Dan Lyons

"We'll NEVER be good at this stuff (Iraq-type wars)--and they're hardly ever necessary--so WHY DO WE KEEP GETTING INTO THEM ? " Thus says a military historian with a background in Viet war.
UnitedPress

Critics of the war sometimes talk of small changes that will up our capability. But the problem is in the nature of our citizens--impatient, ignorant, unwiling to study foreign languages (even our 'elite' ! ), uninterested in outside world. And our Pentagon leaders are typical Americans.

The point is that you don't change a huge population in a year, or in a few years. So we should forget about 'leading free world'--the rest of the world recoils from such ignorant 'leadership'.

Read COLOSSUS by an empire-loving, right-wing British historian, Nigel Fergusson.
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We should pull out of world affairs, and concentrate on taking obvious (but neglected) precautions against terrorist attacks on our Homeland.

However, ignorance is the disease that conceals its symptoms . Americans FEEL competent to 'lead the world', just because we can bomb any two countries off the map in a day.
That's like saying that Attila the Hun could set up a lasting empire.

The Dr. Strangelove tragicomedy will continue--at least until our economic bankruptcy becomes too obvious to ignore.

"KIDNAP WAS MISTAKE", admits Hez leader. But, he says, Israeli were going to attack Hez (Lebanon) in October anyway. And 'intelligence sources' told UnitedPress that last Spring Bush blessed Olmert's plans to attack Hez (Lebanon).

In other words, Nasrollah's mistake was to provide Israel with an EXCUSE for their planned attack. But in fact he did Israel no favor in providing this excuse. They gave in to the temptation to attack right away, when they had no time to prepare their ground forces..in fact, they dreamed that the 'shock/awe' bombing by itself would persuade Lebanon to disarm Hez.
(As if puny Lebanon govt. could disarm fierce Hez !) Thus they set up what has been called 'the most humiliating defeat in Israel's history.'

Oddly, the Hez were surprisingly well-prepared for an attack now. They had dug many tunnels and stocked them with rockets, which they fired (250 the last day of war) into Israel. These couldn't be aimed well, but many hit Israel's 3d largest city Haifa.

"Violence down, security up; Iraq will NEVER be in a civil war !" says US puppet Maliki, echoing US/Brit generals.FinTimes

Meanwhile, in the real world--73 were killed just in one day in fight between Sadrites and Maliki forces.
(Sunni insurgents & US must be happy to see possible civil war between Shia factions !
However, Maliki leaders consulted with Sadr and the fight was called off.)

ONE HUNDRED KILLED ACROSS IRAQ ON MONDAY, says INDEPENDENT
(How many more were wounded ? ! For Iraqis, a wound untreated might well be a worse fate than death.)

Two in three Americans see that globalization harms our workers; but the USATODAY story on a 'Globalization' conference of economists was generally upbeat..
Upbeat example: "For low-skilled workers, things are not as bad as one might have expected." (Consumer confidence is lowest in 9 months, just 2 months before election.()

The journalist presents a familiar line: outsourcing (presumably by further enriching corporations) 'ALLOWS them to offer higher pay.' Never mind that corporations have been swimming in excess cash for some time, with pay staying low.

Giving money to Gates philanthropic foundation might indeed 'allow' it to give more help to the poor; but corporations are not organized to help the needy.They charge consumers as much as they can, and they keep 'labor costs' as low as they can. "Allowing" them to raise wages is irrelevant.

It's obvious that increasing profits by automation and outsourcing harms US workers, and Americans see this. Unfortunately they have not so far punished those right-wing politicians who, with great enthusiasm, facilitate such harms.
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What is my bias? The greatest good for the GREATEST NUMBER, that is for the UNRICH. Unfortunately, TV-addled US unrich are often dumb enough to vote for pols single-mindedly dedicated to helping the wealthy. I'm committed to ordinary Americans' TRUE INTERESTS, not to their often-foolish opinions. I am what is known as an elitist.

It is good, though, to know that 2 in 3 Americans see through the 'free-trade' propaganda.

FIRM RESOLVE: I just came from a good performance of Mozart's DON GIOVANNI, and got thinking about the attractiveness of courageous perseverence.

The Don is a merely human version of Satan's knowing willingness to pay a huge price for the joy of defiance. Several people implored Giovanni to repent, but he firmly refused to cut and run; he was determined to stay the course. (He did lose his calm somewhat when he was hauled off to Hell.)

In our own time we have had leaders refuse, with the applause of many followers, to veer from their political course, bringing pointless suffering to hundreds of thousands of other people. But Satan would be insulted if such 'kidults' showed up at his gates. Incapable of 'sufficient reflection', or mortal sin, unlucky enough to have access to megatech weapons, these leaders have blundered into superhuman harmfulness.

Should they go to Limbo, with the brainless, unsaved infants? We hear that in a geographical reform, Limbo (like the planet Pluto) has disappeared.

And there is the charge of arrogance, of daring to meddle in world affairs when they can't tell a Sunni from a Shiite. Perhaps a short stay in Purgatory would bring them to their senses. God and I are not vindictive.

POSSIBLE? IMMINENT? HELL, CIVIL WAR IS UNDERWAY !
200,000 Iraqis have moved from mixed or alien neighborhoods to places dominated by their own sect. The Tigris river is more and more separating Sunni Arabs in Baghdad from Shia.

Like most episodes of ethnic cleansing, this one involves wholesale tragedy.(Only the Czechs & Slovakians separated peacefully.) And of course the Bushies will try to block a peaceful partition; they fear a solid-shia South, with an airport, with Iraq's only seaport, with most Iraqis and with most of the oil--a ministate allied with US-hated Iran--and quite hostile to Bushies' masters in Israel !

Tame US media bragged about Maliki's conference of tribal leaders out to preservie all-Iraq unity. You had to read to middle of stories to find out that the major Sunni tribal leaders boycotted the conference. Some unity ! HoustonChronicle

Optimists note that some tribes include both Sunni & Shia families. But in British and US civil wars, cousins fought cousins without hesitation.

Of course the Shia leaders would like to have ALL OF ARAB IRAQ under their majoritarian control (Kurdland is already in deFacto secession) .
--but as they see this is impossible, the Shia ministate will be inevitable. HoustonChronicle

Dozens of Iraqi casualties on 27Aug, in spite of US 'taking over' Baghdad 'security'.
Ten Thousand Iraqis have been killed since Maliki took over in May.

Pollyanna-puppet Maliki says they're making progress on security.
Dozens of casualties also on 26Aug.USATODAY

Not quite good enough, Cecil !

RUSSIA NOW PRODUCES MORE OIL THAN SAUDI ARABIA ! ABC/NEWS

What implications for US?
--Russ have already been rich enough to thumb their nose at US. Getting richer won't much affect that.

--Analysts say that more oil from ANY source is welcome to US & all oil-addicted nations.

--Foreign oil already outcompetes US-drilled oil, even in US !

BUSHIES CROSSED BY IRAQ GOVT: They finally realized that Shia-dominated govt. would be allied to hated IRAN ! duh.

So now Bushie army has covertly sided with Sunnis (in spite of Sunni insurgents regularly killing/maiming GIs) and are pretending that the main danger is from (Shia) 'murder gangs'. Especially they're attacking disciples of Moqtadr Sadr, most openly anti-American Shia leader.

But now the government says it's cooperating with the Sadrites, that the main danger is the Sunni insurgents. UnitedPress

Argh, say Bushies.

HILARIOUS ! GOP hawks annoyed at CIA refusing to say they know that Iran's nukes are an urgent threat. INDEPENDENT,26Aug

How can they push backing Israel in bombing Iran, if CIA is going to be so neurotically cautious ?

