beirut update: beirut, mon amour

Sunday, August 06, 2006

beirut, mon amour

ode to Hiroshima:

last night i dreamed that i was at the beach. we were camping out... the whole family was there... then suddenly someone told me that we were at war, and that we had to leave. i got really panicky and my heartbeat started racing... i remember running around trying to find everyone to tell them we had to leave right away. the only way out was by boat. by the time i got to the boat, everyone around me had disappeared.

i was all alone.. it was getting dark. there was no electricity or lights...

the bushes began to rattle and i began to hear really creepy noises... like someone moaning and nails scratching... i decided that i would try and take the trip out on my own. i turned on the boat and then suddenly some family members appeared in front of me.. i was so happy to see them. i ran up to them and hugged them, but as i did, they vanished from sight again.

i was devastated.

i fell to the ground and started to cry.

as i looked up, i noticed blood on my hands and realized that it was coming from me... that i was crying blood.

i leaned over the boat to look at myself in the reflection of the water. the water was a light red and all i could see were dismembered humans in the water.. arms... legs... torsos...

i began to scream and scream... until i woke up.

in some ways, i wish i never woke up. it seems that my reality is even worse than the dream. there are now around 1,000 documented civilian deaths in Lebanon.. the numbers in Israel are beginning to rise as well.

hospitals have begun to shut down due to lack of fuel. by this time next week, they will all be gone... not only will casualties no longer be able to be treated, but what happens to the everyday people who regularly go in for stuff like chronic treatment? kidney dialysis.... chemotherapy...?

what is to become of Maya?

this attack is not going to bring about anything except for more anger and more hate.

you can not make peace through bombs!

there are over 10,000 Israeli troops inside Lebanon right now. the un draft for the ceasefire is not going well.. they are asking that Hizuballah stop firing their rockets but say nothing about the Israeli soldiers leaving Lebanon.

the last time they were here, they stayed for 18 years.

i was only able to visit my father's village in the south a few years ago, after the pull out. it was the first time i had ever been there... i remember how surreal it was. our home had been used as an israeli army center during their occupation. they used to detain, interrogate and torture people in our house. is that going to happen all over again? after the pull out, we knocked down the old house and built a new one.

why is it that israel is allowed to occupy other people's home?

i was in that house a little over a month ago. it was july 1. my cousin's birthday.. now i don't know if i shall ever see it again. did i tell you my husband and i slept outdoors that night, on the patio? it was so quiet and serene... so peaceful...

for those of you who have been leaving messages of peace and love... i am so blessed to be surrounded by so many loving friends.. you have done so much to keep me going... sometimes i am so numb and down that i can not feel your energy... but what happens is that i find myself on the computer typing away and then realize that at least you are providing me with some kind of distraction.. and that is as good as it gets for now...

we have lost all sense of time and life. people wander around, trying to get their daily life stuff done, but we are walking around like zombies.. not knowing where or when this will all end. not knowing if this last breath in will be our last breath out... ever.

i know our neighbors are in pain too... so i wonder why and how this is all allowed to happen. so absolutely pointless.

it has almost been a month now, of this violence.. i have not been able to draw or make anything... i did manage to go to my studio once.. it is still ok, but i had forgotten some jars of glitter by the window, the last time i was there... a month ago... and the glitter had lost its color from the sun! i was so upset... i brought this glitter with me all the way from nyc :)

in the beginning of war, one is concerned about their personal safety... then after a few days, you realize that you are still alive.. so your thoughts then go out to those around you... you start spending your time trying to help others in need... then you reach out and start thinking about all those who are dying or being displaced... you try and help them.. if you can't, you end up spending all your time thinking about them.. writing about them.. then you realize how much time has gone by.. how much you miss your old life... you try and pick up a few pieces.. you try and give yourself some personal time during the day to do the stuff you miss doing... then you start to feel selfish... i went to the studio, but i could not work. i will try again. and again. until something happens.

i have not given up on hope or life. i still believe in humanity. i have not yet learned to hate. i never will.

i am ok health wise... the anxiety attacks have lessened. at least when i get them now, i know exactly what is going on.. and i know that it will pass. it makes a big difference. i try and breath deep breaths... sometimes i can control it, sometimes i can't. sometimes i break down into tears... being taken over by a fearful hysteria... resulting in cold sweats and vomiting... sometimes i am able to snap my fingers, yell out loud to myself "stop it!!" and then move on and try and do something productive or distracting...

as each day goes by, war is becoming a way of life.. and that is so dangerous. people must never get used to this.

today it is Lebanon... but tomorrow, who will be next?

violence begets violence. and all this attack is doing is creating more hate for the west in this region. it didn't have to be like this.

it was only a month ago that i was in the South of Lebanon listening to the radio.. the station was being broadcasted from Israel.. they were playing great music from the 80's... i was listening.. enjoying the tranquility.. and thinking about how similar we were.

a part of me wants to just sleep and wake up when this is all over with... however i am so scared that when i do wake up, things will just be a lot worse.

106 Comments:

Anonymous said...: thank you zena

millions of us love you; 9:04 PM
Anonymous said...: my prayers are with you - the crimes being commited in my name give anguish to my soul. war and bombs are never the answer,except for those that profit from the bombs. we all must realize that this is not about nations it is about profit for the few..... what a nightmare we all live in while the few drink our blood and our lives for their profit; 9:19 PM
Anonymous said...: I almost cried with relief when I found your new post here, and then wanted to cry as I read it ...; 9:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who had to flee their homes in Lebanon. After reading your update, I am so overwhelmed by the atrocities you and yours have encountered. I pray that eventually GOOD will prevail and you and your country will again have peace.; 9:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Zena,

I know you don't know me, but I think of you everyday. I wish for this ridiculous war and it's senseless distruction to end. Everytime they show us sensored news about Beruit, I wonder how you are and if you're holding up. It deeply troubles me when I read your blogs and can feel your fear.

It disgusts me that my country is providing the weapons that are destroying Lebanon. Our "leader" didn't ask our permission to do this. If he had it wouldn't be happening. There are many people here in the US that don't agree with the choices our government has made when it comes to this war.
Hell, many of us don't agree with any of the choices they have made when it comes to anything! It's funny that most of the people that voted for our "leader" won't admit it now. Go figure!

I just wanted you to know that I think about you all the time. My heart goes out to you. I look at your blog every day, just to know that your ok. I wish there was something I could say to comfort you. I try to think of words but everything sounds ridiculous. Just know that you're in my thoughts and I do care.

Thank you for letting us into your world and helping us to understand the effects of this war.

Peace to you.
Keri; 10:00 PM
Anonymous said...: My name is Alex White. I am a Canadian student, who volunteers for an alternative news site. I spend hours every day scouring news outlets, and the internet for information and photos which are not shown on western media.

I see some horrible things every day for this job. I dredge through pages upon pages of horrific images, articles and stories. Civil rights abuses, human rights abuses, assassination attempts, protersters being killed.

I can honestly and truly say that your blog, and only your blog thus far, has reduced me to crying. I have friends in Lebanon, friends here from Lebanon, and other friends here with their families in Lebanon.

I also have friends in Israel and from Israel. None of them wish for this war. They wish to eliminate Hizbollah, not Lebanon. There have been protest in Tel Aviv, my friend was at one, so I can say with assurance that people the world over are looking to end this.

I do not support Hizbollah, neither do I support the reactionary response of the IDF. I support peace. I believe, deep in my heart, that peace will win. As my good friend Bilal Al-Maimani said, "Humans are naturally peaceful. It's when the few get into power that things go wrong. I dont want to kill Jews. I have Jewish friends. They don't want to kill me. This is insanity. I pray every day for the Lebanese and the Israelis. Peace will win."

I invite any who wish to, to contact me via email to talk, bariko at gmail.com

My thoughts and hope and love are with you Zena, and with all of the Lebanese people, the Israeli people, all the people of the world.

Sincerely,

Alexander White; 10:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Zena, why is it that the so-called "peace loving, harmless” Lebanon people are not excepting the UN draft for the ceasefire?
When the UN is not doing any thing to stop the fighting they are useless.
When the UN is coming up with a ceasefire option they are ineffective.
Who is the aggressor now?

Please, stop your whining.
You sound just like a rich, spoiled little girl from the north of Beirut who never realized she is living in the Middle East.
Your dog is depressed and last night you had to eat Pasta, again!
There is a real war going on out there, people are killed.

Now go on, delete this post, you don’t have the courage to except the fact that there is no black and white in this war.
All you see is how your fragile private world was destroyed by this war. This war is not all about you. Wake up.; 10:05 PM
dasfjsa;r[0q3wuer said...: Yes, anger and hate do beget anger and hate but with enough Zena's around the anger and hate will be directed towards war and ignorance, not towards other people.

Take care of yourself, maintain your anger and compassion and things will get better.

Best of luck
Rich; 10:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena,
for 2 weeks or so I read your poetry like messages. Now I finally decide to answer, let you know I am there and feel a lot with you. You help me to imagine how it is now in Beirut, in Lebanon.
You tell very important things and let the world know what actually goes on in your country. I´m impressed by you, by the lebanese people.
You are right to fear that hate rises against the west. I am from this west - from germany. And I am shocked by what goes on, that the whole world just watches and doesn´t stop this unbelievable desaster.

I admire your inner strength, taht you did not learn to hate. How you manage to do so in the middel of all you see, feel and go through.

I feel with you - and Maya, and all those around you.

Please go on writing - inform the world, and maybe feel at least some reduction of the inner tension.

Love
sunflower; 10:12 PM
Anonymous said...: One thing I forgot to add...

I am impressed and hopeful that you have not learned how to hate. I pray you never do.

My thoughts are with you. Salaam.

Alexander White; 10:14 PM
Anonymous said...: to the anonymous who ended his note with Wake up.

to the anonymous who ended his note with Wake up.

I say take a hike and do not come back here, instead go volunteer and join your army and get all the hate out of your heart by taking lives... you are one little sad soul with a little mind

Watch the FOX NEWS Indicates Israel Is Not Friend to U.S

Video on the bottom of the page

http://www.jewwatch.com/; 10:14 PM
Anonymous said...: As a hard working American I demand return of all my tax return that has been given to the long arm of US (Israel to spend on their WMD killing innocent people)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7545.htm

Carl Cameron Investigates
Part 1 - Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.?

Author: Carl Cameron

Part I:
BRIT HUME, HOST: It has been more than 16 years since a civilian working for the Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel. Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took responsibility for his work.

Now Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe that there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn't tell us before September 11. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has details in the first of a four-part series.

CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Since September 11, more than 60 Israelis have been arrested or detained, either under the new patriot anti-terrorism law, or for immigration violations. A handful of active Israeli military were among those detained, according to investigators, who say some of the detainees also failed polygraph questions when asked about alleged surveillance activities against and in the United States.

There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in the 9-11 attacks, but investigators suspect that they Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared it. A highly placed investigator said there are "tie-ins." But when asked for details, he flatly refused to describe them, saying, "evidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified information."

Fox News has learned that one group of Israelis, spotted in North Carolina recently, is suspected of keeping an apartment in California to spy on a group of Arabs who the United States is also investigating for links to terrorism. Numerous classified documents obtained by Fox News indicate that even prior to September 11, as many as 140 other Israelis had been detained or arrested in a secretive and sprawling investigation into suspected espionage by Israelis in the United States.

Investigators from numerous government agencies are part of a working group that's been compiling evidence since the mid '90s. These documents detail hundreds of incidents in cities and towns across the country that investigators say, "may well be an organized intelligence gathering activity."

The first part of the investigation focuses on Israelis who say they are art students from the University of Jerusalem and Bazala Academy. They repeatedly made contact with U.S. government personnel, the report says, by saying they wanted to sell cheap art or handiwork.

Documents say they, "targeted and penetrated military bases." The DEA, FBI and dozens of government facilities, and even secret offices and unlisted private homes of law enforcement and intelligence personnel. The majority of those questioned, "stated they served in military intelligence, electronic surveillance intercept and or explosive ordinance units."

