Posted on 03/03/2008 10:30:39 AM PST by Bahbah
Good roundup — confirms and expands the information that HAL9000 is putting up on his (her? Who can really tell, these days?) thread.....
” Many analysts predicted that the stalemate would continue for many more months as neither side could afford a confrontation that could lead to civil war “
‘Analysts’....
HAH!!!
More ticker from downthread....
To: HAL9000
11:40 am MEA announced it was suspending all outgoing and incoming flights to Beirut until midday Saturday.
11:15 am MP Walid Jumblat has been evacuated from his Beirut home by army troops.
11:10 am Army troops reopened the port road which was briefly blocked at the Phoenicia Hotel area with burning tires.
11:00 am Tripoli residents blocked Maloula-Tebaneh highway with burning tires in protest of the bloody fighting in Beirut.
10:37 MPs and leaders of the March 14 alliance were summoned for an urgent meeting at Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea’s home in Maarab.
10:32 am An Egyptian diplomatic source said it is not allowed for a force backed by Iran to control Lebanon.
14 posted on Friday, May 09, 2008 3:58:08 AM by HAL9000 (”No one made you run for president, girl.”- Bill Clinton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies | Report Abuse]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2013478/posts?page=14#14
Nothing gets past the US Department of State, does it??
[from downtrhead]
To: All
To read the complete text; please click the link below.
http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_3072.html
Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520
This information is current as of today, Fri May 09 2008 02:04:34 GMT-0700 (PDT).
LEBANON
April 21, 2008
16 posted on Friday, May 09, 2008 4:04:59 AM by Cindy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2013478/posts?page=16#16
I’m hearing that the Shi’a have basically defeated the Sunni in Lebanon. I don’t know what is going to happen now, but there is much rage against the Shi’ite population in general.
That is a most fascinating account; most people don’t care for my brand of hutpa.
We’re not voting for or against Hezbollah, and neither the ramificaions to deranged liberal thoology.
Do YOU pay property tax?
What about sales tax? What about “pleasure” tax, what abou the “amoker” tax, what about sales taz? What ‘bout “onney” that inherited from “dead” people?
Ever pay a tax on passing a title from one to the other?
Ever pay a gun tax? Ever buy gasoline?
Ever buy gasonline?
If you’ve ever bough any single one of those items, then ou’ve paid tax.
THIS IS HTE FACT: regardless of where you live, 30$ of your moneey will go DIRECTLY to the “government”.
What do you fwr from that governmment?
You want to pay more than you have been?
Vote Obama/Clintoin.
There are other, more appropriate, venues for your comments —
Please don’t spam or attempt to hijack this thread....
Awwwwwwww......
Al Qeada in Iraq leader not captured - U.S. military
Reuters ^ | May 09, 2008 | Reuters
Posted on Friday, May 09, 2008 4:23:02 AM by Berlin_Freeper
BAGHDAD, May 9 (Reuters) - A man seized by Iraqi forces in the northern city of Mosul is not Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, a senior U.S. military official said on Friday.
“He has not been detained,” the official told Reuters, without giving further details.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013488/posts
Why do you direct your comments toward me?
I do not know you nor do I recall ever posting to any of your comments.
This is a conservative forum and I seriously doubt you will find folks here who entertain the thought of voting for Obama.
I DO expect an expiation for you post to me.
Olmert defies calls to resign over bribe probe
By Avida Landau and Adam Entous
12 minutes ago
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defied a barrage of calls to resign on Friday after he admitted taking cash from an American businessman at the centre of a police inquiry into allegations of bribery.
ADVERTISEMENT
Olmert, whose departure could disrupt U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations with the Palestinians, continued with his duties after telling the nation in a late-night address on Israel’s 60th Independence Day that he would resign only if the attorney general could produce sufficient evidence to indict him.
The prime minister, who is due to host U.S. President George W. Bush next week, looked relaxed when he addressed Canadian Jewish fundraisers for Israel in Jerusalem on Friday.
He made only an oblique, passing reference to his troubles, saying: “I have enough political issues to deal with here.”
“Millions of shekels — cash in hand,” screamed the front page of top-selling tabloid Maariv.
Legal sources say police suspect that Olmert took hundreds of thousands of dollars from a New York Jewish financier. Morris Talansky was tagged “The Laundry Man” in coded records that investigators say were kept by Olmert’s secretary.
