Lebanon Suicide
Posted July 21st, 2006 by Chip Bok
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Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and Gaza hasn't gone well for the Lebanese and Palestinians. Israel moved out and Iranian funded terror groups, Hezbollah and Hamas, moved in. In the words of Mark Steyn, …"These territories are now in effect Iran's land borders with the Zionist Entity. They're "occupied territories" but it's not the Jews doing the occupying".
July 21st, 2006 at 11:47 am
Perfect! Thank you!
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:08 am
How can anyone not agree with this?
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200607/200607230001.html
July 23rd, 2006 at 6:46 am
Agree with what Sam ?
July 23rd, 2006 at 7:45 am
Bush: Hezbollah, Syria, Iran Must be Confronted
President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meet with senior Saudi diplomats Sunday to discuss continuing violence between Israel and Hezbollah militants across the Lebanese border. Secretary Rice then leaves for the region for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
President Bush says he is sending Rice to the Middle East to meet with regional leaders about the best way to resolve the conflict. "Secretary Rice will make it clear that resolving the crisis demands confronting the terrorist group that launched the attacks, and the nations that support it," said Mr. Bush.
That means Syria and Iran, which, the president says, have helped arm Hezbollah.
"Their actions threaten the entire Middle East, and stand in the way of resolving the current crisis and bringing lasting peace to this troubled region," he added.
President Bush continues to oppose a ceasefire that leaves Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where it could mount further attacks against Israel. Israel's offensive started when Hezbollah kidnapped two soldiers and killed eight in a July 12 raid into Israel. Mr. Bush says such a fragile ceasefire would ultimately result in more violence.
"In the long-term, this peace will come only by defeating the terrorist ideology of hatred and fear," he explained. "The world's best hope for lasting security and stability across the Middle East is the establishment of free and just societies. America and our allies will act decisively, because we know our security is at stake in this struggle, and we know the cause of freedom will prevail."
From the start of the fighting, President Bush has expressed concern about its impact on the democratically elected government in Lebanon.
In his weekly radio address, he said it is a difficult and trying time for the Lebanese people.
"Hezbollah's practice of hiding rockets in civilian neighborhoods, and its efforts to undermine the democratically elected government have shown it to be no friend of Lebanon. By its actions, Hezbollah has jeopardized Lebanon's tremendous advances and betrayed the Lebanese people," said Mr. Bush.
During her trip to the Middle East, Rice will also stop in Rome for talks with officials from a group formed to back Lebanon's government. That group includes the United States, France, Britain, Lebanon, the European Union, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Italy, the United Nations and the World Bank.
Before she leaves, she will join President Bush at the White House Sunday for talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and the head of Saudi Arabia's national security council, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.
Meanwhile, the Democratic radio address Saturday focused on domestic issues. Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette criticized the president's veto of a bill that would have expanded federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
She says the action was driven by what she called cold, calculated, cynical political gain.
President Bush says the veto, his first, was motivated by his commitment to the sanctity of life, as the legislation would have allowed federal funding for a procedure that destroys human embryos in the process of extracting stem cells, which scientists say could lead to cures for disease, such as diabetes and cancer. Supporters say such research is key to medical advances, and that only donated embryos that would otherwise be thrown away would be used.
VOA News
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:34 am
Just the part about Syria and Iran.
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:58 am
Thanks Sam, but Auggie taught us how to click on links.
Bush says "it is a difficult and trying time for the Lebanese people." Well sure George, especially when you're making sure the Israelis don't run out of bombs. I'm sure the Lebanese people appreciate your support. I imagine that some civilians are hiding weapons and Hezbollah soldiers in their homes. I also imagine that if they didn't do that, they'd be dead by sunrise.
Their only option now is by who's hand do they die. A Middle Easterner's Sophie's Choice.
Bombing Lebanon to get rid of Hezbollah is like bombing New Jersey to get rid of the Mafia. It could work, but what's left ?
July 23rd, 2006 at 10:38 am
I didn't see any reference in your post that Hezbollah started the war and contines to bomb innocent Israelis. Over 1000 missles already and 11000 more on the way. Why do you only reference Israel's "response" to being attacked?
I take it you would rather support Hezballah and Hamas.
July 23rd, 2006 at 10:48 am
"Bombing Lebanon to get rid of Hezbollah is like bombing New Jersey to get rid of the Mafia."
