“Israel is using internationally prohibited weapons against civilians,”

[bigtree]

Lebanon facing 'annihilation' - Cabinet
16/07/2006 - 14:41:19

Lebanon’s Cabinet today issued a statement saying the country faced “real annihilation” by Israel.

It also accused the Jewish state of using banned weapons against Lebanese civilians.

“We are facing a real annihilation carried out by Israel,” Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after an emergency cabinet meeting.

“Israel is using internationally prohibited weapons against civilians,” he said.

He did not elaborate, but Lebanese media reports, which could not be confirmed, claimed Israel had used phosphorus incendiary bombs and vacuum bombs, which suck up the air and collapse buildings.

report: http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/07/16/story268039.html

[leftchick]

1. Demolished apartment buildings

going through this photo gallery of Lebanon is just devastating...

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/080601mideast/im:/060716/481/7f08d7bbcf9b4b298dc93b73a04b128d




Buildings are demolished in southern Beirut after the Hizbollah stronghold was targeted by Israeli air strikes July 16,2006. Israeli air raids shook Beirut on Sunday, the fifth day of a devastating assault on Hizbollah and Lebanon that has prompted no U.N. Security Council action and only a mild plea for restraint from Israel's U.S. ally. REUTERS/Fadi Galioum (LEBANON)

[theguvnorgc]

3. bombed children

cnn airing video of lebanese children killed and injured in the bombing of beirut right now... god help us all...

[PCIntern]

2. 'They' say it, so it's true...

Just like Bushco...right?

[lonestarnot]

4. Just like them.

That has been the ignition switch to what we are seeing in the "brang 'em on" mentality and we are witness to continued destruction.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. I think that those on the scene might have a better insight.

Watching this mass murder take place, with each man, woman and child killed in cold blood, this is an indictment of every single foreign policy decision of our administration.

[PCIntern]

6. Mass murder?

Better watch the extreme language. I haven't heard of casualty reports in the tens of thousands from the bombing like we used to hear in other wars. Peenemunde, Dresden, London, Hiroshima, Nagasaki...

that's mass 'murder' - or casualties of war depending upon your orientation.

[otokogi]

9. fortunately, our tolerance for such level of brutality has dropped since

though some apparently wanna bring us back to those days.

remember, that the dead due lack of resources, is on the IDF's hands as well.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. several hundred civilians dead. That is NOT mass murder?

from Wikipedia:

Mass murder (massacre) is the act of murdering a large number of people, typically at the same time, or over a relatively short period of time. Mass murder may be committed by individuals or organizations.
The term may not always be applied in relation to the acts of serial killers, who may kill many people, but not necessarily all at the same time.
The largest mass killings in history have been attempts to exterminate entire groups or communities of people, often on the basis of ethnicity or religion. In modern times such events are sometimes described as genocide. Although some consider that "genocide" may exist where there is merely an intention or plan to exterminate a particular group, and that killing is not a necessary condition, by contrast "mass murder" involves the actual killing of a large number of people.

Does a group of several hundred dead over a relatively short period of time qualify as mass murder? I suggest yes. This is not extreme language, merely factually descriptive.

[bigtree]

12. Lebanon facing 'annihilation' - Cabinet

[sam sarrha]

7. i didnt think we had a forign policy .. when did we get one.??

[madokie]

10. that is our foreign policy precisely, not having one. IMO

[Clark2008]

8. Any YOU say it's not true.

Between the two, I think I'd lean toward believing them since they're living through this hell and you're sitting at a keyboard.

:eyes:

[BayCityProgressive]

14. I really hope

Israel isn't using banned weapons. The US was as well in Iraq. Depleted Uranium and Napalm.Has the Syrian gov. condemned the Hezbollah attacks on Israel? I actually do feel for the President of Lebanon. I think if he had any real power he would try to stop Hezbollah, but crossing them is crossing Syria and Iran as well...

[Laotra]

21. Militarily

Hezbollah is stronger than the 70 000 Lebanese regular army, and if ordered to ignite civil war by attacking Hezbollah, half of the regular army would join Hezbollah. That has never been an option.

Politically Lebanese governement is divided, some, probably majority, talk about priority of national unity, and others, including the PM, taking very cautiously critical view of Hezbollah (not naming it openly).

Facts on the ground strongly suggest that since Israel identified Lebanon with Hezbollah, it made so, and further when Bush drew the carpet under the pro-West forces by his betrayal of his lackeys (torpedoing UN efforts for cease fire and other signs of fully siding with Israel)... so now for practical purposes Lebanon = Hezbollah.

[Clark2008]

27. I know and they also identified Hezbollah as purely

a terrorist organization.

