Sites like On the Face are bringing ordinary citizens together even as violence continues. “We have tons of things in common. We come from two of the most liberal, educated countries in the Middle East. Many of us received a western education. We have talked, wrote, and dreamed about open borders between our countries.”
Maybe Ted Stevens can get Condi to jump on ‘the tubes’ and visit a chatroom and hash this out. Condi’s probably got a bitchin’ avatar with high-heeled boots, black leather skirt and a whip. I believe the popular internets site in that area is ‘Oy Space.’
July 21st, 2006 at 7:11 pmThis is very bad. If people start talking to each other, they’ll stop hating each other, and then we won’t get to have any more wars. Shut those internets down!
July 21st, 2006 at 8:15 pmOur leaders are obviously incapable of bringing a ‘world order’ thru war or negotiations, the religious sects have been equally ineffective. Wars have become the solution to the problem when our leaders cannot negotiate and fall back to violence . They rarely suffer from the white hot fragments of shrapnel or the consussion of bombs that can shatter organs and so they never learn the true horror of wars.
The people of the world have grown sick of war and if or elected leaders will not stop it then perhaps we can, I applaud the efforts of these people and hope we can end thiis insanity, worldwide, as quickly as possible.
July 21st, 2006 at 8:54 pmWell, another thumb in the eye of cowboy diplomacy. With his fleet of flim-flam artists, cronies and tourette’s syndrome recovering sycophants that pass for a diplomatic corp., and a budget, including military excedding billion$ every week, every month…who woulda thought of e-harmony? Flush Flimball ain’t gunna like this.
July 21st, 2006 at 9:38 pmThis is a good start…
July 21st, 2006 at 9:47 pmHey ,thats what I,m talkin about !!!!
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:11 amThat Israeli and palestinians can find their shared humanity is a force stronger than a tank or missle and represents the only hope for peace ! Humiliating the enemy will only exacerbete the problem ! Israel will turn out to be the loser in all this and that is a real travesty .Our policies in Iraq and our support of Israels one sided war against Lebanon will only perpetuate the endlesscycle of violence !
He hurt me ,he beat me ,he abused me ,live with such thoughts and ;live in hatred
He hurt me ,he beat me he abused me ,renounce such thoughts and live in love !
Gautama Guddha The Dharmapada
force is followed by lack of strength ,
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:22 amthat which goes against the Tao comes to an early end ,
what I teach others also teach, that is
a violent man will die a violent death
Lao tzu Tao Te Ching
Better for them to fight on the Internet, than to blow each other to bits like now in Lebanon!
July 22nd, 2006 at 1:34 amThis is a really amazing thing. How can we extend this?
I would like to thank Ribone Tau, Zooey, and freeman for their contributive comments.
July 22nd, 2006 at 3:41 amI’ve just visited the site, and I feel so sad. Perhaps it is time for a divine intervention.. a force that is greater than man, to rid the world of “leaders” and allow the people to take over. No more military, no more politicians.. just ordinary, everyday citizens of the world, to throw away the weapons, and pick the fruit, and live together. What will it take for us all to wake up?
July 22nd, 2006 at 4:06 am[...] Israelis and Lebanese talking – on the net [...]
July 22nd, 2006 at 5:03 amGas Dropped By Israelis In So. Lebanon Sickens Civilians
WMR reported that the Israeli military was using poison gas on villages in south Lebanon. According to a former U.S. weapons expert who served in Iraq, the artillery shell in a photo taken in Lebanon (below) is a chemical weapon delivery device. It is being handled by an Israeli Defense Force soldier and Hebrew lettering can be clearly seen on the armored vehicle.
Another chemical weapons shell of the same type can be seen lying on the ground to the right. It is not known what type of chemical is in the chemical canister, however, gas dropped by the Israelis in villages in southern Lebanon has resulted in severe vomiting among the civilian population.
July 22nd, 2006 at 6:00 amISREAL USING GAS WEAPONS
SOURCE
Media commentators have scoffed that Israel, with its relatively unique history, would ever use chemical weapons or poison gas in any war. It is precisely because of that perception that they are using such weapons. The deniability factor prevents the media from taking seriously the credible reports of banned weapons being used by the Israelis.
