Net Warfare - a Real Army Of Davids

NO, "Net Warfare" does not refer to Greenwald and Co.  This is a serious think-piece by the Times on the military concept of  a hybrid between a conventional and a guerilla army; the hook is the Hezbollah-Israeli showdown.  They describe, hmm, an army of Davids:

United States officials worry that they’re not prepared, either, for Hezbollah’s style of warfare — a kind that pits finders against hiders and favors the hiders.

Certain that other terrorists are learning from Hezbollah’s successes, the United States is studying the conflict closely for lessons to apply to its own wars. Military planners suggest that the Pentagon take a page out of Hezbollah’s book about small-unit, agile operations as it battles insurgents and cells in Iraq and Afghanistan and plans for countering more cells and their state sponsors across the Middle East and in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

The United States and Israel have each fought conventional armies of nation-states and shadowy terror organizations. But Hezbollah, with the sophistication of a national army (it almost sank an Israeli warship with a cruise missile) and the lethal invisibility of a guerrilla army, is a hybrid. Old labels, and old planning, do not apply. Certainly its style of 21st-century combat is known — on paper. The style even has its own labels, including network warfare, or net war, and fourth-generation warfare, although many in the military don’t care for such titles. But the battlefields of south Lebanon prove that it is here, and sooner than expected. And the American national security establishment is struggling to adapt.

“We are now into the first great war between nations and networks,” said John Arquilla, a professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a leading analyst of net warfare. “This proves the growing strength of networks as a threat to American national security.”

In a talk that Mr. Arquilla calls Net Warfare 101, he describes how traditional militaries are organized in a strict hierarchy, from generals down to privates. In contrast, networks flatten the command structure. They are distributed, dispersed, agile, mobile, improvisational. This makes them effective, and hard to track and target.

A net war differs from all previous wars, which were about brute confrontation of forces, mass on mass — what Matthew Arnold called bloody contests of “ignorant armies” meeting on the “darkling plain.”

Net war is the battle of the many, organized in small units, against conventional militaries that organize their many into large units. These network forces are not ignorant. They are computer literate, propaganda and Internet savvy, and capable of firing complicated weapons to great effect.

...

Hezbollah spent the last six years dispersing about 12,000 rockets across southern Lebanon in a vast web of hidden caches, all divided into local zones with independent command.

“They dug tunnels. They dug bunkers, they established communications systems — cellphones, radios, even runners to carry messages that aren’t susceptible to eavesdropping,” said one military officer with experience in the Middle East. “They divided southern Lebanon into military zones with many small units that operate independently, without the need for central control.”

To attack Israel, Hezbollah dispersed its fighters with no distinguishing markings or uniforms or vehicles. Fighters access the weapons only at the moment of attack, and then disappear. This makes preventing the attack all but impossible. It is a significant modernization of classic guerrilla hit-and-run tactics. Israel has been unable to significantly degrade the numbers of rockets because of this approach. Hezbollah fired more than 100 a day at the start of this conflict; they are still firing more than 100 a day, despite Israeli bombardment.

Hezbollah still possesses the most dangerous aspects of a shadowy terror network. It abides by no laws of war as it attacks civilians indiscriminately. Attacks on its positions carry a high risk of killing innocents. At the same time, it has attained military capabilities and other significant attributes of a nation-state. It holds territory and seats in the Lebanese government. It fields high-tech weapons and possesses the firepower to threaten the entire population of a regional superpower, or at least those in the northern half of Israel.

I am having no trouble getting very gloomy about the lebanon problem - I am not sure how Israel can "win" this round, and I can't imagine a lot of positive outcomes if they don't.

Comments

[Extraneus]

(Fingers crossed, Barney. That's just how I started reading and commenting here in the first place.)

[Gary Maxwell]

OT

Something big is happening in Baalbek Lebanon. IDF would not comment on reports and it sounds like they had multiple targets and may have figured out where the hostages were being held. If it is anywhere near as successful as the raid on Entebbe, it will go down as another amazing acheivement of the IDF.

Remeber the Bekaa vAlley was what was occupied by Syria until forced to leave, and has been the source of much speculation on Iraq shipments out of the country of ??? ( WMD) right before the war. Flash point.

The IDF is in the middle of the hornets nest.

[JM Hanes]

Clarice,

"In May the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) endorsed the use of DDT for indoor antimalarial treatment in the developing world."

Thank God, at long, long last!

Barney,
My heart goes out to you both, and along with all your pals here, I too wish you well.

[Extraneus]

Other Tom: "We are not fighting armies but a hostile people," Sherman wrote, "and we must make young and old, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war... I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptom of tiring till the South begs for mercy."

Who thinks the Israeli military disagrees with Sherman? And who thinks Olmert is over-ruling the military? I don't.

They know what they have to do. They know they have few friends in the world, and that the tide of public opinion flows against them even as their politicians make concession after concession. They know their enemies are implacable, mesmerized by ideology, single-mindedly focused on their extermination, and impervious to negotiation. They know, therefore, that all they can hope for is respect, and that the only way to earn it is to instill dread in their foes by killing large numbers of them, and by further punishing them for hiding among "civilians" by killing the civilians, too. They have very little to lose and much to gain my being ruthless, and there's no way they don't know that.

