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July 26, 2006
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Dan Halutz and Condi Rice: The New Team Rocket!
To protect the world from devastation.
To unite all peoples within our nation.
To denounce the evils of truth and love…
…and extend our reach to the stars above.
Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light.
Surrender now or prepare to fight!
And about as competent and successful as the original, but much less funny.
Posted by: Brian J. | Jul 26 2006 8:09 utc | 2
Posted by: annie | Jul 26 2006 9:20 utc | 3
Milbank sketch: More Q Than A on the Middle East
Nadia Bilbassy of al-Arabiya television wondered if there was a contradiction between Bush hastening both humanitarian aid to Lebanon and shipments of missiles and bombs to Israel, which will drop them on Lebanon. “No,” Bush said, “I don’t see a contradiction in us honoring commitments we made prior to Hezbollah attacks into Israeli territory.”
It is something else, to see Bush in this condradiction, and the one playing out with Maliki in washington, getting sucked so centrally into the vortex of his own mis-shapen design. I suppose, but have my doubts, that the democrats think they’re throwing him a cement life preserver……..
Posted by: anna missed | Jul 26 2006 9:48 utc | 5
Turkish premier calls for NATO to join fight against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for NATO to join the combat against mounting violence by Kurdish rebels holed up in northern Iraq, the Anatolia news agency reported.
“NATO, just as it stepped in to join the struggle against terrorism in Afghanistan, should … perform the same duty here,” Erdogan told reporters.
Erdogan’s call came as Ankara becomes increasingly exasperated by US reluctance to crack down on rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), based in the mountains of northern Iraq since 1999.
Last week, Ankara threatened a cross-border operation against the rebels who use Kurdish-populated northern Iraq as a springboard for attacks inside Turkey.
Smart move for the Turks, b. If NATO won’t assist it’s own members when they are under terrorist attack, then what good are they? Should be interesting to watch how this plays out.
Posted by: Ensley | Jul 26 2006 13:21 utc | 8
This just pisses me off, this is the second time I have lost my hotlist over at dkos, futher when asking about it I get smartass answers from the gatekeeprs… I’m fucking done w/dkos. ARGGGGGHHHH, it is impossible to finish my research on certain topics I have been working on now. I’m so mad I could spit.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 26 2006 13:27 utc | 9
Israel troops ‘ignored’ UN plea:
UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.
Posted by: Dismal Outlook | Jul 26 2006 13:32 utc | 10
My tax dollars at work:
1) Parliamentary auditor hampers police inquiry into arms deal:
Sir John Bourn is refusing to allow [UK] Ministry of Defence police and the Serious Fraud Office to see a report on Saudi arms deals, kept secret by his department, the National Audit Office, since it was drawn up 14 years ago.
2) British arms exports to Israel double in a year:
The report was released as the Liberal Democrat Leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, yesterday urged Tony Blair to suspend any further arms exports to Israel. “In light of disproportionate military action by Israel in Lebanon and Gaza the UK government must suspend any further arms exports to Israel,” Sir Menzies wrote to the prime minister. …
Saferworld, an independent London-based thinktank campaigning against the arms trade said yesterday that the Foreign Office’s human rights report states: “The UK opposes the Israeli policy of targeted killings, which are illegal under international law”.
UK Government – sponsor of state terror.
Posted by: Dismal Outlook | Jul 26 2006 13:40 utc | 11
the Israelis are down to wanting 2 kilometers of Lebanon.
Posted by: dan of steele | Jul 26 2006 13:41 utc | 12
According to former UK ambassador to the UN, Lord Hannay, on BBC Radio 4 World at One today, the UN post in which four UN peacekeepers died after being hit by Israeli bomb had been there for 30 years.
Precision much?
Posted by: Dismal Science | Jul 26 2006 13:48 utc | 13
@Enslin – Turkey
NATO, i.e. the US, of course will not help. One more bigger incident in southeast Turkey and they will start bombing north Iraq and to march into the Kirkuk direction.
@dan of steel – that 2 kilometers deep zone into Lebanon, how wide will it be? At the current rate the IDF will need a year to establish that along all of the border.
That’s what I expect, b. NATO is not going to help Turkey. So, can we all agree that Turkey has the right to defend itself against terrorists and can bomb Baghdad and any civilian targets it chooses anywhere in Iraq.
Posted by: Ensley | Jul 26 2006 14:07 utc | 15
I mentioned the 2km buffer because they wanted the zone all the way to the Litani river as mentioned here just a week ago.
sounds like a fairly big concession, when the US press starts talking about Sheba Farms you know we will be close to a solution.
This seems like a no brainer to me, give up occupied land and no longer have to worry about Lebanonese and Syrians on the northern border. Egypt has not been a threat since their land was returned. I can see a pattern….
Posted by: dan of steele | Jul 26 2006 14:40 utc | 16
Why not put the buffer zone on Israel’s side of the border?
Posted by: Ensley | Jul 26 2006 14:50 utc | 17
Today’s weather: sunny and hot with scattered locusts
Jesus, these people are so delusional…
In Middle East conflict, other crises, conservative media find signs of Biblical prophecy of Armageddon
Summary: In recent days, some members of the conservative media have seen signs of the Apocalypse in the escalated conflicts in the Middle East and Asia. Pat Robertson has considered the possibility but has seemed to reject it, while columnist Hal Lindsey has simply asserted: “Now Armageddon looms large before us.” But as recent reports on CNN and in USA Today attest, conservatives are not the only media figures to raise the question of whether current events are a sign of the “End Times.”
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 26 2006 14:52 utc | 18
Oh, sweet Jesus, I can’t wait until all these lunatics get raptured up and leave me behind!!!!!
Posted by: Ensley | Jul 26 2006 15:02 utc | 19
when the US press starts talking about Sheba Farms you know we will be close to a solution.
