Irony

[The Reaper]

Does anyone else see the delicious irony in Israel declining to provide security assistance to Carter's entourage, while he tours areas of Israel in danger of being rocketed by the Palestinians he just met with? Not to mention the fact that he has just chastized the Israelis for their policies and stated that they must deal with the terrorists (again) and make concessions to people (who have a written requirement that Israel be destroyed) in order for for the peace process to move forward.

I will have to hope that the Palestinian gunners are more accurate than usual this week.

TR

http://www.reuters.com/article/world...rpc=22&sp=true

Israel snubs Carter and declines security help

Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:34am EDT
By Adam Entous

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's secret service has declined to assist U.S. agents guarding former U.S. President Jimmy Carter during a visit in which Israeli leaders have shunned him, U.S. sources close to the matter said on Monday.

Carter angered the Israeli government with plans to meet Hamas's top leader, Khaled Meshaal, in Syria, and for describing Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories as "a system of apartheid" in a 2006 book.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who brokered Israel's first peace treaty with an Arab neighbor, Egypt, signed in 1979, met Israel's largely ceremonial president, Shimon Peres, on Sunday but was shunned by the political leadership, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israel has also rejected Carter's request to meet jailed Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi, who is seen as a possible successor to President Mahmoud Abbas, a spokesman for Carter said.

Barghouthi was convicted in 2004 of murder by an Israeli court over the killing of four Israelis and a Greek Orthodox monk in attacks by Palestinian militants. He is serving five life sentences.

American sources close to the matter said the Shin Bet security service, which helps protect visiting dignitaries and is overseen by Olmert's office, declined to meet the head of Carter's Secret Service security detail or provide his team with assistance as is customary during such visits.

"They're not getting support from local security," an American source said.

"UNPRECEDENTED" BREACH

Another source described the snub as an "unprecedented" breach between the Israeli Shin Bet and the U.S. Secret Service, which protects all current and former U.S. presidents, as well as Israeli leaders when they visit the United States.

Carter included the southern Israeli town of Sderot on his itinerary. The area is often hit by rockets from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and one of the sources described the lack of Shin Bet assistance there as particularly "problematic".

Israeli police have provided some technical assistance to Carter's delegation.

Olmert's office had no immediate comment.

The Bush administration and close U.S. ally Israel oppose Carter's planned meeting with Meshaal, whose Islamist group won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 but was boycotted by the West for refusing to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

Israel and the United States have sought to isolate Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June from more secular Fatah forces loyal to Abbas. Abbas holds sway in the occupied West Bank and has launched U.S.-backed peace talks with Olmert.

Hamas leaders have offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but the group's 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Ahead of his visit, Carter defended talks with Hamas.

"I think there's no doubt in anyone's mind that, if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process," Carter told U.S. television network ABC News's "This Week".

(Additional reporting by Brenda Gazzar; Editing by Charles Dick)

[Ret10Echo]

Perhaps he will have to run from his aircraft with his head down....

[EX-Gold Falcon]

Irony would denote surprise; he shouldn't be. This is simply a case of just desserts and the Israelis define pragmatism....


Travis

[Team Sergeant]

Why does he require any security at all?

Personally I'd hand him a little (empty) box with a red button and tell him:

"At the first sign of trouble push this button"

Moron.

TS

[Kyobanim]

I wouldn't waste the money on the box.

[ksgbobo]

I dont see why we dont act like the Israelis and not provide security for Mr. Carter on his unprecedented visit to Hamas.

[GratefulCitizen]

Jimmy Carter's real identity: http://www.israellycool.com/2008/04/...dudes-edition/

. . . if his hair even gets mussed, it will be BUSH'S FAULT!!!

[Demerde-toi]

And the even lousier part about it all is to knowingly take his USSS detachment and the volunteers that traveled with him into this situation. Being a dumbass to oneself is one thing doing it to others, thats another matter and this DS knows that. I guess we all do
G

[Mosby Raider]

Saw on the news today, that not only will he visit Meshaal in Syria, but he participated in a ceremony in which he laid a wreath at Arafat's grave. My disdain and contempt for this despicable excuse of a human cannot be quantified by any measure. More simply, he is a POS!

[The Reaper]

I would consider it more appropriate to piss on his grave than to honor it.

Last resting place of a corrupt, cowardly, terrorist son of a bitch. May Carter soon rest with him.

TR

[Ambush Master]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I would consider it more appropriate to piss on his grave than to honor it.

Last resting place of a corrupt, cowardly, terrorist son of a bitch. May Carter soon rest with him.

TR

But, they were "Fellow Nobel Peace Prize Recipients"!!!! Maybe they can squeeze Al Gore into it somehow!!!

I say we sing them a Hymn!!! THEM THEM F... THEM!!!
Later
Martin

[3SoldierDad]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I would consider it more appropriate to piss on his grave than to honor it.

Last resting place of a corrupt, cowardly, terrorist son of a bitch. May Carter soon rest with him.

TR

Where Arafat is there is no rest... It's dark, it's bitter, it's loud, it's rank, it's hot, it's hellish.

Carter was a horrible President and he is proving to be an even worse ex-President. Carter is the enabler among enablers toward evil men. What's scary is that America is capable of electing men like this as the POTUS.

