Scratching A Thirty Year Itch

In the course of thinking about Gurkhas and wondering why we (the UN? NATO?) can't send them to the Ukraine, I recalled a story about their ferocity and commitment from back in the 1982 Israeli incursion into Lebanon. I sometimes do a bit of Googling to attempt to verify my hazy memory of this story and today, for the first time ever, I got some traction:

The news of the peacekeepers’ death, reminded me a of a little-known confrontation, in 1982’s “Operation Peace of the Galilee”, between the IDF and a contingent of U.N. Peacekeeping “Gurkhas” {No, I’m not talking pickles, here}, assigned to guarding a bridge spanning the Litani River. 
        
     As the entire northern army of the IDF attacked in force, with three major thrusts along the U.N. Blue Line, the small outpost, manned by a token force Gurkha infantry was suddenly faced with an Israeli armored column of more than one hundred tanks and armored personnel carriers. 
        
     The Israeli brigade commander, mindful of the delicate international situation but also determined to fulfill his orders for a quick penetration into Lebanon, demanded that the Gurkhas step aside and let the armor column proceed across the bridge. 
        
     Three times, the brigade commander stepped forward to order the Gurkhas off the bridge, threatening to attack if they refused…and three times, the Gurkhas refused to abandon their post, subjecting themselves to certain death, rather than deny the fearless reputation of the Gurkha fighter. 
        
     Finally, the Israeli commander moved his forces a mile downstream, where his engineers erected a pontoon bridge by which the armor column belatedly crossed the river. 
        
     The vastly outnumbered Gurkhas never surrendered their position and lived to tell about it.    

That is roughly how I remember the story, although my version includes colorful language and a variety of taunts that amount to "Bring it". However! Over at Wikipedia, I see that this story has no backing anywhere. Hmmm...

Google has gotten a lot more capable, or I have, but a bit of digging found this in a UN report:

15. In accordance with instructions, UNIFIL troops attempted to prevent the entry and advance of the Israeli forces. On the coastal road, for example, Dutch soldiers planted obstacles before advancing Israeli tank column; one tank was damaged; the obstacles, however, were pushed aside, as was the Dutch guardhouse. Tank barrels were pointed at UNIFIL soldiers during the entire encounter, likewise, in the other battalion areas, obstacles were forcibly removed and bulldozed. At Khardala Bridge, a small Nepalese position stood its ground for two days, despite harassments and threats. On the morning of 8 June, their position as partially destroyed/and some 100 Israeli tanks began to cross the bridge.

That is also recounted here, and the NY Times had this contemporaneous version:

As Israeli armored columns swept through the lines of the United Nations peacekeeping forces, a United Nations spokesman in Jerusalem reported, several United Nations units were caught in crossfire. By Sunday evening, one Norwegian soldier was reported killed, a Nigerian position was being shelled by an unknown force and Nepalese troops at the Khardali bridge over the Litani River were refusing to withdraw and were being threatened by Israeli troops, the spokesman said.

Since the Nepalese Army has plenty of Gurkhas and contributes to UN peacekeeping operations around the world one might say "Case Closed!" But not so fast!

Here is a verbal history from Timur Goksel, aka "Mr. UNIFIL" and an authority on the UN role in Lebanon:

Butler: Wasn’t there something about the Nepalese contingent resisting the invasion?

Göksel: That’s a famous story, but everyone has it wrong. There was a Nepalese position halfway across the Khardali bridge east of Marja’uyun[†††]—the bridge was blocked anyway, with minefields on both sides. The Israelis came and said we want to pass to encircle the Beaufort castle and reach Nabatiya through there. And the Nepalese said “No, no, you cannot pass.” The Israelis didn’t push too hard because the bridge was right under the Beaufort castle, so they would have come under fire from the Palestinians who were defending it. So when the Nepalese said they couldn’t pass, the Israelis said okay, we’ll come back tomorrow. The Israelis did come back the next day and the Nepalese again lined up across the road and wouldn’t let them pass, and again the Israelis didn’t insist because the Palestinians were still holding out in the castle. When it finally fell after three days and the Israelis needed the bridge, they just bulldozed the UN position out of the way, cleared the mines and that was the end of the UN resistance there. But we got a lot of mileage from a PR standpoint about the Nepalese heroically standing their ground. Of course we didn’t elaborate on the circumstances—the fact that the Israelis hadn’t pushed—and it became a kind of legend about the Nepalese standing up to the Israeli army. So that was a legend that the UN created, actually. Perhaps I am bit guilty in that one.

