72 Hours

YNet reports that Israel has given Syria 72 hours to curb Hezbollah or it will begin attacking Syria.

The London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Saturday that “Washington has information according to which Israel gave Damascus 72 hours to stop Hizbullah’s activity along the Lebanon-Israel border and bring about the release the two kidnapped IDF soldiers or it would launch an offensive with disastrous consequences.”

 The report said “a senior Pentagon source warned that should the Arab world and international community fail in the efforts to convince Syria to pressure Hizbullah into releasing the soldiers and halt the current escalation Israel may attack targets in the country.”

Al-Hayat quoted the source as saying that “the US cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli strike in Syria,” this despite the fact that the Bush administration has asked Israel to “refrain from any military activity that may result in civilian casualties.”

Hezbollah may have really overplayed it's hand this time. If Assad realizes just how bad a position he is in because of Iran's machinations, will he pull back in time? Or will the next flyby of his palace be a live-fire exercise? Others are noting the terrorist's miscalculation:

It is no coincidence that the Hizbullah operation comes at a time when the international community is working to impose sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear program and settle the score with Syria by establishing an international court to try those behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri,” the Pentagon source said.

According to the source, Hizbullah made the same mistake as Hamas when it did not predict the ramifications of its actions and ignored the regional and international changes since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

If a London-based Arabic newspaper is noticing a serious miscalculation, that cannot be a good sign for the long-term health of Bashar Assad, can it? The situation is escalating.

Boston Roulette

There's a whole new game in Boston now. Boston Roulette is where you get in your car and travel through the portions of the Big Dig that remain open. Because you just never know when it's going to come down on you. Ok, that was some pretty harsh black humor, but the inspection keep finding more potentially lethal defects each day. There have been 362 identified so far, up from 60 the day after the fatal collapse.

BOSTON (Reuters) - From loose bolts to gaps between ceiling plates, the number of potentially dangerous flaws in Boston's $15 billion "Big Dig" highway project keep rising, reaching 362 on Friday, after a fatal tunnel collapse.

With public confidence deeply shaken in America's most expensive public works project, Massachusetts' governor took over inspections of the "Big Dig" and U.S. transportation officials expanded their investigation into the collapse.

"There are a large number of potential areas of concern and those will be inspected," Gov. Mitt Romney told reporters, referring to the concrete ceiling panels. "At this stage, you just have to cross your fingers that they don't come down."

The collapse in a three-year-old tunnel is the latest blow to an engineering project that is compared in scale to the building of the Panama Canal and has been dogged by leaks, massive cost overruns, criminal investigations and delays.

Romney signed a bill that gives him broad powers in inquiry into the rising number of defects, which are up from 242 on Thursday and 60 on Tuesday, a day after the ceiling collapsed.

The governor met with federal and local inspectors at the site where 38-year-old Milena Del Valle was killed late on Monday when a three-metric-ton concrete ceiling panel crushed her car. Her husband, Angel, crawled through a window.

"Although I lost my wife, I thank God it didn't happen earlier in the day when it would have been a bigger tragedy," Angel Del Valle, his forehead visibly scarred from the accident, told reporters in Spanish.

"I lost my wife but maybe that will now serve a purpose. And when they finish a job like this, they do it right," he said through a New England Cable News interpreter.

Someone needs an all expense paid vacation over this little fiasco. People who have to drive the system each day are rediscovering religion.

Talk-back radio has been flooded with callers who say they are too terrified to travel through the portions of the Big Dig that remain open. Others say they now cross their fingers or pray to God as they enter the tunnel system.

"I wont drive through it," said Greg Carr, a 41-year-old arborist from Weymouth, south of Boston. "I drove right under it a few days before the collapse. It's nuts."

Frankly, I'd be nervous as all heck, too.

I Have Got To Get A Feed From These Guys!

Bill Smith at Real Clear Politics has the best sources of information. I have to see about getting an RSS feed from one of them, the SatireNewsService.

New York, New York (SatireNewsService) - In a stunning development that would appear to have broad implications for the independence of America's newspaper industry, New York Times Publisher, Edwin 'Pinch' Sulzberger today revealed that longtime President Bush advisor Karl Rove has been secretly running the Times' news and editorial operation for almost four years.

According to well-placed insiders on the Times' Board of Directors, a shaken Sulzberger made that announcement in a hastily convened meeting of the Board of the Times' parent company, The New York Times Corp. Sulzberger reportedly told the board that the discovery was made last week.

"During an internal investigation, we reached the regrettable conclusion that Karl Rove has been running this newspaper since at least August, 2002," Sulzberger reportedly stated. "His intention is clear - to ruin the reputation of the newspaper and the party that our editorial policy supports."

Sulzberger reportedly continued: "I ordered an investigation to determine how the Times had come to publish detailed information about a top-secret government monitoring operation of the international financial transactions of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The publication of this information clearly helps an enemy that killed thousands of people just a few blocks from here. Endangering Americans is something the Times would never intentionally do. Unfortunately this story fits a pattern of publication that has almost ruined the Times' reputation for probity and journalistic honesty as well as causing incalculable damage to the Democratic party that our editorial policy supports."

