• Israel

    Israel at War Watch: Hezbollah Cowardly Civilian Blending Questioned?

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    Suburban warfare: Hezbollah fighters are ready for action in a residential area.

    Australia Herald-Sun via Captain’s Quarters: Photos that damn Hezbollah

    THIS is the picture that damns Hezbollah. It is one of several, smuggled from behind Lebanon’s battle lines, showing that Hezbollah is waging war amid suburbia.

    The images, obtained exclusively by the Sunday Herald Sun, show Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons.

    Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon.

    The photographs, from the Christian area of Wadi Chahrour in the east of Beirut, were taken by a visiting journalist and smuggled out by a friend.

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    Anti-aircraft gun: these pictures were taken by a visiting journalist and smuggled out by a friend.

    The images include one of a group of men and youths preparing to fire an anti-aircraft gun metres from an apartment block with sheets hanging out on a balcony to dry.

    Others show a militant with AK47 rifle guarding no-go zones after Israeli blitzes.

    Another depicts the remnants of a Hezbollah Katyusha rocket in the middle of a residential block blown up in an Israeli air attack.

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    On guard: A militant watches over a no-go zone.

    The Melbourne man who smuggled the shots out of Beirut and did not wish to be named said he was less than 400m from the block when it was obliterated.

    “Hezbollah came in to launch their rockets, then within minutes the area was blasted by Israeli jets,” he said.

    “Until the Hezbollah fighters arrived, it had not been touched by the Israelis. Then it was totally devastated.

    “It was carnage. Two innocent people died in that incident, but it was so lucky it was not more.”

    The release of the images comes as Hezbollah faces criticism for allegedly using innocent civilians as “human shields”.

    Mr Egeland blasted Hezbollah as “cowards” for operating among civilians.

    “When I was in Lebanon, in the Hezbollah heartland, I said Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending in among women and children,” he said.

    Hezbollah is waging a guerilla war and a “cowardly” one at that. They are using the poor Lebanese people as cannon fodder and human shields.

    Israel has a unique opportunity to eliminate these terrorists.

    Let’s hope the Israeli Defense Forces use it…….

    Stay tuned…..

    Previous:

    Israel at War Watch: Iran – “This War is Our War”

    Michael Ramirez on the Cowardice of Hezbollah

    Israel at War Watch: Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Threatens More Rocket Attacks on Cities in Central Israel


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  • Politics

    Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Challenger Lamont Earns New York Times Endorsement

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    Ned Lamont, left, who is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman for the U.S. Senate nomination speaks at a news conference across the street from the Connecticut Supreme Court in Hartford, Conn., Friday, July 28, 2006. Listening at right, is Michael Schiavo, the husband of the late Terry Schiavo. Michael Schiavo was in Hartford to campaign for Lamont.

    New York Times: A Senate Race in Connecticut

    Mr. Lamont, a wealthy businessman from Greenwich, seems smart and moderate, and he showed spine in challenging the senator while other Democrats groused privately. He does not have his opponent’s grasp of policy yet. But this primary is not about Mr. Lieberman’s legislative record. Instead it has become a referendum on his warped version of bipartisanship, in which the never-ending war on terror becomes an excuse for silence and inaction. We endorse Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary for Senate in Connecticut.

    Of course…….

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    Previous:

    Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: WFB – A Connecticut Quandry

    Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Bill Clinton Praises Joe Lieberman

    Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: California Senator Barbara Boxer – “A Profile in Cowardice”


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  • Iran,  Israel

    Israel at War Watch: Iran – “This War is Our War”

    ***Welcome all commenters…..Note that there is continuing Israel-Hezbollah war coverage and commentary at the home of this site here. ***

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    Iranian female protestor, holds a poster of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, during a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli demonstration in front of the U.N office in Tehran, Iran , Wednesday, July 26, 2006.

    Ottawa Citizen: ‘This war is our war’

    A former CSIS informant who once kept tabs on terrorists says the Iranian regime is “mentally and spiritually” preparing its people for war against Israel.

    The Ottawa man, now in Tehran, says the hate campaign against Israel is “everywhere” on the streets of the capital.

