| The following are just a few details that make up the more than 1000 people killed in Lebanon in the month of bombing by Israel: 11 August, 2006: Akkar in North Lebanon an air strike targeted at dawn Al-Hayssa bridge killing 11 ordinary people and injuring 15." |
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September 14, 2006
A Walk Through the Rubble
By FRANKLIN LAMBIsrael's Use of American Cluster Bombs Al Sultaneih, Lebanon. |
A s the initial assessment and clean up of American cluster bombs, estimated at more than 130,000 unexploded bomblets across the south of Lebanon, gets underway, unanticipated findings are emerging:
The breadth and depth of the problem with cluster bombs found in 498 locations in scores of villages as of September 9th was not expected.
So far less than 4% have been disposed of, and 0% of the villages in the south have been certified as safe for domestic or agricultural use by the United Nations ordnance disposal task force.
Even operators of heavy rubble clearing equipment are finding their work is stymied because Israel dropped cluster bombs both before and after many buildings were destroyed by bombs, and therefore cluster bombs are sandwiched between layers of pancaked walls and piles of rubble.
While the M-26 Cluster Bomb Unit may have looked "promising" at military demo shows when observed in ideal conditions of level, obstruction-free open areas, using "polished bomblet" conditions, the reality is very different in villages which are seeing not the military touted "dud rates" in the 1% to 4% range, but rather "dud rates" in the 40-60% range.
No weapons with this performance statistic would be taken seriously at arms sale outlets.
The U.S. cluster munitions dropped across Lebanon have been a near total failure as far as their claimed purpose and justification, degrading Hezbollah forces.
Lebanese Army, UN, and Hezbollah sources agree the Cluster Bombs had virtually no impact on Palestinian, Amal, and Hezbollah fighters during the recent conflict.
One Hezbollah commander told this observer:
"Maybe 3 or 4 [were killed] — perhaps a few more I didn't hear about — due to accidents by our forcesbut unlike the civilian population, we have a long history of confronting the Zionist aggressors and we often know what they will do before they do.
True, they have your country's latest weapons, but one-on-one they are not impressive at all.
Much more cowardly and incompetent than their propaganda claimsplus they are very weak psychologically — they know they stole Palestine, and they realize that sooner or later they will have to make peace, or they will destroy themselves and disappear from the region."
Another commander added:
"My brothers can't wait for their [Israeli] troops to enter Lebanon again on the ground. We are eager to hit them harder next time. The Zionists' training has been used to using tanks against stone-throwing children and harassing pregnant women at check points. We now have the weapons to quickly destroy their tanks. That is why they couldn't enter and finally accepted a ceasefire. We don't respect them either as men or soldiers".
Yet another offered:
"When we fire a rocket or series of rockets at their weapon stockpiles or artillery positions in northern Palestine, our brothers know that they have approximately 6-7 minutes to disappear — usually underground. The Zionists place their weapons next to Arab neighborhoods, where they have not provided shelters for the non-Jews. We are accused of targeting civilians. This is not truewe know where their weapons are exactly. They hide behind the civilians in northern Palestine like they do in Gaza. Using the people as shields."
Other recent findings confirm that Israel may have dropped as many as 60% of the cluster bombs they used during July-August 2006 in the 72 hours immediately before the ceasefire.
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Military analysts on the ground offer two explanations:
1. Shear frustration, hatred, and rage by Israel's leadership and its obsession with punishing Lebanon for its more than 85% support (including Lebanon's middle class and Christian citizens) for Hezbollah's resistance to Israel's attempted reoccupation up to the Litani River.
2. A desire by Israel to get rid of as much of its U.S. cluster bomb inventory as possible, which the Pentagon has stipulated must be reduced to a lower level before Israel can reorder newer models like the M-26.
This is why the 33 year old CBU-58, almost extinct, was used so widely. Israel was cleaning out its CBU closet for new orders, one Lebanese army source reported.
