Disporportionate? Only if you wish the extermination of Israel.
AT FIRST light they filtered from the undergrowth, camouflaged, laden with captured hunting rifles and crested Lebanese scimitars, and high-fiving with relief at still being alive.After nearly a week of vicious ditch-to-ditch fighting with Hezbollah fighters in the village of Taibeh, hundreds of exhausted Israeli soldiers slipped back across the border early yesterday after the hardest fighting they had ever experienced.
As they trudged across the brow of a hill in broken single file they were indistinguishable in their battle fatigues and green face paint — some even black out their teeth in Hezbollahland — and all were drunk on adrenalin. “I was hoping to go in and kill Hezbollonim. I killed three,” one shouted as he embraced colleagues from the Nahal Brigade.
As soon as they reached the outskirts of an Israeli hilltop town, which cannot be named for security reasons, they stopped and cleared their M16 automatic rifles in unison — the last task before they could relax. Some then reached inside their huge battlepacks for their mobile phones to call families and girlfriends. Others collapsed with exhaustion, washing away their fear with bottles of cola and lungfuls of cigarette smoke. A few grabbed newspapers to find out how their war was going. “What is happening in other places? What is happening in Gaza?” one asked The Times.
Iran admitted on Friday it has supplied Hezbollah with long-range Zelzal-2 missiles.
"This war is different";
So if you are saying now that I was wrong when I believed that it would be possible to ensure far fewer casualties and far more quiet after leaving Lebanon, you're right. I was wrong. I'm afraid of those who are incapable of saying 'I was wrong' in the first person. I lived on the border, in Malkiya, and I saw the small tobacco plots of the farmers in southern Lebanon, and I believed that prosperity on both sides of the border would ensure quiet. That Nasrallah would aspire for his people to have a good life. In that I was wrong. I was definitely wrong.
It's a quote from an Israeli "peace' activist. The article is fairly long. Do click and read the rest.
God's honest truth. I feel a certain, ummm, 'tug' reading this.
I really want to be there in the blackface and trading hand signals in the dim light coming up on some quiet building 50 meters away.
if there ever was justification for combat soldiers doing ground action any time since the cessation of the korean war, this is it ladies and gentlemen. this is the one. infantry going into lebanon to root out and kill the hezbollah.
you cannot negotiate any more than with a rabid skunk. it is counter to common sense; they are not 'defending' anything, they are trying to obliterate Israel. this is not to be let stand, thye must be expunged and the rhetoric of MSM is to be ignored until that task is 98% completed. THEN we will allow ourselves some armchair monday morning analysis and criticism.
long live the state of Israel.
I purchased a star of David flag yesterday and am deciding exactly where to hang it for the duration.
Check out the video, under Yalla Ya Nasrallah
at
http://www.powerlineblog.com/
"IRAN ADMITTED FRIDAY IT HAS SUPPLIED HEZBOLLAH WITH LONG-RANGE ZEL-ZEL2 MISSILES"
Now what were you saying again Alexa?, I would take from your recent comments that you also support the state of Iran!
Will you have the same reaction when Iran supplies Hezbolah with Nuclear Missiles?
the actual location of Armeggedon is about 10km NE of Hadera.for those itching for a big one.
I hope the US holds firm on this one. It sounds like they're contemplating supporting a ceasefire. My heart aches for the Israelis, who've been betrayed so many times.
The very life of Israel is on the line here. I stand against Iran's proxy, Hezbollah, and with Israel, the home of G_d's chosen people.
Good for you, Robert J.
Hey, RobertJ
I purchased a small one a few years ago and hung it in my workplace cubicle to piss off some of the anti-semites working there.
Now that I am retired, it hangs in the window of my front door until this war is over.
When 9/11 happened, many folks bought US flags as a show of support for them. Why not buy an Israeli flag and do the same?
Thanks Nemo2 for the link to the video.
I have something I can share with the kids that will help them seperate the hate of Hezbollah from the civility of the Lebanese.
In all of the swirl of the recent battle against terrorism, truth is beginning to surface. The IDF are the true Freedom Fighters in the Middle East, Islamist facism is the occupier of Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and the cult of matrydom is the Great Satan.
