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Candid words, evil goals from Iran
EDMONTON JOURNAL (Canada) ^ | Saturday, August 05, 2006 | EDITORIAL

Posted on 08/05/2006 3:42:30 PM PDT by GMMAC

Candid words, evil goals from Iran

EDITORIAL:
The Edmonton Journal
Saturday, August 05, 2006


On Thursday, for those who could hear him above din of exploding bombs and rockets in the Middle East, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did his hated Israeli enemy a major strategic favour.

He said that while he now thinks a ceasefire is a good idea, the ultimate goal remains the "elimination of the Zionist regime."

And thus he reminded a world tempted to see little difference between the warring parties about the fundamental difference between the Jewish state and those on the Arab and Muslim side who refuse to give up their violent struggle.

For men like Ahmadinejad and his Lebanese proxy Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah, peace is a tactical interlude in a war that won't end while Israel exists, while to Israeli leaders, war is a tactic viewed as occasionally unavoidable on the long road to peace with its neighbours.

It's true: at least in the short run, Israel's response to the original Hezbollah and Hamas attacks is clearly blasting both Israel's reputation and its prospects for better relations with Lebanon.

It is a key part of the Mideast mess that both sides only know how to put themselves farther and farther from their goals.

But in the long term? As long as anti-Westerners like Iran's Ahmadinejad keep reminding us that their real goal is not simply the evacuation of southern Lebanon that occurred in 2000, for example, or the cessation of settlement activity in places such as Hebron, they will never seize the moral high ground -- or even get on even terms -- in the court of international public opinion.

This weekend there is talk of ceasefires, and even of hope that the eventual ceasefire will destroy the political arrangement that has allowed Hezbollah terrorists to run a state within a state in south Lebanon, and amass the thousands of rockets it has been firing at Israel in recent days.

But the most hopeful element is the talk of an international role in preventing a repetition of the current horrors -- perhaps with a UN force to make sure the borderland is not controlled by terrorists who share the Iranian president's view of Israel's right to exist.

For most of the 58 years since Israel was established in 1948, assorted wars and uprisings against the Jewish state have succeeded only in making Israel larger, stronger, angrier and more skeptical of peace processes. And yet that long process of (mostly) self-defence has not brought Israel closer to its goal either. A chilly peace with Egypt and Jordan is offset by a Palestinian population willing to elect the terrorist group Hamas (who sparked the current fighting), by groups like Hezbollah that didn't exist 30 years ago, and by increasingly threatening, would-be nuclear neighbours like Iran.

If you think the parties should work out their differences by themselves, it's worth setting aside one's doubts about the severity of attacks in recent days, and asking what a more effective response by Israel would have looked like.

What would induce Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to tell his followers not to fire rockets or kidnap Israeli soldiers?

What Israeli response would dissuade regimes in the region such as Iran from sending money and weapons to anti-Israeli proxies?

And what can Israel do, for that matter, to make weapons from various foreign sources not available for sale to terrorists on her borders?

It would be far from a pleasant or secure task for UN troops, getting in between bitter enemies who have caused at least 1,000 deaths in the last three weeks.

But it's becoming increasingly difficult to picture the parties ever reaching a mutually acceptable, live-and-let-live accommodation on their own.

© The Edmonton Journal 2006


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; Philosophy; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2006israelwar; canada; hezbollah; iran; islamofascism; israel; isreal; lebanon; wot

1 posted on 08/05/2006 3:42:31 PM PDT by GMMAC
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To: fanfan; Pikamax; Former Proud Canadian; Great Dane; Alberta's Child; headsonpikes; Ryle; ...

PING!
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

2 posted on 08/05/2006 3:43:50 PM PDT by GMMAC (Discover Canada governed by Conservatives: www.CanadianAlly.com)
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To: GMMAC

"He said that while he now thinks a ceasefire is a good idea, the ultimate goal remains the "elimination of the Zionist regime." "

Yeah, he needs to regroup so that he can accomplish his goal of the "elimination of the Zionist regime." There has been enough distraction to this war between Israel and this terrorist group ... he needs to focus all his resources on NUCLEAR BOMBS to accomplish his goal. Bet there has been so disruption in his uranium supplies ... .


