Several recent news items have focused on Israel's desire to confront Iran in Lebanon by taking on Iranian ally, Hizbollah. Yesterday Norman Finkelstein sent along this clip from the Asia Times, "Israel moves to counter Hezbollah," which begins, "In the past few months, Israel has gone out of its way to cast itself as a victim of aggression in case a war with Hezbollah breaks out."
Finkelstein wrote, "Setting aside the obvious propaganda and lies, it's accurate: we're approaching the endgame." I asked him to elaborate.
The US, UK and French will first use the UN to soften the target:
(1) Israel is withdrawing from northern Ghajar to put it in compliance with UNSC Res 1701. Pressure will now be exerted on Lebanon to comply with 1701 by disarming Hezbollah;
(2) The Special Tribunal on Lebanon (STL) will indict members of Hezbollah for Hariri's assassination, sparking sectarian Shia-Sunni discord;
(3) The threat of a devastating Israeli attack will foment domestic pressure supporting Hezbollah's disarmament to preempt such an attack;
(4) The UNSC will then start passing resolutions (reminiscent of 1990-1991 against Iraq) putting sanctions on Lebanon. Once the ground has been prepared Israel will move in for the kill. Of course, the Palestinian "Authority" will be told that once the Hezbollah threat is removed, Israel will be prepared to make real concessions for peace.
As to what will happen in the likely event of war, see the section titled "1967 REDUX/THE WAR TO END ALL WARS" in the attached afterword to the forthcoming paperback edition of the Gaza book, This Time We Went Too Far. [excerpt:]
Feeling trapped and cornered, desperate to restore its deterrence but appearing yet more inept after each successive attempt, emancipated from the constraints of public opinion and legal repercussion, and after repeatedly threatening to attack Iran and Hezbollah, making it ever harder to back down and not lose credibility, an unhinged Israeli leadership just might go for broke. It is not being a Cassandra to prognosticate an impending doomsday, and it is far from premature to sound the alarm that at bare minimum Israel must be compelled to join the regional consensus supporting a WMD-free zone in the Middle East. Indeed, it deserves underscoring that Israel’s refusal to fully withdraw from the territories it conquered in 1967 has blocked a diplomatic settlement with the Palestinians and Syria that would drastically reduce the likelihood of regional war.
Of course, Obama's promise to veto any "anti-Israel" resolutions in the next year will enable Israel to massacre Lebanon with complete impunity.
So sad that the USA will ever use its diplomatic power to punish and coerce countries like Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and groups like Hezbollah, but will never use it to punish and coerce Israel (which is the primary aggressor-in-practice in the region).
Even after Israel’s withdrawal, per the UN, Ghajar will supposedly be controlled by UNIFIL and the Lebanese army will have no authority to access that territory. So much for sovereignty.
Meanwhile, in the last few days Israel has been shelling Gaza, intensively. Yesterday, for example, shelling went on for two hours non-stop.
Sharon wanted to remodel Lebanese politics in 1982 by crowning a Maronite king, Bashir Jumayyal, to rule over a Zionist protectorate. It didn’t work out. No Israel grand project ever has. Jumayyal was assassinated and the plan fell apart after Israel set up the Sabra and Shailta massacre.
The people of Lebanon are not going to sleepwalk into another civil war again because of Israel. They didn’t get anything out of the last one.
“… (3) The threat of a devastating Israeli attack will foment domestic pressure supporting Hezbollah’s disarmament to preempt such an attack;”
Wrong assumption. That’s what Israel thought when it bombed the Christian north of the country to get the people to turn on Hizbullah. The opposite happened; the Christians of the north that had been against Hizbullah all along got so pissed off at Israel for attacking them for no military reason that they all turned into avid Hizbullah supporters. In Israel’s subsequent carpet bombing of the south’s Shia villages (Christian and Sunni ones were spared) it anticipated that the fleeing million Shia refugees would overburden the rest of the country to make it turn on Hizbullah but the opposite also happened. The Christians opened their homes, schools and hearts to the Shia refugees and shared their food and water with them. For many in the north, it was their first encounter with Shia and friendly lasting relationships developed between whole villages in the north with Shia ones in the south. Israel succeeded in uniting the Lebanese for the first time in decades.
The current spook tactics by Israel about an impending attack on Lebanon has most people bracing for it while they root for Hizbullah to hurt Israel badly but the majority doesn’t want Hizbullah to give up its arms under any condition until Israel gives up the rest of the Lebanese occupied areas. Except for the collaborators of course that are anxiously awaiting the UN court’s indictments and helping spread the spooking news.
“Israel succeeded in uniting the Lebanese for the first time in decades.”
