I host a daily public affairs radio show in San Francisco called Your Call. It airs from 11 am - noon PST on KALW 91.7 FM. I am also happy to report that I recently got a book deal with PoliPoint Press to write about my road trip through the heartland and the interviews I did with people about why they vote the way they do (or not). It's scheduled to be out in September.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Another Deadly Day in Lebanon
Seven-year-old Hayat Khaled, who was wounded in an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh, lies on her hospital bed in Beirut. (AFP/Wael Ladki)
An elderly Lebanese woman cries over coffins at Palestinian refugee camp Albass in the centre of the southern Lebanon town of Tyre (Soure) July 29, 2006. The coffins contained the bodies of 40 people killed by Israeli air strikes over the last few days. REUTERS/Nikola Solic
A Lebanese woman bursts into tears as she watches hospital workers, unseen, loading coffins of Lebanese victims, in preparation for a mass burial, in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon Saturday July 29, 2006. With a few mourners at hand, 31 victims of Israel's two-week long bombardment were buried in a mass grave in this Lebanese city. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Lebanese morgue workers wrap the bodies of victims who were killed when an Israeli warplane hit the village of Nmairieh, next to the market town of Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, Saturday, July 29, 2006, killing seven people including a woman and her five children. Israeli troops pulled back on Sunday from a Lebanese border town where they battled Hezbollah guerrillas for a week in the bloodiest ground fighting of the 18-day-old Israeli offensive. Warplanes Saturday blasted bridges and demolished houses, killing seven people. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A Lebanese man lies in Heram hospital in the port-city of Tyre (Soure), in south Lebanon after he was injured in an Israeli air raid in Bint Jebil, July 29, 2006. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Alae Haourani cries as she is lies at the Heram hospital in the port city of Tyre (Soure), in south Lebanon, after she was injured in an Israeli air raid in Bint Jebil July 29, 2006. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Alae Haourani is consoled by her father at the Heram hospital in the port city of Tyre (Soure), in south Lebanon, after they were injured in an Israeli air raid in Bint Jebil July 29, 2006. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
An elderly Lebanese woman cries over coffins at Palestinian refugee camp Albass in the centre of southern Lebanon's town of Tyre (Soure) July 29, 2006. The coffins contained the bodies of 40 people killed by Israeli air strikes over the last few days. REUTERS/Nikola Solic
Lebanese Adnan Haraki cries after his wife and five children were killed when an Israeli warplane hit their house in the village of Nmairieh, next to the market town of Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, Saturday, July 29, 2006. Israeli troops pulled back on Sunday from a Lebanese border town where they battled Hezbollah guerrillas for a week in the bloodiest ground fighting of the 18-day-old Israeli offensive. Warplanes blasted bridges and demolished houses, killing seven people including the woman and her five children. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Lebanese soldiers and Red Cross workers prepare the coffins of civilians who were killed during Israeli attacks in several villages in south Lebanon, July 29, 2006. REUTERS/Haidar Hawila
Yeah, what a shame. Hizbollah is using hospitals, UN peacekeers, milk factories and electricity grids in this "war" against Israel.
Israeli air strikes on an electricity plant have released oil that has now spread over much of Lebanon's coastline.*
More than 15,000 tons of oil have hit the coast after the bombing of five of six storage tanks at the plant in the coastal village El-Jiye, 30km south of Beirut. The northern winds have taken the massive oil slick to beaches and ports a long way up the coast.
"The Lebanese government definitely does not have the capability to clean this up," Nabil Baz, a restaurant owner in Byblos town on the coast, 38km south of Beirut, told IPS.. "I heard we were going to get some help from Kuwait, but I don't know how true this is or when they might start the cleanup process."
Byblos, whose economy relies heavily on fishing and tourism, dates to the 5th millennium BC. It is believed that the linear alphabet originated here.
Sitting in his empty restaurant overlooking the once scenic ancient fishing harbour, Baz shook his head looking at the thick oil sludge covering most of the harbour now.
"No fishermen are able to work at all," he said. "I have no idea how our community will recover from this. We are going to need some serious help." http://dahrjamailiraq.com
Cute litte omission there. The electric plant was a site where Palestinians were tunneling under the Gaza-Egypt border. And maybe if Hizbollah wasn't hiding their terrorists and weapons in hospitals and residential areas civilian fatalities wouldn't be so high. But, as Alan Dershowitz has pointed out, Hizbollah WANTS innocent civilians to be killed. Looks like they've figured out that photos of maimed children create sympathy for their "cause" -- which is essentially destroying the state of Israel and killing Jews. And I'm not saying that just because this blog has posted numerous photos of maimed innocent civilians that never happen to be Jewish for some reason.