Not really an apt analogy. Hezbollah is widely seen as a legitimate governmental entity in southern Lebanon and has a large base of support there. The Mafia was generally unwanted by the local populace where they operated. Not so much with Hezbollah.
A closer analogy would be Bombing Lebanon to get rid of Hezbollah is like bombing Massachusetts/Texas to get rid of the Democrats/Republicans. In which case the strategy is much more effective.
In addition, as a general rule, the mob wanted to keep the peace, and to keep a low profile. Open violence is bad for business. Hezbollah on the other hand is deliberately agitating for it and looking for attention.
July 23rd, 2006 at 11:42 am
My analogy was intended simply to illustrate that bombing the Mafia in New Jersey would take a lot of innocents out in the process, I was just extending that logic to Lebanon. You're overcomplicating it.
Also, if you think organized crime operates in a vacuum in New Jersey, you've never spent time in Newark…or on K Street in Washington, DC.
Sam: This isn't a reality show we're watching. We're not required to pull for either side. It's time for a cease fire to stop the slaughter. Diplomacy's tourniquet may be painful, but it does tend to slow the flow of blood until a proper course of treatment can be worked out.
July 23rd, 2006 at 12:10 pm
UN Resolution 1559 was diplomacy and it said that Syria had to get out of Lebanon, which they did, and that Hezballah had to disarm, which they didn't. So what good is UN diplomacy if the UN won't back it up?
July 23rd, 2006 at 12:18 pm
The crisis in the Mid East between Israel and Hezbollah is a problem stemming from the likes of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
In 1979 Jimmy Carter negotiated with the Ayotallah for the release of American Hostages, and the Iranians assumed hence that by doing so over the course of time, the US would be willing to negotiate and be pushed around. Therefore, anytime the Iranians wanted something, they could do something to "blackmail" this country. My first question is why did Carter not get our people out of Iran before the embassy take over? I honestly don't know the answer to that question, I was only 10 at the time.
Unfortunatly in 1983, on a peace keeping mission in Lebannon 242 American Marines were killed when their barracks were blown up by Iranian backed Hezbollah terrorists.
Let's jump to the Clinton Administrations failed policies of the Middle East. Clinton met with Bashir Assad's father Hafez Al Assad in 1999 to broker a peace deal in which the Syrians and Israeli's would leave Lebanon. The Israelis left and Syrians stayed until 2004 or 05. I am not really sure as to which date, yet, Clinton did not ask the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Clinton helped negogiate land for peace, which as we can see has been a complete failure. Israel was being hit daily (before July 15th) by rocket fire from Hamas and Hezbollah until the Hezbollah guerillas crossed international border lines and kidnapped a soldier.
Since then, it has just been reported that Madam Albright and Clinton decided to do business with not only the North Koreans in which they gave one billion dollars to stop their testing of long range missles, but now Iranian Scientists were on the scene for the July 4th launch of a Taepodong Missle.
The Clinton Administration continued to do business with the Chinese, in which case and I dont know why, they gave information and technology on our Aegis destroyers and now the Chinese have the capabilities to use that information and technology against us.(Popular Mechanics July 2006 and more then just about carburators). And who did the North Koreans get the money from, Clinton, for what, to buy the information and technology from China. And where has it gone: Right into the hands of the Iranians.
The stake we have in the world, is we are in Iraq, and could halt an Iranian attack. Brilliant military move on the part of the administration. Kudos go to the planners.
The Iranians have something called the Mudad, 7 million people, ready to blow themselves up. They used this against Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, whereas they only used 2.5 million of the mudad at that time.
So in essence, lets see….7 million of the Mudad and the Iranian military combined, plus the North Koreans and Chinese, plus the money Clinton gave away.
Gee, it is a good the thing George Bush is President to TRY to stop it before it comes to our shores.
Borrowed from another forum.
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:18 pm
"You're overcomplicating it."
No, you're over simplifying it. Its not like theres Hezbollah, and Labanese people and they are separate and mutually exclusive.
Of course there will be innocents killed. Thats exactly why Hezbollah hides in residential neighborhoods. They want to maximize those kinds of casualties when they deliberately provoke Isreal into retaliation. They want to foment more violence and discord.
And nowhere did I suggest that the mob operates in a vacuum. Im suggesting that the dont deliberately provoke outright war. Since you bring it up however, you seem to be suggesting that Hezbollah does operate in a vacuum. That the innocent Lebanese will suffer for the actions of some outsiders that happen to be hiding among them. This is not the case.
