Anyhow, more madness from the Middle East. Those of you hoping and/or wanting and/or demanding a cease-fire... flush the idea down the toilet. It isn't going to happen for a variety of reasons, the primary one being that Hezbollah's mandate is the eradication of all Jews in the area. For those of you who don't know, that little tidbit is actually in their founding charter. Hezbollah's master, the state of Iran, wants the destruction of Israel. Hezbollah provoked Israel into bombing Lebanon, not the other way around. Israel will not cease firing until A) it gets its soldiers back, and B) the rockets stop flying into northern Israel. Oh, and by the way, forget about Israel negotiating with Hezbollah over the release of prisoners. Negotiating with a terrorist group that has aims to kill every single last Jew is the most idiotic and suicidal foreign policy that Israel could possibly implement. Like I've said before - the only way that this problem is going to end is if one side wins and one side loses. Peaceful co-existence isn't an option when one side is drunk with bloodlust for the other.
The Iranian President, as reported through Iranian state media, claims that the permanent solution to the Middle East crisis is the destruction of Israel (!!!).
If you are surprised by this then you haven't been paying much attention. As long as Iran is meddling in the affairs of its neighbors and arming Hezbollah there is going to be no lasting peace. Its a proven historical fact that cease fires in the ME only serve to give the terrorists a break to build back up, only to shoot again. To attempt such a strategy again is absolutely laughable.That isn't the most enraging part of the story though. King Abdullah, our buddy over in relatively moderate Jordan, claims in the article that Israel must give up occupied terrotory and "set up a Palestinean state," as well as stop "agression" in order to get the Arabs to calm down. I call BULLSHIT. A) Israel already has given up Gaza and West Bank... they've already done that and they got rockets from both sides of the border in return. You can throw that theory out the window. B) "Agression?" Who does this guy think he's kidding? Firstly, Hezbollah instigated this current fight, and since Mr. Abdullah and the rest of the Arab speaking world refuses to acknowledge Hezbollah's part in this how is it possible to take anything these people say in a serious manner? Yeah, Jewish citizens are dying too, but you don't see much focus on that in the MSM or the Arab world, do you? Secondly, if Hezbollah and the Palestineans stopped monkeying around and left Israel alone the conflict would be OVER. Israel just wants to be left alone. To somehow suggest that Israel is an aggressor in the region is completely insane and is an opinion born from a lack of historical knowledge and perspective.
I will congratulate Hezbollah on their tactics, however brutal they are. Its nothing short of a miracle that these people operate out of civilian areas, effectively using innocent people as human shields in the case that Israel tries to go after them... and the civilians then blame Israel when they strike! That is nothing short of brilliant. Hezbollah is directly responsible for where Israel is targeting due to their predilection for putting civilians at risk, and the civlians completely whitewash the fact that its Hezbollah that is enabling Israel to target places were civilians live and work. Why do they whitewash Hezbollah's part? Because despite Hezbollah putting innocent people at risk these people have been brainwashed since a young age to believe that the Jews and the Americans all need to either convert to Islam or die. They could care less about what Hezbollah does as long as Jews die and they keep operating hospitals.
I'm going to say something relatively startling, but you've learned to expect that from me. Any American who doesn't believe that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization needs to have their citizenship revoked. This includes a certain Democratic Representative from Michigan, Mr. John Dingell. When asked recently to discuss the recent crisis in Lebanon, Rep. Dingell refused to take sides between Hezbollah and Israel, and when asked if he believed that Hezbollah was a terrorist organization he said "no."
This is the same organization that packed enough explosives in a truck to level the strongest and most secure building in Lebanon and resulted in the deaths of 240+ U.S. Marines. The very definition of terror, and this guy, as a member of U.S. Congress, is refusing to condemn Hezbollah? This guy is going to be crucified publicly, as he should. His career is over, but just wait for liberals to condemn Republicans for character assassination on this guy... which nobody with a brain would actually believe since this guy did it to himself.
I'm not really interested in the ad hominem, but I wanted to add a couple of things.
- What are the Republicans to be blamed for in Mogadishu? The ill-fated battle :::link::: or the "ambitious humanitarian" operation in 1992? I know it's not the former, so I'll discard that right away. Tell me what was wrong with Bush Sr. sending a humanitarian mission to Somalia, as a lead of an international force, as requested by a UN resolution. I really don't get your point here, so you may want to clarify.
- Well, it's called the Marine Barracks Bombing, but I believe it wasn't just Americans who got murdered that day. Really you two are splitting hairs, and it's turning my stomach. First off, it was a suicide bomber. Secondly, the attack was executed early in the morning before reveille went off (meaning most if not all of the marines in the building were still asleep). It's not like the two groups were out there duking it out. What's the point in splitting hairs about what to call it? Terrorists do not distinguish between civilian and military. If the tactic can't be called terrorism, then it most certainly is a very close relative. :::link:::
- Here is a wiki rendition of the history of the Kosovo situation. :::link::: Signing a paper makes Clinton no hero. The Clinton Admin was asleep at the wheel, locked in indecision for a great amount of time while people were suffering. Kosovo was a disaster for all involved, and definitely is not something to trumpet as a great accomplishment for Clinton. Nobody came out on top.
