Breaking - US Arming Hezbollah With State-Of-The-Art Missiles

 

The U.S. delivered part of an $8.6 million military aid package to Lebanon today including laser-guided artillery shells and Hellfire air-to-surface missiles. This amounts to a doubling of military aid to Lebanon.

The story from the Obama Administration is that these munitions are to help Lebanon's military defend the country’s eastern border from what the State Department referred to as "violent extremists."

Just one thing...speaking of violent extremists, there's a peculiar thing about Lebanon's Army. Like the rest of Lebanon's military, it is now  totally integrated with Hezbollah. And it has been for years.

The armaments the Obama Administration is giving Lebanon will thus be freely available to  Hezbollah and used against Israel when the time comes.That's why the Israelis made a formal announcement  that if they were attacked from Lebanon again, unlike the last time they would consider it an attack on Israel by Lebanon, not just Hezbollah.

And it even gets worse than that.

Those extremists the Obama Administration  is blathering about?A reasonable person might think that would include Jaish al-Fatah, the Army of Conquest. These are the so-called  'moderates' funded, armed and trained by President Obama in conjunction with Turkey, Qatar and the Saudis. Jaish al-Fatah is primarily composed of 'moderates' like Ahrar ash-Sham, an officially designated terrorist group and  the al-Qaeda offshoot al-Nusrah.And they're right on Lebanon's border in Idlib province.

 

These are the same wonderful folks the Obama administration is complaining about Vladimir Putin conducting air strikes on:

“Greater than 90 percent of the strikes that we’ve seen them take to date have not been against ISIL or al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby.

“They’ve been largely against opposition groups that want a better future for Syria and don’t want to see the Assad regime stay in power.
Al-Nusrah isn't affiliated with al-Qaedah? That's certainly not what they say. Read up on al-Nusrah and Ahrar ash-Sham. You'll quickly find out what kind of future these hard line Islamists want for Syria, and their differences with ISIS could basically be summed up by the phrase 'Who's going to be king of the mountain ?'

And by the way, this is exactly how ISIS was created...out of the Syrian Free Army funded, trained and armed by the Obama Administration, Turkey and Qatar.

What we have here is material aid to terrorism, something that is clearly against U.S. law except when President Obama does it. Even more, we're aiding both sides in this conflict who, whatever their differences hate us and have plenty of American blood on their hands.Our president's actions have already ensured that we lose out either way.

At least Russia's Vladimir Putin seems to know whose side he's on. And he seems to be actually taking on those 'Sunni extremists' and 'al-Qada affiliated terrorists' John Kirby was talking about.

As for me, I have to confess something. When my tax dollars are going to a government that funds groups that would happily murder me and my family let alone my friends in Israel, it is definitely food for thought.

Certainly I never want to hear this president or any of his minions talk about how they 'have Israel's back' when they're arming. training and funding genocidal terrorists.

Israeli Strike Takes Out Iranian General And Hezbollah Leaders

Israel pulled off a very successful air strike today near Syria’s Quneitra border crossing.As many as 12 Hezbollah and Iranian officials took the dirt nap as an Israeli attack chopper scored direct hits on the three car convoy they were traveling in.

Among the dead were Iranian Revolutionary Guard general Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, who had just been promoted as the IRG commander in charge of Iranian troops and Iran trained Shi'ite militiamen fighting for Syria's Basher Assad. His aides were also killed, among them Iranian general Abu Ali Tabatabai.

Another was a prominent Hezbollah commander, Jihad Mugniyeh, the son of the late and unlamented Imad Mugniyeh.He was in charge of Hezbollah operations in Syria.

 

According to my sources, the Israelis got wind of a plan to ramp up terrorist attacks on their northern border and decided on a little preventive pest control.The idea, among other things, was for Hezbollah to put missile bases and terrorist camps in Syria to strike Israel while avoiding retaliation in Lebanon.

Kol Hakavod, Chevra...well done.

We'll see if Hezbollah responds. The IDF has already deployed troops and a couple of Iron Dome batteries in the Golan and they say they're prepared. My guess is that Hezbollah swallows this and limits itself to rhetoric, for now.  The Israelis have been crystal clear that unlike 2006, any attack by Hezbollah will be considered as coming from Lebanon, since Hezbollah pretty much runs that country as an Iranian colony now.

UPDATE: It's now been verified today that my sources were correct..this attack took out the Iranian and Hezbollah commanders whom were meeting to plan major attacks on Israel's north.

What 'Demilitarization' Really Means

 

One of Israeli PM Netanyahu's problems with both John Kerry's Hamas friendly ceasefire offer and the UN's call for an unconditional ceasefire was that neither mentioned demilitarizing Gaza, which Netanyahu rightly considers one of the prime goals of the current conflict.

But when he mentions this as something 'the international community' should be calling for, he's kidding himself. And to go even farther, even if the 'international community' agreed to do so and put it in writing, Netanyahu and the  Israeli people would be incredibly naive to accept it at face value.

Does anyone remember the 2006 Lebanon ceasefire? That resulted in a binding Series 7 UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that guaranteed the disarming of a terrorist group , Hezbollah. In exchange for the IDF ending hostilities and withdrawing all its forces back over the border, UNIFIL and the Lebanese army were supposed to see to it that Hezbollah never returned to its strongholds in South Lebanon and to disarm Hezbollah and all other militias or 'armed groups' as the resolution put it. 



With Syria and Iran in mind, there were even mention of specific penalties to be evoked in UNSCR 1701 in the event of  any foreign entity rearming Hezbollah.Even Sheik Nasrallah of Hezbollah agreed to the resolution's terms.

So, what happened? Once the IDF pulled out all of a sudden things changed. Hezbollah refused to be disarmed, and the then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan suddenly came up with the brand new position that the UNIFIL troops were not going to take any responsibility to do so, and that it was up to the Lebanese government..who were far too weak to disarm Hezbollah on their own.

 
And when Hezbollah said that it was going to ignore UNSCR 1701's provision that Lebanon south of the Litani River was to be a Hezbollah free zone, did the UN or UNIFIL say one word? Maybe 'not our job' but not much else.

And in August of that same year, when Turkish authorities intercepted five Iranian cargo aircraft and one Syrian aircraft carrying missiles to Hezbollah forced them to land at Diyarbakır Airport in southeastern Turkey, did the UN do anything about it? Uhhh, no.

That is how the 'international community' does disarmament and demilitarization. Especially when it comes to Islamist terrorists where Israel is concerned.

My point here? Expecting the US or the UN to demilitarize Gaza and disarm Hamas is to believe in a fairy tale no matter what either of them put on a piece pf paper.Especially with President Obama in charge.

The only way to disarm and 'demilitarize' Gaza and make sure it stays that way is for the IDF to defeat Hezbollah completely. And Israel can only trust Israel to actually do it.

