tell em why should the super powers interfere here? what is there for them when the whole of the arab world and ummah in general are silent and accepting this war on the hizb?
tell me what grounds did the hizb have in abducting the soldiers and inviting this trouble?

Once for once the ummah should point the finger inthe correct direction - atleast the soodi arabs did the right thing calling the hizb and hammas idiots for doing what they did.

Lets have the guts to do this as well. your editorial is slanted the wrong way and you should be condenmed for this slant which cannot see the faults in the ummah.

For all those who want justice in the Middle East, it`s important to also understand the fears among the Israelis. It may be an unpopular thing to say here on Chowk, but this also needs to be part of the equation.


The situation in the Middleast can be summarized by the saying, help-thy-neighbor-except-when-he-is-blocking-the-fire-exit. Or as they say in New York, I’ve got mine, up your’s Jack. Not until the parties involved in the conflict start respecting one another, there is nothing UN or the US or even God herself can do. Sure, US can make Iran and Syria to start showing respect to Israel, but the tactics to achieve that end might not be very popular.

US has its plate full as it is. May be EU can start showing some balls that they are so proud of. Afterall, it is in their backyard.

Iron-Mask... do you really believe that Arabs can show any leadership?

The suggestions to end hostilities are all well intentioned, but nothing will work.

I have come to the opinion that US/Israel has just shot itself in the foot.

After the Syrians were forced to leave, the new Lebanese government formed was democratic, moderate, progressive and perfect for western style development in the region. Hazballah on the other hand had defeated not only the Israelis but also the US by wasting of the 241 marines in 1983, and made the subsequent peace possible as well as the reconstruction, albeit with Syrian spport. So they`re strong too and carry a 40% vote bank.

After Syria left Lebanon, the Lebanese Government came under a lot of pressure to get rid of Hizballah as well, give up any claim on Sheba Farms, and act on Resolution 1559. That triggered a power conflict and the Lebanon Government being fully dependant on Hazballah for border security with Israel, could only walk a very tight rope. At the same time Hazballah saw the Government as kowtowing to US & Israel and forgetting it was Hazballah which had liberated Lebanon in the first place for all the recovery to take place. So they decided to provoke an incident and knowing Israel well, get Israel to bomb the hell out of the Lebanese Government and take the blame, and weaken it enough to make a smooth entry possible for Hazballah in full control of Lebanon. While at the same time, Hazballah sits in bunkers and watches the fireworks.

It certainly appears that Lebanon is going fully Islamic soon... Hazballah style. Peace is not in sight even on the farthest horizons.

#2 leadership - one would expect that the arabs can atleast buy these hizb and hamas off....the rest as they say is the will of the gods or in the laps of the godess!

Respect is the key here. Atleast that is something which India and pakistan have not lost for each - what ever be the rethoric everyday

#3 I guess you have just witnessed the famous Indian Rope Trick!

Can anyone care to suggest how many times Israel has kidnapped, bombed or violated the sovereignty of its neighboring countries unprovoked? Not to mention that it continues to illegally occupy large swaths of land from all of its neighbors. Not to mention that it continues to implement apartheid style policies on the occupied Palestinians. Even if one were to suggest that Hezbollah should not have provoked this time around, the fact of the matter is that Israel has been a serial violator of more UN resolutions and demands of civilized world than ANY other country.

If an attack on a few soldiers results in the destruction of the civilian infrastructure of a country and the deaths of hundreds of innocent people, then I am afraid all this talk of ``proportionate response`` is bunch of baloney. And if we defend Israel`s right to inflict this disproportionate response in Lebanon, then aren’t we inconsistent when we condemn disproportionate responses by certain groups on 7/11 and 9/11??

Re: # 6

It’s always Israel’s fault. Isn’t it?

With reports of evacuation of about 60,000 foreginers , and within an estimated time of about one week or so...

I am afraid..... after the week is over......We may witness another Mass Massaccre of humanity.

``And if we defend Israel`s right to inflict this disproportionate response in Lebanon, then aren’t we inconsistent when we condemn disproportionate responses by certain groups on 7/11 and 9/11??``

right to defend and things like that are media fodder and propaganda. Hizbollah and Al Qaeda according to their logic commit 9/11s over and over and that is fine. US/Israel would undertake a 1000 fallujahs and sabira and shatilas.

Peace is a fool`s fancy because this conflict is real between essentially two incompatible value systems. Zeemax is right on this.

Another example why this poison of Islamic fundamentalism needs to wiped out once and for all by the rest of the world...

We need to support Israel unequivocally and send a strong message to these enemies of humanity. If we cant do that, let`s atleast allow Israel to do their job. They seem to be eminently capable of doing this alone.


# 3,
``It certainly appears that Lebanon is going fully Islamic soon... Hazballah style. Peace is not in sight even on the farthest horizons. ``

Breeding like rats and hence making a land `Islamic` is not a great achievement. Try to match the contributions made by Israeli people towards advancement of human civilization. That would be a worthwhile achievement.

Rgds,

Don’t criticize Israel. It is the only democracy in the Mid-East….

http://www.startribune.com/722/story/562903.html

Israeli Censor Wielding Great Power

JERUSALEM (AP) - Here`s some news you may never hear about Israel`s war against Hezbollah: a missile falls into the sea, a strategic military installation is hit, a Cabinet minister plans to visit the front lines.
All these topics are subject to review by Israel`s chief military censor, who has - in her own words - ``extraordinary power.`` She can silence a broadcaster, block information and put journalists in jail.
``I can, for example, publish an order that no material can be published. I can close a newspaper or shut down a station. I can do almost anything,`` Col. Sima Vaknin said Wednesday.
Israel believes that as a small country in a near constant state of conflict, having a say over what information gets out to the world is vital to its security. Critics say the policy is a slippery slope not fit for a democracy.
The range of issues subject to censorship in the latest conflict with Lebanese guerrillas are all related to the goal of preventing Hezbollah from using the media to help it better aim rockets at Israel.
The Associated Press has agreed, like other organizations, to abide by the rules of the censor, which is a condition for receiving permission to operate as a media organization in Israel.
Reporters are expected to censor themselves and not report any of the forbidden material. This story was not submitted to a censor. When in doubt, they can submit a story to the censor who will hand it back, possibly with deletions. The AP will note in a story if any deletions have been made. If a reporter violates the rules, he or she suffers the consequences.
The rules include no real-time reports giving the exact locations of guerrilla missile hits; no reports of missile hits - or misses - on strategic targets; and no reports telling when citizens are allowed to leave their bunkers for supplies.
Journalists are also not allowed to give details about senior Israeli officials going to the north, where Hezbollah`s rockets are falling, until the officials have left the area. They also cannot report places where there aren`t enough shelters or where public defense is weak.
So far in this conflict, about one rocket in 100 fired by Hezbollah has killed an Israeli. The rest usually explode in empty fields, tear concrete from abandoned streets or plunk into the Mediterranean. Fired blind, Hezbollah`s thousands of mostly short-range, inaccurate munitions simply pose a random peril to Israeli citizens.
For obvious reasons, Israel would like to keep it that way. But live media feedback, the censor says, changes everything.
If a news outlet reports immediately that a missile splashed into the sea, for example, any guerrilla with an Internet connection knows to aim left. Report that an oil refinery in Haifa went up in flames, and Hezbollah will surely celebrate and reload. Report that a senior official is headed north, and rockets will be raining down in no time.
Or so goes the logic of censorship.
But in an era when mobile phones have cameras and the terrorists` weapons include laptops and video crews, even the chief censor acknowledges that a complete blockade of news is in many cases not possible.
``Not in 2006,`` she says.
Restrictions on the media are not unique to Israel. The United States military makes journalists embedded with troops in Iraq sign a document agreeing not to report specifics of troop movements and attacks in real time, for reasons similar to Israel`s.
Critics say the censorship system is worse than ineffective - it`s undemocratic, often counterproductive and a violation of freedom of speech.
``People are entitled to get as much information as they can about what`s happening in a conflict,`` says Rohan Jahasekera, associate editor of the London-based magazine, the Index of Censorship.
Israel`s censorship rules are not unusual, he adds, but ``it`s unusual in that they`re enforced.``
Jahasekera also disputed arguments that reporting missile landings helped Hezbollah, since the rockets the Islamic militants use are ``spectacularly inaccurate.``
Bob Steele, Nelson Scholar for Journalism Values at the Poynter Institute, a media studies organization, says editors should bear the responsibility for decisions to publish or not.
``These are decisions that the news organizations and journalists should make with the input of government and military officials,`` he said. ``They should not be decisions that are made by default.``