But first, they need to get the Hezbos concentrated and trapped. Then they can mow them down in a merciless display that won't soon be forgotten.

[ajacksonian]

lurker - The work of the military is a Nation State tool and may only be directed against commerce and such when Nation States use Total War conceptions. In that doing the entire industrial and production capability of a Nation becomes a legitimate target. This was the escalation that started with the first aerial bombings of London in WWI and then re-started in WWII, with Imperial Japan doing much the same vice China and the USSR in the interim before the War went global. But for smaller problems, the military is *not* the tool, save to do such things as eliminate piracy and perform home waters inspection. Law enforcement, as a tool, only does as well as the law does and requires foreign help when overseas. For many Nations actually *helping* the US is a problematical concept, in and of itself. Unless the entire US State Department gets a deep recasting as the Department of Retief diplomacy will continue to remain a sinecure of specialists cycling in and out of lobbyist positions. Each and every Cabinent member and Head of each Agency or Department that has a 'dog in this fight' has said, to paraphrase: we are doing everything we can do against terrorism and it is *not* enough. From DoD to Treasury.

When all of the tools of Government are *not* enough to fight an enemy that is weaving between the interstices of the Nation State system, there is only one place to turn: We the People. Warrants for Letters of Marque and Reprisal will do this job if Congress ever gets the guts for it. Unfortunately the Landed Aristocracy Upon The Hill dare not do that because the plebians might get the idea that they actually have a *say* in the direction of the Nation.

Even if this current conflict busts open and gets Nation States serious about *being* Nations and adhering to the responsibilities *of* Nations, the Transnational weed of terrorism has deep roots in weak States. Cutting off the most noxious heads and major State supporters still leaves the basic networking intact for *new* groups to form, nurture, and spin-up very quickly. Removing terrorism as a *tool* or *methodology* that does not lead to National identity will guarantee that this cycle of terrorism will repeat for the next generation for *them* to deal with. That will be our wonderful gift to them if we fail in this... and the Nation State and individual liberty as a concept might go down the tubes if we fail... then terror and tyranny will be the gift to those that follow us across this planet.

[PeterUK]

Gary,
There was a report,yesterday IIRC,of the Lebanese Army firing on Israeli helicopters trying to land in the Bekaa,the home base of Hezbollah.It would ssem that the IDF is in front and behind the Hezbollah lines in Southern Lebanon.

[lurker]

France just announced that it will boycott talks on int’l force in Lebanon in the Thursday scheduled meeting.

[larwyn]

Dear Barney,
Know that I will also be praying for your wife and for you.
God's Blessings.

[maryrose]

Barney:
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your wonderful wife. God Bless you both. We will be thinking of you and wishing for your wife's speedy recovery.

[Extraneus]

Just a rhetorical question...

If Israel came out and announced that they don't give a damn what the UN or anyone else suggests, aren't looking for anyone's help in ending hostilities, that this is between them and Hezbollah and therefore they'd only consider a cease-fire request if it came straight from Nasrallah personally, and that the rest of the non-involved countries should just shut up and mind their own business, what would happen?

[Jane]

>Something big is happening in Baalbek Lebanon

Fox is reporting that they think it is an attempt to kidnap a hezbollah bigwig to use as barter.

[lurker]

Lebanese: IDF tried to kidnap senior Hizbullah member

And witnesses reported seeing the Jews taking people away.

[lurker]

Extraneous, Nasrallah will never agree to a ceasefire.

[lurker]

Regarding Letter of Marque and Reprisals and American Revolution War, WWI, and WWII, how come combat ended up winning the war; not the Letter of Marque and Reprisals?

How can a letter of Marque and Reprisals reach someone like Nasrallah and stop a war?

[lurker]

"Removing terrorism as a *tool* or *methodology* that does not lead to National identity will guarantee that this cycle of terrorism will repeat for the next generation for *them* to deal with."

So that's why there's consideration in bringing in some Hezbollah people into the Lebanon army as legitimate soldiers?

[lurker]

Film about recovery of Qana building. Graphic.

The Green Helmet man is seen talking to the TV crew towards the end of this film.

Larwyn, you notice anything peculiar in this film other than several corpses with their arms sticking up in the air?

[Extraneus]

Nasrallah will never agree to a ceasefire.

So? Who wants a cease-fire, and why?

[Gary Maxwell]

OT

From YNET

It remains unclear whether the operation was successful, but witnesses said “the Jews took some people with them.”

First we have Hezbullah saying they had the Israeli commandos trapped in the Bekaa. Now we start to get the real story. Sounds like a high raking member of Hizbullah will be the guesst of the IDF for the time being.

[Extraneus]

Maybe it's the green-helmet guy.

[ed]

Hmmm.

Good Lord! **420** comments?

Y'all have my permission to take a break, hit the bathroom and get a fresh beer.

Take 5!