July 22nd, 2006 at 6:03 amISREAL USING GAS WEAPONS
Comment by Time Capsule
That’s horseshit and you know it. Where did you pick up that piece of crap, Al Jajeezra Terrorvision?
When they start using suicide bombers to PURPOSELY kill women and children on buses, or teenagers at danceclubs and cafes, you’ll get my attention, Muhammed.
Shalom.
July 22nd, 2006 at 8:52 amIsreal doesn’t need to use suicide bombers as it has an enourmous arsenal of weapons and the backing of the largest terrorist network on the planet. Americans need to take responsiblity for the complicity of our government in mass murder and terrorism. American Jews need to put down the Zionist flags, bury their delusions and wake up to what they’ve become. – A shand und a scandal oif eigene farein!
July 22nd, 2006 at 9:07 amISREAL USING GAS WEAPONS
Comment by Time Capsule
Time Capsule, your ’source’ is the Wayne Madsen site. This is the same Wayne Madsen who frequently cites unnamed intelligence agency insiders for his facts.
Here is another of Madsen’s lame-assed claims: That the USS Cole bombing was carried out by an Israeli submarine firing a cruise missile.
He also reported to supermarket tabloid The Globe that Bush was having an affair with Condoleezza Rice and that Laura Bush had moved out of the White House.
Back to verifying your sources, Time Capsule.
July 22nd, 2006 at 9:09 amIsreal doesn’t need to use suicide bombers as it has an enourmous arsenal of weapons and the backing of the largest terrorist network on the planet.
Comment by Jaded Prole
Where do all the anti-semitic dipshits come from on this site? As for Jaded Assole’s claim that we are the largest terrorist network on the planet, I would point out that we are also one of the largest contributor’s to the Palestinains and the Lebanese in the world. Try $150 million that went to construction, training government officials and other projects, plus $84 million in humanitarian assistance paid through the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in 2005.
And how much did they get from their oil-rich muslim brothers?
July 22nd, 2006 at 9:24 amGlad someone is talking…
“War on Terror” makes good sound bites, but what going on in the Mideast is the killing normal people to get a few Terrorists.
July 22nd, 2006 at 9:54 ambut, who is listening?
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:29 am…
Good for them!
One thing I am not clear about, however, is how do ordinary Lebanese citizens affect the policies of Hezbollah? It’s not exactly a government organization, nor can it be considered a rational actor.
But at least these conversations make it clear on both sides: this has nothing to do with the ordinary people: this is playing politics with human lives, wholesale. And besides, if the U.S., the supposed world leader, can do it, why not everyone else, right?
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:52 amHot off the press……USA air lifting bombs to Isreal…..bush sure doesn’t want his commrads to run short on supplies to kill more lebanon citizens……bush at his pig farm this morning talking to Turkey…That’s gonna cost us….Last time he kissed Turkeys ass it cost the USA tax payers 10 million dollars to use their air space so bombs could be droped in Iraq and planes refuled….. I thought Friday’s were the worst in bush world, it’s turning out to be every day is worse than the day before…. Demand Peace…….Blessings
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:55 amThose who defend Israel killing children in Lebanon should be ashamed of themselves! Israel used the excuse of Hezbollah capturing two soldiers to justify all out aggression on Lebanon, and now Bush is sending more bombs to Israel free of charge! Dubya is sick!
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:15 amRight again Jay, and let us not forget, everything that led up to that point and is down played…The latest of many things that Israel did was cut the power to Lebanon and Palestine, also depriving them of water, arrested and is holding hundreds of innicent men and women in jail and was lurking around in Lebanon to create this mess….
Fat faced Falwell spouting his christian crap on CNN as I type….”The fate of Israel is tied to the USA”…Bible thumpers are realy pushing it today…..Good time for this old girl to turn everything off…..Yikes! The nut jobs are realy pushing for the armagedon..
Sick basterds all…….