OK, so color me duped. But I still want Gurkhas in the Ukraine.

Comments

[Threadkiller]

http://news.yahoo.com/state-sen-wright-resigns-voter-fraud-case-232651588.html

Turns out he lied about his eligibility and the court removed him from office.

[Gus]

Henry is a Bass player.

[miss Marple]

By the way, where are those Libyan planes?

[Danube on iPad]

Good God. Just think of all the allegiance problems:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/388098/congressional-report-foreign-born-population-could-rise-60-million-people-within-ten

And of course they'll all be in Jindal's 100%.

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

This was awesome:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Craziest+Carnival+Rides&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=1521A94B1E5DBBC6B2881521A94B1E5DBBC6B288

This was insane:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Craziest+Carnival+Rides&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=D31265792CBF4E5474A4D31265792CBF4E5474A4

[Beasts of England]

Don't let your daughter marry a barfer, Steph! It might get passed on to your grandkids and then they'd get picked on in school...

Gotta get my beauty sleep - freshly washed sheets beckon. Zzzzzz

[miss Marple]

The lights of carnival rides always make me happy. Takes me back to the excitement of childhood, I think.

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

And for my annual fair anecdote:

The republican table was busy and the dem table was deader than a doornail. Lots of Perdue stuff going out the door and yard signs for him were on backorder.

Stevie the Sea Dragon predicts 55 seats in the senate.

[Jane on Ipad]

He did that indeed MM.

[Danube on iPad]

"Turns out he lied about his eligibility and the court removed him from office."

False. He resigned. No one asserted that the court had the power to remove him from office.

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

The lights, the smell of all the junk food, especially the roasted corn and cotton candy and the strange people that make "people of Walmart" look normal. Haven't missed the conounty fair in 28 years except one year when it was so rainy we didn't go.

[Ignatz]

Just watched what apparently was the third in a trilogy called Red Riding; 1983.
Based on a novel which with a few tweaks could be seen as a prophecy since it was made in 2010.

You see there's this ring of men in Yorkshire no one will touch, not even the cops, for fear of getting on their bad side and who are disgusting pedophiles who rape multiple boys and girls with impunity over many years as the authorities assist them and look the other way.
Sound familiar?
One of the main criminals even owns a club called...wait for it....The Karachi Club.

The only difference is the criminals are white businessmen and a pastor and the like who of course have no protected status, unlike muzzies, er, I mean Asians.
Truth is always stranger than fiction.

[Gus]

Miss Marple those Syrian War planes are being sought by our HUGESQUETASTIC Coalition, and we are leading from way behind, JUST IN CASE, Obama needs more cover.

Have you EVER witnessed America on her knees ON PURPOSE before???

[Captain Hate]

Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson have gotten all the headlines but this Cult continues to celebrate enabling child rape: http://www.centredaily.com/2014/09/15/4355859_penn-state-fans-plan-joe-out-for.html?rh=1

Well done, NCAA.

[Captain Hate]

Even my lib friends on Facebook have been slattering this dweeb:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2007/12/18/ken_burns_compares_obama_to_li.html

[Danube on iPad]

Daddy, I think that before he could put Maxwell in jail he'd have to have the full House find him in contempt - the only offense for which he has the powere to jail him. Terribly counterproductive waste of time.

[Captain Hate]

One fraud fools another:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/fake-holocaust-survivor-eva-steiner-moseley-gets-elizabeth-warren-to-endorse-hamas/

[Gus]

Capn, Ken Burns WANTED to believe that the wirey Obama, and the wirey Lincoln, were both WIREY!! Lincoln had balls, Obama has cigarettes and wirey!!!! Lincoln died for his cause. Obama shot 99 at Andrews AFB golf course 100 plus times. Burns means well, BUT, he's a LIB. Nuff said.

[Threadkiller]

Turns out he lied about his eligibility and the court actions led to his self-removal from office but not due to the court having any power.

[Danube on iPad]

California does not recognize a crime of "lying about eligibility." he was convicted of perjury and sentenced to ninety days in jail.

The court has many powers. If you believe that one of them is the power to remove a legislator from office for perjury, cite your authority.

