Has Israel already lost the war? Meteor Blades seems to think so (via Dkos). They've certainly lost the battle for public opinion.
"Emotions are understandably running high on all sides.'' Ya think?
Go to one random page in Explore Audio. What CD do you see that you're most interested in listening to?
The Chicks: Not ready to make nice
Even 'fair and balanced' CNN gets that this airstrike on Qana is horrific. Interesting that in the news segment I just watched the Israeli spokesperson said that it was accidental, while in the BBC article linked above it says that they were targeting the building. CNN international didn't have any reporters on the ground in Qana (probably too dangerous, much like Iraq), so they just streamed the LDC broadcast (a Christian Lebanese station). Israeli attacks on civilians has made this into a Lebanese/Israeli clash, no longer just about Hezbullah. What was notable about the LDC stream was how graphic the footage was (can't believe CNNI showed it), and the way it was interspersed with shots of Rice shaking hands with Olmert and Siniora cancelling the proposed meeting with Rice in light of this attack. The inescapable visual conclusion to be drawn from the footage was that these women and children (several dozen) were killed with American approval (and weaponry). Btw, whatever happened to Iraq? Is it a democracy now? Is that why it hasn't been featured in the news the last couple of weeks?
In wartime: The War In Context. I used to hit there first thing when I started blogging several years ago. Nice to see it's still around.
Theater Tribunal near you: war crimes trials! As if. Just mentioning war crimes gets you put on a super-double secret future detainee list. Ooops.
Brad R. at Sadly, No! lays down the snark with authority, as usual. If you're not familiar with that fair blog, then you're missing out on the funniest blog this side of Fafblog! How they can maintain the level of snarkiness they do is beyond me. Must be drugs in the water.
William Lind lays out the grim choices facing Israel and the US:
"Operationally, Hezbollah's rocket attacks on Israel are the matador's cape. That too is working. What of the strategic level? The Arab street is cheering for Hezbollah, often across the Sunni-Shi'ite divide, while the governments of states such as Egypt hide under the bed. The goal of Islamic fourth generation forces is the destruction of most, if not all, Arab state governments, so Hezbollah is winning strategically as well. One can almost watch the legitimacy drain away from the region's decrepit states, with incalculable consequences for American interests."
While I support the right of Israel to exist, I think this whole Zionist 'Clean Break' stuff is just nuts. If this operation against the whole of Lebanon is part of the same, then it makes sense from the Israeli/American perspective. They may have to change the nickname of Beirut, though; how about 'Darfur of the Middle East'?
Interesting. Very interesting. So maybe some more of her vids will make it into the wild? She's gotta be feeling pretty nice right about now.
Abu Aardvark has a must read post about how this current Israeli barrage is playing right into the Islamists' hands. I won't even bother to excerpt from it. Just go read the whole thing.
