Israeli-Arab War

[Jag]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...283816,00.html

IDF: Qana building fell hours after strike

(VIDEO) IDF continuing to check difficult incident at Qana village, and attempting to account for strange gap between time of the strike on the building – midnight – and eight in the morning, when the building collapsed
Hanan Greenberg

VIDEO - An IDF investigation has found that the building in Qana struck by the Air Force fell around eight hours after being hit by the IDF.

"The attack on the structure in the Qana village took place between midnight and one in the morning. The gap between the timing of the collapse of the building and the time of the strike on it is unclear," Brigadier General Amir Eshel, Head of the Air Force Headquarters told journalists at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, following the incidents at Qana.

Eshel and the head of the IDF's Operational Branch, Major General Gadi Eisnkot said the structure was not being attacked when it collapsed, at around 8:00 in the morning.


The IDF believes that Hizbullah explosives in the building were behind the explosion that caused the collapse.


Another possibility is that the rickety building remained standing for a few hours, but eventually collapsed. "It could be that inside the building, things that could eventually cause an explosion were being housed, things that we could not blow up in the attack, and maybe remained there, Brigadier General Eshel said.

"I'm saying this very carefully, because at this time I don't have a clue as to what the explanation could be for this gap," he added.


Meanwhile in Lebanon it is being reported that the number of those killed in the collapse of the structure climbed to 60.

Jag

[American Patriot]

US Position on Cease-Fire "Totally Unacceptable"
Der Speigel ^ | 7/31/06 | staff

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, 65, says America's rejection of an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon is "totally unacceptable." He denies that Syria has been supplying arms to Hezbollah and says an international force in Lebanon will only work if it isn't perceived as merely protecting Israel.

SPIEGEL: Minister, how can Syria contribute to resolving the crisis in the Middle East?

Moallem: First of all, Syria is not involved in the events that led to this crisis. Nevertheless, we support the Lebanese resistance, because it is based on a right defined in the UN charter: Resistance is legitimate for as long as an occupation continues.

SPIEGEL: You are referring to the Israeli-occupied Shabaa Farms region near the Golan Heights. But now US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned your country against obstructing efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East. Do you even want to help solve the conflict?

Moallem: Yes. We are in favor of an immediate cease-fire. We must stop the killing of innocent civilians and the destruction of the civil infrastructure. Then there must be an exchange of prisoners. Germany can be helpful once again in this regard, a German delegation was here in Damascus only last week. If these two efforts succeed, we can turn this crisis into a great opportunity. We Syrians want to get back the Golan Heights which have been occupied since 1967. This is the sixth Middle East war since 1948, it can't go on like this. We must finally tackle the roots and find a comprehensive solution to three problems: the Lebanese, the Syrian and the Palestinian problem.

SPIEGEL: Let's stick with Lebanon for now. Can't you tell us how much influence Syria truly has over Hezbollah?

Moallem: The issue isn't so much our influence but the national interests of Lebanon. If Hezbollah sees that Lebanon's interests are fairly represented in negotiations, and if Syria sees that its own interests and those of the Palestinian people are fairly represented, then the outcome will be a peace treaty.

SPIEGEL: Do you see your country as an important factor in this conflict?

Moallem: Syria has three great strengths. It enjoys the support of 95 percent of Arabs, a figure that is verifiable. Syria is perceived as a state that pursues its own independent policies. Finally, Syria, as a neighbor to Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq, is simply predestined, historically and geographically, to contribute to a resolution of the Middle East conflicts. The only problem is that we were not invited to the peace talks in Rome, because the United States and Europe are isolating us. In this case, however, I don't regret it, because the Americans tried to hold up the cease-fire to allow Israel to entrench itself in southern Lebanon once again.

SPIEGEL: There are posters all over Damascus depicting Syrian President Bashar Assad and Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, together. This is a clear statement of position.

Moallem: It's an expression of a public mood that you will find in all Arab countries. Nasrallah is respected because he is fighting for Lebanon and against Israel's occupation, and President Assad is respected because he has remained steadfast in his opposition to American hegemony in the Middle East. Unfortunately Syria is the only country that is doing so.

SPIEGEL: The leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have condemned Hezbollah for its provocations of Israel. Do you agree with this criticism?

Moallem: No, I do not condemn Hezbollah. I condemn Israel for holding thousands of Palestinians and a few Lebanese in its prisons, including women, children and old, sick people. I condemn Israel for opposing a comprehensive solution to this conflict. I spent ten years negotiating with Israel. It is my impression that its current political leadership lacks the desire for peace.

SPIEGEL: Do you consider the killing and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers a legitimate act of resistance?

Moallem: Israel only sees the abduction of its soldiers. We see Israel's aggression, the civilians killed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who must live without electricity or clean water. These people are our brothers, and we become very emotional when we see what is happening to them.

SPIEGEL: Israel and America accuse you of supplying weapons to Hezbollah.

Moallem: This accusation has been around since Hezbollah came into being. It's a classic. But it's incorrect.

SPIEGEL: Can you rule out the possibility that weapons from Iran could have reached Hezbollah through Syrian territory?

Moallem: It may have happened occasionally in the past. But it hasn't happened since May of 2000, when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon.

SPIEGEL: We would like to believe that. Are you in direct contact with Nasrallah?

Moallem: How? Israel is destroying the roads in Lebanon and the telephone network. It is isolating villages and cutting off their water supplies. We don't know where Nasrallah is.

SPIEGEL: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared that the state of Israel must be wiped off the map.

Moallem: I represent the interests of Syria, and I negotiated with Israel from 1991 to 2001 -- with Israeli people, not with some phantoms. I always said that if we can agree to a peace with Israel then we will recognize Israel.

