Vice President Dick Cheney is back in the middle East. Yesterday he visited with the King of Jordan who told him the problem is Palestinian/Israeli relations. BBC was interviewing George Mitchell about Tony Blair's success in Northern Ireland. Mitchell had kind words for Tony Blair but ripped the Bush Administration for neglecting the Palestinian issue.
There is an Israeli/Palestinian problem because the Arabs need Israel to be the problem. Anyone should be able to see that the problem with Palestine is not Israel but the out of control thugs. The common criminals and the Islamist gang Hamas are all vying for money and power. The Palestinian police are out-gunned and often gang members themselves. Lawlessness is the rule in Palestine and the Arabs have no one to blame but themselves.
Palestinian Interior Minister ResignsFor too long, too many dollars were poured into Yasser Arafat's greedy little hands. For too long, the United Nations has maintained "refugee camps" throughout the west bank. With all the money and attention that have been lavished on that area, the west bank and the Gaza strip could have been thriving by now. But the problem with that is there would be nothing to blame Israel for. Israel is the Arab's and in fact, the Muslim world's favorite scape goat. I don't know what Dick Cheney is doing in the mid-east. He may be telling the Arab leaders that the US is going to deal with the Iranians over Iraq. He may be telling the Arabs something else. I don't know. I do know that whatever happens, Israel will be blamed.
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Monday accepted the resignation of his interior minister following a new wave of factional fighting in the Gaza Strip, officials said.
Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh had offered his resignation two weeks ago to protest the deteriorating security situation in Gaza. But Haniyeh had tried to persuade Kawasmeh to stay on.
After a new wave of fighting left six people dead, Haniyeh on Monday accepted the resignation, said two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media. Kawasmeh recently offered a security plan aimed at bringing law and order to Gaza, but the plan was never carried out.
A gunfight between Hamas and Fatah forces erupted in Gaza City, shortly after Kawasmeh resigned.
The shooting broke out near the headquarters of the pro-Fatah National Security force. Masked National Security men had taken up positions outside the building shortly before the gunfight erupted. There were no immediate details on casualties.
At least six people were killed and 52 wounded in factional violence in Gaza over the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
xyz
ReplyDeleteWhit,
ReplyDeleteIf it weren't Israel it would be not enough goats or too many flys or the sky is too high.**
The failures of Islam, are multi-faceted and stand in the fact that Islam - both as a religion and as a way of life - has failed to achieve many of its goals. Raising standards of living, ridding societies of corruption (corruption in all its manifestations, incidentally, is expressly forbidden by the Prophet), freeing people from chronic, centennial poverty, failure to allow freedom of thought and expression even in their basic forms and even protecting Islam from what Muslim scholars have dubbed a ‘rampant Westernization'.
It is not through its inveterate Western-phobia, anti-Americanism and utter dislike of Israel that Islam will never solve its own shortcomings. But, above all, it is through the embracing and acceptance of jihad or holy war as a means to spread the faith that Islam manifests its own irrationality in its entirety.
The message of Christianity is that faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats. To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death.
Contrast this message with the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad in the matter of spreading Islamic faith to the rejecters of truth (infidels) after truth has become evident to them:
"Kill them wherever you find them and drive them out [of the place] from which they drove you out and [remember] persecution is worse than carnage. But do not initiate war with them near the Holy Kabah unless they attack you there. But if they attack you, put them to the sword [without any hesitation]. Thus shall such disbelievers be rewarded. However, if they desist [from this disbelief], Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. Keep fighting against them, until persecution does not remain and [in the land of Arabia] Allah's religion reigns supreme. But if they mend their ways, then [you should know that] an offensive is only allowed against the evildoers. A sacred month for a sacred month; [similarly] other sacred things too are subject to retaliation. So if any one transgresses against you, you should also pay back in equal coins. Have fear of Allah and [keep in mind that] Allah is with those who remain within the bounds [stipulated by religion]." (Qu'ran, 2:190-194)
** sections lifted entirely from other peoples brains
Ah , Ms, may I have another cup of coffee?
