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Archive for July, 2006

Hezbollah’s human shields

Posted by Richard on July 20, 2006

At The American Thinker, Clarice Feldman pointed out a brief Ynet News story which confirmed that Neo-neocon and I (The war for public opinion) were right about Hezbollah wanting to create civilian casualties (emphasis added):

The IDF has found that Hizbullah is preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon. Roadblocks have been set up outside some of the villages to prevent residents from leaving, while in other villages Hizbullah is preventing UN representatives from entering, who are trying to help residents leave. In two villages, exchanges of fire between residents and Hizbullah have broken out. 

Hezbollah is holding the residents of these villages hostage, using them as human shields.

"Speaking of human shields," Feldman wondered, "why aren’t the brave folks who stood between us and Saddam in Afula or Safed or Haifa or Kiryat Shemona?" Good question. I guess these "peace activists" aren’t as troubled by rockets falling on Israeli Jews as they were about bombs falling on Saddam’s Revolutionary Guard.

Regarding Hezbollah taking whole villages hostage — good luck finding any mainstream news stories that mention the IDF report. You think the IDF told only Ynet News about it? You think Ynet News made it up? I don’t.
 

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Carnival of Liberty #54

Posted by Richard on July 19, 2006

Check out the latest Carnival of Liberty at Ogre’s Politics & Views. Apparently, Ogre hurriedly finished putting it together in the face of a gas leak emergency, and that was followed by some extended downtime at the mu.nu domain. But Ogre’s site and the carnival are available now, and it looks like there are lots of interesting posts. Go read!
 

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Disproportionate response

Posted by Richard on July 19, 2006

I'm a fan of disproportionate response

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Justice requires a disproportionate response

Posted by Richard on July 19, 2006

On Tuesday, I mentioned Neo-neocon’s post about the danger of proportionality. Well, Baron Bodissey at Gates of Vienna wrote brilliantly about this nonsense of proportionality on Monday:

If you could cut through all the Kofi-speak to the heart of the matter, what do you think would be a “proportionate” response to the provocations Israel has endured? Do the Israelis have to fire Qassam rockets into Gaza at Hamas? Do Jewish kids have to strap on bomb belts and blow themselves up in Ramallah?

As someone recently said, it’s like a bank robbery — when the call comes in that three men are robbing a bank, then the cops can only send in three patrolmen to stop them.

Or imagine that you’re woken up in the middle of the night by a burglar in the living room. You grab your twelve-gauge and creep down the stairs very quietly. But when you flip on the light and surprise the burglar, he’s armed with only a knife! What do you do? Why, you drop the shotgun, rush to the kitchen, and rummage through the drawers for a knife. And not just any knife — it has to be no longer or sharper than the one the burglar has!

The contemptible blather about "disproportionate response" comes from people who refuse to distinguish between the aggressor and the victim — who remain morally neutral as to which one ought to prevail, and thus believe that "fairness" requires each to have an equal chance.

I'm a fan of disproportionate responseFor those of us who insist that there is no right to rape, mug, burgle — or murder (again!) six million Jews — the concept of proportionality of response is a moral abomination. The correct response to aggression is whatever is necessary to stop it, to punish the aggressor, and to prevent repetition of the aggression in the future. The correct response to Islamofascism is to wipe it out.

Decent people, of course, do their best to minimize harm to innocent bystanders — and the extremely low number of deaths, given the number of air strikes and artillery bombardments, makes it clear that Israel is taking extraordinary measures in this regard. Perhaps too much so.

It’s not only unwise, it’s downright wrong to stay your hand so much that the aggressor might win — or survive to prey on more victims in the future. Don’t those future victims have just as much claim on your concern as the bystanders today? More so, in my opinion, if the bystanders aren’t so innocent — and that’s certainly the case for most of the "civilian casualties" counted up by the media in southern Lebanon. These are the people who support Hezbollah, store Hezbollah weapons in their houses, and cheer on and resupply the Hezbollah fighters — likely, their brothers and sons — firing rockets from their doorsteps.

