April 2, 2009
Foreman's Dispatch from Lebanon
If you haven't yet had your fill of reading about Christopher Hitchens getting smacked down on Hamra Street with me and Jonathan Foreman in Beirut, Foreman has now published his version of the story in Standpoint.
If you are tired of reading about that little incident, read his piece on Lebanon anyway. There's a lot more to it than that, including: a visit to a warlord who keeps his automatic pistol atop the New York Review of Books, a trip to a mountain fortress that looks like a modernist prison, and Muslim girls who tweak both Dad and the Party of God by wearing spray-on jeans in the Hezbollah dahiyeh.
Posted by Michael J. Totten at April 2, 2009 12:33 AMNice article. Thanks for pointing it out.
Posted by: AZZenny
at April 2, 2009 9:43 PM
I have a question here about Palestine:
"Tulkarem – Ma’an – Israeli soldiers forced Palestinian teenagers to strip naked in full view of other Palestinians waiting at a military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Monday afternoon.
Witnesses told Ma’an that three soldiers forced the youths to remove their clothes, and were verbally mocking them."
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36930
Any comments? How often does this type of thing happen in Palestine?
Earlier, some on this blog implied that Palestinians aren't entrepreneurial enough.
Read this:
http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-04-06/Businesswoman_challenges_traditions_in_Palestine.html
"A successful company in Palestine has set a precedent in becoming the first firm to be headed by a female in the Muslim country."
Armed Israeli settlers mistreat US diplomats: http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36929
Am I wrong to believe that America should phase out all US aid to Israel?
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562906554&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Shouln't US aid go to Africa, Afghanistan or Pakistan instead? How about spending all US aid to Israel on Iraq instead?
Iraq's 96 F16s alone will have an upfront acquisition cost of $9 billion. Iraq could use the help.
Posted by: anand at April 6, 2009 10:47 PM
A Palestinian just informed me about other examples of forces stripping by IDF:
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/strippingcommon.html
http://www.imemc.org/article/46463
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36568
I wonder how severely the IDF code of military conduct punishes its soldiers in court marshals for these extremely serious accusations.
Are IDF this much worse than our GIs? If the IDF is this incompetent, undisciplined and out of control, then what is the value of the Israeli US alliance; especially since Israel often ignores what we want.
Maybe we Americans should tie our sails to the Iraqi ship instead. The Iraqi Special Operations Forces are at least as good, or even better than their IDF counterparts.
Posted by: anand at April 6, 2009 11:15 PM
