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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
| Beirut assails US demand for hijacker | ||
| 2005-12-22 | ||
Lebanon has criticised US demands that it hand over a hijacker released by Germany after nearly 19 years in jail for murdering an American.
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #21 Israel has the advantage of a significant (no, I don't know the percentage, but clearly it's enough to be effective) minority of Palestinians tattling on their relatives and acquaintances. Much as it might appear otherwise, there are enough Palestinians who look back on Israeli rule with longing for the peace and prosperity of that time. I can't imagine that we, or Israel, have developed such a network of informers in Lebanon. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-12-22 23:11 |
| #20 Israel seems to not have much of a problem locating particular terrorists in Gaza or the West Bank, why not get some pointers/covert assistance from them? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-12-22 19:07 |
| #19 This is why we need 16-inch guns on a battleship. Just sit outside the 3-mile (hell, even the 12-mile) limit and lob shells into one of the "Palestinian refugee camps" until they hand him over - even if he's in pieces. There's nothing so terrifying as having that "whooooossshhhh" as a 6-ton Volkswagen-sized shell rolls overhead and detonates. The arabs understand power, and nothing says power quite like firing a shell (or nine at a time, as the old Iowa-class could do) 36,000 yards toward an enemy position. Especially if you're on the receiving end. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2005-12-22 17:06 |
| #18 we know foggy bottom has no stomach for anything.. That doesn't mean the rest of the nation have to be like the french. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-12-22 16:46 |
| #17 I think some people here have unrealistic expectations about what Uncle Sam is prepared to do to people who kill its officials. Arafat is personally responsible for ordering the kidnapping of two State Department officials (one an ambassador) who were then tortured to death. Nothing happened to Arafat. Robert Stethem was a genuine American hero, but he was merely a Navy diver. I cannot imagine that very much will be done to bring justice to his murderer in addition to what has already been done. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-12-22 16:32 |
| #16 Zang. I didnt say it would be easy. We need to take the 'Israeli' stance on asshats like this murdering piece of scum. He was traded for a German hostage in Iraq. THat news is old news. Bullet, JDAM or car bomb. Kill him dead. |
| Posted by: Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu 2005-12-22 16:26 |
| #15 In case we have forgotten all the story ... From the Stethem memorial on American Victims of Arab and Islamic Terrorists: "On June 15, 1985 Hezballah Shi'ites brutally beat, tortured and then killed 23 year old Robert Dean Stethem as he was being held hostage aboard TWA 847 commercial airliner. Robert was on his way home after a tour of duty with the US Navy in the Middle East. The terrorists had hijacked the plane with 153 passengers in Athens Greece forcing the pilot to fly twice to Algiers and twice to Beirut during the 17 day siege. The hostages were released after Israel released 435 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners. "When the plane was at the Beirut airport in Lebanon, Petty Officer Stethem was singled out because he was in the US military. After many hours of being cruelly beaten, tortured, and finally killed by the terrorists, they threw his body from the plane in a final disgraceful, cowardly act. The wounds were so terrible that his body had to be identified by its fingerprints. Throughout the ordeal, Robert Stethem did not yield, and instead encouraged his fellow passengers to endure by his example. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for heroism and bravery. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery." -- Mark Crawford, Bryantown from "Who Was Robert Stethem" The victim's brother said he remembers the funeral at Arlington National Cemetery and can't help but think about the flag-draped coffin. "Every time I look at the flag now and for the rest of my life,'' said Kenneth Stethem, "the red will represent the blood he spilled, the blue the beating and bruises he endured, and the white the purity and integrity he demonstrated in sacrificing his life." -- Arlington National Cemetery'' |
| Posted by: Sherry 2005-12-22 15:52 |