Report: U.S. plan includes Israeli pullout from Shaba Farms
The American initiative to end the Lebanon conflict includes an Israeli withdrawal from the Shaba Farms, the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat reported Wednesday.
According to the report, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice included Shaba Farms in the plan following pressure from high ranking Lebanese officials, headed by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The initiative put forward by Rice during her trip to the region Monday and Tuesday, the Shaba Farms area will be transferred to Lebanon, but the local border will not be set if Syria persists in its opposition to such a move. Following the transfer to Lebanese authority, the Shaba Farms area will be the responsibility of the United Nations.
Israeli sources said, however, that Rice had acknowledged the Shaba Farms region as one of the excuses given by the Lebanese government for its failure to act, but said she did not include an Israeli withdrawal in her demands.
Israel seized the mountainous region from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, along with the neighboring Golan Heights.
The area is now claimed by Beirut, with the consent of Damascus. The UN, however, has maintained that the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000 was complete, and that any negotiations conducted over the area should be between Israel and Syria.
Well, it still doesn´t feel close to a solution.
Iraq families secure inquiry bid:
The families of British soldiers killed in Iraq have made a legal breakthrough in their bid for a full public inquiry into why the UK entered the conflict. …
In their ruling, the appeal judges said: “It is at least arguable that the question whether the invasion was lawful – or reasonably thought to have been lawful – as a matter of international law is worthy of investigation.”
Posted by: Dismal Science | Jul 26 2006 15:08 utc | 21
dan of steele:
the Israelis are down to wanting 2 kilometers of Lebanon.
ensley :
Why not put the buffer zone on Israel’s side of the border?
Split the difference? 1 kilometer on each side of the border.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Jul 26 2006 15:19 utc | 22
b
no fair, I said US press. only thing I found I found while googling was this bit of propagenda
Posted by: dan of steele | Jul 26 2006 15:37 utc | 23
uncle(7), my 3 am mind, excuse me. the traffic in the last 24 hrs has been truely amazing in #’s and locale. it fascinates me, just thought i’d put it out there for people who don’t know about or check the sitemeter.
Posted by: annie | Jul 26 2006 15:51 utc | 24
Israel Mum on Jailed Ohio College Professor
WARFARE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Israel Mum on Jailed Ohio College Professor
From the Associated Press
July 21, 2006
WASHINGTON — An Ohio college professor has been in an Israeli jail since being arrested on unspecified charges July 8, his family said Thursday.
—
first released for publication in Israel TODAY. Apparently the guy was shooting photos up north. NOw, in order to incite against him, the newspaper says he is also suspected of assisting hizbollah with calibration of rockets. BUT, he was detained before the soldiers were kidnapped and before any rockets were fired. Press is doing some lynch on him with the gov. wonder what is behind this, if at all ? anyone ?
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 26 2006 15:54 utc | 25
How we know that the IDF attack on UNIFIL was deliberate:
(1) The post has been there for decades (est. 30 years), it was clearly marked and the IDF knew it was there and had assured the UN that UNIFIL forces would not be targeted
(2) The IDF shelled the post 14 times during the day
(3) The Irish govt. confirms that UNIFIL had been in contact with IDF 10 times to end the shelling
(4) The post was hit by a precision bomb from aircraft after repeated pleas from UNIFIL forces
(5) The IDF continued to attack the post after rescue workers arrived
(6) The IDF has already attacked other UN personnel in S. Lebanon
Posted by: Bubb Rubb | Jul 26 2006 16:30 utc | 26
worth reading in full
In fact, although no one is making the point, Hizbullah’s rockets have been targeted overwhelmingly at strategic locations: the northern economic hub of Haifa, its satellite towns and the array of military sites across the Galilee.
Nasrallah seems fully aware that Israel has an impressive civil defense program of shelters that keep most civilians out of harm’s way. Unlike Horowitz I won’t presume to read Nasrallah’s mind: whether he wants to kill large numbers of Israeli civilians or not cannot be known, given his inability to do so.
But we can see from the choice of the sites he is striking that his primary goal is to give Israelis a small taste of the disruption of normal life that is being endured by the Lebanese. He has effectively closed Haifa for more than a week, shutting its port and financial centers. Israeli TV is speaking increasingly of the damage being inflicted on the country’s economy.
Because of Israel’s press censorship laws, it is impossible to discuss the locations of Israel’s military installations. But Hizbullah’s rockets are accurate enough to show that many are intended for the army’s sites in the Galilee, even if they are rarely precise enough to hit them.
It is obvious to everyone in Nazareth, for example, that the rockets landing close by, and once on, the city over the past week are searching out, and some have fallen extremely close to, the weapons factory sited near us.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jul 26 2006 16:41 utc | 27
anna missed:
I think the Demoplicans have been contacted by AIPAC central and told to let Maliki have it :
Lebanon: Winners and Losers
Mr. Maliki’s refusal to condemn Hezbollah has created an awkward situation for the White House. ‘His statements are troubling,’ Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic minority leader, said today. ‘They raise serious questions about whether Iraq, which is supposed to be our ally, can play a constructive role in resolving the current crisis and bringing stability to the Middle East.’
Maliki said
“The Israeli attacks and airstrikes are completely destroying Lebanon’s infrastructure. I condemn these aggressions and call on the Arab League foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo to take quick action to stop these aggressions. We call on the world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression.”
So the Demoplicans are turning explicit criticism of Israel into an embrace of Hezbollah. Maliki probably does side with Hezbollah, but what he actually said is more relevant at this juncture, if the Demoplicans are going to address him at all. But what he said was the truth about Israel’s war crimes in Lebanon.