ReplyDeleteCoffee, Tea ..or
"Honey would you get the door..and don't forget the gun"
ReplyDeleteFBI, security officials warn of growing threat from Islamic extremists 'next door'
Intelligence analysts say the lack of an al-Qaeda-led terror strike here may signal that the group is waiting until it can mount an attack that will equal the 9/11 strikes in casualties and publicity value.
Homegrown Terror
Both of the Arab kings, in Jordan and Saudi Arabia blame Israel for the current state of affairs in the Middle East. Both are the US's bestest allies in the Region. The US has placed it's bets on their friendship and loyalty, to US & Peace. While the Sauds are tryants, King Abdullah, he has a better spin doctor.
ReplyDeleteNiether the Sauds or the Jordanians have ever attacked a US ship at sea. So there is reason for the "good feelings" between our three countries.
Both the Sauds and the Israeli have their agents and sympathisers in the US, at the highest levels of government.
Mr Cheney tells the Arabs and Egyptians just what, one wonders. Regardless, I doubt that any of the principles in the Region believe that the US will "win" in Iraq, by September.
The Iraq Invasion could do as much or more to damage Israeli security than any Mussulman activity, by creating a greater lack of stability across the Region. A politically weak US does not stand to have as much impact as when "Shock and Awe" was foremost in the minds of the tyrants. None of the bad guys are scared, of US.
The Ike is not hiding in the fog, she sailed away.
We are deceptive war makers, aren't we, decieved ourselves, we have.
Ralph Peters says:
ReplyDeleteBut the subject presidents, pundits and professors all avoid is what it would take to win militarily. Because the answer's ugly. We prefer to sidestep reality in favor of comfy fantasies that negotiations will persuade blood-drunk murderers to all just get along.
With the last-ditch troop surge in Baghdad, we're half-heartedly trying an approach we should have applied with everything we had in 2003. We no longer have the numbers to do it right - and our leaders, in and out of uniform, may not have the resolve to behave with the ruthlessness required to turn things around.
Even with the surge, our numbers in Baghdad will be "bare bones." We've finally moved our forces down to the neighborhoods, instead of obsessing about "force protection" and bunkering ourselves inside hermetic bases that severed us from Iraq's reality. We finally recognized the need for "precinct stations."
But what we still don't - and won't - have is a constant presence in the streets.
If you won't play to win, why play at all?
DR,
ReplyDeleteHistory is a crumb trail littered with broken traties of expediency such as the one between the US and many ME countries.
Here' a good one that most everone knows about.
The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
In 1939, Hitler was preparing for war. Though he was hoping to acquire Poland without force (as he had annexed Austria the year before), Hitler was planning against the possibility of a two front war. Since fighting a two front war in World War I had split Germany's forces, it had weakened and undermined their offensive; thus, played a large role in Germany losing the First World War. Hitler was determined not to repeat the same mistakes. So, he planned ahead and made a pact with the Soviets - the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.
It ended a bit prematurely and actually took Stalin by surprise.
Our "bestest" allies in that region aren't on paper and don't draw favor because they have never attacked one of our ships at sea.
Ralph Peters piece is a warmed over version that Mark Styn put out last week about Americans wanting to talk shit to death, even in the face of an inplacable foe. Steyn is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteBuying Anti-American =
ReplyDeletePerhaps there are reasons Pakistanis are generally not ready for Princeton — say, the country’s illiteracy rate (51.3 percent overall, 64.8 percent among women) and its per capita GDP of $2,600. The fault lies with Pakistan’s government, which might begin by offering free public education, not with Princeton’s admissions committee.
Hamid fails to note these facts, however, which figures, since he avowedly voted for Musharraf in 2002 and thinks Pakistan, far from being a borderline failed state, is doing just fine.
“The country’s image abroad remains far worse than the reality,” he proclaimed in Time in 2005, and this spring he reiterated his opinion in the New York Times.
Aquarium:
ReplyDeleteThat thumbnail is linked to the wrong Pic.
Please correct the link, not the thumbnail.
Thankz
That is right, possum, none of the players in the ME have a hard copy mutual defense treaty, with US.
ReplyDeleteNone are our real allies.