CLUSTER BOMBS: a diabolic gadget--the big shell explodes in the air, scattering little bomblets all around (filled with awful shrapnel).
sometimes these bomblets don't explode, and lie there waiting for some child intrigued by these cute little toys..the child thus escapes from this wicked world.

Bushies gave/sold these gadgets to Israel--then Israel left them lying around Lebanon--as US & Brits left them lying around in Iraq.

Bushies were SHOCKED to their foundation !

ANOTHER RAT MOVES TOWARD SHIP-EDGE: A Connecticut GOP Representative just reversed himself, calling for withdrawal timetable.

BUT A RAT DANCES BACK: McCain last week denounced phony war optimism of Rumsfeld & Cheney--but then, when WhiteHouse reacted, McCain said he still supports our Iraq 'mission' (what IS that mission ? !) .

Finally, media are adding together the Iraq AND Afghan casualties: 2900 GIs killed so far--but of course they won't discuss the tens of thousands wounded in these pointless, winless wars.
FinTimes

HEZ HAS ALREADY PLUGGED IN $180 MILLION for rescuing Lebanese made homeless by Israeli bombs (vs lousy $130 million offered by Bush !)

But they're telling their clients to rent, not build new homes--because they fully expect Israeli bombers to strike again. INDEPENDENT

'SIGNIFICANT GAPS IN OUR IRAN INTELLIGENCE' says Congressional report. GUARDIAN
Unusually insightful. They could have said 'Gaps in our intelligence about _____________________
(fill in any nation's name).

Plain fact: we do NOT have a large-enough elite understanding foreign languages and cultures to staff a competent intelligence service. (Former CIA head said it would take at least 5 years to get one. Considering that we have to remotivate our elite youth first, this is understatement.)

Such knowlege-gaps won't stop Bushies from lunging around blindly near the cliffs.

MORNING-AFTER PILL FINALLY NEEDS NO PRESCRIPTION (for women over 18): REUTERS

Bush's corrupt FDA had to make this concession to get their new crony-honcho approved by Senate. (Wealthy backers of GOP may have finally realized that they DON'T WANT underclass producing a lot of surplus babies--even robotized war will need no cannon-fodder.)

Now, the women who have unplanned pregnancies will be mainly (a) girls under 18, (b) women too ignorant to know about Plan B pill--and (c) Catholic & Protestant fundamentalists who believe that the MORULA (the primitive ball of cells that MIGHT,IMPROBABLY be flushed out by this pill) is a fully human boy or girl. All these unfortunate girls and women will still need abortions.

Bu they may not GET abortions--talk about 'breeding from the bottom" !

Let's hope that friends over 18 will buy pills for their younger friends--
or that mothers will be sensible enough to buy pills, keep them in medicine cabinets for their daughters. And let's hope do-gooders sponsor radio ads telling ignorant women that this pill is available.
(PlanB pills as occasional backup for unprotected sex are a lot safer than putting a teen-ager permanently on ordinary birth-control pills.)

Teen-agers indulge frequently in unprotected sex. UnitedPress

True, PlanB doesn't protect vs. STDs. But the only girl worse off than an infected girl is a PREGNANT infected girl !
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Why do I feel so strongly about this issue? I was 5th of 9 (unplanned!) in Great Depression.
I was scarred by neglect--my mother sometimes called me 'Freckles', and Freckles was the dog !--but I recovered pretty well. Two brothers were scarred and did NOT recover well.

A PRANK : type in FAILURE on google.search.
The 1st item under that heading is entertaining.
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THANK GOD, THESE BOYS & GIRLS NEED NOT BE KILLED!
They can now remove stem-cells from embryos without harming embryos.
LondonTIMES

Tens of thousands of frozen embryos (surplus from in vitros) were threatened by nasty stem-cell researchers. Bush said loftily, "These boys and girls are not spare parts !"
But now the researchers don't have to kill these embryos. Now they can be kept frozen until they are finally thrown into garbage. (Prolife folks have not arranged their adoption.)

US democracy: a madhouse run by the inmates.

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION: Apologists for capitalism talk about 'creative destruction': the way the 'free market' DESTROYS firms which haven't 'kept up', and thus CREATES room for more innovative firms.

Another use for this phrase: the beneficent way wars DESTROY our military equipment, so we must pay war-corporations to CREATE replacements. Eighteen billion dollars worth of National Guard equipment must be replaced in our 2 wars so far, and twelve billion dollars worth of marine corps equipment. (The comparable figures for replacing army and airforce equipment will be stunning.)

Again: the Pentagon hasn't won a real war in 60 years--but never mind, it's not a real war-machine; it's a clever financial device for shovelling trillions to war-corporations.

EXPERTS SAY IRAN HAS WON OUR 'WAR ON TERROR': We toppled their 2 worst enemies: Taliban & Saddam. They now have more influence in Iraq than we have; also they have much influence in ruined Afghanistan. ABC/NEWS
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OIL RESERVES: Suppose all Iranian oil is blocked. InternatlEnergyAgency says it has two backups a) OPEC reserves, and (b) 'emergency' oil reserves of rich nations.
OPEC says "Don't count on us !
'Emergency' reserves would last for more than a year. Reuters

That would prevent US gas-price disaster before Nov. election. Damn !
But present $3 gas may topple GOP control of Congress.

Also, Muslim guerillas (Sunni & Shia) might aggravate this emergency by stepping up their sabotage of oil-facilities (e.g., in SaudiArabia & Nigeria).

GOP MORE TRUSTED ON 'TERROR' ! vs. Dems more trusted on Iraq & economy.
And Iraq is counted as most important issue. CNN

WHY would ANYONE trust GOP on 'terrorism' ? ! GOP have shamelessly underfunded and mishandled Homeland Defense. But apparently what makes Americans stand taller is Pentagon's ability to bomb the hell out of any nation they choose. Americans still believe that offense is best defense...never mind the Israeli fiasco (bombing orgy followed by defeat).

binLaden has promised a new attack on America that will make us forget 9/11. And there are dozens of ways our Homeland is vulnerable to attack (foremost, because easiest, cheapest, and most devastating is bioterror attack). Bushies, in 5 yrs since 9/11, have not bothered to bolster our Public Health programs in impoverished regions--so wargerms could be diagnosed quickly and quarantines imposed.

But so far, quite mysteriously, none of these attacks have been launched. Until one is, GOP and Pentagon will be trusted re: 'terrorism'. And when the attack comes, millions of dumb Americans will cuddle closer to the Daddy in the WhiteHouse. So GOP is in a win/win situation.

But Iraq & lousy economy could still beat them out of control of Congress this November.

CBS poll shows 'terror' (slightly) more important than Iraq. But among 'security moms', Iraq, for the 1st time, is now slightly more important than 'terror'. And whereas one poll showed Bush up to 42% approval, this poll showed him staying at 36%.
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THREE OF FOUR AMERICANS THINK BinLaden WILL TRY ANOTHER ATTACK.
44% think he'll fail. 30% think he'll succeed. CNN
Given (a) the dozens of ways our Homeland is vulnerable and (b) the shameless neglect Bushies have shown for HomelandDefense--why would anyone think that bL--or some other terrorists --will fail ? !
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Thousands of Marines, who thought they had served their term, are being CALLED BACK IN because of shortage of volunteers (Duh!) to serve in Iraq & Afghanistan. CNN

UNHOLY ALLIANCE: Taliban once succeeded in cutting opium production significantly in their region of Afghanistan. But now they are allied to the poppy farmers and the druglords, who are financing their attacks.. One Third of all Afghan poppy production is from the Helmland, where Taliban are especially strong. INDEPENDENT

Weren't Brits foolish to side withUS against the Taliban? Now practically all cheap, degrading heroin used in Britain is from Afghanistan.

