Keeping in mind that the first three reports are always wrong, here's a summary of what we know from today's fighting.
- Hezbollah is fighting like a professionally trained army rather than a bunch of random terror crazies.
- They have signals intelligence and communications devices made in Iran,
- and Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers have been captured in the fighting. [Coming home just now, I heard John Batchelor report & John Loftus confirm that Nasrallah has ceded command and control of Hezbollah's forces, and they're now being led by an Iranian general. I'd like to see that confirmed somewhere, but the nutty things Batchelor reports almost always turn out to be right. ]
- [Loftus also reports that it is utterly false that an Israeli precision-guided missile hit that UN post, as is being widely reported. Loftus says it's a flat-out lie, that it was some other kind of munition, not "smart," and definitely not deliberate. Keep an eye out for that detail to see who's right]. Meanwhile, will someone please tell Kofi Annan who really is deliberately attacking his men? The UN's own press release reports Hezbollah small arms fire on the blue helmets. That's no accident, honey; but here a Canadian blue helmet tells it like it is (see the last 'graf).
- German intelligence reports Hezbollah has activated sleeper cells around the world. Disturbing.
- And did NBC miss a big part of its own story on Hezbollah? They filmed uncut sheets of US dollars, but didn't think to ask how terrorist came by such a thing.
The good news is, the Arab countries are refusing to support Hezbollah, no matter what they may say. Egypt denounced them. John Loftus tonight reports the Saudis are "supporting" Hezbollah in public (lgf has documentation), but privately giving Israel intelligence about where Hezbollah bunkers are.
And here's the Iraqi PM's address to Congress today. He "denounced" Israel too, as you may have heard, to the shock and horror of Barbara Boxer & Howard Dean. Do these people not understand that it would have been political suicide for him to do otherwise? I try so hard to think the best of political opponents, but I find their behavior today simply despicable. The lives and liberty of millions of people in the Middle East --Israeli, Arab, Kurd, Druze, Persian and otherwise-- are at stake, and all they can think about is November. "Strife Derails Bush Comeback" is the Wapo website headline tonight. Yeah, that's what's really important.
By the way, keep up with events at Pajamas Media --including Israeli & Lebanese live-blogging.