Another part of the investigation has resulted in the detention and arrests of dozens of Israelis at American mall kiosks, where they've been selling toys called Puzzle Car and Zoom Copter. Investigators suspect a front.

Shortly after The New York Times and Washington Post reported the Israeli detentions last months, the carts began vanishing. Zoom Copter's Web page says, "We are aware of the situation caused by thousands of mall carts being closed at the last minute. This in no way reflects the quality of the toy or its salability. The problem lies in the operators' business policies."

Why would Israelis spy in and on the U.S.? A general accounting office investigation referred to Israel as country A and said, "According to a U.S. intelligence agency, the government of country A conducts the most aggressive espionage operations against the U.S. of any U.S. ally."

A defense intelligence report said Israel has a voracious appetite for information and said, "the Israelis are motivated by strong survival instincts which dictate every possible facet of their political and economical policies. It aggressively collects military and industrial technology and the U.S. is a high priority target."

The document concludes: "Israel possesses the resources and technical capability to achieve its collection objectives."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy here in Washington issued a denial saying that any suggestion that Israelis are spying in or on the U.S. is "simply not true." There are other things to consider. And in the days ahead, we'll take a look at the U.S. phone system and law enforcement's methods for wiretaps. And an investigation that both have been compromised by our friends overseas.

HUME: Carl, what about this question of advanced knowledge of what was going to happen on 9-11? How clear are investigators that some Israeli agents may have known something?

CAMERON: It's very explosive information, obviously, and there's a great deal of evidence that they say they have collected — none of it necessarily conclusive. It's more when they put it all together. A bigger question, they say, is how could they not have know? Almost a direct quote.

HUME: Going into the fact that they were spying on some Arabs, right?

CAMERON: Correct.

HUME: All right, Carl, thanks very much.; 10:27 PM
camille said...: I have been checking your blog all day to see if you'd posted and thankfully, you have. It's strange sitting here, watching CNN, feeling helpless, feeling like the world is spinning out of control. I wish I could send you safety, send you help-- but the only thing I can send is the knowledge that your words are affecting others... and that I am sending you hope and love and good thoughts from here. Please keep writing. Goodnight from Istanbul.; 11:09 PM
Anonymous said...: "Israel set war plan more than a year ago
Strategy was put in motion as Hezbollah began increasing its military strength"
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Friday, July 21, 2006

(07-21) 04:00 PDT Jerusalem -- Israel's military response by air, land and sea to what it considered a provocation last week by Hezbollah militants is unfolding according to a plan finalized more than a year ago.

In the years since Israel ended its military occupation of southern Lebanon, it watched warily as Hezbollah built up its military presence in the region. When Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers last week, the Israeli military was ready to react almost instantly.

"Of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared," said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University. "In a sense, the preparation began in May 2000, immediately after the Israeli withdrawal, when it became clear the international community was not going to prevent Hezbollah from stockpiling missiles and attacking Israel. By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board."

More than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail. Under the ground rules of the briefings, the officer could not be identified.

In his talks, the officer described a three-week campaign: The first week concentrated on destroying Hezbollah's heavier long-range missiles, bombing its command-and-control centers, and disrupting transportation and communication arteries. In the second week, the focus shifted to attacks on individual sites of rocket launchers or weapons stores. In the third week, ground forces in large numbers would be introduced, but only in order to knock out targets discovered during reconnaissance missions as the campaign unfolded. There was no plan, according to this scenario, to reoccupy southern Lebanon on a long-term basis.

Israeli officials say their pinpoint commando raids should not be confused with a ground invasion. Nor, they say, do they herald another occupation of southern Lebanon, which Israel maintained from 1982 to 2000 -- in order, it said, to thwart Hezbollah attacks on Israel. Planners anticipated the likelihood of civilian deaths on both sides. Israel says Hezbollah intentionally bases some of its operations in residential areas. And Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has bragged publicly that the group's arsenal included rockets capable of bombing Haifa, as occurred last week.

Like all plans, the one now unfolding also has been shaped by changing circumstances, said Eran Lerman, a former colonel in Israeli military intelligence who is now director of the Jerusalem office of the American Jewish Committee.

"There are two radical views of how to deal with this challenge, a serious professional debate within the military community over which way to go," said Lerman. "One is the air power school of thought, the other is the land-borne option. They create different dynamics and different timetables. The crucial factor is that the air force concept is very methodical and almost by definition is slower to get results. A ground invasion that sweeps Hezbollah in front of you is quicker, but at a much higher cost in human life and requiring the creation of a presence on the ground."

The advance scenario is now in its second week, and its success or failure is still unfolding. Whether Israel's aerial strikes will be enough to achieve the threefold aim of the campaign -- to remove the Hezbollah military threat; to evict Hezbollah from the border area, allowing the deployment of Lebanese government troops; and to ensure the safe return of the two Israeli soldiers abducted last week -- remains an open question. Israelis are opposed to the thought of reoccupying Lebanon.

"I have the feeling that the end is not clear here. I have no idea how this movie is going to end," said Daniel Ben-Simon, a military analyst for the daily Haaretz newspaper.

Thursday's clashes in southern Lebanon occurred near an outpost abandoned more than six years ago by the retreating Israeli army. The place was identified using satellite photographs of a Hezbollah bunker, but only from the ground was Israel able to discover that it served as the entrance to a previously unknown underground network of caves and bunkers stuffed with missiles aimed at northern Israel, said Israeli army spokesman Miri Regev.

"We knew about the network, but it was fully revealed (Wednesday) by the ground operation of our forces," said Regev. "This is one of the purposes of the pinpoint ground operations -- to locate and try to destroy the terrorist infrastructure from where they can fire at Israeli citizens."

Israeli military officials say as much as 50 percent of Hezbollah's missile capability has been destroyed, mainly by aerial attacks on targets identified from intelligence reports. But missiles continue to be fired at towns and cities across northern Israel.

"We were not surprised that the firing has continued," said Tzachi Hanegbi, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "Hezbollah separated its leadership command-and-control system from its field organization. It created a network of tiny cells in each village that had no operational mission except to wait for the moment when they should activate the Katyusha rocket launchers hidden in local houses, using coordinates programmed long ago to hit Nahariya or Kiryat Shemona, or the kibbutzim and villages."

"From the start of this operation, we have also been active on the ground across the width of Lebanon," said Brig. Gen. Ron Friedman, head of Northern Command headquarters. "These missions are designed to support our current actions. Unfortunately, one of the many missions which we have carried out in recent days met with slightly fiercer resistance."

Israel didn't need sophisticated intelligence to discover the huge buildup of Iranian weapons supplies to Hezbollah by way of Syria, because Hezbollah's patrons boasted about it openly in the pages of the Arabic press. As recently as June 16, less than four weeks before the Hezbollah border raid that sparked the current crisis, the Syrian defense minister publicly announced the extension of existing agreements allowing the passage of trucks shipping Iranian weapons into Lebanon.

But to destroy them, Israel needed to map the location of each missile.

"We need a lot of patience," said Hanegbi. "The (Israeli Defense Forces) action at the moment is incapable of finding the very last Katyusha, or the last rocket launcher primed for use hidden inside a house in some village."

Moshe Marzuk, a former head of the Lebanon desk for Israeli Military Intelligence who now is a researcher at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, said Israel had learned from past conflicts in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza -- as well as the recent U.S. experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq -- that a traditional military campaign would be countereffective.

"A big invasion is not suitable here," said Marzuk. "We are not fighting an army, but guerrillas. It would be a mistake to enter and expose ourselves to fighters who will hide, fire off a missile and run away. If we are to be on the ground at all, we need to use commandos and special forces."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since fighting started
-- Israeli air strikes on Lebanon have hit more than 1,255 targets, including 200 rocket-launching sites.

-- Hezbollah launched more than 900 rockets and missiles into northern Israel.

-- At least 317 Lebanese have been killed, including 20 soldiers and three Hezbollah guerrillas. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora says 1,100 have been wounded; the police put the number at 657.

-- 31 Israelis have been killed, among them 16 soldiers, according to Israeli authorities. At least nine soldiers and 344 civilians have been wounded.

-- Foreign deaths include eight Canadians, two Kuwaiti nationals, one Iraqi, one Sri Lankan and one Jordanian.; 11:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Hi.

You're going through hell on earth. I am so sorry. I hope things get better soon.

I wish the politicians would come with with pragmatic solutions. But how pragmatic can you expect someone who is thousands of miles away to be?

The US has its own axe to grind. And it is grinding it. It is the only country that can stop the fight if it wants to. And obviously, it does not want to.

And Zena: take care.

Akhilesh
(an Indian Grad Student in the US); 11:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena,
Millions of Americans are against this war, unfortunately we are stuck with the mad man and the conwoman til 2008 unless we impeach him.

Wish you a good night free of nightmares (a result of the trauma you are going through). Please try to meditate or listen to a soothing music, if you can, before you sleep. If you believe in Allah, remember to take deep breaths and when you inhale say Allah. Just a thought.
Send you hugs and love

http://www.againstbombing.org/; 11:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena,

Violence solves nothing. Violence will generate more violence throughout time. People have limited time memories. They forget mistakes of the past. They are manipulated again and again. Shame people die not because of age but because of people.

Today it was the infamous anniversary of the drop of the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

People were evaporated. Humanity learnt not against war, it learnt against using atomic bombs. Tiny minds for medium sized creatures? Wrong age? Pity.

Please keep strong.
And don't loose faith in humans.
Sometime they will grow.
I hope you and I will be living till then.

UltraViolet; 11:59 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh, how easy it is to be a self righteous European, who got it all the easy way.
Never had to fight for anythign in his life.
Never had a bus explode 10 meters away from him on the way to school.
Never had Saddam shoot missiles at your house just for the heck of it.
Only do "good things" for "the good of humanity".
You probably sure feel great siding with "the underdog".
300 million arabs against 5 million jews.
Some underdog.
Maybe the Arabs will finish of your work from WWII, eh Europe?
How fun it is to see the world is black and white, with no shades of gray.

Keep running from terror.
You can run but you can't hide.; 12:12 AM
Anonymous said...: to the proud murderer above who writes "Oh, how easy it is to be a self righteous European.... " you should read this article
Your (US admin) old friend saddam did bombard tehran with US made bombs too.
you people have destoryed our planet. in the process you will be destroyed too

Iran: The Next War
By James Bamford – Rolling Stone Magazine July, 2006

I. The Israeli Connection

A few blocks off Pennsylvania Avenue, the FBI's eight-story Washington field office exudes all the charm of a maximum-security prison. Its curved roof is made of thick stainless steel, the bottom three floors are wrapped in granite and limestone, hydraulic bollards protect the ramp to the four-floor garage, and bulletproof security booths guard the entrance to the narrow lobby. On the fourth floor, like a tomb within a tomb, lies the most secret room in the $100 million concrete fortress—out-of-bounds even for special agents without an escort. Here, in the Language Services Section, hundreds of linguists in padded earphones sit elbow-to-elbow in long rows, tapping computer keyboards as they eavesdrop on the phone lines of foreign embassies and other high-priority targets in the nation's capital.

At the far end of that room, on the morning of February 12th, 2003, a small group of eavesdroppers were listening intently for evidence of a treacherous crime. At the very moment that American forces were massing for an invasion of Iraq, there were indications that a rogue group of senior Pentagon officials were already conspiring to push the United States into another war—this time with Iran.

A few miles away, FBI agents watched as Larry Franklin, an Iran expert and career employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency, drove up to the Ritz-Carlton hotel across the Potomac from Washington. A trim man of fifty-six, with a tangle of blond hair speckled gray, Franklin had left his modest home in Kearneysville, West Virginia, shortly before dawn that morning to make the eighty-mile commute to his job at the Pentagon. Since 2002, he had been working in the Office of Special Plans, a crowded warren of blue cubicles on the building's fifth floor. A secretive unit responsible for long-term planning and propaganda for the invasion of Iraq, the office's staffers referred to themselves as "the cabal." They reported to Douglas Feith, the third-most-powerful official in the Defense Department, helping to concoct the fraudulent intelligence reports that were driving America to war in Iraq.