From a jewish poster on a blog....

``Until Israel rectifies it`s serious mistakes, it will have no peace. The settlement of the West Bank and Golan is a serious International crime and must be COMPLETELY abandoned. Until this happens the hate will continue to build until one day the weapons technology of the arabs catches up with Israel. The surplus from high oil prices will provide the funds to do so. When that day comes - Israel will go poof -bye bye.

Obviously I do not want my relatives to die or my beloved Israel to disappear. But frankly, that is the course Israel is on. The problem is Israel always does half measures - like the withdrawal from Gaza. Had they said, okay here is the land start acting like a sovereign state. We should have let them have the airport and seaports and unlimited access to Egypt. Instead, we treated it like a giant prison. STUPID- STUPID. Israel always had the right to go back in if the Palestinians caused problems inside of Israel proper.

Until Israel says I want to live in the Mideast and work diligently to be friendly neighbors, it will never have peace. Israel is the anomoly in the Mideast, therefore it has the most responsibility. If Israel does not make something happen soon, I believe the Saudi royal family will be overthrown along the Mubarak. When that happens things will get hotter and worse.

I sincerely want Israel to live in peace but I don`t think the present incremental approach backed by repressive military might is going to succeed. We shall see how the next decade plays out. My guess is that either Israel is back within approximately it`s 1967 borders along side an independent Palestinian state or the year 2020 will see a weaping and gnashing of teeth amoung our people``

re: Kulharee #7

You think bombing civilians instead of Hizbullah is not a mistake?

Israel is like an old boxer who is throwing punches in a frenzy. Most of its punches land on soft targets (like civilians) but very few land on hard ones (Hizbullah).

Before this war is over, Israel will find Lebanon a deadlier enemy than before. Cross-border attacks on Israeli checkposts and Haifa will increase ten-fold. Unlike 1980s, this time Lebanese will join Hizbullah and fight Israel instead of killing their fellow countrymen. Even if Israel chokes all supply lines, there is enough ammunition in Lebanon to fight a guerrilla war for the next 15 years.

Re: # 11

HP Sahib, their reason for that is to not to give precise information to terrorists, if a bomb is hit at a strategic location, that is like a major prize for the terrorists to find out. What in addition, you may not read in any of the newspaper is that the ‘Israeli Refuseniks” are still speaking out against the Israeli army tactics (and in such a difficult environment) And you know??? they are protected under Israeli Laws. Can you imagine what will happen to a Muslim speaking out against Hazbollah in Lebanon? Let me know… Actually, I don’t wish to know, knowing that even the Lebanese PM will wet his pants before he places even a tiny bit of blame to Hazboolaaas.

#14
``And you know??? they are protected under Israeli Laws.``

Read it again it says, ``Israel`s chief military censor, who has - in her own words - ``extraordinary power`` She can silence a broadcaster, block information and put journalists in jail.``

Makes no distinction here, they are protected as long as noone is paying attention...

#12 by HP

Yes. Israel will never have peace. That`s for sure.

But HP, I wonder what was the beef Israel/USA had with the Lebanese Government, or indeed, its people? The Muslims there are totally westernized, a large population is Christian and Jewish, there is absolutely no mullahism or fanaticism. The state is secular. They are no less in style than the French. Isn`t that what US wants Muslim countries to be like?

I`m a bit puzzled. Despite my possible scenario of #3, I still can`t see why or how US/Israel would fall into any trap set up by Hazballah at the cost of a country which was going exactly the way as the best of western democracies do, and which values are espoused for all other Muslim countries too by the US?

I fervently hope the answer is not that despite whatever, it`s still a Muslim country, and unfortunately in that region vital to US oil needs.

Re: # 15

HP, I wasnt talking about that, I was taking about Refuseniks right to speak against the Israeli policies. They are protected under Israeli Law, and if the Chief Military Censor does anything to violate that law, her ass can be dragged all the way to Jerusalem.

Re: # 10

You are a nuisance to the world. I am sure you agree with the holocaust, the rwanda genocide and all others mass massacres of civilians as well.

I hate islamic fundies passionately too but killing civilians is never never never never justified.

All countries are getting their citizens out of lebonon, is it an indication of a wider scale warfare??

Kulharee writes <<< For all those who want justice in the Middle East, it`s important to also understand the fears among the Israelis. It may be an unpopular thing to say here on Chowk, but this also needs to be part of the equation. >>>


Just like the fear the US establishment had of Al-Qaeda, so it launched an unrelated war on Iraq? Crocodile tears from someone who is following the official US line repeated to tens of millions on the corporate media but he suggests it is ``unpopular`` because the few that write against the Neo Colonial policies of the US and its outpost in the ME i.e. Israel on Chowk, might get a few hundred that read what they write (unlike the millions that are subjected to the onslaught of official bs 24/7)

Just a few days back he was decrying Darfur, now when half a million Lebanese have been displaced, the economy and infrastructure that affects the lives of almost 2 million has been destroyed which will cause misery to millions in the coming decade, he wants us to focus instead on ``Israeli fears``, generated by the abduction of 2 soldiers when over 10,000 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners have been languishing in Israeli jails for two decades. Let us also not forget that Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, practically destroying the country and still occupies Shebaa farms that belong to Lebanon.

Move a little further back, and we can see the context of the Gaza abduction of an Israeli soldier to June 9th when Israeli gunboats killed 7 Palestinians, and wounded 40 others, their daylight assassination of Palestinians and then after this petty incident of the abduction of ONE soldier their destruction of the power plant and cutting off of water for nearly 2 million people and the border blockade before that that was starving a society that suffers from 80% unemployment, and abducting Palestinian government members (more than the one soldier that was abducted) and this person is talking about ``Israeli fears``. After repeated appeals by the Palestinians for world intervention to stop this onslaught against millions of innocents over ONE soldier, and after repeated impotence shown by the Arab US client states, Hizbollah was provoked into doing something. Such an occurrence of course was expected by Israel, it was no surprise to them.