I’m joining the good Baron, and saying to our friends in Israel, "Bring on the Disproportionate Response!"

UPDATE: Welcome, visitors from The Atheist Jew — please have a look around. You may see some post titles in the left sidebar that interest you.

UPDATE 2: The latest version of the proportionality complaint, blathered about endlessly on MSM outlets on Thursday, is the disparity between the number of Israeli deaths and Lebanese deaths (which are almost all Hezbollah deaths). The morally neutral "fairness" advocates object to the fact that Israel wages war more effectively than Hezbollah!

Would these asshats like to see an international Handicapper General, a la Harrison Bergeron, reduce the effectiveness of Israel’s weapons, tactics, and troops so that they don’t have an unfair advantage over the genocidal maniacs on the other side?

If you’re not familiar with Kurt Vonnegut’s short story masterpiece, Harrison Bergeron, click that link and read it right now.
 

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A gift from a grateful Afghani

Posted by Richard on July 18, 2006

Lt. Col. Grayson Gile completed a tour in Afghanistan recently. Now that he’s back in Illinois, however, he still has one more mission to complete — delivering a special gift from a grateful elderly Afghani to President Bush. Thanks to The Anchoress for pointing out this wonderful, heartwarming, feel-good story in The Southern Illinoisan — you just know it’ll never be covered in the MSM:

One of those friendships involved a Kabul rug merchant who pulled Gile aside before he left the country. The merchant told Gile the story of an elderly man, so overwhelmed with gratitude to the United States for its intervention in the conflict that he made a gift for President Bush – a gift that was a year in the making and made, given the conditions of the country, under penalty of death.

Gile was astonished when he saw the hand-knotted rug, a portrait of Bush, filled with Christian and Catholic symbolism. Filling the center of the rug is an incredible likeness of Bush, dressed in religious vestments, standing at a podium decorated with the official seal of the country and flanked by two waving American flags.

Directly above Bush is Jesus with a sacred heart and stigmata carefully knotted into the rug’s pattern. The rug also shows cherubs and, apparently in an homage to both Bush and a fallen Northern Alliance leader, two lions.

"(Ahmed Shah) Masood was often called ‘the Lion of Panjshir.’ As one of the country’s military leaders, he put some very, very heavy licks to the Soviets and then turned around and delivered the same to the Taliban," Gile said. "He was assassinated two days before 9/11."

One corner of the rug reads, "President George W. Bush," while the opposing corner has the words, "Number one champion."

Gile said he was impressed by the man’s efforts.

"For this man to sequester himself away for a year to hand knot this rug speaks highly of his gratitude," he said. "And for an extraordinarily devout Muslim to have taken very strong Christian and Catholic symbology and incorporate them into the rug is amazing. He may come from a different religious culture, but he was respectful enough to do that, and that is very interesting and humbling."

Here’s Lt. Col. Gile showing off the Afghani rug (photo by Steve Jahnke / The Southern):
 

Afghani rug honoring Bush

As The Anchoress said:

Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing.

Someday, when the current fever of hate and the trend to mendacity has faded…in a saner world…right-thinking people will look back and realize that this president – THIS president – has not been an evil, moronic, malevolent and war-mongering dictator but one of the greatest humanitarian presidents in the history of our nation. It may not happen in Bush’s lifetime, but Dr. Martin Luther King said, "a lie can’t last."

This is one of those stories that so marvellously illustrates the decency, goodness, and humanity of which people are capable — and the empathy that one human being of good will can feel toward another, no matter how different they are — it just stirs me to the quick.

I remember hearing about Ahmed Masood from the late David Segal of Denver, a former IDF officer whose knowledge of military history, the Middle East, and Afghanistan never ceased to amaze me, and whom I thought about — and mourned — just the other day when the current fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began.

