Gunmen kidnap up to 150 in Baghdad

Gunmen dressed as police commandos kidnapped up to 150 staff and visitors in a lightning raid on a Baghdad research institute Tuesday, the largest mass abduction since the start of the U.S. occupation.

Posted by: b | Nov 14 2006 13:58 utc | 3

Olmert: Hundreds of thousand of dead Arabs! What’s not to like? On to Iran!

Posted by: ran | Nov 14 2006 14:27 utc | 5

Boy, could this possibly be accurate? Would any Democrat dare to express anger at an Israeli Prime Minister…??? I found the concept highly amusing… like an artifact from some bygone era. If it is, indeed, true, it would be a good thing. Too bad the article is so vague on specifics.
Ha’aretz reports:

Fury in U.S. over Olmert’s comments on Iraq war
By Aluf Benn and Shmuel Rosner
WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert drew fire from Democratic Party members Monday by publicly praising the war in Iraq.
Speaking after his talks with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House, Olmert said the American operation in Iraq brought stability to the Middle East.
Politicians from the Democratic Party said they wanted to speak to Olmert about his comments on Iraq before responding publicly, but expressed disapproval over the remarks.
If Olmert planned his comments and intended them to come out as they did, a Democratic official said, then they are not acceptable and can be seen as an attempt to influence the American political dispute.

Posted by: Bea | Nov 14 2006 15:20 utc | 7

Your Tax Dollars, Hard at Work
Israel opted for cheaper, unsafe cluster bombs in Lebanon war
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent

During the second Lebanon war, Israel made use of American-made cluster bombs that left behind thousands of unexploded bomblets, even though Israel Military Industries produces cluster bombs that leave nearly no unexploded munitions. The main reason for the use of the U.S.-made weapons: Israel uses military aid funds to purchase cluster bombs from the U.S., and in order to buy IMI-made bombs, the Israel Defense Forces would have to dip into its own budget.
“The consideration is budgetary,” a defense related source said. However, each IMI-made cluster bomblet costs a mere $10.
The cluster bombs constitute the number one humanitarian problem facing Lebanon after the war because many of the bomblets remain unexploded and as duds, they have turned into make-shift mines, converting towns, villages and fields into undeclared minefields. Since the cease-fire went into effect on August 14, at least 14 civilians, including many children, have been killed by the unexploded bomblets.
During the war in Lebanon, Israel fired thousands of cluster bomblets, using rockets and artillery shells as delivery systems. In each rocket or shell there could be as many as several hundred bomblets, which are meant to disperse and cover an area of hundreds of square meters, exploding as they hit the ground.
According to testimony published in Haaretz, Israel fired at least 1.2 million bomblets through the use of the Multiple Launch System Rocket (MLRS), which can fire up to 12 rockets in 60 seconds. The United Nations estimates that three million such bomblets were fired into Lebanon during the war.
The United Nations demining unit estimates the ratio of duds in the cluster bomblets fired by Israel could be as high as 30-40 percent. This translates into hundreds of thousands of unexploded bomblets throughout southern Lebanon, endangering the lives of residents and preventing farmers from working their land.
Soldiers in the artillery corps told Haaretz that nearly all the cluster munitions fired into Lebanon were American-made. The officially acknowledged ratio of duds is 15 percent, but the U.S. Army acknowledged during the war in Iraq the ratio of duds was closer to 30 percent. The IDF also makes use of older versions of the U.S.-made cluster bombs, whose ratio of duds is even higher.
In the 1990s, following injuries to Israeli soldiers by unexploded clusters, a decision was made to develop better munitions at IMI. According to globalsecurity.org, the rate of duds in cluster bomblets made by IMI ranges from 1 percent to 2 percent. In figures, this translates into one dud out of every 500 IMI-made bomblets, compared to one out of every three in the American-made ones. To date IMI has manufactured some 60 million such bomblets, designated M85, and has exported them to many armies throughout the world. According to IMI “the unique IMI Self-Destruct M85 bomblet ensures that no hazardous duds are encountered by advancing friendly forces. The IMI safety mechanism prevents inadvertent arming of duds by manual means. This requirement is not met by any other bomblet worldwide.”
According to globalsecurity.org, the cost of each bomblet stands at $10, but defense sources say that even though IMI has been producing this munition for the past eight years, and exports it throughout the world, the IDF does not purchase them. “Israel opts to purchase American bomblets with military assistance funds,” the source explained.
Israel receives $3 billion in annual military assistance from the U.S., and nearly the entire amount is used to procure American-made weapons. “The considerations are budgetary. There are needs and it is clearly understandable why American weapons, paid for with aid funds, are preferred over Israeli weapons,” the defense source said. “But these bomblets are ‘friendly’ for our soldiers as well, and they are the ones that need to enter the zone that was saturated with cluster bombs,” he added.
In response the army said that “because of operational considerations, the IDF is unable to comment on the weapons it has in its arsenal. However, it should be noted that the IDF makes use of weapons and tactics that are permissible by international law.”

Posted by: Bea | Nov 14 2006 15:28 utc | 9

Israel, so far, has declined to sign.

Posted by: Ensley | Nov 14 2006 15:48 utc | 11

“Years from now, when America looks out on a democratic Middle East growing in freedom and prosperity, Americans will speak of the battles like Fallujah with the same awe and reverence that we now give to Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima.”

– George Bush, speaking at the dedication of the National Museum of the Marine Corps
Oh, and this…
Veterans Day Messages from Troops In Iraq, Feature Replica of Twin Towers
After months of studied ambiguity, President Bush finally admitted that Iraq had “ nothing to do with the attack on the World Trade Center. The Defense Department, however, appears determined to perpetuate the myth.
Today, the administration released veterans day messages from troops in Iraq. These “taped messages from the U.S. Defense Department” featured a replica of the twin towers in the background.
Stagecraft
Watch two of the messages, as aired on CNN, here.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 14 2006 16:13 utc | 13

“We in the Middle East have followed the American policy in Iraq for a long time, and we are very much impressed and encouraged by the stability which the great operation of America in Iraq brought to the Middle East. We pray and hope that this policy will be fully successful so that this stability which was created for all the moderate countries in the Middle East will continue.”

I wondered where Jesus’ General was getting all his material.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 14 2006 21:25 utc | 15