Free Iraq

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PS: From a Comment by Lauri L on the above video: "Just wanted to point out that the above video is actually old footage from Chechen war. The chopper being downed is Mi-8 or Mi-24 and I have seen it as early as 2001. So, unfortunately, it has nothing to do with Lebanon."

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"After being called to emergency reserve duty two weeks ago and much indecision on the part of the officers of how we would be utilized in the raging conflict, my unit was assigned a complicated mission. We were to penetrate some ten kilometers into Lebanon and root out and engage Hezbollah guerrillas that were concentrated in bunkers on a mountain slope facing northern Israel. Intelligence and aerial photographs described a site that was heavily fortified and defended by several cells of well-trained and equipped jihadists. Despite a sustained aerial bombardment by the air force, Katyusha rockets continued to be launched from the area into Haifa, Nahariya, Tzfat. The decision was made that the launchers could only be destroyed and the guerrillas eliminated by ground troops. The problematic nature of the action foreboded heavy casualties on our side. It’s like trying to pull a rattlesnake out of its hole without getting bitten. Mine is a demolition unit, so the mission fell on us. I was honored to be the heavy gunner that would be on the point team.
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In daylight hours, we peered out the kitchen window at a valley to the east of us and watched as volleys of Katyushas were launched from the brush into northern Israel to our south. It was surreal seeing the Israeli towns across the border from the same perspective as the enemy. It was terrible. It was beautiful.
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Early that morning we received horrible news over the radio: in a village half a mile to our east, an advanced anti-tank missile was launched into a window of a home where a unit we had been working with in parallel was hunkered down. The result was devastating; nine killed, forty wounded. We had been with those guys hours before, sipping Turkish coffee around the buses before we crossed over the border. Now we heard their cries for assistance over the radio.
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And then, the unthinkable.

The helicopters arrived gloriously, six of them, flying low over our heads. We had thought the area was relatively secure and the helicopters landed in a field maybe two hundred yards from where we sat behind boulders. After making their drops, the helicopters roared away again one by one towards Israel, again flying low, directly overhead. Suddenly, as if in a dream, I saw a rocket rise up out of a field maybe a hundred yards to the left of us. It took me a moment to realize what was happening, To my horror, the missile struck the fourth helicopter's left side, maybe 40 feet directly over my head. There was a huge fireball, and I don't know if I saw it or if I imagined it, but I pictured the pilot struggling with the controls. We thought the helicopter would crash down on us and there were a few moments of indescribable terror, but the crippled aircraft flew another 50 yards, turned over on its side and fell onto the hillside. There was a mushroom cloud of black smoke that enveloped a huge orange ball of fire as the helicopter exploded. I don't remember if I heard the explosion, I just remember my captain next to me in the bush saying, "my God, my God." ...."
Lone Soldier August 15, 2006

PS: I am relocating,
and as Pablo Neruda put it, .....

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"President Bush made clear in a private meeting this week that he was concerned about the lack of progress in Iraq and frustrated that the new Iraqi government — and the Iraqi people — had not shown greater public support for the American mission, participants in the meeting said Tuesday.

Those who attended a Monday lunch at the Pentagon that included the president’s war cabinet and several outside experts said Mr. Bush carefully avoided expressing a clear personal view of the new prime minister of Iraq, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

But in what participants described as a telling line of questioning, Mr. Bush did ask each of the academic experts for their assessment of the prime minister’s effectiveness.

“I sensed a frustration with the lack of progress on the bigger picture of Iraq generally — that we continue to lose a lot of lives, it continues to sap our budget,” said one person who attended the meeting. “The president wants the people in Iraq to get more on board to bring success.”

Another person who attended the session said he interpreted Mr. Bush’s comments less as an expression of frustration than as uncertainty over the prospects of the new Iraqi government. “He said he really didn’t quite have a sense yet of how effective the government was,” said this person, who, like several who discussed the session, agreed to speak only anonymously because it was a private lunch.

