Damning With Faint Praise

Well, here's David Broder's piece that will get him dropped from a LOT of left-wing non-denominational, multi-culturally inclusive, non-judgmental holiday card lists (And drop the word holiday if that offends and use 'best wishes'). He's, shall we say, less than pleased with Lamont's - and the Democrats - long term prospects versus a short-term and short-sighted - potential upset over Lieberman.

For many Connecticut Democrats, the overriding motive is to send a message against the war, against the Bush administration, against Washington — everything that Lieberman represents to them. On the night after the Clinton-Lieberman rally in Waterbury's Palace Theater, I came here to meet with some of these voters among the 200 people attending a wine and cheese fundraiser with Lamont and his wife, sponsored by a coalition of feminist organizations.

….

The people backing Lamont are nothing if not sincere. But their breed of Democrats — many of them wealthy, educated, extremely liberal — often pick candidates who are rejected by the broader public. Many of the older Lamont supporters went straight from Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern in the 1960s and '70s to Howard Dean in 2004. They helped Joe Duffey challenge Sen. Tom Dodd in Connecticut for the 1970 Democratic nomination on the Vietnam War issue, only to lose to Republican Lowell Weicker in November. Lamont's campaign manager, Tom Swan, is also director of Connecticut Citizen Action Group, a populist organization founded in the 1970s by Toby Moffett, a Ralph Nader protege and anti-Vietnam activist who was one of the "Watergate babies" elected to the House in 1974. Moffett's political career also was ended by a loss to Weicker, who stayed in the Senate until Lieberman finally beat him in 1988.

Democrats everywhere are looking to Connecticut for clues about the party's direction. The primary will probably point them leftward, toward a stronger antiwar stand. But often in the past, the early successes of these elitist insurgents have been followed by decisive defeats when a broader public weighs in. That is why this contest is so consequential for the Democratic Party.

Elitist insurgents - pretty well wraps that one up. It's kind of funny watching the chickens come home, isn't it? All the damnation of the administration by the Washington press has spawned something the press now realizes is too extreme and not good for the party they support. And they are scrambling.

Hartford Courant For Lieberman

I have remarked on the outstanding coverage the Hartford Courant has given to the Lieberman-Lamont match up. They have been almost a model for neutral reporting (the New York Times would do well to emulate them). Today, they came out and endorsed Lieberman. It is a very well crafted endorsement, neither harsh, nor pandering. I would encourage anyone interested in reading well written editorial content to read it. But the closing lines are truly outstanding:

Mr. Lieberman's history of enthusiasm for military interventions overseas is an anomaly in a man famous for mediating among warring factions in Washington. But to dismiss this moderate — a vanishing breed in a Congress sundered by extremism on both sides — for dissenting on a single issue would be a terrible waste. And a mistake.

It would show an intolerance unworthy of any political party.

Kudos to the folks who crafted this endorsement. That it echoes much of what I have written on this subject, doubtless colors my judgment, but I do like a well crafted editorial.

Mel Gibson Uproar

There's a lot of activity in the blogosphere over the story that Mel Gibson was a)arrested for DUI and b)Made a complete ass out of himself with a tirade of nastiness and Jew-hatred.

He has issued a lengthy and very public apology. It sounds like he is being both honest and is genuinely sorry for his behavior.

Frankly, he's likely damaged himself very badly indeed. There really isn't a need to keep twisting the knife. I think Dan Riehl has an excellent take on the whole issue.

Chavez In Iran

Cindy Sheehan's main squeeze Hugo Chavez visited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in Tehran on Saturday. They apparently pledged mutual support.

Anti-U.S. leaders Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad met in Tehran on Saturday, pledging mutual support for one another, state media reported.

Chavez' two-day visit came as Iran faces renewed international criticism for its nuclear program and as a backer of Hezbollah, engaged in fighting with Israel since they captured two Israeli soldiers July 12.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on Friday reached a deal on a resolution that would give Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.

Following talks, Chavez pledged that his country would "stay by Iran at any time and under any condition," state television reported.

Ahmedinejad said he saw in Chavez a kindred spirit.

"I feel I have met a brother and trench mate after meeting Chavez," Ahmedinejad was quoted as saying by state-run television. "We think Iran and Venezuela should share all experiences of each other, stay by each other and they have to be supporters of each other."