That said, the reason for this belligerently disproportionate Israeli response is, in my opinion for a pretext by the US to launch an air invasion on Iran and not for a wider conflict in the immediate Arab neighborhood. For those interested in why I think that, they can read my journal entry for yesterday.

This situation wouldn`t have arisen if hissbulah hadn`t kidnapped the soldiers. They bit more than they could chew.

You cannot extinguish fire with more fire. If you want to wipe out a weed (terrorism) wipe out its roots (injustice).

Killing innocent civilians will only breed more militia, more bombers.

http://www.abouyounes.com/Lebanon18-07-2006.htm
Caution: graphic images.

#20 by masadi

Yes Masadi, but Iran is waiting and watching. It won`t fall into any trap. But one thing I can tell you. This is a real biggie and will be decisive in the future of the region.

Re: # 20

Masadi, explain something here. Hazbollah kidnaps Israeli soldiers, Israel kicks the crap out of Hazbollah that it deserves, and what exactly does the US, or Iraq have to do with this? I think you are losing your capacity to use any kind of logic. And while we are at it, you are only crying because it is the Jews kicking Muslim ass. When your fellow Muslims kick Muslim ass (as in Darfur), you are all quiet like a little kid who is caught stealing candy.

A protracted colonial war

With US support, Israel is hoping to isolate and topple Syria by holding sway over Lebanon

Tariq Ali
Thursday July 20, 2006
The Guardian


In his last interview - after the 1967 six-day war - the historian Isaac Deutscher, whose next-of-kin had died in the Nazi camps and whose surviving relations lived in Israel, said: ``To justify or condone Israel`s wars against the Arabs is to render Israel a very bad service indeed and harm its own long-term interest.`` Comparing Israel to Prussia, he issued a sombre warning: ``The Germans have summed up their own experience in the bitter phrase `Man kann sich totseigen!` `You can triumph yourself to death`.``

In Israel`s actions today we can detect many of the elements of hubris: an imperial arrogance, a distortion of reality, an awareness of its military superiority, the self-righteousness with which it wrecks the social infrastructure of weaker states, and a belief in its racial superiority. The loss of many civilian lives in Gaza and Lebanon matters less than the capture or death of a single Israeli soldier. In this, Israeli actions are validated by the US.

The offensive against Gaza is designed to destroy Hamas for daring to win an election. The ``international community`` stood by as Gaza suffered collective punishment. Dozens of innocents continue to die. This meant nothing to the G8 leaders. Nothing was done.

Israeli recklessness is always green-lighted by Washington. In this case, their interests coincide. They want to isolate and topple the Syrian regime by securing Lebanon as an Israeli-American protectorate on the Jordanian model. They argue this was the original design of the country. Contemporary Lebanon, it is true, still remains in large measure the artificial creation of French colonialism it was at the outset - a coastal band of Greater Syria sliced off from its hinterland by Paris to form a regional client dominated by a Maronite minority.

The country`s confessional chequerboard has never allowed an accurate census, for fear of revealing that a substantial Muslim - today perhaps even a Shia - majority is denied due representation in the political system. Sectarian tensions, over-determined by the plight of refugees from Palestine, exploded into civil war in the 1970s, providing for the entry of Syrian troops, with tacit US approval, and their establishment there - ostensibly as a buffer between the warring factions, and deterrent to an Israeli takeover, on the cards with the invasions of 1978 and 1982 (when Hizbullah did not exist).

The killing of Rafik Hariri provoked vast demonstrations by the middle class, demanding the expulsion of the Syrians, while western organisations arrived to assist the progress of a Cedar Revolution. Backed by threats from Washington and Paris, the momentum was sufficient to force a Syrian withdrawal and produce a weak government in Beirut.

But Lebanon`s factions remained spread-eagled. Hizbullah had not disarmed, and Syria has not fallen. Washington had taken a pawn, but the castle had still to be captured. I was in Beirut in May, when the Israeli army entered and killed two ``terrorists`` from a Palestinian splinter group. The latter responded with rockets. Israeli warplanes punished Hizbullah by dropping over 50 bombs on its villages and headquarters near the border. The latest Israeli offensive is designed to take the castle. Will it succeed? A protracted colonial war lies ahead, since Hizbullah, like Hamas, has mass support. It cannot be written off as a ``terrorist`` organisation. The Arab world sees its forces as freedom fighters resisting colonial occupation.

There are 9,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli gulags. That is why Israeli soldiers are captured. Prisoner exchanges have occurred as a result. To blame Syria and Iran for Israel`s latest offensive is frivolous. Until the question of Palestine is resolved and Iraq`s occupation ended, there will be no peace in the region. A ``UN`` force to deter Hizbullah, but not Israel, is a nonsensical notion.

Re: # 23zeemax and masadi - arent you guys getting ahead of yourselves here.
what is the biggie here? You guys are living in cloud cuckoo land...too much of strategising in your minds is what I say.

Naah! its simpler than that....in this order
(1)get the soldiers back
(2)teach the hizb a lesson it will never forget
(3) defang the hizb permanently so that the govt in lebanon could be free from their blackmail (who knows the lebanese govt and the money men from labanon could have encouraged both parties here)
(4) get Syria and Iran to get back into their tents and live of oil (a grudging recognition of the status quo permanently)

iron_mask:
(3) is like calling Iran`s bluff and (4) is declaration of war against iran.

This is no presciption for peace, love and harmony - on the contrary.

Zeemax # 16 ``The Muslims there are totally westernized, a large population is Christian and Jewish, there is absolutely no mullahism or fanaticism. The state is secular. They are no less in style than the French. Isn`t that what US wants Muslim countries to be like?``

I am hoping this is merely a rhetorical question. The reality is quite clear: all these bombings, invasions, killings in Iraq and Lebanon and possibly Syria, Egypt and Iran in future are not to make those people secular or democratic or even western-like. If the goal was democracy, then Ahmedinijad, Hamas and Hizbollah have gone through a much more credible democratic process than the much touted puppet Iraqi government.

The real goal is to re-make middle east to ensure the survival of Israel, or even making of Greater Israel. This goal would be accomplished by turning bigger / powerful states into dozens of smaller weaker states governed by dictators and kings who depend on Israel and US for their rule.

It was only a year ago when Rafiq Hariri was assassinated. All of a sudden the american government and media was awash with love for Lebanese. ``Olive revolution``, was what it was called when thousands of demonstrators came out in the streets. As a result of that assassination, Syria was kicked out of Lebanon, Lebanese were liberated, freedom reigned supreme thanks to the ripple effect of the sowing of democratic seed in Iraq - so the story in media told us.

And now a year later, Lebanon is being bombed, its population fleeing, its civilian infrastructure in tatters, and yet you have the american government cheering it to no end. How much the current world events remind us of George Orwell`s 1984 where the past events were re-worded or even erased to create a new history more suitable for current agenda.