Tell me whether or not you are suggesting that these events support the idea that if Obama's birth certificate is forged, a court would have the power to remove him from office. A simple "yes" or "no" will do. If thevanswer is no, I don't think there's anything further to discuss about this case.

[Threadkiller]

:'-(

[Danube on iPad]

Nytol.

[Ignatz]

--A simple "yes" or "no" will do.--

WTH?
I mistook this for the comment section of a blog not the witness box and even then I'm pretty sure it's the judge who reserves the right to determine what form an answer will take.

Perhaps someone would like to discuss what would happen if a court did determine his BC was forged beyond the narrow scope of whether that court could then remove him, like whether he too might be forced to resign.

[jimmyk]

From TK's link at 10:56,

During the sentencing in Los Angeles last week, Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy said Wright is no longer eligible to hold public office.

I suppose that's not the same thing as saying that he must resign, but it's pretty close.

[Bori]

Since the post was mythical Gurkhas, here is a group that also stood up a larger force and lost honorably.

"Jo Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal!”;

"For most of the world that Sikh battle cry is meaningless. It means “Victory is his who calls on God with a true heart,” and it was the last phrase on the lips of the “21 Sikhs of Saragarhi,” the most valiant forlorn-hope defense that you probably never heard of. Everyone knows about the 300 at Thermopylae, the 47 Samurai, the Alamo, the Little Big Horn, Isandlhwana, and Dien Bien Phu. If you’re a military historian you might have heard of Lima Site 85, Camarone or Shiroyama."

These 21 Sikhs defended their position against 10,000 Pashtuns inflicting over 600 killed with many more wounded before any relief arrived, albeit too late to save any of them.

http://weaponsman.com/?p=17846

[Beasts of England]

Anheuser-Busch releases a statement that they are not satisfied with the way the NFL has handled their recent domestic violence incidents. I don't know if A-B is the biggest sponsor of the NFL, but I'd be surprised if they weren't in the top five.

[henry]

Beer is the reason for civilization. Why farm except to make beer?

[peter]

tk @ 12:30 AM -- is that Hitchcock?

[Jim Eagle]

I think on one of the threads there was some speculation about this: Rogue State could weaponize Ebola!

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/217926-official-rogue-state-could-weaponize-ebola

Is that the motivation for Obama's move and was it reluctant?

[Captain Hate]

Want to see how to lose an election?

A GOP lobbyist who has been advising House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) is urging Republicans to pass comprehensive amnesty legislation "pronto" if they gain control of Congress after the midterms.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/16/Steve-Scalise-Lobbyist-Adviser-GOP-Must-Pass-Amnesty-Pronto-After-Midterms

[Jim Eagle]

Eli Lake thinks the reluctant POTUS has a bigger challenge: Keeping his Generals in check against ISIS.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/17/are-obama-and-his-generals-on-the-same-war-plan.html?via=desktop&source=twitter

Then you have Bob Gates saying there will be boots on the ground.

Coward meets Courage.

[Beasts of England]

And the Vikings reverse course and deactivate Peterson. How could they get it so wrong the first time? Idiots.

[Captain Hate]

Levin repeated last night that McConnell has pledged to put the filibuster rule back if the GOP takes control of the Senate. I'm sure the writer of this would approve: http://www.pocketfullofliberty.com/point-ted-cruz-the-queen-of-summertime/

[Miss Marple]

http://freebeacon.com/politics/jewish-group-condemns-bidens-offensive-reference-to-shylocks/

Bet this didn't make the Today Show.

Good morning!

[Beasts of England]

Bob Gates slatters JEF's ISIS strategy, saying it can't be done via the air - it requires boots on the ground. I think Gates was the only adult ever associated with the current regime.

[Miss Marple]

Beasts,

Nice discussion of that is showing up on Twitter. People are starting to point out that Gates' comment ("if he wants to be successful there will have to be boots on the ground") assumes that Obama actually wants to be successful, which a lot of people are doubting.

[Miss Marple]

Behghazi hearings will be on C-SPAN3.

This is the television equivalent of Obama's ISIS strategy. It's on TV so they can't be accused of ignoring it; C-SPAN3 for minimal coverage.

Hopefully Fox will televise it or I will have to get the iPad going.

[Miss Marple]

http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-new-colonizers/

"When prayer is actually occupied territory."

[Jane]

Benghazi hearings at 10:00.

What will Obama do to divert attention?

