Iran: Stop the Slaughter of Innocents

 

Iran is now such a strategic threat that it made confrontation unavoidable. By the time of the current conflict, Iran was widely understood to possess the technical capability to produce multiple nuclear weapons on relatively short notice. Even short of full nuclear deployment, it could assemble radiological “dirty bombs,” which—while less destructive—would still have severe economic and psychological impacts if used.

At the same time, Iran made substantial advances in intermediate-range ballistic missile technology, enabling it to project power across the Middle East and beyond. This capability, paired with a potential nuclear or radiological payload, represents a major shift in regional deterrence dynamics.

Equally important is Iran’s network of proxy forces, including Hamas and Hezbollah. These groups already demonstrated their ability to launch large-scale missile attacks and maintain persistent threats against Israel and neighboring states. Given time to rearm and reorganize, they would again become destabilizing forces capable of triggering broader regional conflict.

Iran also holds a powerful economic lever: the Strait of Hormuz. With fortified positions and asymmetric naval capabilities, Iran has the means to disrupt global energy supplies. Any future attempt to halt its nuclear or missile programs could be met with actions capable of severely damaging the world economy.

Taken together, these elements demonstrate that delaying confrontation increases the risks rather than reducing them. As Iran approaches a threshold where its military and strategic capabilities can no longer be effectively countered, the ability of Israel and other states to defend themselves is eliminated.

America and Israel acting before these capabilities were fully realized was the only way to prevent a more dangerous and uncontrollable situation later. So far Iran, Syria, and Lebanon have killed hundreds of thousands of their own citizens. The United States and Israel are stopping this slaughter of innocents.

 

 

Disproportionate Response to Gays in Palestine

At a San Francisco march supporting the Palestinians against Israel, there was a poster “Gays for Palestine.” An astute observer noted, “You won’t see that in a parade in Palestine.” The protesters, of course, protested Israel’s “disproportionate response” to Hamas rocket attacks.

Has there ever been such a stupid protest as against “disproportionate response”? Hamas has launched over 7,000 rockets in three years from Gaza against Israel. The rockets are increasing in range and accuracy, and all have been targeted against innocent Israeli citizens.

Activists in the United States protest against civilian casualties in Gaza, yet apparently don’t notice or care that Hamas uses fellow Palestinians as shields.

Shall we try to look at this logically? Hamas is indiscriminately targeting Israeli citizens. Israel is carefully targeting Hamas militants, who happen to be hiding amongst Palestinian “civilians.” Because of Hamas’ use of Palestinians as human shields, does that mean Hamas gets an “Attack Israel for Free” card?

I know liberals, and Europeans, insist that Israel must negotiate with Hamas. However, Hamas has clearly stated, ad infinitum, that Hamas will never recognize Israel, or even the right of any Jew to live in Palestine. That doesn’t seem to leave much room for negotiations, does it?

Israel has only one option: obliterate Hamas. If left unchecked, Hamas would soon control the West Bank as well as Gaza, and all Israel would be caught in a daily, deadly crossfire. All that prevents that now is Israel’s control of the border crossings. Doubters need look no farther than Gaza, where Hamas has used its porous border with Egypt to arm with continually more deadly Iranian-supplied rockets.

Any knowledgeable person, especially a world leader, who doesn’t recognize the murderous truth about Hamas is either a fool or mendacious (mendacious: the perfect word to describe such a person – one given to or characterized by deception or falsehood or divergence from absolute truth. For an example of mendacious, go to Bill Clinton and his denial of genocide in Rwanda as it progressed).

Morton Zuckerman has posted a great article on the situation confronting Obama in the Middle East on Jewish World Review. It is must reading for the fair and open minded among us. I’m sure liberals and most Europeans will avoid reading it and facing facts and logic about Israel and the Palestinians. Their ignorance is the source of their bliss.

Arab Blood on Arab Hands in Gaza

This is a response to a Letter to the Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. The text of the letter follows my reply.

The one thing Michael Scott (Letters, May 2) forgot to mention in his snide diatribe against Israel was that Arab nations violently defied United Nations resolutions beginning in 1947 when the UN formed Israel, and have been in defiance ever since. Earlier, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in 1940 allied Muslims with Nazis to exterminate Jews. Rather than being pious supporters of UN resolutions, as Mr. Scott implies, the Arab Middle East states have been bent on annihilation of Jews.

Prior to the Six Days War in 1967, Egypt expelled the UN peacekeeping force in the Sinai preparatory to launching what Syria’s then defense leader Hafez al-Assad termed a “battle of annihilation.” A week later the Arabs had a new name for it, “The Setback.” However, Arab leaders noted that although Israel won again, Arabs only had to win once.

Mr. Scott calls Israel “morally culpable for the collective punishment being imposed on the Palestinian people in Gaza,” but doesn’t add that Israel is responding to rocket attacks launched against civilians that are condoned by Gaza leaders. If Gazans don’t like what their elected leaders are doing, they can "un-elect" them.

Muslim, Christian and Jew are all People of The Book and should heed the New Testament admonition, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”

This is the letter that inspired my response.

At least Carter, for all his faults, isn't mindlessly parroting right-wing Israel's talking points when looking for solutions, but then I know people like Mr. Weiner don't have time to think about peace when all his energy is being spent defending a country that not only continues to defy United Nations resolutions, but is morally culpable for the collective punishment being imposed on the Palestinian people in Gaza for having the temerity to vote for a party the West doesn't approve of.