Not the Sauds, not the Israeli.
Certainly not the Iraqi.
Pay that no nevermind:
ReplyDelete"We are the World,"
JPOST is reporting Christians are leaving Jerusalem, heading for Europe, the US, etc. Maybe it's time to redirect some of the aid money towards Christian causes in Israel, as opposed to that money being given to Jihadists?
ReplyDeleteOur biggest ME Intelligence Failure
ReplyDeleteThe biggest failure in our intelligence field involved, or I should say DID NOT INVOLVE, the Operations Directorate of the CIA.
We went into Iraq sure of finding WMD's, but they weren't there. We know they existed at some point in time, just ask the Kurds.
But by far the biggest failure was to make absolutely SURE we found them by having the CIA DDO PLACE them there covertly.
It would not have required but one or two C-130's, some crates of various binary compounds and one or two nuclear artillery shells.
It was all so simple to get done and we blew it.
The C-130's land in some desert area way away from any villages or cities, bury the stuff, take off and it's done. We then go in and find it and the case is made.
What a sorry state of affairs when the USA can't pull off a simple operation like that.
The crews don't have to know whats on board. The backhoe operator doesn't need to know anything but where to dig, in fact that person shouldn't even be able to read or write very well.
When we conducted Project Jennifer three fourths of the crew on the Glomar Explorer didn't know the mission. All they knew was the cover.
We were pitiful and now we are paying the price.
Please, Habu, I just got up. You have been hitting this theme a lot lately. And the way she is pulling that bra strap. Have a heart, no more, lest my heart stops.
ReplyDeleteExactly
ReplyDeleteWhere oh where did the professionals go?
Chased out by the buerocrats and CYA specialists?
Instead we still discuss WMD, four years after the relevancy of the WMD issue was lost to events.
Knew we were in the deep caca when Mr Bush was reported to have asked "Who is charge of finding the WMD?" and was told "NO ONE".
Fools and knaves.
Texas Town Bans Illegal Alien Rentals
ReplyDeleteBig market in refrigerator cardboard boxes develops,sleep 30 wetbacks
Voters in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch became the first in the nation Saturday to prohibit landlords from renting to most illegal immigrants.
The ban was approved by a vote of 68 percent to 32 percent in final, unofficial returns.
The balloting marked the first public vote on a local government measure to crack down on illegal immigration.
"It says especially to Congress that we’re tired of the out-of-control illegal immigration problem. That if Congress doesn’t do something about it, cities will," said Tim O’Hare, a City Council member who was the ordinance’s lead proponent.
The ordinance requires apartment managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them, with some exceptions.
Property managers or owners who break the rule face a misdemeanor charge punishable by a fine of up to $500.
Council members approved the ordinance in November, then revised it in January to include exemptions for minors, seniors and some families with a mix of legal residents and illegal immigrants.
Farmers Branch has become the site of protests and angry confrontations, and opponents of the regulation gathered enough signatures to force the city to put the measure on the municipal election ballot.
With Saturday’s approval of the ban, opponents plan to fight it in court, and will seek a restraining order to stop the city from enforcing it.
The city was already facing four lawsuits brought by civil rights groups, residents, property owners and businesses who contend the ordinance discriminates and that it places landlords in the precarious position of acting as federal immigration officers. Their attorneys say the ordinance attempts to regulate immigration, a duty that is exclusively the federal government’s. One lawsuit also alleges the council violated the state open meetings act when deciding on the ordinance.
O’Hare contends the city’s economy and quality of life will improve if illegal immigrants are kept out.
Around the country, more than 90 local governments have proposed, passed or rejected laws prohibiting landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants, penalizing businesses that employ them or training police to enforce immigration laws.
Local proposals aimed at regulating illegal immigration often fail to pass constitutional muster, said Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute office at New York University School of Law.
"There is significant frustration, so that’s what’s driving it," Chishti said. "But the simple fact is they cannot do too much other than impress upon the Congress the need for immigration reform."
Mat, why we give any money to any muzzies is beyond me. Maybe with your perspective, being some way off from our domestic goings on, you can explain it to me. But I don't get it.