Criticizing Israeli's actions does not equate to criticizing Jews, just like criticizing Bush does not equate to criticzing Christians. Grow the fuck up and start thinking for yourself "timmy"
What do you do? Hang out on this blog all day? You post to just about every entry and it's always negative. Oh wait, sorry, you never post to entries about suffering soldiers because you have absolutely nothing to say.
The ongoing violence in the Middle East, which the Bush administration has tacitly endorsed, has sapped support for the United States in Lebanon, according to a new survey.
The latest poll by the Beirut Center found that 8 percent of Lebanese feel the US supports Lebanon, down from 38 percent in January. […]
“Look what America gives us, bombs and missiles,” says [Ghassan Farran, a doctor and head of a local cultural organization]. “I was never a political person and never with Hizbullah but now after this I am with Hizbullah.”
"What do you do? Hang out on this blog all day? You post to just about every entry and it's always negative."
Negative? Scroll down the page and look at these posts. And you're calling me the negative guy? If I see something I think is wrong or inaccurate, I say so. If you think I'm wrong, you say so, I welcome the criticism. ]
Oh wait, sorry, you never post to entries about suffering soldiers because you have absolutely nothing to say"
I've said it here before, but I'll say it again -- just for you. If it were up to me I'd be more than happy to take all the money we spend on social spending, corporate welfare, the drug war, illegal immigrants, snacks for the cast of American Idol, and your tax refund, and drop every cent of it into the laps of our soldiers. G.I, Kate...is that okay with you?
Morality is not on our side http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742257.html
By Ze'ev Maoz, professor of political science at Tel Aviv university
There's practically a holy consensus right now that the war in the North is a just war and that morality is on our side. The bitter truth must be said: this holy consensus is based on short-range selective memory, an introverted worldview, and double standards.
This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah's side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah "started it" when it kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin to tilt the scales of justice toward our side.
Let's start with a few facts. We invaded a sovereign state, and occupied its capital in 1982. In the process of this occupation, we dropped several tons of bombs from the air, ground and sea, while wounding and killing thousands of civilians. Approximately 14,000 civilians were killed between June and September of 1982, according to a conservative estimate. The majority of these civilians had nothing to do with the PLO, which provided the official pretext for the war.
On July 28, 1989, we kidnapped Sheikh Obeid, and on May 12, 1994, we kidnapped Mustafa Dirani, who had captured Ron Arad. Israel held these two people and another 20-odd Lebanese detainees without trial, as "negotiating chips." That which is permissible to us is, of course, forbidden to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah crossed a border that is recognized by the international community. That is true. What we are forgetting is that ever since our withdrawal from Lebanon, the Israel Air Force has conducted photo-surveillance sorties on a daily basis in Lebanese airspace. While these flights caused no casualties, border violations are border violations. Here too, morality is not on our side.
So much for the history of morality. Now, let's consider current affairs. What exactly is the difference between launching Katyushas into civilian population centers in Israel and the Israel Air Force bombing population centers in south Beirut, Tyre, Sidon and Tripoli? The IDF has fired thousands of shells into south Lebanon villages, alleging that Hezbollah men are concealed among the civilian population. Approximately 25 Israeli civilians have been killed as a result of Katyusha missiles to date. The number of dead in Lebanon, the vast majority comprised of civilians who have nothing to do with Hezbollah, is more than 300.
Worse yet, bombing infrastructure targets such as power stations, bridges and other civil facilities turns the entire Lebanese civilian population into a victim and hostage, even if we are not physically harming civilians. The use of bombings to achieve a diplomatic goal - namely, coercing the Lebanese government into implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1559 - is an attempt at political blackmail, and no less than the kidnapping of IDF soldiers by Hezbollah is the aim of bringing about a prisoner exchange.
There is a propaganda aspect to this war, and it involves a competition as to who is more miserable. Each side tries to persuade the world that it is more miserable. As in every propaganda campaign, the use of information is selective, distorted and self-righteous. If we want to base our information (or shall we call it propaganda?) policy on the assumption that the international environment is going to buy the dubious merchandise that we are selling, be it out of ignorance or hypocrisy, then fine. But in terms of our own national soul searching, we owe ourselves to confront the bitter truth - maybe we will win this conflict on the military field, maybe we will make some diplomatic gains, but on the moral plane, we have no advantage, and we have no special status.