More generally, the participants said, the president expressed frustration that Iraqis had not come to appreciate the sacrifices the United States had made in Iraq, and was puzzled as to how a recent anti-American rally in support of Hezbollah in Baghdad could draw such a large crowd. “I do think he was frustrated about why 10,000 Shiites would go into the streets and demonstrate against the United States,” said another person who attended.

... One participant in the lunch, Carole A. O’Leary, a professor at American University who is also doing work in Iraq with a State Department grant, said Mr. Bush expressed the view that “the Shia-led government needs to clearly and publicly express the same appreciation for United States efforts and sacrifices as they do in private.”
Bush Said to Be Frustrated by Level of Public Support in Iraq August 16, 2006

"As security conditions continue to deteriorate in Iraq, many Iraqi politicians are challenging the optimistic forecasts of governments in Baghdad and Washington, with some worrying that the rosy views are preventing the creation of effective strategies against the escalating violence.

Their worst fear, one that some American soldiers share, is that top officials don't really understand what's happening. Those concerns seem to be supported by statistics that show Iraq's violence has increased steadily during the past three years.

''The American policy has failed both in terms of politics and security, but the big problem is that they will not confess or admit that,'' said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of parliament.

"They are telling the American public that the situation in Iraq will be improved. They want to encourage positive public opinion [in the U.S.], but the Iraqi citizens are seeing something different. They know the real situation.''"
Iraqi leaders say U.S. outlook too rosy August 16, 2006

And the letter Z is

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Short film:

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George Galloway - Hizbollah Is Not A Terrorist Organization (SKY TV interview) August 6, 2006

The reference points for Rupert Murdoch's 30 billion dollars global broadcasting empire (including FOX, TV Guide, Harper Collins, 20th Century Fox, the London Times, and the New York Post, among others) in covering the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon are the following arguments in this 2 minutes clip being promoted by the Israeli Ha'aretz newspaper:

Lebanon: Myths and Facts


On the other hand, there is Hizbullah's Al Manar TV:

"Somehow the satellite network continues to pump out its potent mix of news and propaganda from makeshift studios, its continued survival a deepening embarrassment to Israel’s much-vaunted military, and a growing inspiration to Hezbollah sympathisers.
The station’s five-storey headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut was bombed in the first hours of the war, injuring five staff. But the skeleton team working that night knew the evacuation drill and the location of a back-up studio, so al-Manar was off the air for only ten minutes.
For the next three nights the jets returned, pounding even the rubble with 500lb bombs after rumours that al-Manar was broadcasting from an underground bunker.
The station is now believed to be broadcasting from apartments in some of Beirut’s most fashionable streets, empty office blocks and basements, but the whereabouts of al-Manar’s newsreaders is shrouded in as much secrecy and protection as the hiding place of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader. Its technicians move their satellite dishes around more rapidly than Hezbollah fighters can shift their rocket launchers, and the question being asked in Israel is why its military, backed by its formidable intelligence services, cannot silence the voice of the Shia militia."
The underground voice of Hezbollah that Israel is still unable to silence August 5, 2006

(See the previous posting of several Al-Manar showings of speches by Nasrallah, the last one on August 3rd, 2006)

An open letter to the American president
By Salim al-Hoss, Special to The Daily Star
Thursday, August 03, 2006

(Dr Salim al-Hoss is Professor of Economics and several times Prime Minister of Lebanon. Known for his integrity, he is to the Lebanese the conscience of the country).

Dear Mr. Bush,

We heard you express your regrets regarding the casualties of Israel's ravaging war against my country, Lebanon.

I hope you have been furnished with a true profile of the atrocities being perpetrated in my country. You pose as being at war with terrorism. Let me honestly tell you: Charity starts at home.

Israel is wantonly indulging in the most horrendous forms of terrorism in Lebanon: indiscriminately killing innocent civilians at random; not sparing children, elderly or handicapped people; demolishing buildings over their residents' heads; and destroying all infrastructure, roads, bridges, water and power arteries, harbors, air strips and storage facilities. Nothing moving on the highways is spared, not even ambulances, trucks, trailers, cars or even motorcycles, all in violation of the Geneva Conventions and human rights.

The displaced population has reached more than one fourth of the total population of my country - all suffering the harshest and most miserable of conditions. The victims include thousands of killed and maimed.

