The Lebanon incursion has now turned into a full scale invasion and the Isrealie army has learned well from the evil Nazi empire some 60 years ago. The Lebanon action is one of genocide and ethic cleansing, where civilians are murdered daily wothout pity. Tens of thousands are starving or dehydrating to death and the Isrealie armu forbids forgien aid to succur the innocents.

Some 60 years ago the 'Allies' put to death the worst of those committing war crimes, during the world war. But the US anointed Jewish state is free to do what it wants to whomever it sees fit. Evil to those who do evil.

In the US venacular, Muslims are bad anti christian people and need to be exterminated. If I was Iran, I would be working to get a nuclear bomb, now!

A paragraph was inadvertently left out of the story. It should go just before "Gathering stories from across the Web..." Here it is:

Let’s start with Hizbollah. Go to hizbollah.org and you get only a blank page. But a Google search for Hizbollah will also turn up a site called Israeli Aggression on Lebanon (http://www.moqawama.net/), which leaves us in no doubt as to its position.

I should add that Moqawama.net takes a while to load. When it does, click on the "English" link.

A paragraph was inadvertently left out of the story. It should go just before "Gathering stories from across the Web..." Here it is:

Let’s start with Hizbollah. Go to hizbollah.org and you get only a blank page. But a Google search for Hizbollah will also turn up a site called Israeli Aggression on Lebanon (http://www.moqawama.net/), which leaves us in no doubt as to its position.

I should add that Moqawama.net takes a while to load. When it does, click on the "English" link.

Although I am against the Israeli actions, I think we need to be careful of the hyperbole that is coming out, such as this comment.

You may argue that Israel has been too aggressive in their prosecution of the war and that they have not taken enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties - although many Israelis believe it is the other way around - but there is no evidence that they have deliberately targeted civilians directly. It would be extraordinarily counter-productive for them to do so and their almost immediate apology for Qana demonstrate this. Consider the horrific civilian massacres in World War 2 carried out by allies and axis alike – how many apologies did we hear during that time?

The way out of this war is through negotiation and the only way for that to be successful is for each side to empathize with the situation of the other. There is an excellent BBC feature where an Israeli and Lebanese citizen discusses the situation of the other. They are both eminently reasonable individuals but even they have trouble finding a lot of common ground; this situation is remarkably complicated.

I think killing them is proof of targeting civilians. Bombing places where civilians live is targeting them. Which works both ways of course, Hezbollah is also targeting civilians because they're firing their rockets indiscriminately in the general direction of civilians. Looks bad for Nasrallah being the new mahdi when he blows up Arabs in Israel too.

And now for the really bad news: Israel is doing exactly what it has to do to survive--murder a bunch of people every once in a while. It's a state built around the notion of a "Jewish State," and if any other group tried it--as in a "Catholic State," or an "Islamic State," or a "Protestant State," they'd, of course, be widely looked down upon for exceptionalism and racism.

And so, if you want to have an exceptionalist state with 4 million of your similarees as the raison d'etre for the state--along with a covenant from God for its legitimization, not to mention an army of a million highly trained soldiers, nuclear weapons, a huge American-donated airforce, (and 3 billion American bucks every year to top it all up), a sophisticated navy, the world's most effective spy agency--and refugee camps for your state's former citizens--and all of this in the midst of 200,000,000 or so people who uh...well...dislike you, well then you're just going to have to kill and murder people to assert your entitlement. There's no other choice.

That's it folks. It's locked in position, and there's no entropy in sight to diminish any of it.

Truman Green nails it.

I don't know what your background is brother, but it's like we are looking at current events, this US Empire and the Zionist occupation of Palestine through the same set of eyes. Like I've said before, your objectivity and depth of analysis has my unqualified respect. (Ehhhhhh! Did you really think I could put somebody down that I fundamentally agree with-, in near all regards. :-)

That said, the Zionists have clearly lost this round. And it is only another round on the way to the end game. This is not over yet, unfortunately.

Hizbullah has agreed to withdraw north, but the co-operation and place it has established for itself in the national life of Lebanon and throughout the Arab world has just been increased manifold. And the respect it earned from the frustrated Lebanese Army, with whom there were many scarcely hidden "co-operations", plagued by a weak "bourgeois" leadership has multiplied itself manifold.