Thank you for your insights
Tonight CBC News is broadcasting an “exclusive” on the Hariri assassination having already primed viewers to expect Hezbollah to be implicated. Hezbollah, we are told, is threatening jihad if fingers point at them. The spoil-sports! Of course, if it was anyone else, we’d never hear about it. Also a report from Vancouver on a speech by the notorious George Galloway.
A double-whammy of armageddon goodness!
@ (2)
“The Special Tribunal, which has spent roughly $200-million, is viewed in Lebanon as very much a Canadian operation. The chief prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare, is a former prosecutor with the Justice Department in Ottawa and a large part of the investigative staff are Canadian. “There are more Canadians than any other foreign nationals” among the inquiry team, a Beirut-based diplomat said.
Mr. Bellmare refused to speak to the CBC during its months-long investigation.”
link to theglobeandmail.com
CBC investigation
link to cbc.ca
Wow, that was a pretty amazing article. This is huge news and I am sure none of the ‘journalists’ on Mondoweiss will get near it.
The end-game is going to be an all out civil war within Lebanon. The evidence is just too convincing.
Walid, funny no mention of a smartbomb in the article, weird huh?
You wouldn’t know jouranlism if it came gift wrapped and hand delivered to your door Yonira,
Who are you trying to kid?
Israel-firsters have been asking for this journalist’s head for some time. Here’s Jewish Toronto on CBC’s Macdonald:
link to jewishtoronto.com
This makes sense, but only to a point. The joker in the deck is Syria. You have to throw that card in before you can make this plan work. So far, no progress on the Syrian Israeli peace talks, as a matter of fact, lieberman last week stated ” we should not talk peace to Syria”.
The Syrians have been busy the last several months and are not about to sit back and watch without something for them in this grandiose plan. I don’t think Syria would start anything, but if this goes through without them getting anything, Syria would lose a major deterrent by losing Hizballah. So, i would need to see how Syria is being placated in this plan to keep them quiet.
The spark may actually be Gaza. To keep Abbas quiet, first Israel has to get rid of Hamas, easy to do and this way your southern flank is clear. Then they will turn to Hizballah and rape Lebanon one more time. Except i fear this time a more radical and extremist group will take over the country and we’re back to square one.
Syria is indeed a wild card, but I can’t see Syria being dragged directly into a war between Israel and Hezbollah unless:
1) Things are going extremely well for Hezbollah, or
2) Things are going extremely poorly for Hezbollah.
If Syria believes Israel is genuinely risking a major military defeat in the field, it could become involved directly. Likewise, if Syria feels that Hezbollah is in danger of being annihilated as a meaningful player in Lebanon, it may have to be involved, even accepting a military defeat itself as the price for preserving Hezbollah.
But in any middle case outside of the extremes, I suspect Syria will work very hard to avoid a direct confrontation with Israel. The imbalance of forces is just too extreme.
WINEP (oddly enough) has a report with a lot of good discussion about a potential war:
link to washingtoninstitute.org
As for Gaza, I think any Israeli attack on Hezbollah would be preceded by stepped up bombing of Gaza to deter Hamas, but not an actual invasion. Israel doesn’t need to defeat Hamas, just keep it out of the battle.
“The threat of a devastating Israeli attack will foment domestic pressure supporting Hezbollah’s disarmament to preempt such an attack;”
Pigs will fly. Lebanon has already endured 7 Israeli wars of choice. Israel doesn’t understand Lebanon. It’s a nation of vicious backstabbers who unite when attacked. And the tabbouleh is heavenly.
Anyway next time Hezbollah will have better missiles. That IDF barracks in the centre of Tel Aviv would be my top target.
Walid – we are waiting for your comment on the lebanese situation – breathless with anticipation about verdicts, edicts and predicts. i am especially curious about the Canadian-Lebanese angle brought up by antidote above.
Yes indeed, the stage is being laid for a devastating attack on Lebanon.
But Tel Aviv and it’s surrounding suburbs, including every single illegal outpost and zionist colony in the WB, will also be brutally devastated. The next war will also take place on israeli soil.
Guaranteed.
The problem though that the israeli government faces, is the near impossible task of psychologically preparing its over-indulged urban citizens to take the massive hits that hizbollah has promised (and will deliver) without massive political damage that could easily bring down the israeli government.
Be mindful here that the ‘pulse’ of israel, ie it’s major industries, military thinktanks/headquarters, national financial institutions, airport, ports, etc are all concentrated in the area of tel aviv – hit the city there and you practically close down israel. (We’re not even talking here of rumors that the damona compound is also a reachable target – that israel’s defense shield around the damona can now be compromised).
On the other hand, the Lebanese citizenry have far fewer luxury bunkers to hide in but are psychologically better prepared for an attack – well they’ve had experience of this already a few times over.
