News – Israel’s Renegade Pilots (1/2)

No, they won’t bobm the Palestinians for you. And good on them for it.

Israel/Palestine

The Israeli pilots who refused to use bombs in the midst of Palestinian cities have broken their silence on their motives in this stand.

“The Shehade incident was a red light for us, a final warning,” said Capt Alon R. “With Shehade I began to re-evaluate my beliefs. We killed 14 innocent people, nine of them children. After my commander gave an interview in which he said he sleeps well at night and his men can do the same. Well, I can’t. We refused to see it as an innocent mistake.”

He refers to an incident where a 1 ton bomb was dropped on the home of Hamas military leader Salah Shehade, killing him and 14 members of his family, many of them children.

“You don’t have to be a genius to know that the destruction from a one-tonne bomb is massive, so someone up there made a decision to drop it knowing it would destroy buildings,” he said. “Someone took the decision to kill innocent people. This is us being terrorists. This is vengeance.”

I’d agree with Capt Alon R. And I too hope he and his compatriots will be able to fly again for their country when cooler heads have prevailed in this situation. Much respect for their stand for their ideals in the face of a government gone mad.

Israeli leadership fumes over Colon Powell’s plan on meeting co-authors of the Geneva Initiative, despite heavy condemnation of it. So what do they do? Instead of giving us a better offer, raids are stepped up, guaranteed to derail the US’ peace roadmap once more. How’s that for maturity?

“We are not stepping back in any way from our commitment to the road map and we hope that circumstances and conditions will permit the resumption of progress on the road map in the near future,” Powell told reporters. “(But) I do not know why I or anyone else in the U.S. government should deny ourselves the opportunity to hear from others who are committed to peace and who have ideas.”

That’s why I like Powell. He has his diplomacy down, when not being fed BS by the administration.

Comment: No, anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism

Iraq

Nope, they didn’t catch Izzat Ibrahim. They did apparently get ‘quality targets’ among the 54 they did arrest in a massive raid of over 1,000 troops in Hawija. Whatever the hell that means. The locals of Hawija aren’t pleased by the 48 hour raid.

Oh Joy, US forces in Iraq seem to be mimicking the same BS the Israeli military does now. After finding explosives in the home of an elderly couple, they threatened them with having their house bulldozed. Yet even after squeezing the information from them, they still took down one wall of the house.

As troops headed off in search of Adel, public affairs officer Major Doug Vincent, whose job is to win hearts and minds, handed out fliers apologizing for any inconvenience.

Am I the only one that sees bulldozing the houses of the elderly, even taking down one wall after the information was given, as counterproductive to winning hearts and minds? I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy here.

Again, the US Army Corps of Engineers delays the replacement of no-bid contract deals with Halliburton with two open bid contracts. They need more time to look over the bids for them before making a decision, apparently. Until then, Kellogg Brown and Rot can keep doing the work.

Looks like the UK is actually trying to learn from the mistakes in Iraq. Good for them. If only Bush were so open to reevaluating his decisions. I can respect someone with that strength and open-mindedness.

A US soldier took a break form his patrol to marry his Iraqi girlfriend. To do that he had to tell her where and when his patrol would be so they could have the ceremony. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but an act like that could be VERY dangerous for his buddies, couldn’t it? Now the soldier is in trouble. Though his lawyer is also helping the two get a book deal and a movie isn’t out of the question. All I have to say is sheesh. :p

The Commanders’ Emergency Response Program fund is going to dry up soon. Time to dig into Rummy’s Slush Fund to keep it alive.

Afghanistan

A US solder loses his leg in a grenade attack. The renegade Afghan policeman that perpetrated the attack was taken into custody son after.

US

A two part foray into Guantanimo, as contructed by speaking with former inmates and those who work there.

Several linked shootings in Ohio can lead one to believe they have their own sniper copycat. I hate people sometimes.

The US government wants a federal appeals court to keep death as a possible sentence for Zacarias Moussaoui, even though it won’t let him talk to three alQueda captives that could help clear him. Full of the same Justice Dept BS about prosecuting terrorists. Like the government will et the judiciary effect how it deals with anything. They might as well just ship Moussaoui off to camp X-Ray and skip the pretenses.

Bush quickly raises $850k in contributions in America’s steel heartland before his decision is made on the tariffs. Here’s a legal question. Can you take back contributions?

The new EPA head touts a 500 day plan for better air quality, but is very light on the details. Come back when you have some damn info buddy. I hate empty announcements.