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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 804
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 1:19 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

On Londonistan:

The Brooklyn Public Library now has one copy of Londonistan on order. Order placed 7/31/2006.
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Phenixrising
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Username: Phenixrising

Post Number: 1822
Registered: 9-2004


Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 1:25 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hezbollywood? Evidence mounts that Qana collapse and deaths were staged
By Reuven Koret July 31, 2006

Israelis will not be able to investigate this claim directly. The question remains whether honest men and women of other nationalities will let this likely lie stand or press for the revelation of the improbable and inconvenient truth.

Geesh… folks will grab onto any excuse or "conspiracy theory" to justify taking lives. Could you at least found someone a bit less bias. The next thing we’ll hear is that the pathetic Mel Gibson somehow directed and stage the whole Qana massacre.
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Rastro
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Post Number: 3678
Registered: 5-2004


Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 1:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mel Gibson was responsible for the massacre at Jenin. Oh, wait...
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 805
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 2:48 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The media, Hezbollah, (Party of God. in Arabic), and the truth about whether you get the truth from Hezbollah:

Revealing CNN Transcript:

While I'm on the subject of media coverage of the Israel-Party of God war, here is a very revealing excerpt from CNN's Reliable Sources, July 23rd:

KURTZ: All right. I want to go now to CNN's Nic Robertson, who joins us live from Beirut.

Nic Robertson, we were speaking a moment ago about the way journalists cover Hezbollah and some of these tours that Hezbollah officials have arranged of the bomb damage in the areas of Southern Lebanon. You, I believe, got one of those tours.

Isn't it difficult for you as a journalist to independently verify any claims made by Hezbollah, because you're not able to go into the buildings and see whether or not there is any military activity or any weapons being hidden there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Howard, there's no doubt about it: Hezbollah has a very, very sophisticated and slick media operations. In fact, beyond that, it has very, very good control over its areas in the south of Beirut. They deny journalists access into those areas. They can turn on and off access to hospitals in those areas. They have a lot of power and influence. You don't get in there without their permission.

And when I went we were given about 10 or 15 minutes, quite literally running through a number of neighborhoods that they directed and they took us to.

What I would say at that time was, it was very clear to me that the Hezbollah press official who took us on that guided tour — and there were Hezbollah security officials around us at the time with walkie-talkie radios — that he felt a great deal of anxiety about the situation. And they were telling him — I just listened to an explosion going off there, coming from the southern suburbs. They were — they were telling him — a second explosion there. They were telling here — rumbling on — they were telling him get out of this area, and he was very, very anxious about it.

But there's no doubt about it. They had control of the situation. They designated the places that we went to, and we certainly didn't have time to go into the houses or lift up the rubble to see what was underneath.

So what we did see today in a similar excursion, and Hezbollah is now running a number of these every day, taking journalists into this area. They realize that this is a good way for them to get their message out, taking journalists on a regular basis. This particular press officer came across his press office today, what was left of it in the rubble. He pointed out business cards that he said were from his office that was a Hezbollah press office in that area.

So there's no doubt that the bombs there are hitting Hezbollah facilities. But from what we can see, there appear to be a lot of civilian damage, a lot of civilian properties. But again, as you say, we didn't have enough time to go in, root through those houses, see if perhaps there was somebody there who was, you know, taxi driver there...

KURTZ: So to — so to what extent...

ROBERTSON: ... of access, Howard.

KURTZ: To what extent do you feel like you're being used to put up the pictures that they want — obviously, it's terrible that so many civilians have been killed — without any ability, as you just outlined, to verify, because — to verify Hezbollah's role, because this is a fighting force that is known to blend in among the civilian population and keep some of its weapons there?

ROBERTSON: Absolutely. And I think as we try and do our job, which is go out and see what's happened to the best of our ability, clearly, in that environment, in the southern suburbs of Beirut that Hezbollah controls, the only way we can get into those areas is with a Hezbollah escort. And absolutely, when you hear their claims they have to come with — with a — more than a grain of salt, that you have to put in some journalistic integrity. That you have to point out to the audience and let them know that this was a guided tour by Hezbollah press officials along with security, that it was a very rushed affair.

KURTZ: Right.

ROBERTSON: That there wasn't time to go and look through those buildings. The audience has to know the conditions of that tour. But again, if we didn't get all — or we could not get access to those areas without Hezbollah compliance, they control those areas.