SPIEGEL: But what is your position on Ahmadinejad's statements?

Moallem: No comment. We in Syria have never said that Israel should be forced into the sea. Peace with Israel is possible, but it must be a peace that is based not only on UN resolution 1559, but also on resolution 242, which calls for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders, and on resolution 194, which addresses the fate of the Palestinian refugees.

SPIEGEL: Does that mean you can imagine resuming the negotiations with (Israeli) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert where you stopped in 2001?

Moallem: Why not? If Olmert is a man of peace, like his murdered predecessor Yitzhak Rabin, and if he manages to convince the Israeli people to choose the path of peace, we can resume the negotiations. We really have only two options. Do we want to continue as we have in the past and have a new war every ten years; do we want to capitulate to the extremists who are just waiting to take advantage of the situation we now have? Or do we want a wide-ranging compromise that will finally bring peace, stability and prosperity to the Middle East? Syria is for the second of these two options.

SPIEGEL: Who do you mean by extremists? Hezbollah? Ahmadinejad?

Moallem: I mean groups like al-Qaida and men like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, those who kill innocent people in Iraq, Europe and the United States. These people are no freedom fighters. These people are terrorists. You cannot compare them with Hezbollah or Hamas.

SPIEGEL: A comprehensive peace treaty for the Middle East -- that puts you in line with the proposal by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Moallem: Yes, but why do she and the American UN ambassador reject an immediate cease-fire? Their position is completely unacceptable. Right now we are talking about saving human lives, not about whether Israel or Hezbollah are able to achieve their war objectives. If Ms Rice only wants to give Israel more time to continue its destruction of Lebanon, Washington will never be in a position to build a new Middle East, as it has announced.

SPIEGEL: How do you feel about the idea of deploying a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, possibly one led by NATO?

Moallem: That will be up to the Lebanese to decide. If the only purpose is to station troops on Lebanese territory to guarantee peace for Israel, then many Lebanese will see it as an occupation. That sort of an arrangement reminds me very much of what happened in 1983...

SPIEGEL: ...when suicide bombers attacked the UN Marine base in Beirut, killing 241 people.

Moallem: We don't want that to happen again. Or think about Israel's attack last Tuesday, in which four men from the UNIFIL contingent were killed.

SPIEGEL: Your information minister says that if Israel's troops were to "approach Damascus," Syria would not remain inactive. That sounds quite threatening.

Moallem: I'm not a military person. But it was a message. We don't want to attack Israel, but Israel cannot be allowed to threaten our security. If Israel attacks us we will respond.

SPIEGEL: You complain that Europe is isolating Syria. What is your advice to the Europeans?

Moallem: It's high time that they get off the American bandwagon. The fire that is burning in the Middle East also poses a threat to Europe. But Europe, which looks back on two horrible world wars, knows and senses that enormous steps must be taken to achieve peace. This is in its own interest. We dream of Europe having as much political power as it already has economically.

SPIEGEL: Can there be peace in the Middle East without Syria?

Moallem: I don't think so.

Interview conducted by Volkhard Windfuhr and Bernhard Zand.

[American Patriot]

Lebanon - Iran Foreign Minister arrives in Beirut via Syria
AFP via Babelfish translation | July 31, 2006

Arrival of the chief of the Iranian diplomacy in Lebanon

BEIRUT - the Iranian Minister for the Foreign Affairs, Manouchehr Mottaki, arrived Monday evening at Lebanon via Syria, indicated the national Agency of information (ANI).

Mr. Mottaki arrived by the road via the border libano-Syrian woman of Abboudiyé (Lebanon northern), the direct road Damas-Beirut being closed de facto because of the Israeli bombardments.

During his stay, Mr. Mottaki must meet Lebanese president Emile Lahoud, the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the chief of the Parliament Nabih Berri, according to a Lebanese official source.

From Damas, Mr. Mottaki indicated that it went to Lebanon "to express sadness and regret in front of this heinous crime perpetrated by the entity Zionist in Cana".

The Israeli bombardment Sunday of the village of Cana, in the south of Lebanon, made at least 52 deaths civil, including 30 children, and caused sharp judgments throughout the world.

The United States and Israel show Iran to support and provide weapons to Hezbollah Lebanese engaged in a fatal conflict with the Israeli army since July 12.

In Damas, Mr. Mottaki had met his Syrian counterpart Walid Mouallem.

Teheran and Damas are the principal regional allies of Hezbollah Shiite.

[American Patriot]

'Hizbullah has only few launchers left'
Jerusalem Post ^ | July 31, 2006 | YAAKOV KATZ

The IDF assessed on Monday that Hizbullah's rocket launching capability was significantly compromised by the fighting that took place in the past three weeks.

It was estimated that, while the organization still has hundreds of rockets with a sufficient range to reach Afula and Haifa, there were only a number of launchers remaining with launching capability.

The Hizbullah still had several Zilzal rockets left that could reach central Israel, Army Radio reported.

In the course of the fighting, the IDF asserted that it had killed some 200 Hizbullah operatives. Though most of the names were not released, one of the more prominent targets hit was Jihad Atiya, who was said to be responsible for the killing and kidnapping of IDF soldiers Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sueid in 2000.

Meanwhile, it was released for publication that an IAF UAV bombed a truck the previous night that had traveled from Syria into Lebanon on the border between the two countries.

The driver of the truck was wounded, as well as four additional Lebanese customs workers.

Israel had declared a cessation in IAF action, but reserved the right to attack in the case of immediate threat.

It was unclear what the truck was carrying.

