THE ROOT CAUSE OF OUR CURRENT PROBLEMS IN IRAQ, LEBANON AND GAZA: FAILURE TO DEMAND DISARMAMENT OF THE JIHADOTHUGS

Before Hamas or Hizballah or or Moki al Sadr's political parties (political "wings" if you prefer) were allowed on the ballots - in their respective countries - they should have all been disarmed. And if they failed to disarm, then they should NOT have been allowed on the ballot.

I think this would have prevented any of these parties from gaining political power - as they did when they each won many MANY seats in their respective parliaments. It has allowed them cover, and to play a dangerous double game.

Besides: These jihadoterrorist groups are fundamentally anti-democratic. I blame Bush.

EVENING UPDATE: OTTOLENGHI AT NRO AGREES:

The current conflict in Lebanon proves that violent extremist groups cannot be constructively engaged. Rather, extremism must be confronted with a firm policy of zero tolerance. ...

Both at home and abroad, history proves that engaging extremists doesn’t pay, unless extremists give up their extreme goals first. Whenever radical political parties espousing extreme ideologies have been allowed to maintain a militia of their own, they have not used it for democratic and peaceful means. Instead they have challenged the state’s central authority and pursued their own revolutionary agenda. Whenever extremists have been co-opted, they have brought their extremism into government and ended up hijacking the political process for their own nefarious ends. ...

Unless Hezbollah is disarmed and U.N. resolution 1559 is fully implemented, Lebanon is destined to plunge back into its dark past of civil war, sectarian violence, foreign occupation, and terrorism. Its efforts to rebuild and turn itself into an oasis of relative quiet and prosperity in the midst of a troubled region will come to naught.

RIGHT ON!

COWARDLY JIHADOMANIAC NASRALLAH HIDES IN DAMASCUS

JPOST:

Hizbullah head Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is currently in Damascus, the Kuwait based a-Siasa newspaper reported Thursday.

He ran away - tail between his legs. And while he's in Syria getting new orders from his BOSSES, his stupid foot-soldiers die in Lebanon. Idiots.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER PART 13 - CHAVEZ AND PUTIN

TWO MORE SOCIALIST BIRDS FLOCKING TOGETHER.

IN THIS CHAPTER, PUTIN SELLS ARMS TO CHAVEZ. AND IT CAN'T COME TO ANY GOOD. IT'S RIGHT UP THERE PUTIN'S ARMS SALES TO IRA AND SYRIA. PUTIN IS A SCUMBAG, WHO AIDS OUR ENEMIES.

BTW: CHAVEZ ALSO SIGNED A SERIES OF AGREEMENTS WITH ANOTHER SOCIALIST TYRANT - IN BELARUS.

"WILL NO ONE RID ME OF THIS MAN!?" (HOW ' BOUT EITHER OF THESE MEN - FOR STARTERS!)

AT LEAST PUTIN WILL BE FORCED TO STEP ASIDE WHEN HIS TERM IS UP. ACCORDING TO THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION - AS IT NOW READS.

CHAVEZ MIGHT VERY WELL RULE AS LONG AS FIDEL - UNLESS SOMEONE STOPS HIM.

IDF INTERCEPTING NASRALLAH'S INTERNAL COMMUNIQUES - and he sounds very defeatable

HAARETZ:

An Israel Defense Forces analysis of the messages transmitted by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah to his men during the fighting in Lebanon reveals a slightly different tone from the one he took in three public television interviews ...

Nasrallah's tone is apologetic in his messages and he explains that Israel escalated the confrontation by striking deep inside Lebanon after the soldiers were abducted, the officer said. Nasrallah admits that his organization is having morale problems...

He also complains frequently that the Arab states have deserted Hezbollah and the Lebanese and are not helping them against Israel. ...Hezbollah is believed to be planning additional surprises, as Nasrallah said, and these could include detonating a drone carrying explosives over Israel or firing Iranian Zilzal rockets at Tel Aviv.

It is possible that Nasrallah will want to send such a missile as a last move before a cease-fire is set in motion, in order to serve as a deterrent in future rounds of fighting with Israel, the officer said.

(There's much more; RTWT.)

Things will get worse before they get better. When the enemies' backs are up against the wall they will lash out with even more ferocity. We will absorb the blow and wipe them out. Like a tempest.

