: [Black Hippy Chick] 7/31/2006 04:18:19 PM

This is in response to the comment on my blog about the Washington Post article Gibson's Remarks in Spotlight After Arrest
I agree with your friend. There is a diplomatic solution to all of these problems. I honestly think that if Israel would have consistently and constantly brought the incidents to the attention of the United Nations and the Arab League and kept pressing the issue, like say the civil rights movement in the United States that was won by non-violence that quite a few Jewish and Black individuals lost their lives for, then Israel would probably have what they want by now. I think if someone would make some sort of concerted effort to see that the whole region thrives and people have a reason for living besides stress, then violence could and would be avoided.

We only have to look at Hussein's hold on Iraq, and how according to the Washington Post article Waiting to get Blown Up and the words of an American Soldier who says the following:

"They say we're here and we've given them freedom, but really what is that? You know, what is freedom? You've got kids here who can't go to school. You've got people here who don't have jobs anymore. You've got people here who don't have power," he said. "You know, so yeah, they've got freedom now, but when they didn't have freedom, everybody had a job."

We know from reading this comment that Saddam Hussein was not thrown over by the majority of his people because he provided for the basic needs of his people economic, social, educational etc. The United States overthrew him. What the Israelis must realize is that when a suicide bomber agrees to give their life to the cause of Hamas their family is taken care of for the rest of their lives. Instead of bombing the people to death destroying their homes, their gardens, their means of transportation, their factories for making a living, their mosques etc. Israel might consider using a lot more compassion and using some of the money that flows into Israel from bankers, physicians, and scientists into making life better for all people in the Middle East. There is a human side to the issue and the media has touched on it a little Palestinians and Israelis in bomb shelters both hysterical because of the killing. I think in Israel as in the United States there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that regular people are never told unless you attempt to put the pieces together. As an American I am ashamed that Iraq has gone from a thriving city with museums, hospitals, the best higher education in the middle east to just a dirt road with the appearance of a poverty stricken third world country which it is not. I am disturbed by a lot of things which I just don't want to discuss right now. However the Israeli people must realize that what is going on is wrong. If Israel is to thrive their vision must be regional and not just for Israel. Eventually they must begin to feel the same pain for the citizens of the Middle East that the other countries collectively feel. The Middle East is in collective pain for Lebanon and Gaza if the Israeli citizens not leaders are not feeling this pain for what can only be called mass murder then they have to reconsider their reasons for being in the region. Ultimately Israel should look towards making middle east alliances and not U.S. ones if they really want a viable quality future in the region.

Finally we only have to look at what we've done in this conversation to know that diplomacy works. Most people prefer peace even militants. However diplomacy is a lot more work than dropping a bomb on a building or convincing someone to blow themselves up at a wedding.


----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 4:18 PM
Subject: [Black Hippy Chick] 7/31/2006 04:18:19 PM


This is the same person. I'm just putting "Anonymous" because it's easier.

The Gaza stuff was all in the newspapers before this flare-up in Lebanon. That was going on for a few weeks. Maybe you didn't pay attention to it, but it was definitely there. My girlfriend is a left-wing Israeli who was complaining about the decision to invade Gaza rather than negotiate for the release of thousands of prisoners in return for the one soldier. I happen to disagree with her, under the theory that it would embolden further acts of the same kind by those who hate and want to destroy Israel.

It was in the papers, though; I read about it myself in the Washington Post. Stop blaming your ignorance on conspiracies, and try to observe the world without casting aspersions on the press of America beyond what they deserve.

Israel has no interest in Gaza other than it not being a threat to Israelis. Israel wanted to give Gaza back to Egypt when they transferred the Sinai, but Egypt didn't want it because its residents caused too much trouble to whatever government was left in charge of them. There is nothing there but an extremely dangerous and political slum. Gaza produces nothing other than terrorism and never has.

The problem with Ariel Sharon falling sick is that he spent years establishing himself as someone that the Palestinians feared and did not want to cross. He showed that he meant business. When he fell ill, it emboldened Hamas to act up again, forcing Olmert to attempt to re-establish that Israel is not a force with which one wants to fuck. That was the problem, much like it was when Yitzhak Rabin was killed. The difference is that Rabin was assassinated and Sharon was an old, fat, stressed out man. You really need to stop looking for conspiracies everywhere. Sometimes things are exactly what they seem.

The real issue that the majority of right-wing Israelis had with Sharon wasn't Gaza but the threat of losing any part of the West Bank. Almost everyone in the entire country basically wishes that Gaza would cease to be, or at least be somewhere far away from them, isolated and unable to be any kind of threat to the civilians of Israel.

Of course Israel has tried to assassinate Hamas leaders. Hamas members are terrorists, plain and simple, much like the members of Hezbollah. Hamas and Hezbollah have stated, unequivocally, their intent to drive the Jews into the sea. Killing their leaders is just part of the ongoing war of self-preservation that Israel faces every day. I'm sure you're incapable of understanding that, but it needs to be said.

Israel was attacked in 1948 upon declaring independence from the British. It has been fighting every single day since then to stay alive. How many Muslim organizations have you heard of that have decried suicide bombings of marketplaces? On the other hand, how many Muslim politicians have claimed that the Holocaust did not happen? All Israel wants is to be left alone. If you lived in a country where every few weeks there was a September 11th, only on a smaller scale, you would understand.

Peace sounds good, but in our current incarnation, human beings are incapable of it. We all wish that this were not the case, but since it is, anyone who wishes to live has a right and a duty to fight to do so, as hard as is necessary. If that means working, you work. If it means military action, you employ military action. It's that simple.

--
Posted by Anonymous to Black Hippy Chick at 7/31/2006 04:18:19 PM

[Black Hippy Chick] 7/31/2006 01:06:27 PM Response to a comment

First of all I would like to thank you for taking the time to leave a
comment on my blog. I appreciate your response.

In response to my comments regarding the article in the Washington Post, I would like to say the following:

Second of all I would like to say that, Israel's official release for going
to war with the Palestinians was because one soldier was kidnapped/captured.
There official reason for going to war with Lebanon is that two soldiers
were captured/caught. In regards to Lebanon most news reports are saying
that the Israelis soldiers were not kidnapped, but captured because they
were on Lebanese territory. As for predictability I predicted that Israel
would try to get Gaza back when I saw that the former Prime Minister was
mysteriously struck down almost to death with a sudden illness, My comment
to myself at that time was that he had been hit with some sort of e -weapon
and the reason was drum roll because of Gaza and the desire of Israel to
reoccupy that territory so it came as no surprise when I was reading another
blog and came upon a link analyzing the Lebanese war that happened to
mention that Israel was also in Gaza. I found it rather strange that no
Western media outlet had reported this until the Lebanese war began. I
found out that Israel was fighting the Palestinians from Asia Times, a
publication out of China a so called communist country, are we not trying to
spread democracy but China is reporting information like they are a
democratic nation and our media is hiding information from us like we are in
some form of dictatorship. At t his point I can no longer believe what the
Israelis are putting out. Several months I saw an article which stated that
Israel had tried to assassinate the elected Hamas leader at an airport. I
wrote about it and then went back to cite the article, every last article
references this event had been removed. I thought I was crazy until I
started reading blogs and International publications that referenced the
assassination attempts by Israelis. I do think its terrible that anyone has
to be terrorized by bombs, has to be forced out of their homes at gun point,
has to have their holy places bombed, their weddings bombed etc.but I have
also read about the culture of the oppressed and I know that suicide bombers
and guerrilla tactics emerge out of a culture of oppression and any time a
country feel that they have the right to level another country at a whim,
the recipients are oppressed.

In any case as regards to blacks being made fun of and negative things being
said about them they are being said all the time. The former Secretary of
Education Bill Bennett said if all black babies were aborted the crime rate
would go down. I have gone to professional meetings and had Bill Cosby
touted as a hero for attacking the black poor and this particular field
that I have training in is a technical field where usually race does not
come into discussion. While people never say negative things concerning
African Americans they don't have to because daily their actions tell me
what they think of African Americans reflected in the high numbers of
unemployed blacks, the high incarceration rates of blacks, the digital
divide, the educational divide, the life expectancy, the male to female
ratio etc. etc. etc. So I can honestly say as far as racists go for me at
least they are honest. As for me I could always get along with racists in
the different environments because they did not like blacks; they were not
trying to put us in categories as a good one and a bad one, one with
straight
hair versus nappy hair, a single mother versus a married mother etc. etc.
etc. The racists could always be brought around with decent and quality work
while the others were still stuck on who was pretty or who was the most
willing to kiss their butt. The racist could ultimately be brought around
with good quality work while the others sat around and waited for cues on
how to treat other blacks from their pet black. I am not a pet.