[Appalled]

Miss Marple:

My guess is Obama does not believe any policy against Isis can be fully successful, so he is trying to look like he is doing something, without doing anything that might result in a bad headline, until the squirrels stop paying attention. I could be wrong, but wild theories are the privilege of the blog comment author.

[GMax]

Are you sitting down. Remember the new meme is that the Republicans are not winning in Obama states and that means something, apparently. Well Quinny just stuck a pin in that balloon its out of air:

Neutralizing the traditional Democratic lead among women voters, Republican State Sen. Joni Ernst leads U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, the Democrat, 50 - 44 percent among likely voters in the race to replace U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin in Iowa, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Ernst leads among men 56 - 39 percent, while Braley leads among women by a smaller 50 - 44 percent margin, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. This survey of likely voters can not be compared with earlier surveys of registered voters.

The Republican also leads 50 - 43 percent among a key political group, independent voters, and 87 - 7 percent among GOP voters, while Braley takes Democrats 90 - 7 percent. While l5 percent of Iowa voters say they might change their mind, 84 percent say their mind is made up.

WHOOPS

[Beasts of England]

Very good point, Miss Marple. Who knows what Preznit MomJeans wants...

Another puzzlement: Where are the statements of outrage from our two loudmouth racists regarding the Rice and Peterson cases? Did they act stupidly? Could they be JEF's sons? Are we still a nation of cowards?

Black folk über alles. The real racial cowards - Bambi and Stedman - wouldn't dare criticize their brothers in melanin.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/iowa/release-detail?ReleaseID=2079

Joni Ernst leads Bradley 50-44, likely voters.

17 point lead with MEN!

[Miss Marple]

GMax! I am on the same wavelength as you! HA!

That Iowa poll is really something!

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

MM's 8:34 link is very good.

"Greenfield’s conclusion is apt: “They aren’t immigrating. They’re colonizing.”

[GMax]

Looks like the cake might be baked in Colorado too ( I bet this means good things for Gardner as well but they have not released the Senate poll there just yet):

GOVERNOR – COLORADO (Quinnipiac)
Bob Beauprez (R) 50%
John Hickenlooper (D-inc) 40%
Matthew Hess (L) 3%
Harry Hempy (G) 3%

[NK]

@8:38-- that's a pretty accurate description of Obummer's thinking. He needed to put squirrels out there after the Media stabbed him in the back and played up the beheading videos-- they are teammates, but ratings and $$$ come first for the media-- and his polls took a quick 3-5% dive. His DESTROY ISIS squirrel has calmed down about half of the soft supporters who bailed (probably women) so he won't do anything more. He'll shift back to his real enemies, American conservatives and patriots, he'll EO amnesty, and veto spending cut budgets passed by the repub Congress. New year, same old Obummer shite.

[Miss Marple]

Janet, I really think that is the truth.

I am for a complete prohibition of immigration of Muslims until we figure out how to deal with this.

I don't trust any of them. They have brought it on themselves with their failure to actively resist the radicals in this country.

[Marlene]

I believe C-SPAN is obligated to air House and Senate proceedings when they are in session,which is why the Gowdy hearing is on C-SPAN 3. Is Gowdy going to conduct hearings during the recess? They are scheduled to be in session today and tomorrow and two days in October. They will be in recess until after the election.

[AliceH]

I'm skeptical Obama worries about risk to soldiers in a "boots on the ground" operation. I think maybe he's still PO'd that there's more to getting OUT of Iraq and Afghanistan than marching troops onto planes and flying home.

I think he assumed exiting was an operation of a couple weeks, not one that required massive logistics planning and decisions and effort over months/years. In other words, it's not "boots in" he wants to avoid - it's his new understanding of the impossibility of pivoting to "boots out" that is in the way.

[Captain Hate]

Levin tore into Huckabee last night. Said that, like Romney, he gets off on attacking Republicans more than the commiecrats.

[NK]

Insty reports that the degrasse tyson guy tells another whopper in his book about the 1960s 'space pen' (I never had one, but I vaguely remember them) This guy is either completely sloppy, or an out and out fraud. I'm sure the media will continue to keep the gravy train rolling for him.

[Tyson's a fool about climate, too.]

ABCDEFG, how I wonder where you are.

[AliceH]

CH: I don't listen to Levin, so I hope there was nothing ironic about his attacking two Republicans for attacking Republicans.