KURTZ: Right.

ROBERTSON: And I think to bring the audience the full picture of what's happening in Beirut, you have to go into those southern suburbs.

KURTZ: All right.

ROBERTSON: Because that's where the vast majority of bombs were falling.

KURTZ: I understand.

ROBERTSON: Again, they come with a health warning that we cannot vouch for everything that Hezbollah is saying. And I think the audience is sophisticated enough to appreciate that, Howard.
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Dave
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Post Number: 10305
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Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 3:02 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Now pull back the camera. Wider angle. Wider. Get the entire region in focus. Good.

What do we learn?

Diplomacy has been the single and only means of winning any of the battles in the war on terror. It happened in Libya. A guy with as much credentials of being a tyrannical wackjob as Saddam was convinced without the firing of a single bullet to get out of the terror business.

What does the administration learn from this? Nothing. "We won't talk with Syria" Huh?

All Bush knows is wasting money on senseless wars that kill people and destroy families.
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Phenixrising
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Username: Phenixrising

Post Number: 1824
Registered: 9-2004


Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 3:29 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I can say one thing we learned about that piece from joel posted. The journalists have no problem finding Hezbollah officials.

Yet… the IDF continues bombing & killing innocent civilians. Go figure.

I agree Dave

Diplomacy has been the single and only means of winning any of the battles in the war on terror. It happened in Libya. A guy with as much credentials of being a tyrannical wackjob as Saddam was convinced without the firing of a single bullet to get out of the terror business.

"What does the administration learn from this? Nothing. "We won't talk with Syria" Huh?

All Bush knows is wasting money on senseless wars that kill people and destroy families."



^^
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notehead
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Username: Notehead

Post Number: 3660
Registered: 5-2001


Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 3:31 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gosh, Dave, can't you let a President enjoy his hobbies?
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Eric Wertheim
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Username: Bub

Post Number: 239
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 4:00 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm surprised to read Robertson comments, because when he was being rushed through the rubble by the HB guide, I recall thinking that he was going out of his way to offer his conclusion that there was no military equipment in the area and that it all appeared to be civilian (did he expect a rocket launcher to fall of the roof as he was doing his tour?)
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 808
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 4:42 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Anderson Cooper on the manipulations noted above.

http://newsbusters.org/node/6574

Some of us read an interesting book: The First Casualty, which is about the first casualty in war, the truth.

jd
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 809
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 5:32 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Next: The U.N. and John Kerry negotiate an end to New York City street violence by disarming the NYPD and giving Manhattan to the gangs.

(Hillary proposed a more moderate approach, deporting the cops and giving the gangs New Jersey, but in the end bowed to the global outcry against the US exporting more of its detested law and order.)

We are safe.
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tjohn
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Username: Tjohn

Post Number: 4610
Registered: 12-2001


Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 5:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The one truth of war that evades the most effective controls imagine is the general sense of progress. In WW II, things started off terribly and bloody mistakes were made ever step of the way. But, if you did nothing but watch a map, you would see that we were advancing. Hitler, by contrast, could not hide the fact that the summer of 1941 was as good as it would be for the Germans and everything was getting worse from that point on.

The thing that strikes me about the GWOT is that our situation seems to be worseing four years into it and this is largely a result of that Wyatt Earp wannabe president of ours.
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 811
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 6:23 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What is the basis for concluding the war is worsening, or improving our situation?
jd
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 813
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 6:34 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

from littlegreenfootballs.com today, on point about propaganda and the media.

AP journalist Nasser Nasser files a report on the IDF operation in Baalbek, consisting of nothing but context-free Hizballah propaganda, starting with the headline: Heavy equipment used to bury the dead.

And Nasser Nasser’s photograph shows a bulldozer carrying one body.

UPDATE at 8/2/06 10:14:39 am:

Please note that Nasser Nasser was also one of the photographers who participated in staging photos at Qana: AP Rewards Qana Photographers.


