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Schadow
Vice Admiral
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
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 Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 7:37 pm Post subject: Nasrallah is right |
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In a rambling speech over Beirut's hastily repaired TV station, Hezbollah's Nasrallah proclaimed a sweeping victory over Israel. He is passing out leaflets saying the same thing to those Lebanese citizens whose TV sets were destroyed by the evil Israeli Air Force.
He is, of course, correct. He still exists. He lost a few expendable "troops". His sponsors and suppliers, Iran and Syria (and probably Russia) suffered no consequences. Israel gained nothing and the situation is, as Condi puts it, status quo ante.
The insufferably incompetent UN now will put in "peace keepers" as they did 17 years ago. Will the UN installations still fly three flags (UN, Lebanon and Hezbo) as before? Probably. Nasrallah says he won't disarm, UN, so there. Replacement arms are no doubt already en route from their helpful neighbors.
I wouldn't be surprised if the UN comes up with one of their "resolutions" calling for Israel to rebuild Beirut and compensate victims.
I guess emphasis will now shift to Gaza and Hamas since Fox News is just reporting that two of their employees have been taken hostage. And, speaking of hostages, we hear nothing from the UN about the return of the Israeli hostages whose taking started the whole thing.
Will the Israeli Knesset dump Ohlmert and elect Netanyahu who might rise to the occasion and finish the job? Somebody needs to.
It's a pretty dark day for the Middle East (and the rest of us, BTW). 
Schadow
EDIT: Disregard all the above. PowerLine is now reporting "......the French foreign minister now has said that France (whose troops apparently will take the lead in the U.N. force) intends to disarm Hezbollah through diplomatic means." We're saved! 
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54 |
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dusty
Admiral
Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 1264
Location: East Texas
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| Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:32 am Post subject: |
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I agree with your observations on the situation schadow. This whole thing has been but a small skirmish that at best can only be called a stalemate for Israel and a victory for Hezbollah. The same conditions exist today as existed at the start of the conflict.
The Israeli soldiers are still captive, Hezbollah is still a viable entitiy in Lebannon, the Iranians and Syria are still going to supply them with weapons and cash and the Arabs are still going to hate the Jews and strive to eliminate them from the earth.
This is a war that has been going on for a couple thousand years now and is not about to end. Ever. At least not as long as there are Muslims and Jews on the same planet.
But it sure is looking like it's coming to a head doesn't it. Looks like the simmering period is over and the pot is really starting to boil now.
Dusty
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Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right! |
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PhantomSgt
Vice Admiral
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 972
Location: GUAM, USA
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| Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:47 am Post subject: |
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Russia and China have played both ends against the middle (East) at the expense of Israel and the USA long enough. When will we as a Nation get enough backbone to confront these so called "Friends"?
China arms Iran who in turn gives discount oil deals to China. Hezbollah is Iran's agent on the doorstep of Israel and they would not exist if not for the support of Iran with money and weapons.
Russia is the great technology whore of the world who is building Iran's nuclear industry and the ultimate capability to produce WMDs.
Our government needs to wake up to the real threat facing our Nation. Russia and China have signed a Mutual Defense Treaty and are conducting joint Naval, Air, Army and Missile exercises while practicing operations in a WND (NBC) environment. They have interfaced the C3I capabilities and joined forces in many other ways, including consolidated control centers.
So you should ask yourselves a simple question; "Who do they need to defend themselves from"? Mongolia?
I see it as a covert program of exhausting our National resources by frustrating our attempts of bringing peace to the Middle East. A protracted war in the Middle East is beneficial to both Russia and China when it keeps the US bogged down. .
Iran, Russia and China are joined at the hip in a War against the West and we are just too stupid to see it as it unfolds in front of our eyes.
.
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Retired AF E-8
Independent that leans right of center. |
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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You're right, PhantomSgt.
Russian anti-tank missles proved too much for Israel's armored tanks, taking a heavy toll in a short period of time. A lot of miscalculating and indecisiveness on the part of Israeli (Liberal) leaders, who then caved when troop losses mounted. What a screw up. Hope the people put Netanyahu in charge.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/15/wmid15.xml
| Quote: | Israel Humbled By Arms From Iran
By Adrian Blomfield in Ghandouriyeh
(Filed: 15/08/2006)
Abandoned Hizbollah positions in Lebanon yesterday revealed conclusive evidence that Syria - and almost certainly Iran - provided the anti-tank missiles that have blunted the power of Israel's once invincible armour.
After one of the fiercest confrontations of the war, Israeli forces took the small town of Ghandouriyeh, east of the southern city of Tyre, on Sunday evening, hours before a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations took effect.
Israeli soldiers hold a Israeli flag after returning from Lebanon
At least 24 Israeli soldiers were killed in the advance on the strategic hilltop town as Hizbollah fighters were pushed back to its outskirts, abandoning many weapons.