Senator Ted Stevens and those in the Senate who opposed banning cluster bombs on Sept. 9 might want to reflect on what actual utility the US cluster bombs used by Israel in Lebanon actually achieved.
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According to Israeli soldiers, reported in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz on Sept. 13, the Israeli military launched over 1.2 million cluster bombs into Lebanon, and used phosphorous shells as well — "the overwhelming majority used in the last ten days of the war."
The use of phosphorous, which causes excruciating burns, is prohibited under international law.
An Israeli rocket unit commander stated that because the Israeli rockets are so imprecise, his unit was ordered to "flood" the area with them.
The soldiers said that during IDF training exercises live rockets are almost never fired, to prevent leaving duds behind that would "fill the IDF's firing grounds with mines."
Yet, the soldiers said, Israeli forces in Lebanon fired the rockets at ranges of less than 15 kilometers, "even though the manufacturer's guidelines state that firing at this range considerably increases the number of duds."
The rocket commander, who said he had complained to Israel's Defense Minister but has received no response, stated:
"In Lebanon, we covered entire villages with cluster bombs. What we did there was crazy and monstrous." |
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| 9 August, 2006: In Mashgharah an air strike targeted a four-storey building killing 8 ordinary people from the same family |
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| 8 August, 2006: Air strikes resumed on Ghaziyeh during funeral procession of the previous day’s 15 victims killing another 14 people and injuring 24 ordinary people. |
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| 7 August 2006: Air strikes hit many areas: At Houla 6 air strikes targeted the Husseini club in the village where many people from the village were seeking a safe haven after the destruction of their houses. The premises was destroyed on top of them. 5 people were killed while 60 were rescued safe miraculously. Ghassaniyeh in Zahrani area an air strike hit at dawn at a two-storey building Abdallah Khalil Tohmeh was killed His wife. His two sons. Two brothers. Two more ordinary people, making the death toll 8. Ghaziyeh air strikes continued hitting residential neighborhoods killing another 15 people. At Shiyyah an air strike hit a residential building in the crowded Al-Hajjaj area. 56 people were killed. Many there in a building who had become displaced from the villages of Beer Al-Abed, Hayy Maawad and Haret Hreyk. At Breetal air strikes targeted residential houses killing 13 ordinary people |
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| 6 August, 2006 : 2 massacres in Ansar — an air strike targeted the house of Ibrahim Assi killing him, his wife and their two daughters as well as their neighbors. While the rescue workers were removing the corpses an other air strike hit the house and the rubble. The village of Al-Jubbeyn was heavily targeted by air strikes killing Kassem Akeel, his wife, his daughter and another victim. |
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| 4 August, 2006: 3 massacres in Qaa 28 Syrian agriculture workers are killed while they were packaging peaches. Taybeh — a two-storey residential building was targeted by US supplied Israel air raid killing 7 people. 7 Elderly people who were unable to leave their homes. At Ayta Shaab an air strike targeted a house making another 10 victims of this US supplied and paid for war. |
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| 2 August, 2006: The commandos operation on a hospital in Baalbeck killed 13 civilians, including women, children and Syrian workers |
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Israel asks U.S. to Ship Rockets With Wide Blast
August 2006
Israel has asked the Bush administration to speed delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it can use to attack Lebanon
M-26 artillery rockets are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area
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The rockets are fired by the dozen and cause huge casualties when used, especially when used in populated areas.
The United States has approved the sale of M-26’s to Israel but as of early August the cluster bombs have not yet been delivered.
After being pressed in recent days on what Israel intends to use the M-26 rocket weapons for, Israeli officials disclosed that they planned to use them in Lebanon.
It is this intent that is raising intense concerns among peace activiists and even among some in the US government over the number of civilian casualties that will likely result.
Between 1982 and 1988 the United States did maintain a moratorium on selling cluster munitions to Israel, following disclosures that civilians in
Lebanon had been killed with the weapons during the 1982 Israeli invasion.