Newspapers freed from a gag order on the investigation splashed lengthy coverage of an affair that broke as Israelis celebrated the 60th anniversary of the state’s founding — although some questioned the strength of prosecutors’ case after series of other inquiries that failed to indict the premier.
“It is doubtful Olmert can survive,” wrote Nahum Barnea, a senior columnist for Yedioth Ahronoth. “If not because of the Talansky affair, ... then because of the cumulative effect of all the ongoing investigations against him.”
LOOK IN THE EYES
In Maariv, commentator Shalom Yerushalmi, noted how Olmert, had told Israelis “I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself.” The prime minister said the funds from Talansky were campaign donations managed by Olmert’s former law partner.
“Prime Minister Ehud Olmert looked yesterday into the eyes of each and every one of us and asked us to believe him,” Yerushalmi wrote. “If the public could respond collectively it would, of course, ask: Why? For how many years can we hear about your escapades with the police and go on believing you?”
Many Israelis have become used to tales of graft at the top — the son of Olmert’s predecessor Ariel Sharon is in jail at the moment for raising secret funds for his father’s campaign, but many other investigations have not let to punishment.
Some cited a lack of an obviously popular successor.
“Olmert is a slick lawyer and he will get out of this affair as he did in the other cases,” social worker Adam Haisrael, 31, said, adding that he believed Olmert would play up the need for stability in government to talk peace and face up to threats.
“He isn’t fit to be prime minister but there’s no one worthy to replace him. They’re all seen as corrupt opportunists.”
Olmert has defended himself against a handful of other inquiries since he became prime minister in 2006.
The right-wing opposition Likud party, which Olmert once represented before bolting to the new, centrist group Kadima, is keen for a snap election that opinion polls suggest it and its leader Benjamin Netanyahu could dominate:
“Olmert and the Kadima government have no public legitimacy, no moral legitimacy,” said Likud lawmaker Yuval Steinitz.
A key figure will be Defence Minister Ehud Barak, leader of Olmert’s main coalition ally the Labour party. Barak has so far said little and is believed to be wary of bolting the alliance if that led to an election that would favor Netanyahu.
“The party is in a real dilemma,” one Labour figure close to Olmert told Reuters. “I think for now Barak will bide his time.”
If Olmert stepped down, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the chief negotiator with the Palestinians, would be the obvious successor, at least in the short term.
“We could probably live with a Livni-led coalition,” the Labour source said. “But whatever happens on this case, there is a sense of an accruing moral attrition that, I anticipate, will force Labour to reshuffle the deck at some point soon.”
(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Dan Williams; editing by Ralph Boulton)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080509/wl_nm/israel_olmert_dc
” Olmert defies calls to resign over bribe probe “
Mixed feelings, here...
On the one hand, I’d sure love to see Olmert ridden outta town on a rail —
But, given the situation in Lebanon, this is a really inopportune time for political upheaval in Israel....
Murphy’s Law in action — ‘Whatever can go wrong, WILL go wrong — at the worst possible moment’
Lebanese source: Hizbullah taking control of last resistance stronghold
Published: 05.09.08, 12:49 / Israel News
Gunmen loyal to the Lebanese government have laid down their arms and surrendered to Hizbullah militants at the last Sunni neighborhood in Beirut that has yet to fall into the Shiite group’s hands.
Security officials said Lebanese army soldiers are expected to enter the neighborhood. (Reuters)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3541254,00.html
” Gunmen loyal to the Lebanese government have laid down their arms and surrendered to Hizbullah militants at the last Sunni neighborhood in Beirut “
Confirms forkinsocket’s report from earlier...
Thanks, Workerbee....
This is a no briner but it does acknowledge the fact.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lebanese minister: Attack on Beirut Iranian-backed
Published: 05.09.08, 12:29 / Israel News
Ahmad Patpat, a member of the Lebanese government, said that Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah “utilized the government’s decision to outlaw his communications in order to declare war.
“Iran has broken into Beirut,” he concluded in an interview to Al Arabiya network. “What is happening here is an Iranian attack.” (Roee Nahmias)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3541249,00.html
Now, here’s a surprise.....