Finally I would like to say that if thousands of blacks took to the streets
and started raping, murdering, stealing, and killing, and all other blacks
condoned it I would have to agree with them blacks are criminals

In regards to Israel, the facts are 4 U.N. posts have been bombed, Moving
conveyances with innocent individuals have been bombed, hundreds and
probably thousands of people have been killed by the Israelis, individuals
as young as one day old are in coffins. All of this and not one Jewish
Organization has come forth to denounce the carnage. "NOT ONE"! However we
are supposed to all never forget the holocaust. I bet if the numbers were
counted in the Middle East Israel has probably killed over a million Arabs
since 1948 what about their remembrance. Finally i would like to say that
to continue to sell arms to the Israelis is truly a mistake they have shown
that they are highly irresponsible and incapable of handling weapons. They
should be added to the triple threat. I have heard that Israel has Nuclear
Bombs but for GodsSake I hope not. This is one country that should be
placed on the U.N.'s list for not qualified for weapons in general.

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 1:06 PM
Subject: [Black Hippy Chick] 7/31/2006 01:06:27 PM

we were clued in to his Anti-Semitism when he produced/directed The Passion
of the Christ. These comments come as no surprise.

Israel didn't start this war; Hezbollah mimicked the actions of Hamas in
order to spark exactly what has occurred. Israel has a right and a duty to
defend itself, even if it seems deplorable to members of the world who have
never had a family member blown up in a marketplace, or a missile blow up
their home, or a friend kidnapped.

Would you feel differently if Gibson had produced a movie that was an
unsatirical minstral show, and then said that blacks were responsible for
all the crime in America?

--
Posted by Anonymous to Black Hippy Chick at 7/31/2006 01:06:27 PM

The Question is not Will Mel Gibson recover, but will the Anti Defamation League Recover?

In a Washington Post article http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073100140.html
concerning Mel Gibson and his anti-Semitic remark that Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world". The question is will his career recover?

Personally after reviewing the circumstances :
1. He was drunk
2. There was a bloody massacre occurring initiated by the Israelis of Palestinians and residents of Gaza which was totally disproportionate to the incidents that they said caused them resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people and even the day after Mel Gibson made the remarks a bomb was dropped on a building that killed 56 innocent women and children. A city that was obviously thriving and making a come back after ending a long destructive war has been bombed back to the ground.
3. Emotion is allowed.

I think Mel Gibson will recover from his remarks the question is not about Mel, It's will the Jewish people recover enough from the actions of Israel to ever take a moral high ground again.

There is a saying revolving around moral responsibility that I once read on a Jewish publication that discussed the holocaust. Before the quote it began with a little history, during the holocaust there were Jewish people who actually participated initially in sending other Jews to the gas chambers because they thought they were wealthy enough and better than the other Jews, however eventually they found out that Hitler was after all of the Jews. This resulted in the quote that goes something like this:

"When they came for him you said nothing, when they came for her you said nothing, when they came for me you said nothing, finally when they came for you there was no one to say anything for you"

I say all of this to say the anti defamation league is worried about something that Mel Gibson said when they should be actively working for Peace in the Middle East. The issue of people being killed U.N. personnel, innocent women, children and men is terrible and to know that your group is responsible for it and to not issue a renouncement of the activity destroys the anti defamation leagues whole game of standing up for racist acts and comments. The fact is, is that Israel is behaving in a racist manner. The fact is is that Israel has failed to face the fact that there were people living in Israel when they were given the land by the U.N., the Palestinians and they have been displaced every since. Israel talks about Hamas talking about wanting to wipe them off the map, Israel has wiped Palestine off the map literally. The people have no place to go. They are angry. They are upset. They are asking themselves what did they do to deserve this awful treatment. As for Lebanon, in the south the people did not leave home because they said they were too poor to leave. As I look at photos of shiny new missiles meant to kill the innocent I know that the Israelis are not comprehending poor and hopeless. As I look at the way the Israelis casually destroyed buildings, industries places where people worked, made a living, put food in their mouths. I can not help but think the Anti Defamation league has no purpose anymore besides to serve as a propaganda machine for bad behavior. As for the comments of Mel Gibson they have to be taken into the context of the times. If he's managed to go fifty or sixty years without saying negative things about a group of people one comment regarding war can be excused.

Democracy Now: U.S. EXCLUSIVE: Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad on U.S. Foreign Policy, the Resistance in Iraq, Syrian-Lebanese Relations and More

U.S. EXCLUSIVE: Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad on U.S. Foreign Policy, the Resistance in Iraq, Syrian-Lebanese Relations and More

United States Soldiers Break their Silence in Iraq

The Washington Post has an excellent article on the morale, thoughts, and feelings, of the United States troopsin Iraq at WashingtonPost.com the article is entitiled "Waiting to Get Blown Up".

Bin Laden Appears -Straight out of the Orwell Playbook "The Five Minute Hate"

As United States Public opinion fails to agree with the Bush Administration, something rather strange happens. Bin Laden releases a statement saying he plans to support his Arab brothers. Funny thing is

Everytime the Bush administrations Poll ratings go down,

Bin Laden mysteriously appears. In George Orwell's 1984 he wrote that the government would have some strange person that the government could never find, could never see and the people would daily have their five minute hate of this mysterious human being. The Bush Administration did not disappoint us as public opinion went South against Bush, out came a statement from the mysterious Bin Laden, when I write this I imagine eastern music and a deep voice saying "BBIIIIIIIIIN LADDDDDDDDEN" "Yeah Right"

Any administration who can watch the carnage going on in the Middle East right now without asking for a cease fire to protect asset's and people and the beautiful city that the people of Lebanon had worked to build is sick and crazy. Crazy enough to make Bin Laden up or be in cohoots with Bin Laden, after all he did win against Iran, maybe he has another mission to help the United States usher in a new totalitarian Social system which the Bush administration seems to be working towards. Condeleeza Rice on stage yesterday I could see it in her eyes had not given the people of Lebanon a thought, a compassionate thought, a second thought, her only intent while she was on that stage was to deliver what her master told her to. Ms. Poodle!

I Must Stop Listening to CNN

CNN is reporting this from the point of view that this is a war to get rid
of Hezbollah and it is a legitimate war. This war is a false war and the
bottom lines is that Israel is lying just like the U.S. lied about weapons
of mass destruction. I received an interesting email that I want to share
the text of:

July 21, 2006
A perilous excursion into the distant past, starting
seven whole weeks ago
Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need To
Know
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
As the tv networks give unlimited airtime to
Israel's apologists, the message rolls out that no
nation, least of all Israel, can permit bombardment or
armed incursion across its borders without
retaliation.

The guiding rule in this tsunami of drivel is that the
viewers should be denied the slightest access to any
historical context, or indeed to anything that
happened prior to June 28, which was when the capture
of an Israeli soldier and the killing of two others by
Hamas hit the headlines, followed soon thereafter by
an attack by a unit of Hezbollah's fighters.

Memory is supposed to stop in its tracks at June 28,
2006.

Let's go on a brief excursion into pre-history. I'm
talking about June 20, 2006, when Israeli aircraft
fired at least one missile at a car in an attempted
extrajudicial assassination attempt on a road between
Jabalya and Gaza City. The missile missed the car.
Instead it killed three Palestinian children and
wounded 15.

Back we go again to June 13, 2006. Israeli aircraft
fired missiles at a van in another attempted
extrajudicial assassination. The successive barrages
killed nine innocent Palestinians.
Now we're really in the dark ages, reaching far, far
back to June 9, 2006, when Israel shelled a beach in
Beit Lahiya killing 8 civilians and injuring 32.

That's just a brief trip down Memory Lane, and we trip
over the bodies of twenty dead and forty-seven
wounded, all of them Palestinians, most of them women
and children.

Israel regrets. But no! Israel doesn't regret in the
least. Most of the time it doesn't even bother to
pretend to regret. It says, "We reserve the right to
slaughter Palestinians whenever we want. We reserve
the right to assassinate their leaders, crush their
homes, steal their water, tear out their olive groves,
and when they try to resist we call them terrorists
intent on wrecking the 'peace process'".

Now Israel says it wants to wipe out Hezbollah. It
wishes no harm to the people of Lebanon, just so long
as they're not supporters of Hezbollah, or standing
anywhere in the neighborhood of a person or a house or
a car or a truck or a road or a bus or a field, or a
power station or a port that might, in the mind of an
Israeli commander or pilot, have something to do with
Hezbollah. In any of those eventualities all bets are
off. You or your wife or your mother or your baby get fried.
Israel regrets. But no! As noted above, it doesn't
regret in the least. Neither does George Bush, nor
Condoleezza Rice nor John Bolton who is the moral
savage who brings shame on his country each day that
he sits as America's ambassador (unconfirmed) at the
UN and who has just told the world that a dead Israel
civilian is worth a whole more in terms of moral
outrage than a Lebanese one.