You have to go the original site to hyperlink


Call me Ishmael,
jd
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Dave
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Username: Dave


Post Number: 10307
Registered: 4-1997


Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 6:35 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Stricter curfews in major cities.
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tjohn
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Username: Tjohn

Post Number: 4611
Registered: 12-2001


Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 9:20 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"What is the basis for concluding the war is worsening, or improving our situation? "

Ooohhhh, that's a toughie. I'll go with increased fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq for starters.
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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2637
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 10:03 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Haaretz

Last update - 23:22 02/08/2006
All IDF soldiers return safely after raid on Baalbek hospital
IDF commandos nab five low-level Hezbollah men in Baalbek raid


Israel Defense Forces commandos completed a raid of the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek in east Lebanon at daybreak Wednesday, in what Lebanese security sources described as a major operation against suspected Hezbollah positions.

In Baalbek, the commandos captured five Hezbollah militants and killed at least 10 others before completing the operation and safely returning to Israel, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said.

The IDF confirmed that its troops returned from the operation to their base in Israel unharmed and that several militants were captured by the raiding forces and taken back to Israel.

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None of those seized were high-ranking Hezbollah officials, however, as the IDF had hoped. Halutz said Wednesday that the soldiers had not aimed to take any individuals in particular, but rather to demonstrate that the IDF could reach any part of Lebanon.

Hezbollah denied that any of its fighters had been captured, but Lebanese security sources confirmed that the commandos had snatched five low-ranking members of the guerilla group.

The Lebanese sources identified three of the men as Hussein Nasrallah, Hussein al-Burji and Ahmed al-Ghotah and described them as low ranking members of the group. The captured Hussein Nasrallah has the same name as a Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, but is not known to be related to him in any way.
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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2638
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 10:14 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Haaretz

Let's not become confused
By Nadav Shragai

Nathan Alterman, who wrote extensively about purity of arms, wondered many years ago what kind of memorial should be erected for three IDF soldiers -- Hanan Samson, Yossi Kaplan and Boaz Sasson -- who fell while pursuing terrorists, because they were reluctant to harm a nursing mother who stood at the entrance to a cave in the Jordan Valley and behind whom the terrorists were hiding. Should it be an ordinary memorial, like those scattered everywhere else in the country in memory of the fallen in Israel's battles, or perhaps a monument in the shape of a woman with a child at her breast, whose lives the three purchased with their deaths?

Even today, the enemy holds children with one hand and fires on Israeli civilians and soldiers with the other, and the world uses false scales to weigh Israel's morality. Forty years ago, Alterman defined the difference between us and them after the deaths of Samson, Kaplan and Sasson. "There is no question that even by the furthest stretch of our imagination, we would be unable to imagine the possibility of the opposite of what happened during that pursuit. In other words, a situation in which IDF fighters would hide behind Jewish women and children, and use a Jewish nursing mother as camouflage and a hiding place to conceal themselves from Fatah members. IDF soldiers would be incapable of such a thing -- even if we ignore all the other reasons -- first and foremost for the simple reason that a Jewish woman with a baby in her arms is not a 'deterrent factor' for Arab fighters."

What has changed since Alterman's time -- and maybe it's nothing new -- is that not only does the civilian population not constitute a deterrent factor for Hezbollah fighters and for Palestinian terror, but also a civilian population has nearly become their sole target. The IDF, on the other hand, has already sacrificed fighters in Bint Jbail and refrained from massive "target softening" bombing raids from the air in order to avoid killing civilians. In the tragic events of Qana, Hezbollah intentionally set itself up in the heart of civilians, thereby deliberately creating the conditions that led to the disaster.

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We cannot become confused and allow the world and ourselves, and particularly the Arab citizens of Israel who live among us, to turn things upside down. Hezbollah, like Palestinian terror, harms women and children with malice in a systematic fashion. We do it rarely and by mistake. These things must be said just because things that are self evident tend to be forgotten.

This war must end in victory and in the disarming of Hezbollah, either by us or by others. That is the line separating victory from a missed opportunity. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is well aware than anything less that that will only serve to draw the starting line of the next campaign against Hezbollah. That is why he is rightly insisting on a continuation of the fighting, and we must help him repel the internal and external pressures to hold our fire already now.

The prime minister also deserves support when it comes to his policy on the issue of the kidnapped soldiers. The leadership must exercise level-headed considerations of profit and loss, cost and returns, and place them on the scales, even if they are cruel. That is why it was decided to refrain during the first stage of fighting from massive use of ground forces in order to prevent heavy losses to the IDF, and that is how Olmert is behaving on the issue of the kidnapped soldiers as well.