But most of all, the world deplores the Jewish state because it is strong, and can strike back rather than suffer. In fact, global onlookers would prefer either one of two scenarios for the long-suffering Jews to learn their lesson. The first is absolute symmetry and moral equivalence: when Israel is attacked, it kills only as many as it loses. For each rocket that lands, it drops only one bomb in retaliation — as if any aggressor in the history of warfare has ever ceased its attacks on such insane logic.
The other desideratum is the destruction of Israel itself. Iran promised to wipe Israel off the map, and then gave Hezbollah thousands of missiles to fulfill that pledge. In response, the world snored. If tomorrow more powerful rockets hit Tel Aviv armed with Syrian chemicals or biological agents, or Iranian nukes, the “international” community would urge “restraint” — and keep urging it until Israel disappeared altogether. And the day after its disappearance, the Europeans and Arabs would sigh relief, mumble a few pieties, and then smile, “Life goes on.”
12 Comments:
It's really a shame how Hisbollah has used innocent civilians in this war against Israel.
Yeah, what a shame. Hizbollah is using hospitals, UN peacekeers, milk factories and electricity grids in this "war" against Israel.
Israeli air strikes on an electricity
plant have released oil that has now spread over much of Lebanon's
coastline.*
More than 15,000 tons of oil have hit the coast after the bombing of
five of six storage tanks at the plant in the coastal village El-Jiye,
30km south of Beirut. The northern winds have taken the massive oil
slick to beaches and ports a long way up the coast.
"The Lebanese government definitely does not have the capability to
clean this up," Nabil Baz, a restaurant owner in Byblos town on the
coast, 38km south of Beirut, told IPS.. "I heard we were going to get
some help from Kuwait, but I don't know how true this is or when they
might start the cleanup process."
Byblos, whose economy relies heavily on fishing and tourism, dates to
the 5th millennium BC. It is believed that the linear alphabet
originated here.
Sitting in his empty restaurant overlooking the once scenic ancient
fishing harbour, Baz shook his head looking at the thick oil sludge
covering most of the harbour now.
"No fishermen are able to work at all," he said. "I have no idea how our
community will recover from this. We are going to need some serious help."
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
Cute litte omission there. The electric plant was a site where Palestinians were tunneling under the Gaza-Egypt border. And maybe if Hizbollah wasn't hiding their terrorists and weapons in hospitals and residential areas civilian fatalities wouldn't be so high. But, as Alan Dershowitz has pointed out, Hizbollah WANTS innocent civilians to be killed. Looks like they've figured out that photos of maimed children create sympathy for their "cause" -- which is essentially destroying the state of Israel and killing Jews. And I'm not saying that just because this blog has posted numerous photos of maimed innocent civilians that never happen to be Jewish for some reason.
Criticizing Israeli's actions does not equate to criticizing Jews, just like criticizing Bush does not equate to criticzing Christians. Grow the fuck up and start thinking for yourself "timmy"
What do you do? Hang out on this blog all day? You post to just about every entry and it's always negative. Oh wait, sorry, you never post to entries about suffering soldiers because you have absolutely nothing to say.
The ongoing violence in the Middle East, which the Bush administration has tacitly endorsed, has sapped support for the United States in Lebanon, according to a new survey.
The latest poll by the Beirut Center found that 8 percent of Lebanese feel the US supports Lebanon, down from 38 percent in January. […]
“Look what America gives us, bombs and missiles,” says [Ghassan Farran, a doctor and head of a local cultural organization]. “I was never a political person and never with Hizbullah but now after this I am with Hizbullah.”
"What do you do? Hang out on this blog all day? You post to just about every entry and it's always negative."
Negative? Scroll down the page and look at these posts. And you're calling me the negative guy? If I see something I think is wrong or inaccurate, I say so. If you think I'm wrong, you say so, I welcome the criticism.
]
Oh wait, sorry, you never post to entries about suffering soldiers because you have absolutely nothing to say"
I've said it here before, but I'll say it again -- just for you. If it were up to me I'd be more than happy to take all the money we spend on social spending, corporate welfare, the drug war, illegal immigrants, snacks for the cast of American Idol, and your tax refund, and drop every cent of it into the laps of our soldiers. G.I, Kate...is that okay with you?
