The Flashlight, July 29 - August 4, 2006

THE FLASHLIGHT, July 29 - August 4, 2006. Special Edition.

URL: http://theflashlightnet.blogspot.com

Special Note on Sources

Two American liberal newspapers, The New York Times and the Washington Post, are indispensable sources of fact, opinion, and editorials. However, when the state of Israel is prominent in the news, they should be read with caution. Their slant is expressed mainly in their omission or downplay of certain facts. In order to compensate for this, I have resorted to citing in addition the Guardian Unlimited, published in London. That great British newspaper is more reliable in reporting news of Israel because it is not influenced by the Israel Lobby in America, and because its owners are not Jewish.

For those unfamiliar with the history of American journalism, it may be helpful to know that that The New York Times was bought by Adolph Ochs, a Jew, in 1896. His grandson, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger. has been publisher since 1992. The Washington Post was bought in 1933 by Eugene Meyer, a Jew. His grandson, Donald E. Graham, the current CEO, is the son of Jewish mother and gentile father.

The television news channel CNN has been doing a good job with covering the news on the ground in the Middle East and presenting balanced analysis. However, on the program Anderson Cooper 360, on Thursday around 7:45 p.m., a shameless piece of Zionist propaganda was aired without any balancing commentary (see below)

A liberal Israeli source, critical of recent Israeli actions, is Ha’aretz, or haaretz. com.
Comedy Central made no comment on Middle East news this week. Jon Stewart is a Jew, and even Steven Colbert was uncharacteristically timid.

A Note on Lebanon

This small state at the eastern end on the Mediterranean has a California climate and snow capped mountains visible from its capital, Beirut, on the coast. Arabic is its official language, but many Lebanese also speak English and French. In peacetime it has a flourishing commercial and tourist economy. Before the current disaster it had a population of about four million, including 25% Sunni Muslims, 35% Shia Muslims (mostly supporters of Hizbollah), 35% Christians, and 5% Druze.

It has fifteen universities, the most prominent of which is the American University of Beirut, founding by missionaries over a century ago. The American University Hospital is the most important in Lebanon.

Lebanon is the only truly democratic country in the Middle East. Israel also makes that claim, but Arabs in Israel are second class citizens. Lebanon has a tradition of free speech and open political discussion. Historically it has been a refuge for religious minorities who found safety in villages tucked away in the mountains.

The Israeli and Hizbollah Conflict

On Sunday, 7-31, CNN reported that a mistaken Israeli attack on an undefended apartment building in the village of Qana (called Cana in the Bible, where Jesus was said to have gone to a wedding and turned water into wine). 56 villagers were killed, many of them children, it was reported. The pictures of children’s bodies being removed from the rubble caused international dismay. According to CNN the Arab “Street” was outraged.

Fuad Siniora, the prime minister of Lebanon, refused to see Ms. Rice again until there was a cease fire. Senator Hagel called for a cease fire, saying that the Israelis were systematically destroying Lebanon, an American friend.

Israel agreed to cease most air strikes for 48 hours so that civilians could flee South Lebanon. During this period Hizbollah ceased almost all rocket firing over Israel.
The Lebanese government announced that at least 800,000 Lebanese were homeless.
Israel then announced it would not agree to a cease fire. Its Cabinet voted to widen the ground war and call up its reserves.

CNN reports that now about 80% of all Lebanese support Hizbollah. The Lebanese want to integrate Hizbollah forces in its army, but cannot do so. It now wants an international force to occupy south Lebanon and enable the withdrawal of all Israeli forces.
PBS reported that for the first time since 1948 the Arabs had been able to hit Haifa. They said that in spite of all the death and damage, Hizbollah remained undefeated.

August 1. Writing in the NY Times, Richard Cohen said that the war in Lebanon was a debacle both for Israel and its enabler, the United States. He said that “Bush babbles inanely about a ‘moment of opportunity’ but the rest of the world has had it with Israel.”

Writing in Ha’aretz on 7-30 Gideon Levy said that in Israel collective punishment was now seen as legitimate. He said that a strident nationalist atmosphere and darkness were beginning to cover everything.

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch observing in Lebanon reported in the Guardian (London) said the deaths of Lebanese civilians appeared to be not accidental, not collateral damage. Israel pilots were killing civilians when there were no military objectives in sight. They even bombed convoys of fleeing people carrying white flags. He said that Human Rights Watch has no evidence that Hizbollah is intentionally endangering Lebanese civilians by fighting from civilian positions. The villagers are all saying that Hizbollah fighters are based in the hills. Bouckaert concluded that Israeli behavior toward Lebanese civilians appeared to be part of a deliberate policy. There is no evidence that Hizbollah is using civilians as “human shields”, as claimed by Israel.

TIME magazine, 8-7, appearing 8-1.
To its credit Time published a long article, pp. 27-30, explaining that Hizbollah and Hamas are not terrorist organization like al-Qaida. Al-Qaida is an international organization trying to unite all Muslims, and an enemy of powerful Western states, notably the US. Hizbollah and Hamas are guerrilla groups seeking to defend a home territory against Israel. They are anti-America only because it is an enabler of Israel. Hizbollah attacked American marine barracks in 1983 only because these were alien troops in their home country.
It also reported that Hizbollah has only one to four thousand fighters. Israel currently has an army of 10,000 in Lebanon.

August 2. The Guardian
In words that warm that heart of any peace lover, Richard Norton Taylor wrote, in an article on “The Futility of Force”, that you cannot bomb guerrillas into submission. Senior army officers have begun to accept that “military power might never win a war again.” In a leader, 8-2, the Guardian said that Hizbollah – at least in the eyes of the Arab public – has been transformed from a local Shia movement into a “more generalized symbol of resistance and hope.”