It is not easy to write these words, and I hope that the hostages will return home soon and in good health, but the unequivocal opposition to releasing terrorists in exchange for the hostages, to which Olmert is adhering for the time being, is well anchored in the bloody reality in which we live. Fourteen of the mass terrorist attacks in recent years were carried out by freed terrorists. Dozens of attacks in which hundreds of more people were killed or wounded were also organized by freed terrorists.

Confronting the families of the kidnapped men is certainly a heartrending experience for the prime minister, but he must continue to keep these statistics in mind. Israeli behavior in previous kidnapping cases must constitute a warning light, rather than a precedent on which to rely, God forbid.

Just as we have to end the war differently this time, we also have to try to free the kidnapped men this time in another way or at another price. If this time the considerations of "here and now" also get the upper hand, the blood price of the next round will only increase further.
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Factvsfiction
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Username: Factvsfiction

Post Number: 1289
Registered: 4-2006
Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 11:00 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Joel and J. Crohn are holding it down.

I don't have your patience to post on this thread anymore. Kudos to you both.

As for some of the mal-informed posters, I can't help but read their posts. It's like watching a train wreck. Reading lists are in order.
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Dave
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Post Number: 10310
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Posted on Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 11:17 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Vicious circles of violence.

From the 1996 shelling of Qana:


Quote:

Amnesty International conducted an on-site investigation of the incident in collaboration with military experts, using interviews with UNIFIL staff and civilians in the compound, and posing questions to the IDF, who did not reply. Amnesty concluded, "the IDF intentionally attacked the UN compound, although the motives for doing so remain unclear. The IDF have failed to substantiate their claim that the attack was a mistake. Even if they were to do so they would still bear responsibility for killing so many civilians by taking the risk to launch an attack so close to the UN compound."[19]




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qana_Massacre
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Phenixrising
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Username: Phenixrising

Post Number: 1825
Registered: 9-2004


Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 8:33 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Also add to that 1996 attack on Qana…

“Human Rights Watch concurred, "The decision of those who planned the attack to choose a mix of high-explosive artillery shells that included deadly anti-personnel shells designed to maximize injuries on the ground — and the sustained firing of such shells, without warning, in close proximity to a large concentration of civilians — violated a key principle of international humanitarian law."

Joel can post all he wants about conspiracy theories, staging et al as justification of the killing of so many innocent civilians. The poor excuses of the IDF warning civilians to leave the Qana area is a tell-tale. How could they leave? They destroyed the roads and bridges of escape. Some of those same victims were to afraid to leave in fear of being killed in one of those bombing raids. In destroying their only means of escape, these civilians are pretty much CAGED IN, and their demise… may result in death!

“Day after day, Red Cross worker Sam Zheir has been bringing dead and wounded people in from the countryside. All of them, he said, were civilians. Many were buried today.

As the Israeli military bombs southern Lebanon, aircraft periodically drop leaflets over the countryside, instructing people in Arabic to evacuate the area and move north, for their own safety.

But leaving is dangerous. Two days ago, Zheir says he found a car full of fleeing civilians, which had been hit by an Israeli bomb.”


NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5573959


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Blue Heeler
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Username: Blueheeler

Post Number: 75
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Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 9:51 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, Iran, the stabilizing force in the region, as praised by France a few days ago, has come up with an excellent way to bring peace to the region:

Iranian President: Solution to Middle East crisis is to destroy Israel

By The Associated Press


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/746081.html

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MIDEAST_FIGHTING_ISLAMIC_MEETING?SITE=721 9&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-08-03-06-13-13

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Rastro
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Post Number: 3689
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Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 11:01 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, he is right, it would bring a level of peace the area hasn't known for millenia. That is, until the Islamists go after the westernized leaders and hold revolutions. Angry people don't suddenly stop being angry. And when the distraction of Israel is gone for the rulers of Arab nations, how will they deal with the unrest that follows?

If we killed all non-white people in the world, racism would end in a generation. Of course, it would be replaced with other ways to segregate and denigrate portions of the population. Both are ridiculous solutions to solvable problems.
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 816
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Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 11:08 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks.
More food for thought, from NRO, about the media, anti-Semitism, which survives intact since the Europeans did not kill all the Jews, (yet), and the unreported desecration in Belgium of the Holocaust Museum, including desecrating remains, such as they existed.

Yes, "be about peace," but prepared to defend yourself and country.