The Venezuelan leader has been on a trip that included a visit to Belarus where he met with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by Washington and shares Chavez's strong anti-U.S. views.

Earlier this week he secured an arms agreement with Russia in Moscow that
prompted the U.S. criticism.

While in Qatar on Friday, Chavez said it meant Venezuela could eventually
export guns and ammunition to Bolivia and other allies once it opens a factory to make Russian-developed Kalashnikov rifles under license.

Chavez accused the United States of "threatening" to stop supplying replacement parts for the weapons to leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales' government. If the U.S. follows through, Chavez said, "we could supply Bolivia… and other friendly countries that also require a minimal level of defense."

"Maybe in the future we'll become an (arms) exporting country," Chavez said.

Bilateral trade last year between Iran and Venezuela was valued at
approximately US$1 billion (-790 million). Iranian investment in Venezuela includes a production line for tractors and several housing projects.

This is not what I would call an encouraging development.

UPDATE: AFP Coverage here.

UPDATE: CNN reveals that Chavez has a very strong stomach, given rumors of Ahmedinejad's lack of personal hygiene.

Rockets Continue

More than 90 rockets were launched by Hezbollah into Israel on Saturday. A number of towns were hit and several people are reported to have been wounded.

Five people sustained light shrapnel wounds Saturday when over 90 Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah guerillas struck towns across the Western Galilee on Saturday.

The injuries occurred in Nahariya and Ma'alot, where several homes sustained direct rocket strikes. In Ma'alot, five Katyushas also fell in open areas.

At least four rockets fell in open areas in Safed, causing no injuries or damage. One rocket struck a medical facility in Acre, causing a large amount of damage but no injuries.

In Tiberias, two rockets hit a factory, causing some damage. Another five fell in open areas in the city. Five rockets landed in the vicinity of Rosh Pina, causing no injuries.

The barrages come a day after more than 100 rockets hit northern Israel; five of them, said to be a new long-range missile, landed in the Afula area

The attacks are not slowing appreciably at this point.

New York Times Attempts Hit On Lieberman

Well, no real surprise, but the New York Times is going to endorse Lamont in the Sunday paper. (Anyone know if they are in the habit of making endorsements in Connecticut primaries?) Adam Nagourney has a preemptive post-mortem of the Lieberman campaign as well.

“I shared with the senator that Ned was in,” said Mr. Olsen, a former state Democratic chairman. “And I told him that it was very serious.”

Mr. Lieberman, he said, nodded in appreciation.

But Mr. Lieberman responded lethargically to those warnings until two months ago, according to interviews with his associates and aides. They cited a variety of reasons: a misreading of the depth of antiwar sentiment among Connecticut Democrats, an exodus of experienced political advisers after Mr. Lieberman’s failed presidential bid in 2004, a relatively green Senate campaign staff and the pride that often settles around a politician after many years on the public stage.

[The New York Times, in an editorial published on Sunday, endorsed Mr. Lamont over Mr. Lieberman, arguing that the senator had offered the nation a “warped version of bipartisanship” in his dealings with Mr. Bush on national security.] The price of Mr. Lieberman’s slow start was on display on Friday, 11 days before the Aug. 8 primary. Mr. Lieberman, reshuffling his schedule after Democrats warned him that he was still not campaigning with enough urgency, set off on a 10-day bus tour across the state, with a sharp new message.

A half dozen advisers from Mr. Lieberman’s past campaigns turned up at his headquarters to provide support, responding to e-mail messages and other entreaties, including some from Mr. Lieberman’s wife, Hadassah.

As I said, it's no surprise the NYT is coming out for Lamont. It's obvious they have a strong anti-Bush bias and Lieberman has supported the war in Iraq. Lieberman's also one of the few credible voices left in the Democratic party on national defense, though. The more centrist Democrats realize what a disaster it would be for Lieberman to lose, hence all the help. It remains to be seen if they can pull it off. But I've said all along, if Lamont wins, the Democrats as a party will lose.

The other thing is that even with the NYT trying to swing their rapidly diminishing weight behind Lamont, I wouldn't count out a pro like Lieberman too soon.

Where Can We Get An Unwelcome Wagon?