Blessings…..Demand Peace……
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:29 amThose who defend Israel killing children in Lebanon should be ashamed of themselves!
Comment by Jay Randal
I have three questions for you Jay and the other anti-Israeli people here.
1. Instead of calling on Israel to ceasefire, why don’t the Muslim and their sympathizers simply demand that Hezbollah give back the two kidnapped soldiers and pull back 20 miles from the border? Thats all it would take to put a stop to this at this point.
2. If the Lebanese leaders have a national Army is so powerless and defenseless and afraid to challenge or go against the Hezbollah militia, why are they so willing to threateb to commit that same army to JOIN Hezbollah and fight against the most powerful Army [Isreali] in the region?
3. Why is it that when people are killed in Israel, it is reported as 8 people killed and 12 wounded in a rocket attack, but when people die in Lebanon or Gaza, it is reported as 3 men, two women, and four children were killed and thirteen wounded, including six childen? Now just why is that, do you suppose?
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:49 amgraphic photos from Lebanon
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=55&p=24885&s2=21
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:56 amgraphic photos from Lebanon
Comment by bernadene
Yeah, truely horrible. Funny, though—-tHey look very similar to the pictures taken in Israel after a suicide attack. Still, very sad and devestating.
Seeing those pictures, though, wouldn’t you think it should piss off the Lebanese and everyone else at Hezbollah for not only STARTING this but refusing to put an end to it by returning the two Israeli soldiers?
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:07 pmJoe Sixpack > Israel is NOT interested in those 2 soldiers > they want to occupy southern Lebanon and used those soldiers as an excuse! Since Israel has bombed carloads of civilians, and houses too, they could have already killed those soldiers doing that crap!
I do not like aggression by anybody, so I am not an apologist for the Hezbollah either!
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:07 pmPost 25 > thanks for posting those pics of Israel killing civilians in Lebanon > how can a so-called civilized nation like Israel burn children to death? Those pics make me feel ill!
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:17 pmJay, I disagree. Hezbollah and Hamas are tickled at what’s happening. They have destroyed the Peace process (as usual) and can continue to their goal of destoying Israel. They don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist. Period.
As for aggression, Israel has gone out of its way to avoid bombing carloads of civilians by dropping leaflets and warnings ahead of time. I the Lebanese hadn’t have been in bed with the Hezbollah extremists, this wouldn’t have happened. They have had six years to secure the border, and there are 2,000 useless UN Observers there to help, but they have done nothing except turn a blind eye to a serious problem that has grown and festered within their borders.
I am not unsympathetic to innocent people. Lets not forget that there are many, many Lebanese who are christian, or pro-American, and who have been abused for years by Hezbollah supporters and muslim extremists and they are glad that at least SOMEONE is stepping up to the plate and taking care of this bunch of thugs.
That’s my opinion, and everyone here is entitled to theirs. I do agree that war sucks—but sometimes justified, as in this case.
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:24 pmThose soldiers have probably been renditioned to Yeman.
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:24 pmJoe Sixpack > If Israel had strictly attacked the Hezbollah fighters along the Lebanese border, then their actions would have been justified, but instead they attacked all of Lebanon including civilians! Car loads of civilians fleeing the south have been bombed by napalm or some other inflamatory devices! Targeting civilians is a war crime, according to the Geneva Conventions, so PM Olmert of Israel must be tried as a war criminal at Hague!
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:32 pmso PM Olmert of Israel must be tried as a war criminal at Hague!
Comment by Jay Randal
Come on, Jay. Bombs cause fires. Burning vehicles cause dead bodies to burn and char. We used to call them “crispy critters” when I was in the service. Sick as it sounds, its true.
But there is a question that concerns me: just how much of my tax money is going to be spent rebuilding BOTH sides once this mess is over?
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:42 pmPost 32 > any money that Israel gives to Lebanon to rebuild would actually be US taxpayers funds > Bush currently gives about 10 billion in aid to Israel yearly and about 2 or 3 billion of that in cash!
