizens sorry. Get back to your kissing of islamofascist arse and 'football' I sure as hell don't need you or Brown.
Friend of mine sent me and article about this from a conservative news source. I didn't believe him, so I checked the Independent (far left for those of you who are unfamiliar with it). Here's their article.
Muslim leaders have urged Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities, to support Islamic family law in Britain to stop youths joining Islamic extremists. Following three hours of meeting with Muslim groups in Whitehall, Ms Kelly said: "There is a battle of hearts and minds to be won within the Muslim community, working with the Muslim community to take on the terrorist and extremist elements that are sometimes found within it, not just in the Muslim community, but elsewhere as well." See, it's all so reasonable. It's just "family law."
John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, who was also at the meeting, is today expected to meet Muslim Labour MPs who have demanded a change in Government foreign policy on the Middle East. Mr Prescott and Ms Kelly made it clear that the threat of terrorism could not be used to force a change of policy abroad. Ms Kelly said she did not accept that British foreign policy should be dictated by a small group of people. "What I do accept is that there is a lot of anger and frustration out there in the community that needs to be properly expressed and vented through the democratic process," she said.
Dr Syed Aziz Pasha, secretary general of the Union of Muslim Organisations of the UK and Ireland, said he had asked for holidays to mark Muslim festivals and Islamic laws to cover family affairs which would apply only to Muslims. Dr Pasha said he was not seeking sharia law for criminal offences but he said Muslim communities in Britain should be able to operate Islamic codes for marriage and family life. "In Scotland, they have a separate law. It doesn't mean they are not part of the UK. We are asking for Islamic law which covers marriage and family life. We are willing to co-operate but there should be a partnership. They should understand our problems then we will understand their problems." No, not criminal offenses. Not at first anyway. It's all so reasonable. Just like Scotland, really. The camels nose is under the tent flap. I hope that someone is ready to smack it hard!
#1
The violence will stop even quicker when they are drawn and quartered, the traditional English punishment for traitors. Start with the self appointed muslim leaders and work down the org charts.
Posted by: ed ||
08/16/2006 14:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
scotland of course has laws that apply territorially, to all in Scotland, not different laws by personal status.
note well - this request is NOT analogous to the Canadian one asking for recognition of VOLUNTARY agreement to settle dispute by Sharia, which was much like any private arbitration arrangement. This appears to be an attempt to bind ALL muslim citizens by muslim law, whether they will it or not. It is much more serious and of course quite unacceptable.
I would suggest as a first response, that UMO no longer be considered an acceptable spokesperson for muslims in Britain. That the govt and patriotic British pols boycott UMO.
#5
We'll see, Frank. I fear all the sensible Scots emigrated a long time ago, leaving only the socialists, anti-nuke demonstrators and those with age-long grievances against the English ... not all that different from the "age-long" grievances of the Arabic world re: the West. I'd love to be wrong about that.
#7
I am pulling a figure out of memory and it could be very wrong. muslims make up about 3% of the UK population. They make more demands and trouble than that small percentage warrants. The Leftists BBC and UK MSM are largley responsible for this. Why do they have such a loud voice when they are a but a drop in the total population? Multiculti madness.
Start deporting them if they want to live like they did in the 'old country' this dhimmi crap is just ignorant.
#8
These people are trouble-makers. Catch one making trouble, crush their right hand so it's unusable, and deny them any form of assistance. Make the rest of them support them. If anyone complains, break THEIR right hand. Sooner or later, they'll either assimilate or leave. It's either that or change the name of Great Britain to Dhimmi Britain.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/16/2006 16:15 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Give 'em an inch and they'll demand a mile. That's their nature but the dumb appeasenik multiculturalism simply cannot understand that. Since when has any other immigrants made any sinister demands anywhere close to theirs?
#11
I tend to look at things in terms of probabilities and vectors rather than poles, but I finally decided that if there are any moderate muslims, they of such little consequence that there is no practical way that they can influence the fight.
Go to the link and you will see that the muslim Labourites in Parliament are bitching about UK foreign policy, too.
#13
I no longer believe there's really any such thing as a "moderate Muslim"-- only Muslims who are overwhelmingly outnumbered by non-Muslims where they live.
Let them comprise more than a few percent of the population, or let them congregate in enclaves, and they quickly become VERY un-moderate.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/16/2006 18:36 Comments ||
Top||
#14
These people are Pakistanis or heavily influenced by them.
Is there any wonder they seek separate family laws - they had them in India. That they have a "muslim parliament", that they seek a muslim state - partition?
Pakistanis believe in the two nation theory - that muslims are a separate nation and islam cannot survive unless it is protected from the majority kaffirs. Hence the need for their own laws, and eventually their own state.
Posted by: john ||
08/16/2006 18:50 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Muslim leaders have urged Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities, to support Islamic family law in Britain to stop youths joining Islamic extremists.
Yep Chief, it's the nefarious "Install Islamic extremists to prevent Islamic extremists from taking power" plot. [/Maxwell Smart]
Permit me to reply with a quote that is rather well-known, hereabouts.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows.You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
#16
how about if we kufrs can execute (pun intended) Sharia law on Islamists, but they have to resort to western law onus? sounds fair to me. I'm starting a hand-sized-stone supply company soon as this gets the OK. They'll all be stamped with "Allahu Akhbar!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2006 20:38 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Whoa there, Frank. Your "sauce for the gander" stuff is dangerously close to that other mysterious and eternally incomprehensible Arab enigma, Cause & Effect.
This is a long piece with example after example of contempt rhetoric for everything that we believe in. Anyone who hates, can kill. Why do we operate under the pretense that anything positive to our security, can come out of diplomacy?
In June 2006, the Turkish media reported on two recent surveys, by Pew and by Princeton Survey Research Associates. The Pew study, which was conducted in 15 countries between March 31 and May 14, 2006, found significant erosion of positive feelings towards the U.S. among the Turkish people. The Princeton study showed that most Turks have negative feelings towards Jews and Christians - more than in other Muslim countries and Arab countries - and that most do not believe in democracy, despite the common belief that Turkey is the most democratic country in the Muslim world.
Posted by: ed ||
08/16/2006 7:15 Comments ||
Top||
#2
They're Muslims. They don't want democracy or freedom; their "god" told them all to be good little slaves.
They want slavery.
We fought our bloodiest war ever to settle the question of whether slavery is compatible with our ideals. The result was, no, it isn't. So Islam, "submission" as in "submit to the will of your master, slave", is not compatible with our ideals.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/16/2006 7:27 Comments ||
Top||
#3
We fought our bloodiest war ever to settle the question of slavery
....of secession. The war began in 1861. Lincoln's famous Emancipation Proclamation came in Jan 1, 1863. More revisionist history. Slavery is evil and still is, no arguing that point.
#5
To large a topic for this forum NS. If you've not already, recommend you have a look at some of the late Shelby Foote's writings. You may remember him from the Ken Burns' 1990 "Civil War" series.
#7
I'd also recommend Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson, which has the best discussion of pre-war secession politics I've seen anywhere--and yes, there would have been no secession movement if it weren't for slavery, so Rob and Nimble are right.
For the story of the war itself, Foote and MacPherson are good, but I prefer Bruce Catton. Catton's books are the King James Version of Civil War history--some of the prettiest writing you'll ever read.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/16/2006 8:48 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Slavery was the necessary condition for the Civil War, but not the sole cause
Posted by: E. Brown ||
08/16/2006 9:22 Comments ||
Top||
#9
While Lincoln may not have been much of an abolitionist, his party was full of them. The South was faced with an increasingly abolitionist Congress, a rapidly growing Northern population and a swiftly declining economic influence.
Even if we go through the exercise of saying that the South seceded over states' rights, then which of those rights were being violated by the Federal government? Taxation without representation? Were the state militias being suppressed? No. If we look at South Carolina's declaration of secession, there is only one state's right that they are carping about -- slavery. To summarize this document, the mean Northerners won't return our runaway slaves, they don't like slavery, and they just elected a man "hostile to slavery." You can romanticize the "War of Northern Agression" all you want, but the documentary evidence supports the conclusion that it was over slavery.
#10
Big deal. we have people in the U.S. who don't believe in democracy and 'have negative feelings' towards Jews and Christians. Most of them aren't Muslim.
#11
The war began in 1861. Lincoln's famous Emancipation Proclamation came in Jan 1, 1863.
The secession was about slavery (not about trade taxes like the communist historians tried to brainwash their pupils).
And the war was not merely about secession but also about democracy one of whose fundamental postulates being that when you have lost the elections you don't riot or secede but smile, congratulate the victor and prepare the next election. The theme of defending "our magnificent form of government" is in that famous letter to his wife of a Union officer killed at first Bull Run (or first Manassas) but also in countless other private documents from Union soldiers.
About Lincoln we know what he said not what he thought: in 1861 he couldn't set abolition of slavery because that would have alienated key states of the High South who had they seceeded would have ensured the success of the Rebels (Linoln said: "I hope God is in our side but still better to have Kentucky), decreased the influx of volunteers many of them indifferent to the problem of slavery and pushed into the rebel side a number of officers of Southern origin whose loyalty towards the Union was key to final victory (eg Farragut)
#12
Yeah, and the timing of the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution were just a coincidence. Which by the way, were required by those states in rebellion to ratify before they could regain full status into federal system.