This war needs to continue to the point where Hezbollah can be routed in Southern Lebanon and the cadre of International Journalists can be paraded around Beirut and Southern lebanon to view the evil plans and cult of hate being propogated by the Hezbollah. They are our generation's "brownshirts."
When I can pick up my news papers here in the MidWest and see articles and photographs of the sinister plottings of the Nasrallah and Assad and the Iranian Republican Guard exposed for what they are, then we have won the war and the battle.
Let the IDF finish the job.
Great post RobertJ. What drives me crazy is the argument against our government's position is that we're just following Bush like a lap dog. Isn't it the right decision because it's the right thing to do?
And what about "measured response". What the heck does that mean? A measured response sounds like a standoff to me not elimination of a threat. If you want to eliminate the threat and end the war overwhelming force is needed - it's called the Powell Doctrine - and it works.
From Powerlineblog: UPDATE: Reader Barry Shaw writes from Israel to point us to the YnetNews.com report: "Tyre raid heroic operation." Barry writes:
As usual, most of the international media are doing a cover-up job on what was a heroic Israeli commando raid into the heart of the Hizbollah centre in the coastal town of Tyre in Lebanon. According to CNN and Sky reports Israel tried to land a couple of helicopters full of soldiers but were driven off by determined Hizbollah fire, leaving many Israeli soldiers wounded and one dead.
The actual event was that elite Israeli commandos stormed a building in the Hizbollah stronghold of central Tyre. The building was the command and control centre that directed the fire of long range missiles into Israel, including the rocket that hit Hadera on Friday night. During the raid, the Israelis killed senior Hizbollah commanders and left with important intelligence material.
The building was surrounded by Hizbollah terrorists who opened fire on the Israeli soldiers causing injuries. More Hizbollah people were killed in the exchange as all the Israeli commandos fought their way out of the area and back to safety.
Doesn't this sound a little different from what you were told about this event by your CNN, BBC, and Sky reporters? ...-
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286565,00.html
Long live Israel.
Stand with Stephen Harper and Israel. ...-
I may be one of the few on this point, but I don't think that this war is about Israel or Palestine; it's about the political and economic structure of the OTHER states of the ME. Israel and Hezbollah/Hamas are proxies for this deeper struggle.
It isn't about Israel's 'right to exist'. Israel does have a right to exist, and, as an atheist and with a democratic mind, I certainly reject any notion of 'god's chosen people'. It has a right to exist, because it now exists. Circular argument but biologically valid.
Same with the Palestinians; they exist; they have a right to exist, and to get into tortured arguments that 'they only have a right to exist IF they also existed 1,000 years ago in that same place and with that same name' - is specious.
But this current war is deeper than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - which is, itself, deeper than a fight between two 'peoples'. The ME states have refused to modernize and move into democracy. They have resolutely stuck to tribalism, a political mode that empowers a minority and allots no power to the majority. This is untenable in populations in the millions, in populations that are urban, in populations that are industrial.
This tension - where the political authority is denied to the majority of the population - is the 'root cause' of Islamic fascism. The West's answer to Islamic fascism (at least the UK, UK, Australian, etc answer) was to go into the midst of this tribal enclave and take out a tribal dictator, to enable democracy to develop.
It's extremely difficult because the other states of SA, Iran, Syria etc don't want democracy in their midst. So, they are the primary source of the insurgency in Iraq - to prevent democracy.
They also don't want to enable a Palestinian state, for it too would be democratic, as is Israel. A democratic state of Palestine is absolutely untenable to the other Arab states, for such would most certainly promote their own populations to demand and insist on their own democratic power. Keeping Palestinians as refugees, as occupied - has been necessary for the Arab States, to prevent democracy in their own states.
However, what is emerging now, is a split in the ME among the ME states. Iran has a different agenda than merely the prevention of democracy and the maintenance of tribalism. It wants to be head of an Empire of the ME; a Persian (not Arab) Empire. The other states, of SA, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, don't want to be under Iran.
Iran is behind Hezbollah and Hamas and the insurgents in Iraq. The agenda is to prevent any state from being democratic in the area; that includes the dev't of a Palestinian state.