It gets worse. The made men and women of the Demoplican party have published a letter trying to keep Maliki from the podium in the House :
“In recent months there have been extensive reports indicating that al-Maliki and many in the Iraqi leadership are increasingly influenced by the government in Iran. Further, they have expressed support of terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, the latter of which was responsible for the death of 241 United States Marines in Beirut. The House should not allow an address from any world leader who has taken such action. We are unaware of any prior instance where a world leader who actively worked against the interests of the United States was afforded such an honor. We urge you to cancel the address.”
The Demoplicans are now the ones loading Iran as the scapegoat for Iraq. No doubt they will scream bloody hell at the Republicrats when they pick up the ball and run all the way to Teheran with it, a la Israel in Lebanon. They truly are the backbone of this criminal regime.
Just as they enabled the war in Iraq, are now abetting the war in Lebanon and Gaza, so too will they push for the upcoming “rubbling” of Iran.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Jul 26 2006 17:06 utc | 28
That’s it, JFL! The Democrats are just as much warmongers as the Republicans are, which is why I have said repeatedly that I will vote for the antiwar candidate regardless of party affiliation. If that means a Republican, a Democrat or a third-party, that’s the way it goes. I will not support and enable the murder of innocent people anywhere. I will not support incursions into other countries who are not a direct and present threat to us.
It doesn’t matter what social programs, energy programs, environmental programs, educational programs the Democrats are for. As long as all the money is going out the door to foreign wars, all the Dems have to offer is lip service because there is NO MONEY to impliment any of them.
Posted by: Ensley | Jul 26 2006 17:45 utc | 29
@Ensley
I can’t remember if you were around when I posted this or not, but it could perhaps explain alot:
The ratchet effect
The American political system, since at least 1968, has been operating like a ratchet, and both parties — Republicans and Democrats — play crucial, mutually reinforcing roles in its operation.
The electoral ratchet permits movement only in the rightward direction. The Republican role is fairly clear; the Republicans apply the torque that rotates the thing rightward.
The Democrats’ role is a little less obvious. The Democrats are the pawl. They don’t resist the rightward movement — they let it happen — but whenever the rightward force slackens momentarily, for whatever reason, the Democrats click into place and keep the machine from rotating back to the left.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 26 2006 17:59 utc | 30
meanwhile, closer to home and here on the big ranch…
ABA Gives Wallace ‘Not Qualified’ Rating, Stiffs Spector
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 26 2006 18:04 utc | 31
Juan Cole’s take on Dawa and Hizbollah history – or why al-Maliki will not condemn Hizbollah.
Keeping al-Maliki from speaking is ludicrous, the same as excluding Syria and Iran from Rome talks on crisis in Lebanon. At some point, all parties in this are going to have to sit down and talk.
“We will not negotiate w/ terrorists” was Thatcher line – and got us precisely nowhere w/ IRA, although it did create work for resting actors who were drafted in by BBC when the actual voices of Gerry Adams and friends were banned from being broadcast over the airwaves – actors read their words over film of interview instead.
Posted by: Dismal Outcome | Jul 26 2006 18:13 utc | 32
Meanwhile…
From Al Safir:
“Israel’s offensive on Lebanon has resulted in an environmental disaster of catastrophic proportions. An oil leak from the recently bombed Jiyeh power station has covered Lebanon’s coastline in 15,000 tons of fuel oil reaching Chekka in the north (meaning that the spill has spread up to 100 kilometers in length). Lebanon does not have the means to clean an oil spill of this size and as such has enlisted the help of Kuwait in the hopes of stopping it from spreading any further. The Ministry of Environment has issued a statement saying that the oil spill will take decades to clean and will destroy marine life and Lebanon’s tourism, as well as cause a number of skin and lung diseases. One of the plant’s oil tanks is still on fire and a further 25,000 tons of fuel oil are feared to leak out into the sea. The oil has already polluted all rocks, sandy beaches, ports and resorts. Fisherman and swimmers are to instructed to completely avoid Lebanon’s beaches.”trans. from Arabic Press
Posted by: jj | Jul 26 2006 18:17 utc | 33
I don’t remember reading that, Uncle. Very good analogy. Thanks for reposting it.
Posted by: Ensley | Jul 26 2006 18:21 utc | 34
Nuke Lab Privatization Moving Forward
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is one step closer to handing over operation and management of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to private contractors. According to a recently revised Request for Proposals (RFP), potential bidders on the project have been meeting with the Dept. of Energy (DOE) over the past two months to discuss this voluntary surrender of control. Despite the eventual privatization of this San Francisco Bay Area facility — which contains a nuclear weapons stockpile as well as a nuclear bomb-development and R&D complex — contracts will continue to cost U.S. taxpayers $1.2 billion annually, not including a DOE-estimated $500 million in “reimbursable worK” that the selected prime contractor may conduct yearly.
Posted by: b real | Jul 26 2006 18:52 utc | 35
Chris Floyd Sacked from Moscow Times
…after more than a decade of working with The Moscow Times, Chris Floyd was ‘let go’ by the new editor, who said Floyd’s column no longer fits in with the paper’s plans.
Posted by: b real | Jul 26 2006 19:12 utc | 36
Saddam smiles in the face of evil
Saddam spends three days in hospital then gets the giggles in court..
“Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has told his trial he wants to be shot not hanged if he is condemned to die.
Shooting was the appropriate means of execution for a military man like himself, he said.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 26 2006 19:24 utc | 37
Watching Washington? Watching Washington, no no you mean sucking Washington’s dick…
Bush putting Bolton up for nomination again
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 26 2006 19:32 utc | 38
Uncle, no wonder he’s giggling. Saddam is a lawyer. His soldiering consisted of receiving fake military grades once he came to power. He went from Lawyer Second Class to General to Field Marshal. But he’s really a lawyer, a law school grad, and that’s all the more reason to shoot him.