Sheeba farms is to be returned to Lebanon and the Arabs, and there is to be an exchange of prisoners after all that, as was the Hizbullah demand from the beginning. Objectively, by any reasonable criteria one wants to establish, Israel has failed in its central objectives and been fought to a standstill. The heretofore mighty so-called Israeli Defense Force. The heretofore unbeatable.

None of this has been lost on the Arab populace. As it prepares itself for the coming revolution against "collaborationist" aristocratic, dictatorial and corrupt regimes that were the base and servants of US Empire and Zionist power in the Middle East. It is about, over the coming period, to all come down. Even they, the collaborationist class/strata of the Arab world know it. Their days are winding down to an inevitable end.

This country, Canada needs to pay attention to what is happening here, and likewise draw the appropriate conclusions, vis a vis its own relationship with the fascistic US Empire.

Time to stop fussing about who marries who, and all such trivial, candy-ass and irrelevant shitt, (and I don't give a rat's ass who marries who) and get on with what is really important: The liberation, democratization and independant, self-sufficient development of our own Canadian nation.

The Israelis lost “this round” because they relied upon the UN and the international community to restrain and disarm Hezbollah. What they are doing is the only action left to them because of their previous limited response, which according to the Hezbollah spokesman had encouraged them to attack the Israelis. Weakness over there breed contempt it seems.

Oh baloney Colin. Check out the other thread on this subject - there are plenty of reasons why this is a debacle that has absolutely nothing to do with the UN.

The UN force in Lebanon wasn't a peacekeeping force, it was a handful of observers - observing as they were mandated to do.

There is plenty of blame to go around here and Israel has to accept a good deal of it - As many Israeli commentators have been observing over the past 4 weeks.

Israel wants some UN resolutions enforced and it couldn’t give a damn about others.

I see on this evening's news that Hizbullah has announced that they will not disarm under any circumstances. They are, it is being reported, temporarily prepared to withdraw and allow the Lebanese Army into the south, but they will not lay down their arms for anyone.

The pan-Arab revolution against US and Zionist occupation and imperialism, and those Arab states which serve them, continues. As it must, of course.

This is the manifestation of a process at work within the Middle East that will take one hell of a lot more than Condi, the Bush and the Zionist occupation of Palestine to put down, on the battlefield or in the Big Power UN Security Council.

Besides, they fought the mighty Israeli Army to a standstill, which in this situation is a victory for Hizbullah and the Pan-Arab Revolution. And it is the vanquished not the victor that is expected to lay down his arms.

Israel lost because they relied on their military to kill civilians till Hezbollah cried uncle. It was doomed to fail.

And unlike in the past, Hezbollah's resistance matched their defiant words. Something we haven't seen from the Arab side in my lifetime. They'll be riding the popularity curve for awhile now I guess, even among those Sunnis that were probably cheering for Hezbollah and Israel to kill each other.

The UN had nothing to do with it. Israel needs them now though to save face as in, we coulda won but the UN is asking us nicely to stop.

Thankfully this time Israel won't be able to say the Lebanese left of their own free will and claim southern Lebanon as part of Greater Israel.

An interesting online piece from a US web site that supports the "liberal left" of the Democratic Party. Whether this US Ambassador is right or wrong, is really neither here nor there, but it does point to the most serious fear which the US Empire rightly has in Iraq.

When, and it is only a matter of when, no "ifs" about it, Moqutada Sadr and the Shia do move against the US in Iraq, it's all over for The Empire. There will be nothing that they can do but flee for the Gulf as quickly as possible. Think Napoleon's retreat from Russia, or even the Third Reich's.

U.S. Ambassador Says Iran Is Inciting Attacks

By EDWARD WONG
Published: August 12, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 11 — Iran is pressing Shiite militias here to step up attacks against the American-led forces in retaliation for the Israeli assault on Lebanon, the American ambassador to Iraq said Friday. Iran may foment even more violence as it faces off with the United States and United Nations over its nuclear program in the coming weeks, he added.

The Iranian incitement has led to a surge in mortar and rocket attacks on the fortified Green Zone, said the ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad.