That's what the people who live in Crawford, Texas want to know. There is little positive anticipation of the arrival of the Sheehan Circus and Sideshow® in that small town.

"I wish she'd stay away. Crawford's a Republican town, and she's a dumb Democrat," Westerfield, a lifelong Crawford resident, said Friday while sitting on a bench outside a gas station on Main Street.

Sheehan, whose monthlong war protest near Bush's ranch last summer attracted more than 10,000 demonstrators, recently bankrolled the purchase of a 5-acre parcel near downtown to be used for future protests, including one next month.

The protesters group said it outgrew a 1-acre lot about a mile from Bush's ranch that a sympathetic landowner provided. Several hundred demonstrators returned to the lot over Thanksgiving and Easter.

Now many of the town's 700 residents fear the traffic congestion, noise from rallies and odor from portable toilets — complaints from residents near the other campsite — will affect those closer to town.

"When it's here, it affects a different set of people," Teresa Bowdoin said.

The town has tried to stop some of the craziness by banning roadside camping, but that led to that tried and true method of making friends and allies used so often by the left. Sheehan and company filed a lawsuit.

Then last fall, county commissioners enacted roadside camping and parking bans to prevent similar protests. Some demonstrators returned to Sheehan's original makeshift campsite during the November and April protests for a civil disobedience action and were arrested. Sheehan was not among them.

In late June, Sheehan and four others sued the county over the ordinances, saying they want to return to what became an "international symbol of protest against the Iraq war."

Tammara Rosenleaf, one of the lawsuit's plaintiffs, said she is glad the group now owns a lot but that some protesters may return to Sheehan's original site because it is considered "the soul of this movement."

However, not everyone in Crawford is upset by the impending arrival of hordes of followers of Sheehan's Super-Whamadyne Ultra Fast™.  The local Burger Barn has perfected the triple Angus bacon cheeseburger and large fries smoothie which is expected to be a major seller. Cindy has reportedly ordered dozens just for herself.

Sigh. The Animals Win.

It is a sad day indeed. The baboons at Knowsley Safari Park, near Liverpool, England, have opened a zoo. They keep construction workers there.

A band of baboons began screeching and chattering when a team of construction workers commenced work to renovate the primate enclosure at Knowsley Safari Park, close to the city of Liverpool, about 210 miles north of London.

Worried that the baboons would become violent, workers at the animal park — which also houses lions, rhino and elephants — have installed the fence to contain them.

"Because we're effectively in a cage and the animals are free to roam around us, we do feel as though the roles are reversed and we are the exhibit," said Geoff Ames, the construction project manager. "However, we're grateful for the protection." Work to create a new enclosure for the primates will be completed this summer, Ames said.

You feel safe? Is it worth trading your freedom for the occasional banana thrown by the passing baboons? A sad day, indeed.

Iran To World: Up Yours

Iranian state radio has announced that Tehran will reject the UN incentive package. Although not the official voice of the Iranian government, the state radio is generally considered to express the intentions of the Mullahs.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian state radio said Saturday that the government would reject a proposed U.N. resolution that would give it until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of international sanctions.

"Iranians will not accept unfair decisions, even in the framework of resolutions by the international bodies," the commentary on state-run radio said.

There has been no official comment to the draft resolution, but state radio often is thought to provide the Iranian government line.

Ok, who didn't see that one coming? See the eye doctor at once if you didn't. European governments might want to start getting themselves onto a war footing, because Iran seems quite intent on launching one against the world.

Politics As Disco

Watching politics is sometimes like watching a really bad dance contest. Picture a 70's style disco and a bunch of guys in polyester leisure suits (in various pastel colors not actually found in nature) vying on the dance floor to be the next John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Only they move more like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz making it more like Saturday Night Feeble. As bad as they all are, statistics tells us that every once in a while someone will make an actually good move.

So it is that the Republican House managed a slick little dance number and cornered the Democrats in the Senate. Harry Reid is now in the unenviable position of having to try to scuttle a bill that raises the minimum wage. They rolled the dice on this one, but it may wreck the Democrat's use of the minimum wage as a club to whip on Republicans with.