😉
Posted by: Ensley | Jul 26 2006 19:43 utc | 39
Goodie – now we can have nuclear war for fun & profit…can’t have unhappy shareholders of nuke producers can we?
I read somewhere – I think @Marc Parent’s this am that AIPAC is putting pressure on HClinton & Schumer to support Bolton.
Posted by: jj | Jul 26 2006 20:00 utc | 40
INSTITUTIONAL TROLL ALERT
Arjan El Fassed, The Electronic Intifada, 26 July 2006
The following letter was sent by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to a variety of pro-Israel organisations, so-called ‘hasbara’-groups and other supporters of Israel.
Dear friends,
Many of us recognize the importance of the Internet as the new battleground for Israel’s image. It’s time to do it better, and coordinate our on-line efforts on behalf of Israel. An Israeli software company have developed a free, safe and useful tool for us – the Internet Megaphone.
Please go to http://www.giyus.org, download the Megaphone, and you will receive daily updates with instant links to important internet polls, problematic articles that require a talk back, etc.
We need 100,000 Megaphone users to make a difference. So, please distribute this mail to all Israel’s supporters.
Do it now. For Israel.
Amir Gissin
Director Public Affairs (Hasbara) Department
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs understands that today’s conflicts are won by public opinion. They mobilize pro-Israel activists to be active and voice “Israel’s side to the world.” The Megaphone desktop tool, built by Giyus, which means “mobilization”, sends desktop alerts on key articles on Israel and surveys, online polls where activists could click on the button to support Israel and click alerts to easily voice pro-Israel opinions.
The tool tracks down online articles and polls that members should act upon. After installing the tool, members receive alerts on those articles. With this tool Israel’s Foreign Ministry obviously thought it would help Israel’s fight in cyberspace. However, having used this tool, for others, it is quit useful as well. There is also a weblog and a forum.Go Here to get links to check out this shit
Posted by: jj | Jul 26 2006 20:03 utc | 41
Proche-Orient: vingt et un Palestiniens tués par l’armée israélienne à Gaza
Vingt et un Palestiniens dont de nombreux civils ont été tués mercredi dans la bande de Gaza, l’une des journées les plus sanglantes de l’offensive israélienne lancée il y a près d’un mois dans ce territoire pour retrouver un soldat capturé par des groupes armés.
Parmi les 21 tués figurent au moins huit membres de groupes armés, mais aussi plusieurs civils, dont trois petites filles. En outre, au moins 69 Palestiniens ont été blessés, dont 20 grièvement.
Deux soeurs de 7 mois et trois ans ont été tuées par un tir d’obus de char qui s’est abattu sur leur maison dans l’est du camp de réfugiés de Jabalia, dans le nord de la bande de Gaza, blessant leur mère et deux autres soeurs.
Un jeune homme âgé d’une vingtaine d’années, souffrant de troubles mentaux, a été tué à Soudania, au nord de Gaza par des tirs de chars.
L’armée israélienne a confirmé plusieurs raids aériens contre des “hommes armés” dans l’est de Gaza.
Elle a lancé une série de raids aériens et une incursion dans le nord de la bande de Gaza afin de mettre fin aux tirs de roquettes, selon un porte-parole militaire. Trois roquettes sont tombées dans le sud d’Israël sans faire ni victime ni dégât, a-t-il ajouté.
Les raids ont visé à Gaza une force spéciale du ministère de l’Intérieur mise en place par le mouvement islamiste Hamas, ainsi qu’une maison, déjà touchée la veille à Rafah, dans le sud de la bande de Gaza.
Au total, 137 Palestiniens et un soldat israélien ont péri dans les opérations israéliennes lancées depuis le 28 juin dans la bande de Gaza pour retrouver un militaire israélien enlevé par des groupes armés dont la branche armée du Hamas, et mettre fin aux tirs de roquettes sur le sud d’Israël.
Dans un communiqué, le président palestinien Mahmoud Abbas a condamné des “actes inacceptables”. “Israël viole clairement les conventions de Genève” en référence aux attaques contre des cibles civiles, a-t-il ajouté.
Le gouvernement palestinien dirigé par le Hamas a dénoncé “la guerre psychologique” menée par l’armée israélienne qui appelle depuis plusieurs jours des habitants de Gaza pour les prévenir du bombardement imminent de leur maison.
L’armée israélienne a indiqué avoir lors de ses raids contre des maisons ces derniers jours sommé les habitants de quitter les lieux avant de frapper. Des propriétaires de maisons ont confirmé à l’AFP avoir reçu des avertissements téléphoniques de l’armée israélienne.
M. Abbas est parti pour une tournée arabe. “Il va rencontrer le roi Abdallah II de Jordanie, le président algérien Abdelaziz Bouteflika, le président égyptien Hosni Moubarak et le roi Abdallah d’Arabie saoudite”, a affirmé son porte-parole, Nabil Abou Roudeina.
La veille M. Abbas a réclamé un “cessez-le-feu immédiat” au Liban et un arrêt des opérations dans la bande de Gaza et en Cisjordanie, après sa rencontre avec la chef de la diplomatie américaine Condoleezza Rice à Ramallah.
“L’agression dans la bande de Gaza et en Cisjordanie doit s’arrêter et un cessez-le-feu immédiat doit être mis en place” au Liban, a-t-il réclamé.
Mme Rice a de son côté indiqué qu’il était “important de mettre fin à la crise à Gaza. Nous devons être en mesure de faire des progrès (dans le processus de paix) car les Palestiniens ont vécu pendant trop longtemps dans la violence et les humiliations quotidiennes”.