[Gary Maxwell]

OT AGAIN

Just found this at No Left Turns. This is your CIA:

In a now notorious bungle, back in 1986 the CIA judged that real per capita income in East Germany was higher than in West Germany. In 1986. 1986. As Pat Moynihan mordantly noted, "Any taxi driver in Berlin could tell you that was utter nonsense." The trouble, of course, is that the CIA didn’t employ any taxi drivers in Berlin. Instead, they hired Harvard, Yale, and Princeton graduates who thought the idea that socialist economy in eastern Europe could produce a higher standard of living than West Germany was perfectly plausible. And in recent years the CIA thinks. . . well, no need to go there.

[Jane]

well the good news is that for all intents and purposes Nasrallah is done. Like bin Laden he can never show his face again. No matter what happens to Lebanon, he won't be a part of it.

So long...

[clarice]

We have a name for green helmet..Abu Shadi Jradi, and Eureferendum sticks by its story.

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/08/we-need-to-know-truth.html

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=21884_Wire_Services_Defend_Staged_Photos&only

[topsecretk9]

Barney
I can not begin to imagine what you and your wife are facing and dealing with. I am just very sorry. I am glad you still check in to JOM, and always look forward to hearing from you. Hang tight brother, and you know that - anon as we are - you got a band of friends here. I will say a little prayer for your wife often.

[larwyn]

Lurker,
"old Betsy" doesn't do videos.
Sure many will be on it and able to go frame by frame.

Loved the ConfederateYankee post on refrigerated trucks and the unburied from Tyre - then Red Cross puts victims at 28 - 27 in one of the trucks that headed to Qana.

Only way to pressure the LSMers to get tale out is that once the forensics are in, the "talking heads" on Israel's and our side have to get on CNN and MSNBC and most important those network morning shows and raise BLOODY HELL!!!

Pray that the Israelis are making another Entebbi (sic) movie as I type. Praying for them.

Bekaa valley may be where some of Saddams WMD found new home. Will the Hezzies dare to use it. We know that Syria also produces Chem weapons. If the Israelis get any whiff of it - who cares if we blame it on Saddam or Syria.
Either way we've got all the bloody bastards! Then let the "lets talk to them" failures keep up that meme.
Getting ahead of myself - back to praying for Israeli success in Bekaa.

[Extraneus]

Speaking of LGF and civilian casualties...

[SunnyDay]

Larwyn, it bothers me that you enjoy this so much, contribute great stuff, but you don't have a computer that is up to it all.

Check http://www.freecycle.org/ and see if there is a group in your area. Where I am, people often give away a fairly up to date computer on freecycle, just because they got a newer one. Don't be insulted, I get goodies there all the time, as well as donate my own stuff that's no longer needed. ;)

Barney Frank, my thoughts and prayers to you and your wife. It is a deep valley. I've been there with my Mom.

[larwyn]

A newer EU Referendum:
Game, set and match -EU Ref.

Well, I never. The news agencies that stitched up the photos at the Qana site have all huddled together and got AP staff writer David Bauder to issue a story rebutting lil ol' EU Referendum. And the imaginative title? "News agencies stand by Lebanon photos".

To engineer this massive intellectual feat, Bauder – who contacted this site asking us to ring him in New York at our own expense to answer his questions, but did not respond to our e-mail offering this blogger's telephone number – relied on the one post, but clearly did not bother to read the others, and particularly the latest, which already anticipated the points he was to make.

AP's Bauder then sets about rebutting it, declaring "information from its photo editors showed the events were not staged, and that the time stamps could be misleading for several reasons, including that web sites can use such stamps to show when pictures are posted, not taken." Note, however, the use of the word "can". He does not say that the "date stamps" are wrong.
RTWT

Sunnyday
Thank you for that. I was all ready to get a larger laptop with a dock and wireless mouse/keyboard for normal home use and to be able to take laptop if needed to hosp/phys therap - then grandson broke collar bone on July 7th. His summer job was all brawn at a garden center/ delivering and set up of large concrete stuff/gazeb&shed assemb etc. Lots of rain in JUne cut into his hours and now this has wiped out month of June for him to earn before he heads back to school. So I may just do this as stopgap so I can keep that "emergency" fund full if he needs some extra funds. Not easy to be a scholarship kid at a very elite top ivy - always think of "Scent of a Woman".

[lurker]

News blackout imposed on American arms flights refuelling at British bases

Good for UK!

[lurker]

Elite Yael unit clears the way for IDF

First paragraph sez:

"Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah promised hell for the IDF on the ground in southern Lebanon. He may not have heard of the Engineering Corps' elite Yael (Ibex) unit."

Well, Nasrallah sure got hell for himself alone!

[larwyn]

BREAKING!!!!
FOX reporting comming over wire -
Israelis have captives and out of the Bekaa and safe.

Guess we expect the "hospital" to
empty its morgue and call in the press!!!

[lurker]

Hizballah Is On The Ropes

Looks like Syria has abandoned Nasrallah.

What's the latest on tonight's news?

Fox News says Israel captured guerillas at Baalbek Hospital.

[lurker]

Larwyn, the reason I asked you about the video is that I could not find a single match between the kid corpse shown on the video against the photos splashed by those three news station.

Maybe...maybe just one.