ReplyDeletemat
ReplyDeleteWhen 0% of the public is reported to support the PM, when wars and rumors of wars are constantly in the air, then the refugees begin to flow, why try to stop them, or even slow them down?
Why not get as many innocents out of the line of fire, as possible?
Israel is not a Christian country, nor is it a secular State. It is a Jewish nation by design. If the Israeli government loses the trust of the Christians to provide security, those that can go, will.
Even if there is a change in the political landscape, the war is still on the horizon. Lots of reason to get out while the gettin is good.
I still think there is a chance, that the US will attack Iran, before Bush is out. They have said so repeatedly, repeatedly, no nukes for Iran. If it isn't too late, I hope we do. I don't know what the best policy is in Iraq,but a nuclear Iran takes things to a whole new level. We don't want to go there.
ReplyDeleteYeah DR,
ReplyDeleteWhen this all got moving and I was still an active broker several of the younger brokers would come and ask me if I thought we would find the WMD's
My response was always very confident and I told them that we'd damn better MAKE SURE thet're there. I slept like a baby dreaming of the old days and getting jealous of what I was sure some young dudes were getting done.
What a fucking nightmare when it just dragged on and on and we never found shit. I kept thinking, "OK they're just building up the anticipation".
I guess there's been some slippage at CIA since my days. Watergate did it, changed the entire way things got done, or didn't get done as the case is today. A bunch of eunuchs at CIA. There's not a healthy set of balls in the organization anywhere near the top.
I bet Bill Casey would have got it done. Maybe even Bill Colby before they castrated him.
ReplyDelete"Niether the Sauds or the Jordanians have ever attacked a US ship at sea. So there is reason for the "good feelings" between our three countries."
ReplyDeleteSuddenly, the Saudis and Jordanians are our friends and the Israelis aren't.
I'd disagree that Israel isn't a real friend. I understand the point of view, but there is so much good things between us.
ReplyDeleteWhat it comes down to for me is, the Israelis are sane, the others aren't.
We've lost three US GI's, captured by the jihadis. A bad morning, this.
ReplyDeletedRat/Bob
ReplyDeleteIf Israel can take in half a million non Jewish Russians, it can certainly support a few thousand arabized Christians. That's the not problem. My sense is that as long as arabized Christians have family members in the various Jihadistani strongholds, they will continue to seek safety away from Israel, for fear of retribution for having switched sides. Unless there's serious outside intervention, we will continue to see Christians ethnically cleansed from the area.
dRat
ReplyDeleteNo Israeli wants anyone but Israeli soldiers defending Israel.
I read where we now have 40,000lb earth penetrating non nuclear bombs that are going to be dropped like water drops into the tunnels and underground bunkers in Iran.
ReplyDeleteEach bomb penetrating a bit further. They are said to penetrate 30-40 feet prior to detonation so putting several in the same hole will probably do the job.
bobalharb,
ReplyDeleteI have often heard it said that the United States is a terrible enemy but a worse ally.
I think I heard that echoing as I was departing Saigon in April '75.
I'd like to know what some of the good officers in the Israeli army think we should do now in Iraq. Not the politicians, some of the good officers. I think I would be inclined to listen to them, closely.
ReplyDeleteAnd although we weren't formally engaged we did encourage the Czech's in 1968 to rise up and throw off the commies.
ReplyDeleteIt was known as the Prague Spring and we fomented a rebellion we failed to back up. many Czech were killed and the old saying,"The US is a terrible enemy but a worse ally" revererated across Europe and the world.
Cuba
Sudan
Vietnam
Coming soon Iraq
Rhodesia
South Africa
Backed Nasser against the Brits and the Frogs over the Suez Canal.
Cut off the contras in Nicaraugua
I hate to point these things out but we did them. We even sold half of Europe into Soviet slavery after WWII at the Yalta Conference.
From the rest of the worlds perspective we can be very treacherous, and in fact we are if it meets our needs.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBob,
ReplyDeleteI'm not a military man, but I can tell you one thing for sure. The US military has let costs run out of control especially in Iraq. There needs to be a concerted effort to reduce costs. Iraq is not end to itself, neither is war. War is just one among many tools. Seems to me America is using the wrong tools in Iraq.