Read the rest, it's very funny. My favorite line of all:

At the White House, Presidential Spokesman Tony Snow stated that he had spoken to Rove about the charges and that Rove is mystified.

"Karl Rove has a whole planet to run," said Snow with characteristic understatement, "he doesn't have the time or inclination to run a parochial newspaper with a declining stock price and diminishing readership."

Excellent stuff. (And I still say Keller gone by the end of summer).

Arab Reactions To Hezbollah Actions

Rantings Of A Sandmonkey has a fascinating roundup of some reaction from Lebanon over the actions Hezbollah has taken. It's not at all supportive. Public opinion seems to be highly critical of the kidnappings and the subsequent Wailing and gnashing of teeth from Hezbollah about the "humanitarian crisis".

 Tribal Mentality:
So, you
cross into a sovereign nation, kill some of their soldiers and kidnap
others. Of course you're justified, they're soldiers. That's what
they're there for.
What, the nation wants retribution?
Murderers! Imperialists! Zionists! Leave me alone, I don't want to play
anymore. Wait, how about I trade you my soldiers for yours? That's
fair? No? Maaaaaaaa! The big bad zionist doesn't want to let me play…
Maaaaaa!

Retribution:
So,
you want your soldiers back? Why? They're cowards? Aren't they? I
mean… no, they're not cowards. They're willing to die. Right? No?
Jihaaaad! (oops, sorry), no let's talk. This is a fun game, I sneak in
and hurt you every once in a while, then you say ok let's negotiate.
No? You want to hurt me back? You're invading? Maaaaaa! Invador!!!!
You're not allowed…. I am, of course… I'm still a baby.

Sense:
Syria? Oh, they have
prisoners as well? No. We can't fight Syria. They're not dirty jews.
They're muslims. That's haram. The Lebanese prisoners there? Oh, it's
not important, they're christians.

Politics:
You
can't criticize me, I'm a religious figure. Kaboom. We are fighters, we
are politicians. What? Don't criticize me, I'm a religious figure. If
you express an opinion different from mine, you're a traitor zionist
dog. What? Shush, I'm a religious figure. I will cut your arms and
gouge your eyes. Because I'm a religious figure. I'm a religious
figure, yes i'm the real religious figure. What? Eminem? Shut up, I'm a
religious figure. whatever.

Analysis:
Let's
be blind-sighted, selective and subjective for a minute here. What's
wrong with you people? So we invaded israel first and kidnapped
soldiers. That's history. Let's forget about that and start analysing
WHY they're fighting back. Come on, let's say that we didn't kidnap
anyone. Ok? Israel might have still attacked for some other reason.
It's possible? Can you deny it completely? No. See!? Haha, I win!
Maaaaa… I won! Let's assume that we didn't do anything, and that they
attacked for no reason. It's more fun to come up excuses and crazy
theories than to be evolved creatures for a minute.

There are also a lot of links to follow to get reactions and reports from all over the Arab world. It's not at all positive for the Hezbollah folks. They may have overreached badly this time. The Sandmonkey's personal rant is here.

Mumbai Bombings Update

The Times of India is reporting that despite feverish efforts on the part of security services, there are still no formal suspects in the train bombings. Hundreds of investigators are working around the clock interviewing people. Dozens have been detained, but no charges have been brought as of yet.

MUMBAI: Hundreds of investigators questioned suspects and scanned international telephone calls made after this week's deadly Mumbai blasts on Saturday.

Police sources said about 400 officers and men were involved in the mammoth hunt to find those behind the serial bombs that struck the Indian financial hub's commuter trains and stations, killing 179 people.

They were trying to find leads in several calls made to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh from public booths, but so far not much headway has been made, the sources said.

No suspect has been officially named or arrested but hundreds of people have been questioned and dozens detained since Tuesday's explosions, which also wounded nearly 700 people.

"There are leads and they are being followed," police chief AN Roy said. "Investigations are following their own pace."

Photographs of two people who police said were among three top suspects were released, but police denied having named anyone.

Indian authorities are still pointing to Pakistan's ISI and the Indian Islamic group LeT as being suspected of involvement.

Confirmation

Israeli officials are saying that Iranian elements did, indeed, supply the drone which was responsible for attacks on both an Israeli warship and an Egyptian civilian ship. Iran is also supplying more sophisticated long-rage rockets to Hezbollah.

A senior Israeli intelligence official said Iranian troops helped Hezbollah fire a missile that damaged an Israeli warship off the Lebanese coast Friday night.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information, said about 100 Iranian soldiers are in Lebanon and helped fire the Iranian-made, radar-guided C-102 at the ship that killed one and left three missing.

The Lebanese guerrilla force has shown an increasing sophistication since snatching two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, sparking Israel's largest assault against Lebanon in 24 years.

