What About the Day After, Syria and Iran

A lot of talk and excitement since last night...the French and Americans have come to agreement and written a draft UN cease-fireproposal for Israel's northern front of the War on Terror. Already Israel is dropping its demand for an immediate replacement of UNIFL. The Lebanon government is not willing to agree to the proposed initiative (as if it has any say in Hezbollahstan). This isn't how I usually write, but it fits the blogosphere, so I'll make a few quick points.

1)Cease-fires are very bad things when agreed upon prematurely. I'm tired of calls for peace (for the sake of not seeing pictures on television anymore). We're all lucky that those on the American left weren't around when we had to fight Nazis.

2) Any cease-fire previous to the decimation Hezbollah's military capacity will be a mistake. The same applies for any cease-fire without the unconditional release of the two kidnapped Israeli prisoners. Now, I'm realistic about this. I understand how things work here and know that we will most likely have to give up terrorist prisoners for them. We need to let them know that if they even look at a picture of Nasrallah or any other terrorist leader or think about reengaging Israel they will be killed.

3) Who will be securing Lebanon's border with Syria? Who will be securing its waters? I don't trust the Lebanese to do it, not after the support offered Hezbollah from within the government.

4) Will the UN demand anything of Syria and Iran? Whatever the UN does, it doesn't matter. Hezbollah must not be rearmed. The next Iranian nuke deadline could provide a great opportunity for the Iranians to order Hezbollah to fire a few more missiles into Israel and jumpstart the war.

5) All of this will be replayed, refought, unless the U.S. and others take on Iran - soon. Not taking on Iran and/or a premature exit from Iraq will mean more, and more horrible, war later.

6) No aid should be granted Lebanon until Hezbollah is removed from the government and all known associates are prohibited from engaging in political life. The Lebanese educational system must be under non-UN, international, U.S.-led supervision to ensure that it does not become a Palestinian-like, hate-filled curriculum that encourages the creation of new terrorists.

If there is a cease-fire terrorists around the globe will only be encouraged. At least we'll have some time to make the bomb shelters a bit more comfortable before the next round.

Israel May be Offered F-22, Iran Admits to Supplying Hezbollah and other ME News

The news is moving fast...so here are a few important points of note.

1) The House of Representatives has lifted a 9 year ban on the sale of the F22 outside the U.S. Recognition of the Lebanon front as part of the Global War on Terror(ists) (read about British PM Tony Blair's comments in L.A.) may pave the way for Israel to receive the best fighter jet in the world. Israel is clearly an ally of those willing to fight the threat facing civilized nations. Ynet news Israel reported today that

The United States may supply Israel with the most advanced stealth fighter jet in the world the F22 Raptor considering the war in Lebanon and the Iranian threat, the Israeli security establishment has assessed.

2) Israeli commandos were on the ground deep into Lebanon, in Tyre, just after 3 a.m. Israel time. The commandos were sent in to take down Hezbollah terrorists. The commando raid was conducted, rather than an air raid, in order to avoid civilian casualties. The troops achieveded objectives and neutralized targets, in-and-out in two hours.

3) The Jerusalem Post online edition reported today that Iran has admitted to supplying Hezbollah with missiles.

Iran admitted for the first time on Friday that it did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hizbullah.

Secretary-general of the "Intifada conference" Mohtashami Pur told an Iranian newspaper that Iran transferred the missiles so that they could be used to defend Lebanon, (Israel) Channel 1 reported.

4) A top Saudi cleric today disavowed Hezbollah and decreed that victory for the terrorist organization should not be prayed for. The Jerusalem Post online reported that

Hizbullah, which translates as "the party of God," is actually "the party of the devil," said Sheik Safar al-Hawali, whose radical views made the al-Qaida leader one of his followers in the past.

"Don't pray for Hizbullah," he said in the fatwa posted on his Web site.

The edict, which reflects the historical stand of strict Wahhabi doctrine viewing Shi'ite Muslims as heretics, follows a similar fatwa from another popular Saudi cleric Sheik Abdullah bin Jibreen two weeks into the conflict with Israel.

New 9/11 Audio

OK, I'm not a regular of Vanity Fair, but this is worth a visit. I don't believe in cover-up conspiracies. People were at war and didn't know it. Not all information can be released in time of war.