[Backstop]

Strong words from a strong man.

And so it continues...

TheJerusalemPost

Other terms specified by Bush were deploying an international force on the ground to enable humanitarian support and ending the involvement of Iran and Syria in Lebanon.

"Iran must end its financial support and supply of weapons to terrorist groups like Hizbullah. Syria must end its support for terror and respect the sovereignty of Lebanon," Bush said.

Full text of article available at above link.

[Jag]

U.S. provides emergency jet fuel to Israel

WASHINGTON — Israel has asked the United States for immediate shipments of military fuel.

On July 25, the Defense Department awarded a $22.5 million contract for diesel fuel to Israel. Under the contract, Refinery Associates of Texas would supply diesel fuel to Israel's military in a program financed by U.S. defense aid.

Officials said Israel's military requires immediate supplies of jet and other fuel to maintain the war against Hizbullah, Middle East Newsline reported. They said the Israeli request would accelerate existing contracts.


A Pentagon announcement said the fuel would be delivered through France. The fuel was expected to arrive in Israel by Monday.

Officials said the Israeli war has taken a major toll on the military's logistics and supplies. They said Israel has already requested jet fuel for its fleet of combat aircraft.

Over the last week, officials said, the United States has flown GBU-28 bunker-busting weapons to Israel through Britain. They said the effort has been coordinated with the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Jag

[wallis]

Does anyone here buy into the "philosophy" that the Communists (aka Russians and Chicoms) are the puppet masters of the radical Islamists?

I mean, I visit one particular site every now and then, and my jaw just drops at the reading of those posts. Dropping of the jaw not in a good way, either. More like: can you believe people believe this stuff?

[American Patriot]

The Soviet Union fell for all practical purposes... but the idealogy has NOT gone away, and Putin is pushing back. Communism hasn't gone away, and Radial Islam is seeking a balance point, a place where they can begin to get a foot hold throughout the world. In fact, they have grabbed that foothold.

They were allies of the Nazis in WWII... and they are nothing more than Islamofacsists. Their job is to make sure that Western Civilization falls... and WITH the help of the Communist countries of the world, they have been able to keep that foot hold.

Let's see what happens when the Shit really hits the fan.

I am still asleep this morning. PUPPETMASTERS. Yes. I agree with that Wallis.

[American Patriot]

Hezbollah’s Iwo Jima Delusion
The American Thinker ^ | 8/1/2006 | Michael Lopez-Calderon





Recent dueling essays on The American Thinker have debated whether Israel is following the tactics of British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery at the expense of Gen. George S. Patton’s methods. James Lewis argued that indeed the IDF’s approach was more Monty than Patton whereas Glen Tschirgi countered that Israel would be better advised to choose a lesser Patton over the “full Monty.”
Unfortunately, though both writers make impressive arguments, the appropriate analogy is not found in the Europe Theater of Operations during World War II but rather the Pacific. Hezbollah’s predicament comes closer to the Japanese forces at Iwo Jima than the German Army in Normandy and Western Europe. And as such, Israel’s strategy in part calls for trapping the Hezbollah terrorist forces in their entrenched, fortified positions where Israel will cut them off from re-supply and then tear apart piece-by-piece.
The formerly Hezbollah-controlled, fortified hilltop Lebanese border town of Maroun al-Ras was the scene of intense fighting between Hezbollah terrorist-guerrillas and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF claims Maroun al-Ras is under its control, though accounts of subduing nearby Bint Jbeil proved premature. Apparently, hundreds of Hezbollah fighters in Bint Jbeil were holed up in fortified bunkers, and have reentered the town via an elaborate series of interconnected tunnels, or hid amongst the few remaining civilians in the initial days of fighting.
The pro-Iranian, Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization has turned a number of southern Lebanese hillsides and towns into fortified death-traps. It has spent the better part of the past six years since the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon turning several hilltop towns into an Iwo Jima-like maze of fortified bunkers, spider holes, pill-boxes, sniper dens, fields of anti-tank mines and IEDs, and interconnected tunnels.
An Israeli Army commander, Siman Tov said Hezbollah guerrillas in Maroun al-Ras were

“fighting from tunnels, some equipped with above-ground cameras. They are armed with … sophisticated weapons … including longer-range antitank missiles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. ‘Here we’re dealing with missiles, a little army.’”

Hezbollah’s strategy appears geared for a massive Israeli armor and infantry incursion up to and perhaps beyond the Litani River.
Hezbollah was counting on a twofold IDF tactic of digging out the entrenched fighters in a costly war of attrition while also moving rapidly into Lebanon, leaving its lines of communications vulnerable to guerrilla ambushes in the rear. The Israelis thus far have not taken the bait.
Hezbollah apparently banked on Israel falling for a “rope-the-dope” strategy. Instead, it is Hezbollah that is trapped, like the Japanese Imperial Army on Iwo Jima, in a delusion of its own making.
Although the initial Israeli incursions into Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon have been cautious, painfully slow, and unfortunately costly, a deeper analysis reveals that this is the IDF’s plan unfolding. One observant writer has noted that the Israeli strategy is more Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and less Gen. George S. Patton. Some inside and outside of Israel question this strategy; critics contend that the IDF risks losing the initiative while simultaneously and unwittingly boosting Hezbollah’s fighting-prowess image in the Arab world. The Washington Post reports

“Israeli news outlets, which had largely lined up behind the army’s conduct of the war, have begun to ask why an army that once defeated the armies of several Arab neighbors in six days was finding it so difficult to push one militia off Israel’s border.”