The israeli strategists are pacing up and down their war theater bunkers trying to figure out ways to prepare tel avivians for the carnival of death and destruction that is inevitably theirs – yet no one has yet come up with a single workable idea or plan since 2006.
That’s why there’s peace today.
The force that hisbollah has shown in 2006 is working as a deterrent against israel, hard as they may deny it. Yes isreal is being positively de-terred.
Israel has only one long shot in the dark to reverse this reality. One single fatal blow war.
The odds are, because of it’s erratic state of mind as a nation, it will likely miss it’s target and America will have to decide at 3 am if it wants to be involved in a third war in the holy lands and a fourth one simultaneously in iran too.
It’s not implausible that at 3 am we would drop our ‘eternal ally’ like a hot potato if the financial demands of four simultaneous wars were to weaken us sufficiently to allow China the last sprint into shared world superpowerdom. We’ve done that so many times already, drop allies that is – it’s like our international reputation! I can’t see a single politician being successful at selling FOUR SIMULTANEOUS WARS to your average already financially blighted American voter. Surely we can’t collectively be THAT stupid (I ask nervously)?
But seriously, I kinda think regardless of the neocons’ twist-and-shout song and dance, the American people know they’re broke and hunkered down in two undesirable wars already. And israel knows this too. It knows that it has to prepare for this ‘long shot in the dark war’ as if all by itself. American assistance is readily here today yes, but at this stage, perhaps it won’t be there tomorrow – through sheer political circumstance and pressures.
Oh yeah the old days of Bush and Sharon’s vision of a ‘new mideast order’ didn’t quite fan out for more than five minutes heh? Them shia Lebanese from the south of lebanon sure threw an unexpected spanner into that elitist plan (who would’ve thunk a bunch of salt-of-the-earth Lebanese farmers and their sons would train themselves so intelligently and effectively despite their limited firepower?!)
So anywayz, what happens if America’s hands are tied and it can’t fully participate in israel’s next war?
Tel aviv as modern masada?
Is this what historians will write in the future?
It’s not implausible that at 3 am we would drop our ‘eternal ally’ like a hot potato…
For the sake of clarity, we should stop refering to Israel as an “ally.” There is no alliance between the United States and Israel. Without her declaring her territorial boundaries first, an alliance between the United States and Israel remains a legal impossibility.
You are such a war-monger Taxi, you are always talking of this punishment which is going to be unleashed in Israel. Do you think the punishment won’t be unleashed ten times as badly against Lebanon. Do you hate Israel enough to wish for the murder of so many ppl? How many Arabs would you be willing to sacrifice for the death of one Israeli?
“Do you think the punishment won’t be unleashed ten times as badly against Lebanon. ”
Yes he already said that. The difference is that the Lebanese people are prepared for it and know it;s coming, whereas the Dough Boys in Israel will wet themselves at the first sign of a missile coming their way.
How many dead Lebanese is worth seeing one Israel ‘wet them-self” Shingo?
We are talking about life and death here, I don’t know why you guys want it to happen so badly.
“How many dead Lebanese is worth seeing one Israel ‘wet them-self” Shingo?”
Ask your glorious and moral army Yonira, who as the article explains, are the ones plotting to start a war.
Yes we’re talking about life and death here and Israel is the side that is itching for it, not me and not Hezbollah.
Got that!!
No I don’t have it Shingo. Let me tell you something else, there will be war in the ME after the STL indicts Hezbollah. It will either be a civil war within Lebanon or more than likely a provocation by Hezbollah to try and bait Israel into another conflict.
Walid said it best,
“Israel succeeded in uniting the Lebanese for the first time in decades.” The tactic worked for Hezbollah already, why not try it again. That is a much better option than another civil war within Lebanon.
Yes there will be war in the ME after the STL indicts Hezbollah becasue that is exactly what Israel has been plannign to happen all along.
I somehow doubtg there will be a civli war in Lebanon. The Lebanese have wisened up to Israel’s antics, but Israel will get their war one way or another. They don;t need tobe baited, they are frothing at the mouth for round three.
“The tactic worked for Hezbollah already, why not try it again.”
Walid said ISRAEL succeeded in uniting the LEbanese for thei firt time. Are you admitting it wil be Israel that starts the war, like they did in 2006, and 1982?
You admit that Israel is desperate for a war, but liek Witty, you’ve already made up your mind it will be all Hebollah’s fault.
You’re confused again yonira. Let me explain: you can see clearly who’s usurping more land, right? THEM PEOPLE are the warmongers – not me sweetie.
ot
Have been amazed by all of the feel good Israeli stories coming out of NPR the last six months. Along with bringing up the Holocaust more than ever.