    “It is not good. It is sad,” he told the Citizen.

    “There are posters at intersections of (Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah) saying Israel must be erased from the map.”

    Iran has already supplied Hezbollah with rockets and now Fajr-5 missiles (renamed Khaibar-1 for the Hezbollah assault on Afula). Other Iranian influences on the war include the use of a silkworm missile on an Israeli ship and the supply of other arms.

    Opponents of the Iranian government in Canada say they have received similar reports describing huge posters of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Hezbollah leader alongside the slogan: “This war is our war.”

    “I had some reports where people said that they do not care what the government of Iran wants to do,” said Shahram Golestaneh, president of Committee for Defence of Human Rights in Iran. “They are concerned about the possibility of more bloodshed in the Middle East and (concerned) that the government uses all Iran’s money to help fight against Israel by its own Hezbollah.”

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    A portrait of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at the southern border village of Aita Al-Shaab. Israel said it killed 26 Hezbollah fighters in clashes around a flashpoint border town in south Lebanon, as the air force hit a succession of targets in a new wave of deadly strikes.

    Iran, which backs Hezbollah, has repeatedly denied Israeli claims that it also arms the organization established in the 1980s to combat Israeli forces.

    “Our support has been spiritual. If we had military support, we would announce it. … We don’t have any hidden business,” ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on state-run television yesterday, a day after U.S. President George W. Bush sharply criticized Iran’s role in the bloody fighting.

    “They don’t have any right to tell us why Iran supports Hezbollah at all. The question is, why do they support Israel?” Mr. Asefi said.

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    Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi has said that the Iranian regime supports Hezbollah ‘spiritually,’ if not militarily.

    Earlier this week, about 60 Iranian volunteers left the country with the hopes of joining Hezbollah in the war against Israel. They called it a holy war, were unarmed and hoped to gain entry to Lebanon from Syria.

    According to Mr. Golestaneh, some Iranian dissidents were pleased to see the militants, ranging in age from teens to grandfathers, leave the country.

    “In one instance,” according to the human rights worker “one person said ‘In fact I rather they send all their loyalists to the war so we can breathe more easily.’ ”

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    Iranian volunteer militiamen, join hands as they pray, in a meeting at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, just outside Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 26, 2006. Surrounded by yellow Hezbollah flags, more than 60 volunteer militiamen set off Wednesday to try to join the fight against Israeli forces in Lebanon in what organizers called the first convoy of ‘Islamic warriors’ offering their help from Iran. Iran says it will not send regular forces to aid Hezbollah, but apparently will not attempt to stop volunteer guerrillas.

    Iran is involved but do they have the “CAJONES” to overtly aid Hezbollah and a formal declaration of war against Israel. Or will Iran’s Mullahs continue to hide behind their terrorist lackeys, Hezbollah?

    Probably the latter…

    NO GUTS and NO GLORY……..

    Stay tuned…..

    Previous:

    Michael Ramirez on the Cowardice of Hezbollah

    Israel at War Watch: Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Threatens More Rocket Attacks on Cities in Central Israel


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  • Liberal Morons,  Politics

    Representative Cynthia McKinney Watch: Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young Endorses McKinney

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    U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, flanked by members of the local clergy, speaks at a news conference she held Thursday to announce former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young’s endorsement of her. Her opponent, former DeKalb Commissioner Hank Johnson, dismissed the endorsement.

    AJC: Young backs McKinney

    ‘Congress needs controversy,’ former mayor says

    The day a poll showed her trailing in a 4th Congressional District runoff race, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney rallied Atlanta ministers, including former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, to her cause.

    Young’s endorsement Thursday could help in McKinney’s uphill battle to keep her office. A close aide to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an ordained minister, Young also endorsed Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor earlier this year, helping him win the Democratic nomination for governor by appealing to black voters.

    What McKinney needs win is stop being a MORON, debate Hank Johnson and adopt more mainstream Democrat Party talking points. The problem is:

    McKinney is a MORONIC EXTREMIST

    “Congress needs controversy,” Young said in his endorsement, a recording of which was played at the news conference. “The last thing we need in a democracy is people who don’t think for themselves. … I don’t always agree with Cynthia McKinney, but I always agree with her right to express her opinions because that creates a dialogue that makes democracy work.”

