http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=Ally Fri, 24 May 2013 06:42:12 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=Ally Thu, 23 May 2013 22:23:58 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b98_1369361985 AlexanderSigal I don't understand why we have to cover Israhell if they keep doing whatever the hell they want... Israhell isn't even out ally and we shouldn't protect it in any way. NATO are our legal allies and I hope we sell off Israel in case they attack Syria again. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b98_1369361985 AlexanderSigal Russia Will More Than Likely Get Militarily Involved Over Syria israhell, attack, Syria, Russia Thu, 23 May 2013 15:45:13 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1cb_1369334116 Catalytic By: Danny Danon President Obama can demonstrate his commitment to Israel by releasing the convicted spy.All of us here in Israel welcomed wholeheartedly the announcement by the White House that President Obama will visit Israel next month . Over the past two years, the president has made critical policy decisions that have enhanced Israel's security. Now, it is my hope that the president will use his upcoming trip not only to meet our political leaders, but to forge a bond with the people of Israel. The best way to do this is to finally pardon Jonathan Pollard , a U.S. citizen convicted of spying for Israel, and allow him to come home to Israel ahead of the presidential visit in March. This would not only right an historic wrong, but will also serve to remove an unfortunate stain from an otherwise close American-Israeli relationship.Earlier in his presidency, Obama made a number of decisions that some of us felt were not helpful in terms of our geopolitical standing and strengthening our negotiating position with our neighbors. Thankfully, during the second half of his first term it seems that he began to chart a new course. The Obama administration stood resolutely by Israel's side at the United Nations as the Palestinians attempted to nullify our signed agreements by forcing a vote on unilateral statehood. Similarly he has joined the US congress in placing - and enforcing - biting sanctions that are aimed at curtailing the Iranian nuclear program. Nevertheless, the feeling persisted here that President Obama has not connected with Israelis on a visceral and emotional level. While the steps the president has taken over the past two years have helped reassure leaders in Israel about the president's intentions, a pardon for Jonathan Pollard would go a long way in showing the Israeli people where his heart lays.Many question the necessity of the president of the United States emotionally connecting with the Israeli electorate. After all, they do not elect the president and he does not report to them. On the other hand, Obama's predecessors -- from both American political parties -- understood that if they want Israel to trust them on matters of grave importance such as the very survival of the Jewish State, then a strong connection must be sustained with the people of Israel. By inviting Ilan Ramon to partake in a NASA mission Bill Clinton further solidified an already strong bond that he had built with the Israeli people and George W. Bush was well aware of the significance of his two visits to Israel while we were celebrating sixty years of our independence. These presidents understood that if they were going to ask Israel to trust the U.S. on the most important matters of national security then they must set the right tone through significant gestures to create good will.Jonathan Pollard has been imprisoned for almost twenty eight years. It is now clear that in passing information to an American ally about dangerous nations that threatened Israel's security, Pollard thought he was acting in the best interests of both nations. More importantly, experts including former senior cabinet ministers and a large number of senators and congressmen, now agree that the punishment of a life sentence that Pollard received was disproportionate to the charges for which he pleaded guilty. Even former CIA Director James Woolsey has said "There is absolutely no reason for Pollard to be imprisoned substantially longer than spies from other friendly, allied and neutral countries."I understand that a decision by President Obama to pardon Pollard and release him from prison will not be without controversy. But I urge Americans to consider the positive effects this act will achieve. Not only will this be an act of justice and compassion by the President, but I know for a fact that it will be universally applauded by regular Israelis. Not all Israelis understand fully what Pollard did and many criticize his actions, but there is wide agreement that the time has come to end this saga and relegate it to the past. O pinion polls in Israel show few issues of mass agreement stronger than the country's call for Jonathan Pollard to be freed now.I do not pretend that all disagreements between our two governments will vanish with Pollard's release. We sometimes differ with the Obama administration on a range of policies; from what is the best way to restart the peace process to how urgently the world must act to end Iran's march towards a nuclear bomb. I do know, however, that if President Obama plans on asking the Israeli people to trust him during what promises to be a tumultuous four years, bringing Jonathan home would be a just and noble way to do so. Member of the Knesset Danny Danon is chairman of the Word Likud