Yes bombs dropping on cars can burn bodies, but the pics posted at 25 above show signs of napalm use, plus remember those pictured are civilians! Killing Hezbollah soldiers is a different matter entirely!
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:53 pmJoe > go hit on the link at post 25 and scroll down past the written article to see about 20 pics of burned up Lebanese corpses! Very sickening pics especially of the children!
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:56 pmMan alive. People who know nothing about the Middle East historically and politically speaking, are relying on the MSM for “news”, and really what they are getting are snips of opinions from those who really know NOTHING. Or have an agenda….scary times we live in, indeed. THE TRUTH SHALL SET US FREE!
The Fog of Cable
by Lawrence Pintak
As someone who lives and breathes Middle East politics and media, I have had the bizarre — and frustrating — experience of watching the current conflict play out on U.S. cable television, and I am reminded once again why many Americans have such a limited — and distorted — view of the world.
July 22nd, 2006 at 1:09 pmas if we didn’t already know …
News Bias in the Associated Press
by Peter Phillips
A new study conducted at Sonoma State University shows widespread bias in Associate Press (AP) news reports favoring US government positions.
July 22nd, 2006 at 1:12 pmAh, yes!
July 22nd, 2006 at 1:41 pmThe so-called liberal press.
From my local papers, who don’t have room to print news releases from Democratic candidates to AP wire services that slant coverage to Bush&Co.
This is going to be a long fight.
#
But there is a question that concerns me: just how much of my tax money is going to be spent rebuilding BOTH sides once this mess is over?
Comment by Joe Sixpack — July 22, 2006 @ 12:42 pm
#
Ah, spoken like a true “Compassionate Conservative.” This question/concern of yours perfectly defines the divide between people like you and liberals.
July 22nd, 2006 at 2:10 pmwhat all you “suicide bomber” repeaters fail to notice is that the suicide bombs are a very recent tactict used by the most frustrated long disenfranchised people on earth today. yes, very sad. plenty of blame to go around, especially by THE LEBANESE CIVILIANS. They are horrible too, aren’t they? they did horrible things to deserve this didn’t they?
moral cretinism is alive and well in America.
July 22nd, 2006 at 2:55 pmI just watched a CNN news report a short while ago, and the Lebanese in Tyre just buried 87 civilians killed in a Israeli air-raid, more than half of them women and children! Official death toll in Lebanon is NOT correct > several hundred civilians have been killed and the bodies not collected yet! Also CNN confirms that phospherous bombs were dropped on people > that in of itself is classified as a war crime! Shame on PM Olmert of Israel!
July 22nd, 2006 at 3:29 pmOnce again, truth is the first casualty of war
July 22nd, 2006 at 3:54 pmIraqi speaker decries US ‘butchery’
US forces have committed butchery in Iraq and should leave, the speaker of the country’s parliament has said.
Mahmoud al-Mashhadani was speaking on Saturday at a UN-sponsored conference on transitional justice and reconciliation in Baghdad.
“Just get your hands off Iraq and the Iraqi people and Muslim countries, and everything will be all right,” he said in a speech as the conference opened.
“What has been done in Iraq is a kind of butchery of the Iraqi people.”
He also criticised US support for Israeli attacks against Lebanon.
The two-day conference, which was originally supposed to be opened by Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, will address the issue of dealing with the crimes of previous regimes and a plan to reconcile warring factions.
The prime minister is expected to name a reconciliation committee on Saturday.
Al-Mashhadani told the audience of UN officials, foreign experts, Iraqi politicians and civil society representatives that the Iraqi people had little use for foreign advice on running the country or for foreign-sponsored conferences.
Anecdote
“If a reconciliation project is going to work it has to talk to all the people,” he said. “It must go through our Iraqi beliefs and perceptions. What we need is reconciliation between Iraqis only, there can be no third party.”
He related an anecdote about how American soldiers keep people waiting in lines at checkpoints for hours because they insist on resting their bomb-sniffing dogs.
“The sleep of American dogs is more important than people being stopped in the street for hours,” he said.
The UN representative who then opened the conference referred to al-Mashhadani’s speech as “spirited”.