We aren't, are we?

ET TU, TELEGRAPH?
The relentless broadcast attacks on Israel have led to some in the print media indulging in explicit anti-Semitism.

Many have grown accustomed to left-wing papers such as Britain’s Guardian allowing their Mideast coverage to spill over into something akin to anti-Semitism. For example, last month a cartoon by the Guardian’s Martin Rowson depicted Stars of David being used as knuckle dusters on a bloody fist.

Now the Conservative-leaning Daily Telegraph, Britain’s best-selling quality daily, and previously one of the only papers in Europe to give Israel a fair hearing, has got in on the act. The cartoon at the top of the Telegraph comment page last Saturday showed two identical scenes of devastation, exactly the same in every detail. One was labeled: “Warsaw 1943”; the other: “Tyre, 2006.”


A politician had already given the cue for this horrendous libel. Conservative MP Sir Peter Tapsell told the House of Commons that British Prime Minister Tony Blair was “colluding” with U.S. President George W. Bush in giving Israel the okay to wage a war crime “gravely reminiscent of the Nazi atrocity on the Jewish quarter of Warsaw.”

Of course, there was no “Jewish quarter” of Warsaw. In case anyone need reminding (Sir Peter obviously does) the ghetto in the Polish capital, established in October 1940, constituted less than three square miles. Over 400,000 Jews were then crammed into it, about 30 percent of the population of Warsaw. 254,000 were sent to Treblinka where they were exterminated. Most of the rest were murdered in other ways. The ghetto was completely cleared of Jews by the end of May 1943.

ECHOING SCHINDLER’S LIST
The picture isn’t entirely bleak. Some British and European politicians, on both left and right, have been supportive of Israel. So have some magazines, such as Britain’s Spectator. So have a number of individual newspaper commentators.

But meanwhile anti-Semitic coverage and cartoons are spreading across the globe. Norway’s third largest paper, the Oslo daily Dagbladet, ran a cartoon comparing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the infamous Nazi commander SS Major Amon Goeth who indiscriminately murdered Jews by firing at them from his balcony — as depicted by Ralph Fiennes in Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List. (A month earlier Dagbladet published an article, “The Third Tower,” which questioned whether Muslims were really responsible for the September 11 attacks.)

Antonio Neri Licon of Mexico’s El Economista drew what appeared to be a Nazi soldier with — incredibly — stars of David on his uniform. The “soldier” was surrounded by eyes that he had apparently gouged out.

A cartoon in the South African Sunday Times depicted Ehud Olmert with a butcher’s knife covered in blood. In the leading Australian daily The Age, a cartoon showed a wine glass full of blood being drunk in a scene reminiscent of a medieval blood libel. In New Zealand, veteran cartoonist Tom Stott came up with a drawing which equated Israel with al Qaeda.

At least one leading European politician has also vented his prejudice through visual symbolism. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wore an Arab scarf during an event at which he condemned Israel, but not Hezbollah, who he presumably thinks should not be stopped from killing Israelis.

THE ASHES OF AUSCHWITZ
It’s entirely predictable that all this violent media distortion should lead to Jews being attacked and even murdered, as happened at a Seattle Jewish center last week.

When live Jews can’t be found, dead ones are targeted. In Belgium last week, the urn that contained ashes from Auschwitz was desecrated at the Brussels memorial to the 25,411 Belgian Jews deported to Nazi death camps. It was smashed and excrement smeared over it. The silence from Belgian leaders following this desecration was deafening.

Others Jews continued to be killed in Israel itself without it being mentioned in the media abroad. Last Thursday, for example, 60-year-old Dr. Daniel Ya’akovi was murdered by the Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, the terrorist group within Fatah that Yasser Arafat set up five years ago using European Union aid money.

But this is far from being an exclusively Jewish issue. Some international journalists seem to find it amusing or exciting to bait the Jews. They don’t understand yet that Hezbullah is part of a worldwide radical Islamist movement that has plans, and not pleasant ones, for all those — Moslem, Christian, Hindu and Jew — who don’t abide by its wishes.

— Tom Gross is a former Jerusalem correspondent for the London Sunday Telegraph. His previous pieces for NRO include one on Jeningrad .