Le Premier ministre issu du Hamas Ismaïl Haniyeh, menacé par Israël qui le tient pour responsable du sort de son soldat, a averti que “la force militaire ne parviendra pas à briser la volonté de notre peuple”, à l’occasion d’une cérémonie de remise des diplômes à l’Université islamique de Gaza.
Posted by: r’giap | Jul 26 2006 20:20 utc | 42
“Operation Sampson’s Pillars”????
Is that right? They are threatening to kill everyone and themselves too?
Posted by: citizen | Jul 26 2006 20:48 utc | 44
annie,
copy the whole bit and paste it into babelfish, select from french to english and you will get a translation.
Posted by: dan of steele | Jul 26 2006 20:55 utc | 45
For over seventy years, The Heydrich Group has specialized in exposing the menace of the World Zionist Movement and offering practical solutions that may be implemented to temporarily hinder its further metastasis.
Today we have over 300,000 counter-internet propagandists working 24/7 to counter the current Zionist lies about Lebanon.
If you would like to help in this effort, EMail me.
Posted by: The Prinicpal | Jul 26 2006 20:58 utc | 46
@DOS:
Thought you were talking about the site-meter data for a minute.
Anybody cares, I’m in Paraguay right now.
Posted by: The Prinicpal | Jul 26 2006 21:04 utc | 47
@DOS:
First post on the thread and link by Annie(“FYI”) to the Site-Meter.
Interesting, but a lot of gibberish to me.
Thought you meant to run that thru Babelfish.
Posted by: The Prinicpal | Jul 26 2006 21:23 utc | 49
No thank you, Principal. Any individual whose e-mail address is Heydrich@3Reich.net is not someone I want to be affiliated with, sorry. I may scream and rant and rave over what Israel is doing. But I ain’t stepping in your direction, trust me.
Posted by: Ensley | Jul 26 2006 21:30 utc | 50
Merci @ Dan of Steele and r’giap for the refresher course.
Posted by: gylangirl | Jul 27 2006 0:11 utc | 51
We’ve been focussed on the Middle East a lot.
Whatever happened to the other ‘axis of evil’, North Korea? Suddenly very quiet there….
Posted by: gylangirl | Jul 27 2006 0:41 utc | 52
Maybe where you’re at, there’s not much talk about North Korea… *insert smiley winkey face here*
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 27 2006 3:09 utc | 53
From The Peacock Report:, July 17<: As Hezbollah Rains Rockets on Israel, DoD Steps Up Plans to Upgrade Israeli Air Force Bases
http://tpr.typepad.com/thepeacockreport/2006/07/israel.html
Posted by: Steve Peacock | Jul 27 2006 3:32 utc | 54
prwatch: The Business of Government Science
Source: The Scientist, July 24, 2006
Nearly one in five scientists appointed to expert panels of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) had direct financial ties to companies that stood to benefit from the deliberations, according to a sampling released by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). NAS was created by President Lincoln in 1863, to “investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art” when requested by any department of the government. “I believe there are scientists out there without conflicts of interest who can serve on these committees and do a comparable job” to experts with ties to the affected companies, said Merrill Goozner, CSPI’s director of Integrity in Science program. CSPI cites the example of a NAS panel evaluating the risk of mercury in fish that included a scientist whose research was funded by pro-industry lobbying groups such as the United States Tuna Foundation. Another panel studying pollution emissions included 10 out of 11 scientists with ties to carbon-emitting industries.
Posted by: b real | Jul 27 2006 3:52 utc | 55
@Ensley
“Any individual whose e-mail address is Heydrich@3Reich.net is not someone I want to be affiliated with, sorry. I may scream and rant and rave over what Israel is doing. But I ain’t stepping in your direction, trust me.”
I think that was the point, big guy. What is being said essentially is if you are not Pro-Israel, you are Pro-Nazi. Principal seems to be playing a pretty sophisticated bit of sophistry there, unless they really do represent a neo-Nazi throwback organization (which I’m inclined to doubt… if that were the case, they probably would have picked someone slightly less odious than Reinhard Heydrich to be their poster boy). Psy-Ops seem to be evolving a bit these days.
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 27 2006 4:02 utc | 56
Is there no depth of infamy to which these gutless man-boys will not sink:
Babies among dead on Gaza front line
Only the bloodstains on their white shrouds spoke of the tragedy that had unfolded. Two Palestinian girls, one just eight months old, were dead. They were killed when an Israeli tank shell struck a house near Jabalya in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Yesterday marked the end of Cpl Gilad Shalit’s first month in captivity and Israel stepped up operations inside the Strip in an operation codenamed Sampson’s Pillar.
The ferocity of the response to that kidnapping, and the determination of operations to stop Palestinian militants’ rockets, saw a barrage of air strikes and raids yesterday that killed at least 19 Palestinians, including three children and a handicapped man. . . .”
Posted by: Debs is dead | Jul 27 2006 5:18 utc | 57
thanks dan (45). i think i posted a hararatz article somewhere around here this morning about Operation Sampson’s Pillars, sited they moved 50 tanks into gaza. i had no idea 128 palestinian had been killed in the last month. for some reason i do get comfort in knowing the world is watching and judging these atrocities. i also know there are israelis who are as humiliated and ashamed of their government as i am of mine. i found solice in reading the link of olmerts daughter protesting against her government treatment of palestinians a couple days ago. just read 9 israelis were killed in fighting.
Posted by: annie | Jul 27 2006 6:42 utc | 58
i also know there are israelis who are as humiliated and ashamed of their government as i am of mine.
Posted by: annie | Jul 27, 2006 2:42:58 AM | 58
Anyone with basic morals should be ashamed of this
It is shameful and disgusting in ways that I am too repulsed to think about and tired to write about.
Posted by: Bubb Rubb | Jul 27 2006 6:48 utc | 59
Not sleeping very well.
