posted August 24, 2006 12:16 AM              

· Statement casts doubt on hopes for disarmament
· UN, US and Israel fear local force cannot secure south

Clancy Chassay in Beirut
Saturday August 19, 2006

Guardian

An internal Lebanese army statement, circulated among forces in the past week, has called for troops to stand "alongside your resistance and your people who astonished the world with its steadfastness and destroyed the prestige of the so-called invincible army after it was defeated".
The circular has alarmed ministers in the Lebanese cabinet who had been calling for the army to disarm Hizbullah.

It will also fuel the concerns of Israel, the US and the UN security council that the Lebanese army is incapable of securing the south of the country, adding increased urgency to the calls for a multinational force to be swiftly deployed.

According to sources close to the army command, there has been a tacit agreement between Hizbullah and the army that those fighters who hail from the south will return to their villages and all arms will be put out of sight. Publicly displayed weapons will be seized but any further attempt to disarm the group has been ruled out for the time being.

Retired general Nizar Abdel-Kader, a former deputy chief of staff for army personnel who is in close communication with the army command, told the Guardian: "The army knows there is a gun in every household, they are not going to go out and look for them ... What we are concerned about is the launchers. There is an agreement with Hizbullah that any weapons that are found will be handed over." A mutual respect and cooperation exists between the army and Hizbullah, according to Gen Kader. "They are two very separate entities but they cooperate on security issues," he said, adding that many of the army's troops were from southern Lebanon.

One defence analyst who asked not to be named said that, in the south, the army often acted as a subordinate to Hizbullah's military apparatus. "All intelligence gathered by the army is put at the disposal of Hizbullah but Hizbullah does not offer the same transparency to the army," he said. "In a sense, military intelligence in the south is operating on Hizbullah's behalf."

Another retired general, Amin Hoteit, now a professor at the Lebanese University, said: "The army sees Hizbullah as a group that is defending the country and so assists them as best it can."

Speaking last year, the Lebanese army chief of staff, General Michel Suleiman, said: "Support for the resistance is one of the fundamental national principles in Lebanon and one of the foundations on which the military doctrine is based. Protection of the resistance is the army's basic task."

The relationship had been strong for many years, Gen Kader said. "From 1996 onwards there has been a consensus in the army command that Hizbullah was a legitimate national defence force and that the government should extend its umbrella to protect the resistance." He said most army officials viewed the deployment primarily as a "counter-penetration force" working to prevent the infiltration of Israeli intelligence and military patrols.

Hizbullah's top official in south Lebanon, Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, told reporters in Tyre this week that the group welcomed the Lebanese army's additional deployment in the south. "Just like in the past, Hizbullah had no visible military presence and there will not be any visible presence now," he said. "We are helping them with our experience by advising them on the best strategic areas to deploy and the best means of protecting this land from Israeli and US violations."

The UN's expected deployment of 15,000 troops is seen as an additional force to assist in Lebanon's defence against Israel. "We are happy with such a large force to provide sufficient deterrent to Israeli aggression," said Gen Kader.

Reinforcing the fears of many in Israel that Hizbullah would continue to pose a threat, Amal Saad Ghorayeb, a Hizbullah specialist, said the arrival of the army and Hizbullah's redeployment further north was a largely superficial transformation. "The fact they have insisted on retaining their weapons in that area suggests that they intend to use them if and when the time comes."

Suggestions from Washington that the Lebanese army should forcibly disarm Hizbullah have been met with alarm by the army command. "If the mission of the army is to defend the people then the whole country will be behind it, but if it is to act against the resistance, it puts a big question mark over the future of the country," Gen Hoteit said.

Major-General Moshe Kaplinsky, Israel's deputy chief of staff, said his country intended to keep unmanned "outposts" in southern Lebanon.

Ordinary Americans are now enemies of Hizbullah, a Shia cleric said yesterday at the funerals of the 29 victims of the July 29 Qana bombing, above.

"American people, you are partners in these massacres, you are partners in this war," said Nabil Kaouk, the leading Hizbullah official in southern Lebanon. "After this no Lebanese can trust an American. You are all murderers and criminals."

posted August 24, 2006 01:01 AM              

Here's another one..