After that, to ensure it stays that way Israel needs to annex Gaza and and remove a substantial part of the population to UNRWA camps outside Israeli territory, or to Area A, or to a combination of the two Then repopulate Gaza with Jews and watch it become a Singapore or a Hong Kong.

This would not be a solution without cost. Solutions deferred for years never are.

But in the end, peace comes from victory. And after all of the 'sacrifices for peace' written in Jewish blood forced on Israel since the Oslo debacle, I think the Israeli people would support this over these constant wars of attrition that grow more costly each time. Enough of the balagan gadol.

Cross Posted at The Times Of Israel

Here's Why A Disproportionate Response To Terrorism Works

 

Here's a good example of why a disproportionate response to terrorist aggression works.

This morning, three Katyusha missiles were fired at Israeli towns in the north of the country from the Lebanese border.They landed near Kfar Yuval, between the northern Israeli towns of Metulla and Kiryat Shmona.



The IDF responded with heavy artillery fire, and lodged an official complaint with UNFIL, the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon not with any expectation of UNFIL actually doing anything but to document the incident.

 

Lebanon, which has no relations with Israel and is essentially ruled by Hezbollah immediately sent units of the Lebanese army into the area..not to attack Israel, but to find and stop the perpetrators who fired the rockets.

They found and disabled two rockets that had been set up for launch, and already have one suspect in custody. According to the Lebanese, the rockets were launched from the village of Hasbaya, near the border, and the rockets were likely fired by a splinter Palestinian group in Lebanon that identifies with Hamas.

In previous situations, the Lebanese government would have shrugged something like this off, and their military would have actively collaborated in any attack on Israel. But now, things are different. The memory of what happened in Lebanon in 2006 is still strong, Shi'ite Hezbollah has never been all that fond of Sunni Hamas or the Palestinians in general anyway and Hezbollah is otherwise engaged in Syria and in trying to hold Lebanon together.

As much as Hezbollah hates Jews, The last thing they want is a confrontation with Israel, so they stomped on this quick.

A strong response to terrorist aggression works.

23 Dead As Massive Blast Levels Iranian Embassy In Beirut

Two blasts near the Iranian embassy in Beirut killed at least 23 people and injured 146 today.The death toll is expected to go higher. Six buildings were destroyed in the embassy compound.

It appears that one bomb was set off by a bomber with an explosive belt while the second blast was a fairly sizable car bomb.

The Iranians, of course, blamed Israel, but the Israelis were quick to deny any involvement, which makes sense. The embassy is deep in South Beirut which is Hezbollah territory.When I first heard about this, I doubted the Mossad would risk personnel to take out an embassy target, especially in this fashion...nor do they use suicide bombers.

Sure enough, Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, the religious guide of the Sunni Abdullah Azzam Brigades, said the group had carried out the attack in a Twitter post. "It was a double martyrdom operation by two of the Sunni heroes of Lebanon," he wrote.

So I think we can chalk this up to the current Sunni vs. Shi'te war now enveloping the Middle East.
In any case, this w3as a devastating strike.

I must say though, it's darkly amusing to see a major fomenter of terrorism like Iran screaming about being victimized by tactics like these.

Mysterious Explosion At Hezbollah Headquarters After Ambush of Four Israeli Soldiers

There was a huge explosion today in Hezbollah's Lebanon stronghold in southern Beirut.

A powerful car bomb killed an estimated 20 people and wounded many more.

A Sunni group calling itself the Aisha Umm-al Mouemeneen (Brigades of Aisha) claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Shortly after the attack, an online video surfaced showing three masked men, two of them holding rifles, in front of a white flag inscribed with the Islamic shaheedah, the profession of faith.

"We... send a message to [Hezbollah chief] Hassan Nasrallah's pigs," said one of the men, wearing a white mask.They then claimed responsibility for the attack and promised more operations against Hezbollah.

"This is the second time that we decide the time and place of the battle ... And you will see more, God willing," the Brigades of Aisha statement said, describing Hezbollah and Nasrallah as Iranian agents.

"We send a message to our brothers in Lebanon, we ask you to stay away from all the Iranian colonies in Lebanon ... because your blood is precious to us," a masked spokesman, flanked by two men brandishing rifles, said in the video.

"But Hassan Nasrallah is an agent of Iran and Israel and we promise him more and more (attacks)."

Now just by coincidence, it was only a sew days ago that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah
went on Lebanese TV to claim that a blast that wounded four Israeli soldiers on the border was a Hezbollah ambush.

In a live interview with Lebanese television station Al-Mayadeen this week, Nasrallah said that two remote-control bombs detonated inside Lebanon when the Israeli force crossed the border. He said Hezbollah members knew in advance the Israelis were coming and planted the bombs in a deliberate plan to target them.

"It was a closely monitored and deliberate operation," Nasrallah said. "It was not an accident, and the explosion certainly wasn't caused by an Israeli landmine," he added, referring to Israeli reports that the Israel Defense Forces soldiers had accidentally activated a mine near the border.

There are a few interesting things about that claim by Nasrallah. The border is very well marked, since the Israelis actually went to the UN to demarcate it when they withdrew from South Lebanon. The Israelis doesn't cross it, under ordinary circusstances and especially not with a small patrol like that. And there's no conceivable way Nasrallah and his friends could have 'known in advance' where the small patrol was going to go - unless Hezbollah planted the bombs in advance on Israel's side of the border and either deliberately staged some activity to lure a small patrol there to check something out or simply planted the bombs and just waited for an opportunity to set them off.

That makes sense in view of Hezbollah's increasing unpopularity in Lebanon due to their full on intervention in Syria's civil war. They've been seeking to play the 'Israel card' lately in an effort to regain some cred on the Lebanese street, and Nasrallah's little chest thumping screed on Lebanese TV that revealed Hezbollah's participation might very well have been part of that.

So, was this a bit of payback by Israel? Hard to say. They normally like more surgical retaliation. Car bombs that also indiscriminately  target civilians are not their usual method. Could they merely have been taking advantage of of this anti-Hezbollah Sunni groups' activities? Again, who knows? The Israelis, as usual , have no comment and even if they denied it it's doubtful it would be believed in the conspiracy theory loving Arab world.

One the bright side, the Lebanese will blame Nasrallah for opening his big fat mouth and claiming responsibility for something the IDF was willing to write off as an accident. And Israel's reputation for being able to hit back here, there and everywhere has been enhanced, whether the Mossad had anything to do with this or not.

But it is ironic that Hezbollah, one of the most vicious terrorist groups on the planet is now being victimized by the very tactics it introduced into Lebanon back in the 1980's.

US Military Chief General Dempsey's Latest Brilliant Idea - 'Let's Arm And Train Hezbollah!"

 

General Martin Dempsey is President Obama's Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And in spite of a decent record as a  combat commander  in Iraq, it's pretty obvious that he fits in perfectly with this president and his policy goals.