I was scheduled to be in Beirut last weekend for a wedding of friends, but gave it a pass long before this disaster because of my own family obligations. I cannot find out what has happened to my friends. I assume they are too busy just letting relatives know they’re okay, and I know the odds are with them, but I do not know.
They are a lovely couple, he a newly minted doctor intent on returning to Lebanon once he’s fully trained in his specialty (2 more years), and she multilingual who studied law but was too good for all that and has pursued diplomacy instead. They are the hope of their parent’s generation and Israel is bombing them.
The IDF is stomping on the light that could save Israel, light from Lebanon. These military men murder hope, with intent. I will not forgive them.
Posted by: citizen | Jul 27 2006 6:59 utc | 60
@Citizen, pls. let us know when you hear about/from yr. friends. Israel has been busy bombing communcation towers, so they may not be able to phone. If they have Am. visas, you might get some info. thru State Dept…or not… 🙁
Posted by: jj | Jul 27 2006 7:03 utc | 61
For those fascinated by Energy in the Human Body, there’s a big practical breakthrough in today’s “Nature”:
Scientists have found how the body harnesses the power of electricity to heal cuts and grazes – an effect they manipulated to speed up wound healing dramatically.
In what amounts to the modern rediscovery of an old medical curiosity, the finding raises hopes for revolutionary treatments to patch up injured patients in hours instead of days.
In preliminary lab tests, researchers showed that by controlling the weak electrical fields that arise naturally at wound sites, they could direct cells to either close or open up a wound at the flick of a switch. By making the cells move faster, they were able to speed up wound healing by 50%.Healing power of electricity raises hope of new treatments
Posted by: jj | Jul 27 2006 7:14 utc | 62
Overseas Tensions Force Bush to Change Direction
Republican candidates who are already nervous about a commander in chief with approval ratings stuck in the 30s have grown wary of the impact of the latest fighting.
“It may not only intrude in the midterm elections, it could envelop them,” said V. Lance Tarrance Jr., a prominent Republican consultant. On the one hand, he said, it could give Bush a chance “to demonstrate presidential leadership,” and voters are often reluctant to shift leadership in a moment of crisis. On the other hand, he said, “it could force a large-scale regional conflict that increases” the vote against incumbents “to such an extent that people worry about the country.”
The White House sees the risk but is banking, in part, on the Democrats’ history of not capitalizing on such moments. Bush advisers point to 2004, when the situation in Iraq appeared particularly dire, and yet the president won reelection and Republicans retained both houses of Congress.
David Broder is smelling something: Simmering Rage Within the GOP
My weekend visitor was one of the founders of the postwar Republican Party in the South, one of those stubborn men who challenged the Democratic rule in his one-party state. He was conservative enough that in the great struggle for the 1952 nomination, his sympathies were with Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio, not Dwight D. Eisenhower.
…
He went on: “How the hell long can they refuse to raise the minimum wage?” He was furious, he said, with the Republican leaders of Congress who keep blocking bills to raise the minimum wage, which has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for years. “I’m a conservative,” he said, “but they make me sound like a damned liberal the way they act. They spend like fools, they run up the deficits and they refuse to give a raise to the working people who are struggling. How the hell are you supposed to live on $5.15 an hour these days?”
“If it wasn’t for Pelosi,” he said, “I’d just as soon the Democrats take over this fall. Get some checks and balances and teach these guys a lesson.”
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I first became aware of the spreading discontent on the right in visiting with people in the church social hall after the funeral this spring for Lyn Nofziger, Ronald Reagan’s longtime press spokesman and adviser. The comments about the Bush White House people — who were notable by their absence at the service — startled me.
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But the dissent threatens Republican chances of avoiding a major defeat in the midterm elections. Andrew Kohut’s survey for the respected Pew Research Center last month found Democrats far more motivated to vote this year than Republicans. The Democrats held a 16-point advantage over the GOP on the question Kohut uses to gauge the level of interest in voting, exactly the reverse of the situation in 1994, the year the Republicans took over Congress.
In the past two elections — 2002 and 2004 — Karl Rove, Ken Mehlman and the rest of the Republican leaders demonstrated a superior ability to locate and turn out their voters. But in neither of those years did they face the formidable barriers in place this year, starting with the weariness with the war in Iraq. The last thing they need is the disaffection now being displayed in their own ranks. This looms as the supreme test of their political skills.
WaPo Editors against Bolton(!): John Bolton, Multilateralist?
One year later, Mr. Voinovich has reversed his position, emboldening the Senate leadership to schedule a hearing today on Mr. Bolton’s confirmation. Writing on the opposite page on July 20, Mr. Voinovich asserted that Mr. Bolton “has demonstrated his ability, especially in recent months, to work with others and follow the president’s lead by working multilaterally.” We are surprised by this statement, since Mr. Bolton’s conduct at the United Nations has in fact demonstrated the opposite.
…
Mr. Bolton has embarrassed himself most recently by his mishandling of U.N. management reform, a cause supported by U.N. officials and the richer member states. Mr. Bolton came up with the idea of threatening to cut U.N. funding unless the management reforms were adopted, and his spokesman insists that this brinkmanship was helpful. But South Africa’s U.N. envoy called it “poison”; Germany’s ambassador called it “wrong”; his British counterpart said it was a mistake to hold the budget hostage. After six months the budget threat was dropped.
We see little evidence here that Mr. Bolton is good at “working multilaterally.” Rather than building support at the United Nations, Mr. Bolton has more often solidified the anti-American coalition. We continue to believe that the president is entitled to the ambassador of his choosing, provided that the nominee is competent and honest. But we can’t explain Mr. Voinovich’s change of mind, nor why Mr. Bush supposes that this polarizing envoy advances U.S. interests.
