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Archives: July 2006

Israeli Hizbullah Battles In Deep

Israeli-Hizbullah Battles in Deep South Israelis Bombed Qana while Relief and Rescue troops worked Update: Israeli war planes conducted further air raids Monday morning, despite Israeli officials' earlier pledge to cease for…

What Is Hizbullah Western And Israeli

What is Hizbullah?Western and Israeli pundits keep comparing Hizbullah to al-Qaeda. It is a huge conceptual error. There is a crucial difference between an international terrorist network like al-Qaeda, which can be…

Sistani Threatens Us Over Israeli War

Sistani Threatens US over Israeli War on LebanonThe US punditocracy and ruling elite is fixated on Hizbullah as a "terrorist group" even though the organization hasn't engaged in international terror against American…

Why Mel Gibson Is Wrong It Is Not Very

Why Mel Gibson is Wrong It is not very important or interesting that a Hollywood star has substance abuse problems. But the alleged sentiment expressed by Mel Gibson to the police who…

Qana Massacre Part Ii Israeli War

The Qana Massacre, Part II Israeli war planes scored a direct hit on a building in the Shiite village of Qana where destitute farming folk, including old people, women and children, had…

Renewed Israeli Airstrikes Kill Family

Renewed Israeli Airstrikes Kill Family, Others, Wound 2 UN Troops; Nasrallah Vows Longer Range Rocket Strikes The Israelis continued air strikes on Saturday. Naharnet.com carries this via AFP and AP:'Elsewhere, Israeli warplanes…

Over Dozen Dead In Civil War Violence

Over a Dozen Dead in Civil War Violence Khafaji denounces Maliki for Visit to BushGuerrillas detonated a car bomb in Kirkuk on Saturday, killing four persons and wounding 15. There have been…

Blair And Rhetoric Of False

Blair and the Rhetoric of False Equivalence The techniques of propaganda were on full display during the joint news conference of George W. Bush and British PM Tony Blair on Friday. Blair…

Islands In Arabia Patrick Mcgreevy

Islands in ArabiaPatrick McGreevy writes from Beirut:' Islands in Arabia Sitting on my balcony staring down at the Sea Gate of the American University of Beirut, and to the Mediterranean beyond, I…

Israeli Air Strikes Kill 15 Civilians

Israeli Air Strikes Kill 15 Civilians: Hizbullah Fires longer range Missile, Misses The Daily Star reports:' Israel's powerful war machine pounded Lebanon for the 17th day on Friday as Hizbullah launched new,…

Israeli Cabinet Rejects Masive

Israeli cabinet rejects masive reliance on troops.The Israeli war with Hizbullah is going badly for the Israelis. Some generals think the problem is too few troops. But the Israeli cabinet rejected that…

32 Killed 151 Wounded In Karada

32 Killed, 151 Wounded in Karada Strikes Sunni Arab guerrillas used a combination of car bombs and mortar strikes to kill at least 32 persons in the upscale, predominantly Shiite Karada district…

Criminalizing Civilians Patrick

Criminalizing Civilians Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut: ' Criminalizing Civilians In the days before the US-commanded forces unleashed the second siege of Falluja in November 2004, a quarter million women, children and…

Boston Benefit Boston Performing

Boston BenefitBoston Performing Artists for Peace Present:A Benefit Concertfor Civilian Victims of the Israeli-Lebanese Conflict Including participants from the following area organizations: (organizations named for identification purposes only)American Repertory Theater -- The…

Al Qaeda Enters Fray Israeli

Al Qaeda enters FrayThe Israeli occupation of Jerusalem has long been an al Qaeda bugbear. It sent Richard Reid to case El Al, israeli airlines. It hit Israeli tourists in Mombasa and…

9 Israeli Troops Killed Israel Bombs

9 Israeli Troops Killed Israel Bombs Lebanese Army The Israelis launched a new wave of bombing attacks on Thursday morning: ' Israeli military aircraft bombed a Lebanese army base in the Amsheet…

Al Zaman Shiite Clashes With British

Al-Zaman: Shiite Clashes with British in South As Security Deteriorates Grand Ayatollah al-Najafi calls for withdrawal of foreign troops Al-Zaman reports that the security situation in southern Iraq "exploded" on Wednesday. Fighting…

Israelis Kill Un Peacekeepers Halutz

Israelis Kill UN Peacekeepers Halutz Commits to War Crimes Israeli Airstrikes Kill Nabatiyeh Family $150 Million Damage to FactoriesUpdate: Hizbullah fighters defending Bint Jbeil have killed 14 Israeli soldiers, according to early…