Five Hezbollah rockets hit Tiberias in northern Israeli on Saturday, causing no injuries — the first rocket attack on Tiberias, about 22 miles south of the border, since the 1973 Mideast War. An Israeli intelligence official said Hezbollah has rockets with ranges of 60 to 120 miles that could reach Tel Aviv, Israel's largest metropolitan area.

The situation is spiraling and Iran appears to be intent on starting an all out regional war. The attacks on Egyptian police and civilians is either intended as a message to Egypt or is an attempt to draw then into war as well. It's interesting that even Vladimir Putin has come out cautiously against the Hezbollah actions - and by extension - against Iran.

Bush blamed Hezbollah and Syria for the escalating violence in the Middle East. "In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place," Bush said. "And that's because Hezbollah has been launching rocket attacks out of Lebanon into Israel and because Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers."

Putin said it was unacceptable to try to reach political goals through abductions and strikes against an independent state. "In this context we consider Israel's concerns to be justified," he said. At the same time, he said, "the use of force should be balanced."

Countries may have to start choosing sides if the situation continues to slide.

Democrats Pull Offensive Ad

After public outcries by bloggers, Republican politicians and even a few Democratic politicians, the DCCC has pulled an advertisement what contained images of flag draped coffins.

The ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called for a "new direction" and displayed a staccato of images, including war scenes, pollution and breached levees as well as a photograph of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay doctored to look like a police mug shot.

The campaign committee replaced the ad with a radio commercial that targets Rep. John Hostetler, R-Ind., for opposing an increase in the minimum wage. Democrats have made a minimum wage increase a central theme of this year's election.

Democrats had featured the video ad for nearly two weeks on the DCCC Web site where it had gone largely unnoticed until Republicans began objecting to it this week. On Thursday, more than a dozen Republicans, many with military backgrounds, called on DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., to apologize. Democratic Reps. John Spratt of South Carolina and Chet Edwards of Texas asked Emanuel to pull or alter the ad.

I know Captain Ed did not agree with me on this issue. I found this offensive and make no apologies for that. Once a soldier has served his country, that soldier no longer belongs to the nation. They belong to their families. It is disgusting beyond belief that anyone would use such images for crass political motives.

UPDATE: Sister Toldjah has a take on this and why this ad is different from a Bush ad in 2004. Her point is quite valid and the cases are not at all equivalent. Personally, I would like to not see this kind of imagery used at all for political purposes, whether I agree with the party/person/cause or not. But that's my opinion.

You Know They’re Getting Worried

You know the Democrats and their enablers in the press corps are getting worried when they continue to try to trumpet poll results. Sweetness and Light has a smackdown of the latest one. A 12% skew in the sample toward Democrats is not even reasonable. It's blatant, obvious loading of a sample.

There is also the worst picture of Nancy Pelosi to date there. I feel inspiration coming on.

Widening Conflict

Bill Roggio at The Counterterrorism Blog has a report that is very disturbing. At the same time the Israeli ship was hit by an explosives laden drone, an Egyptian civilian ship, possibly a cruise ship, was hit by what is reported to be a missile fired from another Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Quite frankly, this level of sophistication is beyond Hezbollah. Only Iran could be behind those attacks.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated, as Hezbollah has conducted two sea strikes against an Israeli warship and an Egyptian civilian ship, possibly a cruise liner. While initial reports are stating an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was used to ram the ships, an anonymous intelligence official indicates the Egyptian ship was struck by a UAV launched antitank missile. According to the intelligence official, the Egyptian ship was hit with a Raad anti-tank missile (this is a different weapon than the Raad rockets fired against the city of Haifa.)

The two attacks occurred earlier today, as Hezbollah struck an Israeli Saar 5 navy gunship off the coast of Lebanon. Four Israeli seamen are missing and the ship has been damaged badly enough the Israeli Defense Force pulled it out of service. "It's the first time the terrorist group — any terrorist group — has used a drone in combat, as far as I know," said DefenseTech's Noah Schachtman. The current reports states an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle laden with explosives hit the Israeli warship.

The Egyptian civilian ship was hit during the same attack on the Israeli warship. "At the same time as the incident took place in which an Israeli ship was hit, a merchant ship was also hit," an Israeli spokeswoman stated, according to Reuters. Initial reports, which as of yet are unconfirmed, indicate the Egyptian vessel may have been a cruise ship.

The fact that two separate ships were struck at the same time, very likely with UAV fired antitank missiles, indicates a level of sophistication far beyond that of Hezbollah. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and Imad Mugniyah clearly have a hand in these operations. The coupling of a UAV with an anti-tank missile requires extensive research, development and testing. It is unlikely Hezbollah conducted these efforts without attracting the attention of the watchful Israelis to their south. And the Iranians possess the technological capabilities; the Raad anti-tank missile is from their arsenal. The use of multiple UAVs over the Mediterranean Sea indicates Hezbollah may have a fleet of these UAVs, which must be maintained.

This is disturbing on another level as well. The Hamas attack on an Egyptian police unit guarding a crossing into Gaza and then a Hezbollah strike on a civilian Egyptian ship indicates there are much bigger plans in the offing from Iran and it's puppets, I think.