MICHAEL SCOTT
San Francisco

The Immorality of Proportionate Response - Israel and Gaza

Hamas continues a daily rocket barrage on Israel from Gaza, and is stockpiling Syrian and Iranian rockets in Lebanon to resume attacks from there soon. This is the thanks Palestinians give to Israel for leaving Gaza to facilitate the creation of a Palestinian state by Palestinians.

As should have been expected, it didn’t take long for the Hamas war-lords to drive Fatah, the incompetent and venal followers of Arafat, out of power and, for the most part, out of Gaza. Then began the only “peace” process Hamas is capable of, incessant attacks on Israel launched from populated areas of Gaza to provoke a military response with civilian casualties.

At that point, also as anticipated, the nations of the world take the stage to criticize Israel for making a “disproportionate” response to Hamas’ provocation. Apparently it’s unfair to try to take effective action to stop the Hamas rockets.

My criticism of Israel is that they have made a proportionate response, and I suggest they should try a disproportionate one. Israel obviously has the military might to obliterate the areas Hamas uses to launch rockets. Israel also has the military strength to turn off electrical power and stop fuel, food, and other necessities at the Gaza border, and should make total use of it.

Israel owes its citizens nothing less than security against Hamas (and Hezbollah) attacks. It doesn’t owe any one in Gaza immunity because Hamas is using them for a shield, even if involuntary. Just because Hamas chooses to hide behind Gaza civilians doesn’t mean they must be given sanctuary by Israel. After all, the Palestinians in Gaza did vote Hamas into power.

If Israel does not retaliate, will Hamas stop the attacks?

No, of course not.

If Israel retaliates, will Hamas stop the attacks?

No again.

So what stops Hamas attacks?

The deaths of Hamas leaders and fighters.

Oh.

It’s very simple. Hamas wants nothing less than the destruction of Israel. That’s all they and their ideological progenitors have wanted for decades. Will Hamas change or compromise?

No.

Is that a fact?

To answer a question with a question, when have Hamas ever said otherwise?

So what is this dream of peace between Israel and the Gaza Palestinians led by Hamas?

Idiocy, kept alive by people who know better, but won’t admit its reality.

Also known as fools.

Just because you dream it, doesn’t mean anyone else does.

Tom Lantos, Righteous Democrat

I’m a deeply partisan conservative Republican, and it’s not often I celebrate a Democrat. It’s not that I hate them, I just find most of them incredibly misguided. When I ask them what the Democrats are for, they just tell me what they don’t like about Republicans, but they haven’t a clue towards explaining the guiding principles of Democrats.

That makes it very easy for me to conclude they don’t have any.

However, now and again there is a Joe Lieberman, or a Tom Lantos.

You can easily spot the principled Democrats.

Other Democrats can’t stand them while they’re alive, although they praise them mightily when they’re dead.

Like they did Ronald Reagan.

Democrats thought he was awful in every way when he was President, and for many years after as America basked and prospered under his legacy.

Now that he’s gone, Democrats disparage every Republican presidential candidate by saying, “He’s no Reagan.” And wish that they could find a Reagan to lead them.

My impossible dream would be to be compared in a positive way to Ronald Reagan. Another wish or dream of mine is to be considered by Jews as a latter-day "Righteous among the Nations" person, a Righteous Gentile. I already consider myself one and have proclaimed myself an Honorary Jew.

I have consistently supported Israel and attacked the Islamofascists with the only weapons available to me, my blog and letter to editors.

What do you expect, Rambo?

Tom Lantos was a righteous Democrat.

I didn’t agree with a lot of his positions, but neither did many Democrats, even in his own district.

I don’t agree with everything John McCain advocates either, particularly campaign finance “reform,” but I am a 100% supporter because of four little words – “Aging Supreme Court Justices.” And immigration reform is a good idea.

I honor John McCain's sacrifices and service to his country, and despise the "scum-sucking pigs" who tell lies about it.

Back to Tom Lantos. He courageously supported getting rid of Saddam. While Democrats condemned Saddam’s WMD activities while Clinton was president, and forgot their condemnation during Bush’s presidency, Tom Lantos didn’t forget.

Also, unlike most Democrats, he understood that Hamas wages war on Israel while hiding behind Gaza women and children, and that Hezbollah does the same and hides among civilians in Lebanon, and that both scream “aggression” when Israel retaliates for attacks on its citizens.

I didn’t agree with his action to condemn Turkey for the Armenian genocide, not because it didn’t happen, but because it had nothing to do with the Turkey of today. The problems that condemning Turkey was causing in the present would in no way change what happened a century ago.

If there was logic in Lanto’s position, in equity we should pass condemnation of Japan for not paying reparations to China for atrocities such as the Rape of Nanking, to Korea for “comfort women,” and to Japanese-Americans placed in internment camps (by a Democrat President and Congress) because of wartime fears of sabotage and invasion.

On a very personal note, my Virginia ancestors owned slaves, and some fought for the Confederacy, but I would never consider it fair to accept condemnation and to pay reparations for their actions. Or even to be ashamed of or for them, because nine of our first twelve presidents were slave owners, and seven of that nine were Virginians like my ancestors.

In the final analysis, I salute Tom Lantos for his principles and courage. I didn’t agree with a lot of his tax and spend, quasi-socialist ways, but I’m a proud American that appreciates, as Tom Lantos said, that “It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust … could have received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress. I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country.”

Congressman Lantos, I feel the same inadequacy in expressing my appreciation for you and all you did.

Men of principle and courage may not win my total agreement, but they do win my total admiration.

Shalom.

UPDATE: A gifted writer, and Holocaust survivor, Zdena Berger lives near our Gualala home on The Sea Ranch. Her haunting autobiographical novel, "Tell Me Another Morning" should be read and appreciated by all.