The discovery helped to explain the slow progress made by Israeli ground forces in nearly five weeks of a war which Hizbollah last night claimed as "a historic victory." Israeli political and military leaders are facing mounting criticism over the conduct of the offensive, which was intended to smash the Iranian-backed Shia militia.
Outside one of the town's two mosques a van was found filled with green casings about 6ft long. The serial numbers identified them as AT-5 Spandrel anti-tank missiles. The wire-guided weapon was developed in Russia but Iran began making a copy in 2000.
Beyond no-man's land, in the east of the village, was evidence of Syrian-supplied hardware. In a garden next to a junction used as an outpost by Hizbollah lay eight Kornet anti-tank rockets, described by Brig Mickey Edelstein, the commander of the Nahal troops who took Ghandouriyeh, as "some of the best in the world".
Written underneath a contract number on each casing were the words: "Customer: Ministry of Defence of Syria. Supplier: KBP, Tula, Russia."
Brig Edelstein said: "If they tell you that Syria knew nothing about this, just look. This is the evidence. Proof, not just talk."
The discovery of the origin of the weapons proved to the Israelis that their enemy was not a ragged and lightly armed militia but a semi-professional army equipped by Syria and Iran to take on Israel. The weapons require serious training to operate and could be beyond the capabilities of some supposedly regular armies in the Middle East. The Kornet was unveiled by Russia in 1994. It is laser-guided, has a range of three miles and carries a double warhead capable of penetrating the reactive armour on Israeli Merkava tanks. Russia started supplying them to Syria in 1998.
Israeli forces were taken by surprise by the sophistication of the anti-tank weapons they faced. They are believed to have accounted for many of the 116 deaths the army suffered. Dozens of tanks were hit and an unknown number destroyed.
The missiles were also used against infantry, in one case bringing down a house and killing nine soldiers. They played an important part in Hizbollah's tactics of using a network of concealed positions to set up ambushes for the Israelis as they inched in. Last night, Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah leader, said his men had achieved "a strategic, historic victory" over "a confused, cowardly and defea-ted" enemy. He said the militia would not disarm, as Israel and the UN Security Council were demanding. It would be "immoral, incorrect and inappropriate," he said. "It is the wrong timing on a pyschological and moral level."
As the militia leader was claiming victory, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, defended his handling of the crisis and said that the massive air, ground and sea attack had changed the face of the Middle East. But he admitted that the military and political leadership was guilty of "shortcomings", not least in underestimating the threat from anti-tank weapons.
Critics say that he placed too much faith in the ability of the air force to break the back of Hizbollah and delayed launching a major ground offensive until it was too late.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud Party leader and a rival, said: "There were many failures - failures on identifying the threat, failures in preparing to meet the threat, failures in the management of the war, failures in the management of the home front."
Last night, President George W. Bush blamed Iran and Syria for fomenting the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah. "We can only imagine how much more dangerous this conflict would be if Iran had the nuclear weapon it seeks," he said. |
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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Schadow
Vice Admiral
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
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| Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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PowerLine blogger Paul Mirengoff posts this. I am more convinced than ever that Netanyahu can finish the job if given the chance:
| Quote: | I just had the opportunity to participate, along with half a dozen or so other bloggers, in a conference with Benjamin Netanyahu. The former (and I hope future) Prime Minister spoke with us for half an hour, most of which involved answering our questions. He once again showed his profound understanding of the situation the West finds itself in with respect to Islamic fundamentalism. According to Netanyahu, that situation is that the Sunnis and the Shiites are competing to create an Islamic empire. Both understand that this objective starts with the destruction of Israel. Shiite Iran, by moving to arm itself with nuclear weapons, has become the primary threat.
The proper division of labor for dealing with the threat is as follows: Israel should dismantle Hezbollah and the U.S. should disarm Iran. As to the latter, President Bush has emphasized his commitment to preventing a nuclear Iran, and Netanyahu believes that Bush is truly committed to that imperative. As to Hezbollah, the recent war was only the first round in a protracted battle that Israel will win. Netanyahu was reluctant to criticize the Israeli government while troops are still in Lebanon. He said he has substantial concerns about its handling of the war, but that expressing them should wait for later. When asked why the government didn't act more aggressively during the war, he answered "I don't know."
Netanyahu stated categorically that Hezbollah will not disarm itself and that the forces sent into south Lebanon under the cease-fire agreement will not disarm Hezbollah. In this connection, I asked the former Prime Minister whether he viewed Israel as bound by the cease-fire agreement to wait for the next attack (at the time of Hezbollah's and Iran's choosing) or whether Israel is free to act if (when) it finds that Hezbollah has not disarmed and that the international force and the Lebanese army are not taking effective action. Netanyahu replied that the cease-fire agreement permits Israel to take defensive action to protect itself. He acknowledged that there can be much debate over what that means, but (as I understood his answer) the concept does not necessarily preclude preemptive action.
<snip> |
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Schadow
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54 |
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