Syria Rejects Israeli Demand To Sever Ties With Iran, Hizbullah
nasdaq ^ | 5/9/08 | nasdaq
Posted on Friday, May 09, 2008 5:03:48 AM by Flavius
(RTTNews) - Friday, Syria rejected an Israeli demand that Damascus sever its relations with the predominantly-Shi’ite Islamic Republic of Iran and the Shi’ite terrorist outfit Hizbullah.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview published Friday with the Italian magazine L’Espresso, that detaching his country from the two, both of whom seek Israel’s destruction, was “irrelevant” to reviving peace talks.
(Excerpt) Read more at nasdaq.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013494/posts
Report: Hizbullah surrounding Beirut government offices
Published: 05.09.08, 11:46 / Israel News
Hizbullah gunmen are currently surrounding a government office building and the home of anti-Syrian, pro-government leader Saad al-Hariri in Beirut, Saudi-owned
Al Arabiya television said on Friday. (Roee Nahmias)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3541239,00.html
Civil War Looms at Israel’s Northern Border
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) While left wing Israelis and Arabs are struggling divide the Jewish State and make eastern Jerusalem the capital of a new Palestinian Authority state, Hizbullah terrorists and allied pro-Syrian forces are fighting the Lebanese army.
Lebanon has been without a president since November, when the pro-Syrian minority, which includes several Hizbullah ministers, demanded more representation in the Cabinet. The Western-backed government coalition has been struggling for months with the Hizbullah terrorist-led faction to retain control of the country while other Arab nations are eyeing the situation with increasing concern.
State-Run TV, Beirut Under Hizbullah Control
The Iranian and Syrian-backed terrorist organization seized large parts of the Lebanese capital and yanked the state-run Future News television station, owned by coalition leader Sa’ad al-Hariri, off the air.
“An army officer accompanied by members of Hizbullah walked into the station and told us to switch off transmission. We are off the air,” said a senior station official quoted by Reuters News Agency.
Royal Jordanian Airlines suspended flights to the embattled nation, joining Middle East Airlines, the Lebanese national carrier, in ending traffic in and out of Beirut indefinitely. Anti-Syrian leaders have charged that Hizbullah last week set up surveillance cameras on approaches the airport to spy on government officials.
Saudi Arabia called for a meeting of Arab leaders on the situation as the death toll mounted. Security sources said at least 10 people were dead, including a mother and her son, and 20 others were wounded as fighting continued Friday for the third day in a row.
Terrified civilians stayed indoors as Hizbullah guerrillas fired assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and heavy machine guns at government forces. Plumes of heavy smoke rose from cars and shops in several mixed Sunni and Shiite districts in the capital where some of the heaviest fighting took place.
Nasrallah Warns Against Disarming Hizbullah
Hizbullah chief terrorist Hassan Nasrallah claimed the Lebanese government had declared war by outlawing its telecommunications network, which it called “the most important part of the weapons of the resistance.”
The government deemed the independent Hizbullah land lines and private communications system a threat to national security. After a marathon 11-hour meeting that stretched from Monday night into Tuesday morning, the Cabinet also decided to fire airport security chief Brig.-Gen. Wafiq Shoukair for alleged ties to the terrorist group, further enraging Hizbullah. It also said Hizbullah has been flying weapons from Iran on a routine basis.
“The decision is tantamount to a declaration of war… on the resistance and its weapons, in the interest of America and Israel,” Nasrallah said, adding that he himself was “not declaring war,” but was “declaring a decision of self-defense.
“Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them. Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off,” warned Nasrallah in a speech broadcast live on TV Thursday by a videolink hookup from a secret hideout. Nasrallah almost never appears in public due to his fears of assassination by Israeli operatives.
Hizbullah Cut Off Airport, Ties to Outside World
The fighting began Wednesday when Hizbullah supporters blocked Beirut streets on Wednesday with burning barricades, paralyzing the capital. Activists claimed they were enforcing a national strike, forcing a showdown in the ongoing government crisis.
Rioters torched vehicles, smashed windows and blocked the main road to Beirut International Airport, the nation’s only air link to the outside world. Most main arteries in and out of the capital were cut off and by the end of the day the border with Syria had been shut down as well.
Government officials warned the economy would crash within days due to the inevitable drop in tourism if the situation is not resolved.
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post?id=1979689%2C2017
Party politics spammers in the wee hours just pi$$ me off to no end.
Darned hit and run party wank - get off the thread ya big dope!
Irritating, and simple minded, but basically harmless —
If he comes back, we’ll hit ‘abuse’ and report him....
(We haven’t aggravated the Mods for a couple of days, now - I don’t think... ;~))
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