#16 by zeemax

Don’t have all the ansers. some of your observations are right but it is not the whole thing. What you missed is that ALL parties wanted to open another front…In fact all parties in the conflict -the US and Iran included- needed another front….

Pay attention to these:

Iraq is an impending disaster so the US is looking for ways to avoid that disaster and needs another front to take the focus away from Iraq.

Iran needed to avoid the focus on its nukes and ongoing confrontation with the US; the US was also looking for way out of that situation, as the US can’t really do anything to Iran on its own at this time.

Hizballh saw its ally Hamas being hit severally by the IDF and wanted to open another front so they pitched in with -I somewhat agree with the Israelis- Iran’s permission.

Israel is feeling the heat in the area and wanted to secure its only vulnerable border with Lebanon.

All parties want this conflict to continue until some manageable conclusion:
1. For the US, focus would shift from Iraq.
2. Iran’s nukes would not be an issue as long as Lebanon is hot.
3. Israel will probably force/cut a deal with Hammas in Palestine in secrecy.

What would happen if this conflict is out of control and that is where your analysis comes in but with a caveat…The US forces in Iraq would become a hostage and the US will have to interfere to secure the region……

So basically timing was right for everyone but situations sometimes take their own course….

“I wonder what was the beef Israel/USA had with the Lebanese Government,”

It is expendable…..

Both Iran and the US are playing their hands carefully others are just proxies….

Re: # 27
that is what the Hizb did -
(a) they kidnapped
(b) called Israeli bluff and
(c)expected the US and Russia and Europe to ride to thier rescue since they are mired in Iraq (thats their thinking)

They expected (b) but (c) the reaction is the exact opposite - with more than a 100,000 outsiders being evacuated.
Infact the world has called their bluff.

This is a war declared by the hizb (at whose ever behest) and they are the patsies in the middle (piggy would have been beeter but on this forum such a metaphor is unwelcome)

re: #26

{{(3) defang the hizb permanently...}}

Hizb is a political party, not just a militia. If you defang it without destroying the charisma of its leader, it will just grow its fangs back. Israel`s air campaign paints Sheikh Nasrullah as Lebanon`s David versus Israel`s Goliath.

We at Chowk believe and urge that such an engagement is fruitful and should be tried now than later.

You are chowk are deluded..Congress just voted 400+ to 8 on a resolution supporting Israel..

re#32:
``We at Chowk ...``

sounds like the BS that`s found in saima shah`s write-ups.

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zeemax,

``The Muslims there are totally westernized, a large population is Christian and Jewish, there is absolutely no mullahism or fanaticism. The state is secular. They are no less in style than the French. Isn`t that what US wants Muslim countries to be like?``

...... you conveniently overlook the fact that whereas the 40% christians are westernized, ie. civilized, of the remaining 60% muslim a significant majority, specially the shia are ..... well, muslim and uncivilized ....... and you also forget that hezbollah is a fundamentalist islamist party with its own militia which has vowed to destroy isreal (it has 20+ seats in parliament) ........ and no there arn`t any jews in lebanon; as a matter of fact the christian population has been on the decline - all muslim countries tend to `ethnically` cleanse their populations over time and aspire to either convert, kill, or drive out out their minorities .........

........israel is right in demanding that hezbollah should be disarmed and the government of lebanon take control of its territory ........ it would be foolish and dangerous to accept anything less ........ this stuff is like cancer which requires radical surgery ......

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Re: # 36
hats off to hamidm2 for stating straight......

as a matter of fact the christian population has been on the decline - all muslim countries tend to `ethnically` cleanse their populations over time and aspire to either convert, kill, or drive out out their minorities .........

bravo, Sir! Bravo! My admiration for you was always there. But with this, nothing can diminish this admiration

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I totally support Israel in its current actions. If the Muslims do not want all this violence (and who does ) then I have a very simple solution to offer them stop using violence everywhere If the Muslims started acting a bit rationally towards others and started a truly meaningful peaceful approach then others will do the same. Otherwise more and more countries and societies will also retaliate with violence against them. Peace is a two way street.

Unfortunately though I am not very optimistic that peace from Islamofascism will be acheived easily and through peaceful means. It will require a lot of effort but in the end the destruction of Islamofascism will be worth it and will be better for the average Abdul and Rehana than the average non-Muslim.

#22 by anzar on July 20, 2006 12:21pm PT


If you want to wipe out a weed (terrorism) wipe out its roots


Going by your logic, we shouldn`t prosecute bank robbers..we should strike at the root..poverty? Just give people a bunch of money and there won`t be any bank robbery..

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now what is wrong with this ????

The cabinet said the ``principles of a diplomatic solution`` to the Lebanese crisis were its soldiers` release, a halt in Hezbollah rocket and missile fire into Israel, extension of Lebanese government authority into border zones controlled by Hezbollah, deployment of the Lebanese army along the border and disarmament of all militias in Lebanon.

................. seems to me that this is exactly what the people of lebanon would want if they were `normal` and not muslim .............

Re: # 43
Yes Arjun, that`s right. If you want to eliminate bank robbery, catching bank robbers will be a never-ending chase. Because no matter how many you round up, more will turn up as long there is poverty and injustice.

If the financial system of a country ensures that resources are equally distributed, bank robberies and other petty crimes will go down.

Compare the crime rate in a welfare state like the UK with that in the US.

Re: # 47 but that system failed and will fail - history has shown this to be the case.....
wait dont tell me that they were all flawed and that you have a better system. Pray tell us what it is!

Re: # 47 and yet the home secretary of the UK keeps visiting the US to figure out how they do things right here...starting from Howard through to straw, all the way to reid!

Wait dont tell me that they allow ****** terrorists to prevail compared to the US where they are ruthlessly put down!

``As of the morning of July 19, Israeli bombardments of Lebanese civilian residential districts and public infrastructure have murdered 300 Lebanese, wounded 1,000, and displaced 500,000. The Lebanese prime minister said that Israel`s attack has caused ``unimaginable losses`` (AP)

``seems to me that this is exactly what the people of lebanon would want if they were `normal` and not muslim .............``(Hamidm)

great satire hamidm...great satire!

#50 by nasah on July 20, 2006 3:39pm PT

What`s the link for your quote? when I read this part - ``have murdered 300 Lebanese`` - it was obvious that this wasn`t an AP news article..

sure enough, this from an editorial by Paul Craig Roberts and the racist website vdare.com is only too happy to run with it.

#47 by anzar on July 20, 2006 2:55pm PT

Why don`t you question the root cause of why Lebanon is being bombed? Has it ever occured to you that maybe muslims need to do something to address the root cause of that?

what`s good for the goose and all that..

Israel is totally wrong on this one, and the whole world is condemning their actions. IDF will lose in its war against the people of Lebanon. Israel should grow up and release all Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners and get serious in talks with its neighbors.

Respectfully submitted,

Olmert and Amir Peretz are war criminals -- deserving to be hanged by the nearest lamppost thru another series of Nuremberg war crime trials.