As for others that have the ability to watch the video, can you find a match?

[lurker]

The link to "Hiz on the Ropes" has some interesting responses. No wonder Israel is beating the UN clock to get that advantage it wants BEFORE UN votes to pass a Chapter 7 resolution.

[larwyn]

Cooper also reporting Israelis are home and captives are in Israel from Baalbeck in Bekaa Valley!!!

God Bless Them.

Maybe Mel will get the movie rights - heard that Disney isn't going to let him do the mini-series. So maybe Bruce will have
to put it to film.

Lots of "interesting to note" and rather a sense of gloom at CNN in response to the success of this brave/audacious move by Israelis.

[lurker]

Well, they deserved it!

Pajamas media showed a picture of the Israeli soldiers cross the Israeli - Lebanon border with llamas!

Llamas

[larwyn]

Lurker,
Hope the E U Ref people have the video link. They are rather livid at the LSMers response. Just posted the link above.

CNN already has captions:
15 LEBANON CIVILIANS KILLED IN BAALBECK

[lurker]

Larwyn, and the world will go crazy over the civilians killed.

I also posted at AJStrata, asking him if he had a chance to watch the video.

[clarice]

Civilians with powder burns on their hands no doubt.

[Gary Maxwell]

Apparently both Fox News and CNN are now reporting the Special Forces troops are now safely bakc in Israel with their intended prisoners. Hospital was in fact headquarters for the hezbollah ops in the area. Civilians were either, troops not in uniform or shields or unfortunate to be in the proximity of Hezbollah when the IDF showed up. Another good reason to disarm Hezbollah I would tell them.

[clarice]

BAALBEK, Lebanon, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Israeli airborne commandos snatched at least three Hizbollah members in an attack on the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek overnight, security sources said on Wednesday.

They identified the men as Hussein Nasrallah, Hussein al-Burji and Ahmed al-Ghotah and described them as low ranking members of the group. The captured Hussein Nasrallah has the same name as a key Hizbollah official.

(No commandos injured)

[lurker]

So not much of a bargaining chip?

[Gary Maxwell]

(No commandos injured)

As opposed to the Hezbollah propaganda that they had the commandoes surrounded. Must have brought a knife to an Uzi fight.

[larwyn]

Tomorrow's News Today
Just in from commenter at BelmontClub:

Boghie said...
Just in from CNN, The Guardian, and al-Jazeera!!!

"About four hours from now the hospital will collapse on top of a baby milk factory employing women and children in one of the few free market enterprises still existing in Southern Lebanon."

and...

"Jooish Nazi Stormtroopers kidnapped civilians across an internationally sanctioned border and are torturing them in office space rented out at Gitmo."

and... and...
"Hezbollah spokesmen state that they cannot lose and will never give up. Under the Iranian Embassy, in a baby milk factory, surrounded by pregnant women, during a wedding party, this Hezbollah statesman is telling the world that he and his are the bravest, most capable Islamic Army in the world!!!" Then the Satanic Jooish Jets scream overhead. "Grab your weapons and run..."

8/01/2006 09:04:53 PM

[clarice]

Heh--

[larwyn]

AP letter to staffers leaked to LGF - must see if EU REF has email
address - they were already rather livid.

Dear Staffers:

Last Sunday proved to be one of the most dramatic days in the war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. AP’s extensive photo team produced a stunning series of images that day that beat the competition and scored huge play worldwide.

Rumors surfaced early Sunday morning that an Israeli airstrike had flattened a house in the southern Lebanese village of Qana. The number of deaths wasn’t immediately known, but the seriousness of the incident was clear. Beirut-based photographer Hussein Malla immediately called AP photographers Nasser Nasser, Lefteris Pitarakis and stringer Mohammed Zaatari and advised them to rush to the scene. Nasser arrived as the bodies of many civilians — including numerous children — were being pulled from the rubble. Lefteris later took over, enabling Nasser to get his pictures swiftly onto the wire. Kevin Frayer was dispatched from Beirut to boost AP’s presence. Throughout the morning, AP’s team filed a steady stream of powerful images.

Meanwhile, in Beirut, a small Hezbollah demonstration exploded into violence at word of the Qana attack. Hezbollah supporters stormed the nearby United Nations building, scaling walls and smashing their way past bulletproof glass barriers to enter the building itself. Photographers Hussein Malla, Kevork Djansezian and Ben Curtis were all there to capture the rioting. Beirut-based photo editor Dalia Khamissy coordinated with photographers in the field and handled a steady stream of stringer photos. All day long, AP photographers relayed what they were seeing to AP reporters for print stories.

Nasser’s most haunting image showed a man emerging from the rubble carrying the lifeless and dust-covered body of a child. Calm, morning light shone down on man and child, highlighting them against an almost monochrome background of pure rubble. ... Nasser’s image ran on the front pages of at least 33 newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Post. It also won a double-page center spread in The Guardian of London. Lefteris’s image of a resident weeping next to a row of bodies made the front of The Washington Post, among many others. Hussein, Kevork and Ben’s images of the storming of the UN building easily beat those of the competition.