The House last night voted to boost the minimum wage for the first time in nearly a decade while also permanently slashing the estate tax, a coupling that GOP leaders calculated might garner enough Senate support to become law.

House lawmakers also approved the biggest overhaul of the nation's pension laws in 30 years.

In the rush to bolster their party's accomplishments before leaving today on a five-week summer break, House Republican leaders effectively took a gamble. If the Senate follows the House and passes legislation shoring up the pension system, raising the minimum wage, permanently cutting the estate tax, and extending such measures as a research-and-development tax credit, Republicans can say they departed for the summer in a flourish of accomplishments.

But the maneuvering by House and Senate GOP leaders to package the measures over the objection of some Senate chairmen caused severely bruised feelings. Lawmakers from both parties said last night that the legislation could easily collapse in the Senate, underscoring Democratic contentions that Congress has become dysfunctional.

"It's a risk," said House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), "but I think it's the only way to proceed."

Democrats were incensed that the GOP leadership would couple the minimum wage hike, the first increase since 1997, with an estate tax cut that would reduce federal revenue by $268 billion over the next decade, to the overwhelming benefit of the country's richest families.

"This is beyond cynical. This is disgraceful," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) signaled he would try to scuttle the tax bill next week. "Republicans have made perfectly clear who they stand with and who they are willing to fight for: the privileged few," he said.

But Republicans believed they had found a way to snatch the minimum-wage issue away from Democrats, who had been using it as a cudgel, while securing passage of a central plank of their economic program: all but eliminating the estate tax.

"I know why you're mad," said Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.). "You've seen us really outfox you."

It actually was a smooth move, politically. It is no more cynical than the Democrat's efforts to use issues like this as weapons. In other words, most politics is cynical in nature. The Dems got caught on this one.

I Fear For England

I fear for the survival of one of our staunchest allies when a single, anonymous so-called animal rights activist can bring a time honored tradition to an end. When England is no longer safe for "Conger Cuddling", it effects freedom everywhere. I mean banning the team sport of beating one another with a dead eel is simply not right.

LONDON (AFP) - Battering one other with a dead eel has been a favoured old tradition in one British town for decades, but a new ban has curtailed the fishy fun and sparked local anger.

"Conger cuddling" has been staged annually in Lyme Regis on the southern English coast for 32 years to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) charity, British newspapers reported Saturday.

Two teams stand on wooden blocks and take turns to knock their opponents off by swinging a five-foot (1.5-metre) dead eel on a rope at them, The Daily Telegraph said.

The oddball antics attracted around 3,000 locals and amused tourists to the charity fundraiser.

But a single complaint by an animal rights activist has put a stop to it after claiming the bizarre sport is disrespectful to dead animals.

The RNLI took conger cuddling off the menu after threats were made to film the contest and stir up a nationwide campaign against it.

Richard Fox, 67, who invented the wacky sport, was seething at the ban.

"It's the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard," he raged.

"How can you be disrespecting an animal's rights when it's dead? The eel isn't even caught — it's trapped by accident in fishermen's nets. One person has spoiled the enjoyment of many."

Mayor Ken Whetlor also raged against the protest, calling the complaint writer "a gutless troublemaker with nothing better to do than stop people enjoying an innocent event that helps to save lives."

"Next they'll be telling us it's unethical to use whitebait to catch mackerel".

A sad day indeed when you can't enjoy a friendly game of eel bashing. The good news, though, is that it's still legal to trample a flounder in Scotland. For now.

Seattle Shootings Update

The Associated Press has an updated story about the shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle yesterday. Not a lot of new information, I'm afraid, but they have a few things such as the name of the shooter and the fact that he is an American citizen.

Authorities said a man walked into the Jewish agency on Friday and opened fire, killing one woman and injuring at least five others in what they call a hate crime. Naveed Afzal Haq, 30, was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of homicide and attempted homicide, police said.

The gunman, who employees said claimed to be a Muslim angry at Israel, forced his way through the center's security door after an employee had punched in her security code, said Marla Meislin-Dietrich, a co-worker who was not at the building at the time.

Staff members said they overheard him saying "'I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel,' before opening fire on everyone," Meislin-Dietrich said. "He was randomly shooting at everyone."

Police would not confirm the account. When asked if the suspect was Muslim, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said at a news conference, "you could infer that that was his background."