Israeli reserve soldiers accuse government of 'cold feet' over conflict

· Brigade signs letter calling for Lebanon inquiry
· Newspaper demands general's resignation

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Guardian

A brigade of reserve soldiers angrily accused the Israeli government yesterday of fighting a war with "indecision" and "cold feet" as criticism mounted over the handling of the conflict in Lebanon.
In the most outspoken acknowledgment of Israel's failings in the war, one retiring senior army officer also admitted that the military felt "a certain sense of failure" after 34 days of combat. Brigadier Yossi Heiman, head of infantry and paratroopers, told a ceremony on Sunday: "We have sinned the sin of hubris."

Critics in the press and now in the military have rounded on the Israeli government for failing to emerge from the conflict with a clear victory over Hizbullah.

Although the defence minister, Amir Peretz, has ordered a limited inquiry into the war, many critics are calling for a more robust state commission to investigate the government and military's conduct. The prime minister, Ehud Olmert, appears reluctant to hold a more high-profile investigation. "We don't have a lot of time to talk about what happened," he said. "We have to talk about what will happen."

A commission could have politically damaging consequences. Similar commissions followed the 1973 Yom Kippur war, unseating the then prime minister Golda Meir, and the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon, which forced then defence minister Ariel Sharon to quit.

In an open letter published in the Israeli press yesterday, the Spearhead Brigade, a unit of reservist soldiers who fought in Lebanon, said they had lost confidence in their leadership. "The 'cold feet' of the decision-makers were evident everywhere," the letter said.

"To us the indecision expressed deep disrespect for our willingness to join the ranks and fight and made us feel as though we had been spat on ... The heavy feeling that in the echelons above us there is nothing but under-preparation, insincerity, lack of foresight and inability to make rational decisions, leads to the question: were we called up for nothing?"

The soldiers did not question the need to go to war, but asked for a "thorough and worthy commission under the auspices of the state" to look into its handling. "We paid a heavy price in order to fight and come out of the battle victorious, and we feel this has been denied of us."

It is not unusual for Israeli soldiers to speak out publicly against commanders, but there has been an extraordinary wave of criticism in recent days highlighting the military's apparent lack of intelligence about Hizbullah's fighting capability. Troops were taken aback by the militia's anti-tank rockets which caused so much damage to Israel's Merkava tanks.

General Dan Halutz, the chief of staff, has opposed a state commission of inquiry. He has faced criticism for selling some of his stocks just hours after the conflict was triggered by the capture of two Israeli soldiers last month. He reportedly told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that the Israeli military "has accumulated a feeling that it did not achieve a knockout, as the nation calls it, but a victory on points".

But his words were not good enough for the left-leaning Ha'aretz newspaper which called for the general's resignation. "The chief of staff is responsible for the public's lack of confidence in the Israel Defence Forces' ability to win, and he will be responsible for reservists who fail to show up in the future," the paper said.

posted August 24, 2006 03:53 AM              

Hezbollah isn't anymore of a terrorist organization than Israel (who have terrorized and killed more innocent civilians by the way) is.

Shame on you

I read your post...too late!...why did you delete it?

posted August 24, 2006 05:30 PM              

And in this case, so is America, who supplies Israel with all their weapons that kill innocent human beings.

Hezbollah, who has seats in government and is more favoured than ever before, formed after Israel's terror on the Lebanon in 1982. 18, 000 Arabs were killed by Israel then. 1,600 Lebanese were killed in this war. Israel targetted Lebanese infrastructure.

The Israeli PM said kidnapping the two soldiers was an "act of war." Not a terrorist act.

Hezbollah/Lebanese say Israeli troops were in Lebanese territory when they were captured. And the Israelis news which is what dominates the media says Hezbollah entered Israel.

quote:

---

"This affair is between Israel and the state of Lebanon," Major-General Udi Adam, head of Israel's Northern Command says. "Where to attack? Once it is inside Lebanon, everything is legitimate - not just southern Lebanon, not just the line of Hezbollah posts."

---

And all because of two soldiers kidnapped for a trade...

quote:

---

Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, Israel's chief of staff, says: "If the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years."