For a day of outstanding a memorable photos, taken in conditions of substantial danger, the Lebanon photo team of Nasser Nasser, Lefteris Pitarakis, Kevin Frayer, Mohammed Zaatari, Ben Curtis, Hussein Malla, Kevork Djansezian and Dalia Khamissy shares this week’s $500 Beat of the Week award.

[larwyn]

AP letter to staffers leaked to LGF - must see if EU REF has email
address - they were already rather livid.

Dear Staffers:

Last Sunday proved to be one of the most dramatic days in the war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. AP’s extensive photo team produced a stunning series of images that day that beat the competition and scored huge play worldwide.

Rumors surfaced early Sunday morning that an Israeli airstrike had flattened a house in the southern Lebanese village of Qana. The number of deaths wasn’t immediately known, but the seriousness of the incident was clear. Beirut-based photographer Hussein Malla immediately called AP photographers Nasser Nasser, Lefteris Pitarakis and stringer Mohammed Zaatari and advised them to rush to the scene. Nasser arrived as the bodies of many civilians — including numerous children — were being pulled from the rubble. Lefteris later took over, enabling Nasser to get his pictures swiftly onto the wire. Kevin Frayer was dispatched from Beirut to boost AP’s presence. Throughout the morning, AP’s team filed a steady stream of powerful images.

Meanwhile, in Beirut, a small Hezbollah demonstration exploded into violence at word of the Qana attack. Hezbollah supporters stormed the nearby United Nations building, scaling walls and smashing their way past bulletproof glass barriers to enter the building itself. Photographers Hussein Malla, Kevork Djansezian and Ben Curtis were all there to capture the rioting. Beirut-based photo editor Dalia Khamissy coordinated with photographers in the field and handled a steady stream of stringer photos. All day long, AP photographers relayed what they were seeing to AP reporters for print stories.

Nasser’s most haunting image showed a man emerging from the rubble carrying the lifeless and dust-covered body of a child. Calm, morning light shone down on man and child, highlighting them against an almost monochrome background of pure rubble. ... Nasser’s image ran on the front pages of at least 33 newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Post. It also won a double-page center spread in The Guardian of London. Lefteris’s image of a resident weeping next to a row of bodies made the front of The Washington Post, among many others. Hussein, Kevork and Ben’s images of the storming of the UN building easily beat those of the competition.

For a day of outstanding a memorable photos, taken in conditions of substantial danger, the Lebanon photo team of Nasser Nasser, Lefteris Pitarakis, Kevin Frayer, Mohammed Zaatari, Ben Curtis, Hussein Malla, Kevork Djansezian and Dalia Khamissy shares this week’s $500 Beat of the Week award.

[richard mcenroe]

Is it time perhaps to suggest that this time it is the right who are screaming "quagmire" with no idea what they are talking about?

Look, outside of the newspapers, Hezbollah has NO control over this situation at this point. Israel will attack when and how it chooses, and Hezbollah can't prevent it. Israel can move and is moving on the ground in overwhelming force against objectives. Their air supremacy is so complete that they can deploy forces deep in enemy territory by vulnerable helicopters.

It is not 'an army of Davids' when it can be cut off and destroyed piece by piece, defeated in detai is the term. When Israel attacks one Hezbollah element, if it defends in place, it dies. If it tries to hide in its mighty underground bunkers it dies in its holes like the Belgian fort garrisons in 1940. If it tries to flee, or other elements try to move to its support, those elements are exposed and attacked in the open.

The only think Israel can do wrong at this point is allow "world opinion" or diplomatic pressure to dictate its operational tempo. Fortunately, the 'progressives' of the West have spent so much time and effort divesting from and boycotting Israel that they have very little left to pressure the Israelis with.

[larwyn]

Richard
Terrific analysis:
"Fortunately, the 'progressives' of the West have spent so much time and effort divesting from and boycotting Israel that they have very little left to pressure the Israelis with."

It is so pertinent - the world/UN opinion of them couldn't get worse.
The UN's "Human Rights Commission" has already agreed that they will get a "report on Israel's violations" at every meeting.
Hope that you read the article in "The Brussels Journal" "Farewell to the UN?" linked by Lurker (I think) it is frightening how the UN is working to promote Islamist causes.

Hope that the Jews in America wake up - 75% vote for the UN loving DEMS. Sad.

Post a comment

[Semanticleo]

"Hezbollah has NO control over this situation at this point."

Yes Mac, truly brilliant analysis. The problem is chaos, like an action or suspense movie, is relatively easy to make. The same
overwhelming force has been executed in Iraq
for more than three years now. We see how that's working, don't we.

[PeterUK]

Oh look! It's little Septicleo,confusing the IDF with the Coalition.
Chaos and suspense movies require totally different mechanisms,here however the IDF is engaged in creative destruction,it is only chaos for Hezbollah.
When the opposition can attack all around them,they have lost control of the battlespace,no wonder Nasrallah is hiding in Damascus,he must be prescient.

[lurker]

300 rockets fired into Israel today plus one long range hitting West Bank.

Muslin Brotherhood jihadists joined the Hezzies today.

Bring it on. It's only the beginning! It's now on Israel's side. A major psy-ops war.

