US Speeds Bomb Delivery

July 22, 2006
I am horrified and sick to my stomach.
I feel like throwing up.
The Israelis are massing on the border, all the foreigners are leaving and now the Americans are rushing in weapons.....I am so fucking scared....
what are they planning? what are they planning?
I can't even describe to you the dread and fear I feel inside me....

Over 300 Lebanese civilians have been killed. Air attacks have destroyed all parts of the civilian infrastructure and today targeted transmission towers for television stations and mobile phones in the north. 500,000 have been forced to leave their homes and what do the Americans do??
Send a peace envoy?
Support a cease-fire?
NO!
They send WEAPONS!
When will the American people take responsibility?
Do they not realize that their hands are dripping with blood?
They speak about it as if America is not involved.
I even just saw a poll on CNN where they asked the American people if they should get involved or not!!!???? How laughable is that?!!!!
AMERICA IS IN INVOLVED!

There truly are no words to describe this move by the American Administration.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/world/middleeast/22military.html

July 22, 2006

U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis

By DAVID S. CLOUD and HELENE COOPER

WASHINGTON, July 21 The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of
precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment
last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in
Lebanon, American officials said Friday.

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with
relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials
said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others
because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the
Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Irans efforts
to arm and resupply Hezbollah.

The munitions that the United States is sending to Israel are part of a
multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel is
able to draw on as needed, the officials said. But Israels request for
expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described
as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication that Israel
still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that she would head to
Israel on Sunday at the beginning of a round of Middle Eastern diplomacy.
The original plan was to include a stop to Cairo in her travels, but she
did not announce any stops in Arab capitals.

Instead, the meeting of Arab and European envoys planned for Cairo will
take place in Italy, Western diplomats said. While Arab governments
initially criticized Hezbollah for starting the fight with Israel in
Lebanon, discontent is rising in Arab countries over the number of
civilian casualties in Lebanon, and the governments have become wary of
playing host to Ms. Rice until a cease-fire package is put together.

To hold the meetings in an Arab capital before a diplomatic solution is
reached, said Martin S. Indyk, a former American ambassador to Israel,
would have identified the Arabs as the primary partner of the United
States in this project at a time where Hezbollah is accusing the Arab
leaders of providing cover for the continuation of Israels military
operation.

The decision to stay away from Arab countries for now is a markedly
different strategy from the shuttle diplomacy that previous
administrations used to mediate in the Middle East. I have no interest in
diplomacy for the sake of returning Lebanon and Israel to the status quo
ante, Ms. Rice said Friday. I could have gotten on a plane and rushed over
and started shuttling around, and it wouldnt have been clear what I was
shuttling to do.

Before Ms. Rice heads to Israel on Sunday, she will join President Bush at
the White House for discussions on the Middle East crisis with two Saudi
envoys, Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, and Prince Bandar bin
Sultan, the secretary general of the National Security Council.

The new American arms shipment to Israel has not been announced publicly,
and the officials who described the administrations decision to rush the
munitions to Israel would discuss it only after being promised anonymity.
The officials included employees of two government agencies, and one
described the shipment as just one example of a broad array of armaments
that the United States has long provided Israel.

One American official said the shipment should not be compared to the kind
of an emergency resupply of dwindling Israeli stockpiles that was provided
during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when an American military airlift helped
Israel recover from early Arab victories.

David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said: We
have been using precision-guided munitions in order to neutralize the
military capabilities of Hezbollah and to minimize harm to civilians. As a
rule, however, we do not comment on Israels defense acquisitions.

Israels need for precision munitions is driven in part by its strategy in
Lebanon, which includes destroying hardened underground bunkers where
Hezbollah leaders are said to have taken refuge, as well as missile sites
and other targets that would be hard to hit without laser and
satellite-guided bombs.

Pentagon and military officials declined to describe in detail the size
and contents of the shipment to Israel, and they would not say whether the
munitions were being shipped by cargo aircraft or some other means. But an
arms-sale package approved last year provides authority for Israel to
purchase from the United States as many as 100 GBU-28s, which are
5,000-pound laser-guided bombs intended to destroy concrete bunkers. The
package also provides for selling satellite-guided munitions.