More US troops
Meanwhile on Saturday, the US moved to bolster American troop strength in Baghdad to cope with the escalating violence as seven Shia workers were shot dead in west Baghdad and explosions in the heart of the capital shattered a one-day calm after a ban on private vehicles expired.
Violence resumed after a one-day
ban on Baghdad vehicles expired
The seven Shia died in a drive-by shooting at noon in the Furat neighbourhood near Baghdad airport, police Lieutenant Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said. Two other workers were wounded.
Earlier, two large explosions occurred in eastern Baghdad about 20 minutes apart at midmorning. One targeted an Iraqi police patrol, but killed a civilian. The other occurred near the Rasheed military camp, killing an American soldier.
A ban on private vehicles had kept down violence on Friday after one of the most violent weeks in the capital this year.
It expired on Friday evening, and within hours, heavy bursts of automatic weapons rang out.
A senior US defence official said the Pentagon was moving ahead with scheduled deployments to Iraq next month and was moving one battalion to Baghdad from Kuwait, where it was in reserve.
July 22nd, 2006 at 3:56 pmDieing from the effects of a phosphorous bomb is often an extremely brutal experience. I have seen individuals scream in intense pain until death came as a release after a mere 2 or 3 minutes. This is not always the case as some individuals are fortunate enough to expire in a few seconds. One is helpless to alleviate the pain as water merely intensifies the reaction.
July 22nd, 2006 at 9:43 pmYes Walt > that is why phosphorous bombs being used on civilians are prohibited by the Geneva Conventions > they are banned weapons, so what else is Israel using? Some pics I have seen suggest a napalm type bomb or some other flaming jelly! One pic has been posted showing an Israeli soldier carrying a chemical bomb > filled with mustard gas or acid/clorine liquid which becomes a gas when the bomb detonates!
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:29 pmMakes me think of working years ago at a hardware/nursery store and one employee mixed pool acid with clorine at the same time pouring it into a pond > it vaporized into a gas and we had to evacuate the green house > killed or burned most of the plants badly > it would have burned our lungs out as well!
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:34 pm#44 Jay it will be MK77 – the sucessor to napalm – already being used in Iraq.
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:30 amSenior officials believe U.S. will give Israel a week to complete military offensive in Lebanon
Unnaceptable stop the killing of Lebanese civillians now
July 23rd, 2006 at 4:38 amget to the streets and protest what a apathetic nation America is
I have to say it’s a good post!
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:22 amhmmm… i wonder why a comment originally at #23 was deleted…
July 23rd, 2006 at 11:17 amit was about the sale of fighter jets to pakistan… off topic, but it just seems like george is trying to stir up trouble…
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q=jets%2C+pakistan&btnG=Search+News
relavent reading, via crooks and liars:
A Plea for Basic Sanity: No To A Neo-Con Ressentiment
“Three years ago, I would have poo-pooed anyone using the word “radicals” to describe the neo-cons. No more. Any group that can so brazenly (and breezily) avoid a real reckoning with the continuing crisis in Iraq–which is descending into civil war as we speak–any movement that has the gall to suggest as some panacea that we mount significant military operations in Iran and Syria and god knows where else (with Israel in Lebanon to boot), well, their credibility is at a very low ebb indeed, and they very much need to be urgently reined in…”
July 23rd, 2006 at 11:58 amAnyway to all you dumb ass republican warmongers
SOURCE Koreas Oh My News
Israeli missile strike killed seven members of a Palestinian family picnicking on a Gaza beach, which prompted Hamas to end its 16-month-old informal ceasefire with Israel. Hamas has repeatedly pointed to the Gaza beach incident as one of the central events that prompted its cross-border raid. Hamas also points to the capture of some of its leaders by Israel as the provocation for its raid.
Israel fired 7,000 to 9,000 heavy artillery shells into Gaza, killing and wounding scores of people.
TO ALL YOU REPUBLICAN TROOLS PUT UP OR SHUT THE F*CK UP
July 23rd, 2006 at 5:11 pm