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:36 pm
"The crisis in the Mid East between Israel and Hezbollah is a problem stemming from the likes of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton."
This is also an oversimplification I think. Well, maybe not with Hezbollah specifically but Hezbollah is just another symptom of what began in 1948 with the Arab Israeli war.
To argue about who did what to escalate the violence there is really a moot point without taking the very founding of Israel and the Arab reaction to it into account.
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:45 pm
The author of the previous post, and I use the word author loosely, fails to mention that Reagan was president when the Marine barracks were blown up by Hezbollah and that Reagan did precious little about it. He also blames Jimmy Carter for the mess today, and again fails to mention that Reagan's term featured the Iran-Contra Affair where Reagan administration staffers sold arms to Iran to fund the Contras in South America. Just a wee bit illegal and hey Sam, weren't the Iranians the guys just holding our people hostage ? Your post also fails to mention who funded the Taliban in Afghanistan way back when….. that's right Ronald Reagan. I should also mention the $200,000,000 worth of helicopters Reagan sold Saddam Hussein during his term.
So yeah Sam it's all Clinton's fault. That 8 years of peace and prosperity under Clinton really was more than most Americans could bear. The horror, the horror.
I Googled "mudad" and apparently you're the only person who knows about these 7 million guys willing to blow themselves up.
Sam welcome to the blog, but if you're going to post this kind of crap, at least write it yourself.
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:56 pm
You like to constantly ridicule Bush and republicans but get very upset when mention is made of democrat foul ups.
July 23rd, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Iran: Mullahs' regime dispatch suicide bombers to Lebanon
Saturday, 22 July 2006
27 members of a suicide bombers group went to Lebanon via Syria
NCRI - Ali Samadi, the spokesman for the Glory of Martyrs' group, which claims to have 55,000 suicide bombers ready to attack Western interests, said that 27 members of the group had joined Hezbollah militias in Lebanon to fight against Israel.
He said that two teams from the group who spoke fluent Arabic and had received adequate training went to Lebanon through Syria to fight beside their "Lebanese brothers against the enemy," the Italian news agency Kronos reported.
The acknowledgment by the mullahs' regime of the presence of so-called "martyrs brigades" in Lebanon compliments its dispatch of shipments of weapons, ammunition and various missiles to Lebanon in the past few months. It has also sent a significant number of its Revolutionary Guards to that country.
The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi reiterated: The solution for the region is for the United Nations Security Council to eliminate the influence of the mullahs’ regime across the Middle East, especially in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq.
A year ago, with the ascension of Ahmadinejad to the presidency, the Iranian Resistance emphasized that by bringing to power a Revolutionary Guards-terrorist, the regime's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had declared war on the Iranian people and the international community. This was manifested in the regime's domestic repression, nuclear program and meddling in Iraq. At the same time, the continuation of the policy of appeasing the mullahs and negotiating and granting concessions has provided them with many opportunities to advance their ominous objectives.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
Yep it's "only" 55,000
July 23rd, 2006 at 6:17 pm
"very founding of Israel and the Arab reaction to it into account."
That's the whole nine yards right there. Won't argue with that.
July 23rd, 2006 at 6:34 pm
"You like to constantly ridicule Bush and republicans".
No Sam, I LOVE it. As for the Democrats… well, I'm not a Democrat but I will stick up for them if means annoying guys like you or denting your argument. It's sort of a two for one deal.
So in one post I got you to knock the number of suiciders down from 7,000,000 to 55,000. I'm crossing my fingers here on my math, but that's about 99% reduction. Not bad for a days work. Maybe we can get rid of the rest of them in couple of more posts.
July 23rd, 2006 at 9:46 pm
"That's the whole nine yards right there. Won't argue with that."
Since we agree on that, I guess I don't quite follow what your position is. You seem to be very critical of Israel and sympathetic towards their enemies, but given their history of being under constant low-grade attack (interspersed with all out war) for just about sixty years straight, I'd think a reasonable person would understand why they react the way they do.
They have been the scapegoat for the entirety of the Middle Easts problems since their founding. What could be more convenient for an Arab despot than to blame his failure to govern on the Jews? Its already in the Koran that the Jews are to be hated. Its already in the minds of the Muslim adherants. They want to believe it already, so takes very little effort to keep the hatred going towards Israel, and away from the despot.