US allied itself with corrupt Northern warlords, let them take over Afgh so Bushies could send our troops to attack Iraq. (This hasn't worked; Taliban are surging back, killing a lot of GIs and Brits--5 Canadians wounded just today ! )

Unholy alliances are the name of the game in Afghanistan.

ONE IN TEN VIET VETS STILL SUFFERING FROM SHELL-SHOCK (now relabelled as PTSD)--TWENTY YEARS LATER ! One in FIVE vets came home with this syndrome. REUTERS
==================
NEARLY 21,000 GIs evacuated from Iraq for SERIOUS injuries or illnesses UNTIL Oct '05.
GlobalSecurity 32 months into the war; on average, that's almost 25 per day.

NO DATA on number evacuated (on GOOGLE) SINCE OCT. '05 !

That's OK. Pentagon doesn't want these embarrassing figures proclaimed; and most Americans don't want to hear about this.

SUPPOSE EVERYONE LIKE YOU FELT FREE TO ACT AS YOU DO?
This is the hardest part of morality: the prohibition against picking wildflowers or driving SUVs or eating endangered species of fish."There will be no social consequences from my doing X or not doing X--even though social consequences would be dire if everyone in my situation felt free to act this way."

In fact, you DON'T thereby have a moral duty to avoid X ! Your duty is to support political moves to prohibit B legally (perhaps to levy such a high tax on gasoline that very few could afford the absurd SUVs.; such prohibition would have good social results.)

On the other hand, the SUV-driver should feel humiliated to realize that--for little real benefit--he has made himself part of the social problem, not part of the solution.

ANOTHER RAT GETS READY TO JUMP SHIP:
Lieberman calls for Rumsfeld to quit. GUARDIAN
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And still another: McCain (ready to run for Pres. in'08) denounces false optimism of Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bush. /TVnews22Aug.
He's forgotten the opinion expressed by his staffers (NYTIMES,Mar.03) just after the invasion: "Iraqis will be so grateful for our liberating them that the rest of world's Muslims will be friendly to America !"

ISRAEL WON'T ACCEPT PEACE-FORCES FROM UNFRIENDLY NATIONS (nations that won't recognize Israel diplomatically). But they're the only nations so far who have OFFERED peace-keeping troops for Lebanon. USATODAY

OVER THREE HUNDRED SHIA CASUALTIES on their holyday, 19Aug.
[ USATODAY,20Aug. ]
Two implications:
--US is useless for protecting Iraqis from sectarian killings.

--US claims that 60%of attacks are from (Shia) death-squads. But detailed stories of the attacks show that practically always, the big attacks are VS. SHIA ! Shia are killing Sunni retail; Sunni are killing Shia WHOLESALE.

Also, Sunni insurgents are still causing about 17 US casualties each day.
"Their war vs. Shia haven't distracted Sunni insurgents from attacking GIs." UnitedPress

But Bushies don't want you to dwell on that fact--now that they've turned against the Shia.
(They finally realized that their chatter about 'democracy' has meant turning Iraq over to allies of hated IRAN ! )
-----------------------
In the long run, Shias will massacre Sunnis, with Iranian military guidance.
(Shia outnumber Sunni three to one !

OUR OTHER WAR: Let's compare the chance a given GI has to be killed/maimed in Afghanistan with the chance of a GI in Iraq:
12 US casualties in AFGHANISTAN on 19 Aug. (4 killed).TurkishPress

Since there are 7 times as many GIs in Iraq as in Afghan, this figure is equivalent to
EIGHTY-FOUR US casualties in one day in Iraq.
------------------------------------------------
300 GIs killed so far in Afgh; equivalent to 2100 killed in Iraq.
6700 seriously wounded; equivalent to almost 49,000 in Iraq !
Unknown news

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TALIBAN RECONQUERING: Southwest Afghanistan. "If we die we are martyrs; if we live we are victors." They're all Afghans (no foreigners seen). INDEPENDENT

Brits invaded Afgh 3 times in 19th century; one time, not one single invader survived.
They never learn !

COMPANIES ROLLING IN CASH. Too Bad ! (headline for story in DenvPost,20Aug/link unavailable.) Highest level in 2 decades ! Amount has doubled since 2000.

Why is this worrisome? Because it shows that corp. executives are NOT INVESTING !Why? Because they see few promising opportunities for growth.

When Japan was in DEFLATION period, firms wouldn't borrow even at ZERO PERCENT INTEREST ! because they saw few promising opportunities for growth.

Right-wing journalists always tell us that shovelling money to the wealthy is necessary if we want them to invest, making new jobs.

In the first place, they could invest overseas, not making new US jobs.Secondly, they could invest in new automation, or in new outsourcing, actually DESTROYING US jobs.

But now we find they're NOT INVESTING AT ALL..which seems to show they see no opportunites, here OR ABROAD. They're banking on a coming world deflation, perhaps another Great Depression.

PENTAGON VS. HOMELAND:
We're constantly told that it would be financially impossible to inspect EVERY one of the thousands of huge ship-containers entering our ports each day (each one of which could contain a nuclear bomb or a flock of anti-airliner shoulder missiles.)

But former vice-admiral Joe Sestak (now a Dem candidate)says that merely FIVE DAYS of Iraq funding would pay for such screening ! [AssocPress, cited by DenverPost20Au/link not available]

And of course the costs of BOTH Iraq & Afghan wars are a SMALL PORTION of annual Pentagon funding !

(Pentagon's only real talent is bombing and missiling. And Lebanon fiasco showed clearly that bombing doesn't work against dedicated INDIVIDUAL guerillas or terrorists.)
Thus, Pentagon is irrelevant in protecting our Homeland.

But for every dollar going to Homeland Defense, GOP govt. shovels $10 to useless Pentagon !

For a summary of the holes in our Homeland 'safety net', click on NYTIMES

ANOTHER LTR TO rMtnNews:
Stein's cartoon on 19 Aug. showed two bruisers (Israel & Hezbollah) equally bruised after Round One. Several problems:
--the two bruisers are hardly of equal size. Israel is rich and loaded with bombers; its soldiers were armed with awesome gadgets and backed by fearsome tanks.Hezbollah were barefooted fighters, armed only with rifles,antitank missiles and cheap, unaimable rockets.

--Bush said Hezbollah lost the fight (but then he may think Lebanon is in Scandinavia); 70% of Israelis recognized that Israel lost the battle. You compromise, showing a basic tie. Your view reminds me a little of the black knight in the Monty Python movie who mutters, after his arms & legs have been cut off by King Arthur, "OK, we'll call it a draw."
[See 'DEVASTATING ANALYSIS' piece just below.]

A story in the same paper says that many Israeli soldiers complained of being sent into battle woefully unprepared (by the standards you'd expect from such a rich, militaristic nation).
SeattlePI
This confirms the view that the Olmertistas were as stupid as they were ruthless; they didn't prepare the foot-soldiers because they felt so sure that their monstrous 'shock/awe' bombing, by itself, would intimidate Lebanese into turning against Hezbollah (for the kidnap of 2 Israeli soldiers that triggered Israel's long-prepared blitzkrieg). Instead, Lebanon (and many of the 1300 millions of Muslims worldwide) now admire Hez intensely.

A point about human psychology that the Olmertistas were unaware of:
When A provokes B trivially, and B responds with a barbaric onslaught on your people, and when A then drives B out of your country (for the second time), and offers to finance reconstruction... when these things happen, your people will probably blame B for the carnage.