Aside from being the point man in calling the Ft. Hood jihadi killings a 'workplace accident',  imposing ridiculous rules of engagement on our troops under fire and preventing them from being taught about the nature of Islamist fascism, he's come up with another brainstorm, undoubtedly via SecDef Chuck Hagel - wouldn't it be just splendid to arm and train the Lebanese military?

The top US military officer said on Wednesday he has recommended bolstering Lebanese forces grappling with the fallout from Syria's civil war by sending in military trainers and accelerating arms sales.

He was responding to a question at the news conference about whether Lebanon had asked for military help and whether the US military might go into that country.

"When you say would we send the United States Army or the United States military into Lebanon, I'm talking about teams of trainers, and I'm talking about accelerating foreign military sales for equipment for them," Dempsey said in response.

There's absolutely no sense in our providing shiny new equipment and training on how to use it to any Arab army...but it's particularly clueless when it comes to Lebanon.

You see, there's a peculiarity about Lebanon's Army. It's totally integrated with Hezbollah. And it has been for years.

Even Lebanon's current president, General Michel Suleiman is a  Hezbollah ally who as the  former Lebanese C in C refused to allow the Lebanese Army to fight against Hezbollah even when Hezbollah was killing Lebanese civilians during a series of attacks against the March 14 Lebanese government in May of 2008.

He has famously said on a number of occasions that 'Hezbollah is Lebanon'. That's why the Israelis made a formal announcement  that if they were attacked from Lebanon again, unlike the last time they would consider it an attack on Israel by Lebanon, not just Hezbollah.

This is whom General Dempsey (and former Sec Sate Hillary Clinton before him)  want to arm and 'bolster'. To assume that US military aid earmarked for the Lebanese forces won't somehow end up being used by Hezbollah is the sort of fantasy beyond even what you'd expect from today's White House.

Among other things, it presents the ludicrous picture of our arming the Muslim Brotherhood and  al-Qaeda allied  Syrian rebels with one hand and Hezbollah with the other. And of course, having any personnel we have there targeted by both sides. Remember what happened in Beirut at the hands of Hezbollah the last time we sent troops there?

Of course, it also provides Israel's enemies with armaments and support as well, which might be the whole point anyway.

Beyond ludicrous.

IDF Takes Out Syrian Arms Convoy En Route To Hezbollah

 

Well, here's some good news to start the morning off with.

The IDF went into action and its pilots destroyed an arms convey en route from Syria to Hezbollah's bases in Lebanon. No one's certain whether the shipment contained any of Assad's chemical weapons, but it apparently did contain a number of sophisticated anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles like the Russian-made SA-17s.

The SA-17s are not the kind of toys Israel would want Hezbollah getting its paws on. The self propelled anti-aircraft missiles are very portable and fairly good in trained hands at hitting something like an F-16 flying at a low altitude. And because the SA-17 and its launching system are easily moved, they're harder to trace and could constitute a surprise for jets flying within its range and not suspecting their deployment at a given target.

Thanks to the IDF, the SA-17s and the other goodies Assad was shipping to Hezbollah are about as dangerous now as last year's burned out Fourth of July fireworks.

Kol Hakavod! Nice shootin'....

You'll recall that I speculated here based on info from Iranian defector and ex-Revolutionary Guards commander Reza Khalili that in retaliation for what the Iranians believe is Israel's complicity in the massive explosion at the Fordow nuclear weapons facility, the Ayatollah's had ordered Hezbollah to launch a missile strike at Israel. That, of course, would launch another war between Israel and Lebanon.

As I also mentioned, the Iranians recently doubled down on Syria, sending in troops and armor to support his regime. Part of the price for that was almost certainly the transfer of some of Assad's arsenal to Hezbollah, and it looks like this was the first installment.

The Israelis certainly seem to think something is in the works. Record numbers of them are updating their gas masks, fixing up their safe rooms and getting prepared for what might be coming.

Stay tuned....

More Info On Fordow Nuke Facility Explosion - And Of A Possible Hezbollah Attack On Israel

As I reported yesterday, there definitely was an explosion at Iran's top secret nuclear enrichment plan at Fordow...and the jokes certain members of Israel's security apparatus were cracking after Avi Dichter's deadpan press remarks were apparently not without reason.

Iranian defector and ex-Revolutionary Guards commander Reza Khalili went into more detail in an interview with the Jerusalem Post, calling it the biggest act of sabotage in decades:

Speaking to the Post on Monday, Khalili expressed confidence that the alleged blast will receive "further coverage in the US," and that "more information" will become available to verify the incident.
"This is the center of the Iranian nuclear program. It's essential for the regime, its activities, and its nuclear program. If such a blow was given to Fordow, it definitely harms [Iran] drastically. They were reaching for 20 percent uranium enrichment, and were increasing output," he added.

Situated near the holy Shi'ite city of Qom, the existence of the Fordow enrichment plant, dug deep into a mountain, was kept secret by Iran, until it was discovered by Western intelligence in 2009, and the question of how long it had been in operation remains unanswered.

Kahlili, a pseudonym used to protect him from the Iranian regime, published A Time To Betray in 2010, in which he described a journey which took him from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards to being a CIA operative in the 1980s. He now resides in California, and says he is in touch with a number of insiders in the Iranian intelligence and security communities, as well as with the office of Iran's supreme leader.

Asked why satellite imagery was not being released of rescue efforts at Fordow, Kahlili said only state intelligence agencies have access to live satellite feeds. "Why don't they put it out? My only assumption is that no one wants to take credit because of what the consequences could be by the regime," he said. "This is a very sensitive time. I'm sure that soon, very soon, more information will leak out. Chatter will get loud enough to provide further information." Kahlili went on to say that the "first suspicion is Israel" within the Islamic Republic. "I have verified information that there was a meeting [called by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei. A decision was made to act in Lebanon. A request was made to [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah to vacate southern Lebanese villages. Islamic Republic Guards are on their way there. A decision has been made to prepare for missile launch from a certain area in Lebanon against Israel," he said.

Khalili said one of the sources who initially leaked information of the blast came from within the security forces guarding Fordow, adding that precise information of the attack was not being released in order to protect the source. "The source has been collaborating for a long time," he said. A second source came from the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, he said, adding that it was very difficult to safely get information out of Iran.

Iranian authorities have not yet made any progress in their attempt to enter Fordow, Kahlili asserted, adding, "I fear there is radiation involved." Iran's defense ministry dispatched drilling vehicles, "the same they used to carve tunnels and create underground facilities, to see if they can make any headway in opening emergency exists, because they collapsed. Among those stuck in the facility are dozens of foreign nationals. These are contracted scientists," he said.

Kahlili said a second mysterious blast occurred in Tehran last week, at an IRGC base called "21 Hamza." "There are injuries, and there have been arrests of IRGC members who are being questioned. The Intelligence Ministry suspects sabotage," he added.

