The truth (as in "whole truth") is often so far removed from what we hear. Allow me to begin today with some information that is particularly valuable in this respect:
Please see http://download.premiereradio.net/guest/rushlimb/pdf/Beirut.pdf for a map of Beirut showing the areas that have been hit by Israel. Those areas constitute less than 1% of Beirut. Not quite the picture you get from seeing the devastation on the news, is it? (Thanks to Bob Guzzardi for this.)
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And then, from Jihad Watch comes the information, taken directly from a UNIFIL press release, that Hezbollah has fired today from the vicinity of four UNIFIL posts –Alma ash Shab, Tibnin, Brashit, and At Tiri. (And thanks to Carolyn Murphy for this.) What this does is provide documentation for the fact that Hezbollah uses the UN as cover. This, of course, is exceedingly relevant to the accidental shelling by Israel of a UNIFIL post. The question to be asked, then, is WHY the UN permits this, and has permitted it for years. Seems to me that Kofi Annan, rather than making accusations, has a great deal to answer for.
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You’ve been hearing a great deal about UN Security Council Resolution 1559. It was passed in September 2004, after Syria left Lebanon, to support the integrity and independence of a free Lebanon. Among the things it called for were "control of the Lebanese government over all Lebanese territory" (which means also in the south) and "disarmament…of all militias" (which means Hezbollah).
UNIFIL was the UN presence in Lebanon at that time — having been established by the Security Council in 1978 with regard to Israeli presence in south Lebanon. Part of its mandate was to insure the restoration of the authority of the Lebanese government to the south of the country, but it has never made the slightest move to enforce 1559 — it has never even attempted to divest the south of Lebanon of Hezbollah’s presence and ensure Lebanese government control. When the information above regarding UNIFIL’s willingness to permit Hezbollah posts (posts that according to the Security Council should not exist!) to situate near their outposts is factored into this picture, it’s possible to get a fairly solid sense of precisely how bankrupt the UN is.
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A comment here about the Lebanese government itself: The prime minister made a statement recently regarding the inability of the army to take on Hezbollah. More and more as I read, however, it because clear that it is less an issue of "can’t" and more a matter of "won’t." The Lebanese do not wish to take on Hezbollah. The fact is that the Lebanese army, according to figures I’ve seen, numbers some 70,000 troops, compared to the 2,500 to 3,500 Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon. The message from the Lebanese government is "we’re so helpless, world come and save us." They are supposed to be recognized as a sovereign nation, but won’t accept the essential responsibility of a sovereign nation. It gets a bit tiresome.
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All of this increases my ire with regard to the growing talk about Israel giving Shabaa farms to Lebanon. Why should we give them anything? We’re freeing their land of a hostile element and doing their fighting for them. Had they located in the south of the country, we wouldn’t be losing our boys now.
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The whole notion of a multinational force in Lebanon becomes more and more of a joke because no one wants to be part of it. An Australian diplomat today declared that volunteering for such a force would be a suicide mission. And Egypt’s Mubarak has indicated that Egypt has no desire to be involved.
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Looks like this ugly war is going to go on for weeks yet. I make no predictions here as to what approach Israel will be taking. The situation is too fluid and there is too much that is not public. What seems to be the case is that the IDF was in favor of a major ground invasion after yesterday’s painful casualties, but the Security Cabinet is reluctant to sanction this and prefers to see more action from the air. If the Security Cabinet is over-ruling an IDF military recommendation for political reasons (what the world is least likely to criticize), this is unsettling. But who knows…
There has been an additional call-up of reserves, with more amassing of troops at the border. So that troops can be rotated for quick sorties into Lebanon, or to be ready for that major invasion should the decision to proceed come?
Seems the smart bombs that will break bunkers are on their way to us.
We must win this! Pray for us, please, and for all of our fighting boys.
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Word is that Hezbollah’s Sheikh Nasrallah is in Damascus. This comes from Al-Siyassah, a newspaper from Kuwait. Reportedly there he met with an Iranian envoy — the subject under discussion being the best way to ensure the flow of Iranian weapons through Syria to Hezbollah. Is the world paying attention here??? Blocking that flow of weapons is critical to shutting down Hezbollah. But what I’m reading from this is that we are hurting them.
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This posting can be found at: https://41k.82b.myftpupload.com/current-postings/2006/7/27/posted-july-27-2006.html