Just remember this discussion the next time someone posts about the Japanese not acknowledging their behavior in WWII in China, the Philippines, etc. Why should they admit anything from 60 years ago when there are those in this country who cant acknowledge events from 146 years ago.
#13
Ok let me jump in with my 2 cents, the north fought over slavery the south fought over what was thought as federal govt taking over states rights. I says this because I read a book that had all these letters from common soldiers from the north and south. The northern soldiers was always talking about how slavery was bad and that was why he was fighting. The southern soldier hardly talk about slavery they would say the federal govt. had no right to tell the states what to do. I wish I can remember the name of the book, but it was so many years ago.
Muslims are willing slaves to Allah. Slavery is incompatible with freedom. Therefore, Islam is incompatible with freedom.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/16/2006 10:32 Comments ||
Top||
#15
The southern soldier hardly talk about slavery they would say the federal govt. had no right to tell the states what to do.
Any chance they really didn't want to admit what they were fighting for? It took us a long time to finish that war, but I think pretty much everybody now agrees it was a good thing to end slavery.
#16
The solution to much of the Turk's heartburn is for them to give up on the notion that they are European.
If instead of the EU, they were to embrace a "common market" with Kurdistan and Iraq, the three nations would be to the Middle East what Germany and France are to the EU.
Right now they are a powerful nation and economy that is on the outside looking in--and will remain so. This is terribly frustrating to them, as they know they can be much, much more if they just had economic partnership with other nations.
The Europeans and Americans are too culturally different, but the Turks would at least understand the Iraqis, Kurds, Egyptians, and Jordanians. All are proto-democracies. All are Islamic. And instead of each distrusting the others and trying to tear them down, they could become mutually supportive.
#17
The only 'State's Right' that the South wanted to defend was slavery. They had no problem with the Federal Government going into the northern states to recover fugitive slaves. They had no problem with the federal courts nullifying Congressional acts involving slavery in the territories. They had no problem with their state governments opening the US mail looking for anti-slavery literature.
I have some sympathy for their position. Slavery was a big part of their economy. It was their current answer to race relations. They couldn't avoid the issue like Northern states did. When they got rid of slavery, most blacks were sold south before the deadline. Not practical for a quarter of the population of the state.
But its been almost 150 years. We don't have to distort history to save face anymore.
#19
The military occupation of the sessioned South began in Virginia in 1861. I suppose one could safely say the scourge of slavery officially ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox in 1865. Federal occupation of the South did not end until 1877, some 12 years later. If my math is correct, thats a total of 16 years of Federal oversight or attempted oversight of states rights of which only 4 involved the practice of slavery. I suspect it was more about session, than slavery. Neither Sherman nor Grant kept statistics or gave a wit about liberated slaves. Had Davis freed them all by proclamation in 1862 as some had urged, the war would have gone on still. Lincoln was an astute politician, he needed a cause to bolster his failing wartime position, he needed "evil doers." He found the cause and the justification lives on, rightly or wrongly, as do most justifications for conflict from the winning side. Just my opinion.
#20
Three point plan for Mid East Peace. (1) Turks guarantee the existance and security of Israel and semi-autonomy for the Kurds. (2) Turks keep the oil flowing. (3) Turks can have the bulk of the Ottoman empire back.
This is plan B. I still think we should give Democracy a chance but if we have to walk away...
#21
Hang on....saying the civil war was about slavery is revisionist? I thought it was Common Wisdom?
" I suspect it was more about session, than slavery."
Um... what issue made the (slave) states want to leave the union? Taxes? Military policy? Preference for Grits over potatoes? IIRC, the main argument was whether new states were to be free or slave.
"Slavery was the necessary condition for the Civil War, but not the sole cause"
However, it was also the proximate cause.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
08/16/2006 13:05 Comments ||
Top||
#22
"Slavery was the necessary condition for the Civil War, but not the sole cause"
Slavery was a not the sole cause forv secession. It was just 99,99999999999999999999999999999999999999% of it. Just look at secessionist press and speeches and see how many times is slavery mentionned versus every other grief put together.
#24
Regarding Turkey: Things have become much worse since Erdogan became PM. He is guiding Turkey into becoming a violently anti-West nation. We have to get prepared for a major shift in Turkish policy.
Regarding the Civil War. Slavery was an indirect cause of the war. The problem was that Southern society depended on keeping Blacks down. Southern society was divided into an English upper class and a Scotts-Irish lower class. The best way to keep the Scotts-Irish in line was keep the Blacks as boogie-men/pariahs.
As one Southern Senator (Calhoun?) said: "The main benefit of slavery is it keeps the poor White off the bottom."
From the North's perspective, the main disadvantage of slavery was that is froze the South in place economically and politically, and that was hurting the entire Union.
P.S. Lincoln was a moderate on slavery, which is why emancipation took so long.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/16/2006 14:55 Comments ||
Top||
#25
Slavery was a not the sole cause forv secession. It was just 99,99999999999999999999999999999999999999% of it. Just look at secessionist press and speeches and see how many times is slavery mentionned versus every other grief put together.
Posted by: JFM 2006-08-16 13:53
A statistical summary that parallels the donks condemnation of George Bush on any given issue. In 150 years, will that view be accepted as well?
#26
P.S. Lincoln was a moderate on slavery, which is why emancipation took so long.
Lincold had NOT free hands. Had he tied to abolish slavery in 1861 the Union would have lost the war (cf analysis in my first post in this tgread) and slavery would have continued...
Most of the time the people who are very vocal for a cause delay its victory/cause its defeat.
#29
I personally liked the book "founding brothers." It goes into some of the "roots" of slavery on the continent and the compromise of 1788 which put a moratorium on the issue until about 1808. (The name that should not be named in the halls of congress at the time.) This was done in order to get S.C. & GA to enter the union in the first place. Unfortunately for all of the infinite good our founders did the issue of slavery got passed along to be resolved by future Americans. IMHO, slavery was the main condition of the war but not the sole condition. IIRC, the average southern soldier didn't own any slaves so hence you get the attitude of states rights vs. too much fed gov't intervention from them. I have seen much sentiments in this respect from what I've studied. It was not a "civil" war per se as the south was not trying to take over the gov't in D.C.. It was a war of secession. Personally, I am damn glad the south lost as slavery is a heinous institution totally incompatible w/our founding principles. Pragmatically speaking, if the south had won we would not be the super power we are today and I believe we may have fought that war over again at a later date.
Hat tip: Sound Politics. For the geographically impaired Tacoma lies about 20-30 miles south of Seattle in the Peoples Republic of Washington State.
Rebecca and Keith Yale say they wont take down their Israeli flag.
Not after a passenger in a car driving past their Northeast Tacoma home last week made an anti-Semitic remark and spit at Rebecca, who simply wanted to cross the street to get the mail.
And not after someone smashed one of their windows with a rock labeled Jew and burned a small cross on their front yard Monday night.
My son fought for our freedom to do what we want, Rebecca, 50, said Tuesday, of her son, Lucas Litowitz, a soldier wounded in the Iraq war. I feel like we have a right to fly whatever flags we want. Apparently not in the Peoples Republic....
Tacoma police are investigating Mondays incident at the Yales house on Frances Avenue as a hate crime, police spokesman Mark Fulghum said. Investigators arent sure if the two incidents are related, and they havent yet identified any suspects, he said.
But they think the Yales were targeted because of the Israeli flag, which flies on a pole in their front yard along with an American flag, Fulghum said.
Rebecca had finished watching a TV show Monday about 9 p.m. when she heard the sound of glass breaking, she said.
She rushed to check her glass front door, and then ran to her home office. She pulled the window shade, noticed the window was broken and then saw a fire burning in her front yard.
She thought her house was on fire until she went outside and got a closer look at the flames, which were burning a 1-foot-by-2 foot cross.
It appears whoever set the fire sprayed a flammable fluid on the cross and ignited it.
I was quite puzzled by the burning cross, said Rebecca, a Messianic Jew. I felt like I was back in the early 1900s.
She went next door to tell her neighbor, and then returned to search her yard. Thats when she found the first-sized rock that broke her window. It had smashed two panes of glass, but apparently rebounded off a window screen.
Keith Yale, a Pentecostal minister, described his neighborhood as very quiet, peaceful.
Its really unsettling to have this happen, he said. For anti-Semitism to come to my doorstep is really shocking.
Not me. I know how some of our more 'tolerant' leftish neighbors can get around here. Rabid doesn't begin to describe it.
#2
Sounds like an excellent place to set up an ambush.
First set up a private drive that looks like a public way, with tire-shredding electronic security spikes. Then several good quality hidden cameras, and something that looks easy to damage, like a big pane of glass.
When they throw or shoot something at the glass, the spike strips activate and pop all four of their tires.
Then you get a couple of big, mean guys to charge them, so they abandon their car and run away.
Then you tow their car.
All told, they pay for the glass, extra-expensive tow charges, four new tires, and a "hate crime" fee, or you offer to turn the video over to the police and press criminal charges.
Three or four of the idiots and it pays for itself.