As employees fled the center, a SWAT team raced to the scene and blocked off several downtown blocks. The gunman surrendered moments later after speaking with a 911 dispatcher. That conversation led police to believe the shooting was a hate crime, authorities said.

"This was a purposeful, hateful act, as far as we know by an individual acting on his own," Mayor Greg Nickels said at the news conference.

Authorities said officers were moving to protect both synagogues and mosques around the city but there was no evidence of a broad threat. Police were protecting mosques "because there's always the concern of retaliatory crime," Kerlikowske said.

Authorities have been advising synagogues and Jewish groups to be watchful in the weeks since hostilities erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. They said the warning was not in response to any specific threats.

One hopes that security will be tightened even further in light of this attack.

Toy Weapons

When is a toy not a toy? How about when you turn a radio controlled toy car into a device to detect and destroy roadside bombs? The Washington Post has an article that covers all kinds of efforts underway by all sorts of different companies to meet the need for ways to detect and disable Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). And yes, the proposed solutions include beefed up toys.

Robert Pervere's fight against insurgents in Iraq started with an Emaxx monster truck from Debbie's RC World Inc. in Chesapeake, Va., a $335 toy that he turned into a weapon for U.S. troops against roadside bombs. The 24-year-old engineer replaced about 80 percent of the toy's plastic parts with aluminum, fastened two small surveillance cameras to the top and made room for an explosive that could blow up suspicious objects from hundreds of feet away.

"I get paid to play with [radio control] cars," said Pervere, who helped build the prototype for Applied Marine Technology Inc., a Virginia-based defense contractor that has said it expects to begin receiving military orders in September. "This has been a very rewarding project, working on a tool that's going to be out the door saving lives shortly."

American ingenuity. There is nothing else quite like it in the world, I think. The companies involved in the efforts to help solve the problem range from tiny little companies to monster defense contractors. The solutions range from ultra high tech to almost primitive. But the idea is not to get a single "silver bullet" solution but  rather a range of tools troops can use.

Now, a Pentagon agency with a $3.3 billion budget and a staff of 300 has a mandate to focus the defense industry on the problem. The undertaking has attracted not only the country's top weapons makers but also dozens of small businesses like AMTI, all pitching a science-fiction gallery of possible solutions.

Lockheed Martin Corp. has established a corporate team with $22 million in internal funding, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post, that is looking for "best of breed" technology, including ways to study attack patterns. International Business Machines Corp. has a system it says will create a digital image of often-traveled roads and alert soldiers to changes that could indicate bombs hidden in trash, rocks or animal carcasses.

General Dynamics Corp. is pitching a laser-based system adapted from Israeli technology that it says could burn away trash often used to conceal bombs and disable the devices. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is studying whether there is a way to sniff out bombs with electronic polymers that mimic a dog's ability to smell. Octatron Inc. of St. Petersburg, Fla., is touting a low-tech approach: — a 14-foot, 5-pound high-strength pole that the company says soldiers can use to place explosives next to suspected bombs from a distance.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has a toy car of its own. After hearing complaints from soldiers that robots operated by wireless controllers were unreliable and subject to radio interference, Livermore came up with one attached to a 1,000-foot tether.

"This may not be super-high science, but it seems to be useful," Milton Finger, a senior scientist at Livermore, said of the lab's $200,000 research project. "It sounds trite that we're using toys, but it's more than that."

The defense industry's response to the roadside bomb problem mirrors in some ways the response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with many companies, such as Lockheed and Northrop Grumman Corp., establishing internal units to go after the market.

So far the threat from the bombs is outrunning the technical creativity of U.S. industry, and the Pentagon now views the bombs as a long-term problem. The search, Pentagon officials say, is not so much for a silver-bullet solution as for a wider set of tools that troops can use.

Read the whole thing, it's quite interesting.

Chavez And Control Of Information

An open letter in today's Washington Post is instructive for those who like to screech about how they are being repressed here in the US. Written by Diana Daniels, general counsel of The Washington Post Co. and president of the Inter American Press Association, it is in response to the actions of the Chavez government when Ms. Daniels paid a visit to Venezuela.