| #14 He also said the judiciary was exploring whether his crime was covered by a general amnesty after Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. Don't you just love the way these Arabic countries always have some sort of Memo to Lebanon: If you want to avoid any significant "collateral damage" when we take out Syria, now's the time to begin making some substantial demonstrations of good faith. Otherwise, we'll just have to assume that you are the terrorist hotbed you've always been and act accordingly. Siniora said Hammadi had already served a term close to what he would have faced if he had been convicted in Lebanon. Guess what, sh!thead, Hammadi has yet to answer to our nation's justice system. Until then, he's just another unprosecuted murderer. Try to remember that our military has an incredibly long institutional memory. Your "unhelpfulness" will not be soon forgotten and we are camped on your doorstep. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-12-22 13:14 |
| #13 Anyone who remembers Stethem being thrown out of the aircraft, his dead body on the tarmac, realizes that we must act as the Israelis did over Munich. This cannot stand, he must be killed now. ZF: Maybe we should hire a terrorist to carry the killing out if we aren't "up to it" |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-12-22 12:52 |
| #12 Hunt him down and kill him, now. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-12-22 12:48 |
| #11 Wow! I thought this yahoo was already planted. You can forget sending a team into Hezbullah controlled areas, the minute they show up they it will be an all-out war. I say wait him out and keep our ear, eys, and options open. The first time he gives a speech or attends a meeting we drop a little present on him. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-12-22 10:48 |
| #10 Mewonders if this is going down like someone said yesterday. Germany trades him for releasing their recent kidnappee (kow-tow) like a week ago, he immediately gets put into Lebanon, and then somehow mysteriously gets killed. The Germans get their citizen back (although, we all know you shouldn't deal with terrorists), we get our kill, and Lebanon gets to publicly DENY they know anything about the kill. A win-win-win for all, in my book (although, it'll encourage more German kidnappings). |
| Posted by: BA 2005-12-22 10:17 |
| #9 LOTR: If we won't risk a commando team to get them use a JDAM on his house. Bonus points if the parents that created the monster are included in the blast. We can't locate Zarqawi in Iraq - and we have 130,000 troops in-country and terrorists who hold no significant patches of real estate. How would we find this guy in Lebanon, where we have no troops and Hezbollah owns big chunks of the country? If we could locate the bad guys, we wouldn't have pulled out of Beirut in 1982. They don't paint big red X's on their roofs so we know who to hit. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-12-22 09:29 |
| #8 Must hang with Laurence on this one. The "B" in Lebonon stands for bombing. They're quite used to large booms. No one will even notice. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2005-12-22 09:20 |
| #7 If we won't risk a commando team to get them use a JDAM on his house. Bonus points if the parents that created the monster are included in the blast. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2005-12-22 09:17 |
| #6 Um, you don't? Lol, grom, I'm guessing there's no native Arabic word for a mere concept - especially one so utterly foreign to them. ;-) |
| Posted by: .com 2005-12-22 08:48 |
| #5 He also said the judiciary was exploring whether his crime was covered by a general amnesty after Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. Amnesty and "reconciliation," yes of course. We're all friends now, no hatred very peaceful, no trouble, no worries. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2005-12-22 08:48 |
| #4 How do you say gratitude in Arabic? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2005-12-22 08:39 |
| #3 MSNB: We just need to kill him. Bullet or bomb it doesn't matter. Kill him dead. I'm afraid it doesn't work like in the movies. Unless the local government cooperates, there is no way we are going to be able to nail this guy. (There is no way we are risking a commando team to kill one guy. And the fact is that one commando team can't fight off thousands of Hezbollah). And the Lebanese don't sound like they want to cooperate. Lebs don't like Syrians. But they don't much like Americans either. Although they do like us doing their dirty work for them - things like getting Syria out of the way. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-12-22 07:21 |
| #2 We just need to kill him. Bullet or bomb it doesn't matter. Kill him dead. |
| Posted by: Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu 2005-12-22 00:46 |
| #1 Saw a little blurb on the local TV news earlier about the State Department being intent on "bringing him to justice". It should be pretty obvious that we're going to get much in the way of cooperation from anyone involved, so it seems to me that the logical alternative would be to bring justice to Mr. Hamadi in the form of a sniper's bullet, right through his head. If not that, then a car bomb. Whatever. The time for talk is over. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-12-22 00:21 |