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BEIRUT (Reuters) - At "Buns and Guns" you can order a "Kalashnikov" sandwich from a bullet-shaped menu, prepared by chefs in military fatigues with the roar of explosions as background music. This new fast food restaurant in Beirut's southern suburbs, where the Hezbollah movement holds sway, was the brainchild of co-owner Ali Hammoud. He said the war theme was a novel concept that had nothing to do with Lebanon's bloody recent history. BEIRUT (Reuters) - At "Buns and Guns" you can order a "Kalashnikov" sandwich from a bullet-shaped menu, prepared by chefs in military fatigues with the roar of explosions...

There are those who try, as they attempt to make sense of the Middle East, especially that presented by the kaleidoscopic confusions of Lebanon, to mold in opposition to the obvious villains, out of the clayey others who oppose them, figures who may then appear, in the fervid Western imagination (just as fervid, when that Western imagination is attempting to deal with those who first gave rise to the phrase "fervid Oriental imagination"), as heroes. For example, in Iraq it was always assumed that those Shi'a Arabs who had bravely opposed Saddam Hussein, or been related to those who had...

Lebanese families are feverishly preparing to welcome home the Lebanese prisoners Israel is set to free as part of a prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah. The prisoners' families have begun festooning their homes with Lebanese and Hezbollah flags, and reception ceremonies are being planned in major towns. In downtown Sidon on Sunday, political activists decorated a central city square, the site of an installation two years ago depicting longtime Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar, who murdered an Israeli family in Nahariya in 1979, behind prison bars. "We will not vacate this spot until Kuntar comes here himself," a young female activist...

BEIRUT, June 28 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was killed and scores were wounded in a bomb blast that rocked an apartment building in Lebanese northern city of Tripoli early on Saturday, local Naharnet news website reported. Police was quoted as saying that the blast, reported at 5:30 a.m. (0230 GMT), struck the entrance to a building in Syria Street of Tabbaneh district. Medical sources said that most of the casualties are children, women and elderly people. The blasted building is located in Tabbaneh area which is mostly inhabited by pro-government Sunni supporters. The report said that snipers in...

The Democrats now find themselves in a thoroughly uncomfortable dilemma over Iraq. Back in the early days of the American invasion, when things were going relatively badly, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the war was "lost" and America's only recourse was to pull out. (This, of course, would have been an absolute political disaster for the Bush administration, as Mr. Reid no doubt knew and hoped.) In the subsequent months and years, when things there have gone substantially better, Mr. Reid has never retracted his highly premature conclusion but it is safe to say it is now "inoperative."...

American School Books Redefine 'Jihad' to Exclude Violence -- Where is Media? By Warner Todd Huston | June 8, 2008 - 21:49 ET In yet another example of why the west could be too weak to fight the sort of global terrorism that takes the form of Islamofascism, a textbook monitoring group is charging that American textbooks have been cleansed of mentioning the violence inherent in the Islamic "Jihad." Now, our children will not be taught what "Jihad" truly means, nor that it has been used as an excuse to kill their fellow citizens because our schools have sanitized Islam...

US and Canadian intelligence agencies warned Thursday that Hizbullah attacks on Jewish targets around the world could be imminent. ABC News quoted intelligence officials as saying that Hizbullah had activated sleeper cells in Canada, and that top terror operatives had left Lebanon for the US, Canada and Africa. According to the officials, Hizbullah wants to avenge February's assassination of its operations head Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus, for which the Shi'ite group holds Israel accountable. Israel has repeatedly denied the allegation. There was no reliable intelligence regarding the possible targets of such an attack, the sources told ABC News, adding, however,...

At least four people have been killed as sectarian clashes continued for a second day in north Lebanon, bringing the death toll to eight, police said. Fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli has pitted Sunnis from the anti-Syrian faction against pro-Syrian Alawites. Several homes and a petrol station were set ablaze and people fled the area. The violence comes despite a political accord which led to the election of a president and moves towards forming a government of national unity. Western-backed anti-Syrian Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and pro-Syrian parties led by Hezbollah have so far failed to reach agreement on...