Must be a part of a new PR campaign. Someone could do a Masters program on NPR’s slanted coverage of Israel and feel good stories focused on Israel over the decades. Those feel good about Israel stories are being ramped up. Wonder who the PR push is coming from? Or who the PR company hired to sell these feel good about Israel stories are
Guy Raz did two stories on Sundays All Things Considered program.
A feel good Israeli story
link to npr.org
Guy Raz also did a never forget the WWII Genocide story during his Sunday show. NPR fails to barely mention other genocides in the last 50 years. Close to always only the 6 million Jews who were brutally murdered are mentioned .
‘Nazis’: A Word With Deep And Brutal Meaning
link to npr.org
i think he also did the gal beckerman soviet jewry book story a couple weeks back, without any question about the zionism angle
The feel good about Israel coverage is coming on strong
not strong enough for some, apparently, see:
link to haaretz.com
even more bizarre: apology was not addressed to NPR executives, but to ADL’s Foxman (who generously granted full absolution on the grounds of ‘heartfelt remorse’ for the offense of trivializing the Nazi regime)
Going over to Cspan Washington Journal (someone at your site mentioned it yesterday but was not available) to see if Jane Hamsher’s latest appearance on that program about why the left is upset with the Obama administration. Wondering if in this appearance she has the ability to even whisper about the I/P issue while she is there allegedly exposing why the left is not so happy with this administration.
This was my objection to her last appearance on that program pretending to speak for the left. She has not ever even whispered about this issue when it is appropriate. Keep wondering why the MSM is using Hamsher as a spokesperson for the left? I know she has sold herself this way. But Glenn Greenwald and a few others are brave enough to add the I/P issue on that progressive list of deep concerns.
Not Hamsher who somehow feels beholden not to mention this critical issue when she has the National spotlight.
Video of Hamsher still not available
“Jane Hamsher looks at the frustrations between the White House and the progressive movement.
Washington, DC”
Now this is the second time I am aware of where she has been asked (or asked) to represent the progressive movement. The first time she did not even whisper about the I/P issue. Will be interesting to see if she continues to be a PEP (progressive except for Palestine)
Just went through the archives of NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things considered. Not a peep about the I/P issue. Not a peep about the expanding illegal settlements’
If you have not listened to this interview with Flynt Leverett about the Israeli Palestinian conflict, occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan etc.
Well worth it
link to raceforiran.com
link to yale.edu
Israeli cluster bombs in southern Lebanon
link to mineaction.org
Mines from war with Hezbollah still injure and kill civilians
Israel’s cluster bombs still devastate Lebanon
link to alarabiya.net
Danaa, the Canadian people are good guys. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon(STL) is working under a mandate from the UNSC sanctioned under Chapter 7 with the collaboration of the pro-US Lebanese government. From the outset, the STL has been bogus with a primary role to discredit whoever the UNSC wants it to discredit. So far, about 11 of its very senior international members have resigned under dark conditions that leads one to suspect that they had been working under some duress to come out with bogus conclusions probably dictated by the US. The current chief investigator and prosecutor (a dual role) is Canada’s Bellemare but he is the 4th one to occupy the post since 4 years; the others resigned. The senior investigation team is made up of former government agents of the US, UK, France and so on. 11 countries have refused to collaborate with the STL or provide any information to it relative to the Hariri investigation such as the US that is refusing to provide logs of its AWAC mission over Beirut as well as Israel about its drone also over Beirut at the time of the assassination, or the UAE that is refusing to provide details on the Japanese stolen Mitsubishi truck that was landed there before being sent to Lebanon for the bombing mission that killed Hariri. Germany is refusing to provide details on how its jamming device on Hariri’s car, the most sophisticated and expensive in the world, failed to stop the detonation. It is thought the system is actually produced by Israel. The Czechs are refusing to provide information to the court about the explosive that was used and many other unanswered questions by other countries but the court is not insisting.
After 4 years of insisting that it had solid evidence that Syria did it, the STL last year dropped all pending accusations against Syria and declared that the 1o witnesses for the prosecution on whose testimony Syria was being investigated were false witnesses and put Hizbullah in its sights. This happened at just about the time Syria was taken out of the doghouse by the US after they made some deal or other on Iraq and the US announced that it would be sending an ambassador to Syria. The STL is refusing to put the 10 false witnesses on trial or to provide any information relative to their false testimonies. These 10 witnesses are currently under the protection of the court.
The indictment is expected in a couple of weeks or so and it should name several senior Hizbullah operatives based on only circumstantial evidence built around cell phone calls that had been recorded at the time of the assassination. Considering that Israel had taken over complete control of Lebanon’s cell phone companies and has manipulated what’s there to manipulate, the indictment will be flatly refused by Hizbullah.