Iran is taking this first step in the achievement of its ME Empire, by trying to regain Syrian control of Lebanon. Syria is a sidekick of Iran.
Then, Iran wants to ensure civil war in Iraq. It would then move in and dominate Iraq.
Now - will the Arab States, of SA, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon - confront Iran and attempt to stop its imperialist agenda?
At the moment, it is Israel, that is fighting this agenda - How do the Arab States feel about Israel fighting a war ON THEIR BEHALF?
Again, this may be a view held by a minority, but, I don't think that this current war has anything to do with Israel-Palestine - and as I said, even that situation ought to be considered from a deeper infrastructure than Muslims versus Jews. It ought to be considered from an economic and political infrastructure.
Once again ET has insights that evade the shallow talking heads of the MSM and the entrenched elites. yet many of us understand tht Israel is indeed our proxy in the war on terror. But Olmert and his cabinet have rallied the state of Israel to the task of defending their borders, their first obligation.
If indirectly the IDF is flanking the Shia of Persia then so be it. The weakness of the Arab Street requires proxies, such is the intellectual dishonesty of their nascent deference to tribalism.
The soldiers of the IDF have a mission to secure Galilee and the north of Israel. That America can avenge the deaths of 241 Marines through a proxy is just fine but the primacy of law and order in the West is the cause to which Israel is rallying.
ET said: "Again, this may be a view held by a minority, but, I don't think that this current war has anything to do with Israel-Palestine..."
Hezbollah begs to disagree; its aim/goal is to annihilate Israel and all Jews.
Yes, hezbollah is a proxy for Syria/Iran. Yes, hezbollah does have a "vested interest" in this war; hezbollah does have much to do with Kofi Annan's War Against Israel.
Here is a fisk of hezbollah's to-do with Israel. ...-
Qana - the director's cut
I have called this post, "the director's cut", as that is what it is. The narrative here is of how the combination of Hezbollah's media management and modern photo-journalism has turned the recording of a tragic event into theatre, in the best tradition of Michael Moore. ...-
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/08/qana-directors-cut.html
Via LGF:
Anatomy of a Media Event Staged by Terrorists
If you have any doubt that the unfortunate deaths in the Qana bombing were exploited by Hizballah to the maximum, staging and posing photographs with the willing complicity of wire service photographers, see EU Referendum’s exhaustive collection of images that indisputably shows the ghoulish display for exactly what it was—a depraved terrorist photo op: Qana - the director’s cut.
08:44 AM PDT
Ctv.ca is reporting on the commando raid, Not even a mention of the killing of 3 top Hezbollah only according to Hezbollah 1 killed & 8 injured(Israeli Commando's).
It is a shame when the news outlets in Canada cannot report both sides, only that of the terrorist hezbollah as if they are the innocents in this conflict. There are always 2 sides in a report & it is about time our news agencies in Canada start reporting both.
What i really don't understand is why not report both? Do they support terroist activities? Do they think that we are naieve? It is also the same with the polls they release saying most Canadians do not support PM Harper in his views. Well how do you translate a poll where there was only 1000 polled into most Canadians,(I thought it was only the NDP that uses that line),how many are we now in Canada? Now iam no ME expert i just saying it the way i see it,Iam just a small town hard working taxpayer, Myself i support our PM & i support our troops unlike our Opposition & Media.
BTW: thanks ET very good & well thought out theory.
Sorry hit post before checking spelling & grammar.
have a safe long weekend all
'Hizbullah committing war crimes' (Human Rights Watch finally notices)
Hizbullah must immediately stop firing rockets into civilian areas in Israel, Human Rights Watch said Saturday.
"Lobbing rockets blindly into civilian areas is without doubt a war crime," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "Nothing can justify this assault on the most fundamental standards for sparing civilians the hazards of war."
"Most of the attacks appear to have been directed at civilian areas and have hit pedestrians, hospitals, schools, homes and businesses," the humanitarian organization's website stated.