Motion monitors the video signal from one or more cameras (video4linux interface) and is able to detect if a significant part of the picture has changed. Features: interval snapshots, live streaming webcam, mpeg generation, database interface, OSD etc
phpmotiondetectMotion detection using PHP. Detects motion using your webcam and stores snapshots on disk or in a mysql database.
ZoneMinderZoneMinder is video and cctv surveillance and security application. It supports multiple video or IP cameras and a sophisticated motion detection system based around zones. Both live streams and historic events can be viewed via the web interface.
Devolution Security SystemDevolution Security System is a video surveillance system which can handle up to 16 cameras with motion detection, notification and record on motion to mp4. Stream over the LAN (Multicast) or Over the Net (Unicast).
MotiontrackMotiontrack is a motion detection backend which simply and effective compares 2 images and checks for any objects which have moved. Works even with low quality and high flicker / snowstorm images. Will someday be able to recognize objects.
Mimas The Mimas Toolkit is a C++ real-time computer vision library. Algorithms include edge/corner-detection, object recognition/tracking, LSI-filters, segmentation, array-operators, convolution etc. OO wrappers for LAPACK, libxine, V4L, FFTW are provided.
MAlib
'MAlib' is an open source C library for ... Media Analysis, Motion Analizing, Movie Architecture, and Media Authoring.
gtmsGTMS, or ground truth measurement system, is a high speed (quasi-real-time) optical tracking and motion capture software.
gspy - a gnome security camera app Gspy retrieves images from a video4linux device and processes these images looking for significant motion events. Each image of interest is recorded to a daily image directory may be optionally converted to mpeg movies. see http://gspy.sourceforge.net
MPT MPT is a toolbox that supplies cross-platform libraries for real-time perception primitives, including face detection, eye detection, blink detection, and color tracking.
PESHAWAR: Mangal Bagh Afridi, head of the Lashkar Islami, on Tuesday accused the political agent of the Khyber Agency and National Assembly Member (MNA) Maulana Khalilur Rehman of providing weapons to his opponents, the Ansarul Islam, another religious group, and appealed to the federal government to restrain such activities. Afridi warned that such steps by the administration and the MNA would instigate clashes between different tribes of the agency and others could also attempt to acquire heavy weapons for their defence.
Talking to Daily Times, he accused Rehman and Dr Tashfeen, political agent of the Khyber Agency, of disturbing law and order in the agency and asked the federal government and the NWFP governor to investigate. If the allegations are proved, they should be given exemplary punishments, Afridi said, adding that Waziristan had been ruined by such people.
He said Lashkar Islami had never opted for conflict with the security forces in the Agency and expected the same from the administration. He said his organisation was engaged in clashes with a group of criminals and that the group had used mortar shells available to the government security agencies. He said his organisation had ample proof in this regard. The Lashkar had observed Independence Day as a black day, Afridi said, adding that it was not because of a lack of love for the country but because of the high headedness of the political administration, which was refusing to release their apprehended men on Independence Day.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yeah, I'm begining to see it. Remove the turbin, use a Red and Yello prop beanie, substitute a Whitworth blackpower rifle and it does look like short a version of Deacon.
Pakistan on Tuesday rejected allegations from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Pakistan was allowing terrorist groups to operate from its territory. "Pakistan is committed to fighting terrorism and also to the peace process with India," Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.
We have not received any evidence whatsoever of any act of terrorism in India and it is not possible to offer any cooperation...
She said the peace process was meant to resolve disputes between the two countries that have caused conflict, tension and distress in the region, but added that it required sincerity and commitment from both sides. "To allow terrorists in the region to undermine this process will be very unfortunate," she said. Aslam said Pakistan had been cooperating with the international community in fighting terrorism and cited the foiling of the London aircraft bombing plot, which was prevented "through trust, cooperation and information sharing". "We cannot cooperate with any country that is making allegations and has a history of not cooperating with us," she said. "We have not received any evidence whatsoever of any act of terrorism in India and it is not possible to offer any cooperation."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The Foreign Office has denied as "absurd" reports in the press that Islamic charities had diverted money meant for earthquake relief to fund the alleged London terror plot.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
The FO also denied that Rashid Rauf, a key suspect arrested in Pakistan, had any connection with charities involved in earthquake relief.
These are all absurd stories. The objective is to malign Pakistan...
"These are all absurd stories. The objective is to malign Pakistan," FO spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said at a briefing on Tuesday. She said Britain had not sought Rauf's extradition from Pakistan. Aslam said the arrest of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed had nothing to do with the London plot. "He has been put under house arrest because of some statements which were not in the public interest."
This is a bogus story. It has nothing to do with reality...
Suspicion has fallen on two Pakistani charities said to be linked to banned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad and its affiliate Jamaat-ul-Furqan, Pakistani intelligence officials told Reuters. "We are looking into the activities of al-Rasheed Trust and al Asar Trust because there are some questions over whether they have been involved in money transfers from Britain to Pakistan during the earthquake relief effort, and whether the funds were subsequently forwarded to conspirators in the plot to blow up passenger planes," said one official. Western media have speculated that Jamaatud Dawa could also be involved, but a spokesman for the group denied this. This is a bogus story. It has nothing to do with reality, Yahya Mujahid told AP.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
August 12 2006 at 0830 LT in posn 24:59.4N - 059:16.1E, Gulf of Oman, Iran. 12 pirates in a boat approached a container ship underway. Pirates asked the ship to stop but master evasive manoeuvres. Boat approached the ship and suddenly increased speed. Master raised alarm and crew mustered and activated fire hoses. After 15 mins pirates aborted attempt.
August 11 2006 at 2255 LT at Manila south harbour anchorage, Philippines. Eight robbers armed with guns boarded a container ship. Alert cadet on forecastle sighted a boat near bulbous bow. Master raised alarm, blew ship's whistle and crew mustered. Robbers ransacked forward locker and escaped with ship's stores. VTIS Manila and coast guard informed.
August 11 2006 at 1910 LT at Callao anchorage no. 12, Peru. our robbers boarded a bulk carrier via hawse pipe and forced open bosun store. C/O raised alarm and alerted crew. Robbers escaped in their boat empty handed. Port authorities were informed.
August 08 2006 at midnight off Niger Delta region, Nigeria. Pirates boarded a supply tug and kidnapped four crew members and took them ashore. Pirates are demanding a ransom for their release. Owners are negotiating.
[Four members released later]
August 04 2006 at 2030 UTC at Teluk Semangka anchorage, Indonesia. eight robbers armed with knives boarded a tanker. They entered engine room and tied up and assaulted two duty crewmembers. Robbers stole generator spares and escaped.
August 16, 2006: Sunni Arabs continue to flee the country, or to areas in Iraq that are almost entirely Sunni Arab. Many of those who remain believe they have no choice but to support the nationalists (Baath party and Saddam supporters who want Sunni Arabs to rule Iraq) and Islamic militants (al Qaeda, and other groups that want a religious dictatorship) who are willing to fight on to the end. These terrorists groups provide an illusion of protection, until the Iraqi army and police show up, which they are doing more and more. Even the most "pure" Sunni Arab areas are under attack by American and Iraqi army units, which are moving through western Iraq, subduing resistance in towns that have, until, never submitted to any post-Saddam government.
So what is going to happen? There's not going to be a partition of Iraq, for the simple reason that there are too many Shia (millions) living in central Iraq, the "Sunni Arab" third of Iraq. These Shia have shown no intention of moving. The sad fact of the matter is that the only area that is almost entirely Sunni Arab is western Iraq, which is mostly desert. But Sunni Arabs consider Baghdad to be "their" city. It isn't, as it now has millions of Shia residents, and the Shia control the government.
While the suicide bombs grab most of the headlines, the most important thing happening is the daily intimidation of Sunni Arabs, who are being encouraged to leave the country, or move to purely Sunni Arab areas. These include many Baghdad neighborhoods, and towns in western and northern Iraq (just below the frontier with Iraqi Kurdistan.)
Only American intelligence has a good idea of what shape the anti-government forces are in, and the intel people are not releasing any scorecards, as that would give the enemy an idea of how much the Americans know. However, more safe houses and arms caches are being discovered in Sunni Arab areas of Baghdad and western Iraq. These successes are the result of more tips phoned in by Sunni Arabs who are fed up with all the violence. There are fewer Sunni Arab terror attacks, and more Sunni Arab victims of terror attacks against them.
The big question is, when will the new government have a sufficient competent security forces to impose the kind of "law and order" that Saddam's thugs maintained for decades. Most of those Sunni Arab enforcers are no longer involved with security issues, and many are actively involved with the anti-government attacks. The largely Kurd and Shia Arab security forces get better, especially if you check progress on a month-to -month or year-to-year basis. For example, in the past year, the ratio of dead has turned sharply against the Sunni Arabs.
The government security forces have been turning against the Shia Arab militias with growing frequency. These militias tend to be very territorial, and when police or soldiers move into what the militia consider their turf, there is usually an armed confrontation, often followed by some gunfire. The militia lose these confrontations, but the government is concerned that many of these defeated militiamen will go into the terrorism business.
