The scary commonality of the worsening crises in the Middle East is Iran, notes The Washington Post. It supports Hamas and Hezbollah, the terrorist groups responsible for abducting three Israeli soldiers. Iran allegedly funds and arms some of the militias sowing death and destruction in Iraq. And it has yet to respond to an offered incentives package aimed at stopping its nuclear program — though Iran’s leader vowed Thursday not to give up the “right to exploit peaceful nuclear technology” or be “intimated by the arrogant uproar and propaganda today.”
All of this raises the stakes for President Bush at the Group of Eight summit this weekend and for the United Nations’ effort to pass a resolution on Iran next week. The next few days will be crucial if the Middle East has any hope of stability.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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32 Comments
“right to exploit peaceful nuclear technology”
Isn’t that the way that N.Korea started? We should ask Rumsfield, he was on the board of directors that sold N.Korea the reactors that they used to make the nuclear weapons grade matteral.
Does anyone really want a 6th Century nutcase to have the capability of making nuclear devices? With their ideas of revenge, martrydom,jihad , religious intolerances and the belief that no laws apply to them other that those they pick and choose, it looks like a world-class disaster is in the making.
Iran has learned an important lesson from watching events in Iraq and elsewhere – if you unilaterally disarm you get invaded.
gster – we have one of those already – he has announced that civilians are legitimate targets and has killed hundreds in the past month in Gaza and Lebanon.
Ben- If someone was shooting missiles randomly at the US, don’t you think we would do the same thing?
Someone please explain to me what weight a UN resolution carries with the wacko running Iran?
Unlike our wack-o, Heckler, their wack-o was actually elected.
gster – do you mean like the ones Israel lobbed into Gaza for weeks prior to the soldier getting captured? Like the one that blew a family to bits on a beach?
Heckler – about as much weight as it does with Ohlmert.
Ben- And why did they do that?
because they did not like the results of the Palestinian election. The Israeli foreign minister acknowledged in response to a question on BBC News that Israel had begun their artillary barrages shortly after that election. The capture of the Israeli soldier took place only after several weeks of bombardment and the deaths of scores of children in those bombardments.
I heard on the news today that jets have attacked hospitals in Beruet. I guess Ohlmert meant it when he said “everything will be targeted”
Ben – I’m no fan of Israel, but are you saying that simply because of the Palestinian election, without any physical provocation, the Iraelis began randomly firing artillery rounds into Gaza? I find that they are more likely to react to something from Gaza, rather than arbitrarily acting towards Gaza. There certanly are no saints in this conflict!
That is what the foreign minister said on BBC Wednesday night.
The Israeli military knew that their killing of the family on the beach and therefore denied that it was their artillary. However, an investigation with international observers confirmed that it was Israeli. It should be noted that Israel is the only party in the region with artillary and a navy.
By the way – Bush endorsed that shelling and has also endorsed the attacks on civilians in Lebanon, including attacks on power plants, water/sewer, and now hospitals.
gster – The Israelis claimed that they were targeting government officials rather than ordinary civilians. They have announced their intention of collapsing the government of Palestine. They are also going to collapse the government in Lebanon; hopefully Syria will intervene to protect the Lebanese civilians from continued air bombardment that has already killed dozens of children in Lebanon.
I pose a question: would YOU want to be without the capability to defend yourself if YOU lived in a bad neighborhood? Especially if there were absolutely no rule of law?
Because targeting hospitals by Israel would be stupid and pointless Ben, I would doubt your sources.
I will be watching for further news today – it was a report by a reporter in Beiruet on NPR. I agree that it would be stupid; however when I hear that “ALL targets are legitimate” and see power, water and sewer facilities targeted …
Ben, That’s what I thought. I think this conflict goes on and on fueled by the apparently random repeated acts of mass murder committed by the Palestinians. The Israelis seem to make some attempt at definable targets, but if you are in the middle , it probably all seems random.I see no end other than a final violent event of massive proportions. There is enough hate to sustain this for generations! Neither sides’ hands are clean.
Why do the US and Israel oppose putting international peacekeepers into Palestine?
The Israeli foreign minister stated that they began the attacks immediately after the election; there had been quiet until the artillary barrages.
Why did the Israelis lie about the beach attack on the family? How was that shelling of that family reflective of an attempt to not hit civilians? For that matter, how is targeting government officials legitimate when we have said that it is not legitimate if it is the other way around?