Desperate Times Call For Daring Deeds

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see?
Then join in the fight.
That will give you the right to be free!
- Do you hear the people sing? From Les Misérables

It seems like yesterday, there in a theater in San Francisco, enthralled by the beauty and power of the lyrics and music of Les Misérables. A check of the calendar shows it was more like fifteen years ago, and yet the words and images stir me still.

Brave men daring desperate deeds. Or was it desperate men? Is there bravery in desperation?

Desperate times demand daring deeds, and these are desperate times indeed.

And yet we bow to the madmen. And smile. Mustn’t make them mad now, mustn’t we?

“They have every right to mistrust us. Haven’t we threatened them?”

That’s right, we have. When we caught North Korea counterfeiting $100 bills and distributing them through diplomatic travel, primarily to Moscow, we told them to quit it. That made Kim Jong Il mad, and he considered the US sanctions against North Korean counterfeiting an act of war. How dare we!

When we caught them cheating on an agreement to not develop nukes if we provided them fuel and food, Kim Jong Il considered our cutting off of supplies because he cheated on the agreement to be an act of war. That’s right, if we stop giving him things because he cheated on the agreement, we’re the bad guys, and North Korea is righteously indignant.

When Ahmadinejad told the world of his desire to wipe out Israel, and refused to stop uranium enrichment, the US requested the United Nations Security Council enforce sanctions against Iran to make them quit their nuclear program and stop threatening a UN member nation, specifically Israel, with annihilation. Of course the UN ducked responsibility for doing the one thing that might make it of use to the world, preventing nuclear proliferation into the hands of madmen and terrorists.

Naturally, nothing stopped Ahmadinejad from indulging in his own round of righteous indignation. The nerve, catching Iran cheating and expecting them to stop! What’s the use of cheating if you can’t get away with it?!

Oh, by the way, mustn’t forget, threatening sanctions of Iran is an act of war. About the only thing North Korea and Iran don’t consider acts of war is letting them do what they want, and still giving them everything we agreed to if they behaved.

Into all this madness, from Israel comes a cry for sanity from Michael Freund to President Bush. Mr. Freund clearly sees there is only one path towards stopping the madness, and only one man who can choose that path, President Bush. All other nations and leaders of the world are either corrupted, impotent, afraid, accomplices to the criminals, in denial, asleep, or indifferent. Many of those world leaders are most or all of the above.

Mr. Freund sees in President Bush the qualities lacking in the rest. A man of faith, a man of conviction, a man of courage, a leader of destiny.

Let him say it in his own words: An appeal of faith to President George W. Bush. By Michael Freund.

All I can add is “Mozel tov.”

"Film Of Protest At 10"

An open letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, whose motto is: "All the news we see fit to print."

The Chronicle still has no nose for news. Whenever a few demonstrators chant tired leftist slogans - “No Blood for Oil!” “Bush Lied, People Died!” - the Chronicle and main stream media always give more attention to the protest than the event. No matter that the Left always has an army of protesters available for any and all occasions. Whatever the event, the usual anti-capitalist, ANSWER's communist apologists, pro-Palestinians, anti-Israelis, illegal immigrant activists, anti-globalizationists, militant environmentalists, gay-lesbian-transgender-transspecies rightists, anti-any-and-all-wars-including-the-Revolutionary protesters, and anyone else who doesn’t have a regular job, will come out to protest. Translation: to the main stream media, “dog bites man” is news.

When 35,000 supporters of Israel take a day off work to protest outside the UN, the Chronicle and the main steam media take the day off too. Translation: this kind of news doesn’t fit their reporting template.

Any time President Bush or any prominent Republican speaks, the news hounds know the protesters will be there, so that’s where they go for their story. “The President spoke today. Film of the protest at 10 on 2.”

Green Helmet - Producer, Director, and Star

Green Helmet acting as cynical movie director in Qana

This nails down the issue of whether the Associated Press is complicit in biased reporting favoring Hezbollah and against Israel. They have allowed this fellow, "Green Helmet," to stage manage the display of Israeli bombing "victims" in two wars a decade apart. You have seen him in Time, US News & World Report, on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, and in just about all the major new media that slurp up such sloppy journalism.

What you don't see are the follow-up stories that show how all of these major media players were fooled. Their sloppiness in providing accurate and unbiased reporting, their prime reason for existence, shows they have no regard for professionalism or their reputations. They have less virtue than prostitutes, because at least the prostitute delivers what the customer expects.

I wonder what Green Helmet does between wars? Probably works for CBS Quality Control.

Some Unsolicited Advice to Israel – attack! Attack! ATTACK!

It is understandable that you, Israel, should feel bad about accidentally killing some Lebanese “civilians,” because you did exactly what Hezbollah wanted you to do. You may have noticed that Hezbollah targets Israeli civilians, doesn’t wear uniforms, hides its forces and armaments among civilians, and conducts its attacks from houses and buildings in cities. In other words, Hezbollah wants civilians to die – Israeli civilians from Hezbollah rocket attacks, and Lebanese civilians from Israeli retaliatory strikes. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Terror is all they do. (Go to Mark Steyn for more)

As a terrorist organization, they don’t fight by the rules of warfare. All the Geneva Convention articles that bind civilized nations and establish codes of conduct for war don’t apply to them, and you will never catch them following the rules. In fact, what you will find Hezbollah doing is exploiting every standard of civilized conduct to their advantage to attack you.