Terrorism is something of a national sport in Iraq. There are many practitioners. The usual suspects, the Sunni Arab terrorists and al Qaeda, have plenty of competition from government forces. Officially, police and army units will use their superior numbers and firepower to intimidate and terrorize. But they will also go off the books with unofficial death squads. That was the favorite method of Saddam, who, in this sad custom, has left his lasting mark on Iraq. Relative peace will return to the entire country when the vast majority of terrorists are only those working for the government.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/16/2006 10:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
More insightful commentary than StrategyPage usually offers. Thanks, Steve.
AMMAN/Baghdad - Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit and Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday on a previously unannounced visit, official sources said in Amman. The sources said the visit, coming three weeks after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki met with King Abdullah II in Amman, was aimed at boosting bilateral ties and looking into prospects of resuming Iraqi oil supplies to cash-strapped Jordan.
The Amman leaders were to conduct discussions focusing on issues of mutual Jordanian-Iraqi concern including bilateral relations and cooperation on the political, economic, and national security levels. The delegation also includes Jordans ministers of the interior, foreign affairs, industry, trade, mineral resources, and energy.
Jordan, which imports its oil from international markets at world market rates, hopes to buy Iraqi crude at preferential rates, similar to the arrangement with Saddam Hussein before his ouster in 2003. The kingdoms oil bill now devours more than 20 per cent of the budget.
I don't see the Iraqis giving their oil away to anyone.
maybe not, but Jordan was enormously helpful in the overthrow of Saddam and - importantly - has continued to allow various useful things to transit their border since, I suspect. I wouldn't be surprised if some deal was cut. OTOH with the bazaar haggling still going on inside Iraq itself re: the oil and the govt, who knows?
I'm not sure the word 'gratitude' translates into Arabic. And the Iraqis need cold, hard dinars to rebuild their country. Some sort of temporary discount? Maybe, but the kinds of deals that Saddam made are a thing of the past, I'm guessing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
OTOH, the Jordanians did help with booming Zarq.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/16/2006 0:22 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Is such stripend provided to the US as well? Not to sound like a pig, but.... I have many Personal Investments in Iraq. Do I not also get a "Discount"?
If I walk, you drop.
NAJAF, Iraq - The deputy governor of Iraqs Shia province of Najaf said Tuesday that local militias will boost the regions security after a recent suicide bomb attack killed 35 people. We started today forming a committee in Najaf to choose individuals who will control security in their neighbourhoods and keep an eye on all suspect movements in their areas, deputy governor Abdul Hussain Abtan told AFP.
This will be done in collaboration with security forces in the city and is the first step in activating popular committees.
So is the milita a part of or outside of the government? That'll tell us a fair bit about whether the Shi'a really want a civil war and their own state.
Abtan belongs to powerful Shia party, the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), whose chief Abdel Aziz Al Hakim had called for setting up such committees after the bombing on Thursday. Last week, Aziz demanded the right to inaugurate the rule of popular committees in areas to give people a chance to defend themselves. His demand was echoed by the movement of Shia radical leader Moqtada Sadr.
Both groups want to form Shia self-defence committees, a move that would undermine the authority of Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, who has vowed to disarm militias.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Let's put a few more militias into the Coaltion meat grinder.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/16/2006 0:24 Comments ||
Top||
#2
So they are rejecting national sovereignty. Under international law, a State so divided is deemed: "a failed state." That status was used to detain terrorists captured in the Afghan whatever, in Gitmo.
Actually, I want to see Iraq break up. Unfortunately its the Basra Shiite Arabs, and not the Karbala-Najaf ones, that make the Gulf oil patch insecure. However, Shiite Arabs also live in the West corner of Iran. With Turkey closer to Iran, the Kurds have limited leverage. What a mess. Maybe we push both Sunnis and Shiites out, and give the lanlocked Kurds a land to sea nation.
How long ago April seems, when the EU announced that it was "suspending" aid to the Palestinian territories in response to the electoral victory of Hamas and the formation of a Hamas government. In fact, from the start this "suspension" of aid was merely partial, with more than half of the habitual EU aid package continuing to be paid out under the heading of "humanitarian" expenditures. Then, in June, as previously reported here on Trans-Int, the EU announced that it was "resuming" the for all of two months "suspended" part of the aid. And now we have this from an article on the EU aid budget in the Monday (7 August) edition of Le Figaro:
In 2006, the Middle East has been very expensive for the finances of the Union. Despite the Hamas victory, the EU has already dispensed some 309 million euros in aid to the Palestinian territories, a sum which surpasses the annual average of 250 million paid out in previous years.
Another proof that the EU is supporting terror...
Note that projected over the entire year, this rate of aid would give an annual figure of over 500 million euros: or, in other words, twice the annual average of previous years "despite the Hamas victory."
JERUSALEM (AP) -- As the Mideast cease-fire took hold, there was no truce in Israeli politics: Demands mounted for the military chief's resignation, and the government came under increasing criticism over how the war against Hezbollah was waged. Newspapers and radio shows were filled with outrage over army chief Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz's decision to sell off his stock portfolio just hours before launching Israel's biggest military operation since its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Halutz declared himself a victim of malicious reporting, saying he has been turned "into a Shylock."
Calls mounted Wednesday for setting up a commission of inquiry into how the war was run, amid growing dissatisfaction with Israel's leaders and Monday's cease-fire. The 34-day war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, widely seen here as just, had united Israel's fractured society. Hezbollah was considered a growing threat after it had vastly expanded its arsenal of missiles in recent years.
But the unity crumbled after Israel's fabled army pulled out of south Lebanon without crushing Hezbollah or rescuing two soldiers whose July 12 capture by the guerillas during a raid in Israel triggered the fighting.
The war began just two months after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, men with little military experience, took office. Surveys in two major Hebrew-language dailies on Wednesday showed low approval ratings for both. A poll of 500 people by TNS-Teleseker showed support for Olmert sinking to 40 percent after soaring to 78 percent in the first two weeks of the offensive. Peretz' approval rating plunged to 28 percent from 61 percent, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. A second poll, by the Dahaf Research Institute, showed 57 percent calling for his resignation. The Dahaf poll, which had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points, showed 70 percent opposed to a cease-fire that did not include the return of the captured soldiers, and 69 percent backing an official inquiry into the war's prosecution.
Under the truce, Israel is to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and 15,000 Lebanese army forces, backed by a similar number of U.N. peacekeepers, are to patrol the territory, which had been controlled by Hezbollah before the war. Critics of the truce question the ability of the new force to keep Hezbollah at bay.
Halutz's wartime decisions did not score him many points with the public: Fifty-two percent of those polled by TNS and 47 percent of those surveyed by Dahaf said they were dissatisfied with his handling of the fighting. Politicians and military commanders called for his resignation after a newspaper reported he sold his stock portfolio just before the fighting began. Halutz has acknowledged selling about $28,000 worth of stocks at noon July 12, three hours after Hezbollah launched the cross-border raid that touched off the war.
He has expressed no regret over the timing of the sale, saying he has finances to manage like any other Israeli. "They've turned me into Shylock," he told the Yediot Ahronot daily, referring to Shakespeare's despised Jewish "Merchant of Venice.".
Also under fire is Halutz's decision to rely heavily on airstrikes in the first phase of the war. In another controversial decision, a massive ground offensive was ordered just as a cease-fire deal was within reach. More than 30 Israeli soldiers died after the U.N. Security Council had already approved the truce deal. The government has said its final push deep into Lebanon was necessary to maximize gains against Hezbollah before the cease-fire.
One of the last casualties was Staff Sgt. Uri Grossman, the son of internationally acclaimed novelist David Grossman. The elder Grossman supported the war but two days before his son was killed he condemned the last-ditch campaign as dangerous and counterproductive. "I won't say anything now about the war in which you were killed," Grossman said in his eulogy to his son. "We, your family, have already lost in this war."
Posted by: Steve ||
08/16/2006 09:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Selling into the face of the war? Yeah, that'll P. O. the people. But he wasn't short selling, right?
Israel appears to have a leadership problem that might be generational. They need to clean out the deadwood before this cease fire falls apart. I'd hate to depend on this bunch to have learned the lessons from the recent fiasco.
Greatly embarrassed by the affair, Bank Leumi executives on Tuesday ordered an internal inquiry to determine whether its employees leaked information about the sale by Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz of an NIS 120,000 investment portfolio just hours after two IDF soldiers were abducted by Hezbollah on the northern border.
As the country's political and military echelons met urgently to discuss the possible declaration of war, Halutz went to sell the portfolio, the Ma'ariv newspaper reported on Tuesday.
In response to the report, Halutz confirmed to Ma'ariv that he sold the portfolio on that date, but denied it had anything to do with the possibility of an imminent war. The IDF chief said he sold the portfolio because of losses he sustained prior to July 12.
"It was my portfolio of shares, on which I had lost NIS 25,000," Halutz told Ma'ariv. "It is true that I sold the portfolio on July 12, 2006, but it is impossible to link that to the war. At the time I did not expect or think that there would be a war."
Senior sources in the IDF General Staff and field officers who took part in the war in Lebanon said Tuesday that Halutz cannot escape resignation.
The sources say there is a clear ethical flaw in the chief of staff's behavior during the hours when soldiers were being killed in Lebanon and others were attempting a rescue operation. Halutz should resign the moment the military completes its pullout from south Lebanon, they said.
At this stage, however, it seems unlikely that Halutz intends to quit of his own accord.