None of them regrets. They say Hezbollah is a cancer
in the body of Lebanon. Sometimes, to kill the cancer,
you end up killing the body. Or bodies. Bodies of
babies. Lots of them. Go to the website
fromisraeltolebanon.info and take a look. Then sign
the petition on the site calling on the governments of
the world to stop this barbarity.

You can say that Israel brought Hezbollah into the
world. You can prove it too, though this too involves
another frightening excursion into history.

This time we have to go far, almost unimaginably far,
back into history. Back to 1982, before the dinosaurs,
before CNN, before Fox TV, before O'Reilly and
Limbaugh. But not before the neo-cons who at that time
had already crawled from the primal slime and were
doing exactly what they are doing now: advising an
American president to give Israel the green light to
"solve its security problems" by destroying Lebanon.

In 1982 Israel had a problem. Yasir Arafat,
headquartered in Beirut, was making ready to announce
that the PLO was prepared to sit down with Israel and
embark on peaceful, good faith negotiations towards a
two-state solution.

Israel didn't want a two-state solution, which meant
-- if UN resolutions were to be taken seriously -- a
Palestinian state right next door, with water, and
contiguous territory. So Israel decided chase the PLO
right out of Lebanon. It announced that the
Palestinian fighters had broken the year-long
cease-fire by lobbing some shells into northern
Israel.

Palestinians had done nothing of the sort. I remember
this very well, because Brian Urquhart, at that time
assistant secretary general of the United Nations, in
charge of UN observers on Israel's northern border,
invited me to his office on the 38th floor of the UN
hq in mid-Manhattan and showed me all the current
reports from the zone. For over a year there'd been no
shelling from north of the border. Israel was lying.

With or without a pretext Israel wanted to invade
Lebanon. So it did, and rolled up to Beirut. It
shelled Lebanese towns and villages and bombed them
from the air. Sharon's forces killed maybe 20,000
people, and let Lebanese Christians slaughter hundreds
of Palestinian refugees in the camps of Sabra and
Chatilla.

The killing got so bad that even Ronald Reagan awoke
from his slumbers and called Tel Aviv to tell Israel
to stop. Sharon gave the White House the finger by
bombing Beirut at the precise times -- 2.42 and 3.38
-- of two UN resolutions calling for a peaceful
settlement on the matter of Palestine.
When the dust settled over the rubble, Israel bunkered
down several miles inside Lebanese sovereign
territory, which it illegally occupied, in defiance of
all UN resolutions, for years, supervising a brutal
local militia and running its own version of Abu
Graibh, the torture center at the prison of Al-Khiam.

Occupy a country, torture its citizens and in the end
you face resistance. In Israel's case it was
Hezbollah, and in the end Hezbollah ran Israel out of
Lebanon, which is why a lot of Lebanese regard
Hezbollah not as terrorists but as courageous
liberators.

The years roll by and Israel does its successful best
to destroy all possibility of a viable two-state
solution. It builds illegal settlements. It chops up
Palestine with Jews-only roads. It collars all the
water. It cordons off Jerusalem. It steals even more
land by bisecting Palestinian territory with its
"fence". Anyone trying to organize resistance gets
jailed, tortured, or blown up.
Sick of their terrible trials, Palestinians elect
Hamas, whose leaders make it perfectly clear that they
are ready to deal on the basis of the old two-state
solution, which of course is the one thing Israel
cannot endure. Israel doesn't want any "peaceful
solution" that gives the Palestinians anything more
than a few trashed out acres surrounded with barbed
wire and tanks, between the Israeli settlements whose
goons can murder them pretty much at will.

So here we are, 24 years after Sharon did his best to
destroy Lebanon in 1982, and his heirs are doing it
all over again. Since they can't endure the idea of
any just settlement for Palestinians, it's the only
thing they know how to do. Call Lebanon a terror-haven
and bomb it back to the stone age. Call Gaza a
terror-haven and bomb its power plant, first stop on
the journey back to the stone age. Bomb Damascus. Bomb
Teheran.

Of course they won't destroy Hezbollah. Every time
they kill another Lebanese family, they multiply
hatred of Israel and support for Hezbollah. They've
even unified the parliament in Baghdad, which just
voted unanimously -- Sunnis and Shi'ites and Kurds
alike -- to deplore Israel's conduct and to call for
a ceasefire.

I hope you've enjoyed these little excursions into
history, even though history is dangerous, which is
why the US press gives it a wide birth. But even
without the benefit of historical instruction, a
majority of Americans in CNN's instant poll -- about
55 per cent out of 800,000 as of midday, July 19 --
don't like what Israel is up to.

Dislike is one thing, but at least in the short term
it doesn't help much. Israel's 1982 attack on Lebanon
grew unpopular in the US, after the first few days.
But forcing the US to pressure Israel to settle the
basic problem takes political courage, and virtually
no US politician is prepared to buck the Israel lobby,
however many families in Lebanon and Gaza may be
sacrificed on the altar of such cowardice.

Nations Fail to Reach Agreement on Mideast Cease-Fire

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072600289.html
289.html

Bush Administration Profit Motive with Israel

There has to be a profit motive somewhere!

Club Puppet: Iraq

Members of congress are upset that the head Iraqi is expressing his distaste with Israeli tactics. Does he not have the right to disagree with the United States. After all he was elected by the people of Iraq. After all we did not go to fight for the people of Iraq, our initial reason for being in Iraq was to remove weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. Now after destroying the whole country and facilitating the killing and murder of everyone we presume to tell the head of Iraq that he can not express his opinion. The head of Iraq better be pretty careful he may be next to be framed for false charges of WMD.

Condeleeza Rice - Secretary of State Of Israel

Breakdown of Press Conferance Participants

Koffi Annan
Mayor of Lebanon
Mayor Of Italy
Condelleza Rice

There were no representatives for Israel on stage. Can we only assume that Condeleeza Rice is the representative for Israeli interests and not the United States. I am an American citizen and I do not support the murder of U.N. representatives. I do not support the over reaction to incidents, the kidnapping of one or even twenty soldiers does not translate into the killing of hundreds and thousands of people, the bombing and destruction of buildings, three bombings of U.N. outposts, and the constant war mongering of Israel. As an American citizen I am highly disturbed that Condeleeza Rice is representing the interests of Israel and not the interests of the United States. The Bush administration is a rogue administration they have done anything they have wanted to do in the United States, tapped our phones, gone into our banking records, and done whatever they could do to break down our constitution. Now they want to use rogue tactics in the world. Congress and the Senate must show some backbone and rule on the issue of Lebanon. We can no longer allow the Bush Administration to speak for us all because ultimately they do not represent U.S. opinion.