They attack civilians, hide amongst civilians, and bask in the adulation of the Muslim “street.” Allah is easy to please, and very forgiving of bloodshed. At any point in time Muslims will be killing other Muslims and vice versa, and all in the name of and with the blessing of Allah. When you, Israel, or the United States start killing Muslims too, the Muslims experience a happiness trifecta. First, one Muslim sect is happy that other, sincerely detested Muslims are being killed. The Muslims being killed are happy – they get to be martyrs to jihad, get their 72 virgins, and get to take leave of the miserable lives on Earth that Allah so generously provides for His followers. Finally, all Muslims all over are happy, because they can do the thing that gives them the most pleasure – hate Jews and Americans.

Now the world wants you to agree to a cease fire with terrorists. In all sincerity, how in Hell do you have an agreement with terrorists? What do diplomats smoke, why do they always chose hope over experience? Hezbollah has been and is attacking with rockets and other armaments in violation and defiance of existing United Nations resolutions and Geneva Convention standards for the conduct of warfare. Hezbollah is being bankrolled and supplied by Iran and Syria, who are members of the United Nations and signatories to the Geneva Convention, again clearly violating international resolutions and standards.

It should be obvious, even to diplomats who have taken all leave of common sense, that this proposed cease fire works against Israel and in favor of Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, and Syria. All who attack Israel live to be reequipped and reorganized to fight another day, and Israel is left to dread a future filled with more rocket barrages on its cities, more cease fires, and more rockets, and ....

If Israel agrees to a cease fire, the Muslim world won’t reduce its hatred. Israel was hated before the attacks. Israel was hated during the attacks. And Israel will be hated long after a cease fire comes and goes. There is only one thing Israel could do to make Muslims happy – commit suicide. And suicide is what Israel will be committing if Israel agrees to sign on to these serial cease fires. Iran’s Ahmadinejad has consistently called for only one thing, the destruction of Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah have done the same.

That is all the world is promising Israel, an opportunity to watch its rabid enemies prepare their next rounds of attacks.

Israel will know peace only when they have won the hearts and minds of their enemies. Their hearts will be still, their minds at eternal rest.

The only rational path for Israel to take is to attack! Attack! ATTACK!

The Times - Still Stuck On Stupid - An Interview With Ehud Olmert

(When Ehud Olmert was asked the following question, in his mind he thought "You twits are still stuck on stupid, aren't you? but he bit his tongue and gave the diplomatic response)

The Times interview with Ehud Olmert: for the full transcript, go here to The Times Online
A full and frank exchange between the Israeli Prime Minister and The Times's Middle East Correspondent Stephen Farrell in Jerusalem, August 2, 2006

Q: But there is a sense in the world, and you must be aware of it, of lack of "proportionality". Many people question how after two soldiers kidnapped and eight killed by Hezbollah we are now seeing upwards of 400 dead and rising in Lebanon. How can such an initial incident justify such a huge response from Israel?

A: I think that you are missing a major part. The war started not only by killing eight Israeli soldiers and abducting two but by shooting Katyusha and other rockets on the northern cities of Israel on that same morning. Indiscriminately.
Now we know that for years Hezbollah - assisted by Iran - built an infrastructure of a very significant volume in the south part of Lebanon to be used against Israeli people. The most obvious, simple, way to describe it to the average British person is: can you imagine seven million British citizens sitting for 22 days in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham in Newcastle, in Brighton and in other cities? Twenty two days in shelters because a terrorist organisation was shooting rockets and missiles on their heads? What would have been the British reaction to that? Do you know of a country that would have responded to such a brutal attack on its citizens softer than Israel did? Based on my knowledge of history no country in Europe would have responded in such a restrained manner as Israel did.
I don’t want now to draw comparisons [but] one could ask the question what precisely did the European forces [do] in Kosovo 10 years ago. How many innocent civilians were killed in Kosovo 10 years ago? We can draw on and on these comparisons.
What are we talking about? More than a million Israelis are sitting 22 days in shelters because of the fear of terrorists. In every single case...that we kill an uninvolved civilian in Lebanon, we consider it as a failure for Israel. And you know how many Israelis raise their voices as a result of this? And they don’t have to because we feel that we failed when we killed uninvolved people.
The difference between us and Hezbollah is that when we kill innocent people we consider it a failure, when they kill innocent people they consider it a success.
Tell me, who are they aiming at when they shoot already 2800 rockets on Haifa, Hanariya, Akko, Sefat, Afula and the rest of the places, if not to kill innocent people? So I’m sorry for every individual that was killed that was not involved.
And by the way, how do you really know that 400 innocent civilians were killed? How do you know who is innocent and who is not? Why? This is not an army. They don’t wear uniforms that distinguish them from other civilians. We didn’t attack any of the Christian quarters of Beirut. We didn’t attack any of the Christian residential areas in any part of Lebanon. We attacked only those areas where they had the Katyusha launchers, where they had the missile launchers, where they had the command positions of Hezbollah, where they had the storage houses, the logistic centres and so on and so forth.
So the fact that people were killed there who were not dressed in uniforms doesn’t mean that they were innocent civilians. There were Hezbollah people, they are the terrorists. Did you ever see terrorists dressed with military uniforms like we have in our army? No.

It's Time To Pull "Mad Dog" Ahmadinejad's Fangs

The following is an excerpt from a rally with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which aired on the Iranian News Channel (IRINN) on August 1, 2006.

"Today, the Iranian people is the owner of nuclear technology. Those who want to talk with our people should know what people they are talking to. If some believe they can keep talking to the Iranian people in the language of threats and aggressiveness, they should know that they are making a bitter mistake. If they have not realized this by now, they soon will, but then it will be too late. Then they will realize that they are facing a vigilant, proud people."

Please note that this small-brained person just affirmed that the Iranian nuclear technology is a military instrument, not a peaceful, electrical power generating one. Only a fool would interpret his statement as anything else but a threat to soon have a nuclear warfare capability.