Segal, too, admired Masood and thought that his assassination was a real shame for the future of Afghanistan — and he believed it was no coincidence that Masood was eliminated just before al Qaeda struck us.

Given some of the negative news from Afghanistan lately, it cheers me to hear that there are Afghanis who still admire and honor Masood. And Bush.
 

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Are we rescuing Hezbollah supporters?

Posted by Richard on July 18, 2006

The U.S. is promising to evacuate 1,000 Americans per day from Lebanon, starting Wednesday, but some people who ought to know are expressing concern about just who it is we’re rescuing. Brigitte Gabriel, whom I wrote about before, grew up as a Lebanese Christian and experienced Islamist persecution and violence first-hand throughout her youth. Now head of American Congress for Truth, she expressed concern that the media coverage is giving us a false picture:

I am speaking with Lebanese Christians in Lebanon and they are all fine. Israel is not bombing them or their towns. Israel is bombing the Shiite radical strong holds. This is what the news is not telling you. Israel bombed the airport, the port and the bridges to Syria because they are used to transport weapons and support to Hezbollah. …

As sad as I feel watching what is happening in Lebanon, it is absolutely necessary to support Israel to kill the cancer that has spread and is killing the Lebanese body. Israel is not targeting civilians. Israel is targeting terrorists. Israel has launched 3000 air strikes on Lebanon since the beginning of the Operation and inflicted only 122 casualties. If Israel’s intention was to kill civilians you would have seen many more civilian deaths than only 122. They are being extremely careful, even dropping flyers and urging civilians to leave before they bomb. These casualties are terrorists and terrorist families and sympathizers.

Please read the below article from Debbie Schlussel. She hits the nail on the head. Not all American-Lebanese there are terrorist sympathizers. There is a minority of Christians vacationing there too. However the majority of the Muslims have connections to Husballah.

The Debbie Schlussel article she referred to argued that we’re about to rescue a lot of Hezbollah supporters. Schlussel, a Michigan attorney, columnist, and talk show host, is an expert on radical Islam and especially knowledgeable about the Islamists in and around Dearborn, MI (she once infiltrated a radical mosque there disguised as a Muslim woman). In this new article, she argued (emphasis in original):

One thing is lost in all the press coverage of the whining Americans who went to Lebanon of their own accord and now want us to pick up the tab to get them out.

THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS IN LEBANON ARE HEZBOLLAH SUPPORTERS.

Most of them are Shiite Muslims, many of whom hold dual U.S. and Lebanese citizenship. Many are anchor babies born here to Muslims in the U.S. illegally. Some are illegal aliens who became citizens through rubber-stamping Citizenship and Immigration Services (and its INS predecessor) coupled with political pressure by spineless politicians.

Of the 25,000 American citizens and green-card holders in Lebanon, at least 7,000 are from Dearborn, Michigan, the heart of Islamic America, and especially Shia Islam. These 7,000 are mostly Shi’ite Muslims who openly and strongly support Hezbollah. Ditto for many of the rest of the 25,000 that are there.

Many of the 7,000 plus Detroiters in Lebanon are active in Dearborn’s Bint Jbeil cultural center (the Lebanese American Heritage Club also features mostly Hezbollah fans). Bint Jbeil is a Hezbollah-dominated city in the South of Lebanon, a frequent destination of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who is very at home there. Bint Jbeil is a frequent source of shellings on Northern Israel.


Given this information, and the fact that several Shi’ite Muslim Lebanese U.S. citizens from Dearborn have been indicted and/or convicted of laundering money to Hezbollah, is it a good idea to rush to bring 25,000 such persons back to the U.S. at a time when Hezbollah is at war against our strongest U.S. ally? Does the fact, that Hezbollah numerous times–and especially now–has announced veiled and not-so-veiled intentions to attack Americans on U.S. soil, make the case to quickly bring these terror-sympathizing Americans back to U.S. soil? …

Schlussel seems to be something of a shoot-from-the-hip type, so she may be painting with too broad a brush regarding the 25,000. But her credentials suggest that she knows what she’s talking about regarding the Dearborn Islamic community and its radicalism and support for Hezbollah. Her concerns ought to be taken seriously by our government.