It's amazing how hard it is to get people to accept this obvious fact:
Airpower (even shock/awe version) is a paper tiger.

People believe airpower is effective because they feel that The best Defense is a good Offense.
This fallacy is based on an animal instinct: when a caged rat gets an electric shock, he promptly bites a nearby rat.
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ISRAEL LAUNCHES ANOTHER COMMANDO RAID IN LEBANON ! in a location which can't be ascribed to 'protecting Israeli forces'. Lebanon's govt. threatens to halt deployment of their army in So.Lebanon, lest they be vulnerable to Israeli attacks. al Jazeera

UN honcho Annan bluntly denounces this attack as VIOLATION OF TERMS OF (fragile) TRUCE !

Truce may be doomed, because Lebanese have no intention of disarming Hez, or of preventing resupply from Syria.

It's more unlikely than ever that an 'international' force will be recruited to police the truce.
This force might well be caught in the middle of a new war.

DEVASTATING ANALYSIS OF HEZ VICTORY [UnitedPress ]
Israel lost at every level: airpower failed, of course;cutting off resupply from Syria was futile; Hez needed no resupply. Most seriously, the ground campaign failed: Israel took little ground, paid for with high casualties. And she can't hold that ground.

Now TV will show whole word the reckless devastation Israel worked in Lebanon. And the 'wall' vs. Palestine is showed up--rockets can plow into Israel from West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel can be defeated; and US allies in Mideast can be defeated.

Truce will end quickly. Israel has already announed plan to assassinate Hez leaders; and every Israeli soldier in Lebanon is at Hez's mercy. As for 'UN force', what country wants to fight Hez ?
Most likely, Israel will take fight to Syria and/or Iran--with results catastrophic for Israel AND FOR AMERICA. (Some hope if Syria could be bribed to change sides--but this attempt is unlikely.)
Israel had some hope of long-term future IF it could get along with nation-neighbors. But as these yield to Hez-like 'states-within-a-state', this hope fades.

The only question is whether US govt. will continue to insist that we go down with Israeli ship.

UN TO SO.LEBANON: France will double its present force of two hundred troops.
Other countries have talked of sending troops--a familiar posture! -UN hopes for 3500 troops in two weeks.

One problem: Israel wants NO troops from (Muslim) nations having no diplomatic relations with Israel. Will this restriction be acceptable?

Hez agrees that Lebanese army may confiscate any weapons that are left visible !
Bloomberg

Israelis have already handed over 50% of their positions to (nominal) Lebanese troops
FinTimes.17Au] Withdrawal ? or bugout ?

Once again I predict that Hez will NOT be disarmed,nor dislodged from So.Lebanon.
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Sunni clerics who used to hurl anti-Shia fatwas have now been forced (by Hez triumph) to issue fatwas approving of Hez's campaign vs. Israel.

Islam-expert warns of danger of 'synergy' between Arab nationalism, Sunni militancy, and 'Shia crescent'(oil-fields of Iraq, Bahrain, and part of SaudiArabia)--which would 'link all the battlefields from Afghanistan to Lebanon.' To avoid this synergy, Israel must give up its 'bunkerization'--withdrawing behind a fortified border and hammering at any perceived threat. FinTimes

WhiteHouse denies Bush said he was 'frustrated' over Iraq. Too bad--being frustrated would show he's having a sane spell.

Gen. says US troops there expressed 'frustration'. HoustonChronicle

Given 'spin' tendencies of our tame generals, you can bet those troops are depressed and engraged at the continuation of this pointless, winless war...especially the hundreds who were told AT THE LAST MINUTE (long after other Americans knew!) that their tours were being arbitrarily extended.

The group forced to stay specialize in operating huge Stryker machines (very mobile tanks).
How long before insurgents begin using against the 'Strykers' the missiles that devastated Israeli tanks in Lebanon?

MORE ON POSSIBLE ISRAELI BUGOUT:
The Israeli general who earlier said they'd pull out competely within 10 days now says that 'intelligence' indicates that replacement-forces might not come in for months--so Israeli forces might stay on in Lebanon for months. And of course their sea-blockade will continue.

Lebanon govt. has not yet consented to send army south of Litani river ! Present consensus is NOT to disarm Hez, but to require them not to USE their rockets (at all? into Israel?)

Most returning Lebanese have gone only as far South as Tyre, from fear of unexploded ordinance further South. (But a few HAVE gone into South. You'd think some journalists would venture South. You'd think they'd report on Israeli soldiers remaining. It's mysterious that NO journalists except Robt. Fisk have made any guesses how many Israelis are still in Lebanon. )

2000 French troops are on ship nearby. But their entry date (and their mission) is still undetermined.
MSNBC

Some 'intelligence', finding out only now that international force will be slow to fill in !

Motivation for possible bugout would be to minimize Israeli casualties (already 118 soldiers killed--how many wounded?) from Hez attacks (which Hez says would continue as long as Israelis stay in Lebanon).

So the question is: HOW MANY Israeli troops will stay on in Lebanon 'for months'? Fisk guessed only one thousand remain. That would be an almost-complete bugout. Also, how far into Lebanon will remaining Israeli GIs occupy? (Safer if they bunched up right at Israel border, backed up by awesome artillery,etc. just across in Israel.)

If only a few Israelis are left in Lebanon, and Lebanese army hasn't yet gone South, and Leb.army will NOT try to disarm Hez....then Hez is basically uncontrolled.
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Lebanese army will put 'symbolic' force into South, says Israel publication HAARETZ
Army is 40% Christian, 60% Muslim. Hez lawmakers say that Hez will hide weapons, melt into native population.
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Israeli general: "If Lebanese army doesn't come in soon, we'll halt our withdrawal." (vs. what he might have said: "We won't STARTwithdrawal til Leb. army arrives to relieve us.")
Then he says, "We may have to stay in for months until international force comes in."
Commander of (non-existent) internatl force wants UN to authorize them to use force to disarm Hez.HAARETZ

Again, Lebanese army has no intention of using force to disarm Hez ! And internatl. force will have Hez force used against THEM if they try !
---------------------
NYTIMES waffles, as usual:
Israel begins to pull MANY of its troops out..3500 outside troops expected in, in 10-15 days.
"Israel redeployment could happen even before outside troops arrive.. "
It could be a year before peace-keeping force would get up to 15,000.
Right now, there are NO FIRM COMMITMENTS of foreign troops.
Iran & Syria are said already to be rearming Hez.

Israelis pulling back more defensible positions, wary of being easy targets for Hez.
(They could pull back just across Israel border, coming back just as easily if that's called for. If Hez attacked them within Israel's border, it could be said they've broken the truce (which they never signed) --whereas, IF Hez attacks Israelis inside Lebanon (as they have said they would)..
then renewal of Israeli bombing would look indefensible.

PREDICTION: HEZ WON'T BE DISARMED OR DISLODGED FROM SO. LEBANON.
We can hope they won't USE their weapons in near future.

One thing sure: remark that 'Hez has LOST' is usual dose of Bush-shit.
--------------
Some are hoping that when Lebanese cool down,they'll blame Hez. But in general:
when A provokes B in a trivial way, and B,in retaliation, reduces your nation to rubble
--and A is ABLE AND WILLING to finance your reconstruction--
--in this chain of events, your people will blame B !

ISRAELI BUGOUT ?

ROBERT FISK, in Southern Lebanon, says that Israel has withdrawn almost all its tanks (vulnerable to Hez missiles) and that the big invasion 'up to Latani' never happened. He thinks there are only 1000 Israeli troops left in Lebanon.INDEPENDENT

Fisk is suggesting that the 'offensive' was fictional, to cover up Israeli bugout.