If this is not terrorism, what is?

Israel's savage assault has been labeled retribution for Hizbullah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers. This smacks of collective punishment, which constitutes a brazen violation of the Geneva Conventions and human rights. Furthermore, the alibi is far from plausible. The two Israeli soldiers were abducted for the express purpose of reaching a swap of hostages with Israel. In fact, Israel had acceded more than once to such swaps in the past. Why would a swap of prisoners be acceptable at one time and a taboo, rather a casus belli, at another? This created a conviction among the Lebanese that the sweeping assault against them was premeditated, and the abduction was only a tenuous excuse.

Israel is indulging in terrorism at its worst, at its ugliest, using the most lethal and sophisticated weapons you have supplied them.

We the Lebanese are justified in seeing in Israel as a most atrocious terrorist power, and seeing in you a direct partner. Mr. President: You are indeed a terrorist practicing the worst variant of terrorism as you condone the annihilation of my country, precluding a cease-fire to be announced, supporting the aggression against my people politically and diplomatically and bolstering Israel's destructive arsenal with the most lethal weaponry.

Mr. President: You are not fooling anybody with your alleged war against terrorism. In our perspective, you and Israel are the most unscrupulous terrorists on earth. If you want to fight terrorism, we suggest that you start with your administration and your hideous ally, Israel.

You repeatedly claim that Israel is acting in self-defense. How preposterous! Self-defense on other people's occupied territory is tantamount to one thing: blatant aggression.

You call Hizbullah a terrorist organization. We call it a legitimate resistance movement. There would have been no military wing of Hizbullah if there had been no Lebanese territory under Israeli occupation, if there had been no Lebanese hostages languishing in Israeli jails, and if Lebanon had not been exposed to almost daily Israeli intrusions into its airspace and territorial waters, and to sporadic incursions into Lebanese land and bombardment of civilian targets.

You cannot eliminate a party by demolishing a whole country. This would have been achieved peacefully by Israel withdrawing from the land it occupies, releasing Lebanese prisoners, and desisting from further acts of aggression against Lebanon.

Israel is the most horrendous terrorist power. And you, Mr. President, are unmistakably a direct partner, and hence a straight terrorist. (emphasis added)

Salim al-Hoss, former prime minister of Lebanon
August 1, 2006

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Cutting through Israel's propaganda war in the US Four short clips of things Americans never see on TV . The last video is from CBC's Neil McDonald. Unfortunately, he was eventually pulled from reporting on the M.E. because he was deemed too critical of the Israelis.

This video is dedicated to the children who have lost their lives because The US, UK and Israel have willingly stopped a ceasefire resulting in the deaths of many civilians in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank

"WE ARE ALL HIZBULLAH"
At Least 100,000 March Against US-Israeli Aggression Lenin's Tomb Blog

UK: Protesters invade runway used by US arms flights to Israel
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"As we watch those small, innocent bodies pulled from the rubble, we seethe with anger. One desperate woman lashed out at the television crew filming the carnage. "We are terrorists?" she said. "They are the terrorists!" she cried, pointing to the skies from where Israel is pounding our cities.
... Lebanon's shoreline is now covered in thick black oil. An estimated 10,000 tons of heavy fuel oil have spilled into the Mediterranean Sea along our coast. The marine ecosystem is slowly suffocating under the sludge that is creeping down the coastline.Young forests have gone up in flames.
The damage to the agriculturally fertile areas of the Bekaa Valley and the South is immeasurable. Three of Lebanon's primary fuel reservoirs were hit by Israeli rockets, creating massive plumes of thick, noxious smoke that stood still for days under their own weight and mass. The cloud cover and stench are almost unbearable.
Everything those of us in Lebanon's environmental movement have striven so hard to achieve has unraveled in just two weeks. We are helpless to prevent this mutilation of our physical environment.
... Our land has suffered irreparable harm. And still the airplanes invade our skies, their bombs pummeling us without relief.
How is bombing a country senseless--devastating industries and homes and people and the environment--going to bring us closer to peace? What will quell the rage that is building on the Arab streets? And what of the water Jesus turned to wine in Qana--that has now turned into blood?"
Horrific bombing sows death, rage August 2, 2006

