"The United States and Israel..."
The United States and Israel have shared intelligence and enjoyed close military coöperation for decades, but early this spring, according to a former senior intelligence official, high-level planners from the U.S. Air Force—under pressure from the White House to develop a war plan for a decisive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities—began consulting with their counterparts in the Israeli Air Force.
“The big question for our Air Force was how to hit a series of hard targets in Iran successfully,” the former senior intelligence official said. “Who is the closest ally of the U.S. Air Force in its planning? It’s not Congo—it’s Israel. Everybody knows that Iranian engineers have been advising Hezbollah on tunnels and underground gun emplacements. And so the Air Force went to the Israelis with some new tactics and said to them, ‘Let’s concentrate on the bombing and share what we have on Iran and what you have on Lebanon.’ ” The discussions reached the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, he said.
“The Israelis told us it would be a cheap war with many benefits,” a U.S. government consultant with close ties to Israel said. “Why oppose it? We’ll be able to hunt down and bomb missiles, tunnels, and bunkers from the air. It would be a demo for Iran.”
Seymour Hersh | Washington’s Interests in Israel’s War
"...humiliating defeat..."
Israel’s sudden push to the Litani River is a blatant act of political desperation intended to conceal the humiliating defeat the IDF has suffered at the hands of Hezbollah. It comes in the wake of a UN ceasefire agreement worked out by friends of Israel in the Bush administration who were looking for a diplomatic way for Olmert to climb down from Israel’s greatest debacle since the Yom Kippur war.
The so-called ceasefire is tailored to stop the victim of Israeli aggression from defending himself, but provides the IDF with the go-ahead to continue its rampage. Such is the Kafkaesque logic of the United Nations and their puppet-masters in Tel Aviv.
There is no longer any reasonable expectation that Israel will accomplish any of its stated objectives. The mighty IDF has been slapped around by a handful of tough-minded guerillas who kept Israel pinned-down to within a 5 mile radius of the northern border for a full month. It is, without question, one of the greatest triumphs in the history of asymmetrical warfare.
Mike Whitney | Ceasefire or Trojan Horse?
"...they have a terrible smell."
Dr. Bashir Sham, member of "French Association of Cardiovascular Surgeons", explains that the way the corpses look when they reach the hospital, especially those from the 'air strikes' in Doueir and Rmayleih, is very abnormal. "One might think they were burnt , but their colour is dark, they're inflated, and they have a terrible smell. All this, and the hair is not burnt nor do the bodies bleed.' Several doctors have claimed that white phosphorus has been used in the south of the Lebanon. They have no doubts. Certainly cluster shells have been used.
The claims of these very hard pressed doctors require proper investigation in their own right. Respect for the injured and the dead is the dominant reason. The number and variety of lethal weapons expands daily. It would be perverse on these grounds alone if there was no international assessment of these claims. The WHO is said to have been handed samples in the Lebanon. If they are pursuing these avenues so well and good. The Morning Star of 12-08-06 reports that the new UN human rights council is to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes at the request of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
David Halpin | Are New Weapons Being Used In Gaza and Lebanon?
"...Hizbollah's onslaught..."
The real war in Lebanon begins today. The world may believe — and Israel may believe — that the UN ceasefire due to come into effect at 6am today will mark the beginning of the end of the latest dirty war in Lebanon after up to 1,000 Lebanese civilians and more than 30 Israeli civilians have been killed. But the reality is quite different and will suffer no such self-delusion: the Israeli army, reeling under the Hizbollah's onslaught of the past 24 hours, is now facing the harshest guerrilla war in its history. And it is a war they may well lose.
Robert Fisk | As the 6am ceasefire takes effect... the real war begins
I fear Fisk is, as usual, correct. Any satisfaction one might feel at Hezbollah withstanding the savagery of one of the world's most technically sophisticated, ruthless and vicious armies — for a month, is bound to be as shortlived. The United States, embodied by those behind this fast-evolving nightmare, has many options and it will use them all.
For now though — as the Palestinians take up Fox hunting — in a fair and balanced way, of course...
"We are before a strategic and historic victory, without any exaggeration," Nasrallah said in a televised address 12 hours after a UN truce halted the war between the group and Israel. "We emerged from the battle with our heads high, and our enemy is the one who is defeated." ... He also said teams from Hizbollah would from Tuesday start repairing homes damaged by Israeli strikes and said the guerrilla group would pay one year's rent and the cost of furniture to every owner of about 15,000 destroyed homes.
The Scotsman | Hizbollah Declares "Strategic" Victory Over Israel