SundayMirror.co.uk - News - DIANA EXCLUSIVE THE DRIVER'S LOST THREE HOURS

SundayMirror.co.uk - News - DIANA EXCLUSIVE: THE DRIVER'S LOST THREE HOURS23
July 2006
DIANA EXCLUSIVE: THE DRIVER'S LOST THREE HOURS
Revealed: The Diana Report Paul missing from 7-10pm on night of crash
£75,000 was paid into his bank.. and he was MI5 agent
Crash Merc limousine was NOT sabotaged
By Chester Stern Leading Crime Writer
SCOTLAND Yard detectives investigating the death of Diana, Princess of
Wales, are baffled over the disappearance of driver Henri Paul for three
hours on the night of the Paris car crash.
They have "no idea" about the movements of the chauffeur in the crucial
hours leading up to the smash which killed the Princess despite an extensive
two-and-a-half-year inquiry.
The investigation is being led by former Scotland Yard Commissioner Lord
Stevens and is widely expected to conclude the deaths of Diana and boyfriend
Dodi Fayed were accidental.
But the process was sensationally thrown into chaos on Friday night when
royal coroner Michael Burgess - who appointed Lord Stevens - quit.
Mr Burgess insisted he did not have the time to devote to the massive
inquiry, while friends said, with the stakes so high, he felt frustrated by
the interference of the Government, members of the Royal Family and Dodi's
father, Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
Now the Sunday Mirror has learned that evidence uncovered by the inquiry
team - which had been due to report to Mr Burgess next month on the ninth
anniversary of the tragedy - will raise serious questions about the role of
Paul.
Advertisement
Lord Stevens has established that Paul, deputy head of security at the Ritz
Hotel in Paris, was a paid informant for the security services of Britain
and France. The Stevens team have also found that £75,000 had been placed
into Paul's bank account - much of it from British banks - in the weeks
leading up to the crash.
But they can find no explanation for the bizarre route Paul - trying to
outrun a pack of paparazzi photographers - took from the Ritz to Dodi
Fayed's flat off the Champs Elysee.
British investigators are understood to have made significant progress in
answering key questions left unanswered by a French judicial inquiry. In
particular, they have found an explanation for the high levels of carbon
monoxide in Henri Paul's blood. But they have discounted claims that the
couple's Mercedes had been tampered with.
Claims that Paul was acting under instructions from spymasters on the night
of Diana's death remain unresolved. Specifically, his movements after he
went off duty from the Ritz at 7pm before he returned at 10pm to drive Diana
and Dodi to their deaths in the Alma Tunnel are a mystery. One witness saw
him collect his car from outside the Champmesle bar not far from his home
minutes before he arrived back at the Ritz. But apart from that the evening
is a blank. And in spite of his familiarity with the road to Dodi's flat, he
took a longer course which led away from the flat and took in the ill-fated
tunnel. The belief that he may have been paid to take such an unusual course
is fuelled by the bank account revelations and confirmation that Paul was a
paid agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and the French
equivalent of MI5, the DST. Both services have co-operated with the Stevens
team, but neither can shed any light on Paul's whereabouts on the evening of
August 30, 1997.
Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed firmly believes his son and Diana were
murdered by British security services and that Paul was made scapegoat as
part of an official cover-up. One of his main suspicions was based on the
amount of carbon monoxide in blood samples from Paul's body. If accurate, he
would have been semi-conscious and incapable of driving.
Mr Al Fayed has always contended that the samples were either not from Henri
Paul or had been tampered with. Now, according to sources, an explanation
has been found for the reading. Among the other issues the detectives have
resolved is the reason for the presence of certain MI6 officers in Paris on
the night of the crash. Lord Stevens was appointed in January 2004 by Mr
Burgess to investigate the conspiracy theories about the crash... including
claims that the couple were murdered.
KEY POINTS
The Motorcyclists HENRI Paul could have left the Seine Expressway at the
last exit before the Alma Tunnel. But witnesses say a lone motorcyclist sat
astride his bike blocking that exit and forcing the speeding Mercedes into
the tunnel.
Was he there deliberately as part of a plot to cause the crash or is there
an innocent explanation? Witnesses also spoke of another motorcyclist who
sped past the Mercedes as it entered the tunnel. His pillion passenger is
said to have fired a blinding flash into the eyes of Henri Paul. Were these
paparazzi photographers or assassins firing a disorienting laser gun?
The Embalming
FRENCH pathologist Professor Dominique Lecomte, who carried out an autopsy
on the body of Henri Paul, apparently partially embalmed Diana's body before
it was transported back to Britain for a post-mortem examination. This is
against the law and international forensic practice because it contaminates
body tissue and renders toxicological tests meaningless. Did she do this to
remove evidence of pregnancy or traces of poisoning, drugs, or alcohol? Or
is there an innocent explanation.
The Pregnancy
MOHAMED Al Fayed insists Diana was pregnant with his grandchild at the time
of her death. Her friend Rosa Monkton, who shared a holiday with the
Princess a week before she died, is adamant that this is impossible. And
former royal coroner Dr John Burton, who was present at Diana's autopsy,
says there was no evidence of pregnancy. The Stevens team will be able to
give unbiased evidence.
The Fiat Uno
THE Mercedes was seen to collide with a white Fiat Uno as it entered the
tunnel. While Henri Paul lost control of his car, the Fiat continued through
the tunnel although part of its bumper and broken tail light were found in
the road after the crash. The driver never came forward and French police
failed to find the car. Some witnesses said it appeared to be loitering near
the mouth of the tunnel before the crash.
James Andanson
HE was the French photographer who owned a white Fiat Uno which was sold and
resprayed days after the crash. Like Henri Paul, he was a paid informant for
British and French intelligence, giving rise to suspicions that he might
have been part of a plot. He insisted he was not in Paris that night and
left France next morning for Corsica.
Some have questioned this story since, as the photographer who had pursued
Diana and Dodi most closely all summer, he would have been unlikely to
abandon the story just when it became worldwide news. According to friends
Andanson (right) boasted he was the first photographer on the scene, took
his pictures and left before police arrived.
Almost three years later his charred remains were found in a locked car on
remote farmland in the South of France. Local authorities said it was
suicide. The conspiracy theorists say it was murder.
The Onlookers
IN the hours leading up to the crash - the afternoon and evening of Saturday
August 30, 1997 - a crowd of curious onlookers gathered outside The Ritz
Hotel in Paris to watch the comings and goings of Princess Diana and Dodi
Fayed.
Among them was a pack of photographers who only left to follow the couple -
and the remainder was an ever-changing throng of tourists who paused to
watch for a while before moving on. But security cameras at The Ritz picked
up two men who stood at the edge of the crowd for many hours without leaving
or talking to anyone. Despite public appeals for them to come forward they
have never been identified.
Were they secret agents with some sinister motive? The British security
services have co-operated fully with Lord Stevens and it is believed they
have identified these men and given an explanation for their behaviour.
Bank Accounts
AT the time of his death Henri Paul had 13 separate bank accounts, held in
four different banks, containing a total of £120,000. In one account five
cash deposits totalling £4,000 each had been made in the months leading up
to the crash and further sums amounting to £75,000 were allegedly
transferred into his accounts mainly from British banks over the same
period.
Yet his annual salary was around £20,000. The team have been seeking an
explanation for this unexpected wealth.
The Break-ins
FOUR nights after the crash a photographer named Lionel Cherrault, working
for the French photographic agency SIPA but based in Britain, had his flat
in North-West London broken into.
He had been acting as an agent forwarding pictures of the crash to
publications around the world. The intruders left all the valuables and took
only two external computer hard disk drives and a laptop computer. They left
no fingerprints.
The next day Cherrault was told by detectives that he had "not been burgled"
and police made it clear that they neither could nor would take any action.
The clear implication was that the intruders had been members of an official
clandestine organisation trying to intercept pictures of the crash.
As a former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Lord Stevens should
have no difficulty in discovering the truth of that episode and how it does
or does not fit in with conspiracy theories.
Two days after the discovery of James Andanson's body the Paris headquarters
of the agency he worked for, SIPA, was raided by two masked men who shot a
security guard and held staff at gunpoint while they reportedly ransacked
Andanson's office and stole computer disks.
Investigators have had the full co-operation of the French so it is likely
they will have discovered the truth.
The CCTV
THE original French judicial inquiry into the crash was unable to see CCTV
footage of the crash scene or the progress of the Mercedes because officials
claimed all the cameras failed to work that night. But one motorist received
a speeding ticket after being captured on a camera at the entrance to the
Alma Tunnel 15 minutes before the crash. The British detectives will now be
able to give an explanation for this anomaly.
The Bomb
WITNESSES have told of a loud explosion like a bomb blast coming from the
tunnel at the time of the crash. Sophisticated tests have taken place to
replicate the sound of the crash for witnesses to hear to show that the
noise of a tunnel crash sounds like a bomb explosion. Theories that the car
was tampered with or had devices attached to it have been discounted after
the British team took the wrecked car apart and studied it microscopically.

Asia Times Online Middle East News - It's war by any other name (Any old excuse will do continues)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG15Ak02.html
Middle East
Jul 15, 2006
It's war by any other name
By Sami Moubayed

DAMASCUS - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described what is happening in
Lebanon as saying. "This is an act of war." Olmert is correct. This is war.
It has been war, non-stop, since 1948. What is happening in Lebanon today is
yet another chapter of bloody Middle East events that will last for
generations to come, because it is impossible, after so many years of
conflict, for the Israelis and Arabs to forgive and forget.

In this week's events in Lebanon, the one set of parties, which include
Syria, the Palestinians, Iran, Arab nationalists in the Middle East and
North Africa, along with jihadi Muslims in the Muslim World, believe that
escalation is the only solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

They claim that the Arabs tried to talk peace with the Israelis after

the Palestinians signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1993, and ended up
with nothing. They say that war is correct, justified morally, politically
and religiously.

To them, it is legitimate self-defense. They back this argument by saying
that Israel still controls the Sheba Farms, which are part of Lebanon, and
still has Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails. Also, they add that the
Israeli tank destroyed by Hezbollah, and the soldiers captured and killed on
July 12, had trespassed into Lebanon's side of the border with Israel.

They argue that if the Arab world cannot fight Israel, then the least Arab
countries can do is permit -or facilitate - a proxy war with Israel through
the Hezbollah resistance in Lebanon.

US President George W Bush, who commented on Lebanon from Germany 24 hours
after violence had spiraled out of control, described the situation as
"pathetic". He also expressed concern that Israel's offensive into Lebanon
could destabilize or even topple a Lebanese government that Washington
supports. He made things worse and further infuriated the Arab street by
expressing Israel's "right to defend herself".