Just two weeks before, in his State of the Union address, President Bush had begun laying the groundwork for the invasion, falsely claiming that Saddam Hussein had the means to produce tens of thousands of biological and chemical weapons, including anthrax, botulinum toxin, sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. But an attack on Iraq would require something that alarmed Franklin and other neoconservatives almost as much as weapons of mass destruction: detente with Iran. As political columnist David Broder reported in The Washington Post, moderates in the Bush administration were "covertly negotiating for Iran to stay quiet and offer help to refugees when we go into Iraq."

Franklin—a devout neoconservative who had been brought into Feith's office because of his political beliefs—was hoping to undermine those talks. As FBI agents looked on, Franklin entered the restaurant at the Ritz and joined two other Americans who were also looking for ways to push the U.S. into a war with Iran. One was Steven Rosen, one of the most influential lobbyists in Washington. Sixty years old and nearly bald, with dark eyebrows and a seemingly permanent frown, Rosen was director of foreign-policy issues at Israel's powerful lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Seated next to Rosen was AIPAC's Iran expert, Keith Weissman. He and Rosen had been working together closely for a decade to pressure U.S. officials and members of Congress to turn up the heat on Tehran.

Over breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton, Franklin told the two lobbyists about a draft of a top-secret National Security Presidential Directive that dealt with U.S. policy on Iran. Crafted by Michael Rubin, the desk officer for Iraq and Iran in Feith's office, the document called, in essence, for regime change in Iran. In the Pentagon's view, according to one senior official there at the time, Iran was nothing but "a house of cards ready to be pushed over the precipice." So far, though, the White House had rejected the Pentagon's plan, favoring the State Department's more moderate position of diplomacy. Now, unwilling to play by the rules any longer, Franklin was taking the extraordinary—and illegal—step of passing on highly classified information to lobbyists for a foreign state. Unable to win the internal battle over Iran being waged within the administration, a member of Feith's secret unit in the Pentagon was effectively resorting to treason, recruiting AIPAC to use its enormous influence to pressure the president into adopting the draft directive and wage war against Iran.

It was a role that AIPAC was eager to play. Rosen, recognizing that Franklin could serve as a useful spy, immediately began plotting ways to plant him in the White House—specifically in the National Security Council, the epicenter of intelligence and national-security policy. By working there, Rosen told Franklin a few days later, he would be "by the elbow of the president."

Knowing that such a maneuver was well within AIPAC's capabilities, Franklin asked Rosen to "put in a good word" for him. Rosen agreed. "I'll do what I can," he said, adding that the breakfast meeting had been a real "eye-opener."

Working together, the two men hoped to sell the United States on yet another bloody war. A few miles away, digital recorders at the FBI's Language Services Section captured every word.

II. The Guru and the Exile

In recent weeks, the attacks by Hezbollah on Israel have given neoconservatives in the Bush administration the pretext they were seeking to launch what former House Speaker Newt Gingrich calls "World War III." Denouncing the bombings as "Iran's proxy war," William Kristol of The Weekly Standard is urging the Pentagon to counter "this act of Iranian aggression with a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities." According to Joseph Cirincione, an arms expert and the author of Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Threats, "The neoconservatives are now hoping to use the Israeli-Lebanon conflict as the trigger to launch a U.S. war against Syria, Iran or both."

But the Bush administration's hostility toward Iran is not simply an outgrowth of the current crisis. War with Iran has been in the works for the past five years, shaped in almost complete secrecy by a small group of senior Pentagon officials attached to the Office of Special Plans. The man who created the OSP was Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy. A former Middle East specialist on the National Security Council in the Reagan administration, Feith had long urged Israel to secure its borders in the Middle East by attacking Iraq and Iran. After Bush's election, Feith went to work to make that vision a reality, putting together a team of neoconservative hawks determined to drive the U.S. to attack Tehran. Before Bush had been in office a year, Feith's team had arranged a covert meeting in Rome with a group of Iranians to discuss their clandestine help.

The meeting was arranged by Michael Ledeen, a member of the cabal brought aboard by Feith because of his connections in Iran. Described by The Jerusalem Post as "Washington's neoconservative guru," Ledeen grew up in California during the 1940s. His father designed the air-conditioning system for Walt Disney Studios, and Ledeen spent much of his early life surrounded by a world of fantasy. "All through my childhood we were an adjunct of the Disney universe," he once recalled. "According to family legend, my mother was the model for Snow White, and we have a picture of her that does indeed look just like the movie character."

In 1977, after earning a Ph.D. in history and philosophy and teaching in Rome for two years, Ledeen became the first executive director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, a pro-Israel pressure group that served as a flagship of the neoconservative movement. A few years later, after Reagan was elected, Ledeen had become prominent enough to earn a spot as a consultant to the National Security Council alongside Feith. There he played a central role in the worst scandal of Reagan's presidency: the covert deal to provide arms to Iran in exchange for American hostages being held in Lebanon. Ledeen served as the administration's intermediary with Israel in the illegal-arms deal. In 1985, he met with Manucher Ghorbanifar, a one-time Iranian carpet salesman who was widely believed to be an Israeli agent. The CIA considered Ghorbanifar a dangerous con man and had issued a "burn notice" recommending that no U.S. agency have any dealings with him. Unfazed, Ledeen called Ghorbanifar "one of the most honest, educated, honorable men I have ever known." The two men brokered the arms exchange—a transaction that would result in the indictment of fourteen senior officials in the Reagan administration.

"It was awful—you know, bad things happened," Ledeen says now. "When Iran-Contra was over, I said, ?Boy, I'm never going to touch Iran again.' "

But in 2001, soon after he arrived at the Pentagon, Ledeen once again met with Ghorbanifar. This time, instead of selling missiles to the Iranian regime, the two men were exploring how best to topple it.

"The meeting in Rome came about because my friend Manucher Ghorbanifar called me up," Ledeen says. Stout and balding, with a scruffy white beard, Ledeen is sitting in the living room of his white-brick home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, smoking a Dominican cigar. His Airedale terrier, Thurber, roams the room protectively. In his first extensive interview about the covert Pentagon operation, Ledeen makes no secret of his desire to topple the government in Tehran. "I want to bring down the regime," he says. "I want the regime gone. It's a country that is fanatically devoted to our destruction."

When Ghorbanifar called Ledeen in the fall of 2001, he claimed, as he often does, to have explosive intelligence that was vital to U.S. interests. "There are Iranians who have firsthand information about Iranian plans to kill Americans in Afghanistan," he told Ledeen. "Does anyone want to hear about it?"

Ledeen took the information to Stephen Hadley, the deputy national security adviser at the White House. "I know you're going to throw me out of the office," Ledeen told him, "and if I were you I would throw me out of the office too. But I promised that I would give you this option. Ghorbanifar has called me. He said these people are willing to come. Do you want anybody to go and talk to them?"

Hadley was interested. So was Zalmay Khalilzad, then the point man on Near East issues for the National Security Council and now the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad. "I think we have to do this, we have to hear this," Hadley said. Ledeen had the green light: As he puts it, "Every element of the American government knew this was going to happen in advance."

III. The Meeting in Rome

Weeks later, in December, a plane carrying Ledeen traveled to Rome with two other members of Feith's secret Pentagon unit: Larry Franklin and Harold Rhode, a protégé of Ledeen who has been called the "theoretician of the neocon movement." A specialist on Islam who speaks Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish and Farsi, Rhode had experience with shady exiles like Ghorbanifar: He was close to Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi dissident whose discredited intelligence helped drive the Bush administration to invade Baghdad. According to UPI, Rhode himself was later observed by CIA operatives passing "mind-boggling" intelligence to Israel, including sensitive information about U.S. military deployments in Iraq.

Completing the rogues' gallery that assembled in Rome that day was the man who helped Ledeen arrange the meeting: Nicolò Pollari, the director of Italy's military intelligence. Only two months earlier, Pollari had informed the Bush administration that Saddam Hussein had obtained uranium from West Africa—a key piece of false intelligence that Bush used to justify the invasion of Iraq.

To hide the shadowy rendezvous in Rome, Pollari provided a well-protected safe house near the noisy espresso bars and busy trattorias that surround the Piazza di Spagna in central Rome. "It was in a private apartment," Ledeen recalls. "It was fucking freezing—it was unheated." The Pentagon operatives and the men from Iran sat at a dining-room table strewn with demitasse cups of blackish coffee, ashtrays littered with crushed cigarette butts and detailed maps of Iran, Iraq and Syria. "They gave us information about the location and plans of Iranian terrorists who were going to kill Americans," Ledeen says.

Ledeen insists the intelligence was on the mark. "It was true," he says. "The information was accurate." Not according to his boss. "There wasn't anything there that was of substance or of value that needed to be pursued further," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later conceded. "It went nowhere."

The men then turned their attention to their larger goal: regime change in Iran. Ghorbanifar suggested funding the overthrow of the Iranian government using hundreds of millions of dollars in cash supposedly hidden by Saddam Hussein. He even hinted that Saddam was hiding in Iran.

Ledeen, Franklin and Rhode were taking a page from Feith's playbook on Iraq: They needed a front group of exiles and dissidents to call for the overthrow of Iran. According to sources familiar with the meeting, the Americans discussed joining forces with the Mujahedin-e Khalq, an anti-Iranian guerrilla army operating out of Iraq.

There was only one small problem: The MEK had been certified by the State Department as a terrorist organization. In fact, the White House was in the midst of negotiations with Tehran, which was offering to extradite five members of Al Qaeda thought to be of high intelligence value in return for Washington's promise to drop all support for the MEK.

Ledeen denies any dealings with the group. "I wouldn't get within a hundred miles of the MEK," he says. "They have no following, no legitimacy." But neoconservatives were eager to undermine any deal that involved cooperating with Iran. To the neocons, the value of the MEK as a weapon against Tehran greatly outweighed any benefit that might be derived from interrogating the Al Qaeda operatives—even though they might provide intelligence on future terrorist attacks, as well as clues to the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.

Ledeen and his Pentagon cabal were not the only American officials to whom Ghorbanifar tried to funnel false intelligence on Iran. Last year, Rep. Curt Weldon, a Republican from Pennsylvania, claimed he had intelligence—from an "impeccable clandestine source" he code-named "Ali"—that the Iranian government was plotting to launch attacks against the United States. But when the CIA investigated the allegations, it turned out that Ali was Fereidoun Mahdavi, an Iranian exile who was serving as a frontman for Ghorbanifar and trying to shake down the CIA for $150,000. "He is a fabricator," said Bill Murray, the former CIA station chief in Paris. Weldon was furious: The agency had dismissed Ali, he insisted, "because they want to avoid, at all costs, drawing the United States into a war with Iran."

After the Rome rendezvous, Ledeen and Ghorbanifar continued to meet several times a year, often for a day or two at a time. Rhode also met with Ghorbanifar in Paris, and the Iranian phoned or faxed his Pentagon contacts almost every day. At one point Ledeen notified the Pentagon that Ghorbanifar knew of highly enriched uranium being moved from Iraq to Iran. At another point, in 2003, he claimed that Tehran was only a few months away from exploding a nuclear bomb—even though international experts estimate that Iran is years away from developing nuclear weapons. But the accuracy of the reports wasn't important—what mattered was their value in drumming up support for war. It was Iraq all over again.