Indeed, the first week of the IDF’s limited ground offensive delivered what appeared to be mixed results.
A total of five elite commandos were killed when Hezbollah “ambushed the ambushers” in the first two Israeli ground operations. Since then and as of this writing, several Israeli-manufactured Merkava tanks have been heavily damaged, one completely destroyed with the loss of its four-man crew. Two Apache helicopters have collided, killing a pilot and hurting three others. A third, an Apache Longbow, crashed, killing both pilots. Nine Israel soldiers were killed in fighting on Wednesday, July 26, bringing the total to 33 Israeli soldiers killed in the past two weeks. Even more troubling is the fact that Israel has suffered these losses even though it had barely entered Lebanon, its deepest penetration thus far being no more than three miles. The current incursion into, underway as this article goes to press may well produce more casualties.
Many fear that Israel’s difficulties in the current fighting signal a sea-change in the IDF’s fortunes. These drawbacks might give credence to Hezbollah’s charge that IDF military supremacy is a myth. The critics and doom-and-gloom pessimists ought to take a deep breath and appreciate the Israeli strategy.
It is Hezbollah that has been outsmarted here, though uninformed, mainstream reporting of the initial results obscure this fact. For in banking on a massive Israeli offensive, Hezbollah apparently posted a sizeable force in the Lebanese border towns that are being picked apart one by one by the IDF. Already there are IDF reports of as many as 230 Hezbollah terrorists killed in Maroun al-Ras and Bint Jbeil. The Bint Jbeil meat-grinder, where Hezbollah appeared determined to make an ill-advised last stand, has done its work.
The IDF and the Israeli Air Force (IAF) have destroyed an estimated 1,300 Hezbollah missiles that range from the Katyushas to Farj-3s, Farj5s, and Zelzal-2s. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has expended an estimated 2,000 missiles and has little to show for it. Israeli military officials report soldiers have found and destroyed Katyusha rocket launchers, antitank missile launchers and large caches of ammunition. Few launchers are reported available. Like the Japanese at Iwo Jima, Hezbollah has stored enormous quantities of ammunition in the Lebanese border towns, perhaps planning to wage a hit-and-run guerrilla war on Israel’s supply convoys as the IDF repeats the 1982 invasion. But Israel’s been there, done that, and she is not going to make the same mistake twice. “‘This battle against Hezbollah is going to last,’ Avi Dichter, Israel’s public security minister” informed reporters. “‘We’re not in any hurry.’”
Over whatever time remains before the conflict is forced to end, the IDF will take apart the Hezbollah terrorist-guerrillas that made the ultimate error of remaining in fixed positions. It is Hezbollah that is stoked in the passions and delusions of over-confidence. If Hezbollah takes comfort from fighting in fixed positions, they need only brush up on Napoleon, who said “the army that remains in its forts is beaten.” Or perhaps read up on how General Kuribayashi Tadamichi’s Japanese force of 21,000 at Iwo Jima was reduced by the United States Marines to just over 120 POWs (an additional 900 wounded were captured).
IDF Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, commander of the Galilee Division, summed up Israel’s piecemeal, probing strikes:

“When you fight a regular army, it’s different from fighting guerrillas. They are using everything they have extensively. They have been preparing for this for many years, and we are taking action to dismantle all of that. The government has given me plenty of time, and I intend to use it as long as it takes.”

Israel’s government called up an additional 30,000 reservists, and is heading into Lebanon right now. Israel will chip away, using her superior firepower, soldiers, and leadership to render Hezbollah a defeated Islamist terrorist group.
Quietly, confidently, and assured that they are both fighting for their homeland and backed by more than eighty percent of the Israeli public, the Israeli citizen-soldier will win the day.

[American Patriot]

Iranian FM Calls For Lebanon Cease Fire
Jerusalem Post ^ | 8/1/06 | AP




Iran's foreign minister on Tuesday blasted the UN Security Council for failing to stop the Israel-Hizbullah conflict, and called the US and Israel "partners in these brutal crimes" against Lebanese civilians.


"The UN Security Council has proven its uselessness and ineffectiveness during this (Israeli) aggression," Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters after meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a strong Hizbullah ally.
He also accused the United States, without naming it, of complicity in bringing about the destruction caused by Israel's 20-day-old offensive in Lebanon.


"We think that the protectors of the Zionist entity and those who support it are partners in these brutal crimes being committed against the innocent women and children" of Lebanon, Mottaki said.
He arrived in Lebanon on Monday, in the first visit by an Iranian official to war-torn Lebanon since fighting broke out between Israel and Hizbullah guerrillas three weeks ago. He traveled over land from neighboring Syria, since the country's only international airport was bombed in the first days of the war.


On Monday night, Mottaki met with Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh and with French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, who was in Beirut for the third time since Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others on July 12, triggering the Israeli offensive.
Both meetings took place at the Iranian Embassy late Monday, but participants made no comments to the press.


Mottaki's visit coincided with a call on Muslim states by a top Iranian hard-line cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, to provide weapons to Hizbullah to use in its fight against Israel, according to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency.


"Now, it is expected that Muslim states not spare any assistance to Hizbullah and the Lebanese people, especially providing weapons, medicine and food," Jannati told ISNA.


It was not immediately clear if Jannati's comments represented the Iranian government. Jannati is the head of the powerful Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog arbitrating between the parliament and the Iranian government.


It was not immediately known if Mottaki planned to meet Hizbullah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, as he traditionally has done on past visits to Lebanon.


Nasrallah has gone underground since the Hizbullah-Israeli fighting broke out three weeks ago. Israeli warplanes have destroyed his residence and office in south Beirut, but he has since given televised speeches.
Mottaki's visit comes a day after Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the southern Lebanese town of Kana, killing at least 56 civilians and provoking worldwide condemnation.