Even more to the point, without admitting any Israeli participation, Israeli intel sources have confirmed that the blast at Fordow occurred according to the London Times:

“We are still in the preliminary stages of understanding what happened and how significant it is,” one Israeli official told the London Times. He did not know if the explosion was “sabotage or accident” and refused to comment on reports that Israeli aircraft were seen near Fordo at the time of the blast.

The Iranians actually went to the trouble of issuing a formal denial, which doesn't explain the cordon around Fordos, the shaking of buildings as far away as three miles or the road closures between Qom and Tehran, which I was able to confirm independently.

And there appears to be a connection between the Fordow blast, Hezbollah and a possible strike against Israel.

Kahlili's interview with the Jerusalem Post (fourth paragraph) mentions that the Iranian regime blames Israel for the Fordow blast and has made a decision to order its proxy Hezbollah to launch a missile strike against Israel.

More confirmation of Kahlili's information in this regard is the redeploying of two Iron Dome anti-missile batteries by the Israelis on the Israel/Lebanon border.

Hezbollah has constructed camps near sites in Syria known to contain chemical weapons, obviously with an eye towards adding them to its arsenal as the Assad regime totters. Both the Obama Administration and Israel have stated that Hezbollah obtaining these WMD's would be a red line.

At the same time, Iran recently sent large amounts of troops and armor into Syria, publicly stating that an attack on its ally Assad was an attack on Iran.

It's quite possible that if Iran plans to strike at Israel, part of the conditions of increased Iranian help for Assad would be the release to Hezbollah of some of his WMD arsenal.

Is Hezbollah's Sheik Nasrallah really prepared to start another war with Israel? A missile strike, whether it involved WMDs or not would do that, and as I reported here before, this time, since Hezbollah essentially controls Lebanon's government, Israel would treat it as a war between Israel and Lebanon, not just Israel and Hezbollah.

It's hard to say. Hezbollah has still not totally recovered from the 2006 War with Israel, especially in terms of its political capital within Lebanon. And it is still pre-occupied with events in Syria, where its fighters are still engaged in combat with the Sunni insurgents. A war with Israel might be ill-advised, especially with Hamas still licking its wounds over the damage to its missile arsenal during Defensive Cloud last year.

But if Hezbollah's Iranian masters are playing the hand organ, the monkey's probably going to dance.

Stay tuned...

Germany's Embassy Attacked In The Sudan, US Embassies Assaulted Worldwide As White House Sticks To its Narrative

What do you know? It isn't just America and it isn't about some 'movie' on YouTube, no matter what the Obama Administration says. This is about the west and establishing turf, and our president either doesn't have a clue or is simply too busy with other matters to bother noticing:

Sudanese demonstrators broke into the German embassy in Khartoum on Friday, raising an Islamic flag and setting the building on fire in a protest against a film that demeaned the Prophet Mohammad, witnesses said.

Police had earlier fired tear gas to try to disperse some 5,000 protesters who had ringed the German embassy and nearby British mission. But a Reuters witness said policemen just stood by when the crowd forced its way into Germany's mission.

Demonstrators hoisted a black Islamic flag saying in white letters "there is no God but God and Mohammed is his prophet," They smashed windows, cameras and furniture in the building and then started a fire, witnesses said.

Even Pope Benedict faced violent demonstrations in Lebanon as he visited Tripoli today. And the American embassy in London was also hit by some of the large jihadist population living there. Our embassy in Tunis is also in flames.

Again, the White House can deny what's happening all it likes and say this is about a few YouTube segments and that this is not directed at America . But what we're seeing here is nothing less than a wholesale failure of the Obama Administration's entire approach of appeasement towards the Muslim World.

This is not going to go away.

More Olympic Spirit - Lebanese Team Demands Barrier Separation From Israelis

The Lebanese Olympic judo team demanded and got the Olympic committee to erect a barrier between themselves and the Israeli judo squad just hours before the Games’ opening ceremony.

The two teams were scheduled to train inside London’s ExCeL center but Lebanon’s team refused and their team’s coach demanded an apartheid wall to separate them from the Jews.

Of course the IOC complied with this racism rather than give Lebanon an ultimatum to abide by the Olympic Charter, curb their behavior or pack for the trip home.

I guarantee you that's exactly what would have happened if the Israelis had made that kind of demand.

What an absolute disgrace.

John Bolton On Obama's Foreign Policy: 'The Innocents Abroad '

Perhaps America's most effective UN Ambassador and nuclear proliferation expert John Bolton has a sobering and entirely accurate reading of President Obama's foreign policy...or rather, his non-policy. Bolton shows that the current occupant of the White House is essentially uninterested in foreign policy and national security, something I first theorized on these pages some time ago.

Here's a slice:

Barack Obama's badly flawed worldview and the incoherent foreign policy flowing from it have now disintegrated. Within the past few months, his media acolytes notwithstanding, the evidence has become conclusive: Obama's presidency is gravely wounding America and its friends. His response to virtually every significant threat or crisis has either complicated or worsened the problem, or, at best, left it essentially no closer to resolution.

Obama has repeatedly highlighted his propensity to apologize for America's past transgressions (as he defines them), and his disinclination to be assertive on our behalf. Indeed, so radically different is Obama from any prior American president that many observers have concluded that he has a comprehensive plan, and that somewhere in all that mess there must be a doctrine. Others look not for a plan, but for a plot; pop psychology and conspiracy theories abound as to why Obama is so comfortable, even enthusiastic, about American decline.

But it is folly to look for rhyme and reason when there is neither. For better or worse, there is no single dispositive flaw in Obama's doctrine, since there is little that resembles a doctrine. His saunter through world affairs is unstructured. Instead, the explanation for his policy's failure, and its well-deserved collapse now unfolding before us, lies in a jumbled mix of philosophy, political priorities, and personal inadequacy. Like Obama's presidency generally, his national-security flaws combine ideology, naïveté, weakness, lack of leadership, intellectual laziness, and a near-religious faith in negotiation for its own sake.

Perhaps most significantly, Obama is simply not interested in foreign and defense policy. To state such a proposition about a U.S. president seems counterintuitive or even shocking, but Obama is different from all of his predecessors, Republican or Democrat, since Franklin Roosevelt. His first thought on awakening each morning is not about threats to America, its global interests, and its friends and allies, but about his efforts to radically restructure our economy and society. That is where his intellect and his heart are focused, and his lack of attention to the rest of the world is palpable. When Obama has no other choice but to concentrate on international affairs--such as during the Afghanistan surge or the killing of Osama bin Laden--he will do so, but only for as long as is necessary to address the immediate problem before him.

