Category: War on Terror

Lateline, the ABC late evening news flagship carries a report from Matt Brown in Lebanon under the headline; UN condemns Israeli offensive

MATT BROWN: Almost every night these southern suburbs of Beirut have been under attack. Now, rubble piles on rubble. The families are gone, but the signs of their ordinary lives are still here to see. On a tour of this former Hezbollah stronghold, UN humanitarian relief coordinator Jan Egeland called for Israel and Hezbollah to stop the fighting. He also condemned the Israeli bombing campaign that’s reduced this suburb to rubble. JAN EGELAND, UN HUMANITARIAN RELIEF COORDINATOR: And I would say that this seems to be an excessive use of force in an area with so many civilians. REPORTER: If it’s an excessive use of force that makes it a war crime?

I could see Matt almost pleading with Egeland to agree and say ‘yes, it does make it a war crime’ but he didn’t and in an obvious case of very selective reporting Matt Brown didn’t mention any other comments attributable to Egeland during his visit to Lebanon. However AL Jazeera does. They report Egeland in full under the headline; Hezbollah blamed for civilian deaths

Egeland was speaking to reporters at the Larnaca airport in Cyprus late Monday after a visit to Lebanon on his mission to coordinate an international aid effort. During that visit he condemned the killing and wounding of civilians by both sides, and called Israel’s offensive “disproportionate” and “a violation of international humanitarian law.”

He also addressed the root causes of civilian casualties

[He].. accused Hezbollah of “cowardly blending” among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border violence with Israel. The militant group has built bunkers and tunnels near the Israeli border to shelter weapons and fighters, and its members easily blend in among civilians.

More balance at Al Jazeera than at the ABC…amazing!

ISRAEL massed thousands more reservists on the Lebanese border on Saturday to mount incursions aimed at destroying Hezbollah positions, warning it would not rule out a full-scale invasion despite increasing calls for a ceasefire.

As Israel’s air campaign entered its 11th day, the New York Times reported the United States is rushing precision-guided bombs to Israel, citing unnamed officials.

Good!

The Jewish state’s blitz on its northern neighbour has now killed more than 340 people, mostly civilians.

Bad! But then if Hezbollah didn’t use the tactic of locating their headquarters, troops, missiles and supply bases in civilian houses then the figure would be less. It’s a clever tactic as the west leap over themselves to take piccies of dead and wounded civilians to show how heartless the Israelis are. The Israelis are left between a rock and a hard place as to stop their country and people being rocketed they have to strike at Hezbollah’s sites. Someone needs to bite the bullett here and close the cycle. It goes like this – Terrorists attack Israel siting their weapon systems and HQs in civilian enclaves…..after awhile Israel responds and kills some civilians while trying to stop the terrorists killing Israelis. The terrorists appeal to the world to get Israel to stop ‘murdering’ inncocent civilians…the world weeps over the ‘murdered children’ and force Israel to a ceasefire….during the ceasefire the terrorists rearm from the general Arab population and local collections of tribes posing as countries and then attack Israel siting their weapon systems……. you get the idea. I feel sorry for all the innocent civilians caught up in the war but until the world start accusing Terrorist organizations of being explicit in the ‘murdering’ of civilians then the beat goes on..and on…. And on! Cross the border Israel and pursue the bastards until they have no ability to wage war.  Try and not kill innocent civilians but I know hard that is. If you are a civilian in Lebanon then walk away from the Hezbollah, they are using you as a weapon of war and the more of you killed, the better for them.

I like a instantly recognizable message and this is one of those; Pinched from Grouchy Old Cripple

Major ‘Y’, an F-16 pilot in the Israeli Air Force, writes about his unusual experiences of the past several days. I like his closing paragraph;

1800 I join up with a few friends on Tel Aviv beach. We’re having some beers, enjoying the breeze and watching the sunset. After a while I say something about how bizarre the situation is – we’re here having fun, while whole towns in the north are being bombarded. Wait a minute – they ask me, haven’t you been called up? Sure, I reply. Just this morning I dropped two tons of explosives on Lebanon.

