I believe that this is because Foreign Military Sales, which would cover Israel’s purchase of cluster bombs, receive approval from State, not Defense. Therefore, the misuse of such items would be a State Department issue.

It must be nice to work at State or CIA and not have to worry about terrorists flying a plane into your building, since that would be counterproductive for them.

Excellent choice of reading material, Roger! Loved that book; loved Dr. Perowne.

Susan

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/71047.htm

To quote Luttwak”, “Instead of hundreds of dead civilians, the Israelis were losing one or two a day and, even after three weeks, the total was less than in some one-man suicide bombings.”

And then, there are Hez boasts of its own heroism and effectiveness: ” When an Israeli recce companyu attacked the mountain of Bint Ibail, losing 8 men in one night, that number was perceived in Israel and broadcase around the world as a disastrous loss. Many a surviving verteran of the 1943-1945 Italian campaign must have been amazed by this reaction. There too, it was one stone-built village and hilltop town after another, and though the Germans were outnmbered, outgunned and poorly supplied, a company that went against them would consider the loss of only 8 men as very fortunate, because attacking forces could suffer a 150 percent or even 300 per cent casualty rate… the need for a second, third or fourth assault….”

Indeed, Hez did not fight as fiercely as the Egyptians in 1973 or the Jordanians in 1967 – as Israeli casualty figures demonstrate.

To quote Luttwak”, “Instead of hundreds of dead civilians, the Israelis were losing one or two a day and, even after three weeks, the total was less than in some one-man suicide bombings.”

However, there are a couple of great articles about the war that cheered me up: Amir Taheri has published one called, “Hezbollah didn’t win,” in the Wall Street Journal, and also in his Benador Associates website. He knows a LOT about Lebanese politics…

And the second article is by Edward Luttwak, entitled, “It’s so easy to misread war,” with the subtitle, “The 1973 Yom Kippur War left the Arab world gloating – till it realized what it had lost…” This gem, well worth reading, is in the Thursday, August 24 Globe and Mail, page A15 – unfortunately behind one of those ‘walls’. One of the highlights is: “Hezbollah certainly held its ground, but its mediocrity is revealed by the casualties it inflicted, which were very few.” Luttwak works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, so this article MAY reappear there…

The Department of Justice seem incapable of bringing charges against any of the leakers of National Security information, what has occurred on the front pages of the New York Times should bring jail time instead of Pulitzerís but nothing yet, same old Walter Duranty smoke and mirrors from that purveyor of disinformation and misinformation.

We have traitors and traitorous actions but nothing is done. We have millions coming across the border illegally and nothing is done. We have a ìDeath Cultî masquerading as a religion and are still letting their ìPeace Lovingî Imamís into the country still so they can teach little kiddies how to carry Semtex to school in their lunch boxes. All of this happens under the auspices of Political Correctness and the wonders of Diversity; this will get us killed.

Poor Israel will find that itís not wise to elect some one akin to Jimmy Carter. By losing the skirmish with Hezbollah they have emboldened their enemy who now tastes blood for the first time and they will be back. Israel has fallen for the same Political Correctness and Diversity plans that the Elitist left has shoveled to us through our Universityís and Media. Israel and 6 million citizens have to get their heads screwed back on or they will get them chopped off by the Islamic Head Choppers.

It feels like 1938 again and Neville Chamberlain is once more feeding pabulum to the babes in the woods. Reading a little history will go a long way; there is really no use in having to do this once more. Got to take the gloves off before they get a bomb and then a city.

The Bush administration tried going after the CIA and so far it has had mixed results. In fact I would say they made a point of going after him.

My exbrother-in-law went to work for the Justice Dept, DEA, right out of grad school 1972. He is still there. Think of all the administrations he has seen come and go. But he is also very serious about his job and does not play politics. We forget these people are called the permanent government for a reason.

I have heard practically nothing about this socalled investigation in the news so I doubt if it will come to much of anything. Sometimes I wonder if promises of an investigation is just a way to pacify people. BTW, I might be wrong about this but it seems to me that I read somewhere that if the US sells a state military hardware, there are legal strings attached. We are not China or Russia..we don’t just sell the stuff, take the money and forget about it.