He's the only journalist to suggest this. Tame US media say Israelis are pulling out slowly. But expectation was they wouldn't begin pullout until French, etc., arrived to take over.
Now only the Lebanese army is there to take over, with many of its members actual Hez fighters !
Yet Israelis are already pulling out, however 'slowly'.

(In a story in DER SPIEGEL about a family painfully working their way back to their bombed home, there is NO mention of seeing any Israeli troops!)

This is interesting:
Despite Israeli booklets flooding down, warning Lebanese NOT to dare to return to South, LEBANESE ARE FLOODING back into South.

It's unlikely they would do this if they witnessed tens of thousands of Israeli troops still there, along with many tanks, ready to blast anyone who SEEMS to be a Hez fighter !
------------------
CBS NEWS says that Israelis are pulling out 'much faster than expected'. They expect to hand over forward positions (to Lebanese army!) in 48 hours, and they expect to be out completely within 10 days. (leaving Lebanese army completely in charge.) That's a bugout !
---------------
Bloomberg says: a) Israelis won't say how far their last-minute offensive penetrated into Lebanon, nor (b) how many Israeli troops 'will be' brought back into Israel. Israel says their troops 'will remain' until area is handed over to Lebanon troops AND to 'Unifil' troops. Where are these 'unifil' troops? Will they be here in 10 days, when Israelis complete their pullout?

A terrorist expert in Israel worries: "Once [Israeli troops] withdraw, there will be no force with motivation to tangle with Hez !" Indeed not.
-----------
This may not be reason to rejoice: War may start again, if triumphant Hez are dumb enough to shell Israel again.
but (a) it does hold up to ridicule Bush's claim that Hez lost!
and (b) it does emphasize welcome failure of this monstrous 'shock & awe' project.

HIT 'EM AGAIN ! Nasty woman deplores Olmert's softness. Asssyrian News
She never mentions new dimension to the struggle; thousands of INDIVIDUAL enemies who don't fear death, and who do have access to easily-concealed medium-tech rockets.

If Israel were able to annex all of Lebanon, this would just be a 'graveyard' for Israeli soldiers, as Hez honcho says. (If they grab the Litani river, it could be poisoned upstream.)
------------
One analyst thinks Israelis plan to attack Hez on their way back South from Litani river.
Certainly this will break the truce. This analyst thinks Israeli are nuts to rely on tanks, given the effective Hez anti-tank missiles: half of all Israeli casualties are from anti-tank missiles.GUARDIAN
--------------
UnitedPress article also praises Hez anti-tank rockets. One wonders how long it will be before such rockets attack the prestigious 'Stryker' vehicles US is counting on to convey and protect GIs inIraq.

Despite glamorous parachuting of Israeli commandos deep into Lebanon :
TWO HUNDRED FIFTY rockets into Israel Sunday--; 24 Israeli conscripts killed (how many wounded?) Olmert 'regrets' Israeli casualties [ actually,he regrets his political damage--from this war's 'deficiencies' ( read Disastrous Fiasco). ]

for the record: I despise the Hez for hiding rockets among civilians, and for slamming indiscriminate rockets into Israel (often killing children and Israeli Muslims--just as Israeli bombs often kill--far more ! --children and anti-Hez Christians . )

But I rejoice that this insane campaign has reminded us again that airpower--even SHOCK & AWE attacks--airpower, missile-power, is ineffective vs. 3d-world INDIVIDUAL insurgents.

Not that airpower addicts will heed this new reminder. One only hopes that most sensible people will.

TWO HUNDRED SHIA CASUALTIES today. Rockets from a Sunni neighborhood that US troops have been 'pacifying'. Useless US troops. KhaleejTimes

New step in civil war. Now it won't be enough to guard neigborhood from car-invaders. Ethnic cleansing must be accelerated. Trouble is, rockets now have 50 miles range, if you don't care about aiming--and these crazy Sunnis don't care.

Shia will have to have deFacto secession, and they must force Sunnis out of a 50-mile buffer zone.
Sadr City can't be protected from rockets. They'll have to drive Sunnis out of Baghdad.
In process, they will likely turn on GIs.
----------------------
US says that all this carnage came NOT from Sunni attack (from region US is supposed to have pacified) but from a gas-explosion. SeattlePI
When natives there, and Iraq govt., say it was a Sunni attack--and Sunnis claim credit for the attack !--what Iraqis will believe US claims ? !

Later, US admitted that their first report was 'misinformed'. The carnage WAS from Sunni attacks, from neighborhood US was supposed to be 'pacifying'.

TRUCE-FARCE:
Israelis have cheerfully suffered over 100 casualties, plus one copter, in their last-minute offensive 'before the truce'.Imagine the feelings of the mothers of these conscripts killed/wounded/missing just before the truce. 100 Hez rockets hit Israel yesterday.

Lebanese were naturally sceptical when French/US resolution called for stoppage of ALL Hez attacks, but only 'OFFENSIVE' Israeli attacks. Who knows which killings the touchy Lebanese would find offensive?

Also: the agreement lets Israelis stay on in Lebanon (still attacking) until the French troops arrive. France can take their time (some say WEEKS !) , allowing Israelis to make lots more trouble in Lebanon.

Now the Lebanese scepticism is warranted. Hez naturally said they will keep fighting Israeli troops as long as they were in Lebanon. Honcho for the INVADERS Israeli replied, "If anyone dares to use force against Israeli DEFENSE forces, we will see this as a violation of the cease-fire agreement."

Talk about hutzpah ! Talk about meaningless truce ! Talk about sacrificing more Israeli conscripts just to (possibly) help Olmert conceal his defeat.
------------------------------------
An objective-sounding Turkish writer lays out the interesting history of Hezbollah.
TurkishDailyNews

SHIA LEADER OPENLY ENDORSES 'NEIGHBORHOOD COMMITTEES' (local militia)
in Baghdad.
Another big attack on Shia neighborhood. No trust in 'all/Iraq' forces or GIs.
REUTERS
Sunnis still killing Shias WHOLESALE, while Shia kill Sunnis only RETAIL.
Yet US still insists that the main danger comes from Shia militias!

That tells the Shia whose side THEY'RE on !

Israel launches a last-minute offensive in Lebanon. One of their copters was shot down. Nineteen Israeli conscripts were killed on Saturday. We don't know how many Hez were killed, but Israeli say that only 64 rockets hit Israel. (ABC TV news).
LATER REPORT SAYS THAT 250 ROCKETS HIT ISRAEL ON LAST DAY BEFORE TRUCE!
----------------------------------------------
RockyMtnNews printed my reaction today to EdStein's cartoon. This cartoon is all the more revealing because Stein is usually liberal and anti-war. [no link available].
---------------------------------
to EdStein: Your cartoon in RockyMtnNews on 5Au was incredible. You show a poor Israeli soldier, armed only with rifle, watching huge missiles pouring down on him from terrorists and from Europe.

Europe is not pouring missiles on Israel, just warranted disapproval. Israel is pouring down on innocent Lebanese (often on Christians disapproving of Hezbollah ! ) hugely greater amounts of explosives than Hezbollah is pouring on Israel.

Your cartoon is not only a lie; it is a futile lie-- since the world can see on TV the Lebanese cities wrecked, the children blown to bits, by poor little Israel. Facing such bold and stupid distortion, one can only wonder what you're smoking.

Some say it is anti-semitism that makes people criticize Israel. ON the contrary:
just as we feel cooler about US Muslims who don't criticize Islamist crimes, so when US Jews are silent about barbaric (and stupid ! ) Israeli conduct, we feel cooler toward that group.

Soon there will be more US Muslims than US Jews. At some point even our pols must quit fawning over the clever, wealthy Zionist lobby.