".. The time has come to decide - just like George Bush, the neocons’ poster boy, once said - “You are either with us or against us.”
For me, and millions more like me in the Muslim world, the option has now boiled down to being with the assailant or the victim, the tormenter or the tormented.
The choice, I think, is abundantly clear.
The following courageous words of Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, have been addressed to the bigheaded Israelis. These also serve as a chilling reminder to the gutless Muslim leadership to reach back and rediscover their lost spine.
“You are fighting a people who have faith such as no one else on the face of the earth possesses... who take pride in their history, their civilization and culture, who also possess material power, expertise, knowledge, calm, imagination, determination and courage. In the coming days it will be between us and you, God willing.”
The Neocons’ Greatest Sin August 4, 2006

More Time To Bomb July 29, 2006

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"Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, said he has recalled his country's ambassador to Israel to show his "indignation" over the military offensive in Lebanon.
In a televised speech on Thursday, he called the Israeli attacks "genocide".
... "It really causes indignation to see how the state of Israel continues bombing, killing ... with all of the power they have, with the support of the United States."
Chavez has repeatedly criticised the Israeli offensive.
He said: "It's hard to explain to oneself how nobody does anything to stop this horror."
His government has until recently said it had good relations with Israel.
... During a recent visit to Iran, Chavez called Israeli attacks on Lebanon a "fascist outrage".
He said: "The Israeli elite repeatedly criticise Hitler's actions against the Jews, and indeed Hitler's actions must be criticised, not just against the Jews but against the world. It's also fascism what Israel is doing to the Palestinian people ... terrorism and fascism."
Venezuela withdraws Israel ambassador August 4, 2006

"“If we left Iraq prematurely,” he (Donald Rumsfeld telling Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday) said, “the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the Middle East. And if we left the Middle East, they’d order us and all those who don’t share their militant ideology to leave what they call the occupied Muslim lands from Spain to the Philippines.” And finally, he intoned, America will be forced “to make a stand nearer home.” The Sound of One Domino Falling August 4, 2006

"As Israel's bombing of Lebanon continues unabated into its fourth consecutive week, the United States says it stands ready to provide food, medicine and humanitarian assistance to the thousands of internally displaced Lebanese caught in the crossfire.
But Washington has also decided to accelerate the supply of lethal weapons to Israel - "perhaps intended to kill the very Lebanese the United States is planning to feed and shelter", said one Arab diplomat at the United Nations.
"It is US hypocrisy at its worst," he said"
US giving aid - and bombs Aug 4, 2006

When the sh** begins to hit the fan
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This is a letter sent from two FOX news producers in Amman, Jordan to FOX news:

Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006

Dear All,

We would like to announce our resignation from Fox News in Amman. Although we never actually worked for your organization, we helped for the past three years in facilitating your work in the Middle East.

We base our decision on moral issues. We can no longer work with a news organization that claims to be fair and balanced when you are so far from that. Not only are you an instrument of the Bush White House, and Israeli propaganda, you are war mongers with no sense of decency, nor professionalism. You have crossed all borders and red lines. An Arab mother cries over the death of her child very much like an American and Israeli mother.

Arab blood is not cheap, and we are not barbarians. You ought to be more responsible and have more decency when you take one side against the other. You have a role to play and a responsibility to shoulder for the sake of your very naive viewers.

Throughout the three years we worked with you, and helped you, we thought you would develop a degree of respect to people in this part of the world. But the disdain and blatant one-sided coverage of all Mideast conflicts only highlights your total lack of humanity and bias toward Israel. Your lack of professionalism has made you a tool of ridicule throughout the world. Your inexperienced anchors with their racist comments are not only a shameful scar on the American Media, they simply represent state run Television networks in countries you despise in the Middle East.

Finally, our decision again is based on moral and professional basis and from now on we will no longer help in any Fox related matters.

Serene Sabbagh
Jomana Karadsheh

The rules of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS when it comes to the Israeli-Arab conflict

We distort, you decide
Click on image to read comment

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