Remember, neither Palestine nor Lebanon are allowed to have a military sufficient to either control elements within their country nor to defend themselves. Thus they are helpless without assistence from outside – which WE prohibit.
A consequence of this will be a reversal of all the work that we had done to separate Lebanon from its dependence on Syria. I expect that the formerly US-backed Lebanese government will fall and that Syria will come back in.
If Syrian anti-aircraft were still there perhaps they could defend the citizens of Lebanon. The US had demanded that anti-aircraft guns be removed.
Does anyone really want a 6th Century nutcase to have the capability of making nuclear devices? With their ideas of revenge, martrydom,jihad , religious intolerances and the belief that no laws apply to them other that those they pick and choose, it looks like a world-class disaster is in the making
I agree that it is important that we keep Bush and his cronies from gaining the capability to make nuclear weapons and strip away his control of the arsenal that he already has.
Bush has the right idea to cover Iran with glass. That way they can be a shining example for holy wars for a very long time!
Is it Miller time yet?
Sgt Rambo
This Israeli war is a pretext for destroying Iran nuclear capability and their government.
Ian is right about the number of U.N. resolutions ignored by the Israeli government. We (our government) tends to look the other way when they don’t want to see something.
Nuke the sandniggers and be done with it. And while we/they are doing so, take all the Palestinian vermin lovers with them.
Ain’t Richard’s rascism and bigotry wonderful! Probably explains a lot about what is happening in Iraq if we have his kind in our military.
That Sgt Rambo is a wantabe. He is just what he is…..a racist and a proud member of the jewish illegal brigade.
Additionally, the following articles about the terrorist state of israel are presented.
An Israeli Speaks OutAgainst Israel’s Actions
By Gideon Levyv7-2-6
What Israel is doing in Gaza has nothing to do with securing Gilad Shalit’s release, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz commentator Gideon Levy.A black flag hangs over the “rolling” operation in Gaza. The more the operation “rolls,” the darker the flag becomes. The “summer rains” we are showering on Gaza are not only pointless, but are first and foremost blatantly illegitimate. It is not legitimate to cut off 750,000 people from electricity. It is not legitimate to call on 20,000 people to run from their homes and turn their towns into ghost towns. It is not legitimate to penetrate Syria’s airspace. It is not legitimate to kidnap half a government and a quarter of a parliament.A state that takes such steps is no longer distinguishable from a terror organization. The harsher the steps, the more monstrous and stupid they become, the more the moral underpinnings for them are removed and the stronger the impression that the Israeli government has lost its nerve. Now one must hope that the weekend lull, whether initiated by Egypt or the prime minister, and in any case to the dismay of Channel 2’s Roni Daniel and the IDF, will lead to a radical change.Everything must be done to win Gilad Shalit’s release. What we are doing now in Gaza has nothing to do with freeing him. It is a widescale act of vengeance, the kind that the IDF and Shin Bet have wanted to conduct for some time, mostly motivated by the deep frustration that the army commanders feel about their impotence against the Qassams and the daring Palestinian guerilla raid. There’s a huge gap between the army unleashing its frustration and a clever and legitimate operation to free the kidnapped soldier.To prevent the army from running as amok as it would like, a strong and judicious political echelon is required. But facing off against the frustrated army is Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz’s tyro regime, weak and happless. Until the weekend lull, it appeared that each step proposed by the army and Shin Bet had been immediately approved for backing. That does not bode well, not only for the chances of freeing Shalit, but also for the future management of the government, which is being revealed to be as weak as the Hamas government.The only wise and restrained voice heard so far was that of the soldier’s father, Noam Shalit, of all people. That noble man called at what is clearly his most difficult hour, not for stridency and not for further damage done to the lives of soldiers and innocent Palestinians. Against the background of the IDF’s unrestrained actions and the arrogant bragging of the latest macho spokesmen, Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant of the Southern Command and Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, Shalit’s father’s voice stood out like a voice crying in the wilderness.Sending tens of thousands of miserable inhabitants running from their homes, dozens of kilometers from where his son is supposedly hidden, and cutting off the electricity to hundreds of thousands of others, is certainly not what he meant in his understated emotional pleas. It’s a shame nobody is listening to him, of all people.The legitimate basis for the IDF’s operation was stripped away the moment it began. It’s no accident that nobody mentions the day before the attack on the Kerem Shalom fort, when the IDF kidnapped two civilians, a doctor and his brother, from their home in Gaza. The difference between us and them? We kidnapped civilians and they captured a soldier, we are a state and they are a terror organization. How ridiculously pathetic Amos Gilad sounds when he says that the capture of Shalit was “illegitimate and illegal,” unlike when the IDF grabs civilians from their homes. How can a senior official in the defense ministry claim that “the