In those few national-security areas where Obama does his homework, a second characteristic predominates: He simply does not see much occurring internationally that threatens American interests. Such a benign view of a chaotic world may be even more shocking than his general lack of interest, but it is yet another reflection of his underlying intellectual laziness. He is most politely described as credulous and inexperienced, especially for someone who lived overseas as a child. During both the 2008 campaign and his presidency, for example, Obama has downplayed the very concept of a "global war on terror," treated nuclear proliferation as a side issue, and ignored the enormous strategic threats posed by a rising China and a belligerent Russia. American decline, most recently reflected in S&P's downgrade of America's sovereign debt to France's level, is untroubling and even natural to him.

In days gone by, Americans with such attitudes were classified as isolationists. But the president is no advocate of insularity, instead choosing multilateralism and expressing it in rhetoric that could have come straight from its source, Woodrow Wilson. It was Wilson, after all, and not our first community-organizer president, who insisted that "there must be, not a balance of power, but a community of power, not organized rivalries, but an organized common peace." Here is the ideology of negotiation and global governance in its fullest flower.

Radical as Obama is, his worldview is not dissimilar from those of a long line of liberal presidential candidates, stretching back decades. In 1988, for example, Vice President George H. W. Bush said of his November opponent, Michael Dukakis: "He sees America as another pleasant country on the U.N. roll call, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe." Precisely the same could be said about Obama. The only significant difference is that Obama made it to the White House, and Dukakis didn't. This is why, two years ago in Standpoint magazine, I called Obama our first "post-American President," one unburdened by American exceptionalism.

So what emerges from a president who is basically uninterested in foreign affairs, who doesn't see our manifold threats and challenges as worthy of presidential time and energy, who repeatedly stresses devotion to negotiations that are divorced from their substantive outcome, and who believes that multilateral fora rather than American resolve and power can address foreign problems? The now-indisputable answer is a failing, collapsing U.S. foreign policy.

Bolton goes on to detail exactly how the president's non-policy is leading us into dangerous waters with Iran, North Korea and Islamist terrorism, not to mention Russia and China.

A sobering, valuable and detailed piece. Read the rest here.

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Sec. Clinton Blasts House Bill With Aid Requirements for Egypt, Lebanon, Pakistan, 'Palestinians'

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is livid over a proposed House bill out of committee that would impose strict new requirements on U.S. foreign aid to Egypt, Lebanon, Pakistan, Yemen, and the Palestinian Authority.

Th Secretary of State wrote In an angry letter she wrote to members of the House Foreign Affairs committee, Clinton claimed the bill “would be debilitating to my efforts to carry out a considered foreign policy and diplomacy, and to use foreign assistance strategically to that end.”

Mrs. Clinton actually threatened to lobby the president to veto the bill if it's passed.

So, what are these horrific restrictions she's so upset about?

For example, as one condition to continue to get the billions in baksheesh they receive from us, the Pakistanis would need to prove that they are assisting in an US investigation on who gave sanctuary to Osama bin Laden.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), said in her opening statement Wednesday that the measure would send a clear message to the country in which Osama bin Laden hid for years without detection.

Pakistan, she said, is “on notice that it is no longer business as usual and that they will be held to account if they continue to refuse to cooperate with our efforts to eliminate the nuclear black market, destroy the remaining elements of Osama Bin Laden’s network, and vigorously pursue our counter-terrorism objectives.”

“I think the prospect of a cutoff of assistance will get their attention and that the games being played with our security will finally stop,” she added.

Lebanon will not receive any US aid if a Hezbollah member occupies a top government or policy post (they dominate the cabinet).The 'Palestinian Authority' must terminate incitement against Israel in the media and in the schools, cooperate with Israel on security matters,attain statehood via negotiations with Israel rather than an end run to the UN. And the 'Palestinian' Authority must not allow members of Hamas, a recognized terrorist group, to be part of its government directly or indirectly. In other words, in order to get the $510 million of our tax dollars President Obama has set aside for them, The 'Palestinian Authority' must simply abide by the agreements it signed, the Oslo Accords and the Road Map.

The Egyptians would be required to keep the peace with Israel and the other provisions of the Camp David Accords, while Yemen would have to be be free of human rights abuses. And the flow of US foreign aid to all of these countries could only continue if the Obama administration was able to certify that no members of terrorist organizations groups or their sympathizers were serving in their governments. The countries also have to meet certain anti-corruption standards.

The Republican in the House said the bill would serve U.S. national interests while scaling back overall spending. “In this difficult geopolitical and economic climate, the American people deserve a policy that is based on American principles, looks out for American interests, and wisely invests American dollars,” Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations, said Wednesday. In other words, foreign aid ought to be reserved for our friends, or at countries that serve our interests, not our enemies. What a concept, eh?

Both Granger and the committee’s ranking Democrat, Nita Lowey (D-NY)favored attaching strings to aid for Pakistan and the other Middle Eastern countries named.

Brad Goehner, a spokesman for Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the chairwoman of the House committee, told the Post that the letter was “disappointing, particularly given the current debt crisis, that the Obama administration is fighting to keep sending taxpayer money to foreign organizations and governments that undermine U.S. interests.”

I have to admit, I can't imagine why Mr. Goehner would be disappointed at this late date after watching this president and his team operate for over two-and-a-half years.

It's worth taking a look at how this has played out in real life so far.

Both Lebanon and the 'Palestinian' Authority have received billions in US military aid, going back to the Bush Administration. Lebanon's went to the Shi'ite dominated army which is now fully integrated with Hezbollah, while a lot of the shiny new equipment the US equipped Mahmoud Abbas' forces with ended up in the hands of Hamas after Fatah was chased out of Gaza.

Just this May, the United States along with Qatar and the World Bank pledged to give billions of dollars in aid that we don't really have to Egypt and Tunisia in order to keep the two countries economies afloat.

As part of the measures, Obama promised of $1 billion in debt relief to Egypt, and offered an additional $1 billion in loans.

Those pledges were unfortunately given before anyone really knew what was going to happen in either country. In Egypt, the situation is extremely unsettled and the likely rulers when it all sorts itself out will be the Muslim Brotherhood as Egypt becomes President Obama's Iran. And the money they're being given isn't going to change the fact that Egypt has a population of 80 million people it has no ability to feed.

As for Tunisia, it has a much better chance of economic recovery, but the political sitution doesn't auger well for it being a democracy. In fact, in new ‘democratic’ Tunisia, one of the first acts of the Commission of Political Reform was to pass laws ensuring that all ties to Israel will be severed permanently. Tunisia's tiny Jewish community, one of the few left in the Arab world, are already in the process of leaving.

The bill will likely pass the House, but probably not the Democrat majority senate without some moderation, and even then President Obama is not likely to sign it. But I have to applaud Congress for finally at least trying to draw the line at funding hostile countries with money we can ill afford unless they agree to perform in accordance to our national interest.

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Commemorating a Failed Genocide - 'Nakba Day'

Over the weekend Israel was assaulted by a series of violent riots on its borders.Thousands attempted to breach the Israeli borders from Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, along with an Arab terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv, where an Arab truck driver injured 17 Israelis and killed one, using his truck as a weapon.