We'd all be wise to read this entire column.
Morality is not on our side
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742257.html
By Ze'ev Maoz, professor of political science at Tel Aviv university
There's practically a holy consensus right now that the war in the North is a just war and that morality is on our side. The bitter truth must be said: this holy consensus is based on short-range selective memory, an introverted worldview, and double standards.
This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah's side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah "started it" when it kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin to tilt the scales of justice toward our side.
Let's start with a few facts. We invaded a sovereign state, and occupied its capital in 1982. In the process of this occupation, we dropped several tons of bombs from the air, ground and sea, while wounding and killing thousands of civilians. Approximately 14,000 civilians were killed between June and September of 1982, according to a conservative estimate. The majority of these civilians had nothing to do with the PLO, which provided the official pretext for the war.
On July 28, 1989, we kidnapped Sheikh Obeid, and on May 12, 1994, we kidnapped Mustafa Dirani, who had captured Ron Arad. Israel held these two people and another 20-odd Lebanese detainees without trial, as "negotiating chips." That which is permissible to us is, of course, forbidden to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah crossed a border that is recognized by the international community. That is true. What we are forgetting is that ever since our withdrawal from Lebanon, the Israel Air Force has conducted photo-surveillance sorties on a daily basis in Lebanese airspace. While these flights caused no casualties, border violations are border violations. Here too, morality is not on our side.
So much for the history of morality. Now, let's consider current affairs. What exactly is the difference between launching Katyushas into civilian population centers in Israel and the Israel Air Force bombing population centers in south Beirut, Tyre, Sidon and Tripoli? The IDF has fired thousands of shells into south Lebanon villages, alleging that Hezbollah men are concealed among the civilian population. Approximately 25 Israeli civilians have been killed as a result of Katyusha missiles to date. The number of dead in Lebanon, the vast majority comprised of civilians who have nothing to do with Hezbollah, is more than 300.
Worse yet, bombing infrastructure targets such as power stations, bridges and other civil facilities turns the entire Lebanese civilian population into a victim and hostage, even if we are not physically harming civilians. The use of bombings to achieve a diplomatic goal - namely, coercing the Lebanese government into implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1559 - is an attempt at political blackmail, and no less than the kidnapping of IDF soldiers by Hezbollah is the aim of bringing about a prisoner exchange.
There is a propaganda aspect to this war, and it involves a competition as to who is more miserable. Each side tries to persuade the world that it is more miserable. As in every propaganda campaign, the use of information is selective, distorted and self-righteous. If we want to base our information (or shall we call it propaganda?) policy on the assumption that the international environment is going to buy the dubious merchandise that we are selling, be it out of ignorance or hypocrisy, then fine. But in terms of our own national soul searching, we owe ourselves to confront the bitter truth - maybe we will win this conflict on the military field, maybe we will make some diplomatic gains, but on the moral plane, we have no advantage, and we have no special status.
Thank God for Diane Feinstein
http://www.zombietime.com/solidarity_with_israel/
Israel was planning this war for a year. they were
just waiting for a reason.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/21/MNG2QK396D1.DTL
From Victor Davis Hanson
But most of all, the world deplores the Jewish state because it is strong, and can strike back rather than suffer. In fact, global onlookers would prefer either one of two scenarios for the long-suffering Jews to learn their lesson. The first is absolute symmetry and moral equivalence: when Israel is attacked, it kills only as many as it loses. For each rocket that lands, it drops only one bomb in retaliation — as if any aggressor in the history of warfare has ever ceased its attacks on such insane logic.
The other desideratum is the destruction of Israel itself. Iran promised to wipe Israel off the map, and then gave Hezbollah thousands of missiles to fulfill that pledge. In response, the world snored. If tomorrow more powerful rockets hit Tel Aviv armed with Syrian chemicals or biological agents, or Iranian nukes, the “international” community would urge “restraint” — and keep urging it until Israel disappeared altogether. And the day after its disappearance, the Europeans and Arabs would sigh relief, mumble a few pieties, and then smile, “Life goes on.”
And for them, it would very well.
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson072806.html
please everyone, ignore timmy. his posts aren't even worth responding to.
patriot: we are thankful for thinkers like maoz.
peace.
Hey! Whadda ya think you're doing! You heard the man...Ignore him!!!
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