bustardblog

Beirut

  Hezbollah's promised demonstrations in Beirut, designed to bring down a government that they consider Bush's puppet, has begun in Beirut.

So far I've seen one report saying that tens of thousands of protesters are already there.

Al-Jazzerah reported on the hopes that the demonstration will be peaceful, and quoted the President as saying that "The resistance (Hezbollah) is not going to shoot Lebanese people, and there will not be a civil war."

Der Spiegel's most recent reports indicates that the number of demonstrators is in the "hundreds of thousands." (It is their photo I reprinted above.

Credit for the  increased power of Hezbollah should probably be divided equally between Israel, Iran, America, and Syria - even though only two of the four hoped for the result achieved. Mazel Tov Mme Rice, Mr Bush, and Mr Olmert!

UPDATE:
Loyal commenter Rick admires how talented the Arab world is in orchestrating such huge demonstrations.  Perhaps he forgets the motivation that the people of Lebanon recently received. Since the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, 17 people have died, and 135 have been wounded by the explosion of cluster bombs left by Israel. Although Israel promised to provide maps to help the Lebanese find them, they have yet to do so. To add insult to injury, the vast majority of the approximately 60,000 cluster bombs were deployed as the cease fire began. ( NY Times )

Shame for Israel

A piece in today's WaPo in which an Israeli father speaks of his son, who died fighting in Lebanon, is heart rending. It's essential reading.

One's gut is punched by the clarity of how the father, mother, brother and little sister, are devastated by loss. When you read it, you'll know that their loved one was not fighting for the right of Israel to deliver cluster bombs; bombs which leave behind "bomblets" that continue killing after a cease fire has been signed; against an enemy who used old rockets containing ball-bearings.

The Israel for which he died would never have used cluster bombs in what was reallly a pre-emptive strike against Lebanon.

No child ever died picking up left-over ball bearings.

Lying about Lebanon

The Prime Minister of Lebanon has announced that over 900 Lebanese civilians have been killed by Israel's invasion of that poor country. Yesterday, Juan Cole reported a number closer to 500. Whatever the actual number, it is far too many, and an utterly inexcusable response to the killing of 8 soldiers and the kidnapping of two.

The right has done its utmost to muddle the facts on this issue, using strategies that could have been lifted directly from the play book of those who deny the Holocaust. It is as if Hutton Gibson, Dad of Mel and Holocaust denier, was issuing marching orders to Michelle Malkin, Allan Dershowitz, et al.

One of the best ways to sow confusion is to sew doubt. You start by making up facts. Lies.  Sites like Little Green Footballs pointed out that in most Islamic terror attacks "the death toll increase[s] over several days" and asks why in Lebanon, "the trend is exactly the opposite." Although stated as if it were fact, it is not. For example, initial reports of 9/11 spoke of deaths in the tens of thousands.  The number that actually died in that attack was thankfully much lower than initially expected. First estimates are always wrong, that's one reason that they are called estimates.  But, like holocaust-deniers, those who want to trivialize death in Lebanon must create confusion about the number of dead.

Elaborate, 'conspiracy' type theories are essential in rewriting history. Michelle Malkin and Jonah Goldberg are great at implying events in Qana were "staged." Goldberg quotes unamed, unsourced reports that "refrigerated trucks were reportedly brought in before the media could visit the site, perhaps delivering corpses." As if Israel would not know if refrigerated trucks were on the road to Qana. Free and Justice made use of the time honored deceipt: "Reports that Hizbullah staged it [Qana] could not be confirmed nor denied."  Of course, as of this writing, reports that Michelle Malkin has been arrested on numerous occassions on charges of spousal abuse, could not be confirmed nor denied either.  Wing Nuts like the Confederate Yankee are so obsessed by the supposed time lapse between the bomb hitting the house in Qana and the collapse of the building, that one wonders what they made of the shorter, but actual, time between the plane hitting the WTC and its collapse.

It is true that the reported number of civilians killed in Qana has been lowered to 28 dead and 13 missing. When gatewaypundit reports this he justifies the deaths by writing that "Leaflets were dropped on the town weeks before the attacks warning people of the likelihood of violence."  This is of a piece with Alan Dershowitz's despicable argument that some cvilians are more like civilians than others.

I mean if Israel tells you to leave your home, failure to comply with their instructions justifies your death.  But as that radical Voice of America reported long before the Qana attacks," People who want to leave are also having trouble finding fuel for the journey."  Israel had blown up the gas stations.  They also blew up bridges and roads. As the  BBC wrote on the 22 of July

"Israel has ordered the civilians of southern Lebanon to leave their homes and thousands of families are heeding that advice - at least they are trying to. 