The object of the indictment and the court is to accuse the Shia Hizbullah of having killed the Sunni leader Hariri and have the crazy emotions between both groups trigger a civil war. The far reaching mandate of the STL can be used by the UNSC to reach at Syria and Iran. What is odd is that far more important people than Hariri have been assassinated but none have had a UN court set up to investigate their death. It is generally considered that what the US and Israel were unable to do to Hizbullah in the war of 2006, they are hoping to accomplish it via the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia and Syria are currently trying to get the STL to not indict Hizbullah members at this point top avert a civil war but it’s not in their control to stop it. There is a lot involved in this case and there is more than Hizbullah involved and it’s looking like there are several foreign states may have had a hand in it.
Thank Walid. This is most helpful – to everyone here I think. The Lebanese themselves should be pretty cynical by now as to the role of the STL and all the behind the scene machinations, and I kind of doubt the people will have much desire for strife, no matter what israel and the US are hoping for.
One more thing I am curious about. Surely Hezbollah has a plan to counter the pressures (mostly external) that may follow any “verdict”. What do you think the reaction will be from their side? would they actually agree to turn in whoever is named? is there a process in place for appeal or is the verdict final, leading to trial?
No appeal possible, Danaa, since it’s only an indictment and the actual trial where whoever is indicted can defend himself may take another 3 years to set up. Hizbullah considers an indictment as serious as an actual trial that would result in a guilty verdict because it feels that most of what it has going for it, is simply its reputation of being honest and loyal to the country and a simple indictment would tarnish that image and cause it irreparable harm. It was rumoured that a few months back, the younger Hariri advised Nasrallah that an indictment would be coming down implicating freelancing Hizbullah operatives that have nothing to do with the Hizbullah party itself and to not make an issue of it but that Nasrallah had categorically refused this indirect implication.
Today from the CBC-TV report that was very informative, it was stated that one of the people implicated somehow in the assassination is Hariri’s current chief of intelligence that is in charge of a special forces unit of 2000 soldiers in the ISF that reports directly to Hariri. According to the report, the UN investigators have known about this chief of intelligence for over 3 years but have never questioined him about it to avoid ruffling some feathers in the pro-US government.
The CBC-TV report is definitely what is called a “leaked report” by the STL. There has been leaked reports in the past months by Der Spiegel, Le Figaro, The WSJ and all of them very blatantly obvious plants but today’s CBC-TV report has me wondering about a few things because it appears more serious than the others and most probably what the indictments will be about.
Link to CBC-TV report provided by Antidote:
link to cbc.ca
I don’t know who killed Hariri but the sophistication of the way it was done is way beyond what Hizbullah’s capacities. There is a lot of talk about the actual explosion that made a 2-meter deep and 10-meter wide crater but did not level an adjacent 4-storey building which leads one to think that the blast resulted not from the alleged 1 ton of TNT placed in a roadside parked Mitsubishi truck but from an overhead smart missile from an aircraft. A couple of weeks back, the STL did a re-enactment of the blast at a site in Bordeaux with buildings and other structures duplicated exactly as the ones at the site of the Hariri explosion to determine how they would be affected by a 1 ton blast. This crime scene building business cost several millions to set up but ALL reporters were barred from witnessing the test blast. Lots of mysteries and all this Hariri-Syria-Israel-Hizbullah-US-Iran-Saudi story has gotten very tiring.
Thank you, Walid. Tiring, indeed. Reminds me why I detest spy novels.
One of the many mysteries is why Canada lost its UNSC seat bid for the first time (to Germany/Portugal). Among the dozen or so possible (and equally plausible) reasons discussed in the Canadian Press was lack of US support and strained relations between the Obama admin and the Harper government.
Speaking of political assassinations: The lack of cooperation of the German government (among many others) in the Hariri murder investigation brings to mind other current news regarding suspected Mossad hits on German politicians (all members of the parties that form the current government coalition btw).
Silverstein has it in English:
link to richardsilverstein.com
There’s also been much speculation about Sharon-critic Möllemann’s 2003 sudden death in the midst of scandal — accident, suicide or murder? The Mossad-connection was sparked by Möllemann (in his book: Klartext, published the same year) himself, who claimed that Israel had blackmailed party leader Westerwelle (currently FM), asking for Ms ‘head’ /removal from party/political office. The Möllemann case has haunted Westerwelle’s dealings with Israel ever since
link to spiegel.de
link to realnews247.com
The assassination attempt on first West German chancellor Adenauer was hushed up in the early years of the FRG:
link to haaretz.com
Antidote, Canada getting off the UNRWA bus may have had something to do with its UN loss. Another is its absolute loyalty to Israel and lack of criticism during Cast lead. The 57-member Islamic bloc states is a powerful voice when it’s not broken up by the US so it must have happened as you said with the US not helping Canada with the votes. I had no idea that relations between the US and Canada had become strained. Canada lost its prized neutrality with the close ties with Israel.