Senate passed a bill to transfer Mt. Soledad to federal ownership. On its way to Bush for signature. About time.

There's also a new bill in the House under consideration to stop taxpayer funds from gooing to ACLU. Write your senators and representatives.

The "House of Dems" wrote a letter to Bush saying that they "crossed over" to push back Bush. November is gonna get very interesting!

[lurker]

BTW, coalition chaos? Typical of post WWII and American Civil War. Confident this will resolve itself in time as it did after WWII and American Civil War.

The main concern after this war is the use of nuclear, bio, and chemical weapons.

And...what's up with North Korea?

[larwyn]

Lurker,
Just posted on Judy Miller thread
priceless wisdom from Nancy Soderberg in NYT and Ignatius in WaPO.
Actual wisdom is from Gaffney's WSJ column:
This one is sensible and not nuanced, reason the intellectuals and dips won't understand it.
"In its war on terror, the U.S. would never accept the limits being pushed on Israel...Gaffney,WSJ

[lurker]

Thanks, Larwyn, I will read it later...on my way to work. But I see that Murtha is being sued for his statements made about Haditha. And he made those statements outside Congressional sessions, which makes him liable.

The Marine troops should file a lawsuit against Human Rights as well. Someone should email these troops with this suggestion.

And Kerry's event was not well-attended.

Indicative of the November results?

[Extraneus]

Good post from Gaffney, lurker. Seems too obvious to even write, but I guess it's not. I think this is due to the lack of a clear statement from the Israeli gov't. You would think they'd say "We don't need any help from the UN or international community at this time," or something along those lines, but for some reason they don't.

[Extraneus]

Ooops. larwyn.

[Gary Maxwell]

OK now the reports of the Commando raid say that despite being spotted early on, the Commandos suffered no injuries! The gang who cant shoot straight = Hezbollah. And they came back with 5 prisoners after examining everyone's ID at the "hospital"( it has at least two functions of which one is a headquarters for Hezbollah ). I bleieve the quote from Ehud Ohmert was the raid netted some "tasty fish".

[Sue]

Indicative of the November results?

Indicative of Kerry...

[lurker]

Re: Kerry! Ha! :)

I see Europeans reaching out to Hezbollah's backers in bid to end crisis

But

Iran's top leader pledging to stand with Lebanon in fight against Israel.

Think EU will be successful? Not much hope!

When will the Hezzies realize that firing more or less rockets will have no affect into what Israel will do this? Sounds like one of their remaining desperate moves.

[clarice]

Max Boot on why peace activism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-boot2aug02,0,690198.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

[larwyn]

VanDerLeun, today with "Child Care". As you read this and the excerpts from a Robert Godwin post think how Arab children who see the way Jews treat their children must feel.
I know how I felt as a child when I watched "Father Knows
Best" that my family wasn't right. My father took his suit off before supper and my mom didn't click around the house all day in heels perfectly dressed. That silliness made me angry inside and sure that these people weren't my real family.
I can only extrapolate that to how those children must feel.

Child Care by VanDerLeun

Children are easy.
One gun will rule dozens.
Shoot one, the rest will obey.

Children are easy
To keep and control.
No need to water or feed.

Children are easy.
Their tears are quite tiny.
No need to hear them or heed.

Children are easy.
They gather in schools.
It's simple to beat them en masse.

Children are easy.
Their bones are like sticks.
You can snap them in two if you please.

Children are easy,
And much cheaper to kill.
One bullet can blow away three.

Children are easy.
There will always be more
For the bags, for the bags, for the bags on the floor.

Vanderleun : August 1, 06

The Crack and the Crock at the Foundation of History (updated)

Q: You said, "The default religion of human beings is the practice of human sacrifice. This pathological virus planted deep in the heart of the human species has been given insufficient attention by scholars. Virtually all primitive cultures and ancient civilizations engaged in it." You state further, "Obviously, the foundation stone of Judaism is the injunction against human sacrifice, when God tells Abraham not to kill him a son out on highway 61.

...........
As the writer puts it, “Paganism has the advantage of being older than Christianity, the faith which arouses most of the hatred of the pseudo-intellectuals of our time.... Much of Islam today seems to have more in common with the pagan religions which preceded its founding in the seventh century. No clearer case of child sacrifice exists now than radical Islam’s cult of suicide bombings...” Who is that voice telling Muslims to murder children--both their own and others'? Could it be the same voice that told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? No: could it possibly not be the same voice?

As a psychologist, I see the story of Abraham and Isaac as a primordial, archetypal tale of how barbarous pagans stopped listening to their psychotic, child-hating "god," and instead took a right turn in history, discovered the God of Love, and became the Jews that we know and love. That little crack of light that opened up in antiquity runs in a straight line to us. Another line leads to contemporary Islam and its allies among the international Left. It is so obvious, and yet people do not see. This occasionally causes me real despair, as if the foundations of the West are being eroded in plain sight, on one side by Islamic do-badders, on the other side by leftist do-gooders.

Imagine how the Arab children feel and how they project those feelings onto the caring parents and loved children of the Jews.

....."when they love their children".....