At the same time, Ahmadinejad is calling for the destruction of Israel. He has been calling for the destruction of Israel ever since he took office, not just since Israel retaliated against the Hamas and Hezbollah rocket attacks and kidnappings.

It’s time to pull the fangs from this mad dog.

The Myth Of Proportional Response

The reason for having a strong military is to convince potential enemies not to attack you. If they attack anyway, then the reason for a strong military is to beat the (expletives of your choice) out of them. At no point is there a rational military objective for the stronger nation to have a fair fight with anyone.

Do the numbers. If Israel responds to attacks from Lebanon by Hezbollah in a proportionate manner, if both lose the same number of citizens Israel is a big loser. There are 6.3 million Israelis, there are a total of 90.9 million Lebanese, Syrians, and Iranians. “Whoa,” you may say, “wait a minute here, there are only 3.9 million Lebanese.”

“Whoa,” I say, “wait a minute yourself; everyone agrees that Hezbollah, a state within a state, attacked Israel. No one says Lebanon did. And for whom do Hezbollah toil?”

If you have a tough time answering that question, it’s probably because you have an anti-Israel agenda, and not because you don’t know that Iran supplies Hezbollah all their rockets and other military equipment and training through Syria. If Hezbollah and Israel suffer the same amount of casualties, Iran and Syria can make up Hezbollah’s losses, but Israel is significantly weakened.

So the plain facts are that Israel is fighting Iran and Syria by retaliating against their Hezbollah proxy. In that battle, Israel is outnumbered 14 to 1. What if horrific fighting breaks out, and each side (keeping Israel’s response proportionate to the provocation) loses 3 million people? Now Israel is outnumbered 28 to 1. It is easy to see that Israel can’t allow itself to get drawn into battle where they can only respond in proportion and with the same means as their aggressors. Such an Israeli battle plan would be called “Suicide.”

When Hezbollah kidnapped the two Israeli soldiers, and killed eight others, they and their leader Nasrallah were shocked that Israel would go to war over two soldiers. They must have felt that they could just keep on irritating Israel, while digging trenches and building rocket emplacements to increase their ability to conduct a low-level war of attrition. After all, it’s a lot easier and inexpensive to launch sporadic attacks at selected targets chosen from many in a large area than it is to try to defend against all attacks. When Hezbollah added larger and longer ranged rockets to their repertoire, they multiplied Israel’s defense concerns tenfold.

Hezbollah – read Iran and Syria - has left Israel only one rational choice. Destroy Hezbollah.

The United States has been left with only one rational choice. Don’t stop Israel from destroying Hezbollah.

The Lebanese don’t have any choices, anymore. They made theirs when they allowed Hezbollah to set up operations in their villages.

The United Nations don’t have any choices either. They made theirs when they watched as Hezbollah built up strength in Lebanon, often by locating right next to United Nations units.

Iran and Syria have choices. They can withdraw their support of Hezbollah, or they can escalate the fighting and have both the United States and Israel rain death and destruction upon them as soon as they cross the line.

Hezbollah gets no choices. Allah better have a lot of spare virgins.

(Inspiration for this post is Captains Quarters)

Everyday Is Dumb Letter Day At The San Francisco Chronicle

Standard Dumb Letter 1a appeared in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle. Actually, Standard Dumb Letter 1a appears almost daily in the San Francisco Chronicle. For a so-called news publication, the Letters to the Editor page of the Chronicle seems to primarily feature dog-bites-man letters.

Standard Dumb Letter 1a is quite simple – quite simplistic – and goes like this. “If (fill in the blank with just about anything the United States or Israel does to fight terrorism), the terrorists have won.”

The latest example follows:

Giving terrorists what they want (Letters to the Editor, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 July 2006)

Editor -- It seems that Israel, backed by the United States, still has not learned how to deal with the "terrorists." The maniacal military response by the Israeli army is exactly what Hezbollah was after. The vivid images of bombed-out buildings and homes, bodies of innocent children in the street and the total destruction of the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon are re-energizing Hezbollah and are perfect recruitment tools for other militant groups.

The Arab and Muslim worlds are watching in awe as the United States and Western governments allow this destruction to continue without any regard for the 330-plus mostly civilian casualties inflicted by Israel. This is the perfect scenario for "terrorist" groups. Israel may capture or kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah after the bombings are over, but Hezbollah will be much stronger than before. Israel has given them a reason to continue their fight and commit more acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians.

Violence begets violence. If Israel and the United States truly want to end terrorism, they need to stop giving terrorists what they want!

The letter above, from Irfan Rydhan, San Jose, fits the template perfectly: “If the Israeli army responds harshly, Hezbollah gets exactly what they want.” The letter goes on to illustrate the horrible problems Israel is causing itself. “Hezbollah will be much stronger… Israel has given them a reason to continue their fight and commit more acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians.”

The logic of the above is certainly inescapable. If Israel kills a lot of trained, experienced Hezbollah fighters, and captures and destroys their huge stockpiles of military equipment, rockets, and explosives, Hezbollah will be much stronger. But of course!

Why? Because “Israel has given them a reason to continue their fight and commit more acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians.” In other words, they will have an excuse to keep on doing what they have been doing all along.

Mr. Rydhan seems sure that Hezbollah would have stopped attacking eventually if Israel didn’t respond to Hezbollah’s attacks. Why would Hezbollah have stopped attacking eventually? Hezbollah terrorists have all gotten old and tired, and since Israel hasn’t responded to any of their attacks, Hezbollah hasn’t gotten any recruits for years? All the Jews in Israel are dead from the continual unanswered attacks by Hezbollah and Hamas on Israeli civilians? Iran got its nuke and Hezbollah doesn’t want to be around when Iran and Israel nuke it out?