IV. On the Trail of Mr. X

Such covert efforts by Feith's team in the Pentagon started to have the desired effect. In November 2003, Rumsfeld approved a plan known as CONPLAN 8022-02, which for the first time established a pre-emptive-strike capability against Iran. That was followed in 2004 by a top-secret "Interim Global Strike Alert Order" that put the military on a state of readiness to launch an airborne and missile attack against Iran, should Bush issue the command. "We're now at the point where we are essentially on alert," said Lt. Gen. Bruce Carlson, commander of the 8th Air Force. "We have the capacity to plan and execute global strikes in half a day or less."

But as the Pentagon moved the country closer to war with Iran, the FBI was expanding its investigation of AIPAC and its role in the plot. David Szady, then the bureau's top spy-catcher, had become convinced that at least one American citizen working inside the U.S. government was spying for Israel. "It's no longer just our traditional adversaries who want to steal our secrets, but sometimes even our allies," Szady declared. "The threat is incredibly serious." To locate the spy sometimes referred to as Mr. X, agents working for Szady began focusing on a small group of neoconservatives in the Pentagon—including Feith, Ledeen and Rhode.

The FBI also had its sights on Larry Franklin, who continued to hold clandestine meetings with Rosen at AIPAC. Apparently nervous that the FBI might be on to them, the two men started taking precautions. On March 10th, 2003, barely a week before the invasion of Iraq, Rosen met Franklin in Washington's cavernous Union Station. The pair met at one restaurant, then they hustled to another, and finally they ended up in a third—this one totally empty. As an added precaution, Franklin also began sending faxes to Rosen's home instead of to his AIPAC offices.

A few days later, Rosen and Weissman passed on to Israeli-embassy officials details about the draft of the top-secret presidential directive on Iran, saying they had received the document from a "friend of ours in the Pentagon." They also relayed to the Israelis details about internal Bush-administration discussions on Iran. Then, two days before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Rosen leaked the information to the press with the comment "I'm not supposed to know this." The Washington Post eventually published the story under the headline "Pressure Builds for President to Declare Strategy on Iran," crediting the classified information to "well-placed sources." The story mentioned Ledeen, who helped found the Coalition for Democracy in Iran, a pressure group dedicated to the overthrow of the Iranian government, but gave no indication that the leak had come from someone with a definite agenda for planting the information.

That June, Weissman called Franklin and left a message that he and Rosen wanted to meet with him again and talk about "our favorite country." The meeting took place in the Tivoli Restaurant, a dimly lit establishment two floors above the metro station in Arlington that was frequently used by intelligence types for quiet rendezvous. Over lunch in the mirrored dining room, the three men discussed the Post article, and Rosen acknowledged "the constraints" Franklin was under to meet with them. But the Pentagon official placed himself fully at AIPAC's disposal. "You set the agenda," Franklin told Rosen.

In addition to meeting Rosen and Weissman, Franklin was also getting together regularly with Naor Gilon, an Israeli embassy official who, according to a senior U.S. counterintelligence official, "showed every sign of being an intelligence agent." Franklin and Gilon would normally meet amid the weight machines and punching bags at the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club, where Franklin passed along secret information regarding Iran's activities in Iraq, its missile-testing program and even, apparently, New York Times reporter Judith Miller. At one point, Gilon suggested that Franklin meet with Uzi Arad, Mossad's former director of intelligence and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign-policy adviser. A week later, Franklin had lunch in the Pentagon cafeteria with the former top Israeli spy.

V. Iran's Double Agent

Larry Franklin, it turns out, wasn't the only person involved in the Pentagon's covert operation who was exchanging state secrets with other governments. As the FBI monitored Franklin and his clandestine dealings with AIPAC, it was also investigating another explosive case of espionage linked to Feith's office and Iran. This one focused on Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, the militant anti-Saddam opposition group that had worked for more than a decade to pressure the U.S. into invading Iraq.

For years, the National Security Agency had possessed the codes used by Iran to encrypt its diplomatic messages, enabling the U.S. government to eavesdrop on virtually every communication between Tehran and its embassies. After the U.S. invaded Baghdad, the NSA used the codes to listen in on details of Iran's covert operations inside Iraq. But in 2004, the agency intercepted a series of urgent messages from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad. Intelligence officials at the embassy had discovered the massive security breach—tipped off by someone familiar with the U.S. code-breaking operation.

The blow to intelligence-gathering could not have come at a worse time. The Bush administration suspected that the Shiite government in Iran was aiding Shiite insurgents in Iraq, who were killing U.S. soldiers. The administration was also worried that Tehran was secretly developing nuclear weapons. Now, crucial intelligence that might have shed light on those operations had been cut off, potentially endangering American lives.

On May 20th, shortly after the discovery of the leak, Iraqi police backed by American soldiers raided Chalabi's home and offices in Baghdad. The FBI suspected that Chalabi, a Shiite who had a luxurious villa in Tehran and was close to senior Iranian officials, was actually working as a spy for the Shiite government of Iran. Getting the U.S. to invade Iraq was apparently part of a plan to install a pro-Iranian Shiite government in Baghdad, with Chalabi in charge. The bureau also suspected that Chalabi's intelligence chief had furnished Iran with highly classified information on U.S. troop movements, top-secret communications, plans of the provisional government and other closely guarded material on U.S. operations in Iraq. On the night of the raid, The CBS Evening News carried an exclusive report by correspondent Lesley Stahl that the U.S. government had "rock-solid" evidence that Chalabi had been passing extremely sensitive intelligence to Iran—evidence so sensitive that it could "get Americans killed."

The revelation shocked Franklin and other members of Feith's office. If true, the allegations meant that they had just launched a war to put into power an agent of their mortal enemy, Iran. Their man—the dissident leader who sat behind the first lady in the president's box during the State of the Union address in which Bush prepared the country for war—appeared to have been working for Iran all along.

Franklin needed to control the damage, and fast. He was one of the very few in the government who knew that it was the NSA code-breaking information that Chalabi was suspected of passing to Iran, and that there was absolute proof that Chalabi had met with a covert Iranian agent involved in operations against the U.S. To protect those in the Pentagon working for regime change in Tehran, Franklin needed to get out a simple message: We didn't know about Chalabi's secret dealings with Iran.

Franklin decided to leak the information to a friendly contact in the media: Adam Ciralsky, a CBS producer who had been fired from the CIA, allegedly for his close ties to Israel. On May 21st, the day after CBS broadcast its exclusive report on Chalabi, Franklin phoned Ciralsky and fed him the information. As the two men talked, eavesdroppers at the FBI's Washington field office recorded the conversation.

That night, Stahl followed up her original report with "new details"—the information leaked earlier that day by Franklin. She began, however, by making clear that she would not divulge the most explosive detail of all: the fact that Chalabi had wrecked the NSA's ability to eavesdrop on Iran. "Senior intelligence officials were stressing today that the information Ahmed Chalabi is alleged to have passed on to Iran is so seriously sensitive that the result of full disclosure would be highly damaging to U.S. security," Stahl said. "Because of that, we are not reporting the details of what exactly Chalabi is said to have compromised, at the request of U.S. officials at the highest levels. The information involves secrets that were held by only a handful of very senior intelligence officials." Thanks to the pressure from the administration, the public was prevented from learning the most damaging aspect of Chalabi's treachery.

Then Stahl moved on to Franklin's central message. "Meanwhile," she said, "we have been told that grave concerns about the true nature of Chalabi's relationship with Iran started after the U.S. obtained, quote, ?undeniable intelligence' that Chalabi met with a senior Iranian intelligence officer, a, quote, ?nefarious figure from the dark side of the regime, an individual with a direct hand in covert operations against the United States.' Chalabi never reported this meeting to anyone in the U.S. government, including his friends and sponsors." In short, the Pentagon—and Feith's office in particular—was blameless.

VI. The Cabal's Triumph

Soon after the broadcast, David Szady's team at the FBI decided to wrap up its investigation before Franklin leaked any more information. Agents quietly confronted Franklin with the taped phone call and pressured him to cooperate in a sting operation directed at AIPAC and members of Feith's team in the Pentagon. Franklin, facing a long prison sentence, agreed. On August 4th, 2005, Rosen and Weissman were indicted, and on January 20th, 2006, Franklin, who had earlier pleaded guilty, was sentenced to twelve years and seven months in prison. In an attempt to reduce his sentence, he agreed to testify against the former AIPAC officials. The case is set to go to trial this fall.

So far, however, Franklin is the only member of Feith's team to face charges. The continuing lack of indictments demonstrates how frighteningly easy it is for a small group of government officials to join forces with agents of foreign powers—whether it is AIPAC or the MEK or the INC—to sell the country on a disastrous war.

The most glaring unindicted co-conspirator is Ahmed Chalabi. Even top-ranking Republicans suspect him of double dealing: "I wouldn't be surprised if he told Iranians facts, issues, whatever, that we did not want them to know," said Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., who chairs the House subcommittee on national security. Yet the FBI has been unable to so much as question Chalabi as part of its ongoing espionage case. Last November, when Chalabi returned to the United States for a series of speeches and media events, the FBI tried to interview him. But because he was under State Department protection during his visit, sources in the Justice Department say, the bureau's request was flatly denied.

"Chalabi's running around saying, ?I have nothing to hide,' " says one senior FBI official. "Yet he's using our State Department to keep us from him at the same time. And we've got to keep our mouth shut."

In the end, the work of Franklin and the other members of Feith's secret office had the desired effect. Working behind the scenes, the members of the Office of Special Plans succeeded in setting the United States on the path to all-out war with Iran. Indeed, since Bush was re-elected to a second term, he has made no secret of his desire to see Tehran fall. In a victory speech of sorts on Inauguration Day in January 2005, Vice President Dick Cheney warned bluntly that Iran was "right at the top" of the administration's list of "trouble spots"—and that Israel "might well decide to act first" by attacking Iran. The Israelis, Cheney added in an obvious swipe at moderates in the State Department, would "let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterward."

Over the past six months, the administration has adopted almost all of the hard-line stance advocated by the war cabal in the Pentagon. In May, Bush's ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, appeared before AIPAC's annual conference and warned that Iran "must be made aware that if it continues down the path of international isolation, there will be tangible and painful consequences." To back up the tough talk, the State Department is spending $66 million to promote political change inside Iran—funding the same kind of dissident groups that helped drive the U.S. to war in Iraq. "We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared.

In addition, the State Department recently beefed up its Iran Desk from two people to ten, hired more Farsi speakers and set up eight intelligence units in foreign countries to focus on Iran. The administration's National Security Strategy—the official policy document that sets out U.S. strategic priorities—now calls Iran the "single country" that most threatens U.S. interests.

The shift in official policy has thrilled former members of the cabal. To them, the war in Lebanon represents the final step in their plan to turn Iran into the next Iraq. Ledeen, writing in the National Review on July 13th, could hardly restrain himself. "Faster, please," he urged the White House, arguing that the war should now be taken over by the U.S. military and expanded across the entire region. "The only way we are going to win this war is to bring down those regimes in Tehran and Damascus, and they are not going to fall as a result of fighting between their terrorist proxies in Gaza and Lebanon on the one hand, and Israel on the other. Only the United States can accomplish it," he concluded. "There is no other way."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/10962352/iran_the_next_war/1; 12:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Thanks for proving my point.
By the way, have you read the highly recommended "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"? Or maybe "Mein Kampf"?
You would probably enjoy.; 12:45 AM
Anonymous said...: waching you and your representatives (the proud criminals who hide behind jewdaism) on TV and reading your comments is sickening. you are so brain washed that I so no point of wasting time reading your BS any more. I am not religious and am sad seeing loss on either side.; 12:47 AM
Anonymous said...: proving your point ???

Bush Nazi Connection

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

911dossier notes:

There is a vast literature on the connections between the Bush family and the Nazis. Here are some short extracts and references.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOSTON GLOBE 4/23/2001

TRIUMPHS, TROUBLES SHAPE GENERATIONS

PRESCOTT BUSH PAVED MODERATE PATH FOR SON AND GRANDSON;
WOUNDED BY FRIEND'S BETRAYAL, HE PUT HIGH PRICE ON LOYALTY

Author: By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff
Date: 04/23/2001 Page: A1
Section: National/Foreign

AN AMERICAN DYNASTY
"Prescott Bush was surely aghast at a sensational article the New York Herald Tribune splashed on its front page in July 1942. "Hitler's Angel Has 3 Million in US Bank," read the headline above a story reporting that Adolf Hitler's financier had stowed the fortune in Union Banking Corp., possibly to be held for "Nazi bigwigs."