The way that the Arab leaders have taken up the cause of the Palestinians is laughable. Especially when they denied their Palestinian "brothers" entry into thier own countries.
Anyway, to get back on point, it seems to condemn them for being assymetrical in their retaliation is to dismiss the past sixty years.
Do you really take your position merely to be opposite of Republicans?
July 24th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Well, I am certainly relieved to see that there are "only" 55,000 suicide bombers inIran who are wanting to come to the USA and blow us all up.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/patriciaon/06-21.gif
July 24th, 2006 at 2:11 am
Congressional interference:
"Reagan’s Lebanon deployment that ended in 1984 was a victim of congressional intervention, and so was Clinton’s 1993 Somalia deployment. In both instances, the President insisted that Congress’s suggested withdrawal timetable would imperil the chances for peace and send a wrong signal to United States’ enemies around the World, but Congress did not budge."
Now congressional people like Murtha etc wanted to do it again.
July 24th, 2006 at 4:24 am
Mick, supporting either side in this situation would require me to defend actions and strategies that I can not defend. My position is that religion continues to be one of the most negative influences in the world today. It's my position that a large segment of the Arab world is living in the 14th century and if they want to stay there, then let them. I say that as someone who is half Arab and yet has been thought to be Jewish most of my life. For the longest time I was a supporter of Israel, and yet the more I read, the more I believe that quite simply, the juice ain't worth the squeeze. I think that the Israelis, rather than to come up, have been dragged down into the hole that the Arab terrorists have dug. Somewhere in the process too many Israelis have lost their moral highground.
My apologies to Bob Dylan for the hole reference.
My position is that the Bush Administration, due to previous foreign policy blunders is rapidly becoming irrelevant to the peace process in the Middle East and anywhere else for that matter.
And finally my role here unoffically is to keep this blog rolling.
I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to challenge challenge
conventional wisdom.
And Sam, we want to know what you think, not what you clip and paste from wingnut blog sites.
July 24th, 2006 at 6:57 am
It strikes me that Iraq, and thus the United States, are central to pretty much everything that is going on in the Middle East these days including the Israeli/Lebanon crisis.
I don't think it is a coincidence that the two countries with the most to lose in regard to the possibility of stability in Iraq–Syria and Iran–seem to be supporting Hezbollah's attempts to start a regional war.
I also don't think its a coincidence that, when Zarqawi's body was retrieved a couple weeks ago, documents were discovered stating that al queda must somehow get other nations involved if efforts to destabilize Iraq are to be successful much longer.
In any case, and for better or worse, the Bush administration is hardly irrelevant in the Middle East these days.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:08 am
Iraq is a crime scene and a humanitarian disaster…..hardly politically influential.
Bush's damaged credibility seriously hinders his ability to take the lead in this situation.
We may as well consider Israel the 51st state and collect income taxes from their citizens.
July 24th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
"And Sam, we want to know what you think, not what you clip and paste from wingnut blog sites"
Didn't realize that you spoke for the world. If I want to paste facts, I will.
July 24th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
"Paste facts" ?
I think you just coined a phrase.
It has a certain truthiness to it.
July 24th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
But if you say it, then it is a fact?
July 24th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
"Bush's damaged credibility seriously hinders his ability to take the lead in this situation … We may as well consider Israel the 51st state and collect income taxes from their citizens."
I think I know where you're going now and it makes a lot of sense–if WE bomb Haifa, the A-rabs will like us!
July 24th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
A lot of what goes on here is opinion and opinion can't be
proven wrong. I take my fair share of criticism here, some of it
I deserve and a some of it is just uninformed reactionary BS.
But that's just my opinion.
"paste facts" is just too funny. It's my favorite blog
item of all time. Congratulations.
July 25th, 2006 at 12:12 am
Spoken like a true megalomaniac.
July 25th, 2006 at 5:57 am
You and Auggie should combine forces and scissors and try and kill the Evil Mannequin.
July 25th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
"I think I know where you're going now and it makes a lot of sense–if WE bomb Haifa, the A-rabs will like us!"
You're on a naked bootleg here Larry. I have no idea what you're talking about.
July 27th, 2006 at 2:56 am
What better way to gain "political influence" in the Middle East than to bomb Haifa. Syria and Iran would certainly be impressed, and just think how many blastocysts we could kill!