Do the U.S. embassy staff and the American military realize that they may be be about to save some Hezbollah members from their well-deserved fate? That some of the people they’re going to evacuate tomorrow may have been firing rockets at Israel yesterday? That they may be about to transport Hezbollah terror cells into the U.S. at taxpayer expense? Do they have any safeguards or screening mechanisms in place to prevent this?

Just wondering.
 

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The war for public opinion

Posted by Richard on July 18, 2006

Neo-neocon made an important point yesterday about civilian deaths in Lebanon. Yes, Hezbollah has been storing rockets in civilian homes and apartments, and launching them from just outside. But Iran (which calls the shots) and Hezbollah aren’t doing this merely because they’re indifferent to civilian casualties — they’re doing it because they want civilian casualties:

Hezbollah is well aware that if, by taking out the missile launchers, Israel kills Lebanese civilians–which is every bit as much Hezbollah’s goal as the initial killing of Israeli civilians by the rockets themselves–then, as sure as day follows night, this fact will be reported heavily by the Western media (mostly without the all-important background context), flashed around the globe, and widely condemned. Civilians are not only expendable on the part of the terrorists, they are important and vital tools–stage props. …

Read, as they say, the whole thing. Then, in the context of this Hezbollah tactic, consider her earlier post about the danger of "proportionality" in war. Israel — like the U.S. in Iraq — gains nothing by fighting cautiously, half-heartedly, and timidly. The Islamofascists will make sure, via their tactics, that even a cautious and measured response results in sufficient collateral damage for their propaganda purposes. Heck, I suspect that if there weren’t enough collateral damage, they’d secretly create it.
 

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Standing with Israel — and Bush — in NYC

Posted by Richard on July 17, 2006

I heard Pamela of Atlas Shrugs on Rush a few minutes ago (mid-afternoon; he’s on tape-delay here in Denver). She talked a mile a minute. Rush pleaded with her to slow down several times. Pamela had just come from the Stand with Israel rally in New York, and she was just bubbling over with excitement and enthusiasm. Apparently, tens of thousands attended. She’s got a post up with a zillion pictures and some video clips.

The big news item from the rally, the thing that had Pamela so excited when talking to Rush: Elie Wiesel thanked God for President Bush. People cheered. In New York City. 🙂

UPDATE: Pamela’s post has been updated with, among other things, the news that the transcript of her call is on Rush’s website. Check it out — she was terrific. Also, she has links to some LGF posts dealing with the crap at the DailyKos thread that she told Rush about.

Meanwhile, the AP story of the event mentioned Elie Wiesel, and even had a brief quote, but ignored the pro-Bush remark (what a surprise). The NYTimes version of the event might lead you to believe it was a Hillary Clinton rally. It never mentioned Wiesel.

UPDATE (7/20): You know, it just burns me up that this story has been completely ignored. If you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know who Elie Wiesel is, Google him. On the subject of the Jews, their enemies, and their survival, this man probably has more moral authority than any person alive — and a Nobel Prize to back it up. And yet, a Google News search for "elie wiesel thank god bush" returned four hits — one from the Jerusalem Post, and three reposts of the same New York Post story (Google chooses not to index the New York Post itself as a news source). This is ridiculous and disgusting, and there’s no excuse other than political bias. There should have been headlines, dammit:

Elie Wiesel Thanked God for President Bush!

This man has moral authority, you Bush-hating moonbat asshats, and what he said should give you pause and cause you to rethink your sick, hate-filled worldview.

OK, I feel better now. I’m going to finish my Buffalo Trace and go to bed.
 