and author of Israel: The Will to Prevail. In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/02/26/obama-visit-israel-column/1937301/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1cb_1369334116 Catalytic Free Jonathan Pollard: A Column by Israeli Deputy Minister Of Defence Danny Danon Israel, Jews, Convicted, spy, traitor, Jonathan, Pollard, Thu, 23 May 2013 15:40:12 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=34e_1369337891 Nooop You know the saying when you got to go. You got to go. Well if you are in Allentown you better not urinate in public because you never know who may be watching. They look like scenes out of Punked or Candid Camera. But these are no pranks. What you are looking at is punishment for public pee-ers. Fed up with a parade of people urinating outside their Allentown store in broad daylight, 2 owners who didn't want to be identified took matters into their own hands rigging up a camera and shower head in the back ally. What they get is a lot of water and a little revenge. You got to admit it's pretty funny. A motion detector on the security cameras alert the owner someone has come to "do business". Here's the fun part, a pipe drilled through the wall is connected to a high pressure water line and with one turn of the valve. For 3 months the potty vigilante's have been catching and recording dozens people. Not just men, but women and children. They've caught so many people going; they even keep a score card of how many people they drench. The owners admit they're having a little fun doing this. They even have plans to upgrade the system to monitor cameras from home. They say soon enough violators will get the message. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=34e_1369337891 Nooop Business Owners Fight Back On Public Urination idiots, pissing, urine, usa Thu, 23 May 2013 13:44:14 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=803_1369330887 10fold Fed up with a parade of people urinating outside their Allentown store in broad daylight, 2 owners who didn't want to be identified took matters into their own hands rigging up a camera and shower head in the back ally. What they get is a lot of water and a little revenge. You got to admit it's pretty funny. A motion detector on the security cameras alert the owner someone has come to "do business". Here's the fun part, a pipe drilled through the wall is connected to a high pressure water line and with one turn of the valve. For 3 months the potty vigilante's have been catching and recording dozens people. Not just men, but women and children. They've caught so many people going; they even keep a score card of how many people they drench. The owners admit they're having a little fun doing this. They even have plans to upgrade the system to monitor cameras from home. They say soon enough violators will get the message http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=803_1369330887 10fold just piss right here to get your free shower just piss right here to get your free shower Wed, 22 May 2013 15:50:54 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b7b_1369252127 Catalytic By Glenn Garvin Miami Herald In his book "The Joys of Yiddish," Leo Rosten, struggling to define the concept of "chutzpah" to Americans, toyed with a bunch of English expressions: "gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts,' presumption plus arrogance." In the end, he concluded no single word sufficed. Chutzpah, he wrote was "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan."If Rosten were around today, he might offer another definition: a country that sends a spy to steal millions of pages of national-security secrets from its best friend in the world and then demands his release as a sign of friendship. That's exactly what happened last month when President Obama visited Israel, only to be berated over the imprisonment of Tel Aviv's self-described "master spy," Jonathan Pollard.Pollard has been in jail since 1985, when he was arrested for using his job as a U.S. Navy intelligence analyst to plunder enough classified documents to fill a 6-foot-by-10-foot room, which he sold to Israel for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sentenced to life in prison, he's scheduled for parole in November 2015, after completing 30 years of his term.Pressure on Obama Both Israeli president Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are believed to have demanded Pollard's release in private meetings with Obama. Members of the Knesset were so open about their intentions to rough Obama up on the subject of Pollard that the president declined an offer to speak there.Deprived of a chance to shout at Obama face to face, Knesset member Danny Danon instead took to the pages of USA Today, where his op-ed piece called Pollard's jailing "an historic wrong" and added: "If President Obama plans on asking the Israeli people to trust him during what promises to be a tumultuous four years, bringing Jonathan home would be a just and noble way to do so."Putting aside the fact that a lot of Americans might reasonably expect they've already earned some trust by giving Israel $3 billion a year (nearly half the U.S. budget for foreign military aid), the clamor for Pollard's release begs the question: Why are the Israelis insisting that the future of relations with the United States rests on the immediate release of a convicted spy who is just 19 months from possible parole? The answer is that Israeli officials don't want Pollard released because he's served his time. They