Hoarse Speak

A very interesting commentary in Haaretz The country that wouldn't grow up passed to me courtesy of Ms. A.

Apparently, the US Government is grudgingly living up to its mandate to protect its citizens, but it will charge them for the services:

From: http://beirut.usembassy.gov/lebanon/Lebanon_Situation_Update.html

Lebanon Situation Update - July 15, 2006
July 15, 2006

This information is current as of today, Sat Jul 15 12:20:12 2006.

A message to the American citizens in Lebanon:

The Department of State continues to work with the Department of Defense on a plan to help American citizens depart Lebanon. As of the morning of July 15, we are looking at how we might transport Americans to Cyprus. Once in Cyprus, Americans can then board commercial aircraft for onward travel. Commercial airlines provide the safest and most efficient repatriation options to final destinations.

The Department of State reminds American citizens that the U.S. government does not provide no-cost transportation but does have the authority to provide repatriation loans to those in financial need. For the portion of your trip directly handled by the U.S. Government we will ask you to sign a promissory note and we will bill you at a later date. In a subsequent message, when we have specific details about the transporation arrangments, we will inform you about the costs you will incur. We will also work with commercial aircraft to ensure that they have adequate flights to help you depart Cyprus and connect to your final destination.

The Department of State continues to work around the clock and will continue to send updates as appropriate.

Bolding added by me.

So the U.S. Government will give Israel the money and armaments to fight the war then charge its own citizens to extract them to Cypress? Most other European governments are extracting their citizens back to their home country via ship to Cypress then charter flight onwards.

said Abu Ali Koteish, 53, who owns a nearby flower shop.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Mideast_Fighting_South_Lebanon.html

Yes, especially for those great "Christians" in this country who support Israel just so the Israelites can reoccupy their lost lands and hasten the coming of the apocalypse.

Finally The UN is saying that war crimes might be occurring. Might be occurring? If the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure and homes in Lebanon by the IDF and IAF is not a war crime, then what is? Olmert the heir to the architect (Ariel Sharon) of the Sabra and Shatila massacres in 1982 (who is trying to prove to the world that he's got as small a dick as Bush) should be indicted for war crimes.

Ok, attack Hezbollah, attack their rocket installations, attack Syria and Iran if they are to blame like Bush is saying (not that I agree with that nonsense) but the murder and destruction of Lebanon is unconscionable, and the United States complicity and consent to this criminal act makes it an accomplice. It is our weaponry that keeps the IDF armed to the tune of more than $3bn in tax dollars annually. If the U.S. wanted this to stop we could stop it, so while we sit idly by and watch the destruction of Lebanon we are guilty too.

Also, the action will be a failure. Hezbollah, who's power was waning in Lebanon prior to this action, is now gaining in popularity because those who do remember the Lebanese Civil War (really a proxy war between Syria and Israel) are seeing their nightmares return, and those who don't are shouting "why us, we didn't do anything."

Israel blames Lebanon for not implementing SCR 1559. Besides the hypocrisy (uhh, SCR 242 Israel?), Israel didn't hold up their end of 1559 by not retreating from the Shabaa farms. How was Lebanon supposed to disarm Hezbollah when it had no means to do so and no help was offered?

Paul Krugman speaking to the New York Ethical Society on the state of class in America today. MP3 file via Democracy Now
Video from Archive.org
mp3 of the entire evening from nysoundposse.com
Take your pick, it is a pretty good listen.

Ok, watched One Day in September last night. A documentary about the kidnapping and murder of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team by the Fatah faction Black September during the 1972 Munich Olympics. Summary of the key players:

• Germans? - Completely inept, shattering the illusions of "ruthless efficiency" (quote from the film). Police were completely unprepared and untrained, they broadcast their moves via live television to the world (and the kidnappers), shot at each other, etc..
• Israelis? - Innocent victims
• Palestinians? - Evil Bastards
• Olympic Committee? - Uncaring technocrats who wanted the games to go on regardless of the fact that there were 8 men with AK-47's in the Olympic village who had already murdered 2 participants. The committee seemed to think that if they just ignored the problem it would go away.

Peter Jennings wins misrepresentation award for calling Black September "Extreme leftist terrorists." Uh, Black September = extreme leftists? Well, the PLA was more Marxist at that time, but misunderstanding a liberation movement for commies - I guess that's typical of 1972. The movie was good and really highlighted the complete incompetence of the Germans at both the Federal and State level.

Weakness? A better understanding of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict which motivated Black September. They did describe what happened in 1948 very briefly and albeit this was not the focus of the film. The interviews with the one surviving terrorist were good, and they described and showed some detail of the Chatila refugee camp near Beiruit - which would later during the Israeli occupation of Lebanon 10 years later be the scene of one of the worst massacres of Palestinian refugees by Christian militias authorized by then defence minister Ariel Sharon while the IDF looked on. The fact that the last terrorist was from Chatila prompted me to wonder whether Sharon was motivated not just by disdain and contempt but also vengence.

I went to see Operation Dreamland last night at the Chelsea. The film makers were there and answered questions about the film after the showing to a packed theater audience. I really liked the film and was surprised by how good it was. I expected another somewhat antiwar documentary and was surprised by the lack of film maker's voice and how it was really much more just letting the soldiers speak.

The film is about 2 weeks in the life of a squad in I/505 82nd Airborne Division in Falluja in the winter of 2004. The film was shot about 1-1.5 months before the Marines rotated in to relieve the 82nd and the first siege promped by the killings of 4 Blackwater Mercenaries.

It is really a "this is the life of a squad of soldiers" in Iraq. The film makers go on missions, attend briefings and attend a "required" meeting for those who are thinking of mustering out after their term is up. The soldiers in the movie are incredibly candid, and according to the film makers liked the movie - they've all seen it. Particularly funny is that there are several scenes of soldiers speaking to Iraqis (doing their required community outreach on patrol) and the interpreter is translating about half to a third of what the Iraqis are saying such that the Sergeant and Lt. don't even really know what they are saying. When they got to see the film, the reaction was "Oh that's what the fuck they were saying to us". The filmmakers had no idea what they were recording at the time, in one scene, Ian said he thought the people were cursing at him and taking the piss out of him, when they were really asking him about why a woman had been detained.

Anyhow, go see it if you are interested, I highly recommend it. They opened it in North Carolina because the 82nd is based in Fort Bragg. It opens next week in NY and other cities. The greater the receipts at the Box Office this weekend, the more cities it will open in.