They are the new face of Terrorism in the Middle East -- targeting deliberately civilians men women and children in hundred and thousands -- in an orgy of indiscriminate mass murder -- burying whole neighborhood with school children alive under the debris of deliberately demolished houses over their heads……

Folks hear this hear this – TO KILL CIVILIANS is NOW 100 % KOSHER – the new Olmert/Peretz/PatheticPerez cabal says: …..IT IS OK!...kill the no good for nothin innocent civilian bastards they don`t deserve to live…..kill kill

IT IS A OK….!

-- and why not -- there is always the blessings of another civilian killer -- gangsta rapper -- George of the Jungle Bush....with `Yo Blair` -- spreading the shit.... all over the ME..

now nobody from the West should complain -- because the Israeli shit has now made killing of men women children by Palestinian shitty suicide bombers -- 100% Halal -- as well….

It is A OK for Abdul the Suicide Bomber to kill good-fo-nothin innocent civilians…that`s new West ern permissivness..!

Bless you Western guys -- 1/3 of the three thousand wounded and three hundred Lebanese dead are innocent children....three cheers for the Judeo/Christian shitty morality.....

Our shitty President says that this `shit` in the Middle East should not end thru a ceasefire -- right in middle when it is getting interesting -- there is not enough blood and gore yet -- let the horror movie play a few weeks more -- at the box office for the pleasure of sophisticated born-again Western audience..... with good taste...

Who backs immediate ceasefire? http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00170/p1-210706_170715a.jpg
The Independent

The demand by the western thUGGs to cease hostilities will come once the Israelis start screaming. Their people in shelters are moaning that they do not have beds, T.Vs & that the Mayor is indiscriminately forcing ``immigrant`` Israelis to bundle-up with them...the worst ones are Russians who have been ``settled`` at the borders to watch fireworks before getting barbecued. Thos with US passports are near the airport. Go & figure that.

It is an Allah given opportunity for Hizb & Hamaas. Israel has never been tackled thus & Inshallah with the Islreali population accustomed to ``good`` life will be the first one to cry ``uncle``

It is very very important to fluch out the tojan-donkeys, otherwise known as liberaloons, secularoons, munafiquoons, & murtadoons. They love to keep their wards under a life-support system, such is their humanism so that they can perform euthanasia as when they consider conditions ``appropriate`` & in-line with their agendas.

As faisaluno so rightly posted this by that great voice of freedom struggle; The Reverand Martin Luther--the one from the christian madressa.

Thanks a million faisaluno:

---

Martin Luther King Jr.`s Letter From A Birmingham Jail.



``I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro`s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen`s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ``order`` than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ``I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action``; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man`s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ``more convenient season.`` Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection

---

http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_ID=11712

Profile: Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah

Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement. He was born in 1960 in the Bourji Hammoud neighborhood east of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

In 1975, the civil war in Lebanon forced Nasrallah’s family to move to their ancestral home in the South Lebanese village of Bassouriyeh where Nasrallah joined the Amal movement, a political group that represents Shias in Lebanon.

At that time he was just 15-years-old and Amal was known by the name of “the movement of the deprived.”

Nasrallah then moved to Najaf in Iraq to study Qura’anic divine sciences at a Shia school.

In 1978, he completed the first stage of his studies successfully inside Hawza (Islamic Seminary), but his studies were interrupted when he was forced to leave by the Iraqi authorities. He then returned to Lebanon, where he studied at the school of Amal’s leader Sheikh Abbas al-Musawi.

A few years later, Amal elected Nasrallah as its political delegate in Bikaa, making him a member of the central political offices.

After the Israeli invasion in 1982, Nasrallah dedicated himself to the anti-Israeli resistance and joined Hezbollah which mainly aims at resisting the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in the Bekaa Valley.

Despite his commitment to Hezbollah, Nasrallah was determined to resume his religious education to become a religious jurisprudent. In 1989, he moved to the sacred Iranian city of Qum to continue his studies.

Nasrallah is married to Fatima Yassin, who comes from the Labanese village of Al Abbasiyee. They have three children remained after their elder son, Hadi, was killed by Israeli occupation forces when he was 18-year-old.

The forty-four-old leader said once in an interview that he reads many books, particularly the memoirs of political figures, including the “Memoirs of Sharon” and Benjamin Netanyahu’s book “A Place under the Sun”, with the intention of getting to know his enemies.

He became the leader of Hezbollah after Israel assassinated the movement’s leader Sheikh Musawi in 1992.

Nasrallah is considered one of the most powerful and charismatic figures in the Middle East. He is a leader who endlessly fights for the rights of the Arabs and the Muslims.

Under his leadership, Hezbollah became a serious opponent of the Israeli occupation. The movements’ resistance was one of the main factors that led to the Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon in 2000, ending 22-years of occupation.

Nasrallah also played a major role in the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hezbollah in 2004. The agreement was described among the Arab world as a great victory for Hezbollah and Nasrallah was praised as a hero for achieving gains in the Arab-Israeli conflict that no other Arab figure has attained.

For him, Hezbollah isn’t just a resistance group. He believes that it carries a message that depends on the Islamic belief.

Nasrallah also believes that Islam can solve all the problems for any society, but he makes clear that the movement doesn’t intend to force people into Islam.

He once said that “With respect to us, briefly, Islam is not a simple religion including only praises and prayers, rather it is a divine message that was designed for humanity, and it can answer any question man might ask concerning his general and private life. Islam is a religion designed for a society that can revolt and build a state.”

Love Israel .... mmmuuuuuuuuaaah :)

Wish I were a jew :P

Moslems think - when everybody takes sh!t from islam, why not israel ,,,,, saale mohammed ki gandi paidaish.

As members of the world humanity, we ask the United States to play its leadership role and the European Union to help putting a ceasefire in place. It is not the question of who is right or who is wrong. The urgency is to prevent general conflagration.

Why didnt chowk staff grace FP during North Korean missile crisis? What happened to their humanity then?

And why are a billion faithful begging for ceasefire instead of fighting the war they prayed for. They had their clash of civilization in New York, London, Madrid and Bombay. So whats wrong in having the War in Beirut suburbs for a change.

Lebanese are the most integrated Arab community in the USA, and by far the most successful. Those in Lebanon are the most Westernised Arabs (both Muslim and Christian). Thus, one is surprised that Israelis are attacking Lebanon and killing Lebanese civilians. This website gives a list of prominent Lebanese Americans; a community of 3 million. I was surprised to find certain names there, some of which are mentioned below.

http://www.freelebanon.org/articles/a235.htm

Paul Anka, Yasmin Bleeth, Keanu Reeves, Sammy Hagar, Salma Hayek, Danny Thomas, Tiffany, Frank Zappa, Casey Kassam

John Elway, Doug Flutie

Spencer Abraham, Donna Shalala, John Sununu, Helen Thomas

The most famous Lebanese American is Ralph Nader.

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zeemax: to continue the discussion on the above subject we were having on the other board

Actually Hamas has not just not recognized Israel but continued its hostilities, as evidenced by the firing of missiles from Gaza and the kidnapping of an Israeli border guard.

