US forces raided Chalabi’s house and office, seizing documents, a day after they announced that they were cutting his INC off it’s $335,000 a month allowance. The US abstained from a UN resolution criticizing Israel’s bulldozer and kid-killing spree in Gaza so it passed 14-0.
Is this the End Times or a Blue Moon or what?
Mark at Rafah Kid Rambles on today’s IDF attack on Palestinian peaceful demonstrators in Rafah:
IDF: “We Didn’t Mean To”
Bloody Hell. The IDF have taken a while to come up with a story to explain the massacre of civilians today (See Mohammed’s post).
This, quoted in Haaretz, is what they came up with:
“Military sources said that troops had spotted the approaching demonstrators, among them armed men, and asked a helicopter to fire a warning missile at an open field. But when the crowd continued to march, a tank fired three shells at the nearby abandoned building to ward the protesters off.
An open field? Near Sea Street? Are you joking you morons? The closest there is to a field near Sea street is the wasteland next to the border, and that is streets away. The excuse is not even transparent, it is a blatant lie. I wonder if they have video evidence of the ‘armed men’ – No I don’t expect so either.
The IDF said in a statement that it had not targeted the crowd; military sources one of the tank shells either passed through a nearby abandoned building or went off course and hit the demonstrators [and that] the troops did not fire deliberately at the protesters.”
Abandoned building? In Sea Street? A tank shell went off course? You evil miserable lying sh*t-for-brains scum.
“The claim that this was a case of deliberate fire [at the crowd] is false and I reject it completely,” chief military spokeswoman Brigadier Ruth Yaron told Army Radio on Wednesday.
I don’t know what to say. Could anyone possibly believe this? Would you accept the word of them over the thousands that were in the street, including Anees, who called and told us exactly what happened. For those of us who have been in Rafah, and anywhere else in the OT’s, we know, we have witnessed the constant flood of lies that streams from the mouths of the IDF. But will the public buy this? We didn’t mean to?
Rafah Kid Rambles is the best way to keep up with what is happening in Rafah. Go look at the pictures Mohammed blogged from the hospital.
Apparently the Israelis finally startled Bush into speaking by firing four tank shells and a missile from an attack helicopter into a peaceful demonstration in Gaza, killing at least 10 people, many of them children.
“I continue to urge restraint. It is essential that people respect innocent life in order for us to achieve peace,” said the perpetrator of the Fallujah massacre.
UPDATE: How ironic: Over 40 Civilians Killed in U.S. Iraq Bombing
At least 41 civilians were killed Wednesday in a U.S. air raid on an Iraqi village near the Syrian border, Al Arabiya television reported.
The television, quoting eyewitnesses in the border town of al-Qaim, said U.S. planes had bombarded the village of Makr al-Deeb while families were attending a wedding party. Arabiya had earlier said at least 20 people were killed in the bombing.
Rumsfail (rums´ fa-l), v., 1.
To self-destruct, melt-down or implode
under the weight of one’s own arrogance.
2. To fail spectacularly, particularly in
matters of warfare or diplomacy; to
plunge into chaos. 3. Absolute,
unmitigated disaster of national or
international proportions and
consequence; policy failure so utterly
abject and miserable as to approach the
realm of the epic. “Although long
considered to be a costly and murderous
fiasco, the prisoner abuse scandal
revealed the war in Iraq to be nothing
short of a rumsfailure.” See also: “Karma”
.
AFP is reporting via Khaleej Times that Sadr supporters demonstrated outside Sistani’s home today.
NAJAF, Iraq – About 200 supporters of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr demonstrated outside the office and residence of Iraq’s most respected Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Wednesday, chanting “No, no, America, No, no, Israel, No, no, occupation” and “No, no, agents”.
The demonstrators, marching up and down Rasul Street accompanied by several armed men of Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia, also started shouting “We don’t want religious leaders keeping silent and sleeping in air-conditioned rooms”.
I hope Juan Cole or someone equally knowledgeable will comment on this development. I find it difficult to understand. If Ayatollah Sistani is the most important cleric in the Shi’a world, why are these cheeky Sadr supporters able to demonstrate outside his house and yell at him? Wouldn’t this start a street fight with Sistani supporters? Apparently not. And then, as if this isn’t confusing enough, this happened:
On Wednesday, an unidentified official came out of Sistani’s office and said, “Expect all of Iraq to rise tomorrow” in response to Sistani’s call against armed men in the holy cities.
Sistani’s home was fired upon on Monday and the half dozen armed guards visible outside his office Wednesday were on high alert as the demonstration went on.
Some demonstrators carried pictures of Sadr and chanted: “No one can defeat Sadr. We are his foot soldiers.”
Despite Sistani’s call for people not to come to Najaf, Shiite mosques in Baghdad called on Tuesday night for the faithful to go to the holy city to join a demonstration Wednesday against the US-led occupation.
OK, so all Iraq is rising up on Thursday? This is coming from Sistani, after all. And, what’s up with the mosques in Baghdad issuing instructions in direct contrast to Sistani’s instructions of yesterday?
Lawrence of Cyberia posts about the New Palestinian Nabka in progress in Rafah refugee camp.
Today, PM Sharon is dispensing with the “small doses”, and amassing IDF troops at the entrance to Rafah Refugee Camp in preparation for the “one big operation” that will illegally level hundreds of Palestinian homes. The residents of Rafah are currently salvaging what they can, and leaving their homes in preparation for the assault.
Read the rest here, and be sure and click on the map icon to see how much more of Rafah will shortly be ground up under Israeli bulldozers.