Since July 12, when Hizbullah captured two IDF soldiers and killed eight, Human Rights Watch researchers have been documenting the war's impact on civilians in Israel and Lebanon, interviewing the witnesses and survivors of attacks, as well as doctors, emergency workers, police, military and government officials.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678312/posts
...-
Human Rights Watch website:
Israel–Lebanon Conflict
Israel/Lebanon: Hezbollah Must End Attacks on Civilians
Rocket Attacks on Civilians in Israel Are War Crimes
Israel/Lebanon: End Indiscriminate Strikes on Civilians in Arabic in Hebrew French
Some Israeli Attacks Amount to War Crimes
http://www.hrw.org/
...-
Pic of "White Tee-Shirt Man" is up at HR's website; he is named as a no-name "Lebanese volunteer" by Al-Reuters. In fact, he is a paid worker for hezbollah.
Herr Doktor Paul Joseph Goebbels,late Nazi Minister of Propaganda, is proud of his pupils.
Joseph Goebbels
Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels ... The diaries of Joseph Goebbels, which have survived almost in their entirety, contain large numbers of entries detailing his ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels - 56k -
This is from Captain's Quarters, on the Cease Fire agreement being put forth by the US and other world powers:
"France lost the manuevering room to dictate Israel's position when their foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, heralded Hezbollah's sponsor Iran as a "stabilizing force" in the region. Douste-Blazy then had to backpedal furiously when Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad openly called for Israel's destruction days later and told Muslim nations that the cease-fire France was peddling amounted to a good first step. Iran embarrassed France further yesterday by publicy announcing that it had armed Hezbollah with rockets and missiles in the past.
The cease-fire proposal addresses that very issue. It demands that Lebanon ensure that no non-state militias purchase arms, which means that Beirut has to attend to its borders. They will have the responsibility to keep Syria and Iran from resupplying the terrorist group, and failure makes them responsible for attacks on Israel."
My view is that this is the right move- it is attempting to cut off Iran's Octopus Imperial Agenda, by cutting off one of its arms - the Lebanon Arm. Iran was attempting to destabilize Lebanon so that it could move Syria back into Lebanon to control it for Iran. The method was to have Hezbollah attack Israel; Israel to attack Lebanon..and then, Syria would move in to 'help' Lebanon.
This agreement, IF agreed to, will help shrivel that Octopus Arm of Iran. Shrivel, not destroy.
Iran still wants to ensure a civil war in Iraq.
And, all the ME states want to ensure that Palestine does NOT become a democratic state. That is even more important to them than the existence of Israel! I have come more and more to the conclusion that the Israel-Palestinian conflict has multiple levels. The deepest level is the rejection of democracy anywhere in the ME, for that threatens all the ME states - which are tribal.
I think that both Israel, and Palestine and the ME states enabled the current untenable non-state situation of Palestine. Israel for its fictional view of Palestinians as non-people, as 'really Jordanians'; for its occupation; for its settlement. Arafat, for his adamant corrupt refusal to actually promote a Palestinian democracy, which would remove him from power. And the other ME states most certainly didn't want a Palestinian state, for it would be a democracy and that would threaten their own tribal states.
But, Iran and Iran's ambitions are not going to disappear. I think that the ME Arab states are going to have to confront Iran - on their own - and not have Israel fighting their proxy wars. This current Lebanese war has Israel fighting Iran (Hezbollah)...and it is really benefiting, not Israel, but the other Arab States.
They would be wise to recognize Israel (Jordan and Egypt already do)..and would be wise to enable a Palestinian democracy. It would mean that they would also have to start to democratize their own states. That would leave Iran and Syria 'out in the cold'.
'Great letter to Mark Steyn about "proportional" response from a guy named Paul:
"A KYTUSHA FOR A KYTUSHA
"What's that all about? Is it just me? Where did we go from 1945 to using whatever was at our disposal to win a war outright so the enemy surrenders, to the late 60's ie Vietnam fighting it from the Oval office, to today’s "well they fired 400 Kytusha's so you can fire back 400 of yours that are similar, except yours have to dodge the mosque, turn right at the school, go up the stairs, miss Apartment #402 where the innocent civilians live, and hit #502 where the Zionist killers reside.