Unfortunately, Lebanon is facing at the present time a crucial and fatal threat to the core and essence of its existence, its soul of coexistence and freedom. The free world is apparently turning a blind eye to the threat to Lebanon, the land of the historic cedars, the home of the great Phoenicians, and the unique mosaic and multi-cultural country of the Middle East. This tragedy has been unfolding without a decisive deterrent stance from the free world.

One former general in the Israel Defense Forces made an original proposal this week: If in the swap of the murderer Samir Kuntar for Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser it is possible to learn the abducted soldiers' fate, Kuntar's fate should be decided accordingly. If they are returned alive, he will be returned alive. If they are brought back in coffins, he will also be put to death, on the spot, and his body returned to Lebanon in exchange for their bodies. It was not serious, of course. A state that considers itself enlightened does not behave this way, at...

International donors offered $120 million on Monday to help rebuild a Palestinian refugee camp badly damaged in fighting between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army last year. The Austrian foreign ministry, hosting a conference in Vienna, said the sum had been pledged for the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon. It did not give a breakdown of the donations by country. The camp was home to about 40,000 people before fighting erupted in May last year in the worst internal violence since the civil war. The 15-week battle killed more than 420 people, including 168 soldiers, and left the camp...

BEIRUT: Miraculous, perhaps. Tens of thousands of Lebanese gathered in Martyrs Square in Downtown Beirut on Sunday to witness the beatification of Yaaqoub Haddad, the late Capuchin priest who gained fame for his prolific work in founding an order of nuns, expanding the Capuchin school network and conceiving or establishing a number of religious and social institutions, some of which have gained iconic status in Lebanon. Haddad, who died more than 50 years ago, took a step toward sainthood in the first beatification ever to take place outside the Vatican - and people flocked to the capital to observe the...

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AFP) - One person was shot dead and at least 24 were wounded in clashes between supporters of Lebanon's government and the opposition in the north of the country on Sunday. Bourhane al-Khatib died after being hit by a bullet in the heart during clashes at Jabal Mohsen, said a medic after the 22-year-old was taken to a hospital in the nearby Baddawi Palestinian refugee camp.

Israel is reportedly attempting to block a $400 million arms deal between the United States and Lebanon that would reportedly include hundreds of anti-tank missiles. Israeli authorities have stated that recent events in Lebanon, including Hezbollah's resurgence in the south, have led them to believe that the arms transfer could pose a security threat, namely if future clashes cause government forces to splinter, possibly causing the arms to fall into the hands of the Lebanese Shi'ite militia Hezbollah. The Head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau.Amos Gilad has reportedly held talks recently with officials from the Pentagon, in order to...

Terrorism: A Venezuelan diplomat is found to be supporting Hezbollah, and his placement on a Treasury no-go list is laughed at in Caracas. Obviously, something's going on here. For the second time in three months, Venezuela has been implicated in foreign terrorism. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control named two well-connected Venezuelans as facilitators of Hezbollah Wednesday. Ghazi Nasr al Din and Fawzi Kan'an, along with two Caracas travel agencies, were put on the list this past week, their assets frozen and businesses prohibited.

Lebanese majority leader MP Saad Hariri of the Mustaqbal movement accused Hezbollah, in a statement Tuesday, of triggering the clashes in Bekaa valley of east Lebanonto cover unloading weapons in the area, local Elnashra website reported. "Lebanese army discovered unloading weapons in Taalabaya, at Hezbollah headquarters, then, Hezbollah militants started shooting artilleries in every direction for a cover-up," the statement said. The statement called all Mustaqbal members to stay calm and adopt restrain to avoid more tension. Three people were killed and four wounded in armed clashes at dawn Tuesday in Bekaa valley, mortars and machine guns were used in...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she welcomes a new power-sharing arrangement in Lebanon even though it increased the power of Hezbollah militants at the expense of U.S.-backed moderates. "Obviously in any compromise there are compromises," Rice said during a surprise visit to meet Lebanon's new consensus choice for president. The election of former Army chief Michel Suleiman last month is the clearest sign that Lebanon stepped back from the brink and that the deal with Iranian-backed Hezbollah is taking hold. Hezbollah's ascendancy is a bitter pill for the U.S., which is worried that Iran's influence is spreading in...

