The Rockets Don’t Care

The rockets don't care. Someone points them, they have no guidance systems. No high tech way to guide to where they land.

The rockets don't care. They fire when someone pushes the button and they fly in their unguided way where they are pointed.

The rockets don't care. They have just so much fuel. Propellant burns until it is gone then the rocket and it's payload fall, unguided, uncaring.

The rockets don't care. Atop their body is the payload. Just a simple bomb with a simple impact detonator. When it hits, it explodes.

The rockets don't care. When the fuel is gone and they plummet, they hit the ground wherever they fall and they detonate.

The rockets don't care. Buildings, empty fields, flesh, bone, old or young. Jew or Muslim. The rockets don't care.

Neither do those who launch them.

A rocket fired by Hezbollah hit Nazareth today and landed on two Arab boys aged nine and three years. They will grow no older.

Because the rockets, and Hezbollah, don't care.

Voinovich Backs Bolton

In a surprise turnaround, George V. Voinovich is backing John Bolton for regular confirmation (as opposed to his existing recess appointment). Voinovich, Senator from Ohio, opposed Bolton originally. Now he's calling for Democrats to back a nomination as well.

Meanwhile, the administration nominated John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

At the time, I opposed Bolton's nomination because I truly believed he was not the right person to represent America in the United Nations. And it's in the nomination process that we have the opportunity to find someone who is not just adequate but right for the job.

After countless conversations and hours of research into his professional record, I came to the conclusion that the country could do better, and I announced that I would not support the Bolton nomination.

When Bolton was given a recess appointment to the U.N. post by President Bush in August 2005, I voiced my opposition but told him that I would work tirelessly to help him reform the United Nations. I also told him that his success in his new role would have an impact on our country, the world and the future of the United Nations.

My original concerns about Bolton involved his interpersonal skills. Also of concern was his reputation for straying off message and a tendency to "go it alone" instead of working to build consensus with his colleagues. I have met and spoken regularly with him since his appointment, discussing my hope that the United States would indeed build such a consensus at the United Nations and work with our allies.

My observations are that while Bolton is not perfect, he has demonstrated his ability, especially in recent months, to work with others and follow the president's lead by working multilaterally. In recent weeks I have watched him react to the challenges involving North Korea, Iran and now the Middle East, speaking on behalf of the United States.

I believe Bolton has been tempered and focused on speaking for the administration. He has referred regularly to "my instructions" from Washington, while also displaying his own clear and strong grasp of the issues and the way forward within the Security Council. He has stood many times side by side with his colleagues from Japan, Britain, Canada and other countries, showing a commitment to cooperation within the United Nations.

This is a pretty big political turnaround. I can't recall this sort of thing happening in the past.

Should the president send his renomination to the Senate, I will vote to confirm him, and I call on my Democratic colleagues to keep in mind the current situation in the Middle East and the rest of the world should the Senate have an opportunity to vote. I do not believe the United States, at this dangerous time, can afford to have a U.N. ambassador who does not have Congress's full support.

For the good of our country, the United Nations and the free world, we must end any ambiguity about whether John Bolton speaks for the United States so that he can work to support our interests at the United Nations during this critical time.

I suspect that Bush will be sending Bolton's nomination to the Hill. Maybe it's time to just confirm him to a regular appointment seems to be the message.

Well, Duh.

I think I need a new department. The department of dumb headlines. From the AP:

Farmers use bull semen to inseminate cows

One presumes this is a revelation to the headline writer who likely thought poultry was involved somehow.

Sun Smoke

Coming Home

The remains of the 9-man crew of a bomber that disappeared in World War Two have been identified. The Plane disappeared after making a bombing run on Japanese ships in the Bismarck Sea. The crash site was located on Papua New Guinea.

The crash site was found in 2002 after a local government official contacted a team of military investigators exploring an unrelated crash site. The official turned over aircraft data plates, human remains and identification tags.

DNA testing and dental records were used to identify the remains of the nine members of the US Army Air Corps.

1st Lt. Arthur Armacost III, of Cincinnati, Ohio
2nd Lt. Charles Feucht, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio
1st Lt. William Hafner, of Norfolk, Virginia
2nd Lt. David Eppright, of Warrensburg, Missouri
2nd Lt. Charles Cisneros, of San Antonio, Texas
Technical Sgt. Alfred Hill, of Temple, Oklahoma
Technical Sgt. James Lascelles, of New York City
Staff Sgt. William Cameron, of Los Angeles, California
Staff Sgt. Wilburn Rozzell, of Duncan, Oklahoma

May you rest in peace.