Not happy soldiers in Iraq: ‘Waiting to Get Blown Up’
“No one wants to be here, you know, no one is truly enthused about what we do,” said Sgt. Christopher Dugger, the squad leader. “We were excited, but then it just wears on you — there’s only so much you can take. Like me, personally, I want to fight in a war like World War II. I want to fight an enemy. And this, out here,” he said, motioning around the scorched sand-and-gravel base, the rows of Humvees and barracks, toward the trash-strewn streets of Baghdad outside, “there is no enemy, it’s a faceless enemy. He’s out there, but he’s hiding.”
“We’re trained as an Army to fight and destroy the enemy and then take over,” added Dugger, 26, of Reno, Nev. “But I don’t think we’re trained enough to push along a country, and that’s what we’re actually doing out here.”
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Steffey said he wished “somebody would explain to us, ‘Hey, this is what we’re working for.’ ” With a stream of expletives, he said he could not care less “if Iraq’s free” or “if they’re a democracy.”
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He kept talking. “They say we’re here and we’ve given them freedom, but really what is that? You know, what is freedom? You’ve got kids here who can’t go to school. You’ve got people here who don’t have jobs anymore. You’ve got people here who don’t have power,” he said. “You know, so yeah, they’ve got freedom now, but when they didn’t have freedom, everybody had a job.”
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“We do an action, he counters it. It’s a constant tug of war,” said Sgt. 1st Class Scott Wilmot, an IED analyst with the battalion. “From where I sit, the [number of] IEDs continually, gradually, goes up.”
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“I can’t fix electricity or sewers all the time. We recommend projects to be done,” Comstock told Muhammed Adnan, a Bayaa resident. “Patrolling your neighborhood is one thing we can do. I hope that helps.”
“We just receive promises around here, nothing else,” Adnan, 40, told Comstock. “Three years, just promises, and promises and promises.”
Comstock wrote down the words: “only promises.”
Well, if the soldiers stranded in Iraq aren’t happy about it, they definitely won’t feel any better reading this:
LONDON – US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is considering provoking a military confrontation with Syria by attacking Hizbullah bases near the Syrian border in Lebanon, according to the authoritative London-based Jane’s Intelligence Digest.
It noted that the deployment of US special forces in the Bekaa Valley, where most of Syria’s occupation forces in Lebanon are based, would be highly inflammatory and would “almost certainly involve a confrontation with Syrian troops.”
“Targeting Syria via Lebanon, the only concrete political influence Damascus has to show following decades of radical diplomacy could prove to be a means to that end.”link
Posted by: jj | Jul 27 2006 8:38 utc | 67
Check out what’s passing for ME Analyst on Rupie’s network:
Monday morning, July 24, 2006, in a blatant bit of “lying by omission”, FOX & Friends host Mike Jerrick introduced End of Days Christian preacher and author Michael D. Evans as a “Middle East Analyst.” Evans is the author of the books The American Prophecies: Ancient Scriptures Reveal Our Nation’s Future. He is also the founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team, whose stated objective is “… to have 1 million people praying daily and 100,000 houses of worship praying weekly for the peace and protection of the Jewish people.”
Evans is a rapture Christian who believes that, once Israel is at peace, the end of the world will come, at which time a very few chosen Christians (including himself and George Bush) will be wisked into heaven by Jesus while the rest of non-believing humanity will be cast into the fiery pit for all eternity.FOX News Deliberately Hides Fact That “Middle East Analyst” Is Apocalyptic Christian Preacher
Posted by: jj | Jul 27 2006 8:59 utc | 68
French filmmaker Mathieu Verboud is set to release a new documentary for European television this fall which will reveal important new insights into the case of former FBI translator and president of theNational Security Whistleblower’s CoalitionSibel Edmonds. Edmonds, a Turkish-American whose wrongful termination lawsuit was suppressed by the government’s invocation of theall-too-common “state secrets privilege”, reported to her superiors espionage and deliberate mistranslations on the part of fellow Turkish translator, Melek Can Dickerson. It seems Ms. Dickerson had relationships with targets of FBI investigation working at the Turkish Embassy and theAmerican Turkish Council, a fact which meant that anything she translated was likely to be false. However, instead of receiving a promotion for bringing Ms. Dickerson’s’ espionage to the attention of her bosses, Edmonds was fired after she went in frustration to the U.S. Senate. The FBI refused to investigate Edmonds’ claims, at least in part, because the contract linguist had discovered quite a messy scandal: the content of the mistranslated documents revealed that some very powerful people in the U.S. government, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, were connected to foreign organized crime. Even worse, these foreign criminals connected to the high and mighty in the U.S. were also connected internationally, through the heroin trade and associated money laundering, to international terrorist organizations like al Qaeda.
Of course, the is about Sibel Edmonds…
Ms. Edmonds is a hero to a lot of people and I’m one of them. But I have a terrible feeling that the link between the Mafia and some of our most powerful politicians is going to be permanently supressed by most of the non-electronic media. Almost all the articles on her crusade that I’ve read have been published online and when I mention her to people who don’t rely on the internet for most of their news, almost no one recognizes her name. That’s very discouraging to me. Even right after one of the news magazines did do a story on her back when she was fired, it just doesn’t seem to register on most people.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 27 2006 17:45 utc | 69
Tour de France winner Landis tests positive
our de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone, the U.S. rider’s Phonak team said on Thursday, dealing a savage blow to cycling’s most prestigious race.
Have been reading nikki kiddie’s Modern Iran, suggested by billmon. really humbling. astounding the ingenious ways persians have been fucked over by rusians, brits and americans for 200 years.
why do they hate us?