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she welcomes a new power-sharing arrangement in Lebanon, even though it increases the power of Hezbollah militants at the expense of US-backed moderates. "Obviously, in any compromise there are compromises," Rice said during a surprise visit to meet Lebanon's new consensus choice for president. The election of former army chief, Michel Suleiman, last month is the clearest sign that Lebanon has stepped back from the brink and that the deal with Iranian-backed Hezbollah is taking hold. But Hezbollah's ascendancy is a bitter pill for the US, which is worried that Iran's influence is...

"IT'S going to be us and al-Qaeda against Hezbollah." Sitting in a disused warehouse in the Bab-al-Tebbaneh district of Tripoli, a Sunni fighter explains how the ad-hoc militia that he helped command in the recent fighting are preparing for the future. Softly-spoken and courteous, speaking to The Scotsman on condition of anonymity, he pauses to offer cigarettes. "When we hear al-Qaeda are threatening the Shia, we do celebratory gunfire," he says. Al-Qaeda has had major setbacks recently. In Iraq, at least according to the CIA, it has suffered "near-strategic defeat", while missile strikes have killed some top figures in Pakistan....

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2008 – Tomorrow the United States observes National Flag Day, an annual tribute to the American flag, the ideals it stands for and the sacrifices made to preserve them. President and Nancy Reagan file by the flag-draped caskets of victims of the April 18, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in an April 23, 1983 file photo. Photo courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidential Library  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. President Woodrow Wilson recognized during his first Flag Day address in 1915 that the freedoms the U.S. flag stands for weren’t and never would...

IRAQ & US ACCUSE [SYRIA'S IRAN'S LEBANESE BASED] ISLAMIC HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS OF CRIMES IN IRAQ [Iraq] Talabani charges [Iran's Islamic Lebanese based terrorists] Hezbollah interference Published: May 30, 2008 at 8:23 BAGHDAD, May 30 (UPI) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in a Baghdad interview Friday, accused the leader of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah of meddling in Iraq's affairs.http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/05/30/Talabani_charges_Hezbollah_interference/UPI-44791212150201/ Commentary: Iraq ripe for Iranian [militant Shia Muslim] dominationMarch 4, 2008Richard Beeston, Foreign Editor of The TimesMahmoud Ahmadinejad was right to look smug at the end of his two-day state visit to Iraq. Not only did he become the first Iranian president to...

Lebanon rejected on Wednesday a call by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for peace talks and demanded that Israel withdraw from disputed territory along their international borders. "There are pending bilateral issues between Lebanon and Israel which are governed by international resolutions which Israel must respect... and which cannot be the object of political negotiations," a government statement said. "Israel... must respect Lebanon's sovereignty over its territory and its water, release prisoners and provide maps on mines and cluster bombs" strewn in Lebanon during past conflicts, it said. On Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister suggested holding peace talks with Lebanon,...

It is very doubtful that Syria will carry on serious negotiations without ensuring, first, that it has military leverage over Israel through the southern Lebanese border. Damascus may not necessarily want talks to reach a conclusion now, but it does have to prepare for the possibility of an eventual breakthrough. As far as President Bashar Assad is concerned, a Golan deal is important principally if Lebanon is part of the package. In other words, Syria gets the Golan but is also granted effective hegemony over Lebanon - an arrangement with which the Israelis have no problem, nor did when they...

The koweiti paper "al-Seyassah" quotes sources close to the NATO which say the Iranian-backed Hezbullah, led by Hassan Nasrallah, is heading toward launching war against US troops in Iraq. According to the paper, US troops arrested a senior Hezbullah leader in Sadr City last week. It shows that Hezbullah is organizing its arrival in the country. In the same article, Koweiti sources show that UN forces in Lebanon are not working to disarm Hezbullah, and that the islamic group has plans to defeat UN forces in case of conflict with Israel. The Hezbullah move toward Iraq is a sign Iran...