Armacost, Cameron, Hafner and Lascelles were to be buried Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery, as were the group remains that couldn't be matched specifically to any missing airman. Individual remains of the other five have been buried elsewhere.

Israel Bombs Bunker

Israeli warplanes dropped 23 tons of bombs on a bunker believed to house a number of Hezbollah leaders (Nasrallah may have been one of the occupants). The bunker was located in Southern Beirut. Hezbollah quickly denied anyone was hurt and that the site was not a bunker but a mosque under construction.

Israel Air Force warplanes dropped bombs late Wednesday on a bunker in south Beirut where senior Hezbollah leaders were thought to be, the Israel Defense Forces said.

IDF officials said dozens of aircrafts dropped 23 tons of explosives on the bunker. The officials said top Hezbollah figures were thought to be there, possibly including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The officials said the bunker was in the Bourj al-Barajneh section of southern Beirut.

Hezbollah said in a statement on Thursday that none of its leaders were killed during the strike. "Hezbollah denies that any of its leaders or personnel were killed during the latest bombardment…in the southern suburb," the group said in the statement.

The building targeted in the raid was a mosque under construction and not a bunker housing as Israel claimed, the statement added.

Israel has said that one of the objects of its offensive in Lebanon is to
eliminate Hezbollah leaders.

The IDF warned south Lebanon residents ahead of the strike to leave their homes and evacuate toward the north.

Hundreds of thousands of south Lebanon residents were expected to evacuate the area. The IDF broadcast its warning from an Arabic-language radio station in Israel.

There were earlier AP reports of loud explosions from the Southern part of Beirut, this would likely be the cause. Now it will be interesting to see if Nasrallah surfaces soon.

UPDATE: And proving that Israeli media is as loony as the American variant, Ynet is reporting the same thing. Along with the teeny little detail that Israeli intelligence has significantly infiltrated Hezbollah. Do these people have to pass a dumb test or something?

UPDATE: Partisan Times points out that Hezbollah faxed their denial that leaders had been hit to the AP. Anyone else see the problem with that?

101st Blog Of The Day

Today, my ongoing mission to visit one member of the Fighting 101st each day led me over to the Northern Alliance Wannabe. Dan S. has a news story about a man assaulting a car with a pigeon. Honest.

Oh, by the way Dan, I got a nine!

As I Suspected

American officials in Lebabnon are confirming what I have suspected for a while now. The delay in evacuating American nationals from Lebanon stemmed from security concerns. There were fears that Hezbollah might attempt attacks on Americans moving to Beirut to be evacuated.

Amid complaints the U.S. effort had lagged, American officials made clear that fears about Americans traveling on roads in Beirut, especially at night, and on roads to Syria had led to some of the delays. The U.S. ambassador said Tuesday that an orderly and safe evacuation had been a first priority.

The Europeans faced some of the same difficulties: the airport closed by Israeli strikes and concerns about the safety of roads to Syria. But it was clear U.S. officials feared any large evacuation effort moving Americans might be targeted by Hezbollah or other hostile groups.

Lebanese police lined the main coastal road in Beirut as armored SUVs full of security guards escorted buses of Americans from an assembly point to the port to board the ship.

U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman, waving on the dock as the ship pulled out, said the evacuation would quickly swell to up to 2,000 Americans a day, both by sea and by helicopter.

"We expect this to go on for the next week until every American who has asked us for help to leave, gets to leave," Feltman told The Associated Press.

Around 8,000 of the 25,000 Americans in Lebanon have asked to be evacuated.

I'd rather have a delay to bring them out safely than let Hezbollah kill Americans. How about you?

Lebanese PM Demands Compensation

The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Fouad Siniora, demanded Israel pay compensation for the "unimaginable losses" to Lebanon's infrastructure.

BEIRUT - Lebanon's prime minister called for an immediate cease-fire with Israel on Wednesday, a week after start of fighting sparked by the abduction of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers by Hezbollah.

In a swipe at the international community, particularly the United States, which said Israel was acting in self-defense, Fouad Siniora said, "Is this what the international community calls the right of self-defense? Is this the price to pay?"

In the first casualty figure officially announced by the government Siniora said that 300 people have been killed, 1,000 wounded and half a million displaced in Israel's operation.