Halutz described the Ma'ariv article exposing the affair as "malicious and tendentious - I don't intend to be dragged down to such a low level and blemish my integrity. I am a citizen too and have my own economic affairs. This has stained [my reputation] for no reason and is unworthy of any further comment."
The Israel Securities Authority said that Halutz's actions were not in contravention of the Companies Law regarding insider trading.
Section H.1 rules that insider information relates only to traded companies, not estimations in respect to the general situation of the market.
However, that in itself does not end the affair. If it turns out that Halutz sold shares in marketing companies or banks, assuming they would be facing hard times during the war, then his actions may be subject to investigation.
#1
If the kidnapping news had already been made public and widely disseminated, he had freedom of action. If not, he was operating on "insider information".
During war many Haifa Arabs flee to West Bank cities, encounter humiliation, prefer to return to Katyushas. Hotels and restaurants hike up prices and residents harass women and girls. Palestinian Authority opens official investigation of issue. 'We will never again make donation or participate in demonstration for West Bank from now on,' said one Haifa Arab
Roee Nahmias
Several Arab families decided to act on Hizbullah Chief Hassan Nasrallah's "recommendation" and leave rocket-stricken Haifa during the war in south Lebanon. They traveled to Palestinian towns like Bethlehem and Ramallah, and even to east Jerusalem, but soon after decided they had rather return home and face the rocket menace. The reason: The bad treatment awarded to them in hotels, restaurants and stores, as well as ongoing harassments of their wives and daughters on the part of the local residents.
Ghani Abassi, married and a father of three daughters, decided to go with his family to Bethlehem and flee the Katyusha attacks. Abbasi traveled to the Palestinian town with some 10 other families from Haifa, who all chose to stay at local hotels. Unfortunately, this was when their true nightmare began.
"I waited for three days until I got a room. Then it turned out that the air conditioning wasn't working, and I was told that the reason was the high price of electricity. I decided that this wasn't that bad, because we felt we were among our brothers at the West Bank and were willing to endure the terrible heat, knowing we're safe and that our visit was also of financial help," Abbasi described to the website of the Israeli-Arab newspaper al-Sinara.
"However, the treatment we received was disgraceful and dreadful," he said. "We walked around town for a while, but the attitude we encountered on the part of the locals was horrible. The youngsters on the street started harassing our wives and daughters and used shocking expressions that I cannot even bring myself to pronounce," he said.
Another Haifa resident, who went with his family to Jerusalem to escape from the rocket threat, said that the local merchants blatantly took advantage of the situation and inflated the prices in stores. A bottle of mineral water that usually sells for about NIS 4, for instance, was being sold to the Haifa tourists for NIS 10.
"They told us, 'you are worse than the Jews.' We heard expressions of joy over the fact we have fled our homes, and some even tried to attack us. We were disgusted and decided to return to Haifa," he said, stressing that he used to be a regular donor to the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza.
According to him, after that day and the humiliation he experienced in Bethlehem, he does not plan on donating even one shekel. "We thought we are one nation and that what really hurts them, hurts us too. We went to demonstrations for them and we donated a lot of money to them because we thought they are our brothers and that is our obligation. But, what we found was exploitation and undeserving treatment toward someone supposedly from the same nation," he told.
The same resident added that he expected the families from Haifa and Nazareth to be warmly received in the West Bank towns, but what took place was the exact opposite. Today he speaks with regret about the two days he spent in Bethlehem.
"While touring in Ramallah, a few youngsters said to us, 'you are the same as, even worse than, the Jews.' We tried to understand why they were acting that way toward us, but they attacked us and a fight broke out. We are very sorry for what happened and we couldn't have expected such an unfit welcome from members of our nation whom we had respected and appreciated very much. But they didn't respect us at all, and saw as worse than the Jews. We are very sorry for what happened and that we drove all the way there to see the painful truth that they don't respect us there," said Ghani Abassi.
Abassi added that the restaurants jacked up prices for customers because they thought they were foreign 'tourists.' "Even foreigners are respected there, but we, their own brothers, felt like they don't respect us, and my friends and I asked why? Are we unworthy of the respect due to members of the same nation?"
Following such treatment, Abassi and his friends hurried back to the lap of the Katyushas and air raid sirens of Haifa. "'We will never again make a donation or participate in a demonstration for the West Bank from now on," said one of them.
OT : The youngsters on the street started harassing our wives and daughters and used shocking expressions that I cannot even bring myself to pronounce," he said.
This reminds me of a documentary about an old algerian living in France who had sent money to homeland for years, in order to have his house built for retirement there; the documentary followed him from disillusion to disillusion (money had been diverted, nothing was being done, authorities were inept, etc, etc,...), and one bit that struck me was the fact that westernized his 20-ish daughters were very bitter about going there in vacation to check how the construction was going (nowhere), because the local boyz would follow them in large groups as soon as they set a foot outside, whistle as them, harass them, make them crude sexual advances, etc, etc, the whole work.
The "they're worse than dogs, you've got to chase them away with stones, it looks like they've never seen a woman" diagnostic they expressed is IMHO a very pertient one about the wimmen status in backward islamic societies : not protected by the veil and assorted "modesty" customs, but rather reduced to a piece of meat you either own for reproduction, or which is available for all because it is a pure sexual object. No wonder the clashes with western values result in so many instance of sexual predation by muslim migrants.
#3
So, what do they intend to do about it? Continue being a fifth column for the Paleos or fight for Israel? Third alternative, and most probable, is nothing.
Many American Jews are now moving to Israel: no word on Spielburg, yet.
"During the summer months, six EL AL flights will land in Israel carrying 1,500 new immigrants from North America. By the end of the year, it is estimated that there will be a total of 3,400 new immigrants from North America (U.S.A. and Canada), up from 2,987 in 2005."
Trying to build on a cease-fire in Lebanon, showboat captain civil rights leader Jesse Jackson launched an effort Tuesday to arrange the release of prisoners held by Hezbollah and Israel. "The cease-fire is a step in the right direction," Jackson said after talking to the Israeli and Syrian ambassadors here. "Release of prisoners would reinforce the positive direction."
Jackson, an experienced meddler go-between, has brought Americans home from Syria, Cuba, Iraq and Yugoslavia. And, he said in an interview, "in each instance we had a no-talk policy in that country." The cease-fire resolution approved unanimously last week by the U.N. Security Council did not demand that Hezbollah release two Israeli soldiers whose abduction touched off the 34-day conflict. Nor did it demand Israel release Arab prisoners. But in the preamble to the resolution, the council said the situation should be addressed urgently.
Jackson began his effort with a telephone conversation with Daniel Ayalon, the Israeli ambassador, appealing to his government to consider "some exchange of prisoners" as a goodwill gesture "if there is movement on the two abducted Israelis," Jackson said. He then called on Syrian Ambassador Iyad Moustapha, whose government has strong ties to the Hezbollah militia. "I asked him to make an appeal to his president, Bashar Assad, on a humanitarian basis to appeal to whoever is appropriate, maybe Hezbollah, to seek the whereabouts and grant the release of the two Israeli soldiers," Jackson said. "He was positive and said he would convey the message," Jackson said. Although Jackson said he couldn't find out about the health of the prisoners, he said he had the impression they were "all right."
Jackson said he and other religious leaders would go to Syria "if we had the notion we could gain the release of prisoners on both sides. ... Such an effort would not be in conflict with our present policies because it would be humanitarian."
And remember, death is not an option: Jesse Jackson or Carla del Ponte? Discuss.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
As .com used to say, "publicly whore"
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/16/2006 0:26 Comments ||
Top||
#2
CA - I don't remember it quite that way, but close enough! :)
#7
If this attention whore actually supports the 600:1 or 1,000:1 prisoner exchange deal, he officially becomes a terrorist facilitator. Only if this moron had the nerve to suggest a 1:1 exchange could he retain (or obtain) a shred of credibility. I see no contradiction of the previously floated blackmail and extortion offers, so I'm not holding my breath.
Israel's month-long war against Hizbullah has cost the country $1.6bn (£850m), or about 1% of GDP, according to initial government estimates. About a third of that went directly to the army.
Most analysts believe the ceasefire arrived just in time to stop the conflict putting a significant brake on Israel's high growth rate, although the economy is vulnerable to any resumption in the fighting. However, the total bill is unlikely to exceed the approximately $2.5bn Israel receives each year in aid from the US - $2.2bn of that in military grants.
At least 6,000 houses or businesses in the north were destroyed or damaged during the fighting. Much of the region's fruit harvest rotted on the trees because farm labourers spent the month in their shelters. More than a million people were displaced from the north and about a quarter of the region's small businesses had to be saved from bankruptcy by emergency government support, according to Oded Feller, the president of the Chamber of Commerce for Haifa and the north. On top of that, 30,000 reservists left their jobs around the country when they were called up.
Most importantly, tourism died completely in the northern beach resorts and around the Sea of Galilee and was badly hit in the rest of the country. Even if fighting does not break out again, there are likely to be ripple effects on tourism into next year at least.
With the truce holding for the time being, the Tel Aviv stock market has already recovered to within 2% of its pre-war level and the shekel has also bounced back.