Congress Expects Islamic Dawa To

Congress Expects Islamic Dawa to Support Israel, Condemn Hizbullah Dawa's Unsavory Past The AIPAC Democrats in Congress came after Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday, condmening him for his refusal to condemn…

Maliki And Bush Pledge Troops To

Maliki and Bush Pledge Troops to Baghdad 32 Dead in Scattered Violence In a tense and awkward news conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Bush pledged that more US…

Hizbullah Pledges Deeper Attacks

Hizbullah Pledges Deeper Attacks Strikes Haifa, Galilee Kills Arab Girl Hasan Nasrallah, the Hizbullah leader, threatened Tuesday to fire rockets beyond Haifa, implictly threatening Tel Aviv (and Jerusalem?) He expressed confidence that…

Problems With Israeli Military

Problems with Israeli Military PerformanceIf you read Reuven Pedatzur's article in Haaretz attentively, you will see that he is indicting the Israeli armed forces as incompetent and also will detect that he…

Rice Ultimatum To Lebanon Undermined

Rice Ultimatum to Lebanon undermined by Maliki Israelis Kill 7 Civilians Monday in 40 Bombing RaidsThe LA Times reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki broke ranks again with Washington on Monday,…

Chronicle Forum On Blogging And

Chronicle Forum on Blogging and Careers The Chronicle of Higher Education did a forum, which is freely accessible this week, on the question of "Can Blogging Derail your Career?" Among the respondents…

Israelis Kill 8 Wound 45 On Sunday

Israelis Kill 8, wound 45 on Sunday Strike Clinic, Ambulance, Factories, Minibus, Journalist Hizbullah Rockets Hit Haifa, Kill 2 The Daily Star reports that"Israeli warplanes continued their bombardment of Lebanon on Sunday,…

100 Killed In Massive Bombings In Sadr

100 Killed, In Massive Bombings in Sadr City, Kirkuk The LA times reports that civil war violence in Iraq killed around 100 persons on Sunday The most deadly incidents were the bombing…

Descent Into Hell Is Optional Patrick

The Descent into Hell is Optional Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut:' The Descent into Hell Is Optional The day after most of our American colleagues escaped the war zone of Lebanon, we…

Dershowitz And Grades Of Human Beings

Dershowitz and Grades of Human BeingsAlan "Torture is OK" Dershowitz is annoyed that the Israelis have been accused of killing innocent civilians. He is now arguing that there are degrees of "civilianity."…

Aub Relief Effort Send Money It Can

AUB Relief EffortSend money It can also be sent via the American University in Beirut's New York office. AUB is an educational institution incorporated in the US, so there is no question…

Sunday Afternoon Reading Kos Diary On

Sunday Afternoon Reading Kos Diary on Kalman's piece about the preplanned character of Israel's war on Lebanon.Candide's Notebooks - Lebanese-American Blog.Congress and the Lebanon crisis-- Steve Zunes.Israeli Peace movement.Jane Hamsher.Billmon.Wayne White at…

War On Lebanon Planned For At Least

War on Lebanon Planned for at least a Year The Bush Administration's Grand Strategy and the Birth Pangs of Terror Israeli war planes hit the cities of Sidon, south Beirut and Baalbak…

Huge Blast In Shiite Sadr City Kills

Huge Blast in Shiite Sadr City Kills 33 Muqtada Calls on al-Maliki to Boycott Washington over Israeli Assault on Lebanon Guerrillas detonated a massive car bomb Sunday morning in Sadr City, Shiite…

Stem Cell Veto Bush Yes Dear I

Stem Cell VetoBUSH: "Yes, dear, I understand that stem cell research would let you dance at the masked ball. But the Republican Party needs the fundies to get reelected, so you're just…

Us Isolated As Rift Grows With Uk Even

US Isolated as Rift Grows with UK Even the British Foreign Office has now broken with the Washington consensus on the Israeli assault on Lebanon, which is basically that the Israelis should…

Israel Hits Christian Television In

Israel hits Christian Television in Christian North Lebanon, Kills TV ManHizbullah rocket launchers are in the far south of Lebanon and Hizbullah is a Shiite organization.Note that in a national emergency when…

Lebanons Catholic Bishops Call For Un

Lebanon's Catholic Bishops Call for UN-Backed Ceasefire Demand Steps to Prevent Humanitarian Crisis Lebanon's Maronite Catholic Bishops called Saturday for an immediate ceasefire in Israel's attack on Lebanon. ("The Maronite bishops of…