I estimate that Hizb'Allah has used 25% of its weapons and that the IDF has destroyed another 25% and that another 25% are out of reach. That means the enemy has weapons for only another 4-5 days. And I intuit that - because they were not as prepared for the intensity of the IDF counter-attack as they should have been - they only enough gas & diesel, food & water for that amount of time, too.

WHICH MEANS: Victory is within reach. I URGE ISRAEL NOT TO LET UP; IN FACT; THEY SHOULD INCREASE THE PACE AND MAGNITUDE OF THE COUNTER-ATTACK.

HIZB'ALLAH LIES WHEN THEY CLAIM THEY "NEVER EXPECTED THIS RESPONSE FROM ISRAEL"

I CAN PROVE IT.

VIA POWERLINE:

A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrilla group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers. Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of Hezbollah's political arm, also told The Associated Press in an interview that his group will not lay down arms. "The truth is--let me say this clearly--we didn't even expect (this) response.... that (Israel) would exploit this operation for this big war against us," said Komati. He said Hezbollah had expected "the usual, limited response" from Israel to the July 12 cross-border raid, in which three Israelis were killed.

In the past, he said, Israeli responses to Hezbollah actions included sending commandos into Lebanon to seize Hezbollah officials or briefly targeting specific Hezbollah strongholds. He said the Shiite group had anticipated there would be negotiations on exchanging the Israeli soldiers for three Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, with Germany acting as a mediator as it did before. [My emphasis].

REPEAT: HIZB'ALLAH ACTED ON JULY 12. THIS IS MORE THAN A WEEK AFTER OLMERT ORDERED AN UNPRECEDENTED AND OVERWHELMING MILITARY RESPONSE TO THE KIDNAPPING BY HAMAS FROM GAZA OF SHALIT. Here's the AL JAZEERA TIMELINE OF THE HAMAS/GAZA/SHALIT EVENTS:

Sunday, June 25: Palestinian armed groups launch an attack on an army post on the Israel-Gaza border. They kill two soldiers and capture a third.

Israel starts to mass forces around Gaza, from whiere it had withdrawn in September 2005.

Monday, June 26: Three Palestinian groups, including the Popular Resistance Committees, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas movement and the Army of Islam, claim the capture of the soldier, 19-year-old Gilad Shalit ,who also holds French citizenship.

The groups demand that Israel free detained women and minors in exchange for information about Shalit.

Tuesday, June 27: Hamas, which dominates the Palestinian government, signs an agreement aimed at ending bitter internal conflict and which implicitly recognises the existence of Israel.

Palestinian activists abduct a second Israeli youth, 18-year-old Eliahu Asheri, from a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Overnight on Tuesday/Wednesday, Israeli aircraft destroy key bridges in the Gaza Strip and knock out the territory's sole power station, cutting off electricity to many of the 1.4 million residents.

Wednesday, June 28: Israeli ground forces enter southern Gaza. The Popular Resistance Committees threatens to kill the West Bank settler if the troops are not withdrawn, while Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, says Israel will use "extreme measures" to rescue Shalit. Washington urges caution, but says Israel has the right to defend itself. Israeli aircraft over-fly Syria which is home to several Hamas leaders.

Thursday, June 29: Extending its offensive to the West Bank, Israel detains scores of Hamas members, including a third of the Palestinian cabinet and a large number of lawmakers. As the international community steps up calls for restraint, the abducted settler is found shot dead in the West Bank. Olmert suspends a ground offensive expected in northern Gaza as Cairo tries to mediate a solution.

Friday, June 30: Israeli fighter jets blitz Gaza overnight, setting the interior ministry ablaze and striking other targets. Israel revokes the Jerusalem residency rights of a Hamas minister and three MPs. Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, vows his Hamas-led government will not fall and insists it is working to free the Israeli soldier, but accuses Israel of jeopardising their efforts by attacking Gaza. Three Palestinians are wounded in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City.

Saturday, July 1: Israel rejects Palestinian demands to free 1,000 prisoners as its warplanes pound the Gaza Strip for a fourth straight night. Shalit is said to have been treated by a Palestinian doctor for three bullet wounds.

Sunday, July 2: Israel hits Haniya's Gaza office in a new wave of air raids as Olmert warns that his forces will use all their power to free Shalit. A spokesman for Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian president, says mediation efforts are nearing an impasse.

Monday, July 3: Israel sends troops and armour into the northern Gaza Strip after a series of air raids. One Palestinian is killed in clashes.