3 posted on 08/05/2006 3:48:42 PM PDT by nmh
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To: GMMAC

"He said that while he now thinks a ceasefire is a good idea, the ultimate goal remains the "elimination of the Zionist regime." "

Yeah, he needs to regroup so that he can accomplish his goal of the "elimination of the Zionist regime." There has been enough distraction to this war between Israel and this terrorist group ... he needs to focus all his resources on NUCLEAR BOMBS to accomplish his goal. Bet there has been some disruption in his uranium supplies ... .


4 posted on 08/05/2006 3:49:34 PM PDT by nmh
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To: GMMAC
A UN force? The same UN force that failed to keep the peace in southern Lebanon? Such misplaced faith in the UN makes for sheer comedy. The UN's role is to make problems far worse. People are dying and all they do in Turtle Bay is talk of a ceasefire that in effect, would put a terrorist organization and a democratic state on the same moral plane. That's both wicked - and stupid.

(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)

5 posted on 08/05/2006 3:53:28 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: GMMAC
perhaps with a UN force to make sure the borderland is not controlled by terrorists who share the Iranian president's view of Israel's right to exist.

LOL!

6 posted on 08/05/2006 3:53:52 PM PDT by fanfan (WAW - Women Against Weenification!)
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To: GMMAC
Just posted this :

Ghostly Shadows - How bloody-minded are the tyrants of Tehran

7 posted on 08/05/2006 4:08:53 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (History is soon Forgotten,)
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To: GMMAC

Hezbollah Rocket Hits Israeli Hospital, Nasrallah Apologizes

A Hezbollah rocket has hit an Israeli Hospital in Naharya. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah apologized for the lengthy delay in targeting the sick and lame.

“We were sitting around discussing our strategy for eliminating the Jewish occupation of Palestine when Ahmed pointed out that we had overlooked a key weak point in the Israeli state,” said Nasrallah. “We have always made it a point to target women and children. That’s a basic ‘no brainer.’ But we had overlooked the potential advantages of attacking the sick and lame.”

Nasrallah pointed out that “Children may run away from an attack. Bed-ridden invalids are ‘sitting ducks.’ We looked at each other and laughed at our idiocy. Now, we have remedied this shortcoming and can be proud again. We’re just sorry it took so long for us to recognize this opportunity.”

“Even if they are not killed by our missiles, the patients will still have to be moved,” Nasrallah observed. “They may die in the process. At the very least, Israeli resources will be tied down dealing with this problem.”

In related news, the Syrian government has called for international celebrities to act as “human shields” in Lebanon. The idea is that, since the Israelis fear negative publicity, they are not likely to target them. The famous personalities will be able to guarantee the aid consignments get through to the Hezbollah “freedom fighters.” “We are hoping that former US president Jimmy Carter, Michael Moore, the ‘Dixie Chicks’ and others would be willing to drive trucks bringing desperately needed supplies into Lebanon,” said a spokesman for the Syrian government. “The Israelis would be forced to ceasefire lest they harm these beloved icons of the infidel culture.”

read more..

http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm


8 posted on 08/05/2006 4:09:33 PM PDT by John Semmens
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To: John Semmens

“We are hoping that former US president Jimmy Carter, Michael Moore, the ‘Dixie Chicks’ and others would be willing to drive trucks bringing desperately needed supplies into Lebanon,” said a spokesman for the Syrian government.