And, of course, “(the scenes of destruction) are re-energizing Hezbollah and are perfect recruitment tools for other militant groups.”

Mr. Rydhan, all of these terrorist groups (you call them militants) were recruiting jihadists and attacking civilians frequently and viciously all over the world for several decades now, in areas where the United States and Israeli militaries never set foot. It is a tenant of the Muslim religion that Allah requires all non-Muslims be made subservient to his will or be killed. The Koran, the unalterable word of Allah, so states, so no Muslim or Muslim apologist can say that Islam is a religion of peace. Well, Islam could be when all non-believers are killed or subjugated.

In the meantime, whenever harsh measures are taken against Islamofascist terrorists, we can count on The San Francisco Chronicle running letters that we are giving the terrorists exactly what they want.

It pleases me to know that the terrorists want to die, because I want them to die too. The sooner, the better.

A Nation Of Tinkers

We Are Compulsive Tinkers

As soon as I started to plow through the headlines and commentary on the Mid-East crisis, I knew that Israel and President Bush are doing the right thing. In Newsweek, President Bush’s foreign policy is given a “down” arrow. The San Francisco Chronicle criticizes Israel for killing Lebanese civilians. European governments, and commentators at all levels of newspapers, television, and magazines, collectively wring their hands and implore, beseech, plead, demand, a cease fire.

What, in the name of Sam Hill, would a cease fire accomplish? Would it “pave the way for diplomacy?” So far, the way paved by diplomacy was used by Hezbollah and Hamas to bring in and sequester a very large supply of rockets, the sole purpose of which was to rain terror on Israel by killing Israeli civilians.

Iran and Syria have hidden behind the actions of their Hezbollah and Hamas surrogates, bankrolling and supplying war materials to them while denying involvement.

Again I ask, what does a cease fire accomplish? The government of Lebanon cannot even control southern Lebanon. The only way Hezbollah will cease their murderous ways is if they are annihilated by Israeli attacks. Why should Hezbollah be given freedom to attack Israel from Lebanon, without Israel treating this as an act of war? Should Israel be expected to not blow up Hezbollah fighters and war materials because Hezbollah chooses to hide them among Lebanese civilians? Hezbollah certainly isn't constrained by world opinion from attacking Israeli civilians – in fact, Israeli civilians seem to be their primary target.

Why does Hezbollah have the rockets? Not for defensive purposes, obviously. Why did Hamas keep firing rockets into Israel? Not for defensive purposes, obviously.

What then is the obvious reason Hezbollah and Hamas have the rockets, and have been attacking Israel? The obvious reason is they want to perpetuate a state of war with Israel until their final triumph over Israel. The old saying is “it doesn’t matter how many times Israel wins, Israel’s opponents only have to win once.”

Still the fools, and the savages who hate Israel, plead for President Bush to make Israel cease firing. Israel must not be allowed to decimate Hezbollah and Hamas, because that would be “disproportionate” use of force. After all, Hezbollah and Hamas can’t annihilate Israel, yet, so why shouldn’t Israel be made to wait until annihilation is a more credible threat? At least wait until Hezbollah and Hamas are better armed, and can inflict real damage. Also Israel should wait until Iran has nuclear warfare capabilities, rather than striking preemptively. Where is Israel’s sense of fairness? Just because all of their antagonists have pledged the destruction of Israel shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

Americans are natural-born tinkers. We don’t want to take something that isn’t working worth a damn, tear it out by its roots, and replace it with something that makes sense. Our Internal Revenue Code runs into hundreds of thousands of pages of regulations and interpretations, so to solve the problem we create – more regulations and interpretations – and then we will label the resulting abomination the IRS Simplification and Reform Act of Year Whatever. In truth, only the very simple think anything was simplified or reformed. We just tinker, we never actually change anything.

If Israel is continually attacked by agencies sworn to its destruction, we plead for diplomacy to be given a chance. Liberals point to the great diplomatic efforts of Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat, which brought peace to the Middle East for a weekend or two. A peace that was used then as cover to recruit, train, and supply the forces that are attacking Israel now. Hamas says they won’t honor any of the agreements previously made with Israel. So much for Bill Clinton’s legacy as Tinker-in-Chief.

The demands are at a crescendo for President Bush to show he can tinker. And he had better start his tinkering right now, before it’s too late for Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel is “a-fixin’-to” lay some serious “tinkering” on them.

The Time To Attack Was Yesterday, But Today Is Not Too Late

I posted this comment today to Dafydd ab Hugh, of Big Lizards Blog

Dafydd

Your analysis, as always, is impeccable, and I would know if it was peccable, because I read all the Left's columnists too.

Simply, Israel must attack Iran. If Israel waits, Iran becomes stronger and the inevitable future war more costly. The fallacy of warfare which has entrapped the West is that you only fight to your opponent's capabilities. A fair fight may excite boxing fans, but the survival of a nation is not sport.

When Israel attacks Iran, we had better be ready to defend from terrorist attacks and attack Iran ourselves. Another fallacy of our times is that a sovereign nation cannot be attacked if it harbors terrorists but doesn't overtly use its own forces. The stupidity of allowing terrorists sanctuary didn't make sense even when North Vietnam had the USSR and China as protectors, and it makes no sense at all now that those two powers are not players.

George Bush the Elder listened to all the smart guys and outsmarted himself. Real politick was born of Cold War cynicism, perpetuating un-democratic states as a balance against the power of others. Nothing is solved, only the tensions are preserved to play havoc another day.