For the cowardly genocidal maniacs of Hizb'Allah to now claim that they didn't expect to get a taste of what Olmert was serving up to Hamas is NOT CREDIBLE. Either they are liars or they are insane.

To lie so blatanly, they must think that all of us are as stupid as the Leftist dupes in the MSM and at the UN.

Since I do not believe the Hizb'Allah leadership are STUPID, I believe that the Hizb'Allah leadership ARE LYING. This isn't surprising: people who kill their own daughters and call it "honor killing" and who commit acts of terror and genocide are of course capable of lying. Especially to kafir.

WHY ARE THEY LYING?!

As POWERLINE SUGGESTS: TO MAKE ISRAEL'S RESPONSE SEEM DISPROPORTIONATE AND UNWARRANTED.

RELIAPUNDIT REPRISE - 12/26/05: "TERRORISTS MUST BE FORCIBLY DISARMED"

I STAND BEHIND WHAT I WROTE SEVEN MONTHS GO: Monday, December 26, 2005:

HAMAS, HIZB'ALLAH AND THE SUNNI TRIANGLE

What do HAMAS - in Gaza and the West Bank, HIZB'ALLAH - in Lebanon, and the SUNNIS of the SUNNI TRIANGLE in Iraq have in common?

They are all armed terrorist groups which use the threat of terror to try to gain political power.

Though they may CLAIM to be political groups, and though they may POSE as political entities, as long as they remain armed - and support armed insurrection and terror - they can ONLY be at best destabilizing.

This would be true of any political group ANYHWERE: in Israel, the Labor Party doesn't have its own militia; in Canada the Liberals don't have their own militia; in France the Gaulists don't have their own militia - and so on. As long as a political party keeps a private militia a virtual civil war exists (or at least the THREAT of civil war exists - a threat which amounts to nothing more than thuggish blackmail, a threat which shouldn't be tolerated AT ALL).

If Hamas and Hizb'Allah and the Sunni groups sometimes act like political parties, this is only until they don't get their way, and then they use the threat of violence and terror to try to get their way. THIS AIN'T DEMOCRATIC! The Sunnis in Iraq appear to be doing this, right now: Unhappy with the election results they are stepping up their campaign of terror. (See HERE and HERE and HERE.)

This is why the Sunnis refuse to disarm and this is fundamentally ANTI-DEMOCRATIC and undermines all attempts at nation -building.

NONE of these nations - neither the "Palestinian Territories" or Lebanon or Iraq - will EVER become stable democracies unless and until these "militant groups" disarm. If they refuse to disarm VOLUNTARILY, then they should be forcibly disarmed. Or, the forces of democracy and liberty can do one other thing: they can appease these terrorist groups and essentially surrender their liberty and democracy to the terrorist's blackmail.

I'm waiting to see what the Palestinian Arabs and the Lebanese and the Iraqis will decide to do. In this decision lies the fate of their nations.

[ADDENDUM: I wish George Bush would more forcefully demand that these groups disarm, and offer any and all means to help the sovereign governments achieve that end! And I do mean any and all means!]

7/25/06: History proves that appeasing the bad-guys just gives them time to get stronger and make the inevitable conflict worse. This goes for Iran, too. And North Korea.

WSJ/BOTW & LGF MAKE ERROR: INCORRECTLY CLAIM COUNTERFEIT SHEETS OF US CURRENCY IN NBC REPORT

NBC NEWS aired a report which showed what seems like sheets of US currency in the foreground of a shot. TARANTO AND LGF CLAIMS THIS SHOT IN THE VIDEO PROBABLY SHOWS SHEETS OF COUNTERFEIT US CURRENCY, BUT THEY ARE WRONG.

If you look closely at the sheets you can see that the bills on the sheets are obviously NOT COMPLETE. In fact, less than half of each bill is visible.

IMHO: these are xeroxes of actual US currency; xeroxes in which the bills have been overlayed - one on top of the other - to take up as little room as possible, while still exposing the actual serial numbers.

I DON'T DOUBT THAT HIZB'ALLAH - like Kim Jong Il - COUNTERFEITS. People who commit terror and genocide will of course commit lesser crimes. I just think this video proves NOTHING.

LOOKIT: I distrust NBC and the MSM, and trust Taranto and Johnson. But... I just calls'em likes I sees'em.

[I think I am very astute for noticing this - where NO ONE ELSE HAS.]