Bush knew all about the New York bank: He was one of its seven directors. If the Nazi tie became known, it would be a potential "embarrassment," Bush and his partners at Brown Brothers Harriman worried, explaining to government regulators that their position was merely an unpaid courtesy for a client. The situation grew more serious when the government seized Union's assets under the Trading with the Enemy Act, the sort of action that could have ruined Bush's political dreams."

"The Bush family fortune came from the Third Reich." -John Loftus, former US Justice Dept. Nazi War Crimes investigator and President of the Florida Holocaust Museum quoted in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune 11/11/2000 (http://www.newscoast.com/headlinesstory2.cfm?ID=35115)

4/14/1990 New York Times quotes President George Bush as stating, "Lets forgive the Nazi war criminals."
http://www.jewishxpress.com/nazisinbushs1988campaing

Philadelphia Inquirer 9/10/98 David Lee Preston, "Fired Bush backer one of several with possible Nazi links,"

Washington Post articles by Jack Anderson on Nixon/Nazi connection Nov 1971 including "Nixon Appears a Little Soft on Nazis";

"GOP's Open Door, Who's Coming In?" Washington Post 9/21/71 by Peter Baestrup

The Secret War Against the Jews, by John Loftus and Russ Bellant's, Old Nazis, the New Right and the Republican Party.

10/30/01 robert.lederman@worldnet.att.net

Homeland Security Freudian Slip by Robert Lederman

Sometimes the truth has a way of coming out in the most embarrassing and unexpected ways. If the President's newly created Office of Homeland Security sounds to you a bit reminiscent of propaganda from Nazi Germany, you're not alone in that suspicion. According to the Washington Times (one of President Bush's strongest defenders among U.S. newspapers-see below), Texas Homeland Security chief David Dewhurst claims it was an error when an ad he commissioned in support of the Office of Homeland Security featured a Nazi Luftwaffle officer. Was this a bizarre mistake, a Freudian slip or a rare moment of candor from the Bush administration? Considering that Bush's grandfathers made their fortune on Wall Street managing banks and shipping companies the U.S. government seized in 1942 as fronts for the Nazis, it may have been all three. Former President Bush had his own embarrassing moments involving Nazis, including one that almost lost him the Presidency when a number of former SS officers were found to be high-ranking operatives in his Presidential campaign. Nor has GW been free of Nazi taint. The right-wing think tank he claims is second only to the bible in its influence on his ideas, the Manhattan Institute, has numerous links to eugenics, Nazis and Nazi sympathizers. Its founder, former CIA chief William Casey, helped bring thousands of former SS officers to the U.S. following WWII.

http://www.911dossier.co.uk/bc01.html; 12:54 AM
Anonymous said...: Why so agitated, man?
Didn't know some good reading suggestions could get you so worked up.
As you yourself already implied, "The Jews" are responsible for all the evil in the world.
You're right.
I am now going to shoot myself and make the world a better place.
Only Europeans and Arabs.
How lovely.; 12:54 AM
Anonymous said...: I am an american and angry that thousands of my income earned with hard work is feeding people like you; 1:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Zena- Thank you for continuing to write. I hope you are finding moments of personal peace and clarity in all this chaos. Keep breathing deep- it really is the only way to change this world - naive as that sounds.

I think they should have oxygenated summits at the UN. Everybody high on oxygen: then we'd see some progress.

If I could I'd send you pictures of flowers and mountains and people dancing and remixes of groovy music.

Anything to help you escape the terror of what you're living.

You must keep creating whatever you can, wherever you can, whenever you can. It is the only possible response to destruction. You must keep reaching out beyond the boundries they wish you to stay within. It will not change the world (though it will make some very uncomfortable) but it may give you some release, some way through.

You are inspiring me to find a way to do more.

I'll be stopping by everyday ( if the rain doesn't knock out my internet connection!) to make sure you're still trying, that you and your loved ones are still there, still trying- even if you don't see me!

Ronirokit!; 1:05 AM
Anonymous said...: I see that that proud jew supported by my tax dollars disappeared with shame and is speechless; 1:08 AM
Anonymous said...: Well,
Before shooting myself to make the world better for y'all I just went out for a shopping binge courtesy of the nice American who supports me.
Of course, since I have his money I don't need to do any work on my own, etc.
After wasting his hard earned money I shall then, returan to my original plan, and that is rid myself from the world as you have all so eloquently proved that all that is evil is Jewish, and vice versa.
See you around, I'm running late for my secret Zionist conference in which I shall plot to overtake the world media.; 1:13 AM
Anonymous said...: dear zena,

reading your blog every day keeps me informed with how people in lebanon react to the war that is going on in their country on behalf of others. it's really sad to see what's happening to such a beautiful country. i've been there several times, made a lot of friends and fell in love with the beautiful country itself. i wish that anyone who has never been there would not comment on lebanese people or the country.

i am not going to blame anyone for this war because blame won't lead anywhere, i only hope that this war will end soon and that the occupation will end with it.

zena you have to be strong, i know its easily said but i know people who were driving in between the bombed bridges on friday and their car was jumping up about half a meter by the explosions, but still they have faith and are strong.

to the Proud Jew who commented in here: i have read "mein kampf" i had to read it in school, i have also seen bombs right in front of my eyes, even tho i am european. and i think i understand a bit of the whole issue. but please you have to learn that different people have different opinions. and hatred as you show it begets hatred mostly while zena is just writing her fears in her blog.

a blog-reader from germany
bs; 1:25 AM
John Goldsmith said...: Dear Zena,

I saw an article on Yahoo! about your blog. My heart goes out to you, especially when the lights go out. It must be terrifying. I don't want to bring despair to you . . . but maybe some hope instead.

I am part of a growing community on Flickr called MUNDO UNO. In just 5 days, we have rallied nearly 5,000 members who are calling for peace. I realize how difficult this time must be for you, but I hope that you find some comfort in knowing that our MUNDO UNO members are doing what they can on Flickr, and elsewhere, to draw attention to the plight of people like you. In the coming days we are launching a MUNDO UNO Blog and we are taking part in an online candle light vigil.

* MUNDO UNO is a call for peace.
* MUNDO UNO means ONE WORLD.
* MUNDO UNO is a virtual protest against the madness of the war.
* MUNDO UNO is a way for us to say: stop the killing of civilians in both sides.

Shall we be ONE, one world, one face, one people to change this.

Peace and good health to you!
Peace!
Pace!
Paco!
Paz!
Paix!
Pax!
Salaam!
Shalom!
Shanti!
Frieden!
Mir!
Vrede!
мир!
Eirini!
ειρήνη!
"enas kosmos!"
"ένας κόσμος!"
!سللا
שָׁלוֹם!
Baris!

Best wishes,
John (MUNDO UNO Admin.); 1:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Hi Zena,

just wishing to let you know that I'm reading you every day and hoping to find your blog the following day!

It is moving to see that there are so many peace-loving people in your country, in Israel and all around the world who wish to see an immediate stop to the useless killing and destruction.

Stay safe and don't give up your hope and love!; 1:50 AM
Anonymous said...: Dear German,
I did not comment in any way on zena's blog, which I think is very beautiful and touching.
I read it daily, the air of humanity that radiates from it is inspiring.
I also don't think I am a person of hate in any way. On the contrary.
You don't know me.
In real life I'm in the medical profession in Israel. Every day I treat Jews, Muslims, adn Christians alike.
The staff in our hospital is multicultural, too.
We all get along in harmony and try to make people better, no matter who they are or if they believe in God, Allah or neither.
My comments above where all written in a sarcastic fashion as a way of confronting a large percentage of ignorant people who respond daily to the blog.
I'm just sick of hearing ill-informed one sided comments about my country, myself, and my religion. Every day, for example, some genius calls for the erasure of Israel, or deporting the Jews back to Europe / Russia / etc.
I'm just sick of reading this nonsense.
No one side owns the truth; as anywone who reads zena's blog should already know, the world is a complicated place.
We should all work together to make it better.
Prejudice goes both ways.; 1:51 AM
Anonymous said...: It’s pretty amusing to see how seriously people are taking any article that is published over the net or in a printed journal, as if it was published on a web site or a newspaper makes it true.
I see on Zena’s web site and other contemporary sites, quotes from such obscure sources; Yahoo news, BBC, Rolling stones, FOX news and Vanity Fair. These are all entertainment, not news.
Their job is to sell hard copies or to get as many people to hit their web site so they could sell more commercials.
Don’t believe 95% of your media, American OR European.
Pro Israeli OR pro Arab.
Don’t believe to everything you read on the web, the majority of web sites out there are for some sort of profit (money, propaganda etc.)
So think for yourself. Be logic.
Think.
Is it possible that this conflict is so one sided, all black and white?
Is it possible that Israel is “good” and Lebanon is “bed” or vice versa?
I admire Zena for refusing to fall into this pattern. She does not talk about hate, so why doe’s so many people visiting her site are so full of hate? Hate Israel, hate Lebanon, hate, hate, hate…

And one last word to the European readers (especially the German ones)
Try to find a better way to deal with your guilt. Blaming Israel for all evil on this earth would not solve your guilt problems. If you have such strong guilt feelings it’s probably because you have a good reason to have those feelings.
By the way, your governments are as guilty as the American one, have no mistakes.
Wars are declared by leaders, but carried out be the people.; 2:41 AM
Anonymous said...: Zena,
Please, if possible,leave a note (even a single word) everyday for we who are anxious to hear you are alright.
In one post you were weak from hunger. Are you and others finding food? How's that going?
Love,
Mary from USA

Here's a translation of a song by Fairuz (I don't know it's date, but it seems to be from years ago):

Hawa Bairut

They put up road-blocks
they dimmed all the signs
they planted cannons
they mined the squares
where are you love
after you we became
the love that screams
we became the distances.

For the happy days we longed
the days of staying up on the road
the long walks
the rendezvous at the old restaurant.

O love of Beirut
O love of days
They will come back Beirut
the days will come back.

It is the second summer
the moon is broken
is it true you may forget me
my defeated love
I went back to my house
my house I didn't find
only smoke and twisted beams
no rose and no fence.

-----
(found this at http://www.orientaldancer.net/arabic-song-lyrics/059.html) while searching for the song "Le Beirut" -clip available at http://www.fairuzonline.com/store/fairuz_store1.htm -at lower right corner of scrolled-down page); 4:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena and everyone,
At a site that was posting a lot of hard-to-read stuff, this
music link was posted as a place to find some relief.
Music can seem absurd at times like this, but. . .
in case it might bring some relief to you, here it is:
http://calabashmusic.com/world/publisher/contentview/action/view?item_id=50171; 4:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Sorry, the music link above may not have posted completely. Hoping this works:
http://calabashmusic.com
/world/publisher/contentview
/action/view?item_id=50171; 4:50 AM
Anonymous said...: Muno Uno--yes.
My husband and I lived, worked, traveled in Canada, Europe, Middle East, Asia, N. Africa (and the USA).

Though we owned no home (maybe because of that) our twin sons developed a beautiful sense of home. At 5-years of age, one of them drew a world and said he would love us to be in the space shuttle so that we could see all our homes!
Their sense of home was wide, as should be ours!; 5:05 AM
Anonymous said...: Dearest Zena,

I will leave you the same message as I do every day I come to check up on you...My heart is with you and your people...People like you are guiding lights...Those of us who believe in peace, will follow you....