"The time has come, the walrus said..."

Oops, wrong closing.

And you beat me to: "There comes a time in the affairs of a man when he has to take the bull by the tail and face the situation. -- W.C. Fields

So I will close: "In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result." --James Allen

Potpourri For Liberals To Ponder

More WMD has been found in Iraq, and Lieutenant General Michael Maples, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said: “If the chemical agent, sarin, was removed from the munitions and repackaged, it could be lethal. Its release in a U.S. city, in certain circumstances, would be devastating,” Maples said.

I wonder if Democrats will agree that WMD is WMD? It seems that no matter how much of it we find, they still aren’t satisfied that WMD has been found. The reason for the reluctance is quite simple. If they ever admit the truth, they are election-day road kill.

Speaking of Democratic reluctance to face the truth: "It's very difficult to characterize these as the imminent threat weapons that we were told we were looking for," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat.

Ms. Tauscher, President Bush never said we were looking for “imminent threat” weapons. President Bush said: “Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option.”

In other words, we’re taking him out before he can get to “imminent threat.”

Next

Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters finds that the mobile labs captured early in the war could not have been for hydrogen production, but were most likely mobile WMD facilities as first thought. Another Liberal balloon popped.

Next

Hamas invaded Israel from Gaza and kidnapped an Israeli soldier. When a sovereign nation invades another and kills and kidnaps the citizens of that nation, it is an act of war. Now Hamas wants to use their “spoils of war” to extort Israel to release imprisoned terrorists. Israel says “No, that would only encourage more kidnapping. Instead, we are going to make your lives miserable until you unconditionally return our citizen.”

In light of the fact that Israel won’t be extorted, Big Lizards asks “What should Hamas do?” Take Big Lizards’ quiz and see what recommendations you would make to Hamas.

Next

David Horowitz is campaigning very successfully for an Academic Bill of Rights, as reported by Power Line. In essence it would prevent political or religious issues from being used against students and faculty, and course work should be based on a broad range of information and viewpoints. Further, dissenting viewpoints should be encouraged and tolerated.

Why does the liberal-dominated academic world find these concepts so threatening?



Next

Who is Lieutenant Tom Cotton, and why is his very existence a dire threat to Liberals?

Lt. Cotton is such a damning spokesman against the New York Times betrayal of the security classified SWIFT Program, that Liberals are left with questioning his existence as the only path to reducing his effectiveness.

I think I’ve inflicted enough Liberal pain for one evening.

Not!

Palestinians Are Brats

“What do you think,” asked Alice, “about what Israel is doing in Gaza because Hamas kidnapped their 19-year old soldier?” I answered that Israel was doing the right thing, except they should be doing more, faster.

Palestinians are like children. They have no goals or leadership. After over fifty years of failure of leadership, failure of vision, endemic corruption, and wasted opportunities, all they have is poverty and misery and memories of Yassar Arafat and stories of his world-class wealth. They should be proud that, out of such poverty, Arafat was able to amass such wealth. Anyone can steal when surrounded by riches, but it takes a special thief to prosper so amongst the impoverished.

Like children, the Palestinians were easy to teach all the wrong things. They saw how Israel prospered, and how their Arab neighbors sank further into ignorance and poverty, so naturally they followed the Arab path. They saw how despots like Saddam used violence against his own people and neighbors, and they made him their hero. They saw how the Ayatollahs in Iran, and the Taliban in Afghanistan, tortured and oppressed their own people, and begged for the same for themselves. They saw how, until very recently in Iraq, the only democratically elected Muslims in the Middle East were in the government of Israel, and voted against democracy.

Muslim women are uneducated and oppressed. “That’s the way we like it,” say the Muslim women. Martyrdom is the highest calling for Muslim youth. “We want to die,” say the youth. “We want them to die,” say their parents.

How do you reason with children who have already learned all the wrong things? “Give diplomacy a chance?” What has diplomacy been doing for the past fifty years? Failing, that’s what. Then why should it work now?

Didn’t Einstein say that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results was a sign of insanity?

Children frustrate parents when the children have learned all the wrong things, and then the parents want to change their behavior. What good is it to tell them they won’t get what they want with a temper tantrum, when a temper tantrum has always worked?

The world has been harsh on Israel for trying to protect its people from violence, and easy on Palestinian terrorists for perpetrating violence. The United Nations has censured Israel, and condoned the attacks that have provoked Israeli retaliation. Much as we speak of children who can’t control their impulses, so the world expects nothing good from Palestinians, and are never disappointed.

Israeli Anti-Terrorist Fence Increases Livelihoods

The anti-terrorist fence Israel is building will also limit livelihoods, so says a San Francisco Chronicle article. It’s strange that the article didn’t also note that the fence will increase livelihoods overall. The first and most significant way it will increase livelihoods is by saving the lives of a large number of Israelis. Each Israeli on average creates more wealth than over twenty Palestinians (Israeli per person GDP = over $20,000, Palestinian per person GDP is under $1,000 and falling steadily since the Palestinians started the Intifada). Once the anti-terrorist fence is in place, Israel can substantially reduce military expenditures while increasing investment in new businesses and business expansion.

Second, the fence will revitalize tourism, and that will substantially increase the Israeli economy. Israel already has some of the most compelling tourist attractions in the world, and the vastly improved security provided by the fence will pay back huge dividends on its costs. Looking at the fence rationally and logically, the only question about it is why Israel took so long to decide to build it.