Hezbollah's strategic communication machine has undertaken a massive campaign to convince the international community, the Arab and Muslim world that an overwhelming majority of Lebanese are now firmly behind Sayed Hassan Nasrallah in his vision for the future of the Eastern Mediterranean and probably the Greater Middle East. The Hezbollah chief revealed the bulk of his agenda for Lebanon and the region, and even displayed his alignment with Tehran's ambitions. 1. Hezbollah "offers its strategy" to all Arabs Nasrallah called on the "Arab people and governments to adopt the strategies of the organization," i.e., the victory achieved in Lebanon against...

riyadh • Hardline Sunni clerics accused Shias on Sunday of destabilising Muslim countries and humiliating Sunnis, just days before a Muslim interfaith conference called by Saudi Arabia's king. The attacks on Iran, Iraq and Hezbollah — though contrary to official policy — highlight the sharp, growing distrust between Islam's two arms, and its potential to cause more unrest. In a strongly worded statement, the 22 clerics savaged the Iranian-backed Shia Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying it has tricked Muslims into believing it is against Jews and Americans. The statement appeared on several websites on Sunday, including Al Moslim, which is run...

Just look at Syrian and Iranian interference in Lebanon, even though America did not lead the change the way it did in Iraq. And while Gaza and Beirut have fallen to the extremists, Baghdad has not. The reason is the American presence that continues to protect the democratic process. Change with support from the outside, especially the West, is a necessity. First of all, the neighbors would not let these democracies take a breath and second, democracy is a concept that emerged and evolved in the West. For the Middle East it's like importing a medicine that we didn't manufacture....

Israel freed a convicted Hezbollah spy on Sunday and the militant group turned over the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the 2006 war in Lebanon. The swap could be the preliminary stage of a prisoner exchange between the bitter enemies. Israeli authorities released Nasim Nisr, an Israeli of Lebanese descent, after he completed a six-year sentence for espionage, driving him from a prison in central Israel to the northern Rosh Hanikra crossing. Cameramen surrounded the white van Nisr was sitting in as a blue gate swung open to allow him through the frontier. Hezbollah official Wafik Safa told the...

BEIRUT — Lebanese troops shot and killed a suicide bomber near Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp Saturday, a senior military official said. The official said the Palestinian man wearing an explosive belt approached an army checkpoint just outside the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon. Soldiers manning the army checkpoint saw the young man climb out of a car and throw a hand grenade which failed to explode, the official said. The soldiers warned the man not to move, but he ignored the orders and moved quickly toward them with his hands on...

BEIRUT: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called on Hizbullah's secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday not to interfere in Iraq's internal affairs. "Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah does not have the right to interfere in Iraq's internal affairs, as we have not interfered in Lebanon's affairs," Talabani said after a large-scale meeting with heads of Iraqi dailies and newspapers. "Iraq is an independent country and is the cradle of civilization. All those preaching Jihad and patriotism have learned from us," he added. "[The Shiite holy city of] Najaf has graduated militants and Shiite clerics, and it is not acceptable that students impose...

Here is a summary of the main points made by Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah this week in Beirut, after the invasion of (mostly Sunni) West Beirut, the attack against (mostly Druze) southern Mount Lebanon and after the declaration of Doha and the election of a new President for Lebanon. Nasrallah delivered his "victory speech" last Monday, outlining the new agenda of the Iranian funded organization in Lebanon. My full analysis will be published Monday. Following are twelve major assertions Nasrallah made. As carried live by Hezbollah-owned al Manar TV, and posted on its web site later, the...

On May 29, 2008, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Donald Kerr addressed The Washington Institute's Soref Symposium. The following is the prepared text of his remarks. Let me begin tonight by telling you two things: one you already know, and one you may not. To the first: In the intelligence community, there are many things we don't talk about. How's that for an understatement? Here's the one thing you may not have known: our most privileged document -- one of the things that, in a community of tens of thousands of people, is only read by a handful. It...