"We're not going to just lose this thing through demography, the will of the people or the drive by media, we're gonna lose it militarily also with ridiculous PC war rules like "proportional response". I was hoping it would take at least 2 more generations before we lost and I'd be long gone, but at the rate it's going it's more likely in my lifetime now.
"As Richard Littlejohn says 'you couldn't make it up'".
You can say that again.
ya lookout, but you know, even if Israel had a compact cruise missile that could do just that, with the video camera to prove who it hit, the lefties would come up with yet another convoluted highly refined arguement against it.
I for one personally follow the adage that when push comes to shove, you hit them with everything youve got especially if theyre bigger than you.
as far as Im concerned, Israel is ALREADY conducting 'measured' response and need not modify their tactics.
Islam is not only at war with Western civilization and other nations; Islam is at war with Islam.
This is an Islamic Civil War, aka fratricide. ...-
Senior Saudi sheikh: Hizbullah – party of Satan
YNET ^ | (08.05.06, 19:34)
Senior Saudi sheikh: Hizbullah – party of Satan Sheikh Safar al-Hawali, in past teacher of Bin Laden, issues fatwa forbidding support of any kind of Hizbullah organization, which is not 'Party of God,' but 'Party of Satan' A senior Saudi religious figure, Sheikh Safar al-Hawali, published a fatwa establishing that "Hizbullah is not the 'Party of God' (the meaning of Hizbullah in Arabic), but the 'Party of Satan.'" Al-Hawali is considered an extreme religious figure in Saudi Arabia. In the past Osama Bin Laden was among his students. In the fatwa published on al-Hawali's website, it was written that it...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678346/posts
Robert J, I think what you're saying is what Paul's saying. Me too.
Israel, let's roll!
Hezbollahland Photo Gallery
Last year I took dozens of photos of Hezbollah’s miniature state-within-a-state, along the border with Israel and in the suburbs, the dahiyeh, south of Beirut.
The photos of Beirut’s southern suburbs are not very good quality. Taking pictures in the dahiyeh is absolutely forbidden. I did not dare raise my camera and click the shutter except through the windshield from inside a moving car. Even then I had to be careful.
Here is what Hezbollahland looked like before the war. Much of what you see has since been destroyed. ...-
http://michaeltotten.com/
U.N. draft breaks France-U.S. impasse
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060805/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_fighting_un
The U.S. and France agreed Saturday on a draft Security Council resolution that seeks a full halt to fighting in Lebanon, breaking a three-week impasse caused partly by Washington's refusal to press Israel to end its offensive against Hezbollah.
Kudos to Washington, well done!!! That Iranian lunatic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's, "Israel must be destroyed" comment at the Arab nations summit, as well as the Syrian Minister's admission that Syria supplied H'Bollah with missiles, and the Lebanon Government's Lahoud and Sinora claiming that H'Bollah is the defender of Lebanon, has brought France back to the real world.
The resolution must now go before the full 15-nation Security Council and gain Israeli and Lebanese acceptance — and initial reaction from both sides indicated that would not be easy.
As it stands now I think that it would gain Israeli acceptance.
Hezbollah warned it will not abide by the resolution unless Israel withdraws from Lebanon entirely and indicated the lack of a timetable for such a withdrawal was perhaps the biggest sticking point with the text.
"We will abide by it on condition that no Israeli soldier remains inside Lebanese land. If they stay, we will not abide by it," said Mohammed Fneish, one of two Hezbollah Cabinet ministers in the Lebanese government.
Sorry bout your luck Fneish, H'Bollah has lost today, BIG TIME
The text also ignored three Lebanese demands: setting a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from the south, lifting Israel's full blockade of Lebanon and putting the disputed Chebaa Farms area under U.N. control.
Hmmm.... these isues have been addressed....
The resolution's central demand was for "a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."
The document then charted a detailed path for the two sides to follow to achieve a lasting peace. It envisioned a second resolution in a week or two that would authorize an international military force for the Israel-Lebanon frontier.
Among those steps would be the creation of a large buffer zone in southern Lebanon free of both Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, monitored by the Lebanese army and international peacekeepers.