I have little sympathy for any country that supports terrorist groups and can only hope that Israel keeps pushing until Hezbollah hand over the IDF soldiers they kidnapped and withdraws and Lebanon undertakes not to allow them to operate within their borders anymore. Simple really.

George Bush gets caught out adlibbing (or does he?) about this weeks Middle East drama and says to Blair;

What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it’s over.

That about says it all. Over at Tim Dunlops ‘Road to Surfdom‘ my favourite delussional zealot Aussie Bob attacks the government in Tim’s daily ‘Howard Lied’ post.

25,000 Australian citizens trapped there – let’s say it’s just 10% of those who want to get out, that’s still 2,500 – and our government is thinking of hiring three buses? … while at the same time they’re egging Israel on?

The government actually sent the three buses to accomodate the Sydney Armenian Dance company specifically and in last nights news Downer was talking about a ship for any others but don’t let the facts ruin a good rant Bob.

As Israel intensified its military onslaught with a cross-border ground attack in southern Lebanon, 86 members of the Western Sydney Armenian dance ensemble were taken in three buses to a northern border crossing, escorted by the Australian Federal Police’s liaison officer, Richard Stanford.

Australian officials estimated yesterday that at least 25,000 Australian citizens were in the country, of which 23,000 hold Lebanese citizenship. Many of the dual citizens are staying in the north, which has been relatively unaffected by the six-day conflict. What’s going on here? All of these people call Australia home, don’t they? They all came to Australia, worked hard over their lives and paid taxes, didn’t they? They are all now enjoying the fruit of their labours on a holiday, aren’t they? They didn’t come to Australia, sign up for the dole and then went back home laughing at us, did they? I’m pretty sure I got that right. Did I?

Planning a trip to Bali? Read this first. A 34-page document, titled “The Bali Project,” was found on the computer of Azhari Husin, a Malaysian-born engineer educated in Australia and Britain who became a master bomb maker. He was one of the most dangerous terrorists in Southeast Asia until he was killed in a shootout with the police last November. The New York Times carries the article but linking requires registration so I have provided a summary. It is a good insight into the enemies operational procedures and could save lives under the principle of …“know your enemy.” It details plans for a suicide bombing, including even a minute-by-minute choreography of the bombers’ final hours. It was the plan for the attack last Octiber which killed 20 people when three men walked into separate restaurants and blew themselves up. Four of the twenty were Australians. Recon, Target Selection and Logistics. Continue reading »

Senator Vanstone has announced that Australia will help Thailand with new counter-terrorism and identity fraud measures and said cooperation between Australia and Thailand was important for the border protection of both nations because it would reduce the opportunity for terrorists to enter either country.

Senator Vanstone also announced, during her tour of the Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok’s new airport, increased levels of training cooperation to assist Thai documentation examiners.

Good. I’ll be transitting through Bangkok in September on the way to Cambodia and would like to feel secure enough to have a night on the town re-visiting old haunts from my time there in the 70s.

Thanks, Amanda.

Does anyone know if the Jazz Bar in Patpong is still trading?

WASHINGTON: President George W.Bush has branded the US news media “disgraceful” for disclosing a secret government program to monitor international finances and track terrorist funding.

The New York Times reported on Friday that the US Government had secretly monitored thousands of international banking transactions since the attacks on New York and Washington in order to track suspected terrorists.

The newspaper refused government requests not to publish the story, prompting other major media to follow with their own reports.

I’m definitely with George here but then I’m old fashioned enough to think that aiding and abetting the enemy in war time is treason and perpetrators of such acts should be at least incarcerated for the duration. Like Hicks. Some Democrats have criticised the program as another step in an aggressive Bush administration expansion of executive-branch powers. But US officials claim its database has provided valuable information about ties between suspected terrorists and groups financing them. And a result closer to home;

It has also reportedly led to the capture of al-Qa’ida operative Riduan Isamuddin Hambali, believed to have planned the 2002 bombings in Bali.

The Left will still argue argue against it even though the programme brought results; on the basis that anything that puts Bush in a bad light must be supported.