UPDATE: YEAH: I emailed Charles and he posted an update/correction of sorts - not a complete one. A complete one would have photo-shopped the obviously overlapping bills, WHICH IS PROOF-POSITIVE THAT THESE ARE NOT UNCUT SHEETS OF $100's - which was the "smoking gun" for BOTW and LGF. The gun ain't smoking. At all. Case closed. Another case closed by Reliapundit.

PERES - THE DOVE AND APPEASER - HAS FINALLY FOUND CLARITY AND RESOLVE: "NO ALTERNATIVE TO VICTORY!"

JPOST:

Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres on Tuesday appealed to the Lebanese people to disarm Hizbullah and make peace with Israel. In a speech to Israel's parliament, Peres also said he was certain of victory. "In this war, there is no alternative to victory against terrorists," Peres told Israel's parliament. "Morally, Hizbullah has already been defeated. It will also be defeated militarily."

RTWT.

OLMERT SPOKE CLEARLY TOO: Israel is determined to continue its fight against Lebanese Hizbullah guerrillas and will take the "most severe measures" against those firing rockets on Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday before meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"Israel is determined to continue on in the fight against Hizbullah. We will ... stop them. We will not hesitate to take severe measures against those who are aiming thousands of rockets and missiles against innocent civilians for the one purpose of killing them," Olmert said.

RICE CONCURS:

Reuters quoted a Lebanese political source as saying that Rice told Berri, "The situation on the border cannot return to what it was before July 12."

I expect the IDF's counter-attack to become even more intense. In pace an tonnage. I expect them to create a buffer-zone by demolishing ALL Hizb'Allah sites: depots, safe-houses and its means of transit and communication.

IT'S SUMMER IN FRANCE AND WE HAVE - ONCE AGAIN - MORE PROOF THAT SOCIALIZED HEALTHCARE SUCKS

BBC:

The French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand has urged medical students and retired doctors to help in hospitals during the current heatwave.

The heat has now claimed 23 lives in France, reviving memories of the 2003 summer when 15,000 people died. ... Surgeons, anaesthetists and obstetricians at French private clinics went on strike on Monday, in a row over fees and rising insurance premiums.

Service sucks, and it's bankrupting their government. SO WHY DO LEFTISTS HERE STILL WANT OUR GOVERNMENT TO BE THE UNVERSAL HEATHCARE PROVIDER?! It makes no sense.

NYTIMES SHOWS ACCURATE PHOTOS OF PRECISION TARGETING BY IDF IN BEIRUT - but typically distorts the rest of the story

NYTIMES:

In the days since Israeli planes began to bomb Lebanon, this seaside capital has been almost physically split in two, with its largely Shiite flank mutilated by Israeli airstrikes and most of the rest of the city remaining relatively unscathed, if quieter and emptier than usual.

The stark physical contrast reflects a deep and growing divide in Lebanese society between the less affluent, more religious Shiite south and the more urban center, largely of Sunni Muslims, Druse and Christians, which has built and benefited from a long-awaited economic boom.

The PICTURE is correct; the explanation is lacking.

First of all the LEFTIST NYTIMES is blind to the fact that the reason the Shia south has been POOR is because THEY ARE RULED BY HIZB'ALLAH ISLAMOFASCISTS AND LACK LIBERTY, AND PROSPERITY IS THE BY-PRODUCT OF LIBERTY! Second of all, they blame the south's poverty on Israeli occupation. BAH HUMBUG! The IDF - which entered Lebanon to EXPEL ARAFAT - and the IDF's Christian Arab allies - kept the peace. And the article calls Hizb'Allah "homegrown" as if they could have tyrannized Lebanon without Iran's and Syria's aid. BS!

The NYTIMES is forced to admit what all eyes can see: THE IDF HAS BEEN ATTACKING HIZB'ALLAH, AND NOT LEBANON. But the NYTIMES denies all else - spinning Lebanon's north-south divide as if it were merely an example of class warfare:

While the bombing has forced thousands of southerners, mostly Shiites, to flee for their lives on roads with broken bridges, often without any possessions, many middle-class residents of the capital have taken refuge in mountain towns just north and east of here.

This is Leftist spin, pure and simple, and it is typical of Leftists who are in deep denial about the harmful basic nature of their anti-libertarian ideology. North Lebanon is richer than the south for the same reason south Korea is richer than north Korea. Liberty and pluralism create propserity. Tyranny - of all sorts, Marxist. Baathist; Shia, etc. - creates poverty.