Melly; 5:06 AM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena, I wish you, and, every innocent victims of war remain safe. I hope, with sincerity, that one day, the leaders of all our governments, and, leaders of all those groups out there who say that they are "for the people", realize their errors and leave the human race in peace.
There are so many people in the world living in poverty and dying of disease, and, our leaders spend HUGE amounts of money for bombs and guns. kill-kill-kill, seems that it's the only solution they can come up with, what a shame.
Stay safe Zena, keep your hopes up. May the end of all conflicts be near.
It's not too soon to stop living for the past and start living for the future, let's not destroy the world before giving it to our children.; 6:32 AM
Anonymous said...: god bless u zena!

mia mia; 6:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Zena,

I read your blog after reading about it in the NY Times, Sunday Edition.

All I can say is my heart and thoughts go to you and your family, friends, neighbors. I'm an American, I am furiously appalled to read that my gov't is rushing "precision bombs" to Israel. Many of us do not support these actions. a few weeks ago I was camping 30 miles into the Cascade Mountains -- a place as wild as you can get outside of Alaska -- and at 19:00 I got buzzed by two F-18 Hornet jets, having "fun" flying up and down the mountain valleys. and today we had the seattle seafair weekend, which culminated and a bunch of fighter planes swooping low over everyone. And all I could think was what about folks who have to hear these machines dropping bombs on their heads?

I'm sorry, and so many of us so do not support this. War begets more war, and I'd say it's a good statement to say that the lebanese people have endured far than their share of others bringing their problems on your country.

Peace and safety to you, and all around you.

David; 7:47 AM
ME BUDDHA BANANA said...: ill be praying for all of you....; 8:42 AM
Narasimha Rao Jakkamsetty said...: Dear Ms Zena,

We have reading about the plight of Lebanon in the newspapers everyday. How sorry we feel! I imagine myself in the situation. I can understand the agony of you all innocent people.

Violence only brings more violence and people never understand it. I wish people read "Ends and Means" by Aldous Huxley. violence and revenge are animal instincts. Man is basically an animal--only the most intelligent of all animals. He couldn't shed his animal instincts since the time of his cave days. Fault lies in our education. It doesn't teach what is real civilization. Progress in Science & Technology alone is not civilization. It doesn' teach what is real love and forgiveness. People are incapable of understanding these things.

My own view is that Hizbollahs should have let go the Israilian captives the moment war began. The lives of thousands of their own people are more valuable than a couple of senseless commandos. The lives of my people are more important than my ego. How can I make people understand that violence doesn't pay or work. Only love,forgiveness and understanding through communication work.

People are the same everywhere, they love peace and hate war. It is only their governments that make all the difference. How I pity the govts of Israil and US.

Believe in God and hope for the best.

Narasimha Rao
from India.; 8:57 AM
Anonymous said...: To the proud Jew,
you say you are in medical profession, how wonderful
hundreds of our veterans coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan come back with all kinds of medical problems including PTSD. if you really want to return my tax money that was spent funding your government come here help us care for America. I am not anti Jew, or anti any being. i am anti killing innocent people under the name of Judaism. I have met so many decent Jews in different countries who are devout Jews and do NOT approve of Israel’s action.; 9:08 AM
Anonymous said...: http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en

"..biggest demonstration against the war held in Israel ...Close to 10 thousand demonstrators from all over the country, among them many Arab citizens, marched from Ben-Zion Boulevard, along King George Street, to Magen David Square. "; 9:46 AM
Bash said...: Khizbollah teghoghist!; 10:00 AM
Bash said...: We must poot an end to di teghogh! lol; 10:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Young Jews stage "die-in" in Boston to protest Israeli war
Marjorie Dove, The Electronic Intifada, 3 August 2006

Young Jewish protesters in Boston stage a "die-in" against Israeli war on Lebanon and Palestine. (Photo: Jonathan McIntosh)

A group of young American Jews staged a "Die In" on Tuesday August 1, 2006 at South Station in downtown Boston to demonstrate their opposition to recent actions by the Israeli government in Lebanon and Gaza.

Young Jewish protesters in Boston stage a "die-in" against Israeli war on Lebanon and Palestine. (Photo: Jonathan McIntosh)

"We want to break the false consensus of unequivocal support for Israel and make it known that many American Jews disagree with our government's support of Israeli aggression. We also want to call attention to the human rights crisis occurring in Gaza and Lebanon," commented group member Matt Soycher of Jamaica Plain. "As young American Jews, we are outraged and frightened. Recent rallies called by Jewish organizations in support of Israel's attacks on Lebanon and Gaza have not spoken for us. Now, we are speaking for ourselves."

Young Jewish protesters in Boston stage a "die-in" against Israeli war on Lebanon and Palestine. (Photo: Jonathan McIntosh)

Participants wore black clothing with stickers that read "Not all U.S. Jews support Israel's actions!" They fell to the ground in dead-like positions among the morning commuters to re-create the devastating effects of violent attacks on civilian populations.

Young Jewish protesters in Boston stage a "die-in" against Israeli war on Lebanon and Palestine. (Photo: Jonathan McIntosh)

Distinguishing themselves from other recent protests led by Jewish groups in the Greater Boston region, these American Jews take the position that Israel's attacks on civilians, UN observers, infrastructure, and refugees is unethical, counterproductive, and contrary to the Jewish tradition of respect for human rights. Since Israeli bombing began on July 12, more than 750 Lebanese and 51 Israelis have died in the violence. Over one third of the Lebanese casualties have been children.

Young Jewish protesters in Boston stage a "die-in" against Israeli war on Lebanon and Palestine. (Photo: Jonathan McIntosh)

Liz Jackson of Cambridge, explained her motivation to initiate the action, "We mourn the Israeli dead, and our thoughts are with the people of northern Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza alike. Our concern for all people of the region moves us to question the utility of Israel's horrific aggression towards its own neighbors. If Israel is willing to kill UN observers, civilians, and especially children, how will the violence end?"

Young Jewish protesters in Boston stage a "die-in" against Israeli war on Lebanon and Palestine. (Photo: Jonathan McIntosh)

Participants began the action at 8:00 am, on Tuesday August 1st, inside the South Station commuter station, and ended on the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Summer Street.; 10:06 AM
Anonymous said...: In your note you ask who is next,
they have a plan for every country to spread their democrazy

http://www.ashrafdehghani.com/payam/PayamFarsi/Payam-Fadaee-86.pdf

"THE AMERICAN OMINOUS TUNE!
Translated excerpt from the current issue's editorial

These days various papers publish reports indicating that some powerful circles within the
US have started a plan to the tune of dividing Iran. The most recent example is an article
written by Ralph Peters, a retired US General.
In his article, Ralph Peters claims that the map
of the Middle East has not been drawn "fairly",
therefore, it must be changed.
On the map proposed by this righteous General, a great
and independent Kurdistan appears which
includes parts of Irans, Iraqs, Turkeys and
Syrias Kurdistan. Also on this map, a part of
southern Iran forms a new country together
with the Shiia populated sections of Iraq. The
same story applies to Balouchistan and
Azarbaijan on this map. It is clear that when
speaking of fairness, the concern here is not
the peoples right to self-determination but
rather dividing the Middle East according to the
needs and interests of US imperialism.
Everyone knows that the US came up with the
plan for a great Middle East in order to gain a
bigger piece of the Middle East pie which
means a bigger share of the exploitation and
plunder of the regions oppressed masses.
And it was precisely according to the same
plan that Afghanistan and Iraq were raided and
torn apart. The plan for a great Middle East
and its so-called democratization is in fact a
code for the redivision of the regions markets
between the US and other imperialist powers
just like what they brought upon the former
Yugoslavia. Exactly towards this aim, The
American Enterprise Institute which is one the
centers that provides the US government with
strategic plans, held a conference titled
Unknown Iran, Another Case for Federalism
chaired by Michael A. Ledeen
Invited were a number of fraudulent,
self-proclaimed representatives of
the oppressed nationalities of Iran so
that under the guidance of Mr.
Ledeen (who represents US
imperialism, i.e. number one enemy
of Irans oppressed people) they
would supposedly find a way to fight
national oppression and
discrimination, or in reality help US
imperialism forward its anti-people,
separatist plans in Iran and its
domination in the region.
At the same time, the US Senate
also held a conference recently
named Road to Democracy: Full
political and human rights in Iran in
which some representatives of The
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
and The Komala Party of Iranian
Kurdistan participated. It was not
surprising that The Democratic Party
of Iranian Kurdistan which had for so
long repeated the slogan democracy
for Iran and autonomy for Kurdistan,
suddenly throws away this slogan
like an old shoe and changed into a
new federalist pair cobbled by the US
and Co. in Iraq Kurdistan. And in
doing so, it proved that it is not the
urge to answer the real needs of the
Kurdish people or to resolve the
national oppression but rather the the
policies of big powers that detemines
the use of this or another slogan.
While propagating for splitting Iran
is completely against the interests of
the people of Iran, the fact is that
with all its anti-people policies the
Islamic Republic itself is a great
factor in facilitating such imperialist
plans. The unbearable conditions that
the Islamic Republic has created for
the masses in Iran have in fact
provided some ears for imperialist
propaganda particularly when the
people want the regime out. However,
although it is a correct and
revolutionary demand of all Iranian
people to want the Islamic Republic
out, this will be in our peoples interest
only when it is done by the mighty
hands of the people themselves. And
in doing so, the people of Iran need
the unity of all their forces. Therefore,
we must not allow the peoples
enemies to advance their vicious
policies by dividing the people. We
must also expose all those political
groups that seek help from the
imperialists including the US in
overthrowing the ruling dictatorship in
Iran.
We are categorically against the
balkanization of Iran or the region in
any shape, way or form. And while we
recognize their right to selfdetermination
and even separation,
we promote the unity of all the
nationalities in Iran in their fight
against the Islamic Republic. We
believe that only by destroying the
ruling imperialist dictatorship and
establishing democracy will our people
have the chance to freely express their
will without foreign intervention and make their own destiny."; 11:26 AM
Anonymous said...: the source for
"Blood borders
How a better Middle East would look
By Ralph Peters"

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2006/06/1833899

is this a bad source too?; 11:42 AM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena (and friends of this blog),

Any peace movement anywhere, is bound to be quite exasperated (even tear-gassed as below).

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en
(peace bloc/movement in Israel); 12:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear friends,

For more than three weeks now we've watched the bloodshed in the Middle East with horror. All the while, global and regional leaders have stood by and failed to take the necessary action to stop the violence. Finally, this weekend, the US and France reached agreement on a plan. But this compromise plan fails to call for a full ceasefire and is so weak that the violence has not--and will not--stop.

http://www.ceasefirecampaign.org/mo/en.html

This is unacceptable. Hundreds of innocent civilians have already been
killed, thousands have been wounded, and almost a million people have been made homeless.

The UN Security Council will be meeting early this week to try to resolve the crisis. They need to know that the world is watching them, and that anything less than an immediate ceasefire is not good enough. Click here to sign this petition demanding that the members of the UN Security Council take immediate action to end this bloodshed.

http://www.ceasefirecampaign.org/mo/en.html

Please sign the petition today, and then spread the word by forwarding this email on to all your friends and family. Our goal is to deliver a petition to the Security Council with 1 million signatures this week, and to publicize the petition in major newspapers in the capitals of the US, UK, France and other Security Council members.