Please, guys, nobody is a retard or an idiot here. Nobody needs to get their citizenship revoked either. Let's just stick to the topics. I have a feeling I'm going to get stuck in the crossfire.
You can call me any names you like, but it is you who is the retard here.
If you don't know the meaning of the word "terrorist", then you should look it up instead of blathering like a rabid right-wingnut. Just because something makes angry it doesn't make it a "terrorist attack". USS Cole ? How about USS Liberty??
If there was ever a clear proof needed of your inability to comprehend the written word, your own link :::link::: has provided it: it doesn't mention China/Russia at all, and solidly blames the Iranians. Quote:
"Iran supplied Hezbollah with solid-fuel, Zelzal-2 missiles ..."
"At a later stage, it [Hezbollah] obtained Iranian Fajar-3 and Fajar-5 rockets,"
Where do you think Iran got these technologies?
And finally: the Egypt-Israel peace deal was signed under a DEMOCRATIC president. The Kosovo peace accord? A DEMOCRATIC president.
On the other hand, Republicans gave us Somalia (it was Bush Sr who sent the troops there), Gulf War - 1 which led to a decade of sanctions and terror culminating with 9/11 and the Iraq War, which is still ongoing.
Democrats? 2 for 2.
Republicans? 0 for 3, a total shutout.
Case closed.
I suspected it before, but now I know that you are an idiot. You don't actually think that what happened to the Marines in 1983 was a terrorist act because it was soldiers and not civilians?!? Have you ever heard of the U.S.S. Cole? You are an absolute fool and should be thankful that the big boys and girls are taking care of the war on terror rather than your rag tag liberal bunch of milquetoasts. By anyones standards there has been a ton of mistakes prosecuting this thing, but at least the Republicans are willing to treat these people how they should be treated. If it were Prez Kerry we'd be trying to NEGOTIATE with these people and grab our ankles in front of Kofi Annan. No sane American wants that, but you aren't going to hear many politically sane statements coming from the San Fran metro area anyway. Why should I have expected more?
Secondly, I'm skeptical about how much you actually consume your own media. For the past three weeks (since this little skuffle in the ME has started, for those who are counting)I've completely shunned Fox News and read several papers with a liberal editorial, such as the New York Times, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun and Washington Post on a daily basis. I've only watched CNN and MSNBC at night. I listen to BBC World Service at night. I've even stooped to reading DailyKos, Democratic Underground and several other liberal blogs. Your ilk in the media have been lowlighting Israel's and "sexing up" the Lebanese suffering on a daily basis - bottom line. To suggest otherwise is to deny the obvious. The media have even reported incorrect death tolls and drank up the Hezbollah-flavored propaganda Kool-Aid by taking pictures of dead babies hadn't actually died in the bombing, but that were TAKEN FROM A MORGUE. Trust me, I know what the fuck I'm talking about here because I actually read, watch and listen to the media that is responsible for your twisted and inappropriate viewpoint to be trumpeted to the American public, unlike you apparently.
Thirdly, the weapons that eventually make it into Hezbollah's hands are actually Chinese-made or Soviet-made (or in the case of the most recent rocket, was entirely Iranian made) and modified by Iran or Syria, Ajay. You couldn't possibly be more wrong. These are weapons that have nothing to do with American military technology. You can read more about it here - :::link:::
although it doesn't make any mention of the Chinese C-802 that is commonly in use by Hezbollah now. Your are attempting to be clever by inferring anything about the Iran-Iraq war (or really, just trying to bash Reagan) but once again you've been found out.
I don't believe that you are an anti-semite, but I'm certainly confident that despite your sincerity you are misguided. I suppose thats the beautiful thing about America - being able to debate and have a say on things - just as long as people with liberal viewpoints don't get elected the USA will be okay. Even look at Boston now - that city has been completely plagued by its liberal politics, and now the same people that set up their crazy little microsociety are actually moving OUT of Boston because of crime problems, among other things, and are relocating to the 'burhs. That particular topic was all the rage when I was in Boston two weeks ago for work.
"Yeah, Jewish citizens are dying too, but you don't see much focus on that in the MSM ..."
yeah. right. uh-huh.
You know, you'd have a shred of credibility if you didn't make such ridiculously incorrect statements.
And by the way: bombing of the Marines' barracks in Beirut was not an act of "terror" by the definition of terror (hint: it was not a civilian target, designed to create terror among the civilian population and affect policy change).
And speaking of the Beirut bombing: who was the guy in charge when that happened? Why didn't he make the Hezbollah pay for this? Oh right! It was Reagan! The same guy who sold the missiles and technology to Iran, which are raining down on Israel today. Had it been Carter or Clinton, you'd be in cardiac arrest by now; but since it was a Republican, it's A-OK! wink wink!!
So before you ask people to give up their citizenships, try burning your Republican registration card first. Your party has fucked up the place for too long.