"Iran stresses the need for an immediate halt to the aggression launched by the Zionist entity on Lebanon," Mottaki said during a news conference Monday.


Mottaki also criticized the UN Security Council's inability to stop the conflict.


"The public opinion in the Islamic world and the international community are daily and frankly condemning the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, while we see international organizations are keeping silent," he said.
Iran and Syria are the principal sponsors of Hizbullah, and the two countries have applauded Hizbullah's capture of two Israeli soldiers, which triggered the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

[American Patriot]

Blogs: Hizbullah 'milked' Qana attack
YNet ^ | Aug. 1, 2006 | Yaakov Lappin




UK, US weblogs question inconsistencies in photographs of Qana attack flooding international media



A number of web logs in the United States and Britain have claimed that a man who appeared in much of the international press's coverage of the Qana bombing lifting children's bodies may have been a Hizbullah agent who staged photo-ops for the international media.



Under the headline "milking it?" the EU Referendum blog, a British website dedicated to taking the UK out of the European Union, states: "Certainly, the photographs are distressing, and indeed they are meant to be."


The blog focuses in on a man dressed as a rescue worker who appears in many photographs in the international press: "Note the 'rescue worker' in the foreground, complete with olive green military-style helmet and fluorescent jacket, with what appears to be a flack jacket underneath."
It then shows a number of pictures, taken from different angles, by Reuters and the Associated Press, of the man holding the same child's body – but notes that there is a 4 hour time discrepancy between the time logs of the photographs.


The man in the green helmet holding a child's body (Photo: AP)
The website posts a series of photographs of the same man holding the child, each picture being separated by a significant time gap, before finally showing an AP photograph of the child's body in an ambulance taken at 7:21 in the morning – around nine hours before an AP photo was taken of the same child being held by the man in the green helmet.


A photograph is shown of "the same girl, this time apparently being placed in the ambulance. Also taken by AP… Intriguingly, though, the dateline given is 10.25 am, three hours after she has already been photographed in the ambulance."


While in previous photographs the man carrying the child's body is seen without a fluorescent jacket and helmet, the website then shows another AP photograph "of the same worker, showing obvious distress, carrying the same girl. But now he is wearing his fluorescent jacket and helmet and has acquired latex gloves."


Additional questions


An American weblog, Confederate Yankee, whose logo is that "liberalism is a vegetative state," says that "in a picture that hits the wires just one hour (9:06 AM) after the building collapse, a Lebanese Red cross member sits with bodies already displaying significant rigor mortis. About.com puts the timing of maximum stiffness at about 12-24 hours after death. These people were supposed to have died within one hour of these photos being taken."


"Whatever else, the event in Qana was a human tragedy," EU Referendum said. "But the photographs do not show it honestly. Rather, they have been staged for effect, exploiting the victims in an unwholesome manner. In so doing, they are no longer news photographs - they are propaganda," the blog concluded.



It also asks whether the workers' "presence at Qana on Sunday, and his central, unchallenged role, cannot have been a coincidence. Is he a senior ranking Hizbullah official? If not, who is he?"



Many other blogs have taken up the task of analyzing the photographs and news headlines from Qana, southern Lebanon, and the Middle East, including: http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com , Hotair.com, Ms. Underestimated, American columnist Michelle Malkin, and The Riehl World View.


The Riehl blog compares photographs of bodies of men to those of women and children in Qana and notes: "They certainly seem to be going to a lot of trouble to cover up what looks like a number of adult males, most likely Hizbullah fighters, while making sure that images of any children or women killed in Qana are fully exposed."

[American Patriot]

Hezbollah Is a Terrorist Group, People
Frank Salvato

Author: Frank Salvato
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: August 1, 2006

Hezbollah holds a place of notoriety on America’s list of international terrorist organizations, operates an extra-governmental militia in the heart of Lebanon, and seeks the destruction of Israel, a sovereign nation. So FSM Contributing Editor Frank Salvato wonders, why the world still seeks to defend this group from all criticism?

Hezbollah Is a Terrorist Group, People
Frank Salvato
August 1, 2006

The loss of civilian life in any conflict, anywhere, is always tragic. But one fact in war is indisputable - there will be civilian casualties. The tragedy of this fact is multiplied when one of the warring factions violates the rules of war – and the idea of humanity – by using civilian positions from which to wage their aggression. Such is the case with the tactics of Hezbollah. As Union General William Tecumseh Sherman said, “War is Hell.”

Some of the more vacuous among the world’s population continue to argue that Israel is targeting innocent Lebanese women and children with its airstrikes. They do so in complete denial of the fact that Hezbollah fighters employ the tactic of placing weapons and weapons caches – including missile batteries – among the Lebanese civilian population. They do so in defiance of the inarguable reality that Hezbollah uses civilian locations from which to fire their missiles into Israel, missiles targeting innocent Israeli women and children and not military positions.

Hezbollah is a recognized terrorist organization, people. That this even has to be stated is insane, for it exemplifies the lack of knowledge possessed by the majority of the people on this planet.

Hezbollah is not a legitimate political group; they are a group of terrorists that have infiltrated the political process. They provide the Lebanese people with social welfare and infrastructure in an effort to dupe them into voting Hezbollah into legitimacy, all the while harboring the ulterior motive of the conquest and eradication of Israel. One of the true tragedies of this conflict is that the Lebanese people have fallen for this ruse.