Yhe moratorium was lifted late in the Reagan administration, and since then, the United States has sold Israel some types of cluster munitions.
State Department officials “are discussing whether or not there needs to be a block on this sale because of the past history and because of the current circumstances,” said the senior official, adding that it was likely that Israel will get the rockets, but will be told to be “be careful.”
We don’t fire into populated areas
David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said that “as a rule, we obviously don’t fire into populated areas...”
He said in these instances Israel drops leaflets warning of impending attacks.
Another Israeli official said in the case of cluster munitions, including the Multiple Launch Rocket System, which fires the M-26, the Israeli military only fires into open terrain where rocket launchers or other military targets are found.
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While Bush administration officials have criticized Israeli strikes that have caused civilian casualties, they have also backed the attack on Lebanon by rushing arms shipments to Israel.
Last month the administration approved a shipment of precision-guided munitions, which one US senior official said this week included at least 25 of the
5,000-pound “bunker-buster” bombs.
Israel has asked for another shipment of precision-guided munitions, which is likely to be approved, the US senior official said.
In July Human Rights Watch said its researchers had uncovered evidence that Israel had fired cluster munitions on July 19 at the Lebanese village of Bilda.
At least one person was killed and 12 or more people wounded, including 7 children, Hunman Rights Watch said.
Hunman Rights Watch said it had interviewed survivors of the Israel attack, who described incoming artillery shells dispensing hundreds of cluster submunitions on the village.
Human Rights Watch also released photographs, taken recently in northern Israel, of what it said were American-supplied artillery shells that had markings showing they carried cluster munitions.
The United States Army employs the M-26 rocket and the Multiple Launch Rocket System.
Rockets have caused much injury and death since 2003 Iraq invasion
The Pentagon has sold these weapon to numerous other countries in addition to Israel.
The rockets can be quickly targeted against a defined geographic area, military experts say, the system being especially effective at killing and wounding people.
Each rocket contains 644 submunitions that kill and wound people.
Many groups have campaigned for the elimination of cluster munitions, noting that as well as killing and injuring when used, submunitions that do not detonate on impact later injure and kill.
The M-26 rocket is a particularly deadly weapon for killing and injuring people.
They have been used widely by U.S. forces in Iraq and have resulted in much injury and death since the 2003 Iraq invasion. |
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| 31 July, 2006: In Hareess 16 corpses of two families were under the rubble of two residential houses. At Halloussiyeh more than 10 corpses, all part of the Mwanness family, were still under the rubble. 12 corpses were found on the roads and inside vehicles between Qoleyleh and Al-Jebbeyn. One was a corpse of an eight-year old child. |
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| 30 July, 2006: 2 massacres in Qana An air strike targeted a three-storey residential building where more than fifteen people were hiding. The house was destroyed, the Hashem and Shalhoub families found dead under the rubble. In Yaroun 6 members of the same family were killed — 3 women and 3 children from the Khanafer family |
| 29 July, 2006: 2 massacres in Noumayriyeh. An air strike killed a family of 7 and their neighbor under the rubble. In Ayn Arab an air raid killed 6 civilians and injured 3. Many of them remained under the rubble for several days. |
| 28 July, 2006: At Haddatha an air strike targeted a three-storey residential building killing 6 from the same family. |
| 25 July, 2006: At higher Nabatiyeh an air strike targeted a residential house killing 7. |
| 19 July, 2006: Collective massacres — Nabi Sheet, north of Bekaa. Two families of 8 members were killed under the rubble of a house. Maaraboun, three pickup trucks with agricultural workers were hit by an air strike killing 7. Tyre air raids targeted residential areas killing 20. Srifa air strikes targeted 10 houses killing 27 and wounding 30 others. The victims remained several days under the rubble. |
| 18 July, 2006: At Aytaroun an air strike hit a house where many were hiding killing 13. 6 of the people killed were babies. |
| 17 July, 2006: Rmayleh — Chemical bombs were thrown on a convoy of displaced people killing 12 and injuring many. |
| 16 July, 2006: 5 massacres in Tyre. An air raid struck a building killing 12 and injuring 50 people. At Borj Shamali 5 people were killed, amongst them 2 babies. At Aytaroun an air attack killed 11 people. 10 were from the same family with Canadian nationality. At Abba 10 people were killed most belonging to the same family. At the entry to Abbassiyeh, 9 people were killed, left under the rubble. |
| 15 July, 2006: At Marwaheen, Israel asked the inhabitants of this village to evacuate this village. While they were leaving the air strikes killed 22 of them. |
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| Israel’s main ally, private ATM machine, and arms supplier, America, has been similarly brutal in its attempted conquests: |
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A satanic act par excellence
You stole our country, you murdered our people, you destroyed our homes, and you expelled and dispersed the bulk of our people to the four corners of the world.