The 5% growth rate of the past three years could be slowed, but perhaps by less than 1%, government economists hope. "In a couple of months, we can recoup half the losses. The factories will work overtime," said Shraga Brosh, the head of the Manufacturer's Association of Israel.
Foreign investment, which has fuelled the high growth of recent years, is expected to double this year to about $12bn, mostly in the form of acquisitions of Israeli start-ups, he said. "Right now, there is no negative reaction. Those people who plan to invest in Israel are keeping their investment here. People believe the economy is strong."
According to Mr Brosh, the damage would have been much more serious if the war had gone on even a few weeks longer, and such economic considerations may have played a role in the government's decision to accept the UN ceasefire.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yet elsewhere, the Iranians were whining that they had lost almost $4B with all those bunkers, launchers, rockets and missiles that either the Israelis blew up or the Hezbollah fired off like fireworks.
#2
If the Israelis would have started the ground campaign in week 1, the overall cost would have been considerably less.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/16/2006 0:27 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I wonder how much it cost the Lebanese. I wonder how much it will cost the international community (thanks, UN!). Was it worth it to shirk responsibility? The way things are going, I sense Round 2 coming up, so it must have been.
#4
Let's see who bounces back to normal faster, northern Israel or southern Lebanon. Any bets?
But as long as Naz and the Hizzie boys feel good about themselves, that's what really matters...
A lot of readers emailed about a new Iranian web site that purports to be Mahmoud Ahmadinejads blog, and a lot of other blogs have linked to it.
But before you click through to the site (from somewhere else, I wont post the link here), make sure your virus prevention software is up to datebecause it may try to exploit a weakness in Internet Explorer to install a back door in your computer: Pres. Ahmadinejad trying to infect Israelis with web viruses?
(Iran Focus) London, Aug. 16 Iran masterminded the July 12 attack on an Israeli military squad by the Lebanese militia Hezbollah which ignited a major military offensive against the group by the Jewish state, Iran Focus has learnt.
Since they seem to think they won this round, perhaps they're trying to take credit for it?
A well-placed source inside the clerical establishment told Iran Focus that prior to the start of hostilities Tehran dispatched several top officials including the chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to attend a summit in Syria which took place on July 4 and focused on ways to upset the regional balance in the Middle East. Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, travelled to the Syrian capital last month, staying in Damascus between July 1 and 6 under the cover of pilgrimage to a revered Shiite Muslim shrine. Simultaneously, several top Hezbollah officials arrived in Damascus for what they claimed was to meet Hassan Khomeini.
On July 4, the secretary general of Irans Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani made an unannounced trip to the Syrian capital. The Supreme Commander of the IRGC Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the Staff of the Islamic Republics armed forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi also secretly travelled to Damascus to attend the summit.
The summit, which was held at the Iranian embassy in Damascus, was also attended by top Syrian security officials and Irans ambassador to Syria Hassan Akhtari. The radical Shiite cleric was formerly the chief of staff of Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. During the summit a politico-military strategy was drawn up for a possible attack by Hezbollah fighters against Israel to trigger a regional war, and the militia was called on to prepare for an offensive.
Days later, on July 11, following a round of talks in Brussels with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Irans nuclear standoff with the West, Larijani made a second unannounced to trip to Damascus. There he met and held talks with Syrian Vice-President Farouk al-Shara, making the final arrangements for the actions that were to follow.
Finally, while meeting a top Hezbollah official in the Iranian embassy, Larijani gave the order for the Lebanese militia to mount the cross-border attack on the Jewish state, triggering the 34-day war which has left 157 Israelis and 1,110 Lebanese dead.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/16/2006 13:28 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
Anticipating Hizb'allah's failure to comply with a UN-brokered ceasefire, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a letter to Jerusalem at the weekend, insisting Israel not respond militarily to any violations of Security Council Resolution 1701, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Annan said Israel should only respond in immediate self-defense, and not by relaunching a wider military offensive against the terror group.
In effect, the UN chief was saying that Israel should totally ignore Hizb'allah efforts to reestablish itself in southern Lebanon and Syrian efforts to resupply the group, and should only respond in a very pinpoint manner to any further firing of missiles at northern Israel. Both the Lebanese military and French forces expected to bolster peacekeepers already on the ground in southern Lebanon have said they will not confront Hizb'allah with force if the terror group fails to go along with the ceasefire terms.
Israeli government sources said Annan's letter was unacceptable, and that a firm response was being drafted.
#2
Let's remember that Kofi Annan has assisted to countless UN ceremonies deploring the creation of the Palestinian problem while ever keeping a stone heart about Blacks enslaved and genocided by Arabs in Sudan.
#8
O.K. I see this is an (ever an optimist) good light. Maybe, just maybe, the "average American" will finally begin to see the U.N. for what it truly is.
In between that, and my thoughts that Iran/Syria/Hezzies will be stupid enough to try and pull off something some blatant that Israel has no choice but to "go postal" on em, I see this one getting hot again before the "peacekeepers" even lay boots on the ground. Add into that, the fact that the French will be leading the way, and that the Hezzies said they WON"T disarm, and the Lebanese and Syrians spewing hate that begins to rival Ahmadinnerjacket's, would someone please pass the popcorn? And, oh yeah, this time Israel needs to finish the job. I just thank God that the Hezzies are such terrible aims with their rockets.
Posted by: BA ||
08/16/2006 14:12 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Kofi has presided over one genocide already. He is totally not up to the task. His letter to Israel essentally calls the ceasefire off. The Israelites need to slap him down hard and show him for the utter failure he is.
It appears the ceasefire terms are already being grossly violated. The Israelites need to call it off and continue the desertification of Lebanon. Those in Lebanon who don't wish to be rolled up can start leaving or attacking Hizb'allah.
#15
Now I knew that the "Please show restraint" message was obligatory, but this is really, really quick to arrive.
Israeli government sources said Annan's letter was unacceptable, and that a firm response was being drafted.
Weirdly, I see Kofi being more frightened of the 'firm response' than of real-world action.
#16
Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a letter to Jerusalem at the weekend, insisting Israel not respond militarily to any violations of Security Council Resolution 1701, according to The Jerusalem Post.
What is this treacherous maggot smoking? PCP and heroin laced donkey-sh!t cigars? I can hear him now, "Don't take the bait, let them slowly kill off all of your people. Resistance is futile." This @sshole's oxygen consumption license just expired.
#17
A little kid was asked to tell a story with a moral, and he told the class about his Uncle Bob, who got drunk, killed a man, then broke the arms and legs of several others in the fight. The horrified teacher asked,"What's the moral?" The kid said, "Everybody says you don't mess with Uncle Bob when he's been drinking." The IDF needs a few drinks every time the Hez's fire a rocket.
Short version: The Leb pols have returned to business as usual, Hezbollah's not going to give up its fascination with guns and explosives and the government's impotent to do anything about it. So they're twisting and turning and contorting themselves to manage to let the Hezbers have their way while seeming to adhere to 1701. We return to conditions as they were before the war, with the addition of rubble in Beirut and Tyre and the presence of UNIFIL troops who will have to get out of the way when the next flareup occurs.
BEIRUT: A compromise agreement currently being hammered out between Hizbullah and the Lebanese government is expected to allow the party to keep hidden weapons in South Lebanon, the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported Tuesday.
While Hizbullah would need to keep the weapons it possesses south of the Litani River hidden, an agreement for areas north of the river would be 'left to a long-term solution'...
While Hizbullah would need to keep the weapons it possesses south of the Litani River hidden, an agreement for areas north of the river would be "left to a long-term solution," the paper said. If the proposed compromise is accepted by Premier Fouad Siniora's Cabinet, it would violate the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. And it is also a violation of the "one weapon" principle of Siniora's seven-point plan.
Resolution 1701 calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a solution based on previous UN resolutions requiring "the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon" apart from state security forces. While the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) within the new resolution does not require foreign troops to disarm Hizbullah themselves, the force is authorized "to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind" and to support the Lebanese Army in asserting control over all of Lebanon.
... the session scheduled for Sunday was indefinitely postponed amid reports that Hizbullah ministers would try to pass the hidden-weapons compromise despite strong opposition from some ministers of the March 14 Forces...
Siniora's Cabinet unanimously approved the resolution last Saturday but scheduled another session to discuss Hizbullah ministers' reservations about it and the operative means to implement. However, the session scheduled for Sunday was indefinitely postponed amid reports that Hizbullah ministers would try to pass the hidden-weapons compromise despite strong opposition from some ministers of the March 14 Forces. "I will oppose this compromise deal to the end," said Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis, who is also a member of the Lebanese Forces. "We are committed to implementing the UN resolution, which clearly states the area south of the Litani River should be disarmed. The Lebanese can fool each other by hiding weapons but we won't be able to fool the international community."
The minister said Resolution 1701, which provides a mandate for an expanded UNIFIL of 15,000 international troops, contained "obligations" that had to be met. "What do you want, Minister Fneish? Not to implement the decision? OK let's not implement it and the hell with the country then," said Sarkis. Energy Minister Mohammad Fneish is Hizbullah minister in Siniora's Cabinet.
Sarkis said commitment to implement the resolution and to unite behind Siniora's Cabinet is to spare the country "a political division and problems." Government sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said private discussions are being held to convene a Cabinet session, but with no success yet. They said the talks focus on a pre-set agreement of what the session will decide regarding Hizbullah's weapons south of the Litani River and the deployment of the Lebanese Army there.