[Semanticleo]

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

Samuel Johnson

[clarice]

From a poster on another Board who is a true genius:
"The Jews have decided enough is enough. Thousands of years of fleeing jealous incompetants with hooded sheets and swastikas is enough. Zionists? Israelis? Whatever. They've recognized the absolute truth of this Universe, as aptly pointed out by labor leader A. Philip Randolph:
[b]
"At the banquet table of nature there are no reserved seats. You get what you can take, and you keep what you can hold. If you can't take anything, you won't get anything; and if you can't hold anything, you won't keep anything. And you can't take anything without organization."[/b]

While the world talks and does nothing, either Hezbollah, Hamas and the local hood wearers, all the way back to Arafat's Uncle Nazi, periodically line up their tanks/bottle rockets on the border and get the living shit kicked out of them ...again, or they learn not to lurch from political struggle to megapolitical struggle without paying the price.

Reason does not win megapolitical struggles. Argument does not win megapolitical struggles. Talk does not win megapolitical struggles. PR campaigns do not win megapolitical struggles. Those who lurch the conflict from political to megapolitical accept the rules of megapolitical conflict in a modern world that has demonstrated over and over and over and over again that it wants nothing more than to to everything possible short of doing anything in the face of megapolitical action.

The Israelis have no fear of the world community suddenly leaping into action on this. The UN was already on the ground. AGAIN.

"We'll have another meeting on Thursday, to agree to talk about it."

At this rate, Israel doesn't have to worry how long it takes to reduce Hezbollah to any level it wants. The world community will do only what it does best: nothing."

[lurker]

Good post, Clarice. Israel knew what they were doing from the beginning. Olmert has made the right decisions so far.

Here comes Arlen Specter to...probably...reject the WH bill over tribunals.

Tribunals

[larwyn]

BelmontClub commenter has solved problems of UN & Diplo speak -
RWE said...

I recommend we name our next long range heavy bomber the "Sanction"

The replacement for the Minuteman ICBM the USAF is planning to buy should be named the "U.N. Sanction"

The US Navy could build a "International Sanction Class" of aircraft carriers.

The follow-on to the M1A1 Abrams for the Army and Marines could be called the M3A1 "Diplomatic Message"

Ambs Kirkpatrick and Bolton would be perfect for ships' christening.

[larwyn]

Clarice,
That was great.
Want to see the crazies in full force - FOX is televising Tony Snow's press conference.
They want Admin to repeat the mistakes and probably dream that GW will get caught with Ann Coulter too.

[PeterUK]

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

Samuel Johnson

Good quotation Septic,you flunked Irony I see.

[Semanticleo]

PUK;

commenting on half the facts again?

The earlier quote ".....last refuge of a
scoundrel" was SJ.

Triple irony, much?

[PeterUK]

"commenting on half the facts again?"

No Septic,commenting on half the wits.

Take my advice, stick to a language you can understand and take the Dictionary of Quotations back to the School Library.

[clarice]

Larwyn I love your posts today, too. I have a rule rarely broken, not to turn on TV until 5 p.m. and then to only listen while I do other things (except for Brit). I find watching more just reduces my brain to pablum.

[Semanticleo]

"take the Dictionary of Quotations back to the School Library."

For your sake, I'll think about it......

You are hereby obliged to,
not only read my posts, but to comment
on them as well. Make it so.

[Extraneus]

Good map.

[PeterUK]

Anybody know if Septicleo has posted recently? I miss the garbled syntax,clumsy over use of adjectives,the peerless harwlfittedness and general Septicleotic peurility of the creature.True Septic was like a strange,unspeakable stain on the pages of wisdom here,somewhat akin to using chewing gum for a book mark in the Bible,or spray can graffiti on the walls of the Sistine Chapel,but nonetheless Septic made a mark on the culture of this planet,we can only wish her a safe journey back to her own world.
Anybody know a good carpet cleaners?

[larwyn]

Clarice,
On TV. Other than the Challenger, the 1st Gulf War and the battle over the outcome of FLA
vote, only time the TV was on in my home during daytime was for Mr.Rogers and Sesame Street - that is until 911.
What works for me combining it with my beloved blogs is the resting of my eyes. Turning to the TV screen doesn't require the concentrated focus of reading the screen. When something is on I want to pay attention to - I do the prep for evening meal. That's why I miss names, probably chopping garlic.

It really is interesting the gloom on CNN & MSNBC - they mouth the Baalbeck as daring, BUT.....

Ware, the Aussie who used to be with Time (or Newsweak) now bigtime
CNNer has buddied up with the Hezzies -had letters of reference from Za-kow-wi (how soon we forget those beheaders) so he's doing tours of the hospital. Per CNN they got a baker and a janitor or some such. Sounds like all the Dons/restaurants owners.

Wish I could write - amazing character studies, more layers exposed with each day.

Looking forward to Syrian Amb Imad
Mustafa (just think Mesphollis(sic))- he's doing a better and better parody of that inveterate liar character on SNL.

And finally CNN is just so PROUD that they have a bureau in Cuba.
Only CNN has one. What tales can
Eason Jordan tell about that one?