head of the snake” is in Damascus, when the IDF uses the exact same methods?True, when the IDF and Shin Bet grab civilians from their homes – and they do so often – it is not to murder them later. But sometimes they are killed on the doorsteps of their homes, although it is not necessary, and sometimes they are grabbed to serve as “bargaining chips,” like in Lebanon and now, with the Palestinian legislators. What an uproar there would be if the Palestinians had grabbed half the members of the Israeli government. How would we label them?Collective punishment is illegitimate and it does not have a smidgeon of intelligence. Where will the inhabitants of Beit Hanun run? With typical hardheartedness the military reporters say they were not “expelled” but that it was “recommended” they leave, for the benefit, of course, of those running for their lives. And what will this inhumane step lead to? Support for the Israeli government? Their enlistment as informants and collaborators for the Shin Bet? Can the miserable farmers of Beit Hanun and Beit Lahia do anything about the Qassam rocket-launching cells? Will bombing an already destroyed airport do anything to free the soldier or was it just to decorate the headlines?Did anyone think about what would have happened if Syrian planes had managed to down one of the Israeli planes that brazenly buzzed their president’s palace? Would we have declared war on Syria? Another “legitimate war”? Will the blackout of Gaza bring down the Hamas government or cause the population to rally around it? And even if the Hamas government falls, as Washington wants, what will happen on the day after? These are questions for which nobody has any real answers. As usual here: Quiet, we’re shooting. But this time we are not only shooting. We are bombing and shelling, darkening and destroying, imposing a siege and kidnapping like the worst of terrorists and nobody breaks the silence to ask, what the hell for, and according to what right?********************************A note from Tikkun:Why Aren’t American Jewish voices of Protest Being Heard?The answer is simple: the forces that support Israel’s government no matter what it does have successfully united and created ÅIPAC as their primary spokesgroup. But the forces that critique Israeli policy and yet wish to Israel secure and safe have refused to unite their energies. Instead, they find minor points to disagree with each other and then use that as their basis for insisting that a unified alternative to AIPAC will not be created with their participation.We in the Tikkun Community have repeatedly called for this kind of coalition to work together and create a progressive alternative to AIPAC. We recognize the legitimacy of groups saying that there need to be some clear guidelines so that this alternative to AIPAC is not dismissed as part of the anti-Israel forces whose real agenda is to dismantle the state of Israel altogether, nor part of the “Palestinians are always victims and Israelis are always evil” propaganda machine. Similarly, it should not be a technocratic peace voice that talks only in terms of why peace is in the interests of the Jewish people-it must affirm the humanity of the Palestinian people and acknowledge that their human rights are important to us also, not only instrumentally as a way to maximize the best interests of Jews.You can do something about this. Challenge those who support these peace groups and insist that they get their organizations to work together with Tikkun and with each other to form a united progressive middle path voice in Washington, D.C. While recognizing that each group has legitimate needs in terms of fundraising and getting their own groups’ ego needs met, it’s also important to recognize yet a higher need: to be effective in challenging policies that are immoral and self-destructive. Insist to the people who support these organizations that they work with Tikkun, Jewish Voices for Peace, MeretzUSA, and other peace groups that support a two state solution.The primary obstacles to putting this kind of coalition together with each other and with Tikkun have been:1. Brit Tzedeck ve’Shalom 2. Americans for Peace Now 3.Israel Policy Forum4. Churches for Middle East PeaceIf these 4 groups would join with each other and with the Tikkun Community/NSP and with Jewish Voices for Peace to create a unified voice in Washington D.C. and a unified annual mobilization, the peace voices would be greatl strengthened. Take, for example, one instance of this: the recent National Advocacy Days of Brit Tzedeck v’Shalom, last week. In their recent national communication they proudly announce that they brought 100 activists to D.C. In our last Israel-oriented visit, Tikkun had brought some 400 activists. We say this NOT to say we are stronger, but to say that 400 activists together would have been even better, and had we cooperated with each other and with the other groups mentioned above we probably could be bringing between 1,000 and 2,000 people at a time-and that would have a far greater impact. The differences between these groups are far less important than the similarities, and the urgency of having a coherent voice for Middle East peace should be sufficient grounds to turn attention away from the differences to focus on the similarities. The national leadership and offices of these organizations have their organizational reasons for not uniting, but if you approach members or financial donors of these organizations and urge them to urge their own organizations to cooperate in the way we propose, or in some other way that they proposed that includes all the groups mentioned and doesn’t exclude any who would agree with the idea of creating a joint voice and joint lobbying day in Washington, D.C., you might have a more powerful impact than you might suspect.