GUESTS May 30 Steven Mosher President of The Population Research Institute on the worldwide population control movement Founded in 1989, Population Research Institute is a non-profit research and educational organization dedicated to objectively presenting the truth about population-related issues, and to reversing the trends brought about by the myth of overpopulation. Our growing, global network of pro-life groups spans over 30 countries. POPULATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE and Chor-Bishop Seely Beggiani Rector or Our Lady of Lebanon Seminary in Washington, DC on the Maronite Church in Lebanon OUR LADY OF LEBANON SEMINARY

The Syrian story is far from over: in fact, on October 23, Al Seyassah ran a story about potential new secret nuclear sites in Syria. According to Western sources cited by the paper, it is possible that Syria is developing other nuclear sites with the help of North Korea, Iran and Iraqi experts, the latter who fled their country at the start of the Iraq war in 2003. In fact, observation satellites have allegedly located in Syria at least two other sites similar to the one destroyed by Israel last month. Iran's handwriting is all over the wall from the...

hroughout the six-month Lebanese presidential crisis, France remained the lone western party actively engaged in monitoring the Lebanese political process. In this vein, French President Nicholas Sarkozy pushed for the Hezbollah-led opposition to accept the will of the parliamentary majority and elect consensus candidate Michel Suleiman president without preconditions. In late December, Sarkozy demonstrated impressive guts when he publicly blamed Syria for the ongoing crisis and suspended contacts with Damascus until it ended its interference–all with Egypt’s diplomatic support. The move left Syria stunned, and France seemed to finally have a president who was willing to play hardball with anti-western...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's new president got a red carpet welcome Monday, but was quickly thrust into the political thicket as Hezbollah's leader warned against any efforts to disarm his Iranian-backed guerrilla group. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah delivered his stern message after military bands and an honor guard saluted President Michel Suleiman on his first day on the job. Suleiman, the former army commander, was a consensus candidate agreed on by both Hezbollah and its pro-Western political foes, but he drew pointed comments from Nasrallah after saying in his inauguration speech Sunday that there should be a dialogue over Hezbollah's arsenal....

May 22nd turned into an odd cascade of bizarrely related events. Greg Grant over at Tribal Wars drew my attentions to a WSJ article with his post ... Communications Networks and Irregular War. Simultaneously on the Hill, Hawaii's Sen. Akaka was giving a speech on Dodd's Export Enforcement Act of 2007. The link between these two events is not only a "six degrees of separation" convergence, but may potentially span events and whistle blowing from over a decade ago. From Grant's Tribal Wars article: You think irregular fighters realize the force multiplier effect of a secure communications network? An interesting...

BEIRUT -- Backed by most of Lebanon's major communities and their international patrons, former army chief of staff Michel Suleiman ascended to the presidency of this volatile Mediterranean country today. The 60-year-old Maronite Christian general took the oath of office amid high hopes that he would help heal the country's festering political rift between the U.S. and Saudi-backed government and the opposition, led by Hezbollah, the Iranian and Syrian-backed Shiite militant and political movement. Suleiman's election by lawmakers, viewed as a temporary fix to a months-long political crisis, came days after Hezbollah gunmen stormed West Beirut and subsequently won an...

The majority coalition would never elect him if they could pick whomever they want. Suleiman is well-known as a moderate pro-Syrian. He may be an improvement over Lebanon’s last president, Emile Lahoud, who was nothing if not a tool of Syria’s tyrant Bashar Assad, but frankly no one could be worse than Lahoud outside the ranks of the blatantly fascist Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Hezbollah still gets to keep the unilaterally installed high-tech surveillance system in Lebanon’s only international airport, and of course its fighters will hold onto their illegal weapons. With freshly minted blocking minority powers, Secretary General Hassan...

At the tail-end of his Stateside swing-through -- just one leg of his monthlong overseas tour -- the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir held talks yesterday with President Bush on the uncertain political situation in Lebanon: The U.S. President, according to An Nahar, told Sfeir that only Lebanon's armed forces should be responsible for keeping security in the country. Bush stressed that the U.S., along with other European countries, will help the army in this regard. Sfeir delivered to Bush the same memorandum that he had given to U.N. Chief Ban Ki-moon and the permanent members of the...