Had the political aims of Hezbollah been legitimate, had their quest been peace and prosperity for the Lebanese people, why in God’s name would they have placed – and continue to place – weapons of war among the civilian population? Why would they be positioning missile batteries in civilian neighborhoods and launching them literally from people’s homes? Why would these “brave warriors of God” hide behind innocent women and children while they attack the innocent of the world?

The answer to all of these questions is unmistakable clear; they are not the legitimate promoters of peace and the “freedom fighters” their supporters would have the world believe. They are cowards. They are murderers. They are terrorist reprobates who deserve nothing less than to be introduced to all the circles of Dante’s inferno.

And while these brokers of slaughter continue on their decades-long campaign of genocide against the Israeli people and those who support them, there are simpletons among us who continue to believe the propaganda disseminated through the mainstream media, propaganda that incites a sympathy for the devil.

The most deviously pigheaded among these simpletons are those who sit in conference at the United Nations, who repeatedly issue statements condemning Israel for defending herself and her people in the face of terrorist aggression, an aggression that has lasted throughout Israel’s existence. One needs only to compare the number of UN condemnations issued against Israeli actions to the number of UN condemnations of terrorist actions against Israel to understand just where this ineffective organization’s allegiance lays. Given their blatant bias against Israel, it is a wonder that they ever realized Israel’s right to exist in the first place.

Make no mistake; those who would give Hezbollah – or any terrorist organization for that matter – a seat at a negotiating table only serve to recognize as legitimate these bloodthirsty bands of nefarious cretins while condoning the criminal infiltration and hijacking of the political process in the Middle East.

Only the truly daft can continue to believe that the current conflict between radical Islam and the rest of the world is sparked by the existence of Israel. To that extent, the daft, the deviously pigheaded, and the vacuous are complicit in the problem by their ignorance. They, through their refusal to embrace reality, are part of the problem.

As Hezbollah continues their masquerade as a legitimate political entity, it cannot be denied that wherever they exist in the world, pain, suffering, oppression and violence are not foreign. Thus are the consequences for turning a blind eye toward those who employ terrorism as their weapon of choice. And if we continue to deny that we are currently engaged in a battle between good and evil, a battle for the free world, so too will it be our future.

Related Reading:

State within a state thrives in the south
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19961376-31477,00.html

Copyright © 2006 Frank Salvato

[American Patriot]

Lebanese website blames Hizbullah for Qana deaths


ynetnews ^ | August 1, 2006 | staff

Anti-Syrian elements in Lebanon openly point finger at Hizbullah as guilty of killing of dozens of civilians in order to curtail plans for disarming group. 'Hizbullah has placed rocket launcher on building's roof and brought invalid children inside in bid to provoke Israeli response,' they write Roee Nahmias
Is Hizbullah behind the tragic incident in the village of Qana that claimed the lives of some 60 people? While the Israeli army continues to investigate the circumstances leading to the building's collapse, some in Lebanon do not hesitate to point the finger at the Shiite organization and claim it is to blame for the death of dozens.


The Lebanese website LIBANOSCOPIE , associated with Christian elements in the country and which openly supports the anti-Syrian movement called the "March 14 Forces," reported that Hizbullah has masterminded a plan that would result in the killing of innocents in the Qana village, in a bid to foil Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's "Seven Points Plan", which calls for deployment of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon and the disarming of Hizbullah.


'Disabled children placed inside building'


"We have it from a credible source that Hizbullah, alarmed by Siniora's plan, has concocted an incident that would help thwart the negotiations. Knowing full well that Israel will not hesitate to bombard civilian bombard civilian targets, Hizbullah gunmen placed a rocket launcher on the roof in Qana and brought disabled children inside, in a bid to provoke a response by the Israeli Air Force. In this way, they were planning to take advantage of the death of innocents and curtail the negotiation initiative," the site stated.


The site's editors also claimed that not only did Hizbullah stage the event, but that it also chose Qana for a specific reason: "They used Qana because the village had already turned into a symbol for massacring innocent civilians, and so they set up 'Qana 2'." Notably, the incident has indeed been dubbed "The second Qana massacre" by the Arab media

[American Patriot]

Assad smuggling weapons to Hizbullah
Jerusalem Post ^ | 2006-08-01 | Yaakov Katz



Three weeks into the war with Hizbullah, the IDF's intelligence picture is growing clearer, although at the same time darker. According to new intelligence obtained by the defense establishment, Syrian President Bashar Assad, alongside senior military officials, is directly involved in the attempts to smuggle weapons and rockets to Hizbullah in Lebanon.


On Monday, Assad called on his army to increase readiness to cope with "regional challenges."


In addition, the extent of Iran's intimate involvement in Hizbullah attacks is also starting to emerge. According to the defense establishment, the reason Hizbullah has not fired long-range Iranian-made Fajr missiles at Israel is due to Teheran's opposition. Israel now understands that without direct orders from the ayatollahs, Hizbullah is not allowed to use Iranian missiles in attacks against Israel.


The IDF also believes that it seriously damaged the long-range rocket array in the first night of air strikes almost three weeks ago and impaired Hizbullah's ability to fire the rockets.


Nevertheless, Hizbullah is still believed to have 10,000 short-range Katyusha rockets, after 1,500 were fired at Israel and another 1,500 were destroyed by the air force.


The longer-range Zelzal missiles, manufactured by Iran and capable of reaching Tel Aviv, have also not been fired at Israel, and the IDF believes this is because it destroyed almost two-thirds of these in the Hizbullah arsenal.


In addition, Israel has identified the bodies of 200 Hizbullah operatives killed in fighting, out of the organization's total number of fighters estimated to stand at 1,000. Hizbullah fighters were also found to be using special thermal suits that retained their body heat and curtailed IDF attempts to discover them at night.