Mat, I think you are right on that. We don't seem to be able to account for billions and billions of dollars. jeeze, my accountant and I can do better than that, each year at tax time.
ReplyDeleteRat, you got to admit, Olmert must be one hell of a good politician, holding on to power, with zero per cent of the vote. There seems to be, not one person, in all of Israel, that supports the guy, yet he still remains boss, and without resort to violence too.
ReplyDeleteOur folk in old Chicago couldn't do as well.
bobalharb,
ReplyDeletere: I'd disagree that Israel isn't a real friend. I understand the point of view, but there is so much good things between us.
War is not waged in the comfort of one's home or office. Sh*t happens,
like the Phoenix accident.
To get a feel for the tumult, consider:
___Amicicide At Sea: Friendly Fire Incidents During WWII; Naval Opeations
Defense Technical Information Center
http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA278291 - DoD Document
___US Navy attacks 144 C-47s, downing 24, resulting in 318 casualties
82nd Airborne: Operation Husky
___RAF attack off Cap d'Antifer
HMS Britomart sunk
HMS Hussar sunk
HMS Salamander irreparably damaged
HMS Jason minor damage
Link
___June 17, 1968, US fighter aircraft attack
USS Boston
USS Edison
USCGC Point Dume
HMAS Hobart
PCF-12
PCF-19 sunk
___1943
USS Iowa (battleship) attacked by USS William D. Porter (destroyer)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was aboard the USS Iowa at the time
Link
___”This article does not blame anyone for the past. Rather, the charge to our present and future leaders is clear: We need a solution to this problem. Had alleviating fratricide been possible during this century, the effects would have been tremendous. If a conservative US fratricide estimate of ten percent is used for 20th-century conflicts, the following fratricide casualties result: 5000 killed and 23,000 wounded in World War I; 19,000 killed and 72,000 wounded in World War II, 5400 killed and 10,300 wounded in the Korean War, and 5800 killed and 36,500 wounded in Vietnam.”
Realistically Dealing With Fraticide
___“The Ark Royal’s aircrew were thoroughly familiar with the Sheffield; the two ships had steamed thousands of miles together in company. Moreover Bismarck was five times the cruiser’s tonnage, was nearly 300 feet longer and had one funnel as opposed to the Sheffield’s two. It might seem impossible for the aircrew to fail to identify Sheffield but they only saw what they expected to see. (Kemp, 1995, p. 48)”
___“Thus, two destroyers and almost 600 men had been lost because of the appalling lack of communication between Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine commands exercising control of forces in a common area.” (p. 45)
Analysis of Fratricide in United States Naval Surface and Submarine Forces in the Second World War
http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA374561
Whether any Israelis, Zionists, and/or Jews were involved in any of these incidents or the hundreds more of record remains unreported.
Aquarium, that would be a picture of Catherine Bell, of old Jag fame. She had short hair in Jag..
ReplyDeleteBad news for thiose who see Iraq as lost
ReplyDeleteMay 14, 2007
The Missing Context in Media Reporting on Iraq
By Gerd Schroeder in the American Thinker
The US mainstream media are failing to provide the public the context it needs to accurately understand both the successes of our progress in Iraq. They do this either purposely or through incompetence and/or lack of intellect.
I came to this harsh conclusion after studying the ongoing Brookings Institution Report titled "IRAQ INDEX Tracking Reconstruction and Security in Post-Saddam Iraq" for several months. The Brookings Institution is a left-of-center think tank, led by Bill Clinton's close friend Strobe Talbott. But its information in the Iraq Index is generally accurate and reliable. The information mainly comes from the US Military and other US governmental agencies' official statistics. It is updated at least weekly to provide in one place the most up to date information on the war that I have been able to find. Two small examples will suffice to show how neglect of context creates a misleading public impression.
Read on to be crestfallen that things are going so well
American Thinker
Barkeep, one for Allen, and a welcome back, on Bob.
ReplyDelete