“The newspaper said helicopters were hindered from delivering food supplies or carrying out rescue operations because commanders feared the aircraft would be shot down. In some cases, soldiers bled to death because they were not rescued in time, Yediot Ahronot said.”
The article goes on to say how the Israeli troops were short on water, so they'd toss chlorine tablets into animal troughs or would take canteens of water off of dead enemy solders. I'm curious…does Halliburton have Israeli contracts, too? It sure sounds like their modus operandi to me - bad water and bad food .
I wish this mess ended there, but unfortunately it's like the Energizer Bunny…it keeps going, and going, and going. If it's not troops left with their cheese hanging out in the wind, it's the government ignoring intelligence and getting the cheese shot at, and this ain't cheap cheese. What am I yammering on about? Remember in the beginning of the Lebanese blockade when Hezbollah fired off a rocket that seriously damaged one of Israel's flagships and it had to limp back home?
“The intelligence branch at the General Staff had issued a warning to the navy, long before the incident, that it should assume the Hezbollah arsenal contained a Chinese-made C-802 missile. The navy concluded otherwise and rejected the warnings. ”
Ain't that just the cat's meow! I wonder how much the repairs to the INS Hanit will cost the taxpayers? That assumes that the US government doesn't pay for it, of course. Obviously you can patch a ship back up, but I wonder how such repairs actually shorten the lifespan of such a piece of hardware. It's easy enough to dismiss it as “good as new”, but that's not the case. A repair is bound to need a future repair – ask anyone who's tried to patch an air mattress; it's only a matter of time.
As much as INS Hanit should bother me, it doesn't compared to the knowledge that Germany gave two submarines to Israel, and split the cost on a third one to them. Excuse me – did I just see a large purchase from a cash poor country float by? This is not like purchasing a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes or a Prada purse on your MasterCard!
Where did they come up with the money to buy half a submarine when 35% of the Israeli population lives below the poverty line? This speaks to an incredible disconnect. They don't have money for school buses and it is common for kids to hitch hike, but they find a few shekels for a submarine? When was the sale finalized? Would you believe six days before the Lebanese war started? It still knocks the wind out of my sails to know Israel 's going to get this submarine free once the US government cuts a check. I hope that check goes rubber!
There's also this little dandy card yet to be played: the rebuilding of Lebanon . In the request for aid Israel will have to make to the United States , it is also going to ask for “save face” cash, wrapped up in a larger aid package. It warms the cockles of my heart to know Israel has such philanthropic urges to dispense with our money, but what about their money? When I was a kid, there was a boy who said to me “you can buy me an ice cream, and pay me back later”. I haven't thought of this person in nearly twenty-four years. I bet he works for Israel now.
I've got one last closing thought to tie this sorted mess up into a neat little package. A friend recently sent me a list of all assorted Nobel laureates of the Jewish lineage, which bears repeating here:
Economics:
1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 - Simon Kuznets
1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 - Leonid Kantorovich
1976 - Milton Friedman
1978 - Herbert A. Simon
1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 - Franco Modigliani
1987 - Robert M. Solow
1990 - Harry Markowitz
1990 - Merton Miller
1992 - Gary Becker
1993 - Robert Fogel
There are thirteen Nobel laureates in the field of economics, and it seems despite all this blessed brainpower, Israel still can't balance its checkbook!