He said a 'sustainable peace cannot be fulfilled but through a comprehensive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.'
Meanwhile Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh met Tuesday with his Brazilian counterpart, Celso Amorim. In a joint news conference, Amorim said talks focused on the need "to establish sustainable peace in the region and deploy the governments' sovereignty over all the Lebanese territories." He said a "sustainable peace cannot be fulfilled but through a comprehensive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis." Amorim also delivered food and medical aid from Brazil to the Lebanese government. The Brazilian official later met with Speaker Nabih Berri and Siniora.
Separately, Berri met Tuesday with Egyptian Ambassador Hussein Darrar and Saudi Ambassador Abdel-Aziz Khoja. Berri also received a phone call from the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Haddad Adel, who expressed his country's support for Lebanon. In another development, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi visited the headquarters of Hizbullah's Al-Manar television station in Haret Hreik, which was completely destroyed by Israeli raids, and hailed the "steadfastness of Al-Manar reporters and employees."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2006 06:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
The success of the ceasefire in Lebanon hinges on a condition that Lebanon and Hizbollah both insist will not happen. Hizbollah is supposed to disarm, but says bluntly that it will not do so. The Lebanese government says it will not force Hizbollah to disarm. So what's going to happen? It appears that Israel is going to hold the UN responsible for carrying out its peace deal, and disarm Hizbollah. To that end, Israel will withdraw its troops from Lebanon, and leave it to UN peacekeepers to do what they are obliged to do. But here's the catch, not enough nations are stepping forward to supply the initial 3,500 UN forces, much less the eventual 15,000 UN force. However, it is likely that, eventually, enough nations will supply troops. But many of those contingents may not be willing to fight Hizbollah. Israel says it will not completely withdraw from Lebanon until the UN force is in place.
The Israeli strategy appears to be to allow the UN deal to self-destruct. If the UN peacekeepers can disarm Hizbollah, fine. If not, Israeli ground troops will come back in and clear everyone out of southern Lebanon. At that point, it will be obvious that no one else is willing, or able, to deal with the outlaw "state-within-a-state" that Hizbollah represents. Hizbollah will still exist after being thrown out of southern Lebanon, and it will be up to the majority of Lebanese, and the rest of the Arab world, to deal with Hizbollah and radical Shias.
Hizbollah suffered a defeat. Their rocket attacks on Israel, while appearing spectacular (nearly 4,000 rockets launched), were unimpressive (39 Israelis killed, half of them Arabs). On the ground, Hizbollah lost nearly 600 of its own personnel, and billions of dollars worth of assets and weapons. Israeli losses were far less.
While Hizbollah can declare this a victory, because it fought Israel without being destroyed, this is no more a victory than that of any other Arab force that has faced Israeli troops and failed. Arabs have been trying to destroy Israel for over half a century, and Hizbollah is the latest to fail. But Hizbollah did more than fail, it scared most Moslems in the Middle East, because it demonstrated the power and violence of the Shia Arab minority. Sunni Arabs, and most Arabs are Sunnis, are very much afraid of Shia Moslems, mainly because most Iranians are Shia, not Arab, and intent on dominating the region, like Iran has done so many times in the past. Hizbollah's recent outburst made it clear that Iran, which subsidizes and arms Hizbollah, has armed power that reaches the Mediterranean. This scares Sunni Arabs because a Shia minority also continues to rule Syria (where most of the people are Sunni). The Shia majority in Iraq, which have not dominated Iraq for over three centuries, is now back in control.
Hizbollah did enjoy a victory in its recent war, but it was over Sunni Arabs, not Israel.
Posted by: ed ||
08/16/2006 07:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
The IDF will have to resume operations in Lebanon if the expanded United Nations force being assembled does not fulfill its obligation to dismantle Hizbullah, an official in the Prime Minister's Office warned on Tuesday.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah reportedly reached a deal allowing Hizbullah to keep its weapons but refrain from exhibiting them in public. Israeli officials called the arrangement a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which passed over the weekend and was approved on Sunday by the cabinet.
"The resolution is clear that Hizbullah needs to be removed from the border area, embargoed and dismantled," the official said. "If the resolution is not implemented, we will have to take action to prevent the rearming of Hizbullah. I don't think backtracking will serve any useful purpose. There has to be pressure on Hizbullah to disarm or there will have to be another round."
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to raise the issue when she meets in New York on Wednesday with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Tippy has to go through the motions, but we all know Kofi isn't going to be anything remotely approaching useful here.
Annan angered Israeli officials when he told Channel 2 on Tuesday that "dismantling Hizbullah is not the direct mandate of the UN," which could only help Lebanon disarm the organization. Annan upset officials further when he said that deploying international forces in Lebanon would take "weeks or months," and not days as expected.
The Israelis should have expected the latter -- it's the UN, after all -- but like I said, Kofi ain't exactly johnny-on-the-spot with help ...
Israeli officials said the IDF would not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon until the international force was deployed - even if it took months - to prevent a vacuum in Lebanon that could endanger Israeli civilians. An official in the Prime Minister's Office accused Annan of having an anti-Israel agenda.
That fish was in a barrel waiting to be shot.
"He has been one-sided," the official said. "He tried to be even-handed in a situation that was clearly asymmetrical. When one side committed crimes against humanity and engaged in genocide and the other side defended itself, he cannot treat us in the same manner."
Annan rejected charges of bias, saying, "I have been very hard on Hizbullah and condemned Hizbullah for what it has done. I have condemned Israel for what I consider excessive use of force but it doesn't mean I am taking one side."
Which is the point, you should be taking one side, the Israelis. And has anybody seen his condemnation of the Hezbies?
Livni will also meet with US diplomatic officials and Jewish leaders during her 24-hour visit. The goals of the trip include advancing Israel's interests in talks on implementing the cease-fire in Lebanon, expediting the deployment of an international force and bringing about the return of the kidnapped IDF soldiers.
Annan is set to make key decisions about the role of the multinational force. Livni had planned to visit New York over the weekend but her original trip was blocked by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Foreign Ministry Director-General Aharon Abramovich said implementation of the cease-fire was "good so far" and "going according to plan." He said Livni wanted to make sure that UNIFIL's effectiveness would be maximized.
I guess that leaves out the mighty Uruguayans ...
According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev, the two main tasks of the expanded force would be enforcing a "Hizbullah-free zone" in south Lebanon and an international arms embargo on Hizbullah. He said the resolution detailed the placement of international forces at all crossing points into Lebanon, comprising those from Syria as well as airports and seaports. "The resolution meets Israel's expectations," Regev said. "The focus now is on ensuring its full and complete implementation. Unfortunately, there have been too many UN resolutions on Lebanon that have gathered dust in the archives and have not changed anything. The challenge now is to bring about the expeditious implementation of 1701."
"She will discuss [with Annan] the importance of having the international forces in Lebanon as expeditiously as possible," Regev said of Livni.
Israel wants a speedy deployment "firstly to allow the Israeli troops to pull out of south Lebanon and to ensure the creation of the Hizbullah-free zone in the south... and secondly to make sure that the international arms embargo on Hizbullah is implemented," he said. "We have to have the resolution translated into reality," Regev said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This time, don't telegraph your every freak'n move. The "international community" really doesn't give a shit anyway.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/16/2006 0:28 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I said here yesterday that signing an agreement with muslims is like writing on water.
The lebanese and the Hizbies are a pack of liers and the degradation of the agreement is continueing at a startling rate.
I say, lets go in there (all Israelites-Huh, SPOD) and burn Lebanon and the hisbies off the face of the earth.
We have all the required equipment and a willing army. Our only problem is the impotent Olmert and his stupid mock socialist demagogue Minister of Defence Peretz.
The long term existance of the state of Israel will be determined by the results of this war.
It's time for the Israelites to rise and elect a new capable government, a government that really understands the mentality of the lying arabs.
with Arabs you cannot talk, you have to shoot first.
All this coming from an ex-labor voter Israelite who until three years ago thought you could negotiate with Arabs.
now I say - kill them all ! destroy their houses and their infrastructure, make them run like they never did before and instill the fear of the sons of Israel in their hearts.
We can do it ! We must do it, to ensure the survival of our grandchildren !
No more talking with Arabs.
And to Hell with Koffee and the muslim ass-licking Eunuchs of the UN.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
08/16/2006 9:38 Comments ||
Top||
#5
So, when does Israel pick a new leader ? Let's get this war up to speed.
#6
we're still hoping Olmert will come to his senses and resign.
But I guess you cant expect that from an Ex -lawyer.
My bet is on a coalition of Bibi and Lieberman.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
08/16/2006 11:04 Comments ||
Top||
#7
EoZ, lawyers are like the Marines:
"Once a lawyer, always a lawyer." There's no such thing as an "ex-lawyer."
Posted by: BA ||
08/16/2006 11:18 Comments ||
Top||
#8
E of Z, you've finally seen the light. I just hope most of your fellow countrymen have come around also. Arabs by their nature are nothing more than camel f**kers. They really can't overcome their basic nature. Since they can't, everyone has to realize that there is nothing worth preservation involved. Total destruction is the answer. When the pain level for them gets intolerable, they will quiet down for a hundred years or so.