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 27 2006 22:28 utc | 71
in the post-armstrong cycling era, it was supposed to be the age of basso, then the age of valverde (who has been linked to the spanish “doctor”), the age landis. damn.
what a beautiful sport, screwed.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 27 2006 22:32 utc | 72
Following links w/in Uncle’s links:
SIBEL EDMONDS: As I said, Amy, I have been giving all the details to the appropriate channels. And they have been confirmed. And what I have said all along is the fact that as far as the 9/11 is concerned, September 11 is concerned, these departments — and when I say gthese departments,h the Department of Justice, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense — have intentionally blocked the investigations of real — the real criminals in this country. And we are talking about countries involved. The Vanity Fair article points out to Turkey — countries. And it’s very interesting. To this date, we are not hearing anything about targeting, you know, certain Central Asian countries. They are not speaking about the link between the narcotics and al Qaeda. Yes, we are hearing about them coming down on some charities as the real funds behind al Qaeda, but most of al Qaeda’s funding is not through these charity organizations. It’s through narcotics. And have you heard anything to this date, anything about these issues which we have had information since 1997? And as I would again emphasize, we are talking about countries. And they are blocking this information, and also the fact that certain officials in this country are engaged in treason against the United States and its interests and its national security, be it the Department of State or certain elected officials.
First a thank you to the tough humanists like Sibel Edmonds who have fought for some actual rule of law. I find this quote both respectful of the law, and very clear. Consider reading the whole thing.
In a more personal note, I want to thank slothrop, r’giap, jj, Ms. Manners, and brother k for your encouragement and welcome back onto the boards here. You all help sustain me.
Posted by: citizen | Jul 27 2006 23:52 utc | 73
“The building was clearly marked, their vehicles were clearly marked, they were clearly marked as UN observers,” Cynthia Hess-von Kruedener told reporters Thursday.
“So why were (the Israelis) firing on that base? … In my opinion, those were precision-guided missiles, so the attack was intentional.”
She also said that Israel had attacked the area several times before, “for weeks upon weeks,” according to her husband.
Our PM seriously doubts this and wonders why the post was even manned, given that it is in the midst of what amounts to a war.
timeline of latest incident
seems a tad incomplete
Posted by: gmac | Jul 28 2006 0:44 utc | 74
citizen
you too
my only surprise with this forced punishment of watching the ‘fool’s farm’ at cnnskybbc is that increasingly this week they have had a number of ‘experts’ coming from the high end of policy or consulting – rand corporation , institutes of foreign affairs etc who have commented in the most critical terms on what the israeli govt are doing & the short term support from the cheney bush junta
one tonight sd a defeat of hezbollah was not do-able. this commenter criticised any fuller engagement even hinted that there are those in the israei elite who wanted the u s to force them to disengage & so not lose face
they are clearly in the paul craig roberts school who are offended by the very vulgarity of the cheney bush junta & are offended by their stupidity. evidently they sspeak for other elites as we all know ideologues are the small change in the velour lined pockets of capital
on the surface the only ones in favour of escalation on the surface are cretin news networks, buffoons bathing in custard, & those senile sacks of shit whom are totally charmless & who evidently place their nose as close to rupert’s ass, at sky. ô them they would like to have a good war
not one of them who’d have the balls to report in baghdad for just one day outside the green zone or their hired security & fashion guides
i’m sure there is as much oppossition in the military establishment to what bush/cheny have allowed their henchmen, the israelis to commit
Posted by: r’giap | Jul 28 2006 0:47 utc | 75
Rumsfeld extends tours of 3,500 US troops in Iraq
The Pentagon extended the tours of about 3,500 US troops in Iraq for 120 days, dashing hopes of US force cuts this year in the face of surging sectarian violence.
The Pentagon also identified army and marine units totalling about 25,000 troops that have been scheduled to deploy to Iraq late this year and early next, enough to maintain the US force at about 130,000 troops for a year.
“Additionally, the secretary of defense approved a request by the commander of Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) to extend the deployment of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team operating in Iraq for up to 120 additional days,” it said.
The move indicated that US commanders have effectively given up hopes for even a gradual reduction in the US force this year on account of a bitter insurgency and spiralling sectarian violence.
It boosted the size of the US force from 14 brigades to 15 brigades, and from 127,000 troops to at least 130,000.
Army officials said that by the end of August the US force should increase to about 134,000 troops with the arrival of another brigade from the 82nd Airborne Infantry Division.
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The army arranged a video teleconference between family members and the troops in Iraq so that commanders could address their questions and concerns.
“If you extend somebody, is there some disappointment that they won’t be home when they thought they would be home? Sure,” US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters. “But, as I say, this is a professional military, and they are doing a superb job.”
He said when an army unit was extended for several months two years ago, “they handled it in a professional way, and got on with life.”
Posted by: b real | Jul 28 2006 2:02 utc | 76
b real
never have a people been lied to so shaefacedly about their war – they have been told since the beginning, that ‘their boys will be coming home’ & they are increasingly coming home in coffins which the people are forbidden to witness
they are forbidden to witness how those troops are failing, due in part to the policies which possess no truth obliging soldiers in effect to create their own policy & their own policy is borrowed from popular culture & lead naturally to the crimes of haditha
& the so called leadership of the army are people who believe their own mythologies & not the reality on the ground
their war, as has been all wars with conquering armies is excessive force & massive bombardment because they don’t want to lose boys on the ground –
well, they will have to learn this very simple arabic lesson – that arab boys have been dying at a disproportionate rate for years, & not only boys but their families, their teachers & their doctors
a people can choose to live with their lies & face the consequences or they can face their rulers – they can oppose the policies of those rulers & the very least they scan do is not contract their ignomy to their hannity’s & o’reilly’s
this they can do. to choose not to do it is to participate in a crime
Posted by: r’giap | Jul 28 2006 2:31 utc | 77
Sibel Edmonds
I too am a fan. Sibel was at one time a semi-regular contributor to anti-war.com
Link to her website