Siniora added he would seek compensation from Israel for the "unimaginable losses" to the nation's infrastructure.

Speaking to a gathering of foreign ambassadors, Siniora made an urgent appeal for end to hostilities on a humanitarian basis.

"We will spare no avenue to make Israel compensate" for the destruction inflicted on the country, he told the gathering, which included the U.S. ambassador.

At the gathering, the ambassadors were shown a photo exhibit of damage from the Israeli campaign, in which the international airport was hit and closed, roads bombed, bridges destroyed and various regions of the country cut off.

"Lebanon deserves life. What kind of life is being offered to us now?" he said. "We the Lebanese want life, we have chosen life. We refuse to die. Our choice is clear. We have survived the wars and destruction (before), we shall also do that now. … I sincerely hope you will not let us down," Siniora said.

One thing in this article is particularly interesting though. It seems Syrian President Bashar Assad made an extremely revealing comment:

Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Wednesday that the international community should act quickly to arrange a cease-fire to end the Israeli-Lebanese crisis, the Syrian state news agency SANA said.

It said Assad had made the comments, the first by Syria on its desire for a ceasefire between its ally Hezbollah and Israel, in a telephone conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

"The conversation covered the international stance and how the international community is procrastinating on imposing a cease-fire and ending the crisis," SANA said.

I think that is some pretty strong evidence that there has been a terrible miscalculation on Iran and Syria's part. They expected a ceasefire to be imposed on Israel rapidly.

Inspiration

Alexandra von Maltzan credited the inspiration for this post of hers over at All Things Beautiful as a comment thread here in the Crabitat. Wow. I don't think I've ever been considered an inspiration before!

…The 'Arab Lawyer’s Union', freely distributed at the UN's "anti-racism" summit in Durban, South Africa, just before 9/11 flyers with a picture of Hitler and the words, "What if I had won? The good thing—there would be no Israel"; they freely distributed books containing cartoons of swastika-festooned Israelis and fanged, hooked-nosed Jews, blood dripping from their hands.

How could that have been allowed to take place and why did the conference’s secretary-general, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson ignore demands to remove this anti-Semitic literature.

How come that we are now being force-fed the same one-sided reporting and UN rhetoric, much like UN’s response to Israeli military incursion into the West Bank town of Jenin in April 2002? 

Read the whole thing, it's great.

UPDATE: Speaking of drumming up anti-Israeli sentiment, ladies and gentlemen, the Associated Press.

Overplaying?

I've asked if, this time, Iran had finally overplayed it's hand with it's machinations against Israel and the West. Youssef Ibrahim, a former Middle East correspondent for The New York Times and energy editor for The Wall Street Journal, asks the same question in USA Today.

Speaking in an unusually blunt tone, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain openly rejected what they described as unilateral "adventurism," telling both groups that they are on their own vis-à-vis Israel. More important, indications are surfacing that a long-silent Arab majority has had enough of being hijacked by extremists in its midst.

In a meeting of its 22 foreign ministers Saturday in Cairo, the League of Arab States did not mince words. "Behavior undertaken by some groups in apparent safeguarding of Arab interests does in fact harm those interests, allowing Israel and other parties from outside the Arab world (read Iran) to wreak havoc with the security and safety of all Arab countries."

The outburst has been long coming, building up ever since the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution, which poured political militancy into the red-hot religious rivalries between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Iran championed the oppressed Shiites as well as repressed revolutionaries in the Arab world. It also has lent a hand to jihadist Islamic fundamentalists, launching savage wars against their governments and societies in Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia since the early 1980s:

It really is quite interesting that there has been a pretty muted response from the Arab world about Israel compared to past outbreaks, isn't it? Even in Lebanon, it appears that Hezbollah is being blamed as much as Israel is.

What frightens the Arabs is that Iran has an impressive network already in place to do its deeds. Even before the United States conveniently dispensed with Iraq - which was the major bulwark against Persians - Iran had planted seeds throughout the region. Hezbollah was formed in the 1980s as Iran's private militia in Lebanon. Shiites loyal to Iran were dispensed to Iraq. And assorted jihadists spread to Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia.

At first, the Iranian motive was self-defense of its young revolution, but by the 1990s its ambitions graduated to regional hegemony. The election last year of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president signaled Phase 2 of the Iranian march, further alarming normally placid Arab majorities who appear to be silent no more.