BRITS,DEFEATED, PULL BACK IN AFGHANISTAN: Blair's policy was to set out small contingents of Brits around Helmland, to spread 'ink-blots' of peace, reconstruction.

Instead, by the hundreds, local Afghans have attacked these forward bases. Brits don't have enough copters even to evacuate the wounded. So they're pulling back in despair from forward bases.

This one writer asks why Brits in Iraq can't show similar prudence.
GUARDIAN/link not available.

A story in WashPost confirms the obvious point that WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH AMERICANS WHO UNDERSTAND EVEN ONE FOREIGN LANGUAGE--let alone enough who are interested in learning about alien cultures.

We should quit meddling ignorantly with geopolitics, and concentrate on Homeland Defense.
If you think there's a fuss now about 'toothpaste bombs' on airliners, wait until the first cheap, available, easily-concealed SHOULDER MISSILE downs an airliner from a roof in Chicago !
Terrorists don't even have to get on the airliner !

150 Hez rockets pour into Israel (often on Haifa) on Saturday. Israel blitzkrieg still fails to protect Israel. Once again the dumb slogan is refuted: "The best defense is a good offense."
-----------------------------
OLMERT POLLS DOWN: Israelis are disappointed in bombing results (Hez rockets still falling). "You can't go to war promising victory, producing humiliating defeat, and remain in power."
Most Israeli dissenters want MORE aggressive policy. GUARDIAN
That can be as dangerous as a strong anti-war movement, because frothing demands for more aggression could push Israel into actions even more self-destructive than before.

15 Israeli soldiers killed, many more wounded, in the 2 miles of Lebanon they now 'control'. Now they've warned they will bomb Beirut, and have explicitly warned that they'll kill Lebanese who are NOT Hezbollah. INDEPENDENT

Rather, they now explicitly acknowledge the criminal actions they've indulged in all along.

This shamelessness comes from their rage at defeat.

150 Shia casualties in NAJAF, top Shia shrine in the world. Sunni group claims credit.
SeattlePI

And still US pretends the main violence is from 'death-squads' (code for Shia militia).
What's really going on? US is now siding with Sunni vs. Shia.

This will hurry up Shia secession from Iraq.

180 Hez rockets into Israel on Wednesday. [ABC/TV/NEWS]

At least 145 Hez rockets hit Israel Tuesday. HoustonChron No evidence yet that awesome airpower plus 10,000 feckless Israeli conscripts have been able to block Hez attacks. Every day mighty Israel seems less awesome.

Some have reproached me for 'delighting in Israel's troubles'. Not so--but I am sure happy at this clear failure of their MONSTROUS 'shock/awe' project.

UNAUTHORIZED TORTURE: PM Maliki denounced US bombing of Sadr City. Gen.Case retorted that they were purging people at a 'torture center'.

Apparently he consulted a list of allies to whom we ship people to be tortured.
This place was not on the 'approved' list.
=============
NINETY KILLED OR WOUNDED TODAY(mostly in Baghdad). US troops are bustling around again in Baghdad, in huge 'Stryker' vehicles.

But they're not having much effect on cutting violence there. Surprise !
HoustonChronicle

JUAN COLE (mideast expert) passes on a theory explaining the strange Israeli blitzkrieg vs. Lebanon. The real goal of Europe & US & Israel, it's suggested, is to control gigantic Iranian oil/gas reserves, lest China & India should control them instead. So Lebanon is destroyed in order to intimidate Iranians into installing a US-puppet-regime.
--------------------
Problems with this theory:

--Russia will not want US to control Iran. Russia--impervious to US threasts--could donate a couple of H-bombs (from among its thousands) for Iran to use as a deterrent vs. Israel/US attack, thus making Iran impervious to threats.

--China should be enraged by this move. Also impervious to US threats, they could also donate a-bombs, or threaten to sell just some of the staggering amount of US bonds they own, which could start a panic, finishing the bankrupting of America.

--Venezuela is said to have trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, and more oil than SaudiArabia (expensive to process, but profitable if oil stays over $50 a barrel--which it will ! ) Of course Venezuela hates Bushies' America--but V should be easier to intimidate than Iran is.

--Canada's oil-sands are now in play,now that oil is likely to stay expensive.

--Iran already has plenty of ways to make Israel/America regret any attack--most notably the power to slaughter the 130,000 vulnerable GIs next-door in Iraq. If US or Israel NUKED Iran, any US alllies would become enemies, since price of oil would skyrocket. (It's already $77 a barrel.)

--Saddam tried to ruin the Kuwait oil-fields by burning them, and failed. (The fires were quickly extinguished.) But suppose US & allies could occupy Iran's oil-fields. Iran could plant 'dirty bombs' in the fields; they would render the whole area radioactive for months or years. Iran would be willing to wait till the area came back; US occupiers--under constant guerilla attack--could NOT wait that long. And the oil would increase in value as it sat in the ground.
---------------
No, I think my theory of the 'shock/awe experiment' [ below ] better explains the blitzkrieg. And if this is not a deliberate experiment, it serves as one--whose failure shows the folly of counting on even this extravagant use of air-power to intimidate a group of Islamic resisters.
======================
SHOCK-AND-AWE EXPERIMENT:
Hezbollah were sensibly surprised when Israel responded to the kidnap of 2 soldiers with its spectacular bombing campaign against Lebanon.

Of course the true believers in 'victory through air-power' would not entertain the possibility of failure. But let's look at the history of airpower.

In WWII, the heavy German bombing of Britain just strengthened British resolve. Some experts said that the cost to the Allies, in planes lost and training wasted on airmen killed, exceeded the undoubted damage to Germany that these bombers did.

Spectacular bombing of Pearl Harbor didn't weaken US morale. Nor did awful fire-bombing of Tokyo weaken their morale.

In Korea, we had complete control of the airspace and seaspace over and around a narrow peninsula. We bombed North Korea flat. Yet the Chinese managed to move down enough explosives and armaments over 400 miles to the 38th parallel so they could keep a conventional army fighting, with tremendous artillery duels, for months--until we had to accept a tie.

We poured 5 million tons of explosive down on Vietnam, (twice the amount used in all of WWII !) on an area about the size of New Mexico--but they still drove us out.

Awesome Soviet airpower--its ruthlessness not restricted by queasy public opinion--didn't prevent their being driven out of Afghanistan.

Bombing seemed to work in Gulf War I, because Saddam was such a military fool. His poor conscipts got buried alive in trenches by US bulldozers!

In the Kosovo campaign, we heard about triumphant airpower. But when Milosovec pulled out, his tanks and artillery were still intact. (US pilots, prudent about saving their own necks, flew so high that they sometimes bombed the refugees they were supposed to protect; often the tanks and bridges they thought they were bombing were fake decoys.)

We all know how Clinton's attempt to bomb alQuaeda was really bombing empty tents.
SUCCESS !
The only sure triumph for air-power was when two A-bombs shocked the Japanese into surrendering. So then the slogan went around that airpower had to 'shock and awe' the enemy into capitulating, with a 'short, sharp shock'. Rumsfeld planned a shock-and-awe attack on Iraq, but world opinion (and American horror) prevented that...tons of our bombs and missiles since then have only recruited more insurgents among the enraged surviving relatives.

BinLaden said that at Tora-Bora he survived the 500-lb bombs peppering his area simply by lying on the ground till they stopped.
-----------------------------
Perhaps the Hezbollah kidnapping gave the Israeli air-force (US rushed to provide them with bunker-buster bombs) the chance to stage a real experiment in shock-and-awe. They would simply destroy the modern, prosperous country of Lebanon IN A WEEK OR TWO, shocking the Lebanese into disarming Hezbollah.