Alongside the regular Hizbullah fighters, the defense establishment has identified two senior officials in the organization who were killed in IAF missile strikes: Jihad Atayeh, head logistic officer for Hizbullah in southern Lebanon and one of the planners of the cross-border attack in 2000 during which three IDF soldiers were kidnapped; and Nur Shilhav, responsible for coordinating the smuggling of weapons from Syria into Lebanon.
Iran is also believed to have a strong presence in Lebanon, including dozens of members of the Revolutionary Guard that are instructing the Hizbullah how to use advanced weaponry similar to the Iranian-supplied C-802 missile which hit a navy missile ship two weeks ago.


A special Military Intelligence unit, consisting of six professional profilers, has been established to profile Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. According to the unit, Nasrallah is scared of a massive ground incursion, which he understands could destroy his infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
The bottom line is that in contrast to public perception that Hizbullah was winning the war, the defense establishment believes that the group has been dealt a fatal blow and while it still had the ability to shoot Katyushas at Israel, firing a record 150 Sunday, the fact that on Monday the group only fired two rockets demonstrated Nasrallah's interest in reaching a cease-fire with Israel.

[Aplomb]

Who knows exactly what happened in Kana, except that there are way too many things that don't add up. Here is some blogging from Israel on the possibilities of what Hezzbolah has done. http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/

Lebanese rescue teams did not start evacuating the building until the morning and only after the camera crews came. The absence of a real rescue effort was explained by saying that equipment was lacking. There were no scenes of live or injured people being extracted. [Recall that I reported early on Sunday from a Lebanese blogger that Hezbullah was not allowing cranes to be used to pull people out of the rubble. CiJ]

There was little blood, CNN’s Wedeman noted: all the victims, he concluded, appeared to have died while as they were sleeping — sleeping, apparently, through thunderous Israeli air attacks. Rescue workers equipped with cameras were removing the bodies from the same opening in the collapsed structure. Journalists were not allowed near the collapsed building.

Rescue workers filmed as they went carried the victims on the stretchers, occasionally flipping up the blankets so that cameras could show the faces and bodies of the dead.

But Israelis steeled to scenes of carnage from Palestinian suicide bombings and Hezbollah rocket attack could not help but notice that these victims did not look like our victims. Their faces were ashen gray. Their limbs appeared to have stiffened, from rigor mortis. Neither were effects that would have resulted from an Israeli attack hours before. These were bodies that looked like they had been dead for days.

Viewers can judge for themselves. But the accumulating evidence suggests another explanation for what happened at Kana. The scenario would be a setup in which the time between the initial Israeli bombing near the building and morning reports of its collapse would have been used to "plant" bodies killed in previous fighting — reports in previous days indicated that nearby Tyre was used as a temporary morgue — place them in the basement, and then engineer a "controlled demolition" to fake another Israeli attack.

The well-documented use by Palestinians of this kind of faked footage — from the alleged shooting of Mohammed Dura in Gaza, scenes from Jenin of "dead" victims falling off gurneys and then climbing back on — have merited the creation of a new film genre called "Palliwood."Blogger Riehl World View speculates as to where the bodies that were used in Qana might have come from:

A full day before an air strike in Qana currently making headlines around the world, the Mayor of Tyre prepared a mass grave for 32 bodies killed in the area during the course of the recent conflict. Early Red Cross reports from the scene in Qana indicated only 27 bodies. Ironically enough, if you add 32 and 27 you arrive at the number of Qana dead reported by the press today. Current reports seem to fluctuate between 56 - 60.
It's been reported that the media coverage and the recovery effort didn't begin until the next morning. During that gap, the very same refrigerated trucks that held the dead from Tyre made their way to Qana. The question is, were they empty given some analysis which questions the times of death. See Confederate Yankee.
Additionally, there appear to be discrepancies in the reporting from Qana. We're told the building didn't collapse until morning. Yet, one observer claims to have been blown out of the building from the third floor during the night, only to rush right back in and witness the massacre.
...

Some photographic evidence (click images to enlarge) also makes the site look more like a bomb shelter than the basement of a poor tobacco farmer's home, as is being reported. Statements from survivors document that Qana is home to hard-line Hezbollah members and their families. The town is located at a critical juncture of five roads just north of the southern plains of Southern Lebanon and the elevation represents a prime location for the launching of rockets ever more deeply into Israel.

It seems at least possible that the victims were mostly comprised of the families of Hezbollah fighters and one body which wasn't uncovered for mass display appears to be in fatigues.
It has to be considered that the Qana strike may well have killed a number of civilians and Hezbollah fighters with the number of civilian dead being augmented by bodies from Tyre. But no official report I have seen documents more than 27 bodies at this time, while the MSM is reporting as many as sixty.

From the same blog is this observation about the banner of Condi Rice:

This morning, I posted some speculation that the 30-foot banner of Secretary of State Rice that miraculously showed up in Qana yesterday was probably prepared in advance, leading to questions whether the entire event was staged. Tonight, reader Postermaker made the following comments about that blog post:

Since I do banners like this for a living, I can tell you it take more than a few hours depending on the equipment. A banner that large can be done one of two ways. With a grant format printer. It would probably take about 3-4 hours to print, then hours more to sew and grommet so it could hung. It would have to be Made of heavy duty material or one that was reinforced or the sheer weight would rip it apart.

The other way it to use a smaller series of machines all color calibrated and produce sections. At that point they would have to be stretch the length of the banner ( read large facility) and sewn together. Additional support would go on the tops and bottoms.

In short if it was related Qana and went up within two hours- four hours, it was done prior to the bomb hitting. No other way. Just putting an image together that large on a computer with Type would take a few hours.

