Monthly Archives: July 2006

In His Own Words

Blog of the Week Vital Perspective has a complete transcript of Hassan Nasrallah’s statement at a press conference last Friday. It is delusional; Nasrallah speaks exactly as he would if Israel had invaded Lebanon out of the blue; as though his own terrorists had not initiated the hostilities with a cross-border raid in which they murdered eight Israelis and kidnapped two; as though his own organization had not made the »

Dingell: What’s Wrong With Hezbollah?

Yesterday, Representative John Dingell of Michigan appeared on a Detroit television program along with Republican Candice Miller. They discussed the crisis in Lebanon; Dingell proclaimed himself neutral. “I don’t take sides for or against Hezbollah; I don’t take sides for or against Israel.” Asked, “You’re not against Hezbollah?” Dingell answers, “No…” Listen to it here on YouTube, or use our player below. If the Democrats win control of the House »

The other war in Qana

Stephanie Gutmann calls the media war adjunct of the killing war in the Middle East The Other War. Several readers have written to alert us to the “Milking it” post at EU Referendum. Lucianne links to the post and comments: “Suffer the little children and let savages use them for their own sick purposes…save viewing for after lunch.” On a related note, Confederate Yankee raises a serious question concerning the »

In search of Times past

In The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980, Steven Hayward had the inspired idea of taking Daniel Patrick Moynihan as the liberal counterpart to Ronald Reagan. Writing in 2001 when Moynihan had just stepped down from his Senate seat and was living in retirement, Steve explained in his prologue: In addition to including the reasonable criticism [of liberalism] of Reagan, this narrative also aims to »

Sydney Synagogue Attacked

A synagogue in Sydney, Australia was attacked earlier today. The attackers used concrete blocks: [W]itnesses told police they saw a group of about 10 Middle Eastern men laughing and running down a nearby street. »

Media Alert

I’ll be on Bill Bennett’s Morning In America radio show at 7:30 Eastern, 6:30 Central, discussing the issues of the day, including Lebanon and whatever else is on Bill’s mind. Bennett’s site is here; you can listen to highlights from his radio show on TownHall here; and if you don’t know where to tune in to listen tomorrow morning, you can listen on the web here. as well as many »

Who’s Winning?

We’ve returned several times to the vital question of how the fighting in Lebanon is going. It’s frustratingly hard to get a good fix on the military situation, but, for what it’s worth, Ze’ev Schiff, writing in Haaretz, doesn’t think it’s gone especially well: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the figure leading the strategy of changing the situation in Lebanon, not Prime Minister Ehud Olmert or Defense Minister »

Rockets From Qana

Hezbollah now claims that it doesn’t shoot rockets from Qana. Yeah, right. Blog of the Week Vital Perspective has video of rockets being launched from that town. One thing puzzles me, though. The whole purpose of a terrorist organization is to commit mass murder in the most cowardly, dishonorable way possible. So…why would anyone ever believe anything said be terrorists? Vital Perspective also notes Article 28 of the 4th Geneva »

When Did the Building Collapse?

Controversy has emerged over the collapse of the large building in Qana where several dozen civilians (most likely human shields) were killed following an Israeli air strike. The controversy relates to the timing of the collapse. The airstrike was not long after midnight, whereas the IAF has said that the building apparently did not collapse until around 8 a.m. (See update to Qana post below.) Some news accounts are simply »

Just Wondering

This AFP photograph shows Beirut demonstrators with a giant poster of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that was used in a rally protesting the accidental killing of civilian human shields, along with terrorists, in Qana: What seems odd about this is that the banner was unfurled within hours after the Qana attack took place. The building where the civilians died was bombed on Sunday morning, and the demonstration took place »

Terrorists In His Sights

The Associated Press has a nice story on Marine Corps marksman Lance Cpl. Galen Wilson, who has wreaked considerable havoc on Sunni terrorists: He was 5 when he first fired an M-16, his father holding him to brace against the recoil. At 17 he enlisted in the Marine Corps, spurred by the memory of 9/11. Now, 21-year-old Galen Wilson has 20 confirmed kills in four months in Iraq — and »

Qana

You have to read Western media accounts of the bombing of Qana, such as this account in the New York Times, very carefully to get any hint of the underlying facts. This Reuters story by Hussein Saad is worse; the reporter’s glee at the presumed refutation of United States policy is palpable: Her mediation drive in tatters, Rice will leave for Washington on Monday…. The appalling Kofi Annan claimed vindication »

Podcasting Events in Lebanon

Yesterday’s radio show began with commentary on the weather–hot here in the midwest–and the absent Brian “Stillwater” Ward, but the rest of the hour was devoted to various aspects of the crisis in the Middle East. In the last segment, we talked about the role the liberals are playing–the views expressed were negative–and, speaking of liberals, awarded our coveted Loon of the Week prize to Chris Matthews. You can download »

The passion of Mel Gibson

In early 2004 I noted in “The passion of Billy Jack” that I have been a huge fan of Mel Gibson. I nevertheless had serious qualms about his “Passion of the Christ.” I tried (unsuccesfully, in the eyes of many readers) to lay out my response to the film in as inoffensive a manner as possible in “A spaghetti Eastern.” If one is inclined, as I am, to the view »

Stoned: Bamford errata

Along with his letter to the editor of Rolling Stone that I posted below in “Stoned,” Michael Ledeen notes the following errors in James Bamford’s Rolling Stone fantasia: BAMFORD: “[I]n December, a plane carrying Ledeen traveled to Rome with two other members of Feith’s secret Pentagon unit: Larry Franklin and Harold Rhode, a protege of Ledeen who has been called the ‘theoretician of the neocon movement.'” THEY WERE CERTAINLY NOT »

What Happened Yesterday

It’s often difficult, when viewing American media, to get any actual military news from Lebanon. Body counts, yes; information about how the battle is going, no. To fill that gap, check out Blog of the Week Vital Perspective: Over the past 24 hours…the IDF carried out over 60 aerial attacks…against Hezbollah structures, posts and headquarters, including some used for storage of weaponry, a number of rocket launchers, including a launcher »

WMD Shipments to Syria Described

This is an unofficial translation of Document Number ISGQ-2005-00022470, released as part of Project Harmony. It is a memo dated July 13, probably 2003; the author is an Iraqi opposition source located in Syria. Subject: we have information about the location of Mass Destruction Weapons On Moharram 10th (Arabic calendar), prior to US/allied invasion to Iraq, fifty (50) Iraqi trucks entered Syria as convoys (or groups), I met some the »