And of course - like the rest of the MSM - the NYTIMES ignores the fact that a hundred thousand ISRAELIS have been forced to flee their homes, too - just like the "poor Shias."

This reveals, once again, that the NYTIMES is basically Leftist and anti-Semitic. But at LEAST THIS TIME, they got part of the picture correct: The IDF is ONLY attacking Hizb'Allah. RTWT and look at the photos; their stark contrast has more truth in it than a all the articles in the NYTIMES combined. [More on NYTIMES anti-Semitism HERE.]

CNN CONTINUES THE TRADITION OF EASON JORDAN AND WALTER DURANTY

NEWSBUSTERS:

On CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday, CNN’s senior international correspondent Nic Robertson added all of the caveats and disclaimers that he should have included in his story last week that amounted to his giving an uncritical forum for the terrorist group Hezbollah to spout unverifiable anti-Israeli propaganda.

Back on July 18, Hezbollah took Robertson and his crew on a tour of a heavily damaged south Beirut neighborhood. The Hezbollah “press officer” even instructed the CNN camera: “Just look. Shoot. Look at this building. Is it a military base? Is it a military base, or just civilians living in this building?”

In his original story, Robertson had no complaints about the journalistic limitations of a story put together under such tight controls, and Robertson himself at one point seemed to agree with the Hezbollah propaganda claim that Israeli jets had targeted a civilian area: “As we run past the rubble, we see much that points to civilian life, no evidence apparent of military equipment.”

Challenged by Reliable Sources host (and Washington Post media writer) Howard Kurtz on Sunday, Robertson suggested Hezbollah has “very, very sophisticated and slick media operations,” that the terrorist group “had control of the situation. They designated the places that we went to, and we certainly didn't have time to go into the houses or lift up the rubble to see what was underneath,” and he even contradicted Hezbollah’s self-serving spin: “There's no doubt that the [Israeli] bombs there are hitting Hezbollah facilities.”

Eason Jordan kow-towed to Saddam. Duranty covered up Stalin's genocide of Ukrainians. Robertson proves that not much has changed: Leftist MSM "journalists" still readily pimp for Leftist tyrants. THERE'S MORE; RTWT! AND MORE HERE, TOO!

MAYBE JOHN EDWARDS WILL DEFEND BLOOMBERG?

BLOOMBERG IS BEING SUED BY A GUN DEALER REPRESENTED BY BOB BARR. (HAT TIP INSTAPUNDIT.)

It would make a good match-up - for Bloomberg, the Nanny, er um I mean mayor of NYC. The churlish Barr would be no match for Pretty Boy Edwards - the son of a "poor millworker" - who would probably channel the spirit of poor innocent victim of gun violence*.

An UNARMED victim, of course. Heh.

[*NOTE: "In one of Edwards' silver-tongued arguments to the jury on behalf of a girl born with cerebral palsy, he claimed he was channeling the unborn baby girl, Jennifer Campbell, who was speaking to the jurors through him..."]

More HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

WHOSE DEBT IS WORSE, THE USA'S OR CUBA'S?

CUBA:

There is no question that Cuba is one of the most heavily indebted countries in the world and that its capacity to pay even a fraction of what it owes is severely impaired. Fernández puts this amount at 10.552 billion U.S. dollars and notes that a further 15 billion rubles are owed to Russia, as that country assumed the debt burden of the former Soviet Union. ...

At 10.5 billion U.S. dollars, it amounts to 2 times the Cuban gross domestic product (GDP) of 5 billion U.S. dollars for a 2 to 1 ratio of debt to GDP. This is surely one of the highest ratios anywhere.

MORE FACTS HERE - via BABALU.

Bottom-line: If socialism was really better, then why has it ruined EVERYPLACE it has ever been tried? Cuba was once the 2nd WEALTHIEST nation in the Carribean; now only Haiti is poorer. And Cuba has horrendous debt burden it cannot expect to payoff - like the socialist nations of the EU.

As if the debt and poverty wasn't enough, they also suffer from a lack of personal liberty - like free speech, freedom to worship, and freedom from fear. Socialism is a bigtme, all-round losing proposition.

Yet the the chic ignorati and the phony degenerati of the Left - in Hollywood and on many campuses - still admire Fidel and Che, and teh EU's social-welfsare safety-net. WHY? It's a post-modernist thing: Anybody and anything which opposes the West, Judeo-Christian ethics, and the USA is admired. Even jihadists and Stainist tyrants.