want him released because they think he didn't do anything wrong and they want Washington to publicly admit it. And they think this is an opportune moment to press their demand because Obama is politically weak and might hope to score points with a wavering constituency, American Jews.But releasing Pollard would be a giant mistake for the president. Pollard is neither a naive kid who blundered into trouble for unthinkingly passing a harmless secret or two to an ally, nor an innocent Jewish victim persecuted by an insidious network of anti-Semites within the U.S. government. He is, rather, a mercenary who looted U.S. national security for personal gain.Israel was the biggest beneficiary of Pollard's perfidy. He stole so many documents - delivering up to five suitcases-full at a time to his control officer - that the Israelis had to buy a condo and equip it with a high-speed copying machine just to handle the take. The Israelis in return paid him $2,500 a month (well over his U.S. government take-home pay), lavished him with jewelry and European vacations, and set up a Swiss bank account to hold a $300,000 bonus.And still Pollard wanted more. He tried to sell American secrets to Pakistan, Australia and South Africa's apartheid regime. He stole classified documents on China to help his wife land a big public-relations contract with China.Profitable proposition If spying was quite profitable for Pollard, it was no bargain for American taxpayers. It cost many millions of dollars to replace the intelligence systems he compromised, including a blueprint for U.S. electronic interceptions around the world. Pollard's disclosures enabled Israeli missions that the United States would never have agreed to support, like a 1985 bombing raid on a PLO headquarters in Tunisia that killed scores of innocent bystanders. And much of the material Pollard stole (including information on how the United States tracked Soviet submarines) wound up in Moscow - perhaps because the KGB pilfered it from Israel, perhaps because the Israelis swapped it for Jewish emigrants from Russia.It is inconceivable that any American president would stamp these actions with approval by granting early release to the man who carried them out. And for President Obama, whose attorney general has prosecuted more government officials for leaks under the 1917 Espionage Act than all his predecessors combined, it would be an act of unfathomable hypocrisy.If it's OK for Pollard to dump documents to Israel, why isn't it OK for Bradley Manning to do the same to Wikileaks? Because the Knesset says so?Glenn Garvin is a columnist for the Miami Herald. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b7b_1369252127 Catalytic Master Israeli spy and traitor Jonathan Pollard should serve out his prison sentence Israel, Jews, Jonathan, Pollard, spy, traitor, espionage, convicted, US Wed, 22 May 2013 05:59:22 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d09_1369216385 moosh stfu with the jew-suuni ally comment, just watch the whole video. Iranian controlled Hezbollah rafidha majoos already exposed themselves after what is happening in Syria. They are killing the Suuni Syrians and the Suuni Lebanese right now. It is time for everyone to see Hezbollah's real face , http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d09_1369216385 moosh ex Hezbollah Secretary General says we are Israel's border guard and we protect their borders. Eng Sub syria, hezbollah, shia, rats Tue, 21 May 2013 10:09:10 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=76e_1369144636 moosh Al Arabiya The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) held Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah personally responsible for the situation in the Syrian border town of Qusayr, as sectarian tension was on the rise in neighboring Lebanon. "We announced that Hassan Nasrallah will be held personally responsible for the current situation because he in person is meeting with all of before they head to Qusayr," FSA spokesperson Louay Almokdad told Al Arabiya English. "We are today calling Nasrallah a killer of the Syrian people." Clashes between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - along with Lebanese ally Hezbollah - and the rebels raged into a second day Monday in the strategic town of Qusayr, which is between Damascus and the coast. "It has reached the audacity and extent of criminal behavior that Nasrallah met with 1,200 of his fighters in the southern suburbs before they headed to ," the FSA spokesperson said, adding the Hezbollah chief has distributed "tokens of motivation on which Shiite slogans - Yatharat al-Hussein - were written to each of his fighters." "We are certain these are fighters of Hassan Nasrallah. They are no longer Hezbollah, they are fighters of Hassan Nasrallah and Ali Khamanei." However, the FSA spokesperson also said that, along with Hezbollah, were fighters from other Lebanese groups, including the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and the Baath Party. The Syrian rebels have repeatedly warned that they will hit Hezbollah targets on Lebanese territory if the latter does not withdraw from Syria and have called on the Lebanese government to put a stop to Hezbollah intervention. The Lebanese government: a state of paralysisHowever, according to Imad Salamey - a professor of International Affairs at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, the Lebanese government cannot do anything to stop the powerful Party of God. "The Lebanese government has been and continues