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Palestinian madness

Posted by Richard on July 17, 2006

Two recent columns about the Palestinian situation are must-reads. David Horowitz, in his FrontPageMagazine column, began with a bit of hyperbole (but you can’t blame a guy for slamming the Euroweenies and UN), pulled no punches in describing the insane and dysfunctional nature of Israel’s enemies, and proposed a drastic, but humane, solution:

Americans need to take a hard look at what is going on in the Middle East, because it provides the clearest picture possible of the war we are in. On one side are al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizbollah, Syria and Iran and their allies: Russia, France, Greece, and the UN majority. On the other is the only democracy in the land of Muslim and Arab terror. The origins of this front in the war on terror are crystal clear: the desire of the Muslim terrorists — the elected majority among Palestinian Arabs and the occupying Shi’ite army in Lebanon, backed by Syria and Iran — to destroy Israel and push the Jews into the sea.

The war reveals the impossibility of a Palestinian state and the necessity of a civilized occupying force in a region that is populated by a people who have been terminally brainwashed into an ideology of hate, which makes their self-government a crime waiting to happen.

By all means, go read the rest.

Milder and gentler, but in some ways even more striking, is Youssef M. Ibrahim’s To my Arab brethren, an open letter to the Palestinians:

Dear friends, you and your leaders have wasted three generations trying to fight for Palestine, but the truth is the Palestine you could have had in 1948 is much bigger than the one you could have had in 1967, which in turn is much bigger than what you may have to settle for now or in another 10 years. Struggle means less land and more misery and utter loneliness.

… You fire ridiculously inept Kassam rockets that cause little destruction and delude yourselves into thinking this is a war of liberation. Your government, your social institutions, your schools, and your economy are all in ruins.

Your young people are growing up illiterate, ill, and bent on rites of death and suicide, while you, in effect, are living on the kindness of foreigners, including America and the United Nations. Every day your officials must beg for your daily bread, dependent on relief trucks that carry food and medicine into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while your criminal Muslim fundamentalist Hamas government continues to fan the flames of a war it can neither fight nor hope to win.

This one, too, deserves to be read in full. In fact, it ought to be printed up in Arabic on millions of flyers and air-dropped over every Palestinian town, village, and 60-year-old "refugee camp."
 

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“Enough is enough”

Posted by Richard on July 17, 2006

Earlier this evening, I attended the the Denver Jewish community gathering to show solidarity with the people of Israel. I’m happy to say that support for Israel is strong in Denver. The sanctuary at the BMH-BJ Synagogue looks like it normally seats maybe 250-300. They brought in all the extra chairs that could be squeezed in. Then they took down a partition to an adjoining room.

All the local news media were there, and the two reports I saw later both said over a thousand attended. Sounds about right to me. And although it was a predominantly Jewish crowd, there seemed to be a pretty good number of us gentiles, too. We were the folks looking a bit lost and awkward during the Hebrew parts, not sure when it was OK to applaud or what to do during the prayers and singing.

The program had some moving moments. Someone read a letter from former Denverites living in Israel describing the rocket attacks on their town. A young woman read a poem, partly in English, partly in Hebrew, about what life has been like for far too long in Israel. It began:

Another siren wails. Just an ordinary day.
Was it anyone I know?
How can life go on this way?

Two Israeli soldiers were there — they’re part of some exchange program or something; I didn’t catch the details. They seemed so terribly young! I want to say "a boy and a girl," but that wouldn’t be right — I’m pretty certain that everyone wearing the uniform of the IDF is a man or a woman.

One of the speakers was Dr. Shaul Gabbay, a professor at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of International Studies. Dr. Gabbay has written books, scholarly papers, and op-ed pieces about peace in the Middle East, and he reminded the crowd that he’s always been a "glass half full" person, someone who thought peace was possible and negotiations worthwhile. This is no "neo-con" or warmonger. He said he feels for the innocents on both sides, and he’s saddened by the death and suffering among the Palestinians and Lebanese. Then he said quietly, "But tonight I say — enough is enough."