Thanks so much for your help,

Ricken Patel
CeasefireCampaign.org

P.S. Groups and leaders from across the world and from diverse perspectives agree that an urgent ceasefire is an important part of resolving this crisis. Most countries of the world, from Lebanon to Tanzania to India, have called for a ceasefire, and have been joined by major international NGOs such as Oxfam and Amnesty International.
Christian leaders such as Pope Benedict XVI, and the World Council of Churches have also called for a ceasefire. Arab and Muslim organizations such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference have also been joined by Israeli and Jewish groups such as Meretz Israel, Degel HaTorah, and Brit Tzedek v'Shalom in calling for a ceasefire.; 2:02 PM
Anonymous said...: i had a war dream tonght as well .. tanks ... soldiers going insae screaming how tanks fell into a gap where they hid and yet pointing at them, yet left them alive not harmed ... i dreamt myself walking on an airport through tax-free shop after i entered the scene above appeared instead of to would flew off into the sky ... i know why your wedding dress is pink, Zena .. not only due to the flamingos - to have memorised Frida Kahlo at such an occassion i find a wonderfull idea and very interpretative for the Middle East situation - but, the political compass of the western Europe, yet of those who imagine that labour parties might have implemmented a prosperous vision to the world i hope they have realized by now that their agenda is backwarded - listening to the leader of the Izrael's labour party makes concern that they litteraly read the "revolution" - do they litteraly translate the books of revelation into our reality? do they imagine to occupy any position out of the armaggedon if they imagine that it's taking place of the present, yet i am asking them: who is the good and who the evil one??!!
wrong, brothers and sisters!!! wrongly considerated, wrongly implemented!!!; 2:14 PM
Anonymous said...: What to do, eating chocolate is not working for me anymore..This war has taken longer than I had expected.. I tried dark chocolate for a change, it seemed more appropriate for the times.. it is not working either..I am usually strong, I used to get hit by the post war dramatic syndrom (PWDS), now it is hitting during the war, it is not waiting.. yet I do not want to be discouraged.. when you are strong we all are... Zena, please do not give up..you have to try harder.. try fruit flavored chocolate.. maybe that will work..; 2:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Hello Zena.. Hope you are fine.. I´m thinking about you all the time - although I don't know you.. I wish I could send you and your people safety by thought.. Take care!
Love from Norway
amina; 3:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena,

I am a development/aid worker and I have been following the crisis in Lebanon with great concern. I saw your article in the Guardian newspaper here in London.

What I am proposing and wishing to do is to come to Lebanon to work on relief efforts wherever I am needed. I would be coming as an independent aid worker, not as part of an organisation.

I am currently doing a short term assignment for Save the Children in London, which will last to about the end of August, after which I am available immediately.

My reason for wishing to come now is that a fresh pair of hands would be useful at this time when the fighting has not stopped and a major aid effort has not yet started in a serious way. Therefore any help, I feel, will be useful.

I have a wide range of practical skills, am physically fit, as well as having an understanding of how to protect and extract civilians while fighting is going on immediately around them.

My main concern is that I would need somewhere to stay in Beirut, while I assess the situation to see where I can be of best use in the country.

Could you please advise me on accommodation and/or an organisation that could use my services. Also do you know what is the best route into Lebanon? I have heard that the last major road to the north was cut. Is there access to Beirut from Cyprus? I will also of course contact the Lebanese Embassy here, but you might have better local information.

Best wishes, and hang in there, don't give up, the iad agencies are waiting for the green light here to come in.

my email is: ristoharma@yahoo.com
Phone: +44 7740 706 573 (mobile)

-- bye for now, Risto F. Harma, (London, UK); 4:13 PM
Anonymous said...: My wish is that you were able to use your powerful voice, passion and vision to talk about better things... but given the times and our lives, until that day, I read and keep you and your family's thoughts in my mind daily...; 5:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear risto f. harma & zena -

I would also like to go - as an independent documentary photographer, and a helper wherever I'm needed.. I've already started some kind of "search" for organizations & accomondations - but please contact me if you have any advices..

with regards
amina; 5:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh, the joy of seeing the world in black and white.
Only "good" and "evil".
Hizballah shooting missiles on civillians in Israel = "only protecting themselves, what choice do they have?".
Israel going to war against a country that provoked it = "terror and war crimes".
I wish I could see things so clearly.
Life is great whe things are so simple.; 5:34 PM
Anonymous said...: "Israel set war plan more than a year ago
Strategy was put in motion as Hezbollah began increasing its military strength"
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Friday, July 21, 2006

(07-21) 04:00 PDT Jerusalem -- Israel's military response by air, land and sea to what it considered a provocation last week by Hezbollah militants is unfolding according to a plan finalized more than a year ago.

In the years since Israel ended its military occupation of southern Lebanon, it watched warily as Hezbollah built up its military presence in the region. When Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers last week, the Israeli military was ready to react almost instantly.

"Of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared," said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University. "In a sense, the preparation began in May 2000, immediately after the Israeli withdrawal, when it became clear the international community was not going to prevent Hezbollah from stockpiling missiles and attacking Israel. By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board."

More than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail. Under the ground rules of the briefings, the officer could not be identified.

In his talks, the officer described a three-week campaign: The first week concentrated on destroying Hezbollah's heavier long-range missiles, bombing its command-and-control centers, and disrupting transportation and communication arteries. In the second week, the focus shifted to attacks on individual sites of rocket launchers or weapons stores. In the third week, ground forces in large numbers would be introduced, but only in order to knock out targets discovered during reconnaissance missions as the campaign unfolded. There was no plan, according to this scenario, to reoccupy southern Lebanon on a long-term basis.

Israeli officials say their pinpoint commando raids should not be confused with a ground invasion. Nor, they say, do they herald another occupation of southern Lebanon, which Israel maintained from 1982 to 2000 -- in order, it said, to thwart Hezbollah attacks on Israel. Planners anticipated the likelihood of civilian deaths on both sides. Israel says Hezbollah intentionally bases some of its operations in residential areas. And Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has bragged publicly that the group's arsenal included rockets capable of bombing Haifa, as occurred last week.

Like all plans, the one now unfolding also has been shaped by changing circumstances, said Eran Lerman, a former colonel in Israeli military intelligence who is now director of the Jerusalem office of the American Jewish Committee.

"There are two radical views of how to deal with this challenge, a serious professional debate within the military community over which way to go," said Lerman. "One is the air power school of thought, the other is the land-borne option. They create different dynamics and different timetables. The crucial factor is that the air force concept is very methodical and almost by definition is slower to get results. A ground invasion that sweeps Hezbollah in front of you is quicker, but at a much higher cost in human life and requiring the creation of a presence on the ground."

The advance scenario is now in its second week, and its success or failure is still unfolding. Whether Israel's aerial strikes will be enough to achieve the threefold aim of the campaign -- to remove the Hezbollah military threat; to evict Hezbollah from the border area, allowing the deployment of Lebanese government troops; and to ensure the safe return of the two Israeli soldiers abducted last week -- remains an open question. Israelis are opposed to the thought of reoccupying Lebanon.

"I have the feeling that the end is not clear here. I have no idea how this movie is going to end," said Daniel Ben-Simon, a military analyst for the daily Haaretz newspaper.

Thursday's clashes in southern Lebanon occurred near an outpost abandoned more than six years ago by the retreating Israeli army. The place was identified using satellite photographs of a Hezbollah bunker, but only from the ground was Israel able to discover that it served as the entrance to a previously unknown underground network of caves and bunkers stuffed with missiles aimed at northern Israel, said Israeli army spokesman Miri Regev.

"We knew about the network, but it was fully revealed (Wednesday) by the ground operation of our forces," said Regev. "This is one of the purposes of the pinpoint ground operations -- to locate and try to destroy the terrorist infrastructure from where they can fire at Israeli citizens."

Israeli military officials say as much as 50 percent of Hezbollah's missile capability has been destroyed, mainly by aerial attacks on targets identified from intelligence reports. But missiles continue to be fired at towns and cities across northern Israel.

"We were not surprised that the firing has continued," said Tzachi Hanegbi, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "Hezbollah separated its leadership command-and-control system from its field organization. It created a network of tiny cells in each village that had no operational mission except to wait for the moment when they should activate the Katyusha rocket launchers hidden in local houses, using coordinates programmed long ago to hit Nahariya or Kiryat Shemona, or the kibbutzim and villages."

"From the start of this operation, we have also been active on the ground across the width of Lebanon," said Brig. Gen. Ron Friedman, head of Northern Command headquarters. "These missions are designed to support our current actions. Unfortunately, one of the many missions which we have carried out in recent days met with slightly fiercer resistance."

Israel didn't need sophisticated intelligence to discover the huge buildup of Iranian weapons supplies to Hezbollah by way of Syria, because Hezbollah's patrons boasted about it openly in the pages of the Arabic press. As recently as June 16, less than four weeks before the Hezbollah border raid that sparked the current crisis, the Syrian defense minister publicly announced the extension of existing agreements allowing the passage of trucks shipping Iranian weapons into Lebanon.

But to destroy them, Israel needed to map the location of each missile.

"We need a lot of patience," said Hanegbi. "The (Israeli Defense Forces) action at the moment is incapable of finding the very last Katyusha, or the last rocket launcher primed for use hidden inside a house in some village."

Moshe Marzuk, a former head of the Lebanon desk for Israeli Military Intelligence who now is a researcher at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, said Israel had learned from past conflicts in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza -- as well as the recent U.S. experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq -- that a traditional military campaign would be countereffective.

"A big invasion is not suitable here," said Marzuk. "We are not fighting an army, but guerrillas. It would be a mistake to enter and expose ourselves to fighters who will hide, fire off a missile and run away. If we are to be on the ground at all, we need to use commandos and special forces."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since fighting started
-- Israeli air strikes on Lebanon have hit more than 1,255 targets, including 200 rocket-launching sites.

-- Hezbollah launched more than 900 rockets and missiles into northern Israel.

-- At least 317 Lebanese have been killed, including 20 soldiers and three Hezbollah guerrillas. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora says 1,100 have been wounded; the police put the number at 657.

-- 31 Israelis have been killed, among them 16 soldiers, according to Israeli authorities. At least nine soldiers and 344 civilians have been wounded.

-- Foreign deaths include eight Canadians, two Kuwaiti nationals, one Iraqi, one Sri Lankan and one Jordanian.; 5:48 PM
Anonymous said...: http://www.boikottisrael.no/eindex.html; 5:52 PM
Anonymous said...: we do NOT support Jewdo Fascism = Zionism

listenting to bush talk a few minutes ago taught me the above vocab; 6:03 PM
Anonymous said...: to the friends of this blog and Zena

there is so called Merkova and now anonymous who goes around in the web and posts the same offensive lies, you see in this other blog

http://meiroun.blogspot.com/2006/07/qana.html

Please do not dignify him with an answer and he will get lost; 6:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Hello,
I thought you would like to know that today, August 7th, a World Ceasefire Vigil it been held.

I will light a candle for you.; 6:17 PM
Anonymous said...: i'm not saying this is as a religious buff ... but as onw of the things i hope will give u strength. and peace to your heart. ... Without doubt we are from Allah and surely to Him we will return . after this short stay here...
yours
a student , a muslim
from india; 7:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Thank you Zena. My heart and soul go out to you and your Lebanon. I read your blog every morning, your hope and strength inspire me. When will human beings who obtain power stop acting out fear and greed? Will it ever end? Praying for peace for you and your country.; 7:11 PM
Anonymous said...: keep up the good work zena.
i can only pray that your nightmare ends soon.; 7:20 PM
Anonymous said...: to all the proud JewdoFascist who come here and dump their anger:

write your link/blog/site and I for sure have a lot of questions for you,

you occupied other's land and now occupying Zena's blog to distribute your lies and incoherent thoughts!!!!

No I for one will not answer your BS until you have the guts to stop being faceless, nameless,; 8:07 PM
Buthaina Alothman said...: Zena, and all, I've just received an email from a good friend with a video link to MP George Galloway interview on SKY_Sunday, 06/08/2006:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-galloway_060806,00.html

Peace!; 8:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Hello.
I am a proud Jew.
I did not use profanity or curse anyone in any of my comments here.
Apparently some people can't tolerate the mentio of the word "JEW" without completely losing their calm.
As I have stated above, I am a peace loving person.
My life is devoted to helping others.
So please don't judge me, call me fascist, or any other names before you know anything about me.
I am not nameless.
I am A Proud Jew.; 8:27 PM
Anonymous said...: That was a note for so called “Merkova”, his notes are fortunately deleted (they were vulgar and belong to a porno site).