Then color tests, proofs and finally printing. That would be an all day affair for most print houses even with a grand format printer. The cost would be in the thousands.

Then you would have to transport it.

Hmmm...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...e80bd48812ca98

Hezbollah supporters place a banner showing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and reading in Arabic: "The massacre of children in Qana 2, is the gift of Rice. The clever bombs..Stupid," in downtown Beirut. Fifty-two people were killed, many of them sleeping children, when Israeli warplanes blitzed the Lebanese village of Qana, triggering global outrage and warnings of retribution for a "war crime" as a ceasefire appeared more remote than ever.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)

[Brian Baldwin]

Israel was tried and sentenced in the world eyes long before this war ever broke out.

Where is the world outrage at the number of Israeli children who had their bodies torn apart at the connective tissues as suicide bombers killed them in the hundreds over the last few years?

The fact is that there may only be a handful of people like us that know the truth or even care.

[Brian Baldwin]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1675958/posts

DEARBORN, Mich. -- A neon American flag flashes red, white and blue above La Shish East restaurant on Michigan Avenue. But what happened with some of the hefty profits from the Lebanese fare is anything but patriotic, federal prosecutors allege.
Using a double set of books, the owner of La Shish chain of 15 restaurants evaded taxes while funneling some $20 million to the Lebanese militant force Hezbollah in recent years, according to an indictment returned in May.
The restaurateur, Talal Chahine, has fled to Lebanon but denies wrongdoing. The case is one of several across the U.S. that link Americans with smuggling operations of illicit drugs, cigarettes and even baby formula and Viagra to profit Hezbollah -- designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization.
With fighting raging in southern Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israeli ground forces, the FBI last week issued a nationwide alert for law enforcement to be vigilant in investigating and profiling Hezbollah sympathizers, according to federal sources.
"The question is: Are they loyal to the U.S. or to this terrorist group Hezbollah?" asked assistant U.S. Atty. Kenneth Chadwell, one of nine federal prosecutors investigating Hezbollah ties in metro Detroit.
Roots in southern Lebanon
The scrutiny has deeply angered this Detroit suburb, where nearly 30,000 Lebanese-Americans live in the largest concentration of Americans with roots in southern Lebanon. Here, many people see no contradiction between being 100 percent American yet backing the guerrillas of Hezbollah against Israel.
On the streets of Dearborn, Hezbollah is not seen as a terrorist group but as a heroic resistance force. Residents say the group led the "freedom fight" in Lebanon during 18 years of Israeli occupation. Without the diligence and sacrifice of Hezbollah, people here say they would not have been able to return every summer to show their

excerpted from the Chicago Tribune.

[Brian Baldwin]

Breaking News!


http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...ST-BAALBEK.xml

Israel lands troops in Baalbeck in Northern Lebanon near Syrian border

CHTOURA, Lebanon (Reuters) - Helicopters landed Israeli soldiers on hills near the northeastern Lebanese town of Baalbek, a Hizbollah stronghold, on Tuesday, Lebanese security sources said.
The aim of the operation was not immediately clear, they said. An Israeli army spokesman declined to comment.

[Ryan Ruck]

Does anyone here buy into the "philosophy" that the Communists (aka Russians and Chicoms) are the puppet masters of the radical Islamists?

I mean, I visit one particular site every now and then, and my jaw just drops at the reading of those posts. Dropping of the jaw not in a good way, either. More like: can you believe people believe this stuff?

I can tell you I most certainly do believe that the TAA is the hand that generally guides and supports Islamic terrorism.

In fact, by many sources, the Soviet Union was responsible for the genesis of Islamic terrorism aimed against the West. Soviet defector Ion Mihai Pacepa has detailed much of this involvement in many of his writings.

Over the last couple years I have posted links to many articles that deal with such ties between the major Axis powers and Islamofascism.

Here is one I just posted in fact: Syrian Baath Party and Belarusian Communist Party Join Forces

Here are a few other links from both here on TAA and Anomalies:

- Russia's Involvement With Terrorism
- Russia's Policies Are Anti-US, Not Anti-Israel
- "Terrorism" in Russia
- China's Involvement With Terrorism
- Unrestricted Warfare
- Russia's Involvement with terrorism (Anomalies Network)
- Russia Funding Resurgent Taliban (Anomalies Network)
- Moscow Theater taken Hostage (Anomalies Network)
- China's Involvement With Terrorism (Anomalies Network)

And you will find many, many more stories and links within those links above very thoroughly dealing with this subject.

[Ryan Ruck]

IDF prepared for attack by Syria

While Israel is not interested in opening a front against Syria, if President Bashar Assad decides to attack Israel, the IDF will respond harshly and with its full might, a high-raking IDF officer in the Northern Command told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

"We are continuing with our message that we are not interested in fighting with Syria," the officer said, "But we are fully prepared for a Syrian attack, in the case of which we will strike back extremely hard."

The IDF officer said he believed Syria has been receiving the clear message Israel has been sending its way that Israel does not want to fight Syria. Whatever happened on border was completely depended on Assad, the officer said. "It is up to him, and at the moment we don't know what he plans to do."

He said that Saturday's IAF attack on a road that led from Syria into Lebanon near the border was meant to thwart attempts to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon.

The IDF is also anticipating a possible Syrian attack on Israel in response to the ongoing IDF operations in Lebanon. It is also known that Syria has increased its forces along the border out of fear in Damascus that Israel might attack Syria.

Defense officials told the Post last week that they were receiving indications from the United States that the US would be interested in seeing Israel attack Syria.