The collective resistance spoken by Arab presidents, emirs and kings at the highest levels is echoed below among ordinary people. In Lebanon, for instance, it is evident that the people in the streets are blaming Israel, of course, but also Hezbollah for today's crisis.

So, has Iran overplayed? It may very well be that they have. I linked to Mohammed's comments at Iraq the Model earlier, and it certainly sounded as if Iran is being blamed for all the uproar right now. Maybe this will turn out quite a bit differently than Iran planned.

Definition Of Insanity

The saying goes that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is a definition of insanity. Writing in USA Today, Dennis Ross seems to be suggesting doing it all again.

As someone who helped to negotiate an end to the Israeli-Hezbollah battles in 1993 and '96, when Katyusha rockets forced the public in northern Israel into bomb shelters and the Israeli military destroyed Lebanese infrastructure and forced Lebanese to flee the south, I can say that the Lebanese crisis is unlikely to be resolved without the Syrians deciding to bring it to an end. Israel will not be able to stop Katyusha fire on its own; it could not in 1993 or '96, and today, the Iranians have supplied Hezbollah with as many as 13,000 such rockets.

In one of those paradoxes that so often seem to characterize the Middle East, Hamas and Hezbollah have acted to provoke an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and extensive military operations in Lebanon. Israel might not want to be in either place, but with cross-border attacks and kidnapped Israeli soldiers, Israelis feel the need to impose a price and show such attacks come with consequences.

The problem, of course, is that for Israel it is much easier to get into Gaza and Lebanon than to get out. And that does not seem to bother either Hamas or Hezbollah. Though both claim to oppose Israeli occupation, Israeli withdrawal denies them their basis for resistance. Now with Israel back in Gaza and acting militarily in Lebanon, they have something to fight. For these Islamists, it is the cause, not humanity, that matters. And while they have always been sensitive to the public mood and support, the impact of Palestinian and Lebanese public opinion will play less of a role in ending these crises because of the pervading influence of Iran and Syria.

His solution? More negotiation.

The Saudis, Egyptians, Jordanians and others seem to recognize that Iran is manipulating Hezbollah and Hamas for its purposes, and they appreciate the threat that poses not just to Israel and the United States but to non-Islamist Arab governments as well. Tough Saudi criticism of Hezbollah's "reckless" behavior is unprecedented and an indication of what the Saudis and others feel is at stake.

Now is the time for the United States to work with those who could create an "Arab umbrella" for bolstering the Lebanese government, its prime minister, Fuad Saniora, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Such an Arab umbrella could justify, support and assist in deploying the Lebanese army to Israel's border.

Helping to establish security on the Lebanese-Israeli border and the Israeli-Gaza border in a way that ends rocket fire from areas that Israel has left might not only end the current crisis but also pave the way to a more hopeful future.

I noted (with surprise) the Saudi denunciation of Hezbollah, so there is an element that is different from the past few rounds of negotiations. However, it is instructive to see how the situation is seen from the viewpoint of one who lives in the war zone. Mohammed at Iraq the Model has this to say:

Iran proved that it's able to drag the region into a state of chaos by maneuvering its tools in Syria, Hizbollah, Hamas and the militias in Iraq. Iran knows that such a conflict directed by militias that blend with civilians will lead to long-lasting chaos and represents a half-solution that debilitates the other powers and at the same time it's not a costly tactic for Iran! A 100 million dollars in the hands of gangs are enough to cause a lot of destruction that cannot be cured by billions in reconstruction, and it always costs less to destruct than to build.

The key point in this strategy is to keep the half-solution alive. This method proved successful in keeping the despotic regimes in power for decades and these regimes think this strategy is still valid. What makes them this way is their interpretation of international comments which came almost exactly as they always do; calls for restraint and urging a cease-fire which they (Iran and her allies) think will mean eventually going back to negotiations which they know very well how to keep moving in an empty circle.
That was clear from Nesrallah's earlier speech when he said "whether today or a month or a year from now, the Israelis will sooner or later find themselves forced to negotiate…"
Of course Nesrallah did not talk about the rest of his hidden policy which is provoking another crisis once the first one cools down.

The half-solution. Negotiating what is really only a temporary solution. It leaves the major questions open, leaving an opportunity for the Hezbollahs and the Hamas to rearm and get ready to resume the fight later.