The rioters are being tagged by the dinosaur media as 'protesters' involved in a non-violent march into Israeli territory. Of, course, they're not explaining why 14 Israeli soldiers ended up getting wounded. There are plenty of vids are out showing that the border infiltrators were armed with rocks,bottles, firebombs, knives and whatever else they could get their hands on. Their intention wasn't peaceful in the least.

Anyone familiar with Syria and Lebanon knows this was co-ordinated with those governments. In Lebanon, the 'Palestinians' are virtually prisoners in camps like Ein-al-Hewar, and are forbidden to work at most jobs, own property or leave the camps without permission. Pretty much the same deal in Syria, and my IDF sources confirm that nobody gets near the Syria/Israel border unless the government wants them there.

What Assad wanted was a confrontation that would look bad for Israel in the media and would focus attention away from the carnage Assad's forces have unleashed on their own people , but not one so bad that the Israelis decided to take retaliation against Syria directly.

As it was, 10-12 'demonstrators' ended up being shot by the IDF as they tried to storm the border and destroy the border fence.

The protests were coordinated to mark what the 'Palestinians' refer to as the Nakba, the Catastrophe AKA the creation of Israel. What the nakba is actually 'commemorating' is the failed attempt at he genocide of every Jew in Israel by the Arabs in 1948, something a lot of the people who call themselves 'Palestinians' were willing participants in then and would be wiling participants in today.

The Israelis were expecting protests on Nakba day, but they were caught unprepared for 1,000 or so people rushing the border at one time.

So they were caught in a nasty conundrum, since the right of self -defense appears to be granted to every country but Israel. They could allow the 'protesters' to overrun Israel, which would essentially mean the end of the country, or they could do their best to push them back over the border with as few casualties as possible, which is essentially what they did.

It's worth noting that there are UN peacekeeping forces headquarters near both areas where the border was breached. They did absolutely nothing to stop this from occurring.

There's actually a fairly simple solution for Israel to prevent this in the future.. just mine the borders.It's worked fairly well for India in cutting down infiltration along the border they share with Pakistan, especially in Kashmir.

Contrary to what the usual suspects are saying, this has nothing to do with the so-called 'Arab Spring'. There's no such thing, just the Arabs moving from one sort of secular despotism to another one based on Islam, just like Gaza's rule went from Fatah to Hamas.

This is actually a positive development. Fatah aligning with Hamas, the events in Egypt and last weekend's happenings have pretty much convinced most Israelis that Oslo and the whole Land for peace garbage was pretty much always a trojan horse . What the majority of Arabs want is the Jews dead, and that was true before Israel ever became a state. Anything the Israelis give up to the Arabs just becomes a closer place for the Arabs to shoot at them from.

Eventually this situation is going to be resolved one way or the other, and I don't think it's going to be in the 'Palestinian's ' favor. Despite all the rhetoric, their fellow Arabs really don't care all that much about them, which is why most of them are still in refugee camps, are not allowed to enter Egypt without special permission and have been expelled en masse from countries like Iraq and Kuwait, among others.

Meanwhile the 'Palestinians' make useful dupes and distractions as poster children for the one thing that unites most Arabs - hatred of Jews and a desire to see Israel destroyed.

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Hillary Clinton Shilling For US Military Aid To Hezbollah

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is lobbying Congress hard on behalf of the Obama Administration to continue massive military aid to Hezbollah - oh,pardon me, the Lebanese armed forces now run by Hezbollah since their recent takeover of Lebanon.

The U.S. has given the Lebanese military $720 million since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, and the Obama Administration now wants earmark a further $100 million for them.

The reason? Listen to this:

Mrs. Clinton praised Lebanon's military as a “nonsectarian institution” that “cooperates with the United Nations‘ mission in the south.”

“We worry that if the United States does not continue supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces, its capabilities will rapidly deteriorate, security in the south and along the border with Israel will be at risk,” she added.

The stupidity (I can't call it anything else but that) and willful blindness of this is absolutely mind boggling.

The Lebanese military was totally infiltrated by Shi'ite Hezbollah supporters a long time ago, and the Army's former commander in Chief who is now Lebanon's President, General Michel Suleiman, is a Hezbollah ally who refused to allow the Lebanese Army to fight against Hezbollah even when Hezbollah was killing Lebanese civilians during a series of attacks against the March 14 Lebanese government in May of 2008. Suleiman and the Lebanese Army also did absolutely nothing to respect or implement UN resolution 1701, stop Hezbollah from receiving new weaponry from Iran and Syria or keep them from moving back into Hezbollah's old positions in South Lebanon.

The Lebanese military has worked hand in hand with Hezbollah for years, and that was true even during the 2006 war when Suleiman allowed Hezbollah to use the army’s facilities, including a coastal radar station used to aim and fire the missiles which hit and damaged an Israeli ship. And that was only one of many instances of Lebanese armed forces aiding and abetted Hezbollah during the war.

As Lebanon's president, Suleiman personally made a pilgrimage to Tehran to sign a five year defense pact between Iran and Lebanon, has praised Hezbollah's war against Israel and has openly said he considers Hezbollah's militia part of Lebanon's armed forces.

To assume that US military aid earmarked for the Lebanese forces won't somehow end upo being used by Hezbollah is an exercise in fantasy beyond the norm even for the Obama Administration.

Hopefully, wiser heads in Congress will prevail. Howard Berman, ranking Democrat on the House Committee On Foreign Affairs has joined Rebublicans in being especially skeptical of continuing aid to Lebanon, where it wil likely end up in the hands of the terrorist group that holds the number two position behind al-Qaeda when it comes to killing Americans.

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John Bolton On Lebanon

As always, the Man with the 'Stache has some important and vital things to say about what's going on in Lebanon:

Despite the media's recent focus on Egypt, events in Lebanon may well tell us more about the troubled prospects for Middle Eastern democracy. The fall of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's government, replaced by a Hezbollah-dominated coalition, dramatically imperils Beirut's democratic Cedar Revolution.

Financed and dominated by Iran, terrorist Hezbollah has consistently refused to disarm and become a legitimate political party. Instead, it enjoys the best of both worlds, contesting elections while retaining the military ability to enforce its will against uncongenial results. History will rightly blame the West for the tragedy of the takeover in Beirut, because of its unwillingness to stand against Hezbollah and its Iranian puppet masters. Washington must withhold recognition from any Lebanese government that relies on Hezbollah support.

In mid-January at The Hague, the prosecutor for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon submitted long-awaited indictments regarding the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Although the indictments are not yet public, they are widely expected to finger top leaders in Hezbollah, Syria and potentially Iran, and they are doubtless behind Hezbollah's decision to assert itself by collapsing the government of Hariri's son.