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tjohn
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Post Number: 4615
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Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 11:30 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Iran wants Israel out of the way because Israel stands in the way of Iran becoming a regional superpower. Unfortunately, Ahmedinejad's rhetoric plays well to the masses and undermines those Sunni governments that would otherwise resist the Shia revival.
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Paul Surovell
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Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 11:58 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yet another reason why the IDF bombing campaign* has increased support for Hezbollah among moderates in Lebanon and the Middle East:


Quote:

A line being bandied about in Israeli security circles is that the purpose of the bombing is to show Hezbollah that "the boss-man has gone berserk."


source: Bret Stephens (former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post) in his August 1st column in the Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115440021199223104.html?
______________________

*Human Rights Watch reports today an investigation of 20 IDF bombing attacks in Lebanon revealed indiscriminate attacks on civilians, the same conclusion reached previously by HRW about Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel.

http://hrw.org/reports/2006/lebanon0806/

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm


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Paul Surovell
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Post Number: 686
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Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 12:24 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Good news today from Tony Blair. Let's hope it sticks:


Quote:

... British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in London that the United Nations Security Council would likely agree within the next two days on a cease-fire plan that would be followed by negotiations for a longer-term settlement.

The two-step approach marks a sharp change from the position held previously by Mr. Blair and President Bush, who have resisted halting the fighting until a plan for a “sustainable’’ peace could be adopted.

Mr. Blair acknowledged that the new approach reflects the “very real danger’’ that continued civilian deaths and destruction in Lebanon could end up making Hezbollah and other extremist groups more popular. “The important thing is to get a cease-fire as soon as possible, and then we can work on putting in place the long-term plan,’’ he said.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-mideast.html?hp&ex=1154 664000&en=d90b1cd07eb57f5c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
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Rastro
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Username: Rastro


Post Number: 3692
Registered: 5-2004


Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 12:30 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I do find it interesting that all these cease fire plans are being worked out without the inclusion of the parties involved in the fighting.
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 820
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 1:09 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

A plan can't be followed by anything.
It is only a plan.
How is it to be implemented?
Will the Hizzies give up their rockets, the remaining ten thousand or so, before Israel steps back?

For proportionality purposes, (after all, we must be proportional - no invasion fleet off Normandy, please), we have fifty times the population of Israel, so, imagine 100 thousand rockets falling on our country, (two thousand fell on theirs in three weeks).

Do you trust the other side to stop, when they have, proportionally speaking, five hundred thousand more rockets in their arsenal, proclaim you must be exterminated, and are immune from punishment other than death?

Just thinking outside the hate Israel box.

jd
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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2639
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 3:13 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Human Rights Watch has now confirmed that only 28 people were killed at Qana, not 56 as claimed by Lebanese sources. Moreover, regardless of whether the disaster was staged or not (I doubt it was), the building in question is said to have collapsed some seven hours after it was hit (or nearby ground was hit--I've seen reports of two distinct versions of events).

"Just thinking outside the hate Israel box."

They can't do that, Joel.
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 822
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 3:21 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

From Tigerhawk blog.
Answers, anyone?
Before we are attacked, of course.

When one country -- say, Iran -- or a non-governmental army, such as Hamas or Hezbollah -- advocates the destruction of another country and takes belligerent actions toward that end, why isn't the second country entitled to consider that a declaration of war? Under what principle would it be immoral or unlawful for Israel to destroy Hamas, Hezbollah or, if it were feasible, Iran? Why isn't Israel entitled to take its enemies at their word?
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 823
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 3:22 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Baltimore police are investigating a firebombing at Baltimore Hebrew University after an employee reported a loud noise and then a fire at the base of a side door of a building in the 5800 block of Park Heights Ave. in Northwest Baltimore.

The incident occurred about 2:45 p.m. yesterday. Agent Donny Moses, a city police spokesman, said the female employee alerted maintenance workers who came and extinguished the small fire and then alerted authorities.

Moses said detectives determined the fire was started by an incendiary device, such as a Molotov cocktail, thrown at a steel door, causing no damage. It is being investigated by the department’s arson unit, but has not yet been classified as a hate crime.

“At this point, there’s nothing that would indicate that this is a hate crime,” Moses said. “They have problems with juveniles in that area.”