to be in a state of paralysis, which mostly works in Hezbollah's interest," Salamey told Al Arabiya English on Monday. "The government cannot stop Hezbollah, and the army stopping Hezbollah from intervening in Syria will definitely not be the case." "Hezbollah is being dragged further into the Syrian conflict, and it is not going to end in Qusayr," he said, adding that the movement "was dragging Lebanon into a civil war." " involvement in the Syrian issue, no matter what the pretext, will only drag Lebanon into the conflict because the Lebanese are divided ." At least three people were killed and 40 injured in two days of fighting in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli, where an Alawite minority lives. Lebanese Sunnis mostly sympathize with the revolt against the government of Bashar al-Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Source - http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/20/Nasrallah-killer-of-Syrian-people-as-tensions-in-Lebanon-rise.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=76e_1369144636 moosh Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into another civil war because of Qusayr - Poll Hezbollah, Syria Tue, 21 May 2013 01:29:36 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fc9_1369114127 jason16 The sudden reduction in aggressive rhetoric and actions by North Korea has led to suggestions that Pyongyang has realized it has pushed its only ally in the region to the brink of severing its friendship. Intelligence sources have stated that Beijing has a contingency plan in place for when Kim Jong-un's control over the country crumbles. The reports confirm that China is indeed quietly encouraging regime change and is grooming Kim's brother, Kim Jong-nam to take over his role. The reports suggest that after Kim Jong-nam is installed in Pyongyang, his brother will be permitted to go into exile, probably in China. China may be dreaming of appointing Kim Jong-nam as the new king. The atmosphere between the two nations is changing. China may have decided that it is time for a regime-change in the North, they will not permit the collapse of the country because they do not want chaos on their own borders. ( http://www.dw.de/north-korea-fires-fourth-missile-in-two-days-into-sea-of-japan/a-16823823 ) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fc9_1369114127 jason16 Is China seeking regime-change in North Korea? world news Mon, 20 May 2013 19:46:36 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=aad_1369093394 Detroit Iron A group of Chinese fishermen are said to be held hostage in North Korea, straining ties already frayed by North Korea's missile launches. By Arthur Bright o A daily summary of global reports on security issues. The Chinese embassy in North Korea is "working on" securing the release of the crew of a Chinese fishing boat held by unidentified armed North Koreans, who are reportedly seeking a ransom. The Associated Press reports that, according to the ship owner Yu Xuejun, the Liaoning -based boat was seized on May 5 by kidnappers demanding 600,000 yuan ($100,000) ransom for the 16 crew members' safe return. In another plea for help on Monday, Yu wrote on his blog that he received another call from "the North Korean side" on Sunday night, still demanding money. "My captain gave me the phone, his voice was trembling, could feel he was very afraid, told me no later than 5 p.m. today," Yu wrote. He said he suspected his crew had been mistreated. RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about China? Take our quiz. Mr. Yu said that the boat was seized in Chinese waters, although the kidnappers reportedly claimed it was in North Korean territory. RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about China? Take our quiz. Yu told Agence France-Presse that he believes the kidnappers are part of the North Korean military , though he is not certain. He reported the incident to the Chinese government, but took to social media to publicize his crew's predicament after becoming frustrated with a lack of official action. "It has almost been two weeks, but I haven't seen any results," he told AFP. Chinese state news agency Xinhua published its first report on the matter on Sunday, writing that the Chinese embassy in North Korea "is working on the detention" and is "asking Pyongyang to ensure the safety and legitimate rights and interests of the fishermen." The incident comes amid a tense situation on the Korean peninsula . North Korea in recent months has conducted several missile launches and nuclear tests, including six short-range rocket launches over the weekend and two more today . China , a traditional ally of North Korea, has been showing greater irritation with its neighbor, including supporting UN sanctions against Pyongyang over its most recent nuclear test. AP writes that kidnappings of Chinese nationals by North Korean pirates are actually fairly common - including a similar event last year in which 29 fishermen were seized by armed North Koreans and later released. "Whatever you call North Korea - rogue state or whatever - these kind of cases just keep happening," said a Liaoning Maritime and Fishery Administration official who identified himself only by his surname, Liu. "We had such cases last year and the year before. There's very little we can do to prevent them." The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party newspaper, suggests that the current tension between Beijing and Pyongyang may result in a greater willingness for the Chinese to