Walid, not strained US/CA relations per se, but negative repercussions wrt Obama/Harper dating back to Nafta-gate during the 2008 presidential campaign, details here
link to cbc.ca
One pundit blamed lack of US support on that blunder (can’t find it anymore), but here’s one report on the US vote:
link to nationalpost.com
Canadian born neocon and former Bush speech writer Frum spun this elaborate tale to explain the astonishing lack of US support
link to fullcomment.nationalpost.com
Apart from the pro-Israel position of CA and the Islamic bloc vote, the preference for Germany and Portugal over Canada has been attributed to their tougher stand on climate change and environmental policies, and a preference for strengthening the European presence in the UNSC
Canadian diplomats btw have complained that the prized neutrality of the Canadian Foreign Office has been compromised by Harper’s un-Canadian introduction of a top-down style along the US model of foreign policy
“Saudi Arabia and Syria are currently trying to get the STL to not indict Hizbullah members at this point top avert a civil war but it’s not in their control to stop it.”
Walid,would it be OK if you provided a source for this statement, if you can?
Occupyresist, there is no specific source but it’s being discussed in practically all the papers and TV new programs from the ongoing comings and goings and leaked information here and there. You’d never find a direct quote from the Syrians or the Saudis about what is actually happening but there sure is a lot of back and forth going on between the leaders to each other’s country and the Saudi visit to the US.
The parliamentary opposition group (Hizbullah and allies) have been demanding that the government put a stop to the tribunal but the government cannot stop it even if it wanted to, especially that it’s so close to indicting Hizbullah.
Walid, who is your source for all of this damning information, the former Stasi investigator Jürgen Cain Külbel. I am sure he doesn’t have an axe to grind with any Western countries?
I am sorry but I believe Wissam Eid, who mysteriously died after tying Hezbollah to the assassinations, than Mr. Külbel.
Yonira, the first investigator/prosecutor of the STL was the German judge Mehlis. that after the first 20 minutes of his mandate concluded that Syria did it and went about building his proof around that premise. Mehlis has been the subject of some “briberies” investigations himself and you probably don’t know that he was the prosecutor/investigator in the La Belle Disco bombing in Berlin where he had also arrived at a conclusion within 20 minutes of his mandate, that the guilty party had been Libya and he had proceeded to build his proof and conviction arouind that conclusion. As you know, because of this, the US bombed the hell out of Ghadaffi and killed one of his children during the bombing. It was later proven that Libya had nothing to do it with the La Belle Bombing. Most of the witnersses that had testified against Syria to Mehlis were eventually proven to be false witnesses that someone had used to set up the STL. Today these false witness that number 10 are under a witness protection provision by the STL. Half the cost of the STL is billed to Lebanon.
Ghaddafi’s girl who died in the bombing attack was adopted.
Excellent Walid,
Your account has been corroborated by Robert Fisk is a recent article for the Independent.
It’s also worth mentioning that even Hariri has said Israel has to be held to account for it’s role.
Fascinating stuff Walid.
I have 2 questions:
1. Do you think the Lebanese Sunnis and Shiites will fall for this STL indictment and allow themselves to be manipulated?
2. What role, if any, do you see Turkey taking in this? Do you think they’ll sit idly by and not get involved?
Shingo, did you read CBC report. Do you deny it all outright?
Yes I read I Yonira,
What a lame and apthetic piece fo propaganda. Not a single mention of the fact that an Israeli spuy ring had been caught, or mention fo Isreli drones tracking Hariri’s motorcade.
Walid’s account above runs rings aroung this tripe.
That’s right. Hezbollah’s account was non-existent. It was about 5 secs of Hasan(?) waving his arms about. No mention of the drone footage at all.
The CBC are clever. They could give Fox a run for their money. They like to project this image of concern for minorities by hiring many people “of color” as the saying goes. Their top “analysts” are often paunchy and balding, like the rest of us. Their top lady readers are starting to sag and spread out. In their big set pieces like last night’s “Exclusive” they toe the line but they’ll let someone squeak past in a “call in” segment to set the record straight so they can project an image of “fairness”.
The hypocrisy and faux outrage and posturing is nauseating.
Here are these UN investigators making such a song and dance about how justice must be done and what a travesty it will be for Hezbollah to get away with it, while Israel gets to spit on the Goldstone Report and the report on the Mavi Marmara.