It was a sound 'Shock/Awe' experiment, and its failure is informative.. The Westernized middle-class fled from Lebanon, leaving Hezbollah in prestigious control.. The continual (if inaccurate) Hezbollah rocketing shows the world that their war-capacity is not much impaired by all the Israeli bombs. (They're able to hit Haifa reliably.)

That's why the Siamese twins (Pentagon & Israel) won't allow a quick cease-fire. They just can't believe yet that their awesome bombers have failed. Perhaps in just a few more days....but there’s little Lebanese infrastructure left to be destroyed.

Now the Israelis have had to send thousands of conscripts into Lebanon, giving Islamists the chance to launch many suicide attacks at these vulnerable soldiers. Israel will probably have to pull out from Lebanon again; a Wall Street Journal writer predicts the greatest military humiliation in Israel's history.

The Pentagon will never face facts; bombing is about their only talent. But it should finally be clear to the rest of us that airpower is a paper tiger.

BAGHDAD, LIKE BASRA ALREADY, WILL SLIP INTO IRANIAN EMPIRE says former Bushie speech-writer--unless we pour in a LOT of new troops.
"Then we'll be free to stay or go, depending on whether we want to deny or admit defeat."

NYTIMES

Forget that 'unless' clause.

38% chance of recession in next year, says the econ.model used by Fed.Reserve. GUARDIAN
I've been predicting this for months--(well, actually for decades--but more urgently, recently).

The question is why Bushies' Fed would have raised short-term interest rates so high as to cause a recession THIS CLOSE TO NOV. ELECTION!

Guessing: they've already written off control of Congress this year. So they might as well spike up interest, since it is the wealthy who have money to lend. (Luckily, I have my modest savings also in cash.)

'FULL-BLOWN CIVIL WAR', says writer for UnitedPress
He points out that the Shia Sadrites are enormously more powerful than the Sunni insurgents; they are nearing a full revolution (backed covertly by Iran) vs. GI occupiers.

GIs BACK AS TARGETS IN BAGHDAD:
Recent low GI casualties were because we cut way back on GI patrols, hoping 'we could stand down as Iraqis stand up.' Well, that didn't work--so now GIs are visibly on patrol, more vulnerable than before--but more useful than before? So far there's no sign of that.

HEZ ROCKETS STILL FIRING: Israel says they have fired 3000. Israel says they have wiped out half of them. But 160 fell on Israel today. Tho not very accurate, they can hit Haifa and kill quite a few Israelis. KGET

100 wounded today in Haifa. CNN

Tho hitting at random, rockets cause huge fires in Israel. WashPost

Their real function is to show the world that, despite awesome Israeli airpower, despite 10,000 Israeli troops (with tanks) occupying Lebanon, Hez war-capacity has not been noticeably weakened !

Israeli super-armored-tanks pierced by Hez super-missiles ! SeattlePI
--------------------------
Hez has united Sunni & Shia from Egypt to Indonesia in admiration. They're the group that drove mighty Israel out of Lebanon once before; now they're standing up to Israel / US again. "If Hez are terrorists, then the tens of millions of Muslims worldwide who support them must also count as terrorists !" says writer for UnitedPress

All along, one of binLaden's top goals were to overthrow the cynical Sunni rulers in secret cahoots with Israel/US. This goal may be closer to fulfillment than ever before (Ordinary Muslims are enraged at passivity of Arab leaders.)

Price of oil would be about $300 a barrel if Saudi royals fall.

GOP SEN. SAYS "OUT IN 6 MONTHS!" Nebraska Sen.Hagel (a decorated veteran) makes the obvious point that sending thousands more GIs into Baghdad now will do no good, is just providing insurgents (and Sadrites) more targets to shoot at. NewsNetNebraska

He will be remembered as the first Senator to speak so bluntly the truth to Power.

2 CHEERS FOR LIARS ! We're now told that Pentagon false statements about 9/11 were (perhaps) NOT deliberate lies.[ Reuters ]

So what? Compare 2 rulers: one is smart, understands the real situation,and bases his actions on the true situation--but he lies to his people (perhaps with justification, if they wouldn't react rationally to the truth).

The second ruler never tells a deliberate lie to others--but he lies to himself, makes himself believe ridiculous falsehoods, and acts resolutely on his false beliefs. This leader is far more dangerous to his country than is the blatant liar.

About the second guy we could say what was said of a doomed admiral in a movie:
"The weakness of his intellect was matched only by the firmness of his will."

In a movie this is comic; in the real world such honest misleadership is surpassingly tragic.
------------------
A former ambassador says that just before the invasion, Bush didn't know there were 2 main, rather hostile sects in Iraq; "I thought they were Muslims!" RawStory

to EdStein: Your cartoon in RMN on 5Au was incredible. You show a poor Israeli soldier, armed only with rifle, watching huge missiles pouring down on him from terrorists and from Europe.

Europe is NOT pouring missiles on Israel, just warranted disapproval. Israel is pouring down on innocent Lebanese (often on Christians who disapprove of Hezbollah ! ) hugely greater amounts of explosives than Hezbollah is pouring on Israel.

Your cartoon is a futile lie, since the world can see on TV the damage done to Lebanon, the children blown to bits, by poor little Israel. Facing such bold and silly distortion, one can only wonder if you're smoking something.

Some say rising anti-semitism is the reason for disapproval of Israeli actions. On the contrary, just as we feel cooler about US Muslims who don't denounce Islamic terrorists--just as the Brits felt cool to Irish who backed IRA bombers--so the silence of US Jews about the barbaric (and stupid!) conduct of Israel--and the blatant lies told by some US Jews to justify Israel--make people feel cooler toward this ethnic minority.

Very shortly the number of US Muslims will be greater than the number of US Jews. At some point, even the pols will have to quit fawning over the clever, wealthy Zionist lobby.

ISRAEL JUST DOESN'T UNDERSTAND. Robt Pape (inNYTIMES,cited by InformationClearinghouse) wrote a book investigating actual suicide bombers.Among these were the agents of Hezbollah.

Pape compares Hez to US civil-rights movement, a loose federation of different organizations. Pape points out that not all the suiciders were fanatic Muslims: some were Marxists, and at least one was Christian !

What united these suiciders was determination to expel invaders fromLebanon. Now that Israel's air-assault has failed to suppress Hez, Israel will try again to occupy at least South Lebanon. This will help Hez to recruit new volunteers. Israel will again be driven out of Lebanon.

BRIT HONCHO THINKS CIVIL WAR, PARTITION IS MORE LIKELY than stable, democratic, unified Iraq. (another leaked memo.) INDEPENDENT

Duh.

Of course Iraq will split into Kurdland, Shialand, and inbetween Sunni/Arab land. The only question is: how much slaughter must happen before this inevitable result is accepted?

He worries about Sadrites developing into a 'state within a state' like Hezbollah in Lebanon.
That's also inevitable. [100,000 in streets today.]

Worst result: a second civil war between Sadrites and Shia Badr !

TWENTY THOUSAND GIs EVACUATED FROM MAR.'03 UNTIL OCT '05 ! (No figures available since then !)
GlobalSecurity

Americans don't pay much heed to numbers of wounded. They choose to believe the wounds are slight. But slightly-wounded men are NOT evacuated. 20,000 /31 months = about 20 a day evacuated. (When you read of one GI killed, think of ten more seriously wounded on that day.)

Americans are foolish to concentrate on GIs killed, not GIs wounded. Those killed will basically be mourned only by friends & family. The rest of us will concentrate on shopping on Memorial Day.
But thousands of limbless, blinded, brain-damaged, shell-shocked men would remind us for years of the folly of Americans backing this pointless war...UNLESS we ignore them also.