Middle East experts Kenneth Timmerman and Jerome Corsi explore the danger inherent in Lebanon’s recent peace agreement with Hezbollah. http://msmedia.a7.org:82/arutz7/shows/ts/tovia080521-2.mp3

In a stinging defeat for the U.S.-backed government of Lebanon, the Islamist group Hezbollah bolstered its political power in this volatile land on Israel's border. Hezbollah reached a bargain with the weak Lebanese government that essentially gave the Islamic group veto power in a new government to be formed. The deal comes two weeks after Hezbollah flashed its military might by seizing Beirut neighborhoods to protest efforts to rein it in. The trigger was unusual: Hezbollah was expanding a secret communications network, and the government wanted it dismantled. The ensuing fighting this month left 67 dead, in the worst internal...

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The agreement reached by Lebanese political factions early Wednesday amounted to a significant shift of power in favor of the militant Shiite group Hezbollah and its allies in the opposition, who won the power to veto any cabinet decision. The sweeping deal to form a new government promised an end to 18 months of political deadlock here, and underscored the rising power of Iran and Syria, which have backed Hezbollah in a proxy battle against the governing coalition and its American and Saudi allies. Government leaders said they had given way on major provisions because they felt...

Rice, Miliband reject view that show of force by Shiite organization in Lebanon clashes increased its power, despite greater influence it gained in country's cabinet. France, US advancing Security Council resolution supporting deal reached in Doha between Lebanese factions Reuters Published: 05.22.08, 22:21 / Israel News The United States and Britain said on Thursday they believed Hizbullah had been weakened by this month's fighting in Beirut despite the greater influence the militant group gained in Lebanon's cabinet. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband rejected the view that the show of force by Hizbullah had...

In what is seen as a major victory for Syria and Iran, Hezbollah and its allies are being guaranteed a two-thirds majority in Lebanon's parliament, just as Israel and Syria are announcing talks concerning the fate of the Golan Heights...

Hezbollah members could be seen removing mattresses from their encampments around Beirut after talks in Doha, Qatar, resulted in an agreement that for now promises to end the worst violence to grip Lebanon since its 1975-1990 civil war. This latest round left 67 dead. Hezbollah won. Under the deal, the Hezbollah-led opposition will have its long-sought veto power in a new Cabinet of national unity. Obtaining this veto power was Hezbollah's key demand that triggered a year-and-a-half-long crisis as Lebanon struggled to select a new head of state to replace the pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, who finally left office on...

Rival Lebanese factions reached an agreement to resolve their 18-month political crisis after five days of intensive talks in the Gulf state of Qatar, Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh said Wednesday. The agreement was a major triumph for Lebanon's Hizbullah-led opposition, as it met the side's two key demands - veto power in a new national unity government, and an electoral law that divides up Lebanon into smaller-sized districts, for better representation of the various sects. But the opposition was not gloating and Hamadeh said "there are no losers" in the agreement. "Lebanon is the winner," he told The Associated...

'Deal agreed' on Lebanon crisis Political division has caused a deadlock in Lebanon's parliament A deal has been reached aimed at ending the political crisis in Lebanon, officials at talks in Qatar say. Arab mediators have been engaged in five days of talks to try to reconcile the Western-backed Lebanese government and the Hezbollah-led opposition. Lebanon's deep political divisions have led to an 18-month crisis that has come close to sparking a new civil war. The resulting deadlock in parliament has left Lebanon without a president since November. Street battles The breakthrough came after both sides agreed on an...

US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday. [A US Navy aircraft carrier.] A US Navy aircraft carrier. Photo: AP Slideshow: Pictures of the week The official claimed that a senior member of the president's entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for. However, the official continued, "the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and...

The Belmont Club has a thought provoking article about the civil war in Lebanon . Be-bop Galula. Having coerced the government to do its bidding, the Islamofacists – Hizbullah – retreated back into the shadows. What is interesting about Hizbullah's successful overthrow of the elected government in Lebanon is that after his forces defeated their foes, Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah ordered his men to retreat to their customary shadows. Why didn't Hizbullah just overthrow the government? Understanding why Hizbullah refused to take over Lebanon is key not only for understanding Hizbullah but also for understanding Hamas, Fatah and the insurgency...