9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes

How did the U.S. Air Force respond on 9/11? Could it have shot down United 93, as conspiracy theorists claim? Obtaining 30 hours of never-before-released tapes from the control room of NORAD's Northeast headquarters, the author reconstructs the chaotic military history of that day—and the Pentagon's apparent attempt to cover it up. VF.com exclusive: Hear excerpts from the September 11 NORAD tapes. Click PLAY after each transcript to listen

By MICHAEL BRONNER

Audio NORAD tapes can be heard at the site.

Michael's Funeral

I went to Michael Levine's, z''l funeral yesterday. Michael was killed while fighting in Lebanon. I never met Michael, but someone very close to me was close to him; DZ and I went to the funeral to pay our respects and support our friend. There were so many people; it was so quiet. As the honor guard carried Michael's flag-draped casket up the stairs, I watched quietly. I heard sobs and saw Michael's friends embracing each other.

Several people spoke about him. They say that he was the kind of guy that makes friends with everyone, had a smile that was mentioned over and over again and longed to be in Israel - a true lover of the Israeli people. Michael was on leave in Pennsylvania visiting his family when fighting broke out up North. He cut his visit short in order to return to his unit.

His family arrived in Israel and accompanied him to his resting place on Har Hertzel. Michael, it was said at the funeral, will be a soldier forever. For us, yes. Let's hope that he's now resting peacefully with all the others who over the millennia have died sanctifying His name.

Photo courtesy of flickr.

Quote of the Day

Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented.

- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the 10th Islamic Conference in Malaysia.




Quote and Photo Source: The Jerusalem Post

Islamist Somalia

Four more minsters of the UN-backed Somali government have resigned. I am now revising my prediction of another Islamofascist war-to-be. If this trend continues, the government may simply disappear do to a lack of UN or any other intervention, allowing for a peaceful transfer of power!

The Washington Post moved the story up four pages, from A22 to A18. I can see the A1 story now: "Somalia Taken Over by Islamic Rebels" (what a surprise).

If Only they Would Wait a Few Minutes Before Condemning Us

From the Jerusalem Post online:

On Wednesday, both the Lebanese Health Ministry and the Human Rights Watch said that they could confirm only 28 of the originally reported 57 civilians who died in the building. Of the 28 that they confirmed, 16 were children.

The IDF inquiry into the Kana incident in which civilians were killed as a building collapsed released its final conclusions Thursday morning.

Two missiles, the only one of which exploded, hit the building on July 30. The army said that they had operated according to information that "the building was not inhabited by civilians and was being used as a hiding place for terrorists." Had they known that civilians were in the building, the attack would not have been carried out.

The IDF spokesperson noted that the building had been targeted only after residents had been warned to evacuate through various media, and that the building was adjacent to areas from which rockets had been launched towards Israel. Other buildings in the area had been targeted with no civilian casualties

Jews (U.S.) Helping Jews (Israel)

I have been told by several friends in the States that great efforts are being undertaken to raise money to help Jews in Israel who have been kept underground for weeks, injured by terror missiles and fighting in war.

Thank you.

While others around the world are condemning Israel, burning (U.S. and Israeli) flags and calling for another Holocaust, Jews with the financial ability to help are not investing in hate, rather in hope. As I have always said, Jews are one people, regardless of borders. Our unity is not perfect, but our solidarity with one another is beyond measure. What a wonderful people.

Somalia

CNN cable international just listed Somalia in a segment on global conflicts. As you know, I've been warning of the deteriorating situation there and the threat posed by Islamists (who, if successful, will establish a base for terror in the Horn of Africa). Some 30 legislators resigned due to the failure of the Somali government to come to an accord with Somali Islamists. Independent Online (a new source to me) reported that

The administration was formed two years ago with the support of the United Nations to help Somalia emerge from more than a decade of anarchy, but it has no power outside its base in Baidoa, 250km from the capital, Mogadishu.

I'd be curious what support the administration has received from the UN. Has the UN been assisting the administration in battling Islamists? Or shall I assume that the UN wants to talk?

Originally from Philly, American/Israeli Soldier Falls in Lebanon

The following text is from The Jerusalem Post.

Originally from Philadelphia, Michael Levine, 21, had been living in Jerusalem for the past five months. He made aliya as a lone soldier when he was 18 and lived on Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi before enlisting in the army.