#9
BA,
I actually know a couple of ex-lawyers, but they were never true lawyers to begin with :)
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
08/16/2006 11:30 Comments ||
Top||
#10
SOP35/Rat,
It took me more then 50 years to get to this point.
It recently dawned on me that it may be better to be a live agressive (not so "moral") right winger than a dead highly moral leftist-liberal.
I would like to offer a toast to the quick demise of Arabs, Muslims and the forces of darkness and deceit in general.
May all our enemies drink deep from our NAPALM cup, and if that's not enough, may their ashes soon glow in the dark.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
08/16/2006 11:36 Comments ||
Top||
#11
The IDF will have to resume operations in Lebanon if the expanded United Nations force being assembled does not fulfill its obligation to dismantle Hizbullah, an official in the Prime Minister's Office warned on Tuesday.
The IDF is coming to a theater near you Narallah. Git yer arss ready!
#12
BA,
I actually know a couple of ex-lawyers, but they were never true lawyers to begin with :)
Well, EoZ, there are exemptions to every rule (heck, Murtha is one I'd consider an ex-Marine, although Marines say they never retire or are "ex's". I think the key is, they were never "real" (read: anal, pompous, nit-picking, ambulance chasing) attorneys in the first place, lol.
About your response to SOP 35, welcome to the "dark side" ("not so moral" in your terms). Of course, I believe that we're the moral group here. Defeating evil wherever it may lie is the key. No, like Israel, I don't like bombing wommin, kids, fluffy bunnies and ducks, but if it kills those who INTENTIONALLY target innocents, that's a plus. Not to mention that those wommin and kids are often aider/abbetters and/or future jihadis, or at the VERY LEAST lend moral support to the jihadis. That makes them "accomplices to murder" in my world (if you want to use legal terms). Think of it this way, is it better to completely avoid all hostilities and let the modern day Hitlers go on to kill the Joooos (and Christians, Seikhs, Hindus, et al), or is better to "sacrifice" a few thousand now in shutting them down before they can get to that point? I'm with the latter approach, and I believe in my heart of hearts that God is too.
Posted by: BA ||
08/16/2006 14:00 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Hint for Israel: Don't wait. Disarming Hezbollah must involve the severing of upper appendages. It has nothing to do with weapons.
TYRE, Lebanon (AP) - A civil defense worker who has drawn controversy for holding up the bodies of children killed in Lebanon said Tuesday he was lightly injured fighting a weekend fire sparked by an Israeli bomb.
Must have lifted a frozen ten year old.
Can you *get* sepsis from a hernia?
We can pray ...
Salam Daher, dubbed the Green Helmet for the color of his civil defense headgear, said he was hit by debris Sunday when a bomb or missile fell on a building while he was helping to battle a fire at a gas station in the port city of Tyre. "I fell over when the bomb hit, and I got some scratches from debris that flew up on my face," he said.
"Makeup! Medic! Make sure they film me from my good side!"
The 20-year veteran civil defense worker said he shows dead children to photographers to make clear that Israeli airstrikes killed young Lebanese during the monthlong conflict. Some Internet bloggers have accused him of setting up photos and of treating the dead insensitively.
And here's where he admits to staging photos of dead babies:
In one photograph, taken after an Israeli airstrike hit a building in the village of Qana, Daher held a dead infant over his head. The boy's blue pacifier was pinned to his nightshirt. "I did hold the baby up, but I was saying 'look at who the Israelis are killing. They are children,'" Daher said. "These are not fighters. They have no guns. They are children, civilians they are killing.'" He said he had no regrets and he made no apologies. "I wanted people to see who was dying. They said they were killing fighters. They killed children."
Bull. The Hezb deaders (of which there were plenty)were carried away in secret by their lovers comrades-in-arms, who bullied and threatened the journos from photographing them. The cute li'l kiddies they paraded around like trophies, when they weren't busy scattering newly-bought toys on the rubble.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I can see him now, being taken on a stretcher with cameras ablazing.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/16/2006 0:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us.
#3
"I did hold the baby up, but I was saying 'look at who the Hezb'Allah Israelis are killing. They are children.' These are not yet fighters. They have no guns. They are children, civilians they are killing.'"
You're arguing with the mirror, oh clueless one. Now let's look at motivations . . . .
Duplicate posts by Fred and Jackal; Jackal had a great title for his so we used it.
Hizbullah will not hand over its weapons to the Lebanese government but rather refrain from exhibiting them publicly, according to a new compromise that is reportedly brewing between Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Seniora and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The UN cease-fire resolution specifically demands the demilitarization of the area south of the Litani river. The resolution was approved by the Lebanese cabinet.
Nasrallah: This is immoral, incorrect and inappropriate. It is wrong timing on the psychological and moral level particularly before the cease-fire
In a televised address on Monday night, Nasrallah declared that now was not the time to debate the disarmament of his guerrilla fighters, saying the issue should be done in secret sessions of the government to avoid serving Israeli interests. "This is immoral, incorrect and inappropriate," he said. "It is wrong timing on the psychological and moral level particularly before the cease-fire," he said in reference to calls from critics for the guerrillas to disarm.
According to Lebanon's defense minister, Elias Murr, "There will be no other weapons or military presence other than the army" after Lebanese troops move south of the Litani. However, he then contradicted himself by saying the army would not ask Hizbullah to hand over its weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
JERUSALEM - The Israeli army plans to withdraw from southern Lebanon in as little as seven to 10 days and to hand over some of its forward positions to UN troops within 48 hours, Israeli officials said on Tuesday. The expedited timetable reflects growing concern that Israeli forces will become easy targets for Hezbollah the longer they stay.
Israeli officials said plans call for the UN force, known as UNIFIL, to be deployed on Wednesday and Thursday in some Israeli positions that are not seen by the army as strategically crucial. UNIFIL already has a small presence in Lebanon. At the same time, Israeli officials said, the Lebanese army should begin deploying to the Litani river, approximately 20 km (12 miles) from the Israeli border, and then slowly move southward as the Israeli army pulls back.
Might as well ask the mighty Uruguayans to do the job.
Israels top general, Dan Halutz, said if it goes calmly as things appear now Israeli forces could complete a handover to UN forces in southern Lebanon in seven to 10 days.
Uri Bar-Joseph, a professor of international relations at Haifa University, said that with a UN-brokered ceasefire in place since Monday, Israels army had little choice. We cannot clear this area of Hezbollah fighters and waiting another two or three weeks for an international force will mean more Israeli soldiers will die, Bar-Joseph said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
PESHAWAR: Mangal Bagh Afridi, head of the Lashkar Islami, on Tuesday accused the political agent of the Khyber Agency and National Assembly Member (MNA) Maulana Khalilur Rehman of providing weapons to his opponents, the Ansarul Islam, another religious group, and appealed to the federal government to restrain such activities. Afridi warned that such steps by the administration and the MNA would instigate clashes between different tribes of the agency and others could also attempt to acquire heavy weapons for their defence.
The Foreign Office has denied as "absurd" reports in the press that Islamic charities had diverted money meant for earthquake relief to fund the alleged London terror plot. 
August 12 2006 at 0830 LT in posn 24:59.4N - 059:16.1E, Gulf of Oman, Iran. 12 pirates in a boat approached a container ship underway. Pirates asked the ship to stop but master evasive manoeuvres. Boat approached the ship and suddenly increased speed. Master raised alarm and crew mustered and activated fire hoses. After 15 mins pirates aborted attempt.
AMMAN/Baghdad - Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit and Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday on a previously unannounced visit, official sources said in Amman. The sources said the visit, coming three weeks after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki met with King Abdullah II in Amman, was aimed at boosting bilateral ties and looking into prospects of resuming Iraqi oil supplies to cash-strapped Jordan.
NAJAF, Iraq - The deputy governor of Iraqs Shia province of Najaf said Tuesday that local militias will boost the regions security after a recent suicide bomb attack killed 35 people. We started today forming a committee in Najaf to choose individuals who will control security in their neighbourhoods and keep an eye on all suspect movements in their areas, deputy governor 
How long ago April seems, when the EU announced that it was "suspending" aid to the Palestinian territories in response to the electoral victory of Hamas and the formation of a Hamas government. In fact, from the start this "suspension" of aid was merely partial, with more than half of the habitual EU aid package continuing to be paid out under the heading of "humanitarian" expenditures. Then, in June, as previously reported here on Trans-Int, the EU announced that it was "resuming" the for all of two months "suspended" part of the aid. And now we have this from an article on the EU aid budget in the Monday (7 August) edition of Le Figaro:
Trying to build on a cease-fire in Lebanon, 
BEIRUT: A compromise agreement currently being hammered out between 
TYRE, Lebanon (AP) - A civil defense worker who has drawn controversy for holding up the bodies of children killed in Lebanon said Tuesday he was lightly injured fighting a weekend fire sparked by an Israeli bomb.
JERUSALEM - The Israeli army plans to withdraw from southern Lebanon in as little as seven to 10 days and to hand over some of its forward positions to UN troops within 48 hours, Israeli officials said on Tuesday. The expedited timetable reflects growing concern that Israeli forces will become easy targets for Hezbollah the longer they stay.