My disdain and contempt for this despicable excuse of a human cannot be quantified by any measure. More simply, he is a POS!

Arafat or Carter?




Three Soldier Dad...Chuck

[CSB]

Does any one else remember the Marine Captain in Beruit 1983 who made Time Magazine with his bravado?

Israeli tanks dared to take a short cut across a portion of the airfield under Marine control. The Marine Captain pulled his .45 cal pistol and jumped on one tank, telling the tank commander to go around. After an argument, the tanks did go around.

A Marine takes a stand, as U.S.-Israeli tensions rise

As three Israeli tanks approached a U.S. Marine position near the old Sidon road to the south of Beirut, Captain Charles B. Johnson, 30, of Neenah, Wis., did not hesitate. He ran toward the heavily armored, British-made Centurions, then took a position in the middle of the road. When the lead tank halted barely a foot in front of him, Johnson told an Israeli lieutenant colonel atop it, "You will not pass through this position."

After a momentary pause, the Israeli commander dismounted, talked with Johnson, remounted his tank and declared, according to Johnson, "I am going through." Johnson again demanded that the tanks halt, adding, "If you come through, it will be over my dead body." He drew his pistol and held it at a 45° angle, the "ready" position. After another pause, during which the Israelis spoke over their radio, the lead tank turned off the road. Johnson walked beside it.

Then, suddenly, the other two tanks took off at full speed in the original direction. Johnson jumped on the lead tank, grabbed the Israeli commander and yelled at him to stop his tanks. Complying at last, the Israeli, who was subsequently identified only as a Lieut. Colonel "Rafi," told Johnson, "One thing we don't want to do is shoot each other." Replied Johnson: "Yes, but if you keep doing things like this, the likelihood is going to increase."

The incident was the most serious in a rising tide of tension between the U.S. and Israeli forces in Lebanon since the Marines landed five months ago, with French and Italian troops, as part of an international peace-keeping effort.

TIME MAGAZINE FEB 14, 1983

It was in October 1983 that the Marine Baracks in Beruit was destroyed in a truck bomb suicide attack. There was more than a little belief that the Israeli's, who had occcupied Beruit prior to the Marine's arrival, had advance knowledge of a possible truck bomb attack against the Marines. Here's one version of the events:

Now some further background. For some time Israel had imposed a huge import tax on merchandise coming from Lebanon, which naturally resulted in smuggling to evade it. The goods were smuggled by cars and trucks modified for hidden storage. The Mossad station in Beirut had a certain informant who knew people working at a local garage which specialized in such modifications. Thus the Mossad occasionally obtained a good description of a vehicle that they could pass on to Israeli border guards, foiling many smuggling attempts.

Back to our story. In the summer of 1983 this informant tells the Mossad that Shi’ite Muslims are refitting a large Mercedes-Benz truck with extra-large hidden storage areas for holding bombs. Again quoting Mr. Ostrovsky:

“... the Mossad knew that ... there were only a few logical targets, one of which must be the U.S. compound. The question then was whether or not to warn the Americans to be on particular alert for a truck matching the description.

“The decision was too important to be taken in the Beirut station, so it was passed along to Tel Aviv, where [Nahum] Admony, then head of Mossad, decided they would simply give the Americans the usual general warning, a vague notice that they had reason to believe someone might be planning an operation against them. But this was so general, and so commonplace, it was ... unlikely to raise any particular alarm or prompt increased security precautions. ... One more would not heighten U.S. concerns or surveillance.

“Admony, in refusing to give the Americans specific information on the truck, said ‘... we’re not there to protect Americans. They’re a big country. Send only the regular information.’

“At the same time, however, all Israeli installations were given the specific details and warned to watch for a truck matching the description of the Mercedes.

“At 6:20 a.m. on October 23, 1983, a large Mercedes truck approached the Beirut airport, passing well within sight of Israeli sentries in their nearby base, going through a Lebanese army checkpoint, and turning left into the parking lot. A U.S. Marine guard reported with alarm that the truck was gathering speed, but before he could do anything, the truck roared toward the entrance of the four-story reinforced concrete Aviation Safety Building, used as headquarters for the Eighth Marine Battalion, crashing through a wrought-iron gate, hitting the sand-bagged guard post, smashing through another barrier, and ramming over a wall of sandbags into the lobby, exploding with such terrific force that the building was instantly reduced to rubble.
The blast and crushing debris kills 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel, and 3 Army soldiers, 241 in all, most sleeping in their cots at the time. (70 men are injured. The Lebanese janitor for the building is killed.) It is the highest single-day death toll for American soldiers since the Vietnam Tet offensive.

In April of 1983, the 24 MAU relieved the 22nd MAU (CPT Johnson's unit) so Captain Johnson did not die in the truck bombing.

From the beginning, the Marines were supposed to be a neutral force, providing a buffer between warring sides. ...

“Marines are an assault force, trained to bring the fight to the enemy,” said LTC Geraghty. “We hadn’t heard of this sort of mission. ...".

A Neutral Force ... another way of saying "Treat your Enemies as if they were your Friends, while treating your Friends as if they are your Enemies."

The results are predictable.