On the three conditions you say Hamas seeks before it will recognize Israel:

1) 1967 borders: On the West Bank, palestinians were (under Sharon`s unilateral withdrawal plan, which is probably no longer on the table anyway) going to get most of the west bank (I saw a map of the wall the israelis were building that would have become the de facto border on the west bank, and it leaves the bulk of the west bank in palestinian hands).

(2) East Jerusalem: True. Israelis have been adamant on not returning this.

(3) Right of Return: This is an unreasonable demand. If Israelis accept this, jews would become a minority in israel - why would anyone in his right mind hand over control of his country to a people who have no particular love for you to begin with? and after 50 years, the demand seems quite fake to me: most palestinians were not even born back then.

If Hamas was serious about wanting peace, or had leaders with half a brain, they would have taken the unilateral withdrawal plan (even if it was not exactly to their liking, per the three conditions above) and aimed for a Palestinian State. In the subcontinent, e.g., Jinnah (who did have a brain, as even those who hate him admit), accepted what he called a ``moth eaten Pakistan`` because he knew this was the best deal he was going to get. And no one really misses the districts that did not form part of Pakistan.

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Mujahid Margolis writes

www.ericmargolis.com

DÉJÀ VU IN LEBANON

As Israel’s ferocious and relentless destruction of Lebanon’s infrastructure continues, veteran Mideast observers are experiencing a dismaying sense of déjà vu.

In early June, 1982, the Reagan Administration in Washington gave Israel’s then defense minister, Ariel Sharon, a green light to invade Lebanon. The inept US Secretary of State, Alexander Haig, told Israel’s Defense minister Ariel Sharon he could invade Lebanon, turn it into an Israeli protectorate, and crush the PLO once he had a suitable pretext.

The pretext came in the form of retaliation for the attempted assassination of Israel’s ambassador in London by the Abu Nidal group (which had nothing to do with PLO). Sharon’s real agenda was to crush the PLO and thus any hopes of a Palestinian state.

Twenty-four years later, the Bush Administration and Israel have provided the world – and this writer - a remarkable feeling of déjà vu as Israeli forces ravage Lebanon and threaten to once again invade its southern portion. Once again, a president totally ignorant of Mideast realities, a craven US Congress, and an incompetent secretary of state have created a disaster in Lebanon.

Americans have never been told by their government-guided media that in a speech, Osama bin Laden asserted that the 9/11 attacks on the US were payback for Israel’s cruel destruction of Beirut with artillery and bombs in which up to 18,000 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians died.

Ironically, we now see what may become a repeat of the 1982 invasion, regarded by all involved, including Israel, as a disaster. With further irony, we are now watching the democratically elected Hamas and Hezbullah governments battling Israel’s democratic government.

According to George Bush, wasn’t democracy supposed to solve the Mideast’s problems and end its violence?

In 1975, I arrived in Beirut for the first day of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war. Seven years later, I accompanied Israeli troops as they invaded Lebanon, and was with an Israeli armored unit in Nabatiyah when it shot its way through a procession of Shia worshipers marking Ashura. This notorious event, and brutal behavior by Israeli occupation troops, turned Shia’s against the Israelis and sparked the birth of Hezbullah.

Trained by Iran and aided by Syria, Hezbullah’s tough fighters became the only Arab military force ever to defeat Israel and shatter its record of military invincibility. Israel swore revenge. Hezbullah’s kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers provided the pretext for Israel’s new, untested government to unleash a long-planned campaign to destroy Hezbullah and try to draw into the confrontation its sponsor, Iran.

Claims by the US, Israel, and some Arab states that the abduction of two Israel troops was organized by Iran and ally Syria to divert attention from Tehran’s nuclear programs may have some merit. But Hizbullah is no mere cat’s paw of Tehran and often operates independently of its allies and there is no hard proof of Syrian or Iranian involvement. In fact, of late, both have been keeping a low profile for fear of an U.S. attach.

Sheik Hussein Nasrallah made clear that Hezbullah’s border operation, which also killed eight other Israeli soldiers, was done for two reasons. First, to support embattled Palestinians in Gaza, who are being ravaged by Israeli air, land, and sea attacks. Second, to secure release of some of the hundreds of Hezbullah hostages and 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners being held by Israel.

So far, Hezbullah is the only Arab force that has taken any concrete action to help the Palestinians suffering devastating collective punishment by Israel. Such collective punishment, now also being inflicted by Israel on a national scale on Lebanon, is a crime under international law and the Geneva Conventions. Switzerland, the repository and guardian of the conventions, recently accused Israel of violating them by its collective punishment of the Palestinian territories.

Hezbullah made its point by the border operation. Firing hundreds of inaccurate rockets into northern Israel was military and politically pointless as well as a violation of the Geneva Conventions. So, equally, was the firing of homemade rockets by Palestinian militants into Israel. Both acts gave Israel a perfect excuse to vent its fury and try to destroy Hezbullah and Hamas. Killing Israeli civilians only further enflames Israel. As Tallyrand said, `it was a crime; worse, it was a mistake.’

All parties involved are to blame for this frightful mess and carnage: Palestinians and Hezbullah for provoking Israel at a time when its new leaders were anxious to show they could blast Arabs as effectively as Ariel Sharon, and Israel for its brutal repression of Palestinians and assassination of their leaders. But most at blame is the Bush Administration whose disastrous Mideast policies allowed this crisis to erupt and then encouraged Israel to bomb Lebanon back into the Stone Age.

The White House has been too obsessed with its lost wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to pay attention to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Under Bush, US Mideast policy has fallen into the hands of neoconservatives, and fundamentalist Protestants. Both groups, and President Bush himself, are closely aligned to Israel’s expansionist right wing, leaving would-be peacemakers on both sides out in the cold.

Little wonder the Muslim World -and much of Europe – believes Israel pulls the strings of US foreign policy. This view has become religious faith among Islamic radicals who see an attack on the US as an attack on Israel.

Mideast crises tend to follow a similar pattern. First, a bombing or assassination triggers off a fierce Israeli military response. Everyone involved screams no negotiations and no deals. After days or even weeks of destruction, the great powers intervene and force a return to the status quo ante bellum, often under the fig leaf of the UN. Prisoners are quietly swapped, ransoms discreetly paid.


After much more killing and destruction, Israel will eventually talk to its enemies. Prisoners will be exchange. It’s only a question of how many civilians will have to die before this happens.

copyright Eric S. Margolis 2006

#61 by bulleya on July 20, 2006 7:22pm PT


Thus, one is surprised that Israelis are attacking Lebanon and killing Lebanese civilians.


Why aren`t you surprised that the supposedly westernized Lebs are allowing Hezbollah to attack Israel from within their country and kill Israeli civilians?

Muslim outrage and logic only cuts one way..It`s the muslims ergo innocent victims school of jurisprudence..

What % of muslims are saying the root cause of the current conflict is the actions of Hezbollah? How about 0.000001%?