The rantings of relief that no one, other than the Israeli politicians are going to stop Israel.

Bet there are a lot of U S Marines trying to get dual citizenship right now. Which makes me think of
the lines from Blair today:

Why are we not yet succeeding? Because we are not being bold enough, consistent enough, thorough enough, in fighting for the values we believe in.

Bold would be that all the countries that lost men in the last visit to Lebanon, would say
"we're comming back with very different ROE - like ammo in our weapons".

I'll stop, but Haig was on and he's pleased and biting at the bit.

[larwyn]

Mestopholles?? Peter help!

[Semanticleo]

"Septic made a mark on the culture of this planet,we can only wish her a safe journey back to her own world."

Presto!

PUK, you are just too easy.

[PeterUK]

"Septic made a mark on the culture of this planet,we can only wish her a safe journey back to her own world.
Anybody know a good carpet cleaners?"

[PeterUK]

Larwyn,
"Mestopholles?? Peter help!"

No the "BLOB".

[clarice]

larwyn I wish your health and computer were better because your brain and insight is nonpareil and you deserve the braodest audience for your thoughts.

[Patton]

Semantleo: ""The problem is chaos, like an action or suspense movie, is relatively easy to make. The same
overwhelming force has been executed in Iraq
for more than three years now. We see how that's working, don't we."""

Yes, some of us don't like chaos, we prefer people die quietly by the hundreds of thousands in mass graves, or through starvation and malnutrition due to our sanctions. But for heaven sake, don't make us watch the fight between free people and terrorist fanatics.

How is it that the same liberals who sat back and enjoyed killing 3 million Iraqis through sanctions, starvation and malnutrition and allowing Saddam to remain in control of their little concentration camp where he ran rape rooms, child prisons and mass killings of prisoners, have such issues with people who are confronting and defeating those terrorists like Saddam.

Apparently they just don't want to see it on their TVs. They want CNN to cut deals with the terorists so they can do fluff pieces while ignoring the terror state around them.

[lurker]

Patton, sounds like the old MSM during WWII. The world refused to acknowledge that the Nazis were sending Jews, handicapped, retarded, blacks, etc., concentration camps AND killing them.

Anyone keeping up with today's hearings on how to try detanees?

[lurker]

Iraq the Model on MSM and Hezzie propaganda.

[lurker]

Video of a Hezzie shooting rockets from inside a house.

[lurker]

A detailed analysis from hashmonean.com

[lurker]

Chirac returns to the world stage and makes the fur fly

"France is relying on its former status as a Lebanese colonial power, the fact that it is supposed to contribute troops and “Anglo-Saxon” disillusionment with Iraq to bolster its approach to the Lebanese ceasfire proposal. It wants Syria and Iran included in the diplomacy. (Times of London)"

Will France be successful?

[lurker]

Qana probe: IDF estimated targeted building was empty

"An investigation into the killing of dozens of civilians in an air strike on the Lebanese village of Qana concluded that the military estimated the building was uninhabited and used by Hizbullah terrorists.

The probe concluded that had the military known that civilians were in the building the air strike wouldn't have been okayed. (Efrat Weiss)"

We'll wait and see.

[lurker]

Walid Phares

[lurker]

A big Slap in the Hand?

[larwyn]

Dear Clarice,
I have to save that one for my obit.
Think that I am a talented reader. Love when I find those with the words that express the bits of my truth. Get
estatic when I can string a few of those bits together.
My spidey sense tells me we're on a verge. Blair's speech still wants us to believe that it's a "religion of peace" (when many will no longer buy that). He still wants to throw money and "understanding" at them
- (that works). But the truth is that he was talking to GW about the Islamist problem and Saddam before 911, people want to forget that. And that the UK is at great risk from the Londonistan they have created.
Only 20 days until the 12th Imam
slithers out of his well. We don't believe it, but they do.
And as Rumsfeld says, "The enemy has a vote."

But take heart, some will stand up against the evil....
a U S Marine left this at BC:
"All right,
they're on our left,
they're on our right,
they're in front of us,
they're behind us...
they can't get away this time"
- Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC

[clarice]

heh--

[lurker]

Iran to Prepare for War against Israel and USA

300,000 troops????

[lurker]

Ethnically Cleansing the South Has Turned Lebanese Against Hizbullah, Says Olmert

[lurker]

Call the WH to show your support.

[lurker]

For first time: Rockets fired at north at night by the Hezzies.

And...

Muslim powers stage Mideast summit with hopes for a quick ceasefire.

[lurker]

Captain's Quarters:

"Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has made clear that the war in Lebanon could be over in days, but only under conditions that ensure security for Israel on its northern border. With the UN debating various types of peacekeeping forces to replace Israel in Lebanon, Olmert insists that Israel would not accept another UNIFIL disaster."

[lurker]

Sayonara to Iran by Beirut

No ceasefire by Hezzies not until every Israel is completely off Lebanon land.

No surprise.

O'Reilly wants to know why the world does not condemn the Hezzies for its atrocious actions.

[lurker]

IDF: Threat to hit Tel Aviv taken seriously

[lurker]

Who's paying attention?