The draft also called for Hezbollah to be disarmed and for Lebanon's borders to be solidified, especially in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, occupied by Israel since 1967.
Another element was an arms embargo that would block any entity in Lebanon except the national government from obtaining weapons from abroad. That was aimed at blocking the sale or supply of arms to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria, which are believed to be the militia's main backers.
There you go Government of Lebanon, concerns answered on all points.
The resolution would put significant pressure on Lebanon's government, which has all but ceded control of the south to Hezbollah. The government will have great trouble disarming the militia, especially because Hezbollah has ministers inside it.
Don't worry, the Israelis are taking care of that problem quite efficiently. They are doing the dirty work that the Lebanese and UN should have done before now, which would have avoided the present state of affairs.
While the draft seeks the "unconditional release" of the two captured Israeli soldiers, it is less forceful on Lebanese prisoners held by Israel. It only encourages efforts "aimed at settling the issue" of those prisoners.
As it should be. This conflict started as a result of the capture of two Israeli soldiers, the deaths of eight Israeli soldiers(4 of whom were dismembered after they were dead), and the firing of Katyusha rockets into Israel.
The draft made no direct demand for the release of the two captured Israeli soldiers. It only emphasized the need to address the causes "that have given rise to the current crisis," including freeing the abductees.
Probably means that these two guys are already dead.
"This is not a resolution that provides the comprehensive solution," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said. "I'm sure there are aspects of it that are displeasing to almost everyone but the point is this is a way to get started and that's what we hope to do."
It's a great start.
In Israel, Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog said the agreement was an "important development," but Israel would not halt its assault on Hezbollah for the time being. Still, he appeared to acknowledge the draft meant Israel's offensive would have to wind down soon.
Victory is sweet. Can't wait to see how our Canadian MSM tries to spin away from their H'Bollah as HERO stance. I'm going to laugh, and laugh, and laugh....
Hezbollah is a neo-communist organization.
This blogger from Lebanon has revealed/admitted the truth about hezbollah.
Nasrallah is Lenin; hezbollah is the uber-communists, aka the inner party.
George Orwell had it all in his "1984".
Destroy hezbollah; destroy Nasrallah.
Socialism is the father/mother of: communism, nazism, fascism, feminism, environmentalism, multiculturalism, Islamist fascism, the Liberal/NDP party of Canada etc.
Stand with Israel. ...-
5- Hezbollah is a people not an army. Hezbollah is a popular movement. It's like Lenin, the vanguard party, and the peasants. here you have Nasrallah, the party of officials, and the majority of the shia who happen to live there. ...-
http://www.remarkze.blogspot.com/
Since one-sided propaganda is so boring, there is an indication of another side at www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-07/30olson.cfm
I think folks Mahmood is correct. "Regime Change" is required.
IN ISRAEL !
After reading the dead beats, and the losers, and the nut jobs, it surely is a tall order to realize peace. So, the world gets closer to Mahmood.
who kills pow's in this conflict?
pow's, prisoners of war, NOT CURRENTLY IN ACTIVE COMBAT BUT HELD CAPTIVE.
who is doing the killing of pow's? Israel or hezbollah?
the side which is NOT doing this is the civilized one which thus deserves to win.
I leave the answer to the reader.
maz2 et al:
the trick to seruptitious photos is DONT RAISE THE THING TO YOUR EYE.
this is a dead giveaway. the only thing we humans are usually raising to our eyes is a camera. it is a highly common and very recognizable act.
what I do: cut a hole in my jacket pocket, hang the camera from my neck, reach thru the hole with my hand and then pan the scene with the auto focus on, wide angle lens poking thru the buttons, and hold the shutter down. click click click click click.
odds are one of them is aimed right .....
Israel is so paranoid it hurts. The Muslims will not defeat Israel they are outgunned but it will be long and very messy. We have to stop all this fighting before some maniac out there starts using atomic weapons. I as a Canadian think we should remain neutral. It has helped us out in the past. I'm tired of watching our Prime Minister aping everything Bush does. Who the hell does he think he's fooling??? He's a three dressed up as a nine and he's wasting our time. A lot of Canadians are thinking the same. Why did we let him run Canada?????????????