Ministry of Health report on toxic Israeli weapons confirmed by Gaza City medical sources
(Gaza City) Bisan Hisham 13 July 06Director of Public Relations at Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital, Dr. Juma Al Sakka, confirmed the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s report from earlier this week which stated that Israeli forces are using toxic weapons in the Gaza Strip.The doctor spoke on Thursday, giving the death count at 85 Palestinians in the Strip since the latest Israeli attack began. Among the dead are 34 children under the age of 13. And as of Thursday afternoon, 300 Palestinians are injured.
Dr. Al Sakka told Voice of Palestine Radio that the Israeli army is using new types of non-conventional weapons against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the recent attacks. He said, “They are targeting the Palestinian body with unconventional weapons and with that comes a phenomena we have not seen before in any Israeli bombardment we have lived through for many years.”He continued, “The hospital is central and sees almost all cases of injuries and deaths as a result of Israeli against the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. These Israeli bombings are entering the body and fragmenting, causing internal combustion leading to up to fourth degree internal burns, exposing the bone, and affecting the tissue and skin.”The doctor added, “These tissues die, they do not survive, which obliges us to perform arm or leg amputations, and there are fragments which penetrate the body and do not show up on X-rays. When entering the body they spark like a combustion firearm, but not chemically. They seem radioactive.”He confirmed that there were dozens of wounded legs and arms. Many of them had been burned from the inside, and distorted to the point that they cannot return to life again.Yesterday, Wednesday, was one of the most bloody of all in the recent attacks. Israeli forces killed 25 Palestinians. Dr. Al Sakka said, “It is escalating day after day. Yesterday alone Israeli forces killed 25 and injured dozens. Among them so many were children.”Dr. Al Sakka revealed that the Israelis completely destroyed by the lab which would help in diagnosing such cases. “We no longer have the ability to make these examinations on phenomena that we see is not normal.”He called on the international community to examine the latest weapons however the doctor reported that “no one has lifted a finger.” Dr. Al Sakka complained that he did not see any foreign medical institution interested in the use of new weapons and their affects on the human body. He said, “What we found were journalists who came to take pictures, but as for the medical community, nothing.”
CONSIDER: ACCORDING TO THE ISRAELI BIBLE IT IS LEGITIMATE TO KILL THE FIRST-BORN CHILDREN OF YOUR ENEMIES (EXODUS). IT IS LEGITIMATE TO EXTERMINATE ENTIRE PEOPLES TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE “CHOSEN PEOPLE” (JOSHUA). IT IS LEGITIMATE TO EXTERMINATE AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF BABIES TO PROTECT THE KING FROM A THREAT TO THE THRONE (THE GOSPELS)
The weapons described above sound like phosphorus – banned by international law but also used by the US in Iraq.
Hey Hardtruth,It is just too bad you do not know or understand the idiots riding camels. Having lived in Egypt for eight years, one understands the racism and hate preached by the muslims. If you think these “people” gives a rat’s ass about you or about civilization, think again. It is just too bad the Jewish people did not exterminate these vermin 4000 years ago.
richard,
I am all in favor of eradicating vermin but we should do so here, first. Afterall we have tens of millions of vermin in our inner cities and millions of ore crossing our southern border on a daily basis.
Viva La Raza Blanco!!!