Rescuing Lebanon from radicals and terrorists will require strong action, noticeably absent in recent U.S. policy. We can no longer pretend that the special tribunal's existence is an adequate response to the real problem in Lebanon: Tehran's long-standing drive for regional hegemony. It was always a mistake to confuse the effectiveness of an international criminal court with courts of real constitutional governments, and harmfully naive to think that the special tribunal could operate in a vacuum, as the events in Lebanon make painfully clear.

Of course, Hezbollah's toppling of the Lebanese government is just the latest of its cancerous efforts in its home base. And it remains a continuing threat to innocent civilians in Israel, to other Arab governments in the Middle East and increasingly to other nations around the globe.

For years before Hariri's February 2005 murder, the West explained away or ignored Hezbollah's clear role as an active agent of Syrian and Iranian influence. Western dupes and sympathizers noted Hezbollah's support for schools and hospitals among Lebanon's Shiite Muslims as if it were a different Hezbollah from the one terrorizing Israel and subverting and intimidating Lebanon's faltering efforts at representative government. Hezbollah's diaphanous justification for its military capability — expelling Israel from Lebanon — in effect ended in 2000 when Israel complied with U.N. Security Council resolutions by withdrawing its forces from southern Lebanon. Of course, protecting Lebanon is legitimately the responsibility only of the Lebanese armed forces, which in fact Syria and Hezbollah have also been working to bring under their control.

Western support for Lebanese democracy has been for the most part limited to a series of Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 1559, calling for Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, and Resolution 1595, creating an international investigation commission to assist Lebanon in prosecuting the Hariri assassination. But Hezbollah foiled these efforts in 2006 by provoking war with Israel. The Security Council ultimately imposed a cease-fire and called for "the disarming of all armed groups in Lebanon," for an embargo against rearming Hezbollah and for Lebanon's government to take control of its entire territory, in order to eliminate Hezbollah's state within a state.

But, as so often before, the West did not follow through. Instead, Iran and Syria rearmed and restored Hezbollah to greater strength (unequivocally demonstrating that Hezbollah was their proxy).

The West must insist on enforcing the Security Council resolutions in support of Lebanese sovereignty and peaceful, representative government, or stop engaging in meaningless gestures. This is our last opportunity before Hezbollah's armed capabilities swallow democracy in Lebanon, perhaps permanently, and dramatically increase the risk of renewed hostilities throughout the region.

President Obama's reaction is crucial. Unlike Washington's repeated prior failures, we must refuse to recognize any Hezbollah-dominated government as legitimate, at least until Hezbollah fully disarms and becomes a real political party. This may well mean committing to more than an impotent U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Hezbollah's 1983 bombings of U.S. and French forces in Beirut caused their withdrawal, a rare failure of will by then-President Reagan, leading to today's crisis. We stand aside again at our peril.

The White House has been obsessed for two years with pressuring Israel to make concessions to Palestinians instead of focusing on the manifestations of Iran's menace. Perhaps the humiliation of Hezbollah's collapsing of Saad Hariri's government as Hariri was meeting in the Oval Office will help spur Obama into meaningful action. If not, the lights will be going out in Lebanon for a long time to come, with devastating consequences in the broader Middle East.

I think Ambassador Bolton is on to something here, although I'd be interested to know what he means by 'strong action'. Cutting off aid to Lebanon is one thing. Ousting the poisonous cancer known as Hezbollah is only going to be done militarily.

The IDF had a decent shot at it back in 2006 - their armor had already reached the Litani River and had Hezbollah's forces in an iron ring - but they were constrained by the weak leadership of the Olmert government and the frenetic push for a ceasefire by then Secretary of State Condi Rice, something Bolton chronicled quite well in his book, Surrender Is Not An Option.

At this point, thanks to the farcical UN failure to enforce UNSC Resolution 1701 via UNIFIL and disarm Hezbollah, they're completely reconstituted and rearmed and have the entire Lebanese armed forces to draw on as well. As Bolton says in his editorial, Hezbollah has the best of both worlds, engaging in the political process while maintaining its own private army to dispute any results it doesn't like.

We might be better off isolating Lebanon and Hezbollah and concentrating on Iran.

The always insightful Cmdr J.E. Dyer has some thoughts on the subject as well

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Lebanon Spirals Into The Abyss

It's official. Hezbollah has officially taken over Lebanon, and will now administer it as a colony of their Iranian masters. Ex-Prime Minister Said Hariri and the March 14th movement are history.

Druse leader Walid Jumblatt, seeing the writing on the wall threw his support and his votes in parliament behind Syria and Hezbollah, the murderers of his father and of his friend, Rafik al-Hariri in order to ensure his personal survival and that of the Druse.

That meant that Hezbollah could pick whomever they wanted as Prime Minister, and their choice was Najib Mikati. He's been given permission by Hezbollah's hand picked President Michel Suleiman to form a government.

Part of their discussion, I'm sure, was Mikati's pledge to refuse to cooperate with the UN Special Tribunal investigating the murder of Rafik Hariri and other Lebanese political figures and to repudiate its finding when it announces them.

Mikati is a Sunni, because Lebanon's constitution - as of now, anyway - mandates that he be one.
But he will serve without the support in the Sunni community but will be at Hezbollah's beck and call, because they the votes in parliament to put him in, and to throw him out if he fails to do their bidding. And as Mikati knows very well, if he fails to follow orders and by some remote possibility Hezbollah has any problems getting rid of him legally, they will simply murder him as they did Hariri.

This is going to have major implications in the region far beyond Lebanon. To observers in the region, it's obvious that Iran is the strong horse now and US influence in the Middle East is declining.

Hezbollah, Iran and Syria not only got away with defying UN Security Council Resolution 1701 calling for Hezbollah's disarmament, they rearmed Hezbollah right under the UN's nose and moved back into their old strongholds in South Lebanon with the UNFIL peacekeepers doing nothing to stop them.

Hezbollah then used their forces in 2008 to blockade the Lebanese government in Beirut, and assassinated enough parliamentary members of the March 14th movement to enable them to push pro-Hezbollah tool Michel Suleiman into the presidency and claim 11 ministries in Lebanon's government as a legitimate political party.

Through all of this, the West and particularly the US did nothing concrete to stand with the pro-western government of Lebanon or to take action against Syria and Iran for destabilizing the country. On the contrary, the magic words for these murderous regimes were 'engagement'.

That 'engagement' culminated in President Obama's puerile decision to send an ambassador to Syria by recess appointment because the Senate refused to confirm the candidate he wanted or his mission.

If nothing else, that sent a message to Syria, Iran and Hezbollah that they could get away with pretty much anything in Lebanon - so, with the indictments from the UN tribunal imminent, they saw no problem in collapsing Lebanon's government and taking over the country.

While the Obama Administration has made statements to the effect that it would find it 'difficult' to continue aid to Lebanon with a Hezbollah government, it remains to be seen whether they would actually curtail aid, even with Hezbollah dominant.