Some of you habitually babble the word 'hatred' whenever a Palestinian asserts his people’s humanity and dignity.
Well, you are really sick to the bone if you think Palestinians must sacrifice their dignity in order to become a hate-free people according to the Zionist lexicon.
We will not pay tribute to the killers of our children, we will show respect to our grave-diggers.
Besides, who do you think you are anyway to lecture us on hatred?
After all, you represent and embody hatred in its ugliest form.
The extirpation of a people from its ancestral homeland from time immemorial is a satanic act par excellence.
The destruction and obliteration of hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages to fulfill Jewish nationalism is diabolical act of the highest order.
Your recent blitzkrieg in Gaza during which your Nazi-like army ganged up on a helpless, unprotected civilian population, exterminating them with bombs and missiles and incinerating their children with White Phosphorus proved once again that you are no better than the hateful Nazis you curse day and night for what they did to you sixty years ago. |
Khalid Amayreh
— Click here |
A satanic act par excellence
Paid for by US taxpayer Photo: Aztlan.net |
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A satanic act par excellence
Paid for by US taxpayer Photo: Aztlan.net |
| US ISRAEL MASS WAR CRIMES Israel Caused Holocaust Palestine Lebanon US Israel massacres — desire to kill one and half million people They keep sucking off the teat of America and the banking systems of Europe |
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Atrocities Lebanon and Palestine
In their sickness they do this
Missiles to rain down upon Palestine women children and men |
Atrocities committed by Israel — graphic pictures What CNN nor the BBC ever shows you |
| ISRAEL MASS WAR CRIMES The horror of January 2009 Israel massacres — children bullets to the head I watched an Israeli soldier shoot dead my two little girls |
| US ISRAEL MASS WAR CRIMES February March 2008 US Israel massacres — desire to kill one and half million people The Story of Palestinians Childhoods |
| ISRAEL MASS WAR CRIMES January 19 - 21 Israel massacres — children bullets to the head Places flag on family home — East Gaza City |
| ISRAEL MASS WAR CRIMES January 14 - 18 2009 Israel massacres — desire to kill one and half million people They came up again with the Hamas-was-in-the-UN-school lie |
| ISRAEL MASS WAR CRIMES CONTINUE January 2nd week 2009 99% of US House joins 100% of US Senate in Supporting Israel with HRes34 The 42 vetoes of the US for Israel |
US Israel attack on Gaza City The Politics of Anti-Semitism 99 US Senators, 350 US House members attend AIPAC meeting |
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ISRAEL MASS WAR CRIMES CONTINUE January 2009 — Click here Israel killing — US paid army fires towards populations to cause death and injury The 42 vetoes of the US for Israel |
Twenty Questions Radio/TV interviewers avoid asking about Israel Which parts of the Declaration of Human Rights and Geneva Conventions don't Israelis understand? Why is Israel still stealing Palestinian land for more illegal construction? |
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