From Stratfor.org
How Hamas and Hizbollah will Demolish the Middle East
• Shiite -Hezbollah led terror attacks on Israel intensify(We are this stage now)• Israel invades Lebanon to wipe out the Hezbollah threat• Saudis distance themselves from Iran backed Shiite Hezbollah• Terrorist attacks originating from Gaza intensify in Israel• Israel warns Syria with military action• Egypt/Syria threaten Israel with serious consequences.• Mega terror attack inside Israel• Israel declares Syria to be culpable and launches a swift land and air assault on Syria• Syria appeals for Arab military action to save itself• Egypt faces a civil war with sections of the Egyptian Military under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood launch a insurrection against the Mubarak administration.• Pressurized by Syria and Egypt, Saudi Arabia starts feeble military action against Israel• Israel overruns Northern Saudi Arabia and Syria in a pincer movement to join up with US forces stationed in Iraq and occupies Damascus.• US forces enter Syria from Syrian-Iraqi border in the North, join up with Israeli military• After the conquest of Syria, Israel turns on Egypt to help the pro Mubarak forces and annexes Sinai, crosses Suez Canal and threatens Cairo that is now in the hands of the Muslim brotherhood led Military junta.• Another spectacular terror attack inside Israel with Dirty Bombs. Suspects traced to Saudi backed insurgents.• Sunni Terrorists blow off Iraqi parliament, Presidential palace, Prime Minister’s residence• Terrorists assassinate Ministers, Parliamentarians• Sunni Terrorists blow off Shiites Mosques at Najaf and Karbala, assassinate Al Hakim, and Moqtada Al Sadr who are important Shiites leaders and clerics.• A full scale civil war starts between the Sunni dominated insurgents and the new Shiite led Iraqi military dominated by the late Al Hakim’s Badr Brigades and aided by the late Al Sadr’s Mahdi Militia• Iran sends in insurgents to back Shiites• Saudis, Syrians, Egyptians, Kuwaitis, Palestinians send in insurgents to back Sunnis• Saudis and Kuwaitis call for US action to stop Iran from intensifying the Iraqi civil war• Israel bombs Iranian nuke facilities to neutralize Iran.• Iran tries to crash missiles into Israel and Europe• Internal rebellion breaks out in Iran• US special forces start operating inside Iran to topple Mullah regime• Iranian/Hezbollah forces stage terrorist attacks in Israel and in the West• US launches an air blitz of Iran followed by a land invasion and sets up a new regime• Upheaval in the entire Arab world• Saudi regime overthrown by Wahabis. The new regime enters the war against Israel. • Sustained IAF (Israel Air Force) nuke strike on Saudi cities, Mecca, Medina, Mena, Jiddah Riyadh, taken off the map.• Western diplomats and businessmen attacked, kidnapped, beheaded• Anti-American riots in Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia.• Musharraf and Yudhyono regimes under tremendous pressure to give up pro-US stance• Musharraf assassinated by pro-Jihadi elements in Army due to his association with the US. The Jihadis last straw being his helping the Americans in finding Iran’s nuke sites as a trade off for letting AQ Khan off the hook. But Mushy’s gamble does not pay off, as he loses his job and life.• Jihadi regime in Pakistan ups hostility with India• Jihadis succeed in smuggling nuclear devices in the US and exploding them simultaneously• US army takes over US administration, suspends constitution• US military regime blockades the UN and declares it persona non-grata• US enters into emergency war council with Russia and Britain• The triple alliance starts nuclear bombing military targets across the Islamic world• Pakistani nukes taken out in first strike• Pakistan explodes some nuke devices on India• Indian retaliation wipes off Pakistan off the map – death toll in South Asia is over half a billion• Widespread Hindu-Muslim riots in India on the lines of the Gujarat riots of 2002. Muslim population decimated, Hindus and Christians also suffer heavy death toll.• Nuclear campaign launched by the triple alliance intensifies as many cities in the Islamic world are taken off the map to wipe off the air forces.• Seaports in the Islamic world crippled to decapitate the navies• Radiation causes second wave of deaths. The toll in secondary deaths more than three billion• More than half of the fatalities are Muslims.• Almost the entire population in the Muslim world is decimated.• China joins war against Islam, wipes off Muslim (Ughir) population in Eastern Turkestan• Muslims in Europe launch a wave of terror attacks in European capitals• Conditions in Europe very disturbed in a civil war like situation• Right wing coups in France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark. The new regimes join the triple alliance• Widespread anti-Muslim riots in Europe aided by the militaries of those countries and NATO forces• Domestic military action against Muslims in Europe intensifies as European militaries do combing operations to flush out Muslims• The post-war Muslim population worldwide now accounts for only one percent of the global population concentrated mostly in Europe• Military action ends, US, Britain and Russia announce reconstruction plan for the world• Islam outlawed across the globe• Residual Muslims worldwide embrace Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism. Judaism• Humanity enters post-Islamic phase.
Have a nice day.
I’M PROUD OF YOU LRB. YOU HAVE LEARNED WELL!