publicize the incidents - and that North Korea is deliberately targeting China . Cui Zhiying, director of the Korean Peninsula Research Center at the Shanghai -based Tongji University , told the Global Times that as the relations between China and North Korea are gradually changing from traditional ideological allies to normal bilateral relations, these kinds of reports are being disclosed more frequently than before. Jin Qiangyi, director of the Asian Studies Center at Yanbian University, told the Global Times Sunday that China has been inclined to deal with such disputes in a low-key manner, which has been taken advantage of by North Korea to infringe upon Chinese fishermen's interests. "It's also possible that the nuclear state is taking revenge on China after the UN imposed a series of sanctions on it following its third nuclear test," said Jin, stressing that the Chinese government should hold firm in safeguarding the safety of its citizens, otherwise, such incidents will reoccur in the future. http://news.yahoo.com/north-korean-pirates-seize-chinese-hostages-demand-ransom-123609892.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=aad_1369093394 Detroit Iron North Korean pirates seize Chinese hostages, demand a ransom North Korea, China Mon, 20 May 2013 11:52:13 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2c5_1369064725 Al Hollandi At least 23 Hizbullah fighters were killed in battles in the Syrian border town of al-Qusayr, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday. "Reliable sources informed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that 23 members of Hizbullah's elite forces were killed and more than 70 others wounded in clashes in the town of Qusayr yesterday," the group said in a statement. Earlier on Sunday, al-Arabiya satellite news channel reported that around 20 Hizbullah fighters and 62 others wounded in battles in Qusayr were submitted to hospitals in Beirut. The news channel said that the fighters killed in the battles included Hassan Faisal Shukur, who is the nephew of Lebanese Baath Party leader Fayez Shukur. Others were identified as Mohammed Fouad Rabah, Ahmed Wael Raad, Mohammed Qaseem Abdul Sater, Radwan Qassem al-Attar, Hatem Hussein. Qusayr is home to about 20,000 residents and has been besieged for weeks by Syrian government troops. Opposition activists said Hizbullah members launched on Sunday the assault on the town along with President Bashar Assad's troops in the area. Qusayr is strategically important because it is close to the Lebanese border and it links Damascus with the coast, where regime loyalists are concentrated. This includes Alawites to which the Assad family belongs. Hizbullah sources told Agence France Presse on Sunday that at least four fighters have been killed in Qusayr. Hizbullah is a close ally of the Damascus regime, and its fighters have been battling alongside the army in the Qusayr area for weeks, according to activists. A handful of Hizbullah fighters killed in Syria have been brought back for burial in Lebanon, with senior officials from the group occasionally paying condolences in person to the families of those killed. The Observatory said that at least 55 people were killed in Qusayr on Sunday, most of them rebels, excluding those Hizbullah fighters and regime soldiers. Hizbullah leader sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has acknowledged that members of his movement are fighting alongside Syrian troops against the rebels seeking Assad's ouster. The uprising, which began in March 2011, has left more then 94,000 people dead according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog. source: http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/83652-23-hizbullah-fighters-killed-in-qusayr-70-injured Naharnet is a Lebanese site. Reliable source concerning Hezbollah matters... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2c5_1369064725 Al Hollandi 23 Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Qusayr, 70 Injured Syria, Al Qusayr, FSA, SAA, Hezbollah, war Mon, 20 May 2013 11:25:54 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b73_1369063013 helle "Early in 2007 Seymour Hersh in his report "The Redirection" published in the New Yorker that the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and others were gathering, funding, arming, and deploying a front of violent sectarian extremists, many with ties to Al Qaeda, to undermine, destabilize, and eventually lead to the overthrow of the governments of Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. The violent campaign was rolled out publicly in the wake of a similarly premeditated geopolitical ploy, the so-called "Arab Spring," By: Seymour M. Hersh March 5, 2007 The New Yorker In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The "redirection," as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has co"operated with Saudi Arabia's government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda. One contradictory aspect of the new strategy is that, in Iraq, most of the insurgent violence directed at the American military has come from Sunni forces, and not from Shiites. But, from the Administration's perspective, the most profound-and unintended-strategic consequence of the Iraq war is the empowerment of Iran. Its President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made defiant pronouncements about the destruction of Israel and his country's right to pursue its nuclear program, and last week its supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on