I’m proud to say that I began what soon became a long, loud standing ovation.

Enough is enough. I stand with Israel.
 

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Show support for Israel

Posted by Richard on July 15, 2006

[Bumped back to the top] The following event is in Denver. I’ll bet there’s a similar event in your community. Why not find it and attend? You don’t have to be Jewish to hope that the side of civilization, reason, enlightenment, and modernity prevails over the forces of barbarism, nihilism, death, and destruction.

We Are One
with
The People of Israel

Denver Jewish Community 
ISRAEL SOLIDARITY GATHERING

     this Sunday evening

 JULY 16th      6:30 – 7:30 pm  

BMH-BJ Sanctuary

560 S. Monaco Parkway

            Bring your family, bring your friends                      

Please pass this vital information on to your contact list
 

Bring all who are concerned about Israel  

 

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Twin towers

Posted by Richard on July 15, 2006

rebuild the twin towersUPDATE: See this 22 June 2008 post for the latest news. It's still not too late. Two years later, they still haven't done anything but "move dirt around."

I don't strongly dislike the final design for Freedom Tower, the World Trade Center towers replacement, unveiled on June 28. They've removed most of the godawful aspects of the original Liebeskind proposal that won the design competition.
 
But what's being built now still pales, IMO, compared to rebuilding the twin towers. It's a single, smaller, more modest and humble building than the two towers it's replacing. Is that really the statement New York wants to make?

Like Ed Koch, Donald Trump, Penn & Teller, David Brenner, many of the families and friends of the victims, at least three-quarters of New Yorkers, and the vast majority of Americans, I support rebuilding the twin towers, at least as tall and stronger. If you agree, please join me and the numerous groups working to bring this about:

  • Sign the Twin Towers Alliance petition.
  • Visit the Twin Towers II Memorial Foundation, take a look at the Gardner-Belton plan (I love it), and vote in their online poll.
  • Visit MakeNYNYagain to see more about Gardner-Belton and compare it to Liebeskind.
  • Look at the finalists in the Team Twin Towers design competition (Coloradan Robin Heid is one of them!) and vote for your favorite.
  • Visit Rebuild-the-Towers, where you'll find some excellent commentary, such as:

    A Matter of Honor

    Our disdain for the latest version of the "Freedom Tower" is not because of what it looks like – but what it stands for. It could be the most beautiful building in the world and it still would not belong at Ground Zero because it represents retreat. It's as simple as that.

  • Watch this wonderful Penn & Teller video clip (due to language, not work-safe unless you use headphones), which is both funny and soul-stirring.
  • Donate at Team Twin Towers to support the joint efforts of the allied twin towers organizations. 

It's not too late to get the plan changed. Construction has begun, but so far it's just excavation and site preparation.

 

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Does Hezbollah have Saddam’s drones?

Posted by Richard on July 15, 2006

UPDATE (7/15): As Emily Littela used to say, "Oh. That’s different. Never mind!" Initial reports were wrong. Apparently, the Israeli ship was hit by a sophisticated, radar-guided Iranian missile. Apparently, Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops are aiding Hezbollah, which lacks the sophistication and skills to use such a weapon without help.

An Israeli warship off the Lebanese coast apparently was severely damaged by an unmanned drone carrying explosives (emphasis added):

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hezbollah rammed an Israeli warship with an unmanned aircraft rigged with explosives and set it ablaze Friday, Israeli military officials said, after attack jets smashed Lebanon’s links to the world one by one and destroyed the headquarters of the Islamic guerrilla group’s leader.

The Israeli warship, which had been carrying several dozen sailors, was towed to Haifa after suffering heavy damage. The fire was put out after several hours. The military confirmed news reports that four sailors were missing and said a search for them was underway.

The Israeli army said the source of the attack was still under investigation. But military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the probe, said the ship had been targeted by an unmanned drone.