The other party (centered mainly in Lebanon) argues that Lebanon is paying a
high price for a war that does not concern all Lebanese. The Christians of
Lebanon, along with a majority of the Sunni Muslims, want a war-free
Westernized country that thrives on tourism and sound economic policies.

The Christians in particular were never too fond of the Shi'ites of Lebanon.
They treated them as an underclass in the 1950s and 1960s, allocating no
more than 0.7% of the budget for construction and health care in their
districts, waged war against them in the 1970s and 1980s, then tried to mend
relations with them from 1990 onwards.

The Christians were worldly, well-educated and worked in business, politics,
literature and the arts, while the Shi'ites were mainly laborers, farmers
and ordinary citizens with limited social mobility. Even their deputies in
parliament were feudal landlords who cared little for the community's
welfare.

These Christians today - despite all the unity talk heard in Lebanon - do
not feel that the Hezbollah prisoners in Israeli jails concern them. Nor do
the Sheba Farms. They dislike the Shi'ite south of the country in as much as
the Shi'ite leaders dislike the Christian districts of Lebanon.

Therefore, they feel indifferent to the plight of Hezbollah. They do not
want Lebanon to become the "Che Guevara" of Arab politics. They argue that
all this military escalation does is wreck plans for Lebanon's rebirth. On
July 13 - as the Christians feared - tourism suffered tremendously after the
Israelis struck at Beirut Airport. In one day, over 15,000 tourists fled
Lebanon by land to Syria.

Both pro and anti-Hezbollah arguments are valid, depending on where one
stands today in the Arab world.

It all started on July 12 when Israel troops were ambushed on Lebanon's side
of the border with Israel. Hezbollah, which commands the Lebanese south,
immediately seized on their crossing. They arrested two Israeli soldiers,
killed eight Israelis and wounded over 20 in attacks inside Israeli
territory.

This unleashed hell in Israel, and Olmert immediately responded by mounting
a war on Lebanon. A sea, air and ground blockade was enforced on Lebanon,
and a systematic destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure was began.

Hezbollah responded by wounding 11 Israelis with Katyusha-style rockets
fired on the town of Safad in northern Israel. Hezbollah secretary general
Hassan Nasrallah gave a press conference hours after the hostilities
started. He was confident, articulate, strong and very defiant, as usual,
saying that this operation aimed at getting the Israelis to release Lebanese
prisoners from their jails.

Counter-operations would not release the two abducted Israeli soldiers, he
pointed out. Statements by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad al-Siniora, who
wanted to distance himself from the attacks, said that his government had
not authorized the Hezbollah operation.

His claim, however, fell on deaf ears in Israel. Damaging his credibility
was a statement by Lebanon's ambassador to the United States, Farid Abbud,
who spoke on CNN and demanded a prisoner exchange between Hezbollah and
Israel, adding that Israel must return the occupied Sheba Farms to Lebanon.

His statements gave the impression that the Lebanese government, which he
was officially representing, approved of the kidnapping and was echoing the
demands of Nasrallah. As a result, he was recalled to Lebanon.

Undaunted by Siniora distancing himself from the Hezbollah operation, Israel
responded by bombing Rafik al-Harriri International Airport in Beirut,
bringing all aviation to a halt, and bombing two other airports in northern
and southern Lebanon.

These airports, Israel claimed, were being used to channel money and arms to
Hezbollah. One of the party's offices in the suburb of Beirut was bombed,
and so was a post in the ancient city of Baalbak. And Israel battered roads,
flyovers and fuel tanks in Lebanon early on Friday.

A division of 12,000 troops has been stationed on the Lebanese-Israeli
border. The Israeli Ministry of Defense has threatened to bomb the
Damascus-Beirut highway. If this happens, Lebanon would become completely
isolated, with no ground route to Syria, and its other outlets by sea and
air blocked by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Hezbollah threatened that if more attacks ensued, it would target Haifa, the
third-largest city inside Israel (which it then did), but Israel military
commanders said that no targets in Lebanon were safe from reprisal attacks
so long as the two Israeli soldiers were still held hostage in Lebanon.

Israeli chief-of-staff Dan Halutz said that the operations would continue
"to restore calm to northern Israel". These responsibilities, he added
"particularly bombings by air and artillery, target Lebanon itself and
Hezbollah. They will continue as long as necessary until our objectives are
reached."

Israel military commanders have pledged to plunge Lebanon back 20 years if
hostilities did not end immediately. Bridges inside Lebanon, near the city
of Sidon and throughout the south, were also destroyed. The death toll, at
the time of writing, is over 50 Lebanese killed. Another 103 have been
wounded.

Meanwhile, according to the IDF, 90 people had been injured inside Israel.
This is the largest Israeli offensive in Lebanon since the IDF invaded and
occupied Beirut to defeat the Palestinian Army of Yasser Arafat in 1982.

Apart from all of these facts, everything gets muddled in Lebanon. Israel
announced on July 13 that two rockets had landed on Haifa from Lebanon, as
Hezbollah had promised, but Hezbollah denied the accusation.

If Hezbollah did not fire the rockets, however, who did? Is it a fabricated
story being used by Israel to launch more offensives into Lebanon, because
minutes after the story was revealed, and despite Hezbollah's denial, Israel
jets raided fuel tanks at Beirut airport.

The question on everybody's mind is: why is all of this happening now? Apart

from the soaring emotions and reminders of trumpeting Arab nationalism of
the 1960s, it is sheer madness for anyone to believe that Hezbollah would be
able to defeat, or even inflict maximum pain, on Israel - and get away with
it.

Too much is at stake inside Israel for Olmert to let the offensive pass
without transforming it into all-out war. In October 2000, right at the
outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in Jerusalem, Hezbollah did a
similar stunt by kidnapping Israelis in Lebanon.

At the time, prime minister Ehud Barak refused to seriously push for their
release, fearing that opening another front against Lebanon, while the
Israelis were busy combating the Palestinians at home, would only endanger
Israeli lives. Five months later, Barak was voted out of office, in March
2001, for a variety of reasons, prime among them being his passive response
to Hezbollah.

So, is anybody influencing Hezbollah to dramatically escalate the conflict?
Has Hezbollah coordinated these attacks with Hamas inside Palestine,
believing that the time was ripe since relatively new and inexperienced
leaders were now in power in Israel (in reference to Defense Minister Amir
Peretz and Olmert)?

Never before has Hezbollah carried out such a massive offensive, not even
during the heydays of the Syrian presence in Lebanon in the 1990s when most
of south Lebanon was still occupied.

What makes it believe that this time - with the tense international
situation - it can get away with it? Ultra-nationalists in Hamas, like the
Damascus-based Khaled Meshal, have certainly supported the Lebanese group,
injecting them with confidence and prompting them into "defiance" mode.

Meshal, who leads the anti-pragmatism fold in Hamas that still wants to
destroy the Jewish state, is not satisfied by the overtures of Hamas Prime
Minister Ismail Haniyya towards Israel. Haniyya, voted into office early
this year, wants to run a country and is suffering from an international
boycott on food, medicine and money into the Palestinian territories.

Wages have not been paid in Palestine since February. Haniyya made several
gestures of goodwill toward Israel (much to the displeasure of Meshal), to
prove that he was not in power to combat Israel but to improve the
livelihood of the Palestinians.

Meshal had other plans for the Hamas-led government, which contradicted with
what Haniyya was seeing on the ground in Palestine. The two men drifted
apart on how to lead the government, and split when three resistance groups
in Palestine, apparently coordinating with Meshal's team, kidnapped the
19-year old Israeli soldier on June 25.

This sent shockwaves throughout Israel, and Olmert responded with grand
force, re-occupying Gaza and killing, to date, an estimated 75 Palestinians
in revenge. Electricity was destroyed in Gaza, and currently 1.5 million
inhabitants live in darkness. Israel struck at buildings, an Islamic
university and official buildings, including that of Haniyya and his Foreign
Minister Mahmud al-Zahhar (which was destroyed on July 13).

Ministers have been arrested, along with parliamentary deputies, and brought
before military courts clad in chains to their feet and hands. Haniyya, who
sees the state he is heading crumbling before his very eyes, wanted to solve
the crisis politically, claiming that all the Palestinians living under his
control were suffering from Israel's military response. The resistance
groups demanded a prisoner swap where 1,000 Palestinians would be released
from Israeli jails, in exchange for the young Israeli soldier. Israel has
refused.

Haniyya is closer to a solution that releases the Israeli soldier in
exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian funds (frozen since Hamas came to
power in January, and its authorization to bring clean drinking water, food
and medicine into the Occupied Territories. Both solutions have not yet
materialized, and in the middle of all the chaos and war, came the Hezbollah
operation.