The Guardian reported that as a result of Israeli bombing of a Lebanese coastal power plant, 100,000 barrels of oil had been spilled into the sea off the coast of Lebanon, threatening serious environmental damage. The spill is moving north toward the Syrian coast. No cleanup is possible until hostilities stop.

CNN reported that Hizbollah had fired more than 200 rockets over Israel, a new record.

8-3. The New York Times reported on a meeting of representatives of all the religious communities in Lebanon, Muslim, Christian, et a., called by the Maronite Catholic Patriarch, which issued a joint statement condemning Israeli aggression, and hailing the resistance, mainly led by Hizbollah. This is one of the indications that most of the Lebanese are now anti-Israeli.

8-3, The Guardian

Fuad Siniora, the prime minister of Lebanon, announced that about 900 Lebanese had died and 3000 were wounded so far. One third of the casualties were children.

King Abdullah II of Jordan, previously friendly toward Israel, said he was “outraged” by the conflict in Lebanon and said it had weakened moderate Arabs in the Middle East (like himself).

CNN said that the Lebanese government claimed that two billion dollars worth of damage had been done to its infrastructure (bombed roads, bridges, airstrips, power plants et al.)

It also said that Hassan Nasrullah is alive and still in command of the Hizbollah fighters. Again, more than 200 rockets were sent over Israel.

8-3 An-Nahar, liberal Beirut newspaper [my translation from the Arabic]

According to its Washington correspondent, Hisham Melhem, a group of American Senators (unnamed) sent a letter to Lebanon’s prime minister, Fuad Siniora, criticizing the intensity of the Israeli attack on Lebanon and expressed deep concern for the vast losses, human and material, that have resulted. They supported the independence of Lebanon and promised economic aid. [No mention of this letter has appeared in American media so far.]

8-3, evening.. Hassan Nasralluh, head of Hizbollah threatened to bomb Tel Aviv “God willing.” if Israelis continue their obliteration of Beirut. Military commentators think he probably could do it.

In an article in the New Yorker, August 7 and 14, Emile Lahoud, President if Lebanon, said that brute force will not be decisive. Pointing to his head, he said, “In the end the battle is between the ears.”

CNN
President Bush, under intense pressure from abroad, is now pushing hard for a cease fire, probably early next week.

At about 7:45 p.m. on Anderson Cooper 360, Ambassador Gillerman of Israel, in a softball interview, blamed Hizbollah for all the damage done to Beirut and the infrastructure of Lebanon. He warned that this “terrorist” organization was a threat to US and European countries. This was followed by an interview with American General Grange who said that Hizbollah would like to get nuclear weapons and other WMD and that it should be crushed now before they did. Cooper said that there was no balancing comment because the broadcast was based in Israel. [What? Both Gillerman and Grange commented from inside the US: why no other commentator inside the US?]

8-4 NY Times
The Times said that freeing Arab prisoners in Israel was an important goal of Hizbollah. There are 9,700 of these prisoners, of which 100 are women, and 300 are younger than 18. They are in juvenile detention for acts against Israel (like rock throwing).

The Guardian reported that the Israelis have bombed four key bridges north of Beirut to prevent supplies from Syria from entering Lebanon. A later comment from CNN noted that it is summer and the rivers have run dry. Hence bridges are less important than in winter. [Supplies from Syria can also be brought into Lebanon at night over smuggler’s trails through the mountains. There may be a supply of donkeys and camels to help out.]

The Guardian commented, “Hizbollah has won by holding out for three weeks and inflicting serious disruption and pain on Israel.” The West has been damaged by the folly of supporting Israel’s Lebanese adventure.

Again, Hizbollah sent more than 200 rockets over Israel today. One rocket went farther than any other before, to Hadera, half way between Haifa and Tel-Aviv, and just 25 miles north of Tel Aviv.

Iraq

Violence continues unabated, with about a hundred people dying a day. It has four sources: tribal vendettas, criminal activity, sectarian violence, and insurgent acts. There is strong resistance to disarming militias.

7-31, NY Times. Congressional Democrats have united on an Iraq policy at last. The call is for the redeployment of US troops now in Iraq, beginning before the end of this year. [The thinking seems to be that civil war in Iraq now seems unstoppable and US troops should be removed from harm’s way. If the Republicans don’t do this they will be in harm’s way at the ballot box.]

8-4 Times. Tom Friedman, formerly a supporter of the Iraq War, now advocates a last ditch international conference [not likely] and says withdrawal is best, since leaving the troops there would make them vulnerable to an Iranian attack. The oil price would shoot up but that would stimulate America’s search for alternative fuels.

8-4 Times. Thousands of Iraqis in Baghdad demonstrated in support of Hizbollah and against Israel and its enabler, the United States.


US Politics

7-30 Washington Post. Senate Edward Kennedy charged that, after studying the voting records of Justices Roberts and Alito after their confirmation to the Supreme Court, he learned that they had concealed their views in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. They were consistently voting to expand presidential power, limit environmental protection, erode civil rights, et al. Kennedy said that henceforward no nominee for the Court would be allow to slip through the Senate Judiciary Committee by concealing his views. [There are now four conservatives on the Court. If another place is vacated when Bush is still in office, determined Democratic opposition may be expected against any of his future nominees.]

Ned Lamont now leads Joe Lieberman 54-41 for the Democratic nomination to the Senate in Connecticut. If this continues, Lamont could beat Lieberman in the final vote too.

Science, Religion, and Politics

Defenders of evolutionary theory defeated advocates of Intelligent Design in Kansas Board of Education primaries and are set to retake control.