Can anyone imagine the UN setting up an investigative unit inside Israel? And yet the west are carrying on about the sanctity of Lebanon’s sovereingty.
Shingo, I don’t think Turkey would get involved in anything other than continuing to bad-mouth Israel on its actions and just about all it could do to help would be to block its airspace for the air bridge that would be opened for arms from the US to Israel. The last time the UK was used for this purpose against EU rules but the story was snuffed out.
The Shia would not fall for the STL stuff as easily as the Sunni because they would be on the receiving end. It would be the Sunni starting the ball rolling to venge the Sunni Hariri and they’d be a loose uncontrollable crowd and those wishing to see a civil war started in Lebanon would be doing their utmost to rile them up. The Shia on the other hand would not raise a finger unless Nasrallah gives them the signal to do so, no matter how many of their numbers get killed but I think that once fighting starts, it would be a signal that Israel is about to attack and Hizbullah would be forced to fight on 2 fronts. Of course, it’s hoped that none of this will happen. The STL is round 3 of what was started by the anti-Hizbullah factions in 2006 and 2008.
It is fascinating stuff. Followers of Lebanon’s history would remember that just about the time Hariri was assassinated, the US with a bit of nudging from the Zionist lobby was preparing to freeze his $3billion assets in the States invested and managed by Hariri’s son (mostly in high tech companies and ownership of Houston’s tallest building, the JP Morgan-Chase Tower)and had blocked his building permit to build Washington’s biggest mansion for himself because he wouldn’t stop funding Hizbullah that was deemed a terrorist organization by the US. After his death, his son took over most of his empire and the red carpet was rolled out for him in the States and he became a frequent visitor to Bush’s White House. Hariri Sr was a fascinating man and extremely generous with his friends and those he liked. Chief among his very close friends was Chirac.
Thanks Walid,
I would be saddened to see the Sunnis falling for this. I realize there must be a fair degree of hostility towards Hezbollah on their part, but surely they realize the consequence of any attack on Hezbollah, which Israel is bound to join, would simply result in further destruction of the entire country.
NPR apparently lives in fear of offending the Jewish establishment and with good reason if one thinks solely in financial terms. Several years ago, WBUR in Boston, a major public radio station, was selected as the target of CAMERA for what the latter said was its anti-Palestinian coverage. The result: the loss of $1 million in underwriting following a campaign to pressure the station’s sponsors to take their money elsewhere.
May I also dare point out that NPR’s program hosts, with some notable exceptions are predominantly Jewish and quite likely, if they don’t necessarily feel necessary to indulge their tribal feelings, they operate in fear of those who do.
As for its coverage of Lebanon, NPR mimics the mainstream media in ignoring the strong support that Hezbollah enjoys within the Maronite Christian community. Not once have I seen or heard a reference in any of the US media, the support that Hez receives from the Free Patriotic Movement headed by former president and general Michel Aoun, and from two smaller Christian parties, one of them, Marada headed by Sulieman Franjieh, whose family has a long history in Lebanese politics.
Nor did we hear or read that the Hezbollah -Maronite coalition received 55% of the vote in the last election and only was prevented from taking power by the antiquated Lebanese election laws that were set up by the French prior to WW2.
The absence of this information in the US media is not a small thing or is it accidental. Were the American people, be they the listeners to NPR or watchers of Fox and everything in between to realize that Shia Hezbollah is part of a winning coalition with the major Christian groups it would demolish their attempt to portray Hezbollah as a Lebanese version of Al Qaeda or as one US “terror” expert called them, “The A Team of terrorism.”
Since Hezbollah cannot be considered a serious threat to US interests, who is calling the shots for the US media here? Yeah, folks, it needs frequent repeating: the Zionists shape the message about everything Americans read and hear about the Middle East in the mainstream media.
I also agree with Walid and others that whatever decisions this phony and unprecedented Israel-US generated tribunal comes up with, there will be no demand or pressure upon Hezbollah from the people of Lebanon to disarm. They know, as Aoun, has said, that were it not for Hezbollah, Israel would overrun the country and make it a vassal like Jordan and Egypt.
Trying to understand, why is NPR dependent so much on Jewish donations? That does not make intuitive sense as the Jews are such a small part of the US population.
Jews may be a small part of the US population but when it comes to (1) donating to liberal causes and (2) making major gifts to the Democratic Party. For example, in the 2000 presidential elections, of the top 400 individual donors to both political parties, 7 of the top 10, 12 of the top 20, and at least 125 of the top 250 (at which point I stopped counting, were Jews, and 75% of their money went to the Democrats.