Men of war
This is where the Meshal-Nasrallah connection comes into play. Both leaders
are clearly not interested in peace with Israel. Their views are mirrored
with their two allies in Tehran and Damascus. Both leaders are unimpressed
by Arab regimes that call for peace and dialogue - prime on the list being
Mahmud Abbas in Palestine.

They are being aggressive with Israel so Israel can respond with similar
aggressiveness - killing whatever dreams Arabs peacemakers have in mind. The
same formula applies inside Israel, where many do not want room for
moderation in Israeli-Arab relations.

They want to root out the moderates to justify aggression against the
Palestinians and Lebanese. Meshal would very much love to see Hamas out of
the political process. It would then be restored to the fold of the
resistance, and freed from the burden of government, able to focus on
military operations once again.

The same applies to Nasrallah. If Israeli leaves the Sheba Farms and frees
all Lebanese prisoners from its jails, there would no longer be a need for
Hezbollah. The reason behind such calculations, however, and the dramatic
side-effects such adventures have on Palestinian and Lebanese lives, are
colossal.

They believe, however, that war on two fronts would achieve one of two
things. Either it would get Israel to show aggression, justifying their own
aggression against the Israelis. Or a best-case scenario would be that a
two-side war would break Israel. Either outcome, Hezbollah and Hamas are the
victors.

The final argument - based on conspiracy theories - in the war of Lebanon is
that somebody convinced Hezbollah of this offensive with the purpose of
destroying Hezbollah, forcing them to commit "political suicide". This
"somebody" has given Hezbollah enough rope to hang itself, making it believe
that it could turn the tables on Israel by capturing two Israeli soldiers.

The reason for this argument is that Hezbollah, for the past two years, has
been a topic of international concern. Everybody wants Hezbollah to disarm
(except Syria and Iran) but do not have the means to make them lay down
their weapons. It certainly is not working by dialogue - because Hezbollah
would not hear a word of it, and, therefore, has to be done by force through
a foreign power. The only power able and willing to inflict a deadly blow on
Hezbollah is Israel.

Having the Americans pressure Hezbollah to disarm would be considered
aggression on the Shi'ite community as whole. It would enrage Iran and
alienate whatever support the Americans still had left among the Shi'ite
community in Iraq. The leaders of Lebanon, who came to power after the
Syrian troop withdrawal in April 2005, wanted to court Hezbollah. They
believed that by making them shoulder responsibility for government,
Hezbollah would show more reason in dealing with Israel.

The same reasoning applied to the Americans when they brought the Sunnis to
power in Iraq, hoping that this would help end the Sunni insurgency. The
Lebanese, headed by Siniora, reasoned that with seats in parliament and
government ministries allocated to Hezbollah, the resistance group would not
possibly engage in war with Israel.

Apparently, they were wrong.

Many wrongly believed that once the Syrian army left Lebanon, Hezbollah
would be weakened, gradually losing its influence in the country. This
turned out to be nonsense, since contrary to what is commonly portrayed in
the Western media, Hezbollah is a party that is totally independent in
Lebanon from control of the Syrians.

They used to work under Syria's umbrella under former Syrian president Hafez
al-Assad in the 1990s, needing his support to keep their arms in the
post-war era, but since their victory in liberating south Lebanon in 2000,
they have become independent of Syrian control.

They still confer with the Syrians, seek their advice and coordinate with
Syria but they do not take orders, money or arms from Damascus. For example,
they had four parliamentary seats in 1992, and four for their allies, a
total of only eight, and this in the heyday of Syrian hegemony in Lebanon.
Today, with Syria out, they have 14 seats.

This explains why Hezbollah remained pro-Syrian until curtain-fall.
Nasrallah never relied on the Syrians for his power base, nor did any member
of Hezbollah. Also in Hezbollah's favor now is the victory of Iranian
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who has shown strong support for the Shi'ite
Lebanese resistance. Ahmadinejad clearly believes in the vision of Grand
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to promote Shi'ite Islam and help emancipate
the Shi'ites of Lebanon.

Ahmadinejad said on Thursday any Israeli strike on Syria would be considered
an attack on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response",
state television reported.

Relevant to all that is happening in Lebanon today is the degree of support
Hezbollah and Nasrallah have in the Shi'ite community - and the amount of
animosity in non-Shi'ite districts. One reason the Shi'ites support
Hezbollah is religion. It is not the only one, however, because a study
conducted by Dr Judith Harik, a professor at the American University of
Beirut in 1996, showed that 70% of Hezbollah's supporters saw themselves
only as moderately religious, and 23% said they were religious only out of
obligation.

Pragmatism, nationalism and charity networks, rather than Muslim ideology,
are the secrets of Hezbollah's success. Hezbollah enjoys authority and
commands unwavering loyalty among Shi'ites because it always appears to be a
confident political party that is doing an honorable job in fighting Israel.
Adding to the nationalist aspect is the social one, which is that many
people in the Shi'ite community, mainly at the grass-root level, rely on
Hezbollah for charity and welfare.

Hezbollah has succeeded in promoting itself through the media, igniting
confidence, safety and security among the 10 million viewers of al-Manar
television, for example. Many of those viewers are Shi'ites. Not once does
al-Manar, for example, show viewers a member of Hezbollah defeated. Rather,
it shows pictures of dead Israelis, real footage of Hezbollah operations and
programs highlighting Hezbollah's charity organizations. Hezbollah is a
movement inspired by nationalism rather than religiousness.

Precisely for these reasons it would be difficult for anyone to tackle
Hezbollah. The only way to disarm is for the Shi'ite group to wait until the
Israelis leave Sheba, then free all prisoners. They would then have to
modify their agenda, after quiet discussions with everybody in Lebanon, and
transform themselves from a military party into a political one.

That would have been the logical response, but Nasrallah proved otherwise.
What he has done in the past few days is show the world that if he so
wishes, he can create havoc in Lebanon and the entire Middle East.

Nasrallah is sending a message to the world - and to his opponents inside
Lebanon - that he is still strong and a force to be reckoned with. He is
also sending a message to the United States, Israel and the Lebanese that
the Shi'ites are still there - still strong, still a force and still visible
to the rest of the world.

Sami Moubayed is a Syrian political analyst.

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What's Really Happening in Lebanon

LEBANESE FLEEING NORTH
By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
-----------------------------------------------------------
BEIRUT ? Lebanese civilians surged north in growing numbers yesterday under
a hail of Israeli rockets that struck a crowded minibus and flattened
buildings in towns and villages across the Hezbollah-dominated south.

Hezbollah responded with about 90 rockets, killing two persons and
wounding five in Haifa as officials said more than half the residents of
northern Israel have left. Ground fighting continued around the Lebanese
town of Maroun al-Ras, occupied by Israel on Saturday, but Lebanese
officials said the Israelis were not trying to advance.

Israeli mortars and rockets struck the coastal city Sidon for the first
time, hitting a Hezbollah-affiliated mosque and cultural center and throwing
into panic a city already swollen with tens of thousands of shelter-seekers
from farther south.

The exodus continued toward Beirut ? where embassies evacuated tens of
thousands of foreign nationals by ferry, warship and helicopters ? most of
them to Cyprus, where officials appealed for other countries to help.

U.N. humanitarian aid coordinator Jan Egeland condemned the Israeli air
strikes as "a violation of international law" after touring a neighborhood
in southern Beirut that had been largely leveled by air strikes. He said
about $100 million was needed immediately to provide relief to an estimated
600,000 displaced Lebanese.

"It's terrible. I see a lot of children wounded, homeless, suffering,"
said Mr. Egeland, who visited a Hezbollah-dominated slum that was once home
to several thousand people. "This is a war where civilians pay a
disproportionate price in Lebanon and northern Israel. I hadn't believed it
would be block by block leveled to the ground."

In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert complained that the world's
press was unfairly criticizing Israel, which began its attack on Hezbollah
targets across Lebanon after two of its soldiers were kidnapped on July 12.

"The massive, brutal and murderous viciousness of Hezbollah is
unfortunately not represented in its full intensity on television screens
outside of Israel," he said. "A twisted image is presented, where the victim
is presented as an aggressor."

Israeli air strikes yesterday killed people in several villages in
southern Lebanon and in Hezbollah-controlled areas of the central Bekaa
Valley, bringing the Lebanese government's count of fatalities to 380,
one-third of those younger than 12, said Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad
Siniora.

One bomb hit a minibus participating in the heaviest and most frenzied
flow yet of families desperate to leave the south, killing three and
wounding 16 others, Dr. Hassan Nasreddine of the Red Cross told the
Associated Press. Three bombs crashed into the southern Beirut suburb
visited by Mr. Egeland hours after he left.