The explanation indicated Hezbollah has added a new weapon to the arsenal of rockets and mortars it has used against Israel.

I wonder if Hezbollah’s drone looked like this:

Iraqi drone (UAV) with 25-ft. wingspan
Or like this:

The one on the left is, I believe, a Quds-10, the 25-ft.-wingspan drone that Hans Blix’s weapons inspectors discovered in March, 2003. Secretary of State Colin Powell included it in his testimony to the U.N. about the Iraq threat, arguing that it could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons. U.N. weapons inspectors were quite interested in Iraqi drones because Iraq had experimented with using them to deliver chemical weapons in the 80s. It may have a range greater than 150 km. (93 mi.).

The one on the right is a smaller, 12-ft.-wingspan "prototype" drone that the Iraqis trotted out to reporters immediately after the U.S. made public Blix’s discovery, claiming it was what the fuss was about. Reporters and commentators subsequently dismissed Powell’s claims, pointing out that the (smaller) drone couldn’t carry much more than a video camera, batteries, and electronics and was little more than a big model airplane.

Well, guess what? Even with just line-of-sight control (such as in a model airplane radio controller you could buy at Radio Shack), either drone could easily be flown into an Israeli ship a few miles off the Lebanese coast. The larger plane could obviously carry more high explosives, but even the "toy" on the right could probably carry 10-15 lbs., enough to cause a serious fire and damage on a small warship.

I wonder how many drones Hezbollah has and what size they are. You think Hezbollah’s drones were built in the Palestinian National Drone Factory? Me neither. I’m guessing they come from either Iran or Syria. Either way, don’t you think there’s a good chance that the "country of origin," as those little labels put it, was Saddam’s Iraq?

(HT to Jan of Denver for reminding me about Powell’s drone testimony.)
 

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Protecting prisoners from religion

Posted by Richard on July 14, 2006

Prison Fellowship is an evangelical Christian organization begun by Chuck Colson, the White House "hatchet man" who was the first member of the Nixon administration to go to prison for a Watergate-related offense. Colson became a Christian, and after his release from prison, dedicated his life to helping others in prison. Prison Fellowship works with local churches of all denominations and offers a variety of programs and services for prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families. It’s by far the largest organization of its type.

Last month,

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I’m standing by Israel

Posted by Richard on July 14, 2006

I’ve sent the following brief message to comments@whitehouse.gov:

Mr. President:

This is no time for waffling or ambivalence. Do not join the spineless Euroweenies calling on Israel to "stop hitting back."

We must unequivocally stand by Israel against the Islamofascists!

Thank you.

I’ve also signed the following letter by the Anti-Defamation League:

Dear Secretary-General Annan:

On the eve of the first session of the new Human Rights Council in Geneva, you rightly said: “I hope we are not going to see a situation where the Human Rights Council focuses on Israel, but not on the others.”

Sadly, that is exactly what has happened. The obsession with Israel which discredited the old Human Rights Commission has been transferred to the new Human Rights Council. We have had a resolution condemning Israel but ignoring Palestinian acts of terror and violence. Condemnation of Israel is to be a fixed item on the agenda at all future Council meetings.

We urge you to speak out again. Tell the Human Rights Council that its fixation with Israel is not acceptable. Make the Human Rights Council understand that its agenda should be about promoting human rights, and not the narrow interests of its member states, many of which themselves have appalling human rights records.

Mr. Secretary-General, if we cannot have a Human Rights Council which does not make a mockery out of the noble concept of human rights, then perhaps we should not have one at all. The choice is clear: reform or disband.

And I’ve made a donation to Magen David Adom — the Red Star of David, Israel’s counterpart to the Red Cross.

Please join me in any or all of these modest steps. Israel is fighting not just for its own people — it’s fighting for Western Civilization against the forces of darkness and barbarism. Decent, civilized people everywhere must stand by Israel.
 

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