Conversely, the Palestinians will lose many, perhaps most, of their good paying jobs in Israel at the same time their businesses are collapsing in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian economy, which formerly received over $400 per person per year in foreign aid, will have that income cut to almost nothing because Hamas will not renounce the destruction of Israel.

However, if current trends continue, the loss of Palestinian incomes, admittedly an extreme loss in terms of their income before the Intifada, will be more than offset by the increase to Israeli incomes, and the incalculable value of the sharp reduction in violent Israeli and Palestinian deaths. The last point is probably cold comfort to the Palestinians, whose religion and teachings glorify seeking violent deaths, but over time even they may learn to renounce the futility and waste of “martyrdom.”

Therefore, the Israeli anti-terrorism fence, instead of limiting livelihoods, will actually result in a substantial overall increase in livelihoods when measured for the region as a whole.

Hamas Is The Terrorist

The Independent Coast Observer, March 3, 2006, included this Letter to the Editor. My response to Mr. Lopatecki follows.

(The accompanying picture: Twenty-three people were killed and over 130 wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a five-kilogram device packed with ball-bearings on a crowded No. 2 Egged bus in Jerusalem's Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood. Many of the passengers were returning from prayers at the Western Wall when they were killed. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.)

Who's the terrorist

Editor:

If Hamas is to be desig­nated a terrorist organiza­tion that the west cannot negotiate with, then the state of Israel should get the same designation because it kills innocent people from the air with rockets. Or would you argue that God lets Israelis write off the col­lateral damage they have done?

The west needs to drop its hypocritical name call­ing and deal with Hamas as it is: the rightfully elected representative of the Pales­tinian people. If America is now going to starve out Hamas by withholding aid to Palestinian (sic) it will show its mission 'to bring democ­racy to the mid east' for what it is—a sham. And the more frantically Condi Rice tries to stomp out the fundamen­talist fires the faster they will grow.

Michael Lopatecki, Point Arena

Hamas Is The Terrorist

Editor, Independent Coast Observer

Michael Lopatecki stated (Who's the terrorist, ICO, 3 March 2006) that if Hamas is designated a terrorist organization, so too must Israel. Apparently, Mr. Lopatecki feels that if Israel responds to Hamas terrorist attacks, and anyone but a Hamas terrorist is hurt or killed, Israel has committed an act of terrorism. This is a distinction without discrimination, since Hamas indiscriminately targets innocent Israelis, and Israel retaliates by targeting Hamas terrorists. It is a sad but unavoidable fact, that although all killed by Hamas are intended, some killed by Israel in the pursuit of Hamas terrorists are not. Hamas could stop the slaughter of innocent Israelis, and thereby end the accidental Palestinian deaths, by stopping their terrorist attacks.

The United States and Israel are not the only nations that list Hamas as a terrorist organization. Australia, Canada, and the European Union do also, and Hamas is banned in Jordan. The United States, the European Union, Russia, and for that matter, the United Nations, have announced that future aid to the Palestinians is tied to "Three Principles": Hamas must renounce violence, must recognize Israel's right to exist, and must express clear support for the Middle East peace process, as outlined in the Oslo accords. The efforts of the world to bring pressure on Hamas have nothing to do with "a mission to bring democracy to the Middle East." The intent is to stop an organization harbored by the Palestinians from continuing terrorist attacks on the innocent civilian population of a UN member nation.

The United States would be foolish to support a nation that sponsors terrorism. In fact, we and the world have an obligation to bring pressure, including financial, on such nations. I am no fan of the United Nations, but even their support depends on Hamas agreeing to the "Three Principles."

John Bolton Interview

Two of my favorites, United States UN Ambassador John Bolton, and Pamela of Atlas Shrugs, got together at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and Pamela was able to get an exclusive interview.

It didn’t take long before the interview got to the subject of Iran. Pamela, AKA Atlas, has just asked if John’s experiences at the UN were discouraging, or if he thought progress could be made:

John Bolton: Oh it’s do-able, under the right circumstances. I'm not so naive that I would be doing it if I didn't think there was a chance which makes it in some senses more frustrating. You can see sometimes how close you can get and yet you can't finish a particular thing. Like Iran, I've been working on this for three and a half years.

Atlas: And you'll be working on it for three and half more.

John Bolton: I hope not, I hope not, because now that it's in the Security Council, now is the time to say this is their chance that either they give up their pursuit of nuclear weapons or we go to what the President said, we do something else.

Atlas: We do something else? That's a little vague, don't you think? Deliberately vague?

John Bolton: Yeah, sure absolutely. The President said I never take options off the table. And you've got to be that way. Look this has happened to me enough times before .... if I said, well -- I'll give you an example......after the invasion of Iraq, after Saddam was overthrown, I said something in a BBC interview, like I hope the governments of Syria and Iran take notice of what's just happened, and I got into enormous trouble for that, because it sounded like I was threatening the invasion of Iran and Syria.

Atlas: Yeah, but you get in enormous trouble for waking up in the morning.

John Bolton: Well, that's true too.

All the interview is here.

John Bolton is the best thing that has happened for the United States in the United Nations for decades, which is why liberals, Democrats, dictators, poltroons, etc., all who are comfortable with United Nations corruption and inefficiency, hate him.

Remember the colossal corruption of the Food for Oil program? How so many UN Human Rights Committee members represent human rights abusers like Cuba, Libya, China, and Russia, who prevent the committee from doing anything about human rights? How UN peace keepers can’t keep the peace anywhere? Just like in Rwanda, later in Bosnia, they stand around and watch the slaughter. Or sexually abuse the women and children who come to UN encampments seeking safety?

John Bolton wants to reform the United Nations, and that scares the Hell out of the UN and their business-as-usual supporters.

John Bolton, you da man!