Dear President Chávez:

Last week I spent three days in Venezuela following up on an open invitation from a representative of the Venezuelan legislature. (It had been extended at the March meeting of the Inter American Press Association.) I had been looking forward to meeting you and other members of the Venezuelan federal and provincial governments to have an open dialogue about freedom of expression and freedom of the press in your country. To my regret, no one from the Venezuelan government was willing to meet. Instead of having that dialogue, I found the organization I represent in the unusual circumstance of being the object of petty name-calling by officials of your government, behavior somewhat akin to what my children do when they throw a temper tantrum and they can't think of anything better to say.

Here is what I would have wanted to talk about with you if we'd had the chance.

As head of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, whose founding was rooted in the democratic movements of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, what is it about a truly independent and free press that is of concern to you? As Simón Bolivar stated in his Carta de Jamaica, written in Kingston on Sept. 6, 1815: "The first steps of all the new governments are marked by the establishment of juntas of the people. These juntas then draft rules for the convocation of congresses, which produce great changes. Venezuela erected a democratic and federal government, after declaring for the rights of man, establishing a system of checks and balances, and passing general laws granting civil liberties, such as freedom of the press and others."

It's worth reading. It also shows the world people like Chavez supporters like Harry Belafonte and Cindy Sheehan would have pushed onto all of us. No thanks.

Protesters Mob Australian PM

A mob of about 200 people waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags mobbed Australian Prime Minister John Howard's car in the Western Australian city of Perth. One of the screaming horde that surrounded and jumped on Howard's car was heard to say, "We want Peace".

Violent scuffles broke out on Saturday in Perth, Australia, between Australia's police and pro-Lebanon protesters who mobbed the Australian prime minister demanding more government action to bring peace in the Middle East.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard was leaving a state conference of his Liberal Party in the west coast city of Perth when about 200 protesters waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags and some carrying banners which read "Bush's War of Terror", rallied outside the hotel and mobbed his car. One Muslim woman shouted "we want peace."

Inside the hotel, Howard gave a speech in which he attacked Hezbollah, reported local media.

"It's not some kind of inspirational liberation organization, it's a terrorist organization," said Howard, a strong U.S. ally.

When Howard tried to drive away from the hotel, some of the protesters attempted to stop his car from moving and fought with police, showed television footage. One protester carrying an Australian flag threw himself on the bonnet of Howard's car.

Howard's entourage sped from the scene as police wrestled protesters to the ground, it said. The police said two protesters were arrested.

People in cars with Lebanese and Palestinian flags attached circled the protesters and police, sounding their horns.

How very peaceful. Coverage from the Australian says it was even more violent than Ha'aretz reported. Objects were thrown as well as fighting and scuffling with security personnel.

VIOLENT scuffles have broken out between police and Lebanese protesters who mobbed Prime Minister John Howard's car as he left the WA Liberal Party conference in Perth.

Mr Howard was leaving the WA Liberal Party state conference when about 200 protesters, many of whom were waving Lebanese flags and shouting "we want peace", mobbed his vehicle.

Protesters punched, kicked and threw projectiles at Mr Howard's car as police struggled to keep them at bay.

Mr Howard's entourage sped from the scene as police wrestled protesters to the ground.

The Prime Minister said this week he understood Israel's decision to carry out its devastating military offensive against Lebanon to put an end to attacks by Hizbollah guerrillas who have fired rockets deep into Israeli territory.

At least one protester was arrested and taken away by police.

Protesters later continued their rally along one of Perth's main streets calling for peace in the middle east.

Protest leader Muhammad El Khatib said he has family in Lebanon and the Australian government is not doing enough to broker peace in the region.

"There are mothers watching their children die," Mr El Khatib said.

"There should be aid, they say there is aid getting through to Lebanon, there isn't," he said.

"There are people hiding from bombs, we just want peace."

"Hizbollah is protecting Lebanon, they are freedom fighters, not terrorists," he said.

People in cars with Lebanese and Palestinian flags attached circled the protesters and police, honking their horns in support.

This is certainly not a good development. The blatant spreading of pro-Hezbollah propaganda by some of these protest leaders smacks of coordination and preplanning.

This is certainly not a good development. The blatant spreading of pro-Hezbollah propaganda by some of these protest leaders smacks of coordination and preplanning.