An announcement in 2005 that Israel was eligible to buy the bunker buster
weapons described the GBU-28 as a special weapon that was developed for
penetrating hardened command centers located deep underground. The
document added, The Israeli Air Force will use these GBU-28s on their F-15
aircraft.

American officials said that once a weapons purchase is approved, it is up
to the buyer nation to set up a timetable. But one American official said
normal procedures usually do not include rushing deliveries within days of
a request. That was done because Israel is a close ally in the midst of
hostilities, the official said.

Although Israel had some precision guided bombs in its stockpile when the
campaign in Lebanon began, the Israelis may not have taken delivery of all
the weapons they were entitled to under the 2005 sale.

Israel said its air force had dropped 23 tons of explosives Wednesday
night alone in Beirut, in an effort to penetrate what was believed to be a
bunker used by senior Hezbollah officials.

A senior Israeli official said Friday that the attacks to date had
degraded Hezbollahs military strength by roughly half, but that the
campaign could go on for two more weeks or longer. We will stay heavily
with the air campaign, he said. Theres no time limit. We will end when we
achieve our goals.

The Bush administration announced Thursday a military equipment sale to
Saudi Arabia, worth more than $6 billion, a move that may in part have
been aimed at deflecting inevitable Arab government anger at the decision
to supply Israel with munitions in the event that effort became public.

On Friday, Bush administration officials laid out their plans for the
diplomatic strategy that Ms. Rice will pursue. In Rome, the United States
will try to hammer out a diplomatic package that will offer Lebanon
incentives under the condition that a United Nations resolution, which
calls for the disarming of Hezbollah, is implemented.

Diplomats will also try to figure out the details around an eventual
international peacekeeping force, and which countries will contribute to
it. Germany and Russia have both indicated that they would be willing to
contribute forces; Ms. Rice said the United States was unlikely to.

Implicit in the eventual diplomatic package is a cease-fire. But a senior
American official said it remained unclear whether, under such a plan,
Hezbollah would be asked to retreat from southern Lebanon and commit to a
cease-fire, or whether American diplomats might depend on Israels
continued bombardment to make Hezbollahs acquiescence irrelevant.

Daniel Ayalon, Israels ambassador to Washington, said that Israel would
not rule out an international force to police the borders of Lebanon and
Syria and to patrol southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has had a
stronghold. But he said that Israel was first determined to take out
Hezbollahs command and control centers and weapons stockpiles.

Thom Shanker contributed reporting for this article.



Yahoo! News
US speeds up bomb deliveries to Israel

Sat Jul 22, 5:51 AM ET

The United States is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel,
which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air
campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, citing unnamed US officials.

The decision to expedite the weapons to Israel was made with relatively
little debate within the administration of President George W. Bush, the officials
said Friday on condition of anonymity.

The New York Times reported Saturday the disclosure threatens to anger Arab
governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is
actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to
Irans efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.

According to the officials, the munitions being sent are part of a
multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel is able to draw on
as needed.

But Israels request for rush delivery of the satellite- and laser-guided
bombs was described as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication
that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike, the newspaper
said.

The new US arms shipment to Israel has not been announced publicly, and the
officials who described the Bush administrations decision to rush the munitions
to Israel would discuss it only after being promised anonymity.

Pentagon officials declined to describe in detail the size and contents of
the shipment to Israel, and they would not say whether the munitions were being
shipped by cargo aircraft or some other means, the Times said.

An arms-sale package approved last year provides authority for Israel to
purchase from the United States as many as 100 GBU-28s, which are 5,000-pound
(2,268-kilogram) laser-guided bombs intended to destroy concrete bunkers. The
package also provides for selling satellite-guided munitions, the newspaper said.

One US official said normal procedures usually do not include rushing
deliveries within days of a request. That was done because Israel is a close ally in
the midst of hostilities, the official told the Times.