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I do not think American Rep can solve this problem. Pakistan as strongest Muslim Nation can help to bring solution. Pakistan can convey to Isarel through America that they better stop this war as they may be forced to deal Pakistan army if not cooled soon. They will have cold water on their actvities. That way we will gain both ways Arabs will feel better and Isarael will be happy to wind up and go to peace process. They know that Pakistan`s natatonal nuclear deterant assets which are keeping indians down will be used. Israels are too smart when know Pakistan enters and If assets used ( As Dr.Khan said to Indian newsman when he said pakistan can burn bombay city in few minutes) all israel will burn like bombay. One does not have to too much just moves national assets on moblie missile launchers and put on train and keep locomotive in motion. So america can tell Isarel that that they should wind up as revolution can take place in pakistan if too stretched as if take over takes place America will not be able to do any thing. This will also give Israel exscuse to withdraw as they can say mad man can fire from moving goods missile bogie and indtead of India Israel will burn. Then Amerca put pressure on Isarael to withdraw. America can tell Isarael we are trying but no control what can happen. Such trick only america can play.

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Re: # 69

As usual this is dense response fortified with maps, pictures and references and sharp logic which acts as Laser knife to take care of opposite point of view and demolishes israels position.
I hope people specially liberal type do good people will take time to go through all material and analyse and digest. Hope then only they can start usual character assinations and talking nonsense and personal attacks and tag teams attacking the writer.

I never agree completely with myself also.
I feel British Rule was best rule des had after long time. As I have said we need recolonization of Pakistan under UN and british should provide personnel like old times when british had made people to follow rule or get whipped and that system was far better.
I do not think American are not good as British only understands how desi can be treated. Also we can have our constitution but should be interpreated and military coups and successession problems will be over as they can cort marshall all corp commanders and send to English prison in England. All A to Z dictectors will be history. Now its hard just like doctors injection it hurts but good happen, no pain no gain.

Other than that I find Pro. M Asadi`s statement interesting to say the least its profound.

#68 by ahmedmadani

Pakistan as strongest Muslim Nation can help to bring solution.

Madani Sahib, please tell me you`re joking! A country that abandons its soldiers to die on freezing hills, a country that abandons its policies at just one phone call from the US, a country whose PM rushes to Washington on a 4th of July uninvited is the strongest Muslim nation? The Palestinians may not be nation yet, but they have what the ``strongest Muslim nation`` lacks: balls.

I think that the current hostilities are a grim reminder to all the sane civilians to understand the need to rein in the extremist and violent individuals who want to take up a cause on behalf of every peaceloving civilian. Hezbollah is indeed an extremist organisation which needs to be rein in by the civilian government of Lebanon.
As a citizen of the country which is under attack by the extremist organisations sitting across the border I would certainly prefer covert operations rather than overt operations. Israel must understand that it should not engage in overt operations which may draw flak from the international community. Although it may get a complete support from its internal population it should engage in gorilla style operations as a retaliation as well as deterrence.

However, I feel that the overt operations have been obviously done after clear calculations and in order to put the civilian government under the pressure to force the moderates to rein in the extremist Hezbollah which they obviously should have done a long time back.

Even if this gets done as a result of these hostilities I would say that the current operations of Israel would be successful.

A flip side to it would be that it would increase the fodder for the extremists and make the task of moderates even more difficult.....This should be countered by the moderates through their counter-propaganda.............However, in the long run I think the extremist Hezbollah stands to be isolated by the common man..........

Nasah - you are supposedly a `moderate Indian muslim`........ why do you people insist on the word `Indian` , when clearly the only thing that matters to you people is the word `muslim`. Save us the pretensions, okay. Israel is a strong ally of India. Majority of the India , who are thankfully neither Islamic nor leftists, are solidly behind Israel and we hope Israel wipes out its enemies. We want Israel to crush the Arabs.

You want the prime minister of Israel to be tried for war crimes ? We think he is a hero. Just like President Bush. They are both fighting our fight.

Israel and India have a lot in common. Common enemies. Rabid Islamist fanatics who want to wipe us out. Its just that while Israel`s enemies are outside its borders, our enemies are within - if you know what I mean. All 150 milion of them.

MashaAllah:

The great soldier & scholar: Sayyad Hassan Nasrullah.

Not like the canine from the cantonement kennel who yelps & whimpers (in english of course) when the big dog barks.



Adam Shatz
Thu Jul 20, 5:50 PM ET

The Nation -- In January 2004 Sheik Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, presided over a major prisoner exchange with Israel, in which the Lebanese guerrilla movement and political party secured the release of more than 400 Arab prisoners in return for the bodies of three Israeli soldiers and an Israeli businessman and alleged spy, Elhanan Tannenbaum, whom Hezbollah had kidnapped. Moments before the exchange was sealed, Ariel Sharon withheld three Lebanese detainees, one of whom, Samir Kuntar, had killed a family of three in the Israeli town of Nahariya in 1979. Nasrallah, having failed to release Kuntar and the two other men, declared that Hezbollah would ``reserve the right`` to capture Israeli soldiers until they were freed.


On July 12 Nasrallah launched the most daring assault of his tenure as Hezbollah`s leader: the capture of two Israeli soldiers in a raid that left eight other Israeli soldiers dead. He called the attack ``Operation Truthful Promise.``

Nasrallah is not a man who minces words. Still, questions linger as to the timing and location of Operation Truthful Promise, which detonated Israel`s most ruthless assault on Lebanon since the 1982 invasion. Although Hezbollah`s operation was apparently planned five months in advance, it occurred amid the Israeli siege in Gaza, which followed the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian guerrillas and was inevitably interpreted as a gesture of solidarity with the Gazans, particularly the Hamas leadership, dozens of whose members were recently abducted by Israel. What is more, Hezbollah did not strike in the occupied Shebaa farms, a sliver of land in the Golan Heights, as it usually does, but inside Israel, a violation of international law that Israel--despite its own numerous violations of Lebanese territorial sovereignty--could invoke as a casus belli. In other words, Hezbollah undertook an audacious act of brinksmanship that was bound, if not designed, to escalate tensions with Israel.

It is, of course, possible that Nasrallah regards the Jewish state as a paper tiger, and did not expect it to seize upon Hezbollah`s raid as a pretext to pulverize his movement and to scrap the ``rules of the game`` that have governed the low-intensity conflict that Hezbollah and Israel have waged along the border since the latter`s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000. But this is to underestimate Nasrallah, a shrewd, calculating man who, as a careful reader of history, is fully aware of how Israel has responded in the past to cross-border attacks. Indeed, when I spoke to him at his (now leveled) headquarters in Beirut in October 2003, Nasrallah--sitting near a photograph of his son Hadi, who was killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers in 1997--seemed in no mood to ignite a war that would bring Israeli troops back to Lebanon. ``When you get something by paying such a precious price, you are more keen on safeguarding it,`` he told me. ``We will not accept anyone coming and squandering it. We are the sons of this soil, the sons of this country. We have no other place to go.``

If Nasrallah knew that Operation Truthful Promise might provide the Israelis with an excuse to invade Lebanon, something that could--and, briefly, did--make Hezbollah the target of Lebanese rage (even, evidently, among some of his Shiite followers), what does he hope to achieve and what is his endgame? Why risk the future of his movement, which has a significant bloc in Lebanon`s Parliament, a seat in the Cabinet and a vast network of social services and enterprises (the party is Lebanon`s second-largest employer)? The devastation of Lebanon, and of Hezbollah strongholds formerly occupied by Israel, would seem a rather high price to pay for a few prisoners, particularly if Hezbollah ends up sharing the blame for the destruction of the country`s tourism industry, the oxygen of its economy.