But the Israeli military onslaught around the southern city of Tyre is so fierce, the trip is too daunting for many inhabitants.

Even if it were physically easy to leave, it is not easy for a farmer to lose his livestock, and probably his harvest. The Lebanese also fear that Israel will decide to occupy the lannex their land as a part of Israel (as it has done in Jerusalem), give their homes and farms to Israeli citizens (as in the West Bank), and because they fled during an uprising, deny them the right of return to their homes and villages (as you can see in Palestine refugee camps). And of course Israel has "accidentally" bombed a convoy of civilian cars leaving the south.

Despite all of this, we all saw that: All over the ruined streets of southern Lebanon, families from border villages that have been cut off by 20 days of Israeli bombardment are desperately trying to flee, using the respite offered by a 48-hour halt to most air strikes.

Strapping white sheets to their cars in an attempt to stave off Israeli strikes, tens of thousands of Lebanese have fled the south, taking side roads to avoid ruined bridges, driving around bomb craters and leaving many villages deserted.

This attempt to distort the reality of the deaths of innocents in Lebanon is morally unconscionable. Blaming the victim also serves to dehumanize the victim, a trick of which the actual perpetrators of the holocaust were also fond.

Please know that I consider myself a friend of Israel, and I know that the situation today in Lebanon is nothing like the Holocaust. But I also know that when any actions of Israel are defended using the same kinds of twisted tricks that were used to both justify and deny the holocaust, the country has completely lost its way.

 

Proportionality

Woven throughout the whole cloth that envelops the wing-nut blogosphere these days is a fascinating, illogical thread. It concerns Lebanon, and would almost be funny if it wasn't trying to act concerned about the dead there. It certainly is warped.

Many from the right like to point out how the Israeli army, using the most modern (our) surgical strike missiles, "aims only at military targets." This is to be contrasted to the vileness of Hezbollah who "doesn't even pretend to" want to spare civilians. (Tierney,NY Times)  Dershowitz notes that "Hezbollah missiles and Hamas rockets target and hit Israeli restaurants, apartment buildings and schools."

No question that what Hezbollah is doing is vile, wrong, and a war crime.  But Hezbollah's  rockets cannot be precisely targeted.  Not surprisingly, the U.S. has not been supplying them with our most top-of-the-line weaponry.  I'd bet that they'd be happy to trade in some of their Katyusha rockets for some of our finest. It's  as if there were a fight between a tall, sighted person and a short,blind one. It's pretty silly to hear the tall guy with 20-20 vision complain how his opponent is always hitting below the belt.

I have a second problem with this thread:  the numbers.  According to FAUX News, there have been 375 Lebanese civilians killed, while only 18 Israeli civilians have died. (Twenty regular Lebanese army have also been killed - not civilians, but not Hezbollah either) This proportion is almost double the standard set by some of  Israel's supporters: they argue that it takes 10 Arab lives to equal the value of one Israeli life. The thread becomes even looser when you look at military deaths. Again, according to Fox, 24 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 27 Hezbollah are dead from the fighting. So, with its vastly superior, pin-point accurate weaponry, Israel has killed about 20 times as many civilians as Hezbollah has killed, and roughly the same number of active fighters.

Israel fights for its survival using a mind set and a war plan that guarantees its demise. Condi and W cheer them on. It's just a game to them - a cynical game in which they are the righteous, the civilized West who cares for human life and worries about civilian deaths, while the barbaric Muslims think only of the 40 virgins and how to kill the largest number of  Israeli babies and their Jewish grandmothers.

UPDATE:

Blue Crab's proportionality is that "a slap should bring a roundhouse in return."  He joins the bunch who think that Israel is being held to toohigh a standard. Really, 20+ Lebanese civilian dead to 1 Israeli is just too high.

Donald Sensing applauds Israel's behavior; saying that "It is responding to daily rocket attacks and regular suicide attacks against its civilians ever since it gave up land for peace." (emphasis added)

Sensing is not interested in fact, but ithe reality is that there had not been one Lebanese suicide bomber until Israel occupied parts of Lebanon in 1982. None. (And there had never been a suicide attack in Iraq until our occupation.)

RedState is a firm believer in making sure that "an enemy" is truly "chastened by defeat." He thinks that if you hurt someone enough, they will stop fighting, and bow down before your superiority. This profoundly anti-American position suggests that Mr. RedState's patriotism is for sale. If there were to be a war against the U.S by a powerful foe, he is saying that he would fight for America until it became too costly for him; as might be measured in the loss of property or family. He cannot imagine fighting for a cause in which you believe, even when it seems you have lost. In fact,though, I bet Sensing would actually keep fighting, as would the next Hezbollah.

