W.W.G.L.D?
What would General LeMay do? 
Posted on 03/03/2002 3:24:51 PM PST by Jhoffa_
Sniper Kills 10 More Israelis
JERUSALEM- Taking aim from a hilltop, a sniper killed 10 soldiers and civilians at a checkpoint Sunday in the deadliest of a two-day string of Palestinian attacks that killed 21 Israelis.
Israel sent tanks and helicopters on retaliatory raids that hit several Palestinian Authority security targets, killing four Palestinian policemen, while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Cabinet weighed additional military action.
Following the weekend bloodletting, Sharon huddled with senior government ministers and security officials and his office issued a statement just before midnight saying that the inner security Cabinet had approved military plans for ongoing attacks on Palestinian targets.
"Ministers approved an operational program presented by the army to apply constant military pressure on the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian terror organizations," the statement said. "Its object is to halt Palestinian terror." It gave no further details.
Recent days have seen some of the worst carnage in months, and bitter comments by both sides pointed to further confrontations.
"There is no alternative but to put an end to (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat's rule," Israeli Cabinet Minister Dan Naveh said in remarks that are expressed with increasing frequency in Israel.
Speaking during an official visit to Mexico, Israeli President Moshe Katsav also denounced Arafat and called on Palestinians to question his leadership.
"The Palestinian people should ask which achievement their president brought to them in the last 18 months," Katsav said in Mexico City. "He must, he should do something to stop the violence."
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for three of the four lethal attacks carried out in a 12-hour period from Saturday night to Sunday morning, including the checkpoint shooting.
Militants had vowed to strike after Israeli forces pushed into two Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank last Thursday in search of militants believed responsible for earlier violence. During the incursions, 23 Palestinians were killed in three days, including gunmen, policemen and civilians.
"The Palestinian leadership considers the recent Israeli escalation ... to be aimed at destroying peace and security in the whole region," the Palestinian Authority said in a statement.
The Sunday morning shooting occurred at the military roadblock near the Palestinian village of Silwad. The army described it as an ambush carried out by a single sniper.
The gunman had a clear view from a hill overlooking the checkpoint. After the first Israeli was struck by gunfire, soldiers began climbing the steep hill toward the gunman and more were hit, witnesses said.
An army helicopter soon reached the area, but the assailant had escaped, said Hezi Tsur, a paramedic at the scene.
The dead included seven soldiers and three civilians. Six people were injured, the army and rescue services said.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades circulated a leaflet saying the shooting was in response to Israeli army actions in the two refugee camps.
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a group of soldiers early Sunday along a road that runs on the Israeli side of the fence between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel.
One soldier was killed and four soldiers were wounded, the army said. The military wing of the radical group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for that attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press.
The pair of Sunday morning attacks followed a suicide bombing by a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Saturday night in a crowded ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem. The bombing killed nine Israelis and wounded dozens.
The dead included two babies, one seven months and the other 18 months, and children ages 3, 7, 12 and 15.
"I searched the streets like a mad person, street by street - it was crowded with people and I just screamed and screamed," said Aviva Nachmani, who eventually found her three children unharmed.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades also said it shot dead an Israeli police detective riding a motorcycle Saturday night along a desert trail in the West Bank, near Jerusalem.
Israel says Arafat bears responsibility for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and could halt their attacks if he was serious about ending the Palestinian violence.
Palestinian leaders denounced the suicide bombing and again said they oppose violence against civilians. But they say they cannot tell Palestinians to put down their weapons at a time when the Israeli military is regularly operating in Palestinian areas.
In retaliatory action Sunday, Israeli tanks shelled a Palestinian intelligence office south of Nablus, and the Palestinians said a policemen was killed.
Palestinians also reported a policeman killed when Israeli forces shelled a police installation outside Ramallah in the West Bank.
Two more policemen died when Israeli troops fired on a police post in the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, the Palestinians said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli forces on Sunday pulled out of the Balata refugee camp on the edge of Nablus, where troops had searched for militants and weapons since Thursday.
