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#583
07-31-2006, 04:43 AM
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Re: Qana
[ QUOTE ]
For those that havent yet seen this, here is some video footage of rockets being fired from launchers and then driven into buildings. Video [/ QUOTE ] It shows two unidentified trucks/vans driving into unidentified buildings. It doesn't prove anything. They're not really trying this time round; at least last time they had the imagination to show people actually putting stretchers inside an ambulance and pretending they were missiles. They've hit several ambulances already and haven't bothered to make up anything at all yet. Shame. 
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#584
07-31-2006, 04:54 AM
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Re: Crazy
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Hi JMan: I actually think there might be another reason. I don't care what the election results may have been because I don't see how you can have real democracy when the political parties each have an army that is currently shooting at their political opponents. So one possible reason for the Hamas victory is that they were a little better at intimidating the voting population then their political opponents. What are your thoughts? Best wishes, Mason [/ QUOTE ] This is a good point; I don't recall serious evidence of either side shooting each other or potential voters in the run-up to the elections, and it was the losing side (element so Fatah) that were doing most of the post-electoral intimidation, but it is true electoral parties should ideally not have armed wings. There are reasons armed groups are largely involved though. I remember one George Bush Jnr fulminating that Lebanon couldn't be expected to have fair elections under Syrian "occupation"*. And yet the Palestinians are expected to run fair elections with reasonable results under much more heavy-handed and direct occupation from Israel, that has been going on for 39 years. I use quotation marks because while Syria had troops in the country and meddled severely in internal Lebanese politics, it wasn't an official or outright occupation; Lebanon was still at least nominally a sovereign state. If you call it occupied than Iraq is still occupied by the US. Palestine on the hand is not a sovereign state and is, Gaza partly excepted (its airspace, sea, borders etc are all still under Israeli control), directly under military occupation.
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#585
07-31-2006, 05:08 AM
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Re: Israel\'s Attack on Lebanon and Hezbollah
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In regards to the situation in Lebanon, Retired General Lewis MacKenzie, a former commander of UN troops, who has spent time as a peacekeeper in Gaza and the Middle East had this to say: "But with the amount of firepower that has gone into Lebanon over the last couple of weeks, the death toll is unbelievably low in accordance with the delivery of that firepower which means the targets are being selected pretty darn closely." [/ QUOTE ] This would be the same Lewis Mackenzie who in the attempted ethnic cleansing of Bosnia by Bosnian Serbs liked to blame both sides equally and attribute Serb actions to Bosnians, writes articles attempting to explain away the Srebrnica massacre, and suggested that "we bombed the wrong side" in the intervention in the Kosovo-Serbia war. It would also be the same Lewis Mackenzie who was found by the Candian military to have failed to adequately train his troops in the laws of war for the protection of victims of armed conflict during his stint in Somalia (amid accusations that Candadian peacekeepers shot several people in cold blood). I guess he just has a penchant for excusing war crimes against largely Muslim populations.
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#586
07-31-2006, 05:18 AM
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Re: Israel\'s Attack on Lebanon and Hezbollah
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IDF soldiers involved in the battle in Bnit Jbail said up to 30 fighters were firing on their position from the town mosque, the village's tallest structure. A senior Hizbullah official, Mahmoud Komati, told The Associated Press Wednesday that Israeli forces had managed to seize a few points inside Bint Jbail, but had not yet taken the town center. But Komati denied fighters were taking cover in a mosque and suggested they may be civilians. "Fighters don't take shelter in mosques. They fight on the battlefield. If they can't, they retreat but not to mosques." Rahhal, the Hizbullah spokesman, angrily responded to a question about the mosque refuge. "What's the Israeli's business that our fighters were in the mosque? Maybe they were praying at the time!" Maybe they were praying Draw your own conclusions. Or if you prefer, you can read the chief UN humanitarian's view where he blasted Hezbollah for blending in among women and children. UN chief accuses Hezbollah of cowardice [/ QUOTE ] First of all, we only have the IDF's word that they were firing from mosques. Secondly, it is pretty likely that people from a highly religious organisation would use mosques to pray. Thirdly, while if true (and I am not convinced that it is), this would be extremely distatesteful given that they are accused of using a religious building, it is not evidence of using human shileds unless civilians were still using the mosque at the time. Given that much of the population has fled and those left are much too terrified to go outside, I doubt that this is the case. Both sides in any war are going to commandeer empty civilian infrastructure; the Israelis will do it (and repeatedly do do in Palestine, where they are notorious for desecrating people's houses while using them as firing positions in battles), the US does it in Iraq (shortly after the war, 14 protesters were killed by US troops in Fallujah using a school as their local base), and I'm sure Hizb Allah do it too. While it may show a condemnable lack of respect for civilian property and while using an abandonned farmhouse would be a lot more appropriate than a mosque, that is far from the same as using human shields. I'm still waiting for someone to get back to me on why it was acceptable for the Israeli army to let young children hang around a border artillery unit and even write on munitions while they were preparing to shell Lebanon.
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#587
07-31-2006, 06:10 AM
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Re: Qana
why do you so quickly assume that the video is not legitimate?
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] For those that havent yet seen this, here is some video footage of rockets being fired from launchers and then driven into buildings. Video [/ QUOTE ] It shows two unidentified trucks/vans driving into unidentified buildings. It doesn't prove anything. They're not really trying this time round; at least last time they had the imagination to show people actually putting stretchers inside an ambulance and pretending they were missiles. They've hit several ambulances already and haven't bothered to make up anything at all yet. Shame. [/ QUOTE ]
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#589
07-31-2006, 06:29 AM
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Re: Israel\'s Attack on Lebanon and Hezbollah
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I'm still waiting for someone to get back to me on why it was acceptable for the Israeli army to let young children hang around a border artillery unit and even write on munitions while they were preparing to shell Lebanon. [/ QUOTE ] I believe they stopped in the town for lunch, on their way to do battle... troops do need to eat... ps... nicky... cut it out...
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#590
07-31-2006, 07:29 AM
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Re: Israel\'s Attack on Lebanon and Hezbollah
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] I'm still waiting for someone to get back to me on why it was acceptable for the Israeli army to let young children hang around a border artillery unit and even write on munitions while they were preparing to shell Lebanon. [/ QUOTE ] I believe they stopped in the town for lunch, on their way to do battle... troops do need to eat... [/ QUOTE ] The blog post, which consisted of a description by the reporters there and was defending the incident (and posted and citd by people defending the incident), said the troops were preparing to fire. Is having lunch a serious defence? I can imagine it now: Hizballah saying "well, yes we took our missiles into a school, but we were having lunch in the canteen. It was a time out." "Oh, well that's alright then." They were near the border, within clear range of Hizb Allah, armed to the teeth and constituting a clear military target, and allowing children to play amongst their weapons that they were about to use to attack Lebanon. How is that remotely justifiable? [ QUOTE ] ps... nicky... cut it out... [/ QUOTE ] Cut what out? Arguing against Israel's actions? What shameful behaviour on a politics forum. Am I to take it BB is watching me? I guess people can just threaten me now rather than bothering to argue any points.
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