state television that "realities in the region show that the arrogant front, headed by the U.S. and its allies, will be the principal loser in the region." After the revolution of 1979 brought a religious government to power, the United States broke with Iran and cultivated closer relations with the leaders of Sunni Arab states such as Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. That calculation became more complex after the September 11th attacks, especially with regard to the Saudis. Al Qaeda is Sunni, and many of its operatives came from extremist religious circles inside Saudi Arabia. Before the invasion of Iraq, in 2003, Administration officials, influenced by neoconservative ideologues, assumed that a Shiite government there could provide a pro-American balance to Sunni extremists, since Iraq's Shiite majority had been oppressed under Saddam Hussein. They ignored warnings from the intelligence community about the ties between Iraqi Shiite leaders and Iran, where some had lived in exile for years. Now, to the distress of the White House, Iran has forged a close relationship with the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The new American policy, in its broad outlines, has been discussed publicly. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that there is "a new strategic alignment in the Middle East," separating "reformers" and "extremists"; she pointed to the Sunni states as centers of moderation, and said that Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah were "on the other side of that divide." (Syria's Sunni majority is dominated by the Alawi sect.) Iran and Syria, she said, "have made their choice and their choice is to destabilize." Some of the core tactics of the redirection are not public, however. The clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to work around the normal congressional appropriations process, current and former officials close to the Administration said. A senior member of the House Appropriations Committee told me that he had heard about the new strategy, but felt that he and his colleagues had not been adequately briefed. "We haven't got any of this," he said. "We ask for anything going on, and they say there's nothing. And when we ask specific questions they say, 'We're going to get back to you.' It's so frustrating." The key players behind the redirection are Vice-President Dick Cheney, the deputy national-security adviser Elliott Abrams, the departing Ambassador to Iraq (and nominee for United Nations Ambassador), Zalmay Khalilzad, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi national-security adviser. While Rice has been deeply involved in shaping the public policy, former and current officials said that the clandestine side has been guided by Cheney. (Cheney's office and the White House declined to comment for this story; the Pentagon did not respond to specific queries but said, "The United States is not planning to go to war with Iran.") The policy shift has brought Saudi Arabia and Israel into a new strategic embrace, largely because both countries see Iran as an existential threat. They have been involved in direct talks, and the Saudis, who believe that greater stability in Israel and Palestine will give Iran less leverage in the region, have become more involved in Arab-Israeli negotiations. The new strategy "is a major shift in American policy-it's a sea change," a U.S. government consultant with close ties to Israel said. The Sunni states "were petrified of a Shiite resurgence, and there was growing resentment with our gambling on the moderate Shiites in Iraq," he said. "We cannot reverse the Shiite gain in Iraq, but we can contain it." "It seems there has been a debate inside the government over what's the biggest danger-Iran or Sunni radicals," Vali Nasr, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who has written widely on Shiites, Iran, and Iraq, told me. "The Saudis and some in the Administration have been arguing that the biggest threat is Iran and the Sunni radicals are the lesser enemies. This is a victory for the Saudi line." Source: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b73_1369063013 helle "Arab Spring" A game that has been planned for years by many countries Syria, Arab Spring, Al-qaeda Mon, 20 May 2013 11:12:51 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d13_1369061584 m16carbine How do you say 'Quagmire' in Farsi? By THANASSIS CAMBANIS, May 2013, Foreign Policy Magazine ARSAL, Lebanon - For more than a year, leaders in Lebanon have anxiously eyed the murderous civil war in Syria, wondering whether it would leap across the border and engulf the small, fractious country. And yet, it is Lebanon that now has jumped decisively into the fray, with Hezbollah's help apparently crucial to the Syrian regime 's strategy and survival. Uniformed Hezbollah fighters openly patrol the northern reaches of Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, fighting on either side of the increasingly porous border with Syria. Rocket and mortar teams target Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters a few miles away, and Lebanese Hezbollah infantry fighters crisscross the "Shiite villages" surrounding the city of Qusayr just across the border in Syria, which now forms one of the pivot points of the conflict. The fighting around Qusayr has brought into the open the parlor game over whether Iran and Hezbollah are active combatants in Syria's war. In an April 30 speech, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah hinted at greater involvement from the Lebanese paramilitary group in Syria, warning that the regime had "real friends" who would prevent Syria from "fall into the hands" of the United States and Israel. The thunder of artillery fire in the mountains flanking the Beqaa Valley, like the spate of no-longer-hidden Hezbollah funerals , make clear that Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors have crossed a Rubicon. They are now fully vested factions in the Syrian civil war, and they're committed to an open and escalating fight. Not 20 miles from Hezbollah's position as the crow flies, FSA fighters flee across the border to the Sunni village of Arsal, nestled north in the Beqaa Valley in the mountains separating Lebanon and Syria. They make no distinction between the Syrian army, Hezbollah, and Iran -- because, they say, they get shot at by all three. "We could have common interests with Hezbollah, but they're attacking us. Now there are grudges, which we will have to settle after the war," said Shehadeh Ahmed Sheikh, 24, a self-described mortar man in the FSA. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor of an unfinished home in Arsal. Sheikh had brought with him 16 members of his extended family after their house in Qusayr had been destroyed earlier that week; as we talked, they squatted around him in the dwelling, which they had been assigned to by Arsal's mayor. Like many Sunnis in the area, he referred to Hezbollah, whose name means "the Party of God" in Arabic, as Hezb al-Shaitan -- "the Party of Satan." By supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the hilt, Hezbollah and Iran are risking their hard-won reputation as stewards of an anti-Israel and anti-U.S. alliance that transcends sect and nationality. Syrian combatants increasingly understand the war in sectarian terms: On one side there is the Sunni majority; on the other side, other sects and a small group of Sunnis that have made common cause with the Alawite regime. Western diplomats estimate that a few thousand Hezbollah fighters are involved in the Syrian fighting. Close observers of the group, which carefully guards its operational structure, say that they mistrust any precise numbers. But if Hezbollah has sent hundreds, or even a few thousand, of its best-trained fighters to Syria, that deployment certainly represents a significant percentage of its fighting force. During its 2006 war with Israel, the highest estimate of Hezbollah fighters killed was about 700, with the group's own official death toll closer to 300. Sunnis are increasingly framing the conflict as a sectarian jihad. The influential Lebanese Salafi cleric Ahmad Al-Assir has set up his own militia , suggesting his fighters would be just as willing to confront Hezbollah in Lebanon as they already are to travel to Syria to fight alongside the rebels there. Supporters of the regime and Hezbollah point out that the rebellion tolerates Sunni fundamentalist extremists whereas Assad and Hezbollah rely on a time-tested alliance of minorities, including Alawites, Christians, Druze, and Shiite Muslims. The propaganda of both sides has sharpened a narrative of the Syrian conflict as a struggle between Sunni extremists and old-style authoritarians, who at least protect the minorities they exploit. Deadly identity politics have taken root, and people on both sides of the conflict see it more and more as a matter of survival. Sheikh, the young Sunni fighter, planned to return to battle as soon as he settled his family: "We cannot go back to the way things were before" On the eve of the uprisings just three short years ago, many Arab analysts observed half-jokingly that the most influential state in the Arab world wasn't Arab at all -- it was Iran, awash in oil revenues and ready to lavish cash on a region in the throes of an increasingly hot Sunni-Shiite cold war. Sunni monarchs and dictators fretted about a "Shiite Crescent" linking Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Hezbollah. Tehran, for its part, strutted triumphantly across the Arab stage, bragging about an unstoppable "Axis of Resistance" oiled with ideological fervor and the supreme leader's bank account. What a difference a few uprisings can make. Today, Iran's involvement in Syria has all the makings of a quagmire, and certainly represents the Islamic Republic's biggest strategic setback in the region since its war with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ended in 1988. Syria's conflict has begun to attract so much attention and resources that it threatens to end the era when Iran could nimbly outmaneuver the slow-moving American behemoth in the Middle East. Iran -- already reeling from sanctions -- is spending hundreds of millions of dollars propping up Bashar al-Assad's regime. In the murky arena of sub rosa foreign intervention, it's impossible to keep a detailed count of the dollars, guns, and operatives the Islamic Republic has dispatched to Syria. Westerners and Arab officials who have met in recent months with Syrian government ministers say that Iranian advisers are retooling key ministries to provide copious military training, including to the newly established citizen militias in regime-controlled areas of Syria. "We back Syria," Iranian General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan reiterated on May 5. "If there is need for training we will provide them with the training." In private meetings, Iranian diplomats in the region project insouciance, suggesting that the Islamic Republic can indefinitely sustain its military and financial aid to the Assad regime. To be sure, its burden today is probably bearable. But as sanctions squeeze Iran and it comes under increasing pressure over its nuclear program, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) might find the investment harder to sustain. The conflict shows no signs of ending, and as foreign aid to the rebels escalates, Iran will have to pour in more and more resources simply to maintain a stalemate. If this is Iran's Vietnam, we're only beginning year three. The cost of Tehran's support of Assad can't entirely be measured in dollars. Iran has had to sacrifice most of its other Arab allies on the Syrian altar. As the violence worsened, Hamas gave up its home in Damascus and its warm relationship with Tehran. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government has also adopted a scolding tone toward Iran on Syria. On Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy's first visit to Tehran, he took the opportunity to blast the "oppressive regime" in Damascus, saying it was an "ethical duty" to support the opposition. Gone are the days when Iran held the mantle of popular resistance. Popular Arab movements, including Syria's own rebels, now have the momentum and air of authenticity. Iran's mullahs finally look to the Arab near-abroad as they long have appeared at home -- repressive, authoritarian, and fierce defenders of the status quo." Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Iran's commitment to Assad has put the crown jewel of its assets in the Arab world, Hezbollah, in danger. Just a few years ago, a survey found that Nasrallah was the most popular leader in the Arab world. Along with other members of the "resistance axis," Hezbollah mocked the rest of the Arab world's political movements as toadies and collaborators, happy to submit to American-Israeli hegemony. Today, however, it has sacrificed this popular support and enraged Sunnis across the Arab world by siding with a merciless dictator. Hezbollah used to try to cultivate allies from all sects, so that it wouldn't seem to be pursuing a purely Shiite agenda, but it now appears in the eyes of the Arab world to have cast its lot -- hook, line, and sinker -- with a brutal minority regime in Syria over a popular, largely Islamist movement. A Pew survey last year found that the group's popularity was declining in predominantly Sunni countries such as Egypt and Jordan, while Lebanese Sunnis and Christians also increasingly soured on the party. In the border town of Hermel, usually secretive Hezbollah fighters have openly mobilized. They fight on both sides of the border, protecting a ring of Shiite villages in Syria that connect Damascus to the Alawite heartland. An untold number of Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Syria -- so many that the movement has stopped keeping the funerals secret and has even released videos of some of the martyrs. "We bury our martyrs in the open," Nasrallah said in his recent speech. "We are not ashamed of them." Hezbollah positions in Hermel were shelled on May 12, and the Sunni jihadist Nusra Front reportedly claimed responsibility . In their rhetoric, Lebanese politicians have sought to downplay the sectarian nature of the fight in Syria, and there are plenty of individuals who say they have chosen sides out of interest or ideology, rather than sect. Yet to most of its participants, the conflict has taken on an undeniably sectarian hue: an almost entirely Sunni rebellion, against a regime supported by the majority of Syria's other sects. "There's no difference between Hezbollah, the army, and the Syrian regime," scoffed Mustafa Ezzedine, a driver in Arsal who was recently dragged into the conflict as a literal hostage, kidnapped because he was a Sunni Muslim by a Shiite clan that wanted one of its own kidnapped members released. It doesn't matter that among his guests at a recent, lazy hashish-fueled afternoon tea was a member of that same rival clan: sectarian politics have little regard for personal views. For residents of the Beqaa Valley, the war in Syria has already drifted across the border, and they fear it could get worse quickly. The regional stakes are high as well. On at least one occasion, the Syrian conflict has cost an Iranian military commander his life. In mid-February, a shadowy IRGC officer responsible for overseeing Iranian reconstruction projects in Lebanon who went by the names Hessam Khoshnevis and Hassan Shateri was killed on the road from Damascus to Beirut. Iran put out the story that Israel assassinated their man, but Western and Arab officials told me they had seen reliable intelligence reports that it was a Syrian rebel ambush. A who's who of Lebanese politicians paid condolences at the Iranian embassy, and Hezbollah's number two, Naim Qassem, delivered a long tribute to the fallen IRGC offer at a memorial service in an underground theater in Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. It was the latest sign that Hezbollah is willing to risk everything in supporting the Syrian dictator -- and that Iran just may ask its Lebanese ally to fight to the end, or go down with the ship. "We would be nothing without Iran!" Qassem thundered in his tribute. "Others hide the foreign funds they receive. We proudly open our hands to Iran's gifts. What the resistance needs, they provide." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d13_1369061584 m16carbine How Do You Say 'Quagmire' in Farsi? hezbollah, fsa, saa, syria, syria civil war, iran