This was part of a feature in Mother Jones called the MoJo 400, and they began running the list in 1996, then again in 1998, but quit after 2000 and took the list off its site when folks like myself start writing about what I described in the previous paragraph.
Jews have always given to political parties in proportions far exceeding their numbers and they have causes beyond Israel but for those in Congress, as the late Sen. Howard Metzenbaum once said, “as far as Congress is concerned, Jews have only one interest, Israel.”
What gives them clout is that these donors are not identified as supporters of Israel but as representing certain corporate categories, such as Communications, Real Estate, and Finance in which wealthy Jews tend to predominate as well as being more politically active than non-Jews.
Predictably, writing what I have just written will set off the alarm bells that most Jews have traditionall grown up with and raise accusations of anti-semitism or provoking anti-semitism. Since the facts back what I have written, those who are upset should take their complaints to those big check writers and bundlers.
The solution and moral form of action is not to accuse the Jews of giving too much, but to accuse the non-Jews of giving too little. All the non-Jews have to do is give a little more and by sheer numbers they would swamp the Jewish contributions.
It seems to me a much more productive and fair approach to castigate the non-Jews for not giving as much. Why are you critical of the Jews then?
What an extraordinary response? Why should non-Jews give more when the overflow of money in political campaigns has made a mockery of even the facade of democracy? The reason anyone donates major money to a politician the donor expects something in return. Most Americans do not have a specific agenda that requires the purchase of political prostitutes but it is clear that many wealthy Jews do. Haim Saban, an Israeli-American, gave $12.3 million to the Democrats in 2002 and the same amount to Brookings to develop the Saban Center on the Middle East, thus co-opting the last independent non-Zionist Washington think tank. Saban proudly says that his one interest is Israel and no one calls him on it. Triple eee’s answer would be that some non-Jew should give the same. But for what? Better deport the traitor and use the money for something positive.
I should amend that to say that Israel would TRY and make it a vassal like Jordan and Egypt. They should know by now, having watched the IDF’s vaunted reputation shredded twice by Hezbollah, that the third time the results will be even worse. I am sure that very few Israeli soldiers who ventured into Lebanon in the 2006 war have any desire to return. I suspect their sphincter muscles quiver at the very thought.
Another amendment altho probably everyone guessed. WBUR was targeted by CAMERA for what it claimed was NPR’s pro-Palestinian coverage, not anti-Palestinian as I first wrote.
To second what Jeffrey is saying, there is no question about the damage Israel inflicted and can still inflict on Lebanon from the air but on the ground it’s a completely different story. In 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon with a bout 40,000 troops, with IDF soldiers unable to remain in the battle zone for more than 2 or 3 days before begging to be relieved and repatriated, whereas Hizbullah had about only 3,000 professiobnally trained fighters and a couple of thousand part timers and these were able to hold their ground and hold off the 40,000 of the IDF. The Hizbullah fighters that bore the worst of the brunt were at Bint Jbail and these kept refusing to be relieved from their post during the whole 33 days of the war.
Also, Israel is always fighting a war based on data picked up from a previous war whereas Hizbullah is always innovating in strategy and tactics. The IDF keeps bragging that the next war will be easy for it because it has mastered all of Hizbullah’s 2006 tactics but it hasn’t realized that Hizbullah will be fighting with new ones next time around. With the horrible damage that Israel rained on Lebanon and the success Hizbullah had at holding them back, voluntary enrollement in Hizbullah reached unbelievably high levels and I hear talk that the number of professionally trained fighters is now in the many tens of thousands. How much of this is true and how much is make believe to spook Israel, no one knows but I wouldn’t be surprised if Israel gets visitors on its home territory in the next war, especially in light of some deal or other entered into last year between Hizbullah, Syria and Iran.
It would be interesting to see how Israel/US dealt with that at the UN, especially if there are Israeli citizens under even a temporary Hizbullah occupation.
Incoming Republican House Foreign Relations Chair Ros-Lehtinen threatens to cut off U.S. aid to Lebanon: FT: Republican seeks tougher line on foreign policy (by Daniel Dombey in Washington):
RE: Finkelstein wrote, “Setting aside the obvious propaganda and lies, it’s accurate: we’re approaching the endgame.”
SEE: How the US and Israel Hope to Destroy Hezbollah ~ Franklin Lamb, Counterpunch, 11/19/10
Look what Huffington Post has up.
Have you ever read a counter view to this sort of hogwash over there? Damn lopsided and racist
I Take Israel Personally
link to huffingtonpost.com
everyone always talks of turn swords into plowshares but there comes times when plowshares must be forged into swords and to beat the drums of war. there comes a time when the peaceful must go to war to ensure that they aren’t destroyed. Israel is going to force the a war its in its nature.