The four-square-mile Green Zone, protected by layers of concrete blast walls and concertina wire on the west bank of the Tigris River here, encloses baroque palaces built by Saddam Hussein that now house the seat of the Iraqi government and the American Embassy.

The Shiite guerrillas behind the recent attacks are members of splinter groups of the Mahdi Army, the powerful militia created by the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, Mr. Khalilzad said.

The splinter groups have ties to Iran, which is governed by Shiite Persians, and to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite Arab militia in Lebanon that has been battling Israel for a month, the ambassador added.

There is evidence that Iran is pushing for more attacks, he said, without offering any specifics. But he acknowledged that there was no proof that Iran was directing any particular operations by militias here.

“Iran is seeking to put more pressure, encourage more pressure on the coalition from the forces that they are allied with here, and the same is maybe true of Hezbollah,” Mr. Khalilzad said in an interview Friday in his home inside the Green Zone.

When Iran pressures us, we will not have to guess at it. We will have to run for our lives.

Hmm the memo didn't get out, that should have read "concrete freedom walls and liberty wire".

And it isn't there to protect the US-backed Iraqi gov't and US embassy. No, no, no. The Green Zone is rather a beacon to all Iraqis to come and enjoy the fruits of victory over Saddam, just don't come any closer than the liberty wire allows unless you've been thoroughly tortured, err, we mean checked for ID, at one of Saddam's, err I mean one of our, prisons.

Hmm, not prisons, think economic opportunity offices run by diligent, smiling capitalists in camo fatigues, with big dogs whose only duty is not to torture you for laughs and information about your friends and relatives, its to provide you with the tools you need to become one of Wal-Mart's new Baghdad greeters.

Have a nice day.

I see Haaretz has now updated the IDF death count to 24. And, apparently, the key to getting Israel's agreement to withdraw was a deal on the Shaba Farms question:

from Ha'aretz,

U.S. assures Israel it will not be forced to withdraw from Shaba
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Yoav Stern and Eli Ashkenazi, and Agencies

An agreement reached between Israel and the United States on the disputed Shaba Farms area, located on Israel's border with Lebanon, enabled a breakthrough in reaching a cease-fire resolution at the United Nations on Friday.

In letters exchanged between U.S. and Israeli leaders, U.S. officials assured Israel that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be authorized to determine whether the area belongs to Lebanon or Syria, but that the future status of the territory would only be determined in negotiations between Israel and Farms' rightful owners.

A senior government source said that Israel would not be obligated to withdraw from Shaba Farms, even if Annan's investigation determines that they belong to Lebanon.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, recently (late July) issued a statement warning of war crimes for the bombing of civilian populations. "International law demands accountability. The scale of killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control."

Does the UN have the authority to arrest leaders of any nation that have committed war crimes?

In this instance, it could very well be over an appropriate timeline, and be a trump card to play in bargaining for a cease fire. Knowing that time is not on the side of the tyrant, combined with the deaths of UN obervers, gives the UN a much stronger hold at the negotiations table than some would initially believe. The UN is not small.

Certain things need to be said about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

- it wasn't the US empire and/or Iran's idea to put Israel up to bombing Lebanon and Hisbollah firing rockets. These nations had little to do with the kidnappings of civilians and soldiers between the two nations through decades, business as usual, until Sharone had a stroke and was undemocratically replaced by Ehmund Ohbert. It was Ehmund Ohbert and his war crime buddies in Israel and Hisbollah and his war crime buddies in Lebanon that are by far, most responsible for the deaths what should be at least 1,000 civilians now. (although the empire is obviously making money off of arms deals).

- Israels current leader of their country has not been officially democratically elected.

- There is a long history between Lebanon and Israel that is not sweet or nice. Anyone who doesn't know the history of this region of the world would be wise to keep their mouths shut until they are de-briefed with accurate intel from the actual big picture perspective of "reality" itself. With this, the facts speak for themselves. It truly is a matter of historical record that is easy enough to find, albeit time consuming.

Three weeks ago, Stephen Harper demonstrated aptly that he does not know, nor has people around him who know the accurate history of this region and even moreso, is not morally fit to lead the nation of Canada through todays current global environment.