"Michael was visiting his parents in the US when fighting erupted up north. He decided to cut his vacation short and come back to join his platoon," Tziki Aud, head of the Jewish Agency's information center for new immigrants, told The Jerusalem Post.

One of Michael's friends recalled a phone conversation he had with him about a week ago.

"I'm not worried about dying. I'm worried about what it would do to my family," the friend quoted Michael as saying.

At first, he was given duties on the home front. "Michael fought this decision. He wanted to go up to Lebanon. He got his wish, as we all know now all too well," Aud said.

The article in full can be read on The Jerusalem Post online site. Photo orginally from Israel Channel 10, accompanies the Jerusalem post article.

Know Anything About Hezbollah?

I received this from a loyal reader in Washington, D.C. Please!!!! Watch the video at the link below before reading...

http://media.a7.org/a7radio/misc/video/06/qana.wmv.

Soon, you will learn, if you haven't already, that there was an 8 hour gap between the time that the IAF took out a rocket-launching site and the time housing at that site collapsed, the one you've been reading or hearing about, killing many noncombatants, including children.

You probably already know that well in advance of the time the site was taken out, all residents were advised by Israel to absent themselves from the area because it was going to be attacked.

I've been trying to find, in vain, evidence of any

1. instances when the UN or any country asked Hizbullah to exercise proportional restraint when attacking Israel, either over the years or recently, and take precautions that its attacks on Israel not be aimed at civilian areas;
2. instances when Lebanon asked the UN or any country to help it enforce compliance with the September 2, 2004 UN Resolution 1559, which, among other things, required Hizbullah to rid itself of its weaponry;
3. instances where the UN made any effort to enforce 1559;
4. instances where the UN observers who manned posts in south Lebanon reported that rockets, any of the thousands of them, were being delivered to Hizbullah; or
5. instances where the UN instructed Iran and Syria not to participate in the delivery of weaponry to Hizbullah, either before or after its Resolution 1559.

If you can send me a link to a site that shows any of these bulleted items to have occurred, I would be most grateful.

Thank you.

Julian Tepper

Responses may be emailed to: exitthecave@gmail.com

From DZ

When one looks at this picture at a quick glance, one sees a group of soldiers getting ready for a fight in Lebanon; war faces on, guns in the air, magazines in... ready to go. If you look behind them you can see homes. These homes are homes of Israelis living in Metulla. Israelis that have lived in constant fear of midnight terror excursions(which have happened) into their quiet and ironically peaceful farming village which is on world wide and UN recognized Israeli proper. No battle is unjust if you look behind yourself and see your families attempting to live in peace.

This is one of the reasons why we can never let down our guard, because our families are only one hill behind us. What other democratic counties in the world can say that?
Picture from Walla.

I'll be very busy today, but will post later. Please keep checking in.

Fighting the Fight....Together

I can't get over how many people are making these videos. Keep 'em coming. I found this one here.

A Beautiful People

I'm watching the Prime Minister speak on television; speaking about our strength, that we will not stop fighting, that we will not lose this war; that we are not a people that persecutes, rather a people of moral value; and that we are a people united, a beautiful people.

I have never in my life felt such unity as I have felt in the last few weeks. The Jewish people in Israel truly are united. We know that this threat is against us all. Our brothers and sisters are being bombed daily by terrorists who lack the simple ability to value human life. Israel is truly a difficult place sometimes. But difficult is not bad. It builds character. It permits for perspective and understanding.

We have always been and will always be one people, regardless of borders and oceans. Feeling absolute unity with that people, here in the land which our forefathers lived in thousands of years ago is something nearly beyond description. I am only sorry that it takes war for us to unite so. But that's what family does.

Somalia: Getting Some Press, Finally

I've been talking about this war-to-be for a while. It's finally starting to get a little more attention. Star News Online, the Voice of Southeastern North Carolina, ran an interesting article/op-ed. I disagree with the conclusions at the end (I still hold that the UN is ineffective and no one should talk to Islamists).

It has been observed that when the world's policemen are distracted by front-page conflicts, minor tyrants seize the opportunity to go on rampages. Thus, while news cameras dwell on the latest carnage in Israel and Lebanon, Somalia may be collapsing into a terrorist haven comparable to Afghanistan under the Taliban.

The rest of it can be found here.