NOTHING AT ALL?
Where is chief Moose when you need him?
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joel dranove
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Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 824
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 3:24 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Some photos showing the set up pictures by a particularly lucky photographer, who seems to be where the "action" is, although he seems to make the action happen.

http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/

jd
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ajc
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Username: Ajc

Post Number: 5350
Registered: 9-2001


Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 4:27 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

“The important thing is to get a cease-fire as soon as possible, and then we can work on putting in place the long-term plan,"

Listen up Blair, all the right things are already in place... And, the only way to get a cease-fire worth anything is to keep the bombs flowing and the troops marching at the Hezbollah and Lebanese until they stop returning fire, say uncle, or are all dead!
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Rastro
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Username: Rastro


Post Number: 3694
Registered: 5-2004


Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 4:32 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

How many Lebanese is an acceptable loss to achieve this?

Don't get me wrong. I support Israel wholeheartedly. But to expect anyone to simply stop returning fire, or to expect a group like Hezbollah to ever "say uncle" is naive. And that leave killing them all.
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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2640
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 4:37 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Well, he is right, it would bring a level of peace the area hasn't known for millenia."

Well, no.

Yemeni civil war, 1962, with Egyptian military facing off against Saudi Arabia there. Nothing to do with Israel.

Iranian revolution, 1979. Mass slaughter, rape, imprisonments and severe religious oppression aferward. Nothing to do with Israel.

Massacre of up to 20,000 people at Hama, Syria, by Syrian president Hafiz al-Assad, 1982. Nothing to do with Israel.

1980s, Iran-Iraq war. Millions dead. Biochemical weapons used by Iraq, young children used as minesweepers by Iran. Nothing to do with Israel.

1990, Iraq invades Kuwait. Nothing to do with Israel.

This is only some recent history, of course. For instance, the longer history of Lebanon's conflicts having nothing to do with Israel is a thing unto itself.


"That is, until the Islamists go after the westernized leaders and hold revolutions. Angry people don't suddenly stop being angry. And when the distraction of Israel is gone for the rulers of Arab nations, how will they deal with the unrest that follows?"

Like they always have: through a combination of brutal repression and channeling street-rage westward.


You know, I've never been an unqualified fan of Bibi Netanyahu. But he has been saying for years that Arabs don't hate the west because of Israel, they hate Israel because it is part of the west.

That's a simplistic formulation, of course, but the more extreme the circumstances become, the righter he gets. The truth is, if Israel were to be "eliminated," such a victory would embolden extremists, not placate them, and the victims of their redoubled efforts would be Americans (not to mention Muslim moderates and pro-democratists in the mideast, Christians, Europeans, and non-Muslims in Asian countries).

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ajc
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Username: Ajc

Post Number: 5351
Registered: 9-2001


Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 4:57 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"if Israel were to be eliminated," "if Israel were to be eliminated," "if Israel were to be eliminated," "if Israel were to be eliminated," "if Israel were to be eliminated," "if Israel were to be eliminated," "if Israel were to be eliminated," "if Israel were to be eliminated," "if Israel were to be eliminated," .....

... then what?
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Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro


Post Number: 3695
Registered: 5-2004


Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 5:03 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

huh?
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sbenois
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Username: Sbenois

Post Number: 15485
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 8:48 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


Quote:

Listen up Blair, all the right things are already in place... And, the only way to get a cease-fire worth anything is to keep the bombs flowing and the troops marching at the Hezbollah and Lebanese until they stop returning fire, say uncle, or are all dead!




Dearest Arturo,

Oh never mind.
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anon
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Username: Anon

Post Number: 2915
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 10:00 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Arabs don't hate the west because of Israel, they hate Israel because it is part of the west.

May be "simple" but it strikes me as absolute truth.
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Gordon Agress
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Username: Odd

Post Number: 489
Registered: 8-2004
Posted on Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 10:20 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We've all recognized that Hezbollah needed a never-say-die hack spokesman in the tradition of Baghdad Bob. But we never imagined that Hassan Nasrallah would step up the role:


Quote:

"At any time you decide to stop shelling we will halt the rocketing of any settlement or city," Nasrallah said, addressing the Israeli people. "We prefer the engagement of the military with the military."




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300305. html

HAHAHAHA. So I suppose Hezbollah will shortly be putting on uniforms, moving fixed positions and arsenals out of homes, schools, mosques, etc, and cease using UN badged ambulances as troop carriers.

Oh, by the way, the IDF has only killed 48 Hezbollah, per the organization itself. They'd know best, right?

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