Nasrallah`s objectives most likely lie elsewhere. Since the 2000 Israeli withdrawal (``the first Arab victory in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict,`` as Nasrallah often notes), Hezbollah has faced mounting pressure, from the West but also at home, to lay down its arms and become a purely political organization--a fate the party dreads, since it prides itself on being a vanguard of Islamic resistance to American and Israeli ambitions in the Middle East. This pressure dramatically intensified with UN Security Council resolution 1559 (2004), which called for the disbanding of all Lebanese militias, and with the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon last year. By conducting a raid that was likely to provoke a brutal Israeli reprisal, Nasrallah may have gambled that the fury of the Lebanese would soon turn from Hezbollah to the Jewish state, thereby providing a justification for ``the national resistance`` as Lebanon`s only deterrent against Israel. So far, Israel (with the full support of the Bush Administration) has played right into his hands, inflicting more than 300 casualties, nearly all of them civilians, and pounding the civilian infrastructure, eliciting sympathy for Hezbollah even among some Lebanese Christians. By striking at Israel`s Army during its most destructive campaign in Palestine since 2002`s ``Operation Defensive Shield,`` Nasrallah must have known that he would earn praise throughout the Muslim world for coming to the aid of Palestinians abandoned by the region`s authoritarian governments, a number of which have pointedly chastised Nasrallah`s ``adventurism.`` And by bloodying Israel`s nose, Hezbollah could once again bolster its aura in the wider Arab world as a redoubtable ``resistance`` force, a model it seeks to promote regionally, especially in Palestine, where Nasrallah is a folk hero, and in Iraq, where Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the radical Shiite Mahdi Army, has proclaimed himself a follower of Hezbollah and has threatened to renew attacks against US forces in solidarity with the Lebanese.

Operation Truthful Promise was also, in part, a service rendered to Hezbollah`s patrons in Damascus and Tehran, whether or not Bashar al-Assad and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were consulted beforehand. The Syrian President warned former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, in their last meeting before Hariri`s assassination, that if he pushed for Syria`s withdrawal Assad would ``break`` Lebanon. With Hezbollah`s raid, Assad may have found a way to get Israel to break Lebanon for him--a wish that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz were more than happy to fulfill. Damascus may be facing renewed threats, but Assad can now bask in Nasrallah`s glow without directly engaging the Israeli military, which, as he knows, is divided on whether to depose him (since the only realistic alternative to the secular Baath regime is the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood); Lebanese anger has been redirected from Syria back to Israel; Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora looks on helplessly as the Israelis strafe his country; and the West has been warned that Lebanon will remain fractured, volatile and incapable of controlling its borders unless Syria`s interests (particularly in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights) are taken into account. President Ahmadinejad, for his part, can thank Nasrallah for diverting attention from the controversy over its nuclear program, and for burnishing the Islamic republic`s reputation as a staunch defender of Palestinian rights--and, not least, of Muslim Jerusalem--in a region whose other (largely Sunni Arab) governments have compromised with the enemy. And the spectacular display of Hezbollah`s Iranian-made weaponry, which have reached further into Israel than even the Israelis feared, and of the group`s sophistication in deploying them, have reminded Israel and the United States of the ``surprises`` (Nasrallah`s word) in store in the event of an attack on Iran.

Nasrallah is under no illusions that his small guerrilla movement can defeat the Israeli Army. But he can lose militarily and still score a political victory, particularly if the Israelis continue visiting suffering on Lebanon, whose government, as they well know, is powerless to control Hezbollah. Nasrallah, whom the Israelis attempted to assassinate on July 19 with a twenty-three-ton bomb attack on an alleged Hezbollah bunker, is doubtless aware that he may share the fate of his predecessor, Abbas Musawi, who was killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship attack in 1992. But Hezbollah outlived Musawi and grew exponentially, thanks in part to its followers` passion for martyrdom. To some, Nasrallah`s raid may look like a death wish. But it is almost impossible to defeat someone who has no fear of death.

Re: # 66 Arjun

Garbage. The only reason Israel destroying the hell out of Lebanon is because of the two kidnapped soldiers. It makes ``Mighty Israel`` mad, how someone kidnapped two of its brilliant soldiers. And in the process they will bomb Lebanon back to Stone Age.

Whats worse, jerks like you actually support that action. No one is saying that Hezbollah is great, but what the Israelis are doing is absolutely unjustified.

Massive Protest in London, England this weekend: BE there & call e-mail


By taking to the streets in mass numbers this weekend and at the mobilisation in Manchester in September, we can speed the day when Britain is detached from Bush’s “war on terror”. It is our responsibility to make a breakthrough here in the fight against imperialist subjugation

George Galloway:

Blair is Israel’s ally

The British prime minister is going out of his way to block any criticism of Israel, writes Respect MP George Galloway

Imagine if Lebanon destroyed every bridge in Israel, blew up the international airport, blockaded the ports, severed every arterial road, ordered people to leave their homes and then bombed them to pieces when they did... Do you think any Western leader would utter the words “Lebanon has a right to defend itself”?

This is the basic truth that every news bulletin seems designed to obscure. It is the reality that is enraging hundreds of millions of people across the globe as Israel launches its barbaric action against the people of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

And it is not just Israel, of course. Barely commented on in the British media is the fact that it was Britain and the US that prevented the G8 summit from calling for a ceasefire.

Tony Blair and his ministers were again instrumental on Monday in preventing the European Union from issuing a condemnation of Israel’s aggression. No one should be in any doubt why - George Bush and Blair want Israel to continue its assault on Lebanon.

Green light

The US state, with the craven support of Blair’s government, is giving Israel a green light. This is not because of some imagined stranglehold on Middle East policy exercised by a supposedly omnipotent Zionist lobby.

It is because Israel is doing what it has always done - serving the interests of US imperial power in the Middle East.

Israel is cloaking its attack in neo-con rhetoric about an axis of evil linking Iran and Syria to Hizbollah in Lebanon. Its claims are dutifully repeated by a media which never once stops to point out that the Israeli missiles and bombs raining down on Lebanon were supplied by the US.

There is a link with Syria and Iran, but it is not the lie that Syrian and Iranian troops are in Lebanon. It is that the US has made no secret that it is preparing for an attack upon Iran, which has signed a mutual defence pact with Syria.

Israel’s attack on Lebanon serves the purpose of a pre-emptive strike on Hizbollah, which would respond militantly to any US attack upon Iran.

There is an axis of aggression. It links Tel Aviv and Washington, and Blair has placed London on its midpoint. But it is at that midpoint that those of us who live in Britain must strike a blow.

By taking to the streets in mass numbers this weekend and at the mobilisation in Manchester in September, we can speed the day when Britain is detached from Bush’s “war on terror”. It is our responsibility to make a breakthrough here in the fight against imperialist subjugation.