The abyss

The Israeli right is in a deep psychological abyss. Doing this to the Lebanese means they think there's absolutely no hope for reaching a peaceful understanding with the Arabs. And they somehow think that Israel will be respected by its neighbors by doing this.

And of all the Arabs, it's the liberal Lebanese they do this to. It looks like an endless void, but to me it just looks like a retarded assessment and a senseless miscalculation. It looked like the Lebanese would be the most likely to reach a peaceful understanding with Israel; they have no kind of beef with Israel, but now...why would they even think about it?

It looks like a gaping void, but to me it doesn't...or at least it so much didn't.

You've probably seen the movie Munich by now. I personally didn't like it. I thought it was too slow and depressing. But probably this was the purpose of its director, and the very reason for its acclaim. It reflects a sense of insoluble hopelessness and despair.

But forget the Hollywood dramatization for a moment and take a look at the real story. The following is the recount of what happened by the mastermind himself:

Talking about the 1972 attack, Abu Daoud recalled sitting at a cafe in Rome with fellow PLO guerrilla leader Abu Iyad and his assistant, Mohammed al-Omari, when they read in a newspaper that the International Olympics Committee had refused the PLO's request to send a Palestinian delegation to the Munich Olympics.

Morale was already sagging after the PLO's humiliating retreat from Jordan, where the late King Hussein had crushed Palestinian guerrillas.

"I remember Abu Iyad looked at me and said: 'Let's participate in the Olympics in our own way. Let's kidnap (Israeli) hostages and swap them for prisoners in Israel,'" Abu Daoud said.

Terrorist Olympics. Sweet.

"We had strict orders not to kill anyone except in self defense," he said.

Things did not go as planned. Two athletes resisted the gunmen and were fatally shot, and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir refused to negotiate. By the time the standoff ended 21 hours later in the German rescue attempt, 17 people were dead.

Olympian army reservists would try to resist...What a surprise.

"Through Munich, we were able to force our cause into the homes of 500 million people," Abu Daoud said.

As terrorists.

He said he is opposed "in principle" to suicide bombings.

"But then I remind myself that the Palestinians have nothing else to fight with. We have absolutely nothing while our enemy is armed to the teeth. How can you face such an enemy with all its might, if you don't use unconventional and illogical means?" he said.

As you can see the guy's an idiot. He's not the representative of a grand insolvable situation beyond our earthly means...he's just a freakin' idiot. He asks: How can you face such an enemy with all its might, if you don't use unconventional and illogical means?

What about Sadat? What about Gandhi who took on the might of the British Empire?

Why should we let this moron set our standards of what is logical, what is possible, and what is not? Arabs can be stubborn, yes...but notoriously so can Jews, and this is the idea that Spielberg chose to focus on in his film.

As for who is setting our standards nowadays in the global scene, let's just detach ourselves for a moment and take a simple look:


AJ? Another blogger has already demonstrated the uncanny resemblance between him and a chimp.


Bisho: How did he ever become president?


Forget all what's been said about him, pre and post election time. This crisis says enough. I don't think either Clinton or Bush Sr. would have allowed Israel to go this far. For both the protection of the innocent civilians and Israel's own interests in the long term. Better to do something, anything, than be Nero and let it all burn.
[Photo from Memz]


Olmert and Peretz: Really let's tackle their argument logically. Two Israeli soldiers get kidnapped by Hezbollah. So to protect the Jewish people and Israel's interests they launch an all out war against Lebanon the country, "to teach it a lesson." The new count so far: over 306 Lebanese vs. 29 Israelis dead, with over a thousand injured. What lesson will those already detached from the conflict with Israel, but now killed by it, learn? Let me know if you can make more sense out of their position.


Hey I don't want to go to jail! Seriously though, it's in times like these that Egyptians value him the most over the politicians that beat the drums of war. We've had more than our share and are not interested in getting involved in any more. He gave a press conference where he said Israel won't come out a winner from this war. I think he's right! (By the way, that's not who you think it is; this is a picture from Al Ahram of comic actor Bishara Wakim (1889-1949) of the golden age of Egyptian cinema. He was famous for playing the roles of Syrian characters in his films. He was an Egyptian of Lebanese descent.)

So as you can see, my friends, our real problem is that for the time being our world stage is being run by a bunch of chimps.

I'll leave you with this letter of SOS and hope from a Lebanese lady who is suffering under the bombardment. It's a must read.