[Miss Marple]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/another-small-sign-the-2016-gop-race-is-insanely-wide-open/article/2553513

Everybody knows there is no real leader in the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. But ask voters an open-ended question — who do you want to be the nominee? — and the range of answers can be breathtaking.

That's what I did in an unplanned and totally unscientific way on my Twitter feed Tuesday afternoon. On Monday evening, I posted a piece about Mike Huckabee's preparations for another run for the nomination in 2016. Twitter reaction to Huckabee was almost entirely negative; nobody, or at least nobody reading my tweets on a Tuesday afternoon, seemed to like the idea of the former Arkansas governor making another race.

(Byron York column. Walker was the favorite, which surprised him.)

[Jane]

" Who knows what Preznit MomJeans wants..."

He wants to kick it down the road to 2016.

Fox is airing the hearings with a good panel to discuss.

[Threadkiller]

"Greenfield’s conclusion is apt: “They aren’t immigrating. They’re colonizing.”

Like an invasion?

[clarice]

Here's the waPo on the Iowa race:http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-iowa-attacks-on-republican-ernst-change-dynamics-of-tight-senate-race/2014/09/16/99f9c0d8-3dd7-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html

Keeping hope alive.

[Miss Marple]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/read-slowly-to-benefit-your-brain-and-cut-stress-1410823086

Reading books is good for you!

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

CH: I don't listen to Levin, so I hope there was nothing ironic about his attacking two Republicans for attacking Republicans.

Hah! That's exactly what I thought.

[sbw]

Real presidents don't play musical instruments until after they are elected.

Harry Truman - Yes
Bill Clinton - No

[Jane]

From Twitter!

Lee Stranahan ‏@stranahan 1m

#BenghaziSelectCommittee Strategy is clear : distract Americans through polite rule following wonkery into a morass of boredom. #Winning.

[clarice]

I can't read this but you might be able to:http://dailysignal.com/2014/09/17/183-organizations-lefts-political-network-exposed-one-chart/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

[Captain Hate]

CH: I don't listen to Levin, so I hope there was nothing ironic about his attacking two Republicans for attacking Republicans

Levin isn't a candidate. Nor am I and I don't see a damn thing wrong with attacking weasel candidates who claim to be on "my side" who are selling people who really are on "my side" out at a slightly slower rate than the commiecrats.

[AliceH]

I don't see a damn thing wrong with attacking weasel candidates who claim to be on "my side" who are selling people who really are on "my side"

I am no doubt reading this wrong, but looks like you're saying Levin and/or you think it's not wrong to attack fellow Republicans per se. It's wrong only when both the following are true:
1) the attacker is running for office and
2) the attackee is someone [Levin? You?] prefer to the attacker

[Captain Hate]

That's almost correct; I don't think it's right for R candidates to attack other R candidates in a blanket fashion. What Levin was complaining about specifically was Huckabee, a prospective candidate, stating that he wouldn't support a Republican candidate that wasn't a former governor. Although I prefer candidates to have executive experience, Lincoln wasn't a governor, for example. For Huckabee to toss out a nonsense litmus test is just stupid. And very self serving.

Any non candidate can say whatever he/she wants unless they're have an obvious standing with the party, ie Rove.

[Captain Hate]

they're sb they

[Captain Hate]

The first paragraph referred to Presidential candidates and executive experience.

[Patriot4Freedom]

Iggy - Glad to hear your primary property is in Tuolumne County, and out of any fire danger currently.

Sounds like karma's "payback" is taking a bite out of your brother. From everything you've written about him, it sounds like it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

For those who wonder what a "Tuolumne" is, here's a picture of what it looks like in God's country:

[Captain Hate]

I've been there I think P4F; that's in Yosemite, no? Is Iggy's county in that vicinity?

[Patriot4Freedom]

CaptH - You're right, those are the famous Tuolumne Meadows in the picture. Iggy's land would be in Tuolumne County, if it nearly got burned by the terrible "Rim Fire" last year, as he said.

I was glad to read his post, as I was about to ask him if his property was in danger.

[cathyf]

Only one problem with your fantasy, daddy -- in the case of the place in the House of Representatives it's spelled "Gaol".

Another thing -- I vaguely remember that Gowdy is one of those reps who bunks in his office when in DC, and showers at the House gym. He might want to check into the Gaol -- it might be more comfortable than his current digs!