Lebanon's Sunnis spent today in a 'day of rage', violent protests against Mikati and Hezbollah. It remains to be seen whether they or the Maronite Christians will continue protests or even take things to the point of a renewed civil war. I doubt they would without firm western backing, and since they likely won't get it what's more likely is that the Sunnis will take their cue from the Druse and hunker down, while the Christians will do the same..and continue their exodus out of Lebanon, which was once a Christian majority country.

Another factor, as Michael Totten presciently noted, is Israel.

All of Israel's wars with Lebanon have been waged against terrorist organizations like the PLO or Hezbollah that were not officially part of the Lebanese state, which meant these groups could hide to a certain extent. If another war breaks out with a Hezbollah government in Lebanon, the gloves wil definitely be off.

It will be interesting to see how this play out, to say the least.

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Lebanon Update: President Suleiman Says Negotiations On New PM To Start Jan 17-18

The political crisis in Lebanon took a new turn as pro-Hezbollah President Michel Suleiman announced that Saad Hariri will function as a 'caretaker' prime minister until a new one can be appointed to take his place, with negotiations starting next week.

This means that Hariri is definitely out as soon as the various factions agree on a replacement...which means someone acceptable to Hezbollah who will disavow the results of UN tribunal on the assassination of Saad Hariri's father, former PM Rafik Hariri in 2005.

The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon is reportedly set to indict high-ranking Hezbollah operatives for the murder, as well as high ranking members of the Syrian government close to Syrian dictator Basher Assad.

Hezbollah had warned any such accusation would have 'grave repercussions' and had been pressuring the Western-backed Hariri to disavow the tribunal in advance.When he wouldn't Hezbollah and their allies pulled their ministers out of the government, causing its collapse.

My sources tell me that certain political figures like Druse leader Walid Jumblatt will name Saad Hariri as their choice to continue as prime minister. If Hezbollah agrees, it's a sure sign thatHariri has caved in to their demands.

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Hezb'allah Forces Collapse Of Lebanese Government

My latest on Lebanon is up at American Thinker:

Hezb'allah and its allies forced the collapse of Lebanon's year-old unity government when its 11 ministers resigned en masse while Lebanese PM Saad Hariri was out of the country, meeting with President Obama.

The reason for the walkout is fairly simple. The U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Saad's father is scheduled to deliver its findings and will almost certainly indict high ranking members of Hezb'allah for the murder..and Hariri thus far had refused to follow Hezb'allah's diktat that he disavow the tribunal.

There's also been speculation that a number of high ranking Syrians will be implicated, including members of Syrian dictator Basher Assad's family.

Hezb'allah, which is controlled by Iran and Syria, has denounced the tribunal as an "Israeli project" and urged the Western-backed prime minister to formally reject any findings by the tribunal even before it announced any indictments. In the end, this was simply an Iranian decision.

Since he has refused so far, they simply pulled off what amounts to a coup.

Read the rest here.

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Lies, Islamic Apologists And A Synagogue In Lebanon

Fareed Zakaria has long been embedded as the resident Islamist apologist for outlets like CNN, MSNBC, and Time.

While he's always been a major force for taqiya (dissembling to advance Islam,) his latest offering,in an attempt to strengthen the case for the Ground Zero Mosque is so disgraceful that it bears some exposure to the light of truth.

Zakaria's little snippet concerns the restoration in Beirut,Lebanon of the Magen Abraham synagogue, which Zakaria presents as an example of Islamic tolerance and a model for Americans to follow on the Ground Zero Mosque:

"The synagogue is just now emerging from a painstaking restoration project. When the repairs began over a year ago, the temple was literally a shell of its former self. So why did this nation, often teetering on the brink of religious hostilities and hostilities with Israel, restore a Jewish house of worship? To show that Lebanon is an open and tolerant country.

And indeed, the project is said to have found support in many parts of the community, not just from the few remaining Jews there, but also Christians and Muslims and Hezbollah. Yes, Hezbollah -- the one that the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

Hezbollah's view on the renovation goes like this. "We respect divine religions, including the Jewish religion. The problem is with Israel's occupation of Arab lands ... not with the Jews." Food for thought. Thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. I will see you next week. Stay tuned for "Reliable Sources."

According to Zakaria, we can learn here in the US from the tolerance exhibited by Lebanon and Hezbollah. Here's the part of the story he doesn't want you to know.

In 1948, there were over 20,000 Jews living in Lebanon.Today, there are less than 100.Nearly all of the remaining Jews are in Beirut, and they are unable to openly practice their religion.

The Beirut Magen Abraham Synagogue was in ruins because it was looted and wrecked by Lebanese Shi'ite Muslims during the civil war in 1975...which was also when most of Lebanon's remaining 1,800 Jews fled the country.

Magen Abraham is also the site of the country's main Jewish cemetery,with around 4,500 graves. Preserving those graves is the primary reason that the remnants of Lebanon's Jewish community and Lebanese Jews abroad raised the money to restore Magen Abraham, aided by donors such as the family of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was murdered by Hezbollah under Syrian orders.

Magen Abraham will essentially be a memorial park and museum to a once thriving community..not an active house of worship.

Oh, and then there's Zakaria's tolerant friends in Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has been implicated in numerous attacks on Jews world wide, including the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed.

No less than Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah ( who is a Holocaust denier) has repeatedly called for Jews to be wiped out world wide, and was quoted in Lebanon's Daily Star as saying that that if the Jews "all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."

Nasrallah exhibited further respect and tolerance for Jews in a Sept. 18. 2009 speech, saying "Historic Palestine, from the sea to the river, belongs to the people of Palestine and to the whole [Muslim] nation." Israel, "is a usurper an occupation entity, aggressive, cancerous, illegitimate, and illegal presence," and nobody is permitted to recognize its existence."

The Jewish state, he continued, must be "wiped out":[We] will never recognize 'Israel.' We will not work with 'Israel.' We will not normalize ties with 'Israel.' We will not surrender to 'Israel.' We will not accept 'Israel' even if the whole world recognizes it. Our faith, belief, and declaration will remain unchanged, that 'Israel' is an illegal presence [and] a cancerous gland, and must be wiped out of existence."

In other words, what Zakaria didn't tell you is that to Hezbollah, the 'occupation' they're talking about has nothing to do with the Palestinians, but to Israel's entire existence. And he actually has the gall to compare Hezbollah's grudging acceptance of a tiny museum and graveyard with a huge, active mosque on Ground Zero that will tower over the proposed Ground Zero memorial and will be run by an Islamist imam with highly questionable ties.

Zakaria unwittingly gives us an excellent reason why the Ground Zero Mosque should never see the light of day. Few if any of its proponents appear to have even a nodding acquaintance with the truth,and are fully prepared to use taqiyah to get it built and to fool naive useful idiots into going along with them.

This gives us a very good indication of what will be going on if Imam Rauf has his way and the Ground Zero Mosque gets built in the middle of a target rich area like New York City.

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