Posts Tagged ‘Israel’

Revenge for the Marines

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

UPDATE #3 This is an interesting take on the event, as it sounds like even the Arabs are cheering the result.

UPDATE #2: I do workers compensation reviews so maybe this is in my line. It looks as though it was a “work accident” after all. He was building a car bomb to prevent the March 14 Forces from holding a rally to mark the third anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri.Oh. Dangerous work, that.

UPDATE: After denying his existence for years, Hezbollah is now celebrating his death as a martyr. So much for denials.

The mastermind of much Hezbollah terrorism, including the Marine Barracks bombing in 1983 and the 1985 TWA hijacking in which Navy Diver Robert Stethem was murdered, has been blown up. The Syrians had been protecting him and the Iranians considered him a major asset. No doubt Nancy Pelosi will volunteer to give a eulogy.

Belmont Club points out that the assassination was a day before the anniversary of Syria’s assassination of Harari. Bill Roggio says the Israelis are probably responsible but I wish we were capable of neat and clean operations like this. No doubt the New York Times would blow the operation sky high, probably the day before it was scheduled like one of their reporters did a couple of years ago.

Of course, to AP, he is a “militant” , not a terrorist. Is there any enemy of the US that AP doesn’t love ? Reuters is not a US company but AP used to be.

Harvardstan

Monday, January 28th, 2008

As long as we are discussing the dhimmitude of certain American institutions, what about this one? The Harvard Middle East Studies Institute produces a factoid that the 800,000 (or 1.5 million) residents of Gaza require 680,000 tonnes of flour per day to survive. So each resident requires almost a half tonne (or a tonne) of flour per day ? What do they do with it ? I thought they were starving. Let’s get our terms right, to begin with. A tonne is a metric ton or equivalent to 2200 pounds, more than an English ton which is 2,000 pounds. The article in the Boston Globe accuses the Israelis of a “stranglehold” on Gaza. With the residents eating all that much flour every day, maybe the Israelis are just worried about obesity.

Although Gaza daily requires 680,000 tons of flour to feed its population, Israel had cut this to 90 tons per day by November 2007, a reduction of 99 percent.

Let’s see. Ninety tons is 180,000 pounds or a quarter of a pound per person per day. Other sources put the average flour consumption at 350 to 450 tonnes per day. Any way you look at, it Harvard is putting out ridiculous propaganda, but then we knew that. The Harvard version is that it takes a ton of flour per day to ward off starvation.

What if Israel really did give back east Jerusalem ?

Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

Ehud Olmert recently proposed transferring the Arab sections of east Jerusalem back to the Palestinian Authority. The reaction ? Not what you might expect. Perhaps there is sanity among the Palestinians after all. Even after all the vicious rhetoric in the PA schools and newspapers and TV, , “If there was a referendum here, no one would vote to join the Palestinian Authority. … There would be another intifada to defend ourselves from the PA.”.

Hmmm….

A clumsy blunder

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

The Secretary of State was once the subject of a boomlet for the presidential nomination after her boss’s term ends. That was back when it seemed she was going to do a good job. Lately, that boomlet has disappeared and what we see are clumsy statements that make her sound like one more State Department Arabist. The Palestinians had the opportunity for an historic peace in 2000 and Dennis Ross has documented that effort. Arafat turned it down and resumed the Intifada, only with suicide bombers this time instead of stones. Of course, Arafat has his apologists but what would you expect from the New York Review of Books? I was once a subscriber and used to chuckle over the singles ads in the back that stated “No Republicans.”

Condi would have been well advised to take Ross’s advice but there seems to be a never ending supply of wishful thinking at State and she has imbibed freely. I have previously posted my opinion of the Annapolis talks and they went nowhere.

What next ? That will be for the next Secretary of State to determine.