Ok, if the Syrians bring them in, what's the down side to having this motley crew used as human shields? /sarc


9 posted on 08/05/2006 4:17:06 PM PDT by timsbella (Mark Steyn for Prime Minister of Canada! (Steve's won my vote in the meantime))
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To: John Semmens

Syria should insist Katie Couric be involved in such a humanitarian effort ;)


10 posted on 08/05/2006 4:17:57 PM PDT by timsbella (Mark Steyn for Prime Minister of Canada! (Steve's won my vote in the meantime))
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To: GMMAC
"But the most hopeful element is the talk of an international role in preventing a repetition of the current horrors -- perhaps with a UN force to make sure the borderland is not controlled by terrorists who share the Iranian president's view of Israel's right to exist."

LOL! Yeah, right. That would make it easier for Iran to get its terrorist army closer to its useful European idiots, though. Then they'll know as to which nations Iran is going after.
11 posted on 08/05/2006 5:23:17 PM PDT by familyop ("Either you're with us, or you're with the terrorists." --President Bush)
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To: GMMAC
What would induce Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to tell his followers not to fire rockets or kidnap Israeli soldiers?

Nothing. The only cure for a mad dog is a bullet.

12 posted on 08/05/2006 5:27:06 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: GMMAC
As long as anti-Westerners like Iran's Ahmadinejad keep reminding us that their real goal is not simply the evacuation of southern Lebanon that occurred in 2000, for example, or the cessation of settlement activity in places such as Hebron, they will never seize the moral high ground -- or even get on even terms -- in the court of international public opinion.

They still don't get it, do they? This is like the Dems trying to repackage themselves to appeal to red state voters. It doesn't work because the underlying values (or lack thereof) do not change.

Iran under Ahmadinejad cannot possibly seize the moral high ground. He cannot possibly occupy such because he has no morals. As long as wavering idiots like whoever wrote this column pretend that such is possible, they will continue to be duped by the Islamists.

13 posted on 08/05/2006 5:28:05 PM PDT by dirtboy (Why does Israel take border security seriously but we do not, when Islamists wish us both harm?)
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To: dirtboy
"As long as wavering idiots like whoever wrote this column ..."

Overall the editorial - no mere column, but the particular paper's formal stand on the issues involved - is decidedly pro Israel & anti Iran & its vile dog Hezbollah.

Surely, if we waited to post only that content with which we agreed with every single word, FR would be a pretty barren place?

BTW, it would seem the editorial's author was by & large posing rhetorical questions throughout.
14 posted on 08/05/2006 5:50:49 PM PDT by GMMAC (Discover Canada governed by Conservatives: www.CanadianAlly.com)
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: GMMAC

What's all this August 22nd talk, anyway?


16 posted on 08/05/2006 6:02:35 PM PDT by HitmanLV ("If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed." - Jerry 'Curly' Howard)
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To: GMMAC
From "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford:

Genghis Khan recognized that warfare was not a sporting contest or a mere match between rivals; it was a total commitment of one people against another. Victory did not come to the one who played by the rules; it came to the one who made the rules and imposed them on his enemy. Triumph could not be partial. It was complete, total, and undeniable--or it was nothing. In battle, this meant the unbridled use of terror and surprise. In peace, it meant the steadfast adherence to a few basic but unwavering principles that created loyalty among the common people. Resistance would be met with death, loyalty with security.

17 posted on 08/05/2006 6:08:40 PM PDT by gotribe (It's not a religion.)
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To: GMMAC; SJackson; yonif; Simcha7; American in Israel; Slings and Arrows; judicial meanz; ...




Zec 12:6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.





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please FR mail me ~
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MikeFromFR ~
There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)

Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~


"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~

The future of Arab controlled Gaza.

" ... It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world."—FReeper Retief
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~

18 posted on 08/05/2006 6:21:57 PM PDT by Salem (FREE REPUBLIC - Fighting to win within the Arena of the War of Ideas! So get in the fight!)
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To: fib1618

People lack you know whats. That's the problem.


19 posted on 08/05/2006 7:40:01 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: GMMAC

I believe this would significantly improve our strategic position in the War on Terror.