Ultimately, peace does not come through war. Peace can only come through peace! It is war that breeds war and peace that breeds peace. Stephen Harper has demonstrated to the entire world that he does not know this moral truth when he stated that Israel’s bombardment of southern Lebanon was ‘a measured response’ to Hezbollah attacks. To support violence on any side, is to be against peace itself.

Voters need to be reminded of this mans moral deficiencies on or before election day. And they all need to be reminded that 99% of the time, the accusers are the most guilty ones. That finger Stephen Harper points on corruption is pointing right back at him.

20 billion in defence spending and counting. Hello deficits! And for what! Directorships for shares by defence corps, or the way of Mulroney, overseas bank accounts? Harper is buddies with the most corrupt whitehouse history has ever seen and it should be, to anyone who is looking, a conclusion as transparent as glass. "birds of a feather flock together."

Excellent post, Truman. Worth reading twice. :->

A dead Canadian soldier a day since Aug. 3rd. Its a bloody August. Canadians really need to think about the real reasons as to why they are there.

"Money is at the root of all evil".

It was no fool that coined the phrase.

As is probably to be expected, the US and Zionist treachery is not over yet, Alcibiades.

I know that this is going to give some of you ulcers, but he too is a Lebanese.

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w060807&s=behe080706

I'm not sure why it doesn't link from the link without the signin, because if you Google it, it does.

Here is an alternative:

http://www.menapress.com/article.php?sid=1479

ripponfalls
As I've said from the beginning: there are no white hats in this little soap opera - if only innocent people we're dying - but they are.

In the end, the only thing that seems likely to work is the method employed against Libya and which the Clinton administration used with North Korea.

Nick Kristof has an interesting piece in today's New York Times. It's behind subscription at Times Select but if you're interested I'll post it - and attract the wrath of the relevancy police here at Tyee. Just let me know.

I've had the same problem with TNR links btw.

I am inclined to agree with your sentiment. You can either post it or send it to my user name at yahoo.com

ripponfalls
It is on its way to you. My first sentence should have read 'weren't dying' sorry.

You know it, Coyote. To replace Irans government (for corporate purposes to own oil, more than anything), the empire must first move in its chess pieces close enough to take out the king. The navy is there. Iraq is destablized to offer resistance and is occupied on Irans western border. The U.S. and Canadian & British troops are in Afganistan on the east side of the Iranian border. The empire is engaging its allies to become the energy empire of the world, regardless of its impacts on global warming, and harm to life on all levels.

Its is Zionist Armagedon, one thought and falsely believed to take place in Israel moreso than Mesopotania... where it all began. And, with todays media, it should be coming to the home theatre near you!

Yes, the gluttonous major shareholders in america, pursuing war to satify their greed are surely a ugly bunch of pigs at the trough. How much has Dick Cheney made on his 14 million shares of Haliburton valued at 9 dollars in 2002? A billion dollars with Haliburton hovering around the 90's per share. Bush and Carlyle? Don and Nutrisweet and Carlyle? The money trail is there, folks. Its not hard to connect the dots.

26 dead Canadians, all for Harpers greed for military skimmings.

Colin
Haven't seen you around Tyee much of late although there is a brief posting some 20 hours up this link.

I know this doesn't really belong here but as a proponent and backer of the US method of addressing crime (is that fair?) I thought you might be interested in this story from today's Washington Post.

Just a small indication that all the crowing down south about turning the corner on street violence and crime by staying soft on gun ownership and trying to throw most everyone into jail isn't working out quite as well as was touted by its proponents.

Anyway Colin, hope you'll see this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/11/AR2006081101333_pf.html

And, the rest of you, apologies for being so far off topic.

Has anyone seen British MP George Galloway rip Rupert Murder..er Murdoch's SKY NEWS a new one while appearing to talk about the invasion of Lebanon? Here is the LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=249JaIaubVw

I Wish we had a politician with Cojones like this guy!!!!

And more investigative journalists like Seymour Hersh. This, his latest piece from the current New Yorker, is very interesting:

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060821fa_fact

???????

Maybe it's because Hizbollah is misspelled. Shouldn't it be Hezbollah?
I didn't get a blank page when typing Hezbollah.org

Tom Joad - you are sooooooo right!! I wish the whole world would see this clip.
Galloway definitely made his case - although I wish he would not have resorted to insulting his interviewer.
Rupert and his media organization should be the one chastized.