I am not Moslem, not Jew, have denounced religion a few years ago, seeing how religion is true opium and more crime is done under the name of religion of different kinds in human history than any other excuse

they all claim they have a holly mission (bush, Khomeini, and Olmert)

I was very sad to see your people get hurt last night and as I am writing this note to you the CNN is showing people digging with bare hands in streets of Beirut for survivors

A not so proud human (not proud of my species); 9:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Just a note to clarify why I wrote JewdoFascist, it was in response to the Bush’s remark calling those who are fighting because their country is invaded “Islamofacist” today in a phone conference.

Our genius president Bush, Ahmadinejad, and Olmert are going to end life on our planet if we do not speak up and act.

Peace upon you and all your people and please note that criticizing Israel's policy is NOT = to anti-Semitism; 9:22 PM
Anonymous said...: dear zena i hope you are safe
to evrybody who is reading israeli have got insane they are striking deeper and dereper inside beirut in purely residential areas with malls libraries in a word where there is some signs of life or survival i think they hit an hour ago in a residential area that might be close to zena house
as you may see on cnn the rescue are being conducted on the lights of the tv camera there is no electricity the fuel crises is getting bigger and bigger the hospitals in beirut are more and more overwhelmed
i feel sick as i see these scenes my stomach hurts, the headache is intolerable what can i say i am watching this 25 km away and i feel desperate, what are they feeling down there i dont no
i write this as i wish that zena is ok so she can tell you what she is living rigth now
sorry azena but it is getting harder for me to keep love in my heart and lucidity in my soul but what israelis are doing along with world silence is purely inhuman animalistic they are turning our beloved country into ruins and ghettos and poverty zones i feel it is going to last to long
people of the world do something; 9:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Dr Majd

I responded to your email

did u receive it; 9:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Buthaina Al-Othman

thank you for the link for the interview w/ George Galloway

I just watched it

truth said and not tolerated; 9:38 PM
Anonymous said...: hizbulla is part of the lebanese goverment and started this war. and the lebanese people made there own bed by supporting hizbulla. you want this war stopped then stop supporting hizbulla and take action against them. they have made this problem for you and nobody else. and don't come to me that most people in lebanon don't support them because without support they can't do what they do and they couldn't have build up those thousand and thousands of rockets and other weapons. you found it ok to have hizbulla in your country doing what they where doing. prove me wrong by providing me blog articles you wrote where you where bitching about hizbulla and how horrible they are and that you don't want them in your country and that you want your goverment to take action against them. why don't you people go on the streets now and protest against hizbulla and demand they stop doing what they are doing and leave your country? why don't you people go on the streets and demand your goverment send there army to take hizbulla out? in stead you rather start up your computer and go on the internet. enough said.

but i'm intrested in your response.; 9:46 PM
Anonymous said...: yes i recieved it

i did not answer because i didnt know what to say i felt that there might be hope with hopes of un resolution
now i cant give you more details
we are waiting the political solutions ill stay in contact; 9:48 PM
Anonymous said...: millions of us stand with you

I can not find the right word

hagh will pervail

criminals will broutht to justice

saddam did the same to innocent Iranians and look where he is

I hope it will not take that long to bring Olmert, Bush , and condi Rice to respond for war crimes

respectfully; 9:54 PM
Anonymous said...: the message was to you Dr Majd; 9:56 PM
Anonymous said...: sorry for typo I wrote in a hurry

hagh will prevail

criminals will be brought to justice

Saddam did the same to the innocent Iranians
I hope it will not take that long to bring Olmert, Bush , and condi Rice to respond for their war crimes

respectfully; 10:01 PM
Anonymous said...: i cannot answer you i do not count on persons who just talks and philosophies and justifies killing of innocent people
well ... ill tell you
excuse me but i am not a person who just eliminate my problem by just killing or destrying i am a person who deals with my problems who tolerates and love (although i said otherwise half an hour ago); 10:05 PM
Anonymous said...: demostrations in oslo today

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article1413291.ece

pro and con

pro (got mad at dogbladet for publishign olmert as a nazi); 10:18 PM
Anonymous said...: will try the link again; 10:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena ... I can soooo well understand all you say ....
So much I would like to take you in my arms ...
My soul and body feels tortures by all that men-animals-plants-arts-killing and destroying acts made by so-called human beings!!!!
I am so much afraid, too!
Please,forgive ... but we can´t ignore the politics ... For all who read in your blog and for all who are despaired and are looking for any way to help you/your people/country/culture and sameway all Isrealian who won´t that war ... and all us in this fragile world and its unique ... ,I write down here a link: http://ceasefirecampaign.org.Subject is:help stop the Bloodhed in the Middle East. All who want to try to do something against that war can sign here a petition to U.N.
I hope and wish so much, many will do so ... although I am not such an optimist, that I believe it will be successful ... but it is worth to try!!!!
Zena ...dear friend ... you are always in my mind ....
Feel embraced! Warmest regards to all your family and friends ...
yours ... this German female; 10:34 PM
Anonymous said...: i have not given up on hope or life. i still believe in humanity. i have not yet learned to hate. i never will.

That statement above, it is profound, and beautiful.

I just found your blog, via Electronic Lebanon, for the first time today. I am a 27-year-old American man. What you said brought tears to my eyes.

I have seen pictures of dead children on the news, and I cannot understand it. I cannot understand how this is being aloud to happen. How is this not deemed immediately and obviously unacceptable?

The fact that you will never hate, it makes me glad, but it does not astonish me. How can anyone hate, when they see the price of hate?

You have a beautiful light within you; don't let anyone or any nation or any senseless tragedy extinguish it.; 10:36 PM
Anonymous said...: http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2006/07/28/472502.html; 10:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Today, all our the respect to Siniora !!

We hope that soon you will see peace
All Lebanes people you are in our hearts !; 10:48 PM
Anonymous said...: we will see Bush and conwoman in tears soon; 10:52 PM
Anonymous said...: It's my birthday today, and I am sorry that you and all Lebanese need to suffer through this. It would make my day to see a quick and positive resolution to this growing and disturbing assault. I am truely sorry.; 11:19 PM
Anonymous said...: 1. This is an artist blog, clear guys ?

2. To the proud jew...... 300 Mio Arabs against 5Mio Jews, no more you did forget your friend USA ? who is ruling the power in USA ...we do know....

3. To the angry American......the only think you pay today is the wars, wait the Chinese are already ripping your off....

4. To the Stop War a dit....from us Europeans...
try to start to deal with your GUILT today as you are the BIG NAZIS of TODAY... you have learned nothing from your mysery...

Regards from EUROPE; 11:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Eric from Boston

I did not celebrate my BD a few days ago either, how could I

Wish for better days

I saw the site for amnesty international asking people to send a letter to c. rice (I can not call her honorable, so I did not)

To my friend from Europe, how many beers or bottles of wine have you had tonight?; 11:31 PM
Anonymous said...: ZENA mon amour

waiting to see a note from you on your blog

we think of you and hope for you are safe

I follow the news and worry about you and millions of innocent Lebenese people suffering; 11:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Check out the fakery going on in Lebanon -
http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=21893
How low can you go?; 12:30 AM
Anonymous said...: How low can you Israel go?

they have already shown that they are the lowest of the low; 12:47 AM
Anonymous said...: tears will fall by the white house??

you are one optimist baby; 12:49 AM
Anonymous said...: My mother-in-law forwarded the link to your site about two weeks ago. My father-in-law is Lebanese. My husband has never visited. I have urged him for the last couple of years to take a trip with his father as it would mean so much more to be guided through by him. Now I do not know when that will happen. But someday, it will. It must.
The first entry of yours that I read, you were describing yourself, your husband, your siblings. I was struck how much we are alike. How much you remind me of my friends here in Portland, OR. I find myself checking in on you almost daily. I will think good thoughts for you, to will the peace to come.; 1:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena,

Just to say that I hope you are OK.

G; 1:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Zena,
I hope that the comments in this blog give you comfort, know that people care and while no bombs are falling near my house, the helpnessless, that ties my stomach into knots is felt by many worldwide. I am also an Art teacher and recommend you do a 'Jackson Pollack', let out some anger..I hope you have a plan to be safe, to get out, if that is still possible?
You are in my heart, be strong.
C-M; 2:33 AM
Anonymous said...: I have made a translation of the beginning of your post into Spanish and I have published in our local forum. The page is this: http://www.trebujena.net/node/3076#comment-9566

If you need some translation into spanish or something you only have to ask. I will visit your Blog frecuently or write in the post were i did the translation.

Take care.
Antonio form the south of Spain.
antonio.fin at gmail.com; 3:23 AM
Anonymous said...: If you want to be angry, be angry at your own government's lack of power to stop a terrorist organization, such as Hezbollah, from operating within it's borders. Be angry at Iran and Syria for hijacking your country. Be angry at Hezbollah for kidnapping and killing Israeli soldiers taken from within Israel. This is what prompted the latest round of hostility.

Did not Israel withdraw from the West Bank last year? Did they not keep up their end of the agreement? What did it bring them? Peace? Hardly! It brought further instigation from their Arab neighbors. Neighbors that want them dead and have stated such.

Ask yourself a question. If Israel laid down it's arms would the result be peace? I think not. If Hezbollah laid down theirs, peace would follow. Who then is the aggressor?

Be angry at your own people's inability to overcome their racism toward the Jews. Be angry, but direct it at the responsible party...Hezbellah.; 7:54 AM
Anonymous said...: i fail to understand the real motive behind this war or for that matter any war.who is the ultimate winner? with so many people dead and many more living a life which is even worse that dead i cant find anybody happy with the war.the people who have started it ,i wonder if they ever will lead a peaceful life..wish it was just a nightmare...
may god give u courage to live through this hell and may u and everyone there be able to have back your beautiful lebanon as before very soon..; 3:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zena,

I am so sorry for what you are going through. There are no words to say. You have a beautiful spirit. Please take care. Keep writing.

Emily, Los Angeles, CA; 10:54 PM
MindfulAwakeness said...: "i was listening.. enjoying the tranquility.. and thinking about how similar we were. "
You were right, you still are right.
People are people; Israelis, Lebanese, Christian, Muslim, Jew, ...
It's not the name of the group you belong to, it's what's in your heart, it's WHY you do what you do that counts.
Also remember, yes, many thousands of Lebanese are suffering from this violence, but many thousands Israelis are, as well; and no Israeli has EVER felt safe, since Israel exists. Not deep down. All of them know that they're in danger.
That makes people very harsh.; 3:55 PM
Anonymous said...: How dare you utter the words in reference to Japan. They were at least man and woman enough to stand up and fight. right or wrong they paid the price of attacking the US. Leb will pay the price for attacking Israel.

Maybe Israel should go Fision on the Lebs, Then you really can cry and sob like a scared Arab. Then you will know true suffering.; 11:19 PM
Anonymous said...: Zena,

I just discovered your blog today. You sound like a brave woman who doesn't necessarily hate Israel or Jews, but is caught in the middle of something larger. Are you at all angry with your government for allowing Hezbollah to flourish in your country to the point that things came to this? I'll have to read your blog more to see your feelings.

My hope for you is that you stay safe and that you stay kindhearted and optimistic toward humanity.; 6:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Dear Zeina,

I know that living in the war zone is an absolutely horrifying experience, and I do hope that you pull through.

But your nation has brought it upon itself. You tolerated Hezbullah- and look where it lead you....

When the war comes its never a pleasant experience. Here in Haifa, we are also civillians - and we are also under attack. No point whining about it. Get your friends together and stage an anti Hezbullah demonstration!

I do hope that one day our children will be able to be friends...

Kalman, Haifa

3:02 PM; 3:04 PM
Anonymous said...: My thoughts are with you Zena, and with all people suffering in this war. xx; 4:19 PM

beirut update

Sunday, August 06, 2006

beirut, mon amour

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