Rich, Isn't It Rich, put this up and I had to post it. From Cox and Forum Editorial Cartoons.

The Danger of an Immediate Cease-Fire: Victory for Terror

Surprise, surprise. All it took was a sign of weakness on our part, and the world is running with it. That's what a cease-fire is in the Middle East, at least before the war has been fought and won - a sign of weakness. Hezbollah, Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, A.Q. and all the others aren't interested in political settlements. Any and all political settlements with any of those groups is simply, in their minds, a "phased" solution, temporary, which allows time to acheive their ultimate goal: the destruction of Israel, the United States and Western civilization.

What will happen if this international force being spoken of deploys in southern Lebanon and is engaged by Hezbollah; soldiers are kidnapped by Hezbollah. What will happen if Hezbollah launches rockets from deeper behind the line, behind the international force? Will this force fight Hezbollah? Will the UN fight Hezbollah?

This is what Secretary Rice said, according to the Jerusalem Post (and after Israel's temporary halt to air attacks, this is why I'm concerned for chances of success in this war)

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement on Monday morning in which she welcomed the halt in aerial attacks, urging a "lasting settlement" in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel through a UN Security Council resolution this week.

According to Rice, the deal should include the deployment of an international armed force in southern Lebanon under the control and in conjunction with the Lebanese Armed Forces; the disarmament of terrorist groups; and the deployment of LAF on the Syrian border so as to prevent the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups from that country.

"I am convinced that only by achieving both will the Lebanese people be able to control their country and their future, and the people of Israel finally be able to live free of attack from terrorist groups in Lebanon," Rice told reporters before departing for Washington.

Will Hezbollah be destroyed? Will it remain in the Lebanese government (or take it over)? Will it eventually acheive power through the continued terrorizing of Lebanon's citizens? But why ask questions when we can have a cease-fire.

Thank goodness there was no UN back in the 30's and 40's, when there were ideology wars and people believed in things. If there had been, perhaps there would have been a cease-fire after Hilter took Paris.

V-E Day? V-J Day? Still waiting for V-T Day, someday.

Lebanese Plea for Help from Hezbollah Terror

I found this on another blog, and went back to the The Ouwet Front. This site has first-hand accounts of Hezbollah's cowardly use and abuse of civilians.

The situation in Ain Ebel is unbearable. Thousands of civilians have fled to the village from nearby villages and more than 1000 rockets have hit the village, there is no more food neither clean water and diseases r spreading.

Now here comes the most sickening part:
Hezbollah has been firing rockets from the village since Day 1 hiding behind innocent people’s places and even CHURCHES. No one is allowed to argue with the Hezbollah gunmen who wont hesitate to shoot you and i ve heard about more than one shooting incident including young men from the village and Hezbollah.

Urgent appeals have been done through phone calls from terrified people who wouldnt give out their name fearing Hezbollah might harm or even eliminate them.

This is the true image of our brave Islamic Resistance, putting the civilians and their homes as body shields to the Israeli bombardements.

Let the message spread and let those criminals move out of the village once and for all.
Free Ain Ebel from the terrorists !

And Let's Not Forget the South

From Haaretz:

Palestinians in Gaza fired a barrage of five Qassam rockets at Israeli communities in the western Negev on Monday morning.

One of the rockets slammed into the roof of the kibbutz dining hall, causing damage but no casualties.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani

The Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Iraq has demanded an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Jerusalem Post reports that

Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric on Sunday demanded an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, warning that the Muslim world would "not forgive" nations that stand in the way of a stop to the fighting.

Palestinians Attacking UN in Gaza - Will Annan Condemn This?

Fox cable TV news reports that Palestinians are attacking the UN compound in central Gaza. Palestinian police are now protecting the area. Lebanese supporters of Hezbollah today attacked the UN in Lebanon.

Does Mr. Annan have anything to say about this?

Nasrallah - Why Doesn't the FBI Want Him?

Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organization by the United States. The FBI is keeping tabs on and watching out for Hezbollah cells in the U.S. The Washington Post (credit for photo) reported in 2004 that

Al Qaeda, the (9/11) commission determined, may even have played a "yet unknown role" in aiding Hezbollah militants in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia, an attack the United States has long blamed solely on Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors.

So why isn't Nasrallah listed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists page?