In few and fleeting moments of clarity, I've seen SOME newscasters mention that Hezbollah is also a political group (and actually started as a political movement), but, by and large, our news media only focuses on the terrorist arm of this larger political group (who, btw, has provided tons of humanitarian aid to Arabs, particularly Palestinians, in the past).

Not condoning the terrorism arm, here, just pointing out that like a good movie hero or villian, the hero is not all good and the villian is not all bad. A really good literary character has both good and bad attributes that need to be explored.

[PCIntern]

16. Oh I see...

...and you of course believe Bushco, Saddam, Assad, and Ho Chi Minh, since they're 'there' and I'm just sitting at a keyboard. I might suggest that since we're in the middle of a WAR, I don't care what anyone else wants to call it, that we weigh the use of language by each side as carefully as the other, that we understand provocations on each side, and understand that murder as a word is much different from war-related death. I know that it's not easy, but this is what we have to do.

Or not...take your pick.

You have not been living in Northern Israel, where guerrilla action and rockets flying across the sky are de rigueur. You've been sitting at a keyboard in the safe USA.

[BayCityProgressive]

17. What did I say that was offensive?

I support Israel 100% and think they do have a right to defend themselves form groups that would like to wipe them off the map. I am just wondering if maybe the President of Lebanon really doesn't have the power to do what needs to be done. Also, it seems like this could have a negative effect and out of resentment Lebanon could elect Hezbollah to a majority in their government. What if they Had the Hamas gov. AND a Hezbollah gov. to deal with? Perhaps I don't know all the details but this whole conflict seems to be a VERY risky srategy. As for the use of banned weapons..you are right..the Lebaonese could just be saying this to gain support. I was merely saying I oppose any country using banned weapons. I hope that clears up my position.

[PCIntern]

18. I was replying to #8...not you...

check my line...

Sorry you took offense

[bigtree]

19. not valid to compare the Lebanese leadership to Saddam, etc.

not valid to conflate the Lebanese leadership with Hizbollah or their actions. Only TWO members of Hizbollah are part of the government, in Labor and Energy posts.

[PCIntern]

20. right...

and their influence is nil...

Look, the established government is literally scared to death of these people and well they should be.

they are more afraid, however of the IDF...as well they should be.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. And those dead infants and children in southern Lebanon?

just what army or guerilla group did they join?
This is not a war, it is murder.

Let's take a look at another location, also growing in danger and ready to explode. Turkey, near the border of Iraq.

You don't see much (if anything) in US MSM, but the reality is pretty bad. Daily attacks, bombings, kidnapping, murder, by kurds crossing the border and crossing back. They also attack shia and sunni remnants in Iraq proper, in an effort to cleanse the areas of 'foreigners'. This is about to be a new country, an oil exporter and a sworn enemy of Turkey, Iraq and others. So much for a united, democratic Iraq.

This will impact Turkey's entrance as a full EU and NATO partner, its relationship with Greece, peace within Iraq, and much more.

By the way, I have been to Israel; I don't just sit with a keyboard. and it is still murder.

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. WTF are vacuum bombs?

Vacuum bombs, which suck up the air and collapse buildings? Like they did on 9-11?

I wasted my youth playing with Barbie dolls, so I'm not up on my latest missile technology.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. their explosive mix uses up so much air that

actually creates a pressure differential that can collapse buildings.

[Codeine]

22. Neither of these are prohibited weapons

The so-called "vacuum bomb" (more accurately a thermobaric fuel-air explosive) is not currently banned under any humanitarian laws. White phosphorus weapons are not banned, though some people have argued that they rightly belong under the category of chemical weapons they are not currently considered such under the Chemical Weapons Conventions.

This is just a technical correction; I do not believe these are appropriate wapons for use in this situation.

[bigtree]

23. what about a ban on 'incendiary weapons' ?

couldn't it be classified as an incendiary weapon?

Protocol III: Incendiary Weapons

Protocol III regulates the use of weapons designed to set fire to or burn their target. The protocol proscribes targeting civilians with incendiary weapons and restricts the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons against military targets in close proximity to concentrations of noncombatants. It also prohibits parties from targeting forests or other plant cover unless the vegetation is being used to conceal military forces. The protocol only covers weapons created intentionally to set fire or burn, such as flamethrowers. Weapons that ignite fires or burn as a side effect are not subject to the protocol.

http://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/ccw.asp

[Codeine]

25. It's incendiary properties are technically secondary

and thus not subject to that protocol. WP is considered to be a smoke-screening weapon (an application at which it excels) and as such doesn't fall under the restrictions applied to weapons specifically designed to start fires or burn.

[bigtree]

26. thanks for that

tha language seems to be full of holes

[soothsayer]

28. The US uses weapons the rest of the world bans, like depleted

uranium shells of course, so why shouldn't our pals? It's pretty well established that Sharon used poison gas in Janin, but who cares?