Nobody thinks much about the thousands of GIs totally incapacitated in GULF WAR I. Nor the tens of thousands maimed pointlessly in Vietnam. So why should we think much about these newest casualties of the ruthless stupidity of so many Americans? (A majority here now endorse Israel's bombing of Lebanese Christians !)

100,000 SADRITES MARCH IN BAGHDAD against US & Israel. At least that many. NYTIMES
US, as expected, lies and says march included only 14,000. Journalists on the spot exposed this lie immediately.

How many (not in uniform) suicide fighters would it take to ambush & slaughter 130,000 GIs?

THIRTY-FIVE SHOULDER-FIRED-MISSILE ATTACKS ON NON-MILITARY PLANES AROUND THE WORLD SO FAR. TWENTY-FOUR HITS.

Pentagon has spent hundreds of billions on loony anti-missile-missiles (to stop N.Korean model-A missiles from hitting Alaska--so far, our missiles are failures ! )--but they won't spend a few billion--FIVE YRS AFTER 9/11 ! --to test and build defenses for our airliners against these cheap, easily-available weapons.

A terrorist could go up to a roof near Chicago's Midway airport, fire an easily-concealed missile at a LOW-FLYING airliner, and disappear downstairs before it hits.

We do protect our military planes thusly; Israel protects both military and civilian planes thusly..but GOP govt. 'can't afford' that.

Rt-wing CATO wonks point out that even one successful attack on a US airliner (destroying willingness to travel by air) would cost US economy more than all the costs of developing such defenses. [ UnitedPress ]

It's fascinating how Homeland Security Dept. obsesses over passengers taking off their shoes, when with these weapons TERRORISTS DON'T HAVE TO GET ON THE PLANE AT ALL !
-----------
Newspapers are finally noting our dangerous shortage of nurses--even with the burgeoning number of oldies needing medical treatment, even with the threat of a natural pandemic of avian flu--EVEN WITH REAL DANGER OF A BIOWAR ATTACK by terrorists--(the cheapest and easiest and most devastating form of attack).

The problem is that nursing PROFESSORS are so badly paid that too few can be recruited to train the number of nurses needed. GOP govt. could have subsidized such professors--over the 5 years we've had to prepare for biowar--but, again, they don't give a damn about Homeland Protection--except as an excuse to spy on Americans.

Around 200 Hez rockets hit Israel on Thursday; another 200 on Friday--some 50 miles into Israel.
HoustonChronicle No Israeli 'security zone' can be maintained 50 mi.into Lebanon !

Israeli/US umbilical cord is tearing. Bushies now call for an immediate cease-fire; Hez agrees, but not Israel. (If it ends here, Hez will have won the propaganda war. But the longer it goes on with Hez surviving & shooting rockets, the greater will be Israel's disgrace !)

ONE MILLION LEBANESE REFUGEES: (one in four Lebanese,many of them Christians, many with relatives in America).

Hez says IF Israelis hit downtown Beirut (they have already hit Southern suburbs), Hez will hit TelaViv. [ FinTimes ]
If they really hit Telaviv in an important way, there's no predicting how Israel would react.
160 rockets fired at Israel today in 30 minutes.
----------------
It's pretty obvious that the thousands of Hez rockets hitting Israel have been donated by Iran.
HOW DO IRANIANS DARE DEFY ISRAEL & US, when both are able and lusting to NUKE Iran? Perhaps this is how their leaders think:

--US/Israel wouldn't need any excuse to nuke Iran. Who'd stop them?

--no acceptable excuse could be given. The rest of the world would recoil in horror even more.

--More importantly: Iranians & their Shia allies--now,perhaps, allied with Sunni insurgents--could slaughter our 130,000 GIs next door in Iraq. (These troops are now hostages, just as tens of thousands of GIs in SouthKorea are within firing-range of N.Korea !)

--After Iran attack, the world oil market would collapse, and so would most of the 1st world, into another Great Depression. (It's already on the verge, with excess productive capacity in many countries, able to produce far more than 'effective demand' will sop up: more than people-with-money (the destitute are irrelevant) are able or willing--at going prices--to consume.
Each country is increasingly desperate to export its surplus, but NOT to import goods/svcs from outside, to compete with its own goods. The free-trade ideology is withering. )

--Most frightening thought: the mullahs who run Iran might not mind sinful, secular Teheran being levelled by nukes. Luckily it's said that these mullahs are NOT fanatics, are quite comfort-loving and corrupt. BUT obviously they're willing to RISK being nuked.

Two in Three Americans are MORE angry than ever at the government. (RMN3Aug)
55% (esp. Dems & Independents!) want us out of Iraq by Aug. 07. [ United Press]
Not likely, with loony Bush and incompetent Rummy still in charge.

Who put those awful people in power?

Many people watch 30-second political TV commercials (I turn off the sound and watch them comically mouth nonsense). People say they're not influenced by these, but it turns out that millions vote the way those commercials tell them to.
-------------------
Do people have a duty to vote? I know that my individual vote, like yours, counts for nothing.

But suppose everyone refused to vote who is well-informed? Disaster.

Now suppose everyone refused to vote who is 'too busy to get really informed' ? That would be a blessing.

No, there is NO universal duty to vote.

ELEVEN THOUSAND GIs TO AFGHANISTAN (22,000 there now). It's not clear if these new troops will mean more or less or the same amt. of US troops. One thing sure: Pentagon's earlier preediction that we'd withdraw 3000 hasn't worked out, due to the resurgent Taliban.
[ CNN ]

THOUSANDS OF SHIA MARCH in Baghdad to remind world that the most killing is by Sunni insurgents, NOT by 'shia militia' (as is regularly hinted by US).

US anonymous spokesman says that one in four govt. policemen is either militia or gangster. FinTimes

So much for 'Iraqis standing up so we can stand down' !

155 HEZ ROCKETS HIT 3 ISRAELI CITIES TODAY:
Obviously, Israeli bombing (killing many children and Christians) hasn't yet had noticeable effect on Hez rocket-capacity. Bloomberg

GUARDIAN says 190 rockets hit 43 miles into Israel...just when Israel PM says they've 'completely destroyed' Hez infrastructure ! (Actually 230 rockets hit on Wednesday!)

They're rushing in 10,000 Israeli troops, and say they 're willing to go as deep into Lebanon as necessary. Prediction: their supply-lines will lengthen, vulnerable to mines and road-bombs.

These troops will be targets for Jihadists rushing in from other countries, eager to die killing Jews (even more attractive than killing Americans!)

Israeli leaders are such loons !
-----------
"Bushies' US VS.THEM policies constantly generate more of THEM and fewer of US !'
REUTERS
-------------
It's unlikely that Israel can occupy enough of Lebanon to prevent Hez rockets from hitting Israel.

"This is heading toward the biggest humiliation in Israel history " (WallSt.Journal).

If Hez survives and gets loyalty of Lebanese, then it has won. (Hez can easily replace any rockets that are destroyed.)

US/Britain/Israel dream of an international force standing between Hez & Israel. But all such attempts previously have failed. (Only Syrian domination stopped the last Lebanese civil war--and we just drove Syrians out !)

This fiasco is embarrassing our Middlle East Puppets, the rulers of Egypt, Jordan, & SaudiArabia--also the present feckless ruler of Lebanon!-- a) because their peoples are enraged vs. America,
and (b) because US/Brit rulers seem increasingly incompetent.

One US rt-winger said, "This is a proxy war with Iran--so it's part of the 'War on Terrror'."
REUTERS
If so, then it's one more sign that Bushies are LOSING that war !