Layal Nejim, 23, a Lebanese magazine photographer covering the
destruction in Tyre, became the first journalist to die in the conflict. An
Italian U.N. peacekeeper was wounded.

On the Israeli side, two persons were killed when a rocket smashed into
a house in Haifa, the largest Israeli city within range of the Hezbollah
missiles used to date. At least 13 Israelis were wounded as towns and
villages emptied across the north. Thirty-seven have died so far.

The Israeli army said it had seized two Hezbollah guerrillas during
fighting in the village of Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon, Agence
France-Presse reported.

Mr. Egeland said the United Nations would appeal for $100 million for
relief for those displaced by the bombardment and called on Israel to
guarantee safe corridors for aid and supplies.

Food, fuel and medicine were said to be running short in Sidon, where an
estimated 35,000 refugees from the south have swollen a normal population of
100,000.

Some supplies have arrived in Beirut aboard vessels coming to remove
foreign evacuees, and Israel has offered to allow further goods to be
landed. But it was not clear how they could safely be delivered to the
hard-hit areas in the south.

The U.S. Embassy has coordinated the evacuation of about 10,000
Americans in the past six days. An estimated 25,000 U.S. citizens are in
Lebanon, and many of those staying here are dual nationals with Lebanese
families, consular officials think.

The British government announced yesterday that it was winding down
operations after rescuing about 10,000 citizens from Lebanon. French,
Canadian and Scandinavian nationals continue to leave, while the first
Philippine expatriates arrived home yesterday.

-----------------------------------------------------------
This article was mailed from The Washington Times
(http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060724-122246-2981r.htm)
For more great articles, visit us at http://www.washingtontimes.com

Copyright (c) 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Israel showing Nazi charactersistics

The Israelis did not bomb southern Beirut because they thought there were bonkers there or weapons.  They bombed southern Beirut because they wanted to get rid of and actually kill young men that would fight on the side of Hezbollah.  What happened in Beirut was an extermination and genocide of the poor.  According to the Washington Times  :

 

“U.N. humanitarian aid coordinator Jan Egeland condemned the Israeli air strikes as "a violation of international law" after touring a neighborhood in southern Beirut that had been largely leveled by air strikes. He said about $100 million was needed immediately to provide relief to an estimated 600,000 displaced Lebanese.
    "It's terrible. I see a lot of children wounded, homeless, suffering," said Mr. Egeland, who visited a Hezbollah-dominated slum that was once home to several thousand people. "This is a war where civilians pay a disproportionate price in Lebanon and northern Israel. I hadn't believed it would be block by block leveled to the ground."

With the carpet bombing of Lebanon the Israelis have effectively avenged themselves and gotten revenge for the holocaust.  They are walking in the shoes of Hitler and the Nazis.  They have killed the poor and the hopeless of Lebanon, the equivalent of U.S. Katrina victims, but in this case the victims never had a chance to get out as block by block their homes were leveled to the ground with I am assuming some of them in their homes and I am seriously doubting whether the casualty count on the Lebanese side is correct.

 

 

 

The Bush Administration failed to Seek Cease Fire whiles tens of thousands of U.S. Citizens occupied Lebanon

The Bush Administration failed to seek a cease fire even while tens of thousand of Americans occupied Lebanon! Does the Bush administration even care about U.S. citizens, these attitudes definitely support 911 conspiracy theories! Finally even if the Lebanese are not U.S. citizens, individuals that can watch innocent women and children being bombed and killed, whole neighborhoods destroyed in Lebanon and Iraq, support the fact that the Bush administration contains the type of individuals that could kill a large number of people in a terrorist attack. The Bush administration supports destabilization of stable societies. We have psychopaths running the United States government. If anyone wondered what would happen if a so called "crazy man" from a third world society ruled the world what would happen, "lets look at Baby Bush"!!!! Finally, the bombing of South Lebanon was class based, I am assuming that the occupants of South Lebanon were the poorer individuals of the Lebanese society supported by CNN which reported that Hezbollah supported hospitals, schools, and provided social services to Lebanese individuals. I assume that largely the poor were destroyed in the first bombing of Lebanon. Finally the 911 attack was class based, it killed a large number of people of the same social strata who Bush definitely resented for not voting for him. In any case 911 being committed by the Bush administration is just a conspiracy while the refusal to seek a cease fire in Lebanon and the taste of blood in the mouth of the Bush administration is not.

CNN conducts Pro-Israeli propaganda War "What a difference a Day Makes"

Several days ago CNN appeared to be reporting just the facts as related to the Lebanese bombing. Now obviously CNN reporters are under a gag order to only be pro Israeli. CNN - most trusted name in NEWS - NOT! Watch the Pro-Israeli puppets paraded up and down as millions of refugees exist in the Middle East. Watch CNN discuss one mons house being bombed while 25,000 Palestinians could possibly be dead. The Propaganda war continues!

Ditto: Washington Post!
Fox: Must get direct orders from the Bush Administration

There was a time when I believed that Palestinians were tent nomads that just occupied a territory moving from place to place until I saw a PBS special which had a woman talking about her stone house that she had been removed from, all she could talk about was her deed and that her house and land had been in her families for years and years and she now had no where to go and they showed her house cordoned off.

Finally, the Israelis are going world wide asking fellow Jews to return to their homeland, some of those people don't even look like the Jewish people or Semitic that I am historically used to seeing. In such a cramped space maybe a DNA test would tell the truth instead of inviting the world to a land that someone graciously gave to them that was not anyone's to give because people were living there. If you claim the rights to the land, Let the DNA tell the story!!!!

DNA still pointing African Americans to the countries of their ancestors over 400 years later! DNA works! Israelis try it!

U.S. and Israel Motivated by Blood Lust

Nobel Prize Winner Ralphe Bunche said in the 1950's the following regarding war:

"There are some in the world who are prematurely resigned to the inevitability of war. Among them are the advocates of the so-called preventive war, who in their resignation to war wish merely to select their own time for initiating it. To suggest that war can prevent war is a base play on words and a despicable form of warmongering. The objective of any who sincerely believe in peace clearly must be to exhaust every honorable recourse in the effort to save the peace. The world has ample evidence that war begets only conditions which beget further war."


The Bush Administration has carpet bagged and killed thousands of people in their blood lust. People have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and probably other places that I have not paid attention to. I do not even believe that it's for revenge. I think it's because of lust for oil and in the current situation with Israel, it's lust for land. My opinion is that this war with Lebanon is a sample war to see what type of fire power Iran has and will determine whether the United States decides to make up a little pretend war against Iran. When the United States started puppeteering the Israelis they forgot to teach them to cloak their words to sound like their own but instead are sound bites from the cabinet of Bush. The Israelis are mouthing out words "Triple Axis of Evil" , insisting that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and a threat to their democracy. Their words are making Hezbollah look like the Israeli Al Qaida, when the fact is that they are not. However what the assault from Israel had succeeded in doing according to the Washington Post is the following:

"The diplomatic effort comes as conditions in Lebanon deteriorate. In New York, U.N. humanitarian relief coordinator Jan Egeland said that access to many of the nearly 500,000 Lebanese in need of assistance has been severely hampered by bombing of roads and fighting. He has asked Israel and Lebanon for security guarantees and safe passage for aid workers through new humanitarian aid corridors so that food, medical and other supplies could be moved by land, sea and air."

"The war, the terror, the attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure has to stop in Lebanon, in northern Israel, as it has to stop in Gaza," Egeland told the Security Council. "Too many children, women, elderly and other civilians have already lost their lives or are struggling to survive from their wounds."

And even in the midst of suffering the New York Times is reporting that the United States is participating in the deadly genocide in the Middle East by speeding up arms shipments to Israel.

The New York Times is reporting the following:
"The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday."

"The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to IranÂ’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah"

The U.S. is showing that it has no intention of being fair or open minded in this issue. However it is my opinion if the Bush Administration and Israel could wipe the middle east off of the map they would do that, The Bush administration for Blood Lust for Oil, and theIsraelis because of Land Lust. Their actions indicate that this is exactly what they wish to do, and I have no illusions this is a test case to see what Iran has and will produce in a larger scale war with the U.S. Again these actions in the Middle East are driven by Blood Lust - Bush Lust for Oil not just Iraqii oil but Iranian Oil and Land Lust. As I conclude this post let us not forget the genocide committed by Europeans of the American Indians for land lust. I have no illusion that the Bush administration possessess the humanity to avoid genocidal policies they are in use right now. And far as Middle Easterners are concerned they are going to have to draw on their world ties to avoid extermination, they must consider sending some of their families to other parts of the world until the Mad Man of the United States and his flunkies leave office.

