memeorandum: Israel's Beka'a Dilemma (Chester/The Adventures of Chester)

1:00 AM ET, July 18, 2006

RELATED ITEMS:

Series of rockets strike towns across the north — Hezbollah fired more than 50 rockets at Israel on Monday, including a barrage which landed after 10 P.M. in the northern towns of Safed, Rosh Pina, Tzivon, Sakhnin, Hatzur Haglilit and Peki'in. — Five people were wounded in the rocket barrage …

Discussion: Washington Times, Ynetnews, Jerusalem Post, Blue Crab Boulevard, One Hand Clapping and An Unsealed Room

Associated Press:

Israel Sets Conditions for Cease-Fire — Israel would agree to a cease-fire in its six-day-old offensive against Hezbollah if the Lebanese guerrillas withdraw from the border area with Israel and release two captured Israeli soldiers, a senior official said Monday.

Discussion: The Left Coaster, The Democratic Daily, Captain's Quarters, The Strata-Sphere, From Beirut to the Beltway, Assorted Babble, Outside The Beltway, Power Line and The Real Ugly American.com

CNN:

Bush caught off-guard in chat with Blair — President: 'They need ... to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s___' — ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (CNN) — An open microphone caught President Bush in an unguarded moment Monday as the escalating crisis in the Middle East prompted him to use …

Discussion: Washington Post, Blogcritics.org, The Moderate Voice, TAPPED and Whatever

Khaled Abu Toameh / Jerusalem Post:

Arab world fed up with Hizbullah — With the exception of the Palestinians, the Arab world appears to be united in blaming Iran and Syria for the fighting in Lebanon. Until last week, Arab political analysts and government officials were reluctant to criticize Hizbullah in public.

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org, Abu Aardvark and TAPPED

Deacon / Power Line:

DR. GOEBBELS, CALL YOUR OFFICE — In an obscene attempt to obtain political mileage, the Democrats are claiming that President Bush is responsible for the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Howard Dean claims that the war would not have occurred if the Democrats had been in power …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The American Scene, Nitpicker and Vox Popoli

Ezra Klein:

Things That Make Me Proud To Be A Journalist — If I were crafting a parody of the political media's decline, I could hardly construct a better set piece than today's reportage. A live mic at the G8 Summit caught Tony Blair and George Bush talking privately about the conflict in Lebanon.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, Right Wing Nut House, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, The Carpetbagger Report, Talking Points Memo and Don Surber

Andrew G. Bostom / The American Thinker:
There are short-term reasons behind the attacks on Israel by Hezbollah and Hamas.

Discussion: ShrinkWrapped, Power Line, Dr. Sanity and The Corner on National …

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Despite Joint Statement on Mideast, Strains Emerge as U.S. Supports …

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Israel Matzav, Associated Press and Air America Radio

Ynetnews:
3 reserves brigades called up

Discussion: The Belmont Club

Ynetnews:
Olmert: Our enemies misjudged us

Discussion: neo-neocon, The Belmont Club and AbbaGav

Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:
'We'll fight until troops are freed'

Discussion: Think Progress, Dr. Sanity and Liberty and Justice

Adam / Adam Boulton Weblog:
Bush & Blair Raw & Uncut

Discussion: Think Progress, Associated Press, Times of London, The Anchoress, Daily Pundit, FP Passport, Weekly Standard, Assorted Babble, Dumb Ox News, Blue Star Chronicles, The Democratic Daily, The Washington Monthly, PunditGuy and TPMCafe

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Bush Unplugged at the G8 over Middle East Conflict

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Confederate Yankee, TalkLeft, TigerHawk, Reuters and All Things Beautiful

Robert Farley / Lawyers, Guns and Money:
And a Brief Military Assessment...

Discussion: TAPPED and democracyarsenal.org

truthlaidbear.com: Mapping Mideast Bloggers

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
More rockets on Haifa; can/will Lebanon confront Hezbollah?

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, protein wisdom, Right Wing Nut House, rubber hose, Yourish.com and Ace of Spades HQ

Chester / The Adventures of Chester:
Israel's Beka'a Dilemma

Discussion: american footprints, TigerHawk, Solomonia and BillHobbs.com

Billmon: The Wish is Father to the Deed

Yaakov Katz / Jerusalem Post:
IAF destroys long-range missile

Discussion: AMERICAN FUTURE, Captain's Quarters, Flopping Aces and Liberty and Justice

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Friendly skies: Canada greenlights terrorists for air travel — Not an exaggeration. I understand that racial profiling can be abused, I understand that the U.S. watch list is a bit, shall we say, overinclusive. But, um... It's every joke you've ever heard about Canadian politeness, times a million:

Discussion: protein wisdom and Ace of Spades HQ

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Jim Bronskill / torontosun.com:
No-fly list to ignore terror ties

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

Hunker Down With History — The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims …

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard

Media Matters for America:

Kornblut falsely reported that Sen. Clinton criticized Democrats for "wasting time" … In a July 16 Web-only article, New York Times reporter Anne E. Kornblut falsely reported that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) criticized her fellow congressional Democrats "for taking on issues …

Discussion: The Sideshow, Greg's Opinion and The Horse's Mouth

Edward Wong / New York Times:

Up to 48 Iraqis Killed in Attack on Market — BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 17 — Dozens of gunmen went on a chaotic rampage through a mostly Shiite market area in the town of Mahmudiya today, killing at least 48 civilians and injuring scores by firing off assault rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Discussion: TPMCafe, The Left Coaster and LamontBlog

Charlie / OPFOR:

I'M OUT — Folks, my number's up. — Sometime in the near future I'll depart to an undisclosed location and begin preparations for deployment. I've left my job, moved out of my apartment, and have spent the last week shedding all vestiges of civilian life.

John Ireland / inthesetimes.com:

Blowing the Whistle on Diebold — On July 13, the Pensacola, Fla.-based law firm of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a "qui tam" lawsuit in U.S. District Court, alleging that Diebold and other electronic voting machine (EVM) companies fraudulently represented to state election boards …

Discussion: The American Street, The Democratic Daily and The Sideshow

Dan Gilgoff / US News:

Dean's List — The Democratic chair plans to fight in every one of the 50 states. Is this shrewd strategy or a recipe for disaster? — DIAMONDHEAD, MISS.—Here's what the front line of Howard Dean's revolution looks like: two dozen senior citizens seated inside this gated community's …

Discussion: BluegrassReport.org, The Democratic Party and Daily Kos

James Taranto / Opinion Journal:

Best of the Web — Shiite Hits Fan — Let's look at the bright side, shall we? There are quite a few countries that have waged war on Israel before (1948, 1967, 1973) but are not doing so now. Jerusalem is formally at peace with Egypt and Jordan. Iraq is busy recovering from Saddam Hussein's misrule.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Captain's Quarters and Hullabaloo