Tag: military

The war on Lebanon and the battle for oil

I received this interesting article form my friend Ryan O’Kane, a postgraduate historian in London, who specializes in the strategic framework behind US foreign interventions. The article, followed by Ryan’s comment, exposes some facts that can in part explain the current Israeli war on Lebanon, with some more far-reaching contribution to Rice’s recently announced (Not-That)-New-Middle-East plan.

The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil
by Michel Chossudovsky
July 26, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca

“Is there a relationship between the bombing of Lebanon and the inauguration of the World’s largest strategic pipeline, which will channel more a million barrels of oil a day to Western markets?

Virtually unnoticed, the inauguration of the Ceyhan-Tblisi-Baku (BTC) oil pipeline, which links the Caspian Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean, took place on the 13th of July, at the very outset of the Israeli sponsored bombings of Lebanon…

The BTC pipeline totally bypasses the territory of the Russian Federation. It transits through the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which have become US “protectorates”, firmly integrated into a military alliance with the US and NATO. Moreover, both Azerbaijan and Georgia have longstanding military cooperation agreements with Israel. In 2005, Georgian companies received some $24 million in military contracts funded out of U.S. military assistance to Israel under the so-called ‘Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program’….

The bombing of Lebanon is part of a carefully planned and coordinated military road map. The extension of the war into Syria and Iran has already been contemplated by US and Israeli military planners. This broader military agenda is intimately related to strategic oil and oil pipelines. It is supported by the Western oil giants which control the pipeline corridors. In the context of the war on Lebanon, it seeks Israeli territorial control over the East Mediterranean coastline.�

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Cluster bombs used against civilian populated areas, HRW says

From the BBC…

Israel urged to shun cluster bomb
US-based Human Rights Watch says Israel has used cluster bombs in civilian areas during its assault on Lebanon.

The group says an attack using the munitions on the village of Blida last week killed one person and injured 12.
It says the explosives – which disperse after impact – are “unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable”, and should not be used in populated areas.
The Israeli military says their use is legal under international law, and that it is investigating the Blida incident.
‘Outdated’
Critics say cluster bombs leave behind a large number of unexploded bomblets, which often kill long after they are fired.
“Our research in Iraq and Kosovo shows that cluster munitions cannot be used in populated areas without huge loss of civilian life,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The group believes that the use of cluster munitions in populated areas may violate the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks contained in international humanitarian law.
“They’re not illegal per se, but certain attacks may be illegal,” Washington representative Bonnie Docherty says.
“The law of war requires you to distinguish between soldiers and civilians, so when you are using an outdated, unreliable weapon in a populated area, it is likely that the attack violates international humanitarian law,” she told the BBC.
“We have researchers on the ground who are investigating them and will investigate other claims related to cluster munitions, as well as other incidents in the ongoing conflict.”

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U.S. speeds up bomb delivery for the Israelis

I just wanna puke…

NYT: U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis

By DAVID S. CLOUD and HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON, July 21 — The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.

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Israel’s rationale behind bombing civilians

The San Francisco Chronicle ran an interesting article on Israel’s motives behind agressively bombing civilian targets in Lebanon. The report quotes a variety of security experts, one of whom referred to how “Hezbollah is so intertwined with the society and community, it’s very difficult to try to destroy the Hezbollah infrastructure without such collateral damage,”

“The casual references to ‘Hezbollah neighbourhoods,'” Arabist reader SP rightly said in an email exchange, very much “echo the idea of ‘VC villages’ in Vietnam.”

Civilian toll raises questions
Israel, criticized for killing hundreds of Lebanese, says Hezbollah stores missiles in residences
Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 20, 2006

As Israel has steadily escalated its military assault on Hezbollah, so has the criticism about the rising number of civilian deaths resulting from its campaign.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, accusing Israel of indiscriminately targeting civilians, said Wednesday that his country “has been torn to shreds” by Israel’s aerial bombardment, which he said has killed 300 Lebanese, mostly civilians, wounded 1,000 and displaced half a million more.

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Afghanistan “close to chaos,” warns NATO general

I haven’t been keeping an eye on the situation in Afghanistan for sometime, since the start of the so called Taliban’s spring offensive (the crackdown on the pro-judges movement in Cairo was then escalating), but I came across this Guardian report today. It’s quoting Lt. General David Richards, head of Nato’s international security force in Afghanistan, warning the country was “close to chaos.â€�

It’s kinda interesting when you suddently get senior military or government officials talking frankly about how bleak the situation under their control is. Make no mistake the general’s assessment is largely correct and the situation in Afghanistan in so many ways is going down the drains, but i was just curious why General Richards is so public about it. But may be one reason is general’s complaint about “western forces there were short of equipmentâ€�… Going to the press always helps when officials are about to ask for increase in budget?

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The War Tapes

Arabist reader and friend SP sent me this interesting link about a US military documentary project, the war tapes.com

Here are her thoughts on it…

The documentary is put together mainly from footage taken by three soldiers in the same battalion, with their commentary, and from interviews with their families back home, from 2004-2005. These are citizen-soldiers, guys who signed up for the National Guard post 9/11, rather than professional soldiers, real New England average Joes. Except for one extremely interesting Lebanese American chap (who looks so much like Ali G’s Bruno persona that there’s some cognitive dissonance at first) whose parents brought him to the US as an adolescent to escape the civil war in Lebanon (his rather dramatic mother is a treat). No grand patriotic fervour here, though most of them nominally support Bush and the war, many signed up for the military for pragmatic reasons without expecting to be deployed. One of the soldiers says he thinks it will give him a sense of purpose.

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Another week of bombing

Washington is giving another week to Israel to bomb Lebanon, and Condi would then fly down there to establish an international buffer zone.

In the meantime, at least 55 Lebanese died today, the highest daily toll so far.

The US’ stance on this will be remembered for a long time in the region — there will be a price to pay for backing Israel’s use of collective punishment.

Update: Congress (the most corrupt parliament among Western democracies) runs after the money, as it always does, and backs Israel.