The "profligate" USA has a very different debt picture:

U.S. ranks 35th in the world in terms of public indebtedness, which means we have a lower Debt-to-GDP ratio than Italy, France, Germany, Singapore, Israel, Belgium, India, Japan, and a panoply of other countries.

And as percentage of the economy, it is no higher now than in 1965. I seem to think that the economy has done pretty well since then -especially because of the TAX CUTS - both Reagan's and Bush's. IOW: Our debt burden is not too great a burden.

Cuba and the EU are headed for a demographic/economic disaster. The USA is not. More proof that Leftist policies suck. Viva Reagan! Viva Thatcher! Viva Bush!

HIZB'ALLAH USING PALLYWOOD TECHNIQUES

JOEL MOWBRAY VIA POWERLINE:

Palestinians have for years masterfully manipulated the media coverage, most powerfully through choreographed imagery. With this photo, Hezbollah has ripped a page from the Palestinian playbook.

Could one imagine a more staged performance? Why are the caskets lined up like that, side-by-side? Why are numbers spray-painted on the wall? And why are the women in the very narrow gap between the caskets and the wall, as opposed to being in the far more natural position of standing facing both the caskets and the wall directly behind them?

Though anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Palestinian propaganda machine would have a gut sense that the photo was staged, anyone with a basic knowledge of Arabic would know so. Why? Look at the numbers. Those are not Arabic numerals.

Check out the photos and his point-by-point critique.

BOTTOMLINE: The MSM that runs this crap are dupes or traitors. OR BOTH.

IRAN & SADR BRIGADES : IRAQ :: IRAN & HIZB'ALLAH : LEBANON

WASH TIMES (VIA INFIDEL BLOGGER ALLIANCE):

A senior member of Muqtada al-Sadr's Iraqi Shi'ite militia, the Mahdi Army, says the group is forming a squadron of up to 1,500 elite fighters to go to Lebanon. The plan reflects the potential of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah to strengthen radical elements in Iraq and neighboring countries and to draw other regional players into the Lebanon conflict.

"We are choosing the men right now," said Abu Mujtaba, who works in the loosely organized following of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. "We are preparing the right men for the job." Mr. Mujtaba, who was interviewed in Baghdad, said some of the men have had special training but did not specify what kind. Sheik al-Sadr's black-clad armed militia numbers in the thousands, operates throughout central and southern Iraq and is thought to be responsible for numerous killings of Sunnis.

It is not surprising that these two groups should actively collaborate: Iran armed and instigated and exploited these two Shia GANGS, in BOTH Iraq and Lebanon.They are BOTH hugely destabilizing.

This is NOT mere Persian hegemony; it's part of global jihad.

Nasarallah's gang and Sadr's gang should BOTH be erased from the face of the Earth. Then we can deal with Iran.

NYTIMES: IDF AND HIZB'ALLAH ARE BOTH MAD DOGS

NEWSBUSTERS:

The New York Times op-ed page has a feature today called 'A First Step Back From the Brink.' As the Times describes it:

"With chaos threatening to engulf Lebanon, the need to resolve the conflict in the Middle East has rarely seemed so urgent. The Op-Ed editors went to seven experts with experience in the region, asking each of them what should be the first step toward defusing the crisis."

The Times did accord Richard Perle the opportunity to make the case that 'Israel must see the current fighting through to a conclusion that is unambiguously a defeat for Hezbollah and Hamas.' But most if not all of the other contributors call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, including Judith Kipper of the Council on Foreign Relations who wants to negotiate with Hezbollah and Hamas and describes them as 'political parties and social welfare organizations', albeit with 'military wings.' ...

But what is most significant is the way the Times itself has framed the issue with its editorial cartoon [depicting both sides as "mad dogs" - reliapundit].

For the Old Gray Lady, there is no difference between the rejectionists and Islamo-fascists of Hamas and Hezbollah, and the people of Israel who seek to survive in a hostile Arab sea. They are all simply mad dogs, literally armed to the teeth.

This is moral relativism at its most abject.

They Lefties think they're anti-war, but they'd might as well be on the other side. Or as one Newsbuster commenter (allanf) said: Moral Equivalence is a kind way of saying one cannot distinguish right from wrong. [Someone should show Bill keller THIS RCP cartoon; it's a more TRUTHFUL depiction of each side in the conflict.]

WHAT BUSH REALLY TELLS FOREIGN LEADERS

The MSM picked up another off-the-cuff/off-the-record remark by Bush. Heh.