In the Jenin refugee camp, about 20 miles away, the Israeli forces pulled out Saturday, but sent at least eight tanks back into the camp on Sunday afternoon, camp residents said.
Don't blame the United States. Sharon recently said that Colin Powell had just told him in a phone conversation that the U.S. understands and fully supports Israel's need to defend itself. Sharon's problem is that his support among the Israeli public is slipping dramatically. The Likud wants him to drive the Palestinians back across the Jordan. But if he does Labor will pull out of his coaltion, the government will fall and he'll have to call for new elections, which, if the polls are any indication, he'll easily lose to Netanyahu. So to stay in power, Sharon does enough to satisfy the right wingers but not so much as to offend the left. It's not much of a policy and it prevents him from taking any bold action to settle this once and for all (including taking risks for peace).
Sharon's only hope (I've said this before) is for the U.S. to attack Iraq. Saddam will retaliate by firing SCUDS at Israel. The Palestinians will go wild with joy and stage massive attacks on Israelis. Sharon will send in the IDF, ostensibly to stop the violence but actually to drive the Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank at a time when the eyes of the rest of the world are on the U.S. war with Iraq.
But Sharon can't do anything till the U.S. attacks Iraq. That's why he's so frustrated. He won't have the moral capital to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians till the U.S. attacks Iraq and Saddam in turn attacks Israel. In the meantime, he just has to sit there and take it.
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This could well be. Israelis should have taken cover. Very stupid what they did to charge up the hill after him. This won't happen again.
Psalm 137:8
CIA Trained PA Snipers With Israeli Knowledge
(DFJ-Sep/Oct '01) Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer acknowledged on July 1, 2001, that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) trained PLO death squads in the United States with the approval of the Barak Government and Mr. Shimon Peres, currently Foreign Minister in the Sharon Government and formerly Minister of Regional Cooperation in the Barak Government.
Ben-Eliezer was asked by a reporter if 40 Palestinian Police sent to the US for advanced CIA sniper, marksmanship and advanced weapons training, with Israeli knowledge and permission, are now using this skill to inflict harm on Israelis and Palestinian "collaborators."
Ben-Eliezer answered: "It's an easy question. We thought that they would behave themselves."
(DFJ-Sep/Oct '01) Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer acknowledged on July 1, 2001, that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) trained PLO death squads in the United States with the approval of the Barak Government and Mr. Shimon Peres, currently Foreign Minister in the Sharon Government and formerly Minister of Regional Cooperation in the Barak Government.
Ben-Eliezer was asked by a reporter if 40 Palestinian Police sent to the US for advanced CIA sniper, marksmanship and advanced weapons training, with Israeli knowledge and permission, are now using this skill to inflict harm on Israelis and Palestinian "collaborators."
Ben-Eliezer answered: "It's an easy question. We thought that they would behave themselves."
Reference: "Israel Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer acknowledges CIA trained PLO Death Squads with Shimon Peres’ Approval" questions by Aryeh Gallin at Foreign Press Association conference 7/1/01
Israel's Jewish population approx 5 million.
USA population (mid 2001) 285 million
Israel:US = 1:57, 10 Israeli deaths = 570 in US.
Since this intifada started over 230 Israelis killed, equivalent to over 13,000 in US. That's how many Sept 11's?
from http://www.vpc.org/studies/sniper.htm "The longest confirmed sniper kill of the Gulf War was reported to have been made by a Barrett Model 82A1 sniper rifle at a range of 1,800 meters—nearly 2,000 yards, or almost 10 times a deer hunter's maximum effective range. Numerous engagements with large, 50 caliber guns during the war took place at 1,600 meters (about 1,750 yards). From the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, this range would allow accurate firing as far as the Smithsonian Metro station on the Mall. "
If Israel decides to blow its nose the EU will cry foul. Their opinion just doesn't matter to me anymore. I pity effeminate socialists.
Pro 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
W.W.G.L.D?
What would General LeMay do?
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