We should destroy the Iranian oil industry. By Bombing all oil transportation facilities, pipelines, storage tanks, tanker trucks, rolling stock, refinery’s etc… we can cripple the funding of numerous terrorist organizations, Hezbollah, Hama’s, Sadr’s militia, Syria, as well as make it more difficult for Iran to buy missiles and such from North Korea, China, and Russia.
It would remove Iran’s threat that if we attack they will shut off the oil. Making the threat ridiculous and demonstrating that they are a single product state and without oil, and no other product that the world wants, they are nothing. Additionally, by declaring that we will destroy any reconstituting oil industry as long as the Mullacracy remains in charge, we can focus the Iranian’s blame for the situation, on the Theocracy and their support of Terrorism.
This will also bring home to all the other oil producing countries like Venezuela, Libya, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, etc… that they are very vulnerable to the same tactic.
In addition, this will gain us time for the Iraqi’s to stand on their own, and free up troops we would need if we have to go into Iran, North Korea or somewhere else.
Sure the price of gas will rise, but this will also demonstrate to the world that the USA is not in Iraq for the Oil, and the onus can be shifted on to the Democrats for not allowing more domestic production.
“It’s not the control of the spice but the power to destroy the spice that is the real power.”
It has recently been said that the nuclear production facilities in Iran are so deep underground that we can’t reach them with conventional weapons. Perhaps so, but maybe we can starve those facilities of funds. Nuclear weapons are terribly expensive to build, and if Iran now needs all its money to repair vital life supporting infrastructure, it may have to slow or stop its attempt to build an atomic bomb.
Finally, Iran is a state sponsor of Terrorists, it must be punished, and it must be seen to be punished. Iran’s continued sponsorship of terror is a slap in America’s and President Bush’s face, and it must be answered.
The following was written in response to an objection I received about having to pay more for fuel if this strategy was followed.
I think you are overly concerned about the economic considerations, and not concerned enough about the need to prosecute the War on Terror to the utmost.
1. The US has a full Strategic Petroleum Reserve of 700 million Barrels, and we aren't the only nation with an SPR. What good is it if you never use it? The average price paid on that 700 million barrels was $27, so the nation would actually make a profit selling it now.
2. The only reason the US isn't energy independent now is because of political factors. 2 Trillion Barrels of oil in oil shale (see www.oiltechinc.com). Any organic matter can be turned into fuel (see www.powerenergy.com). The US would and should be using much more Nuclear power if it wasn't for the Ecofreaks. There are also many areas in the US that are now off limits to drilling. All it takes is the political will to develop all of these. Higher fuel prices will provide that political pressure.
3. Iran is using diplomatic processes, just like the Nazi's before them. Talking is a waste of our time.
4. Iran subsidizes gas at $.10 a gallon, so by destroying the Iranian oil industry not only do we instantly remove 20% of their GDP. We put them all on foot, and in the dark.
5. The mullahs want to take their world back to the 7th century, we should assist them.

Iran exports 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, Iranian as well as the rest of the Persian gulf oil producers, produce what is called heavy sour crude which typically sell for 20%-25% less than the benchmark sweet light crude quoted on the spot markets. So, with that understanding we can roughly calculate the gross income Iran’s economy generates from oil exports. At a price of $75 Barrel Iran will get 80% of that price for its low grade crude, or $60. $60 x $2.5 million barrels x 365 days = $54.75 billion. Now from the CIA world fact book we can see that Iran has a GNP of $564 billion. So by destroying Iran’s oil industry their GDP is cut by 10% just from the lost of exports, but the damage is much deeper than that. Iran subsidizes gasoline at $.10 a gallon and Iran consumes 1.425 million barrels of oil a day. With the oil industry destroyed the cars, trucks, trains, and power plants no longer run. That means no machinery, no electricity, and no modern economy. I can’t estimate what Iran’s GDP would decline to, but the poorest nation on earth still has cars and electricity. I think much of the population would either revolt or start walking for the boarders. They couldn’t import oil because we would destroy tankers, pipelines, and rolling stock.


20 posted on 08/06/2006 9:55:35 PM PDT by Eagle74 (From time to time the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots)
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