    And, of course, this is BULL.

    What Andrew Young is saying is that Cynthia McKinney IS a MORON but a lefty nutter like myself and it is OK that you vote for her because she WILL march in lock-step with the left – while sometimes trying to hide it – just like me.

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    Campaign manager John Evans (in white T-shirt) escorts U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney after her news conference Thursday at Elegance restaurant in Decatur.

    Johnson dismissed Young’s endorsement, saying, “Nothing that Andy Young does surprises me anymore. The ultimate endorsement will come from the voters on Aug. 8.”

    A new poll by InsiderAdvantage shows Johnson leading McKinney 46 percent to 21 percent, with one-third of voters undecided. The survey recorded the responses of 480 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

    McKinney has a large Johnson lead to surmount. Will she win?

    Probably not…..

    Captain Ed has McKinney Equates Security Stop With Bush-Merkel Neckrub

    Cynthia McKinney has decided to go down swinging in the runoff for her primary seat. However, she’s not swinging at Hank Johnson, the man trying (and so far succeeding) in squeezing her out of Congress. Instead, McKinney keeps trying to use Bush Derangement Syndrome as a lever with her constituents, and has attempted to explain away her assault on a police officer by claiming molestation — and using Bush as an excuse…

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    Previous:

    Representative Cynthia McKinney Watch: Latest Poll – Challenger Hank Johnson with a Hefty Lead Over Incumbent Cynthia McKinney in the Democratic Run-off

    Representative Cynthia McKinney Watch: McKinney a “NO SHOW” in Congress

    Representative Cynthia McKinney Watch: McKinney Heads to Runoff Election

    Representative Cynthia McKinney Watch: McKinney Edges Ahead in Georgia Democrat Primary With 59% Reporting- Update – McKinney to Face Run-Off Election

    Representative Cynthia McKinney Watch: McKinney Trails in Georgia Democrat Primary in Early Returns

    Representative Cynthia McKinney Watch: NO SHOW at Debates


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  • Global War on Terror,  Iran Nuclear Watch

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Venezuela President Hugo Chavez Meets in Tehran with Iran President Ahmadinejad Pledging Mutual Support

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    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, greets Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, during an official welcoming ceremony in Tehran, Iran , Saturday, July 29, 2006. Chavez arrived in Tehran Saturday on his fifth visit to the Islamic country where he will meet with his Iranian counterpart and fellow critic of the United States, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Chavez’ two-day visit comes as Iran faces renewed international criticism for its nuclear program and as a backer of Hezbollah guerrillas, engaged in fighting with Israel since they captured to Israeli soldiers July 12.

    CNN: Iran’s Ahmedinejad meets ‘brother’ Chavez

    Anti-U.S. leaders Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad met in Tehran on Saturday, pledging mutual support for one another, state media reported.

    Chavez’s two-day visit came as Iran faces renewed international criticism for its nuclear program and as a backer of Hezbollah guerrillas, engaged in fighting with Israel since they captured two Israeli soldiers July 12.

    The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on Friday reached a deal on a resolution that would give Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.

    Following talks, Chavez pledged that his country would “stay by Iran at any time and under any condition,” state television reported.

    Now, might this be a message to the Democrats in the United States Congress – allow more domestic oil drilling (e.g. ANWR) while the United States weans itself of depenence on Middle East and Venezulean oil.

    Might this be a message to the American people? Conserve energy with minimal sacrifices today and empower your Congress to develop alternative fuels that remove American suscepibility to oil-based foreign policy blackmail.

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    In this photo released by Venezuela’s Miraflores Press, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, center, visits with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 29, 2006.

    Ahmedinejad said he saw in Chavez a kindred spirit.

    “I feel I have met a brother and trench mate after meeting Chavez,” Ahmedinejad was quoted as saying by state-run television. “We think Iran and Venezuela should share all experiences of each other, stay by each other and they have to be supporters of each other.”

    So, is Hugo Chavez becoming the new Fidel Castro of North America?