And of course Polipundit is thrilled that a "liberal" like Dershowitz is "Anti UN - YEP!" . But wasn't the U.N. instrumental in the creation of Israel?

 

Supporting Lebanon, Bush League

Forbes:

Welch, the assistant secretary of state, said the U.S.was offering $30 million worth of goods, part of what was hoped would be a $150 million international aid package. He said the U.S.assistance would include medical kits for 100,000 people and 20,000 blankets.

Thirty-million is what we spend every 3 hours and 32 minutes in Iraq, hour after hour. In a normal year (and there hasn't been one of those in a while) this is the amount that we give Israel every three days.

 

Israeli Film Makers also Write

Fra: Yael Bartana <[email protected]>
Dato: 22. juli 2006 10.16.30 MET
Til: Yael Bartana <[email protected]>
Emne: A letter from Israeli filmmakers to Palestinian and Lebanese 
filmmakers

TEXT of letter follows:

We, the undersigned Israeli filmmakers, greet the Arab filmmakers who have gathered in Paris for the Arab Film Biennial. Through you, we wish to convey a message of camaraderie and solidarity with our Lebanese and Palestinian colleagues who are currently besieged and bombarded by our country’s army.

We unequivocally oppose the brutality and cruelty of Israeli policy,  which has reached new heights in recent weeks. Nothing justifies the  continued occupation, closure, and oppression in Palestine. Nothing justifies the bombing of civilians and the destruction of 
infrastructures in Lebanon and Gaza.

Allow us to tell you that your films, which we try to see and circulate among us, are extremely important in our eyes. They enable us to know  and understand you better. Thanks to these films, the men, women, and children who suffer in Gaza, Beirut, and everywhere else our army exercises its violence - have names and faces. We would like to thank  you and encourage you to keep on filming, despite the difficulties.

For our part, we will continue to express through our films, with our raised voices, and in our personal actions our vehement opposition to the occupation, and we will continue to express our desire for freedom, justice, and equality among all the peoples of the region.

Nurith Aviv / Ilil Alexander / Adi Arbel  / Yael Bartana / Philippe 
Bellaiche / Simone Bitton / Michale Boganim / Amit Breuer / Shai 
Carmeli-Pollack / Sami S. Chetrit / Danae Elon / Anat Even / Jack Faber 
/ Avner Fainguelernt / Ari Folman / Gali Gold / BZ Goldberg / Sharon 
Hamou / Amir Harel / Avraham Heffner / Rachel Leah Jones / Dalia Karpel 
/ Avi Kleinberger / Elonor Kowarsky / Edna Kowarsky / Philippa Kowarsky 
/ Ram Loevi  / Avi Mograbi / Jud Neeman / David Ofek / Iris Rubin / 
Abraham Segal / Nurith Shareth  / Julie Shlez / Eyal Sivan / Yael 
Shavit / Eran Torbiner / Osnat Trabelsi / Daniel Waxman / Keren Yedaya

Responsible for Death

Many disagreed with my post of two days ago, in which I stated that Israel bore a lot of responsibility for the death of innocents in Lebanon. Of course, it is Israeli bullets and bombs that are taking away those lives.

But in fact there is responsibility on another level that perhaps needs to be examined. I don't know much about weaponry or logistics, but I would love to have answers to the following two points.

1. Pls Double Click to Enlarge

Many of the more significant missiles that Hezbollah has used against Israel have come from Iran. Some of them require a truck weighing several tons from which they can launch. Others are heavy themselves, and over 9 feet long. They're not things you can smuggle through in your carry-on. How could they have gotten to Lebanon from Iran? Over water, and then through Saudi Arabia? Complicated, plus I don't think the Saudis would coooperate. I also  don't think Turkey would cooperate. Syria surely would be happy to help, but in between Syria and Iran lies Iraq. There is no way that Saddam would ever have let Iran extend its influence by transporting large arms to Lebanon.  Oh...  Saddam no longer controls Iraq, and in fact no one really does. In effect, we ceded Southern Iraq to Iranian influence years ago. I suspect that it's just possible that that explains how the arms made it into Lebanon.

    2. Part of the complex agreement to which the U.S., the E.U., and others subscribed that stopped the occupation of Lebanon, was that international forces would be responsible for controlling and disarming Hezbollah. Several months ago, Condi Rice said:

"We have to do some of the things that the Lebanese Government is asking us to do; strengthen the Lebanese army, for instance, so that there is one security force that is actually capable of protecting Lebanon. And we shouldn't expect the Lebanese to do some things until they're actually able or they actually have the capacity to do it."