---

...As they did.

That my friend is terrorism.

posted August 24, 2006 10:49 PM              

Shame on you

I read your post...too late!...why did you delete it?
............................................
............................................
DD, because ignorant rantings such as yours, just aren't worth a reply!

posted August 25, 2006 12:29 AM              

I can't convince you of the truth that is.

And you can't convince me with your blinded, misguided ideas and thoughts.

posted August 25, 2006 04:14 AM              

What planet are you from???

Okay, wanting all humans to have basic human rights is a bad thing?????
Let me tell you something-I'm always going to stand up for those who are being oppressed!
Maybe you are an oppressor and that's why you think I'm the blinded one...
Heil Hitler may be more your style, Aye?

What exactly is your truth, there are NO bad Muslims??? Give me a break! It doesn't matter what religion you belong to- there are always rotten apples in the bunch...
and for you to post in support of terrorist organizations is reprehensible!
Why don't you join the human race and give a damn! about the uncountable females who are being oppressed in the Islamic world and don't even began to say that that is not a true statement! I know and understand that women have been and are being treated badly all around the globe, but I would never defend those who are doing the mistreating!
You are the one who is horribly misinformed if you dare to say women have free speech and rights, that their male counterparts enjoy on a daily basis in some Islamic ruled countries.
Remember I said SOME! Islamic ruled countries- not ALL!
I am NOT anti Muslim, I care a great deal about my Muslim brothers and sisters who are being mistreated, not only by their own leaders, but by uninformed and bigoted people all over.

posted August 25, 2006 05:37 AM              

quote:

---

blinded, misguided ideas and thoughts.
What planet are you from???

Okay, wanting all humans to have basic human rights is a bad thing?????
Let me tell you something-I'm always going to stand up for those who are being oppressed!
Maybe you are an oppressor and that's why you think I'm the blinded one...
Heil Hitler may be more your style, Aye?

---

There are people here that have been brainwashed by the media and their government. And believe anything that comforts them.

As if any of us truly have freedom in this world. It's all relative.

When you sit there while hundreds of thousands of lives are being taken due to your country's weapons, your fantasy ideals and war, dont talk to me about not giving a damn.

posted August 26, 2006 03:02 AM              

Do you know anything at all about the wall that Israel built around Palestine? Do know anything at all about how the Israeli government treats the Palestinian people? Do you know that they do not have proper sewage or water supply or food or jobs or anything and that they are not allowed to leave from behind the wall without a pass to look for work or go to work to earn a living for their families? Do you know how many Palestinians have been killed, even children, in comparsion to how many Jews have been killed by Hamas?

Do you know anything at all about the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? If so please inform of us of what you know about the history of the Middle East which gives you cause to speak to DD as you do.

posted August 26, 2006 04:14 AM              

That is a very uninformed statement and extraordinarily arrogant and ignorant!

I have never made ONE post in support of Israel, How dare you to assume what you think I feel and Know!
I believe that Israel is NOT blameless or completely innocent.

You have me pegged as some kind of left/right wing extremest, You don't know my party affiliation do you?, you don't know me and the only problem is you are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole! Good Luck!!!!

What do you know Mirandee?
Do you live in the Middle East???
Have you experienced all that you post about? hmmm I think you may have read and or been told it, right?
So, correct me if I'm wrong?
DD informed me that she "READS Tons" and has family that live there-
She herself does not, she resides in, was it Canada?
I can see how she has attained all of this vast experience she posts about.
Correct me if I'm wrong, are not many of Day Dreamers posts- articles????

posted August 26, 2006 04:48 AM              

If the Middle East was a football field, Israel would take up the space of a match pack sitting on that field. Why can't they just have that? They have roots there, and they have no other homeland. There is even a passage in the Koran that says "God gave a piece of paradise to the Jewish people". It is not followed by any suggestion that they are not entitled to it.

posted August 26, 2006 05:10 AM              

Oh and Mirandee, I guess you will consider this my first post in support of Israel, even though I didn't state that I believed them blameless of aggression, I also believe that many of Israels counter-attacks are justifiable.