    Probably.

    With plenty of oil revenue, Venezuela could purchase missile and nuclear technologies from Iran.

    Venezuela could also squeeze the United States by restricting oil exports to America and selling their oil to China.

    “We do not have any limitation in cooperation,” Ahmedinejad was quoted as saying. “Iran and Venezuela are next to each other and supporters of each other. Chavez is a source of a progressive and revolutionary current in South America and his stance in restricting imperialism is tangible.”

    Chavez and Ahmadinejad are cooperating sources for exporting terror. Venezuela has joined the Axis of Evil.

    This message is loud and clear.

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    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) walks with Venezualan President Hugo Chavez in front of an honour guard in Tehran July 29, 2006.

    Stay tuned…..

    Previous:

    Iran Nuclear Watch: France Introduces United Nations Security Council Chapter 7 Resolution that Demands Iran Suspend Uranium Enrichment by August 31

    Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations “Provisional Agreement” on Iran’s Nuclear Program

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran President Ahamdinejad Sends Letter to French President Jacques Chirac

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran President Ahamdinejad Tells Israel “To Pack Up and Move”

    irannukejuly15aweb
    The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.


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  • Israel

    Israel at War Watch: Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Threatens More Rocket Attacks on Cities in Central Israel

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    Image from the Hezbollah television station Al -Manar aired Saturday July 29, 2006 shows Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah who in his statement threatened to attack more Israeli cities in central Israel. He also claims Israel suffered ‘serious defeat’ in ground fighting around a border town. At least 448 Lebanese have been killed in the fighting that broke out after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid. Most casualties have been civilians, and some estimates range as high as 600 dead. Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died in fighting, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 19 civilians, the Israeli army said.

    AP: Hezbollah chief threatens more rockets

    Hezbollah’s leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah threatened more rocket attacks on cities in central Israel and claimed Israel suffered a “serious defeat” in ground fighting around a Lebanese border town from which troops pulled back on Saturday after a week of heavy battles.

    The threat came a day after Hezbollah fired one of the most powerful rockets in its arsenal for the first time, one able to reach the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Friday’s rocket strike hit outside the Israeli town of Afula, the furthest rocket strike yet.

    “The bombardment of Afula and its military base is the beginning … Many cities in the center (of Israel) will be targeted in the ‘beyond Haifa’ if the savage aggression continues on our country, people and villages,” Nasrallah said in a speech aired on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television.

    Israel “has not made a single military accomplishment” in its 18-day-old offensive on Lebanon, Nasrallah said.

    The Israeli military announced its forces had moved out of the town of Bint Jbail but said its mission of wearing down Hezbollah guerrillas there had been acheived. Military officials said they never intended to take the town. A week of fighting there killed 18 Israeli soldiers, and Israel claimed at least 26 guerrillas were killed there Friday – a claim Hezbollah denied.

    The question Flap has to the Israeli Defense Forces and the Israeli government is:

    Are you going to “DISARM” Hezbollah or not?

    If non-state terrorists were shooting rockets at my cities, Flap would direct as many troops as necessary to clear out those damn rocket launchers and terrorists that are firing them.

    Granted Hezbollah has blended in with the civilian population of southern Lebanon and guerilla type wars are always slow going but it appears to Flap that Israel’s command does not have the WILL to eradicate the Hezbollah menace.

    If Israel pulls back or proceeds with its half assed military approach, it will be a victory for the Hezbollah terrorists. And, in two years, Nasrallah will be back launching more sophisticated rockets at Israel and perhaps threatening/blackmailing with WMD laced missiles.

    Israel has to decide. Make a stand now or face the consequences.

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    An Israeli soldier guards a UN convoy crossing the Israel-Lebanon border into Lebanon near the Israeli village of Avivim, July 29, 2006. Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday his guerrilla group would fire more rockets at central Israeli cities if Israel’s offensive in Lebanon was not halted.

    Stay tuned…..

    Previous:

    Israel at War Watch: 5 Shot, 1 Dead at Seattle Jewish Center

    Michael Ramirez on Israel and Hezbollah Rocket Attacks


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