Telegraph News The five options open to Israel

Telegraph | News | The five options open to Israel
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=DXJT0BGBWFWOBQFIQMGSFG
GAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/07/14/wmid514.xml

The five options open to Israel

(Filed: 14/07/2006)

Act with restraint
It might already be too late for this but Israel could hold back in the hope
of focusing international pressure on Hizbollah and Hamas rather than on
Israel's response.
It has a stronger case in Lebanon, where it has withdrawn to the
UN-demarcated international border. Moreover, the Security Council has
called for Hizbollah to be disarmed.
In Gaza, Israel has formally withdrawn but still maintains a stranglehold on
the borders and occupies the West Bank.

Negotiate a prisoner exchange
Israel has in the past been willing to release scores of Arab prisoners to
recover captured Israelis. It is part of the unspoken compact in Israel's
conscript army that the government will do everything to bring its sons
home. Ehud Olmert says this will only encourage more kidnapping.

Negotiate 'red lines'
In the past, large-scale Israeli operations have been ended by third-party
mediators negotiating unofficial agreements setting "red lines". For years
it was understood that Hizbollah would not carry out raids in Israel itself
and refrain from firing rockets on Israeli cities if Israel did not hurt
Lebanese civilians.
But the withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon has deprived Hizbollah of targets
and it has clung to the notion that Israel is still occupying a parcel of
Lebanese territory known as the Shebaa Farms. Israel would like to halt the
rocket fire and push Hizbollah back from its positions on Israel's border
but may not find anybody able to impose such an arrangement.

Re-occupy Gaza and south Lebanon
A growing number of Israeli commentators argue that it was a mistake to
withdraw from south Lebanon and Gaza unilaterally, without agreements that
would ensure calm in the evacuated territories. Some advocate a partial
re-occupation of Gaza, at least to push back the home-made rockets
threatening southern Israeli cities. But many Israeli civilians are wary of
returning to the "quagmire" of these areas.

Regional war
Israel claims the real culprits are Syria and Iran, which support Hamas and
Hizbollah. Israeli jets last month flew over the summer residence of Syria's
President Bashar al-Assad in a clear threat. The US also accuses Syria of
fomenting the insurgency in Iraq.
But both the US and Israel will be wary of trying to topple the Ba'athist
leadership, not least because it could be replaced with an overtly Islamist
government. Israel has repeatedly rattled its sabre against Iran but will
not want to undermine world action to halt its nuclear programme.

Israeli forces bombard Lebanon

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[Black Hippy Chick] About to Blog on Theory that Ariel Sharon was Assassinated via E-Weapons Need References

Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 10:20 AM
Subject: [Black Hippy Chick] About to blog on theory that Ariel Sharon was
assassinated via E-Weapons need references

Hello everyone I am in the process of blogging that I think that Ariel
Sharon was assassinated via e-weapons based on his stance that Israel would
leave the Gaza Strip. I think one of his countrymen zapped him. This is
being further supported to me by the war in Lebanon - Israel gave Lebanon up
in 2000 and I honestly do believe the current leader is trying to get it
back, and 2. According to the New York Times Israel has dropped leaflets
presidential they would be attacking the Gaza strip.
The quote located:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/world/middleeast/21mideast.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

says the following:

"On Thursday, Israel continued its large-scale air attacks on Hezbollah
positions and equipment. It also leafleted southern Lebanese villages, made
taped phone calls, informed local leaders and broadcast messages in Arabic
to warn residents to move north of the Litany River if their villages
contained Hezbollah assets or rockets, but gave no deadline. "

"Israel dropped similar leaflets on Thursday in Gaza as well, possibly
foreshadowing more attacks on populated areas where Israel believes Hamas is
storing Qassam rockets."

The Washington Post is also reporting similar comments and warnings by the
Israeli government:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/21/AR2006072100344.html

"Using local radio stations and other media, Israel warned the roughly
300,000 Lebanese civilians who live south of the Litany River, which runs
about 25 miles north of Israel's border with Lebanon, to abandon their
homes"

The Washington Post article also has very graphic pictures of the homes of
Lebanese citizens that have been destroyed. There is no way possible that
they can ever come back to their homes.

This indicates to me that Israel is on an unjustified land grab in the
region and the theme for the war based on this being started by the
kidnapping of two corporals is "Any old Excuse will do". I do not believe
this is about Hezbollah I believe this is about land. I honestly do believe
that Ariel Sharon was assassinated by e-weapons, and I thought that at the
time I saw the intense anger of some of the Jewish people for having to
withdraw from Gaza several months ago.

Essentially if the people evacuate, and have their villages bombed and
destroyed, essentially land will be freed up and I am convinced that Israel
will send new settlers there to these people's villages.

I would like to add that I am not anti-semetic. Even though I feel bad and
guilt and disgust against the holocaust; this does not give the Jewish
People carte-blanche to run over the rights of others.

I am thanking you in advance for the information.

If you send it blog ready I will send the information on e-weapons directly
to the blog. I would appreciate plain text responses.

The address of my blog is http://blackhippychick.blogspot.com I am also
ccing this to my blog.

--
Posted by blackhippychick to Black Hippy Chick at 7/21/2006 10:20:49 AM

Israel following U.S. Model in Lebanon

Obviously Israel thinks the kidnapping of two soldiers is equivalent to the razing of the World Trade Center. They are obviously trying to treat Lebanon like the United States treated Afghanistan (totally destroy the country). There is no comparison. Finally, I think that the The U.S. Secretary of State fails to show an appearance in that region because the U.S. has sanctioned the destruction of Lebanon. They may have even told them to carpet bomb that country.

From UCLA Today HOPE LIFTED NOBEL PEACEMAKER

 

:: UCLA TODAY Home :: Contact Us :: UCLA HOME       ©2004 The Regents of the University of California		HOPE LIFTED NOBEL PEACEMAKER/ALUMNUS TO RENOWN Chancellor Charles Young welcomed Nobel Laureate Ralph Bunche back to campus for the dedication of Bunche Hall in 1969. BY MEG SULLIVAN It was another era of instability when the prospects for peace in the Middle East looked even bleaker than they do today. Only four years old, the United Nations had already seen its U.N. mediator tragically assassinated on the job. Yet one man, the grandson of a former slave, dared to hope in 1949 for a truce between the new state of Israel and its four Arab neighbors. The success of UCLA alumnus Ralph J. Bunche not only gave the Middle East its first respite from war since the founding of the Israeli State, but provided a much needed validation for the U.N., whose charter he had helped write in 1945. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to Bunche. On Dec. 10, 1950, the 1927 graduate received the coveted award for negotiating the Arab-Israeli armistice agreement. This same award would eventually go to Martin Luther King, Jr., Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, but 1950 marked the first time that Sweden so honored a black person. Bunche, who went on to become a civil-rights activist, would be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom as well. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times four years after his 1971 death, at age 67, as “one of the greatest men Los Angeles has ever produced,” Bunche had somehow learned to hope despite a childhood that seemed to keep it out of his reach. Orphaned at 12, Bunche lost his hearing in one ear due to a festering infection. Later, a sports injury left him with a lifelong blood clot in one leg. But his emergence as a student leader at the University of California, Southern Branch, located on Vermont Avenue, gave him all the encouragement he needed to succeed. According to his personal papers, housed in the Charles E. Young Research Library, he excelled as a debater, was a Daily Bruin columnist, reigned as a star basketball player and ultimately graduated a valedictorian. When Bunche was accepted on scholarship to Harvard for graduate studies, Southern Californians formed the Ralph Bunche Scholarship Fund, which raised $1,000 toward his living expenses. “In those college years of maturing, I came to know broader perspectives and horizons,” the scholar, diplomat and undersecretary of the United Nations said in his last speech on campus, at the dedication of Bunche Hall in 1969. “Attitudes of confidence — in myself and in the future — and of hope, were engendered. Hopefulness has been a part of my make-up ever since.” Today, his name still gives hope to deserving students. Alumni resumed fund-raising for the Ralph Bunche Scholarship Fund in 1972. Now UCLA’s second- largest scholarship pool for freshmen, it last year paid out $56,760 to 53 students from historically underrepresented groups. UCLA recently wrapped up raising funds for the Ralph Bunche Chair in International Studies and plans soon to launch a nationwide search for a distinguished scholar to fill the position. “It’ll be great to have a scholar pursuing international research in the Bunche name,” said Peter Taylor, Bunche’s nephew, former president of the UCLA Alumni Association and former University of California regent. “He was a great UCLA fan.” To mark the anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Center for African American Studies is sponsoring a Jan. 29 screening of “Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey,” a new documentary that will air on Feb. 2 on PBS. Set for 7 p.m. at a location that has not yet been determined, the event will be free and open to the public. A question-and-answer session with producer and director William Greaves will follow the screening. Copyright 2000 UC Regents Questions / Problems? | [HOME]