Haifa Rocket Attack Wounds 5 Israeli

Haifa Rocket attack Wounds 5 Israeli Civilians Israel Bombs Numerous Lebanese Towns Again Wave of Protests in Muslim, Western Capitals A wave of protests swept the Middle East and Europe on Friday…

Grand Ayatollah Sistani Condemns

Grand Ayatollah Sistani Condemns IsraelThe Arabic original of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's fatwa condemning the Israeli attack on Lebanon is here.Someone sent me an English translation by email. I think the fatwa…

Evacuation Of Westerners From Lebanon

Evacuation of Westerners from Lebanon Why are We the Story? Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut: ' Why Are We the Story? We woke up this morning to a crowded sea. From our…

Israelis Bomb Beirut Baalbak Again

Israelis Bomb Beirut, Baalbak Again Tank Incursion in South Massive Displacements, Humanitarian Crisis "Israel's disproportionate use of force and collective punishment must stop." - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan [Red herring alert:Someone…

Sistani Issues Impassioned Plea 48

Sistani Issues Impassioned Plea 48 Dead in Civil War Violence Thursday Two bombings, in Baghdad and north of Beiji, killed 10 persons on Thursday. In addition, 38 corpses showed up on the…

Parsi Guest Editorial Action Against

Parsi Guest Editorial: Action Against Iran a Mistake' July 20, 2006 Statement from Dr. Trita Parsi, Phd, author of Treacherous Triangle-The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States (Yale University…

No More Infrastructure To Destroy

"No More Infrastructure to Destroy" Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut:' Beirut is tense. Some people are expressing worries that things could get very difficult. The worse-case scenarios are on people's minds, but…

2 Arab Israeli Boys Killed By

2 Arab-Israeli Boys Killed by Hezbollah in Nazareth Chemical Stores Moved from Haifa Hizbullah fired many katyusha rockets into Israel again on Wednesday, killing two Arab-Israeli boys in Nazareth and lightly wounding…

Israel Kills 57 In Lebanon Arbour

Israel Kills 57 in Lebanon Arbour Warns War Crimes are Prosecutable The Daily Star reports, ' Israeli fighter-bombers also destroyed nearly 20 residential homes and buildings in Lebanon in the early morning…

Hospitality Or Abyss Patrick Mcgreevy

Hospitality or the Abyss Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut:Hospitality or the Abyss West Beirut seems like a different place today. Shi’ite men and black-clad women have flooded into Hamra—the neighborhood near American…

Letter From Rasha In Beirut And

Letter from Rasha in Beirut; and the Israeli Siege Notes From Rasha [a young woman] in Beirut: "Dear All, I am drafting this entry in this unusual diary at 11:30 pm. I…

Letter From Young Lebanese American

Letter from a Young Lebanese-American Woman Yasmina Kamal wrote this to an email acquaintance of mine and I am reprinting: I now feel compelled from within to voice my own views of…

Call Congress I Got This From Cni

Call Congress!I got this from the CNI. I agree. Please let Congress know that Israel's Total War on Lebanon (they hit the Saint Therese Hospital today) is unacceptable. Please take a moment…

Israel Targets Milk Medicine Factories

Israel Targets Milk, Medicine Factories Hizbullah Kills One in Nahariyah Israeli troops invaded Lebanon again early Wednesday morning, on what Israeli spokesmen called a limited search and destroy mission.Hizbullah sent more rockets…

70 Iraqis Killed On Tuesday Massive

70 Iraqis Killed on Tuesday Massive Bombing at Kufa I thought I'd check in with Iraq news, for which I don't have as much time because I'm following Lebanon. Bad idea. Very…

Bush To Siniora Drop Dead Israeli War

Bush to Siniora: Drop DeadIsraeli war planes struck Lebanese army targets on Tuesday: "Israeli warplanes pounded an army barracks east of Beirut in an overnight raid in which 11 troops, including four…

Israels Maximal Option My Article On

Israel's Maximal Option My article on the political and military aims of the Israeli government and of Hizbullah is out at Salon.com.Excerpt:Israel has a range of options. It has already made one…

Evacuation Of American University In

Evacuation of the American University in BeirutPatrick McGreevy writes from Beirut:' Friends, In the early evening, we watched from our apartment balcony as a huge white cruise ship glided past west Beirut…

Email From Beirut Friend Writes From

Email from Beirut A friend writes from the American University in Beirut:' The university has fuel (and power) for only 12 days; after that we will have a real crisis at the…