Trying to play the same scenario and adopt the same policies over and over again will bring undesirable outcomes for Iran this time and I can see that there's an Israeli determination to break the cycle; the thing is that Israel does not have to deal with the problem that America has to deal with; Israel does not have the political brakes that view the war in different ways. I mean to Israel this war is about existence and that's why Israel is going to go as far as it takes to secure this existence while the geographically-distant America view it differently and the attitude of some Americans who feel that this war is not that serious is understood.

But I do think that it is time to be decisive for one important reason; those who direct the conflict in the region do not seek a solution and even if America looks geographically far right now one should not forget that technology will not allow her to remain so in the future and I think dealing with conventional arsenals today is better than to deal with nukes in the future and that's the threat the world is going to face as long as religion mixes with politics in the middle east.

So the question becomes, how to move forward? The same old way, or a different way.

Which fits the definition of insanity? Maybe that should be the guide?

McKinney In Runoff

Cynthia McKinney, fresh off her victory in her bout with the Capitol Police, was not able to score a knockout in her primary against challenger Hank Johnson. A runoff will be held on August 8th. The vote was incredibly close, 28,507 to 27,049.

McKinney drew less than 50 percent of the vote in her re-election bid, her first since a highly publicized scuffle with a Capitol Hill police officer.

She edged her leading challenger, former county commissioner Hank Johnson, by fewer than 1,500 votes — 28,507 to 27,049 — and will face him again in an Aug. 8 runoff.

During her turbulent 12 years in Washington, McKinney, the first black woman elected to Congress from Georgia, has been criticized for suggesting, among other things, that the Bush administration had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The latest attention-grabber was her March scuffle with an officer who had stopped her when he didn't recognize her as she entered a House office building. A federal grand jury declined to indict the six-term congresswoman, but she had to apologize on the House floor.

The winner of the runoff between McKinney and Johnson, who is also black and has roots in McKinney's core constituency, will face Republican nominee Catherine Davis in November's election in the heavily Democratic district.

"The battle's engaged and I intend to win," said McKinney early Wednesday.

One hopes Mr. Johnson has a good ringman. McKinney has a wicked right by all accounts.

Car Trouble? Just Play Dead.

An Australian man, apparently trying to enter the running for the Darwin Awards, decided to try a new and novel way to get some help when his car broke down.

He laid down in the middle of the highway and played dead.

A woman who was driving with her two children spotted the man and had to swerve to avoid hitting him, said Doug Backhouse, a detective with the Western Australia state police.

"She drove around the body — which didn't move at all — and got to the nearest phone," Backhouse said.

Local police arrived with an ambulance and found the man alive and well, but with car troubles.

"The best way he thought to get a vehicle to stop was to lay down in the middle of the road and pretend to be dead," Backhouse said, adding that the man didn't think anyone would stop if he were standing up.

Police did not charge him, but did tell him his plan was quite stupid. Fortunately for the genius, my brother wasn't driving around in Australia at that moment. (The family affectionately refers to my brother as 'Mad Dog'). Knowing him as I do, I suspect his thought process would be, "He's Dead, why swerve?"

Killer Kangaroos

Just to prove our earlier post warning of the danger posed by an escaped kangaroo in Ireland wasn't just irrational hysteria or the medication talking, we present the following proof. The kangaroos have gathered together and come up with a fiendish plot to kill Irish actors. That's right, now maybe people will pay attention! Hollywood will definitely get interested!

SYDNEY, Australia - Gabriel Byrne has been killed off in movies. He didn't expect it to nearly happen during filming. The 56-year-old Irish actor came Down Under to work for several months, only to find himself getting into two near-misses, right after three scary experiences during his previous film in Africa.

"I have done two films that I have hugely enjoyed but I have almost been killed five times," Byrne said. "So I don't know what the lessons there are in that."

His first dangerous incident in Australia came while driving in the Snowy Mountains, when a kangaroo jumped onto the road and landed on his car windshield. Then during a break from shooting, he was taking a relaxing walk through the bush when he stepped on a venomous brown snake sunning itself.

Yeah, sure. As if the snake being right in that exact spot was an accident. The reptile was a backup plan in case the krazed kamikaze kangaroo didn't finish Byrne off. Now do you believe us? (Now if we could just get that nice man to untie the sleeves of the white sport coat, we wouldn't have to type with our nose).

By the way, Mr. Byrne, we don't advise you to be in a big hurry to get home to Ireland. There's someone waiting for you!