This is what the Bush administration, as well as governments of other countries, had signed up to do, and then utterly failed to do.

So why is OK for Lebanese civilians, over 1,000 by now, to be killed?

The Lebanese government did about as good a job, maybe better, than the U.S. government did regarding Hezbollah. 

Should Israel be bombing Beirut or Washington?

On Israel Killing Civilians

Many of our friends on the right disagree with my post of yesterday, which noted that Israel has killed civilians in Lebanon. They insist that either Hezbollah are to blame, or the Lebanese people themselves who have not controlled Hezbollah. They're wrong.

I live in a co-op building, one that's fairly close to a part of the West Village that used to be very Italian. I didn't know it when I bought the place, but it turns out that one of the Penthouses is home to a "reputed member" of the Mafia. He's a big shot, and I never see him without a body guard. His involvement in all kinds of vicious crime, including one incident in which two cops died, is well known. Although he's been on trial a few times over the years, he's never been found guilty of anything.

He's fairly old now, and I'm not sure how active he is in business. But please imagine that he was involved in another situation in which a cop died. Imagine that the N.Y.P.D., fearing that he would get off again, decided to use a helicopter and bomb his apartment.
Assuming that my apartment were damaged in the mess, who would my insurance company sue to recover the money that they had paid to me? The City of New York, or the Mafia Big Wig? Who would be legally responsible? The City.

But then words such as repsonsibility, accountability - have been erased from the Republican lexicon. I supposed it's not fair to expect them to remember its meaning.

 

Innocent Lebanese Civilians are Being Killed by Israelis.

Please Double Click to Enlarge
From The Washington Post

From The New York Times

In a recent post, I questioned the assertion that Israel's assault in Lebanon was such a "pin-point" targeted bombing of Hezbollah's assets. I mentioned that it seemed as if the bombs fell on some civilian assets as well, and mentioned the bombing of a dairy. I was accused of being naive, and reminded of the poorly faked sign outside of a target we bombed in the run up to the first Gulf War, that claimed it too provided milk.
For some reason he forgot to remind me of the poor volunteer at a Kuwaiti hospital who testified before Congress to having seen Iraqi soldiers pulling babies from their cribs and leaving them to die. The poor volunteer was actually part of the Kuwaiti royal family, who had not been in Kuwait when these incidents supposedly occurred since she was in Washington where her father served as ambassador to the U.S. I was surprised at my commenter's remembering the amateur nature of the deception about milk, while forgetting the elaborate deception about dead babies, a deception produced by Hill & Knowlton, The First President Bush, and the Kuwaiti government.
Whatever the truth about the bombing of a dairy in Lebanon, who can seriously doubt that the Israelis are bombing sites that have nothing to do with Hezbollah?
After all it is what they said that they were going to do:

Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, the Israeli Army Chief of Staff, warned the Lebanese government that Israel would attack its infrastructure and "turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years" if the soldiers were not returned, Israeli TV reported.

Israel has attacked the infrastructure in Lebanon, yet our wing-nuts seek again to deny this reality, hoping that fantasy will protect them from accountability. It won't; even Bluto had to leave Delta House, eventually. Let's just hope that Frat Boy George will check out of the White House more rapidly. The Animal House Summit must end.

Why Not a 100 Years War

Of the many,many benefits the Bushies promised us from the war on Iraq, one was increasing the security of Israel. This too was a lie.
The Bush administration support of Israel is similar to its promised support for the new government in Lebanon - non-existent. Bush does nothing that might hurt him in the polls, and if that means betrayal, so be it.
The population figures from CIA Handbook for July 2006 tell the story. In the close vicinity of Israel are Lebanon,Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia The Muslim populace in each of those countries detests Israel, and would do anything they can to destroy it. There are over 220 million Muslims in those countries. Israel has about five million Jews.  As long as we tell Israel that it is OK to invade Lebanon and kills hundreds and to invade Gaza and kill 100 citizens for the kidnapping of one soldier, we are no friend of Israel.  In an earlier post I predicted that the war between Israel and its neighbors,which has already lasted 60 years, would go on to "celebrate" its 80th anniversary. As the situation deteriorated  I considered amending that to a one-hundred years war. I'm not, not because I see peace in the next few decades, but because I have serious doubts about Israel's existence in 40 years.  By then, it is estimated that Muslims in the neighborhood will outnumber Jews by a ratio of close to 50 to 1. In the face of such numbers, Israel's desire to use overwhelming, punitive force against its neighbors can only be described as suicidal. And Bush is playing Dr. Kevorkian's part very nicely.