Israel Invades Lebanon Ongoing

Israel Invades Lebanon; Ongoing Airstrikes Kill Dozens of Lebanese Civilians; Hizbullah Rockets Wound 11 in Haifa Israel invaded Lebanon on Monday, sending ground troops into the south. Israeli leaders say that they…

Bush Lean On Syria I Cobbled Bush

Bush: Lean on Syria I cobbled the Bush-Blair exchange on Israel and Lebanon, accidentally caught at the G8 on mike, together fromWaPo and ABC News. BUSH to Blair: "I think Condi is…

Israel Widens Airstrikes 140 Civilians

Israel Widens Airstrikes; 140 Civilians Dead since Weds; Nasrallah Threatens Haifa with Worse Attacks Israel may be planning a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, according to The Guardian.Photos of Lebanon courtesy Al-Safir.An…

Iraqi Pm Parliament Condemn Israel

Iraqi PM, Parliament Condemn Israel; Massive Bombings in Tuz Khurmato, Mahmudiyah Guerrillas in Mahmudiyah killed 42 Iraqis in a market bombing early Monday.On Sunday, a horrible cafe bombing in Tuz Khurmato killed…

Israel Kills Children In Convoy

Israel Kills Children in Convoy Bombing; Dozens Dead; Hizbullah bombs Akka, Haifa; Wounds, Kills Civilians The Guardian reports of Israeli's continued war of attrition on Lebanon on Saturday:' Israel steeply escalated its…

50 Kidnapped In Baghad There Were

50 Kidnapped in Baghad There were large numbers of bombings and assassinations in Iraq on Saturday. The most horrible incident Was the abduction of up to 50 Iraqis.The USG Open Source Center…

Global Protests At Indiscriminate

Global Protests at Indiscriminate Israeli Bombings of Lebanon The Associated Press puts the Israeli offensive against Lebanon on Friday succinctly:' Israel again bombarded Lebanon's airport and main roads in the most intensive…

30 Dead In Mosque Bombings Other

30 Dead in Mosque Bombings, Other Violence Civil War violence left at least 30 dead in Iraq on Friday, says AFP. It writes, 'In Baghdad, where a massive security crackdown is on…

Condi Told By Olmert To Back Off Steve

Condi told by Olmert to Back off?Steve Clemons reports that the Israelis have told US Secretary of State Condi Rice to back off her calls for Israel to exercise restraint in its…

Iraqis Condemn Israeli Attacks Both

Iraqis Condemn Israeli AttacksBoth Sunni and Shiite clerics and politicians condemned the Israeli attack on Lebanon on Friday. The Friday sermons were thunderous. Money and resources will likely flow to Hizbullah and…

Is Arab Spring Turning To Dust Under

Is the Arab Spring turning to Dust under Israeli Bombardment? Petroleum hit $76.70 a barrel on Thursday, a record high price, in reaction to the new Middle East crisis. (Though in real…

Mashhadani Jews Source Of All Iraqs

Mashhadani: Jews the Source of all Iraq's Problems And, remember how the Bush administration trumpeted the December 2005 elections in Iraq and the joining in of the country's Sunni Arabs as a…

Muqdadiyah Massacre Of Shiites Baghdad

Muqdadiyah Massacre of Shiites Baghdad Sunni Neighborhoods Organize Militias At Muqdadiyah, a mixed Sunni-Shiite town north of Baghdad, guerrillas came to a bus station, separated out 24 or more Shiites from the…

Beginning Of New War Will It Spill

The Beginning of a New War? Will it Spill over on Iraq? All hell broke loose on Wednesday in the Mideast, with a Hizbullah attack on the Israeli army and Israeli reprisals,…

Of Mushrooms And Peak Experiences

Of Mushrooms and Peak Experiences The magic mushrooms really do work. Depending on what you mean by "work."I suspect that these mushrooms were used to make the soma of the ancient Hindu…

190 Dead In Mumbai Train Bombings

190 Dead in Mumbai Train BombingsThe likelihood is that the sophisticated coordinated attack on the trains in India's western commercial hub of Mumbai (Bombay) was carried out by al-Qaeda-linked groups seeking the…

Over 60 Dead As Faith Based Killings

Over 60 Dead as Faith-Based Killings Continue Kurds to the Rescue? By my count, nearly 200 Iraqis have been killed in civil war violence during the past 3 days, dozens of them…

Gaza Crisis Israeli Air Force Bombed

Gaza Crisis The Israeli air force bombed a civilian Palestinian house that they said was being used to plot out terrorist attacks. As a home, it contained innocent civilians including at least…