Rep. Jim Cooper Owes Israel an Apology

Democratic Congressman Jim Cooper, Democrat from Tennessee, in an interview on Sunday, July 30, on Cable TV news, referred to the 100+ rockets falling on Israel day after day as nothing more than large "firecrackers". The Congressman owes the people of Israel, who have been sitting in bomb shelters for weeks, and the families of those killed by ball-bearing filled weapons aimed at civilian targets, an apology - a public apology.

Any readers from Tennessee or with friends/family there are encouraged to send demands for an apology to the congressman's office through his website at: http://cooper.house.gov/. I don't believe his reaction would be the same were the rockets falling on Nashville.

US Warns Somalia's Neighbors

The Somalia situation is now being covered in The Washington Post (though on A22), which is reporting that the U.S. is warning Somalia's neighbors to stay out of the internal conflict. t troops to back the interim government and that Eritrea has given weapons to an Islamic militia that controls the capital.

Neither the interim government nor the Islamic militia "can take the high ground by saying the other is violating Somali sovereignty," she said.

"They've all invited in foreigners, all been backed by foreign forces."

Apparently, the Islamists are being treated as equals with the internationally recognized government. It would appear that the U.S. is trying to avoid a three-state-Islamist conflict in the Horn of Africa. Unfortunately, Islamists are being treated with equal regard. The tinder box is starting to smoke.......

The DZ Zone: Two in the Bush-Warfare and Tactics Part I

Resident Expert and Lebanon War I Veteran DZ Discusses Bush Guerilla Warfare

The Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon lasted for more than 18 years. Thousands of infantry soldiers have set their feet in the Lebanese mud, and a bit fewer left it alive. For some reason, only around 1995 did the IDF start to change the style of warfare and training for operational tours in Lebanon for infantry. After years of experience, good and bad, the training was directed to a rare type of close-quarter-bush-contact. With the creation of a few special IDF units that “mastered” this type of warfare, the knowledge of “ Lochema b’Shetach Savuch” (bush land warfare) trickled its way down to the regular infantry units serving in Lebanon at the time; Golani, Givati, Paratroopers, and Nahal.

A good friend of mine had been sent out of my unit to open the “School of Bush Warfare” in Israel, and I wanted to learn everything he knew. I followed him around on weekends when he visited people from all the units that exist and don’t exist in the IDF to pick their brains. I was introduced to an extremely eccentric old man who told me things like; what the Hezbollah ate before going out into the field and why they can smell our farts, why you shouldn’t smile at night when there is a full moon. War is an interdisciplinary subject.

The Bush

The “bush” as we call it, has warfare techniques of all types of including open-range, trenches, urban and CQB. The type of bushes most found in the Southern Lebanese areas is usually around 1-2 meters tall, very prickly and hard to see through. Although one cannot physically pass through one of these bushes, it offers no protection against bullets or shrapnel, something that one very quickly learns in firefights in these conditions. One’s movement in this type of landscape is not flexible; there are always areas that one must pass to get from point A to point B, and that is where an ambush occurs. If one knows the territory, then it is possible to avoid these areas, but to know a bush setting is like knowing a Hedge Maze. Since it is nearly impossible to know the territory, one can only learn how to identify these areas and pass through them with utmost caution and cover.

The biggest threats in the bush are short-range shoot-outs of less than 10 meters and IEDs (mastered by Hezbollah and adopted by our American friends’ enemies in Iraq). To protect yourself from being noticed first you must learn how to move without being heard or seen. This is an integral part of the training and is unique to bush and jungle warfare. A soldier has to know how to walk on the sides of his boots and not to step on branches. He has to know what not to eat the day before battle as not to attract animals or even be smelt from far away by a nasally competent enemy. He has to know how to paint his face, neck, hands and gun to become invisible when needed. I saw soldiers that were going in for bush warfare that painted their face but not around the eyes, neck or lips. This actually accentuates the human features of the face, the thing that sticks out in the bush, and gets you shot first. I understand if the painting was more for morale but many underestimate the importance of proper and complete camouflage in this type of arena. I will not go into the all of the ways a soldier can blend in, for security reasons.

Next time I will discuss IEDs in the bush, team movement, and S2F techniques (Shit to Fan).

Until then, talk quietly and carry a big stick, preferably one with a number like 16.