Over 55 Killed Including 25 In Sadr

Over 55 Killed, Including 25 in Sadr City Bombings Iraq to Ask UN to Withdrew US Troop Immunity Guerrillas detonated two huge car bombs in a Shiite neighborhood on Monday, killing 25…

Food Water Running Out For Gazas

Food, Water Running out For Gaza's ChildrenThe humanitarian crisis in a civilian Gaza under attack from Israel is worsening, according to United Nations agencies. They had already warned over the weekend that…

At Least 80 Dead In Civil War

At least 80 Dead in Civil War Bloodbath Government Forced to Depend on Local Gunmen ""We will complete the mission and I will make my judgments as to the troop levels necessary…

European Union Condemns Israeli

European Union Condemns Israeli Predations Israelis Kill Little Girl, Other Family Members 50,000 Turks DemonstrateThe Daily Telegraph Reports: 'Three Palestinian family members, including a six-year-old girl, were killed yesterday in an air…

National Unity Government On Vergeof

National Unity Government on Vergeof Collapse As Sunnis Threaten Pull-out; A Million Sadrists Prepare for Samarra Trek Guerrillas killed 3 US troops and a female Iraqi translator for the US military on…

Rash Of Mosque Bombings Samarrai

Rash of Mosque Bombings Samarra'i Demands Banning of Shiite Militias Qubanji accuses AMS of al-Qaeda Ties Reuters reports on the violence in Iraq on Friday:'In the village of Tal Banat near Mosul,…

Mesa Aaup Condemn Violence Against

MESA & AAUP Condemn Violence Against Iraqi AcademicsProfessors’ Associations Decry Violence Against Academic Colleagues in Iraq. Issued July 5, 2006 Washington, D.C., and Tucson, Arizona — The Middle East Studies Association and…

Two Minutes Of Silence For London At

Two Minutes of Silence for London At noon on Friday, we should commemorate the deaths of the 52 persons in the 7/7 London underground bombings with two minutes of silence, as is…

Israels Failed State Strategy Cole In

Israel's Failed-State Strategy: Cole in SalonMy essay on the crisis between Israel and the Gaza Palestinians is out in Salon.com. Excerpt:The actions of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seem intended to create…

50 Killed As Raft Of Bodies Are Found

50 killed, as a Raft of Bodies are Found in Baghdad Muqtada Begins Vigilante Movement to Repair Samarra ShrineAljazeera is reporting clashes between US troops and Mahdi Army elements in East Baghdad…

13 Dead In Pilgrimage Bombing 40

13 Dead in Pilgrimage Bombing, 40 wounded Maliki Reconsiders US Troops' Immunity Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged Wednesday to reconsider current Iraqi policy, of allowing US GIS to enjoy a form…

Malikis Basra Security Initiative

Maliki's Basra Security Initiative Fails 25 Bodies Found in Baghdad, Basra Al-Zaman/ AFP say that a firestorm of protest is building in Iraq over the alleged rape and killing of a 15…

Al Hakim Amnesty For Guerrillas Who

al-Hakim: Amnesty for Guerrillas who Killed US Troops Civil War Violence Kills 50 Iraqis, with 29 Bodies Found AFP reports an interview with Iraqi Shiite clerical leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, in which…

Fourth Of July Puzzle Our Game For 4th

Fourth of July Puzzle Our game for the 4th is to identify how many of the complaints Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues directed against Britain and King George in the Declaration of…

Sunni Bloc Withdraws From Parliament

Sunni Bloc Withdraws from Parliament AMS Condemns US over Rape Adnan Dulaimi of the Iraqi Accord Front (Sunni Arab fundamentalist) announced Sunday that his bloc had suspended its participation in parliament in…

Israelis Bombard Palestinian Prime

Israelis Bombard Palestinian Prime Minister's Offices Israeli war planes attacked the offices of Palestinian Prime Minsiter Ismail Haniyah of the Hamas Party early on Sunday morning, setting them afire. This looks so…

Massive Bomb In Sadr City Kills 74

Massive Bomb in Sadr City Kills 74, Wounds 114 Bin Laden Warns on Shiite Militias Guerrillas detonated a massive car bomb at a market in Sadr City (Shiite East Baghdad). Late reports…

Poll Iraq Could Cost Republicans In

Poll: Iraq could cost Republicans in November Election Muqtada: US must Set Withdrawal Timetable A new poll shows that Bush is so disliked that for 36 percent of the public, his endorsement…