Israeli Vulture Suspected of Spying Returned 109
New submitter red crab writes: BBC reports that a griffon vulture with GPS tracking device attached to its leg that was part of conservation program at Tel Aviv University was captured in Lebanon after it was suspected to be a Israeli spy. UN Liaison forces helped secure the release of the bird after holding talks with Lebanese and Israeli officials.
Well d'oh! (Score:4, Insightful)
In the Arab and Muslim worlds, if anything is in any way associated with Israel, it's perfectly obvious that it's nefarious - I'm surprised they didn't think it was the "vulture of doom, spreading biological weapons" or some such.
The Arab POV on Israel is so one sided as to be cartoonish.
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*COUGH!* Boy, that line of yours just never gets old, does it?
Iraq's 'hidden' chemical weapons: US 'covered up' discovery of chemical weapons after 2003 invasion – with many are now in Isis’s hands [independent.co.uk]
“'Nothing of significance' is what I was ordered to say,” said Jarrod Lampier, a recently retired Army major who was present when more than 2,400 nerve-agent rockets were found in a single compound in 2006.
Jarrod Taylor, a former Army sergeant who witnessed the disposal of mustard shells that burned two members of his company, told the Times the public has been misled for a decade. “I love it when I hear, ‘Oh there weren’t any chemical weapons in Iraq,’ ” he said. “There were plenty.”
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You're nuts. And an idiot.
I've checked the news report and it still says the same thing. If you want to alter events in this universe you might have to try calling me different names, or stand on your head or something ..... either that or reality doesn't work the way you think it does. It happened and you're stuck with it and even denial isn't going to change what happened. But I don't have a heart of stone so I'll throw you a bone:
Insiders Blame Rove for Covering Up Iraq’s Real WMD [thedailybeast.com]
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Re:Well d'oh! (Score:4, Insightful)
The sarin/taurin rockets, mustard shells - they're real. And horrifying. But 'WMD' ?
More relevant, these were very old stockpiles, leftovers from the Iran-Iraq war. Probably useless.
As the line goes, the West already had proof of those older weapons because they'd kept the receipts.
They were not evidence of any renewed domestic weapons program, as claimed by the Neocons.
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As the line goes, the West already had proof of those older weapons because they'd kept the receipts.
It's a dishonest line, Iraq manufactured the chemical agents it used by itself, although it did partner with Egypt earlier to develop the capability.
They were not evidence of any renewed domestic weapons program, as claimed by the Neocons.
Iraq was not allowed to have any WMD and long range missiles. He still had WMD and was developing long range missiles, and clearly wanted to resume production of WMDs as soon as possible (minus the inspection and sanctions regimes which he was buying his way out of).
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Wanted =/= has, and is not sufficient reason to go to war.
What WMD did he have, other than what the parent described? With sources, pls, cause I haven't seen a non-Faux News news source that definitively said that WMDs were found.
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You omitted biological weapons, and there were biological weapons located and removed from Iraq during the Coalition forces presence.
Post invasion Saddam was found to have a number of unfilled warheads for missiles, secretly dumped VX nerve gas in the desert, and from pre-invasion inspections it was believed that he had unaccounted for biological agents suitable for weapons.
One of the casus belli was Saddams continuing development of banned weapons such as long range missiles.
Saddam had chemical WMDs, biolo
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Many of the WMDs found would certainly be suitable for terrorist attacks. You may recall that Saddams support of terrorism was another charge made against him.
A pick up truck with a couple of barrels of home made fertiliser explosive is suitable for terrorist attacks, that doesn't make it a weapon of mass destruction.
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That's very nice, but the topic boils down to chemical & biological weapons found in Iraq. A barrel bomb doesn't qualify.
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"Clutching at straws"? That's funny! :D
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You left out the nerve gases Tabun and Sarin, which Saddam had in quantity, and VX nerve gas, which he secretly disposed of by dumping large amounts of it in the dessert. You also left out biological weapons which Saddam also developed.
Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction [pbs.org]
The Bush administration was NOT adamant that "Saddam had a bomb." They were adamant that he not GET a bomb.
The West didn't sell Saddam chemical agents, Iraq manufactured them by itself. Any state that can produce modern insectici
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The West didn't sell Saddam chemical agents, Iraq manufactured them by itself.
Iraq's 'hidden' chemical weapons: US 'covered up' discovery of chemical weapons after 2003 invasion – with many are now in Isis’s hands [independent.co.uk]
According to the Times, the reports were embarrassing for the Pentagon because, in five of the six incidents in which troops were wounded by chemical agents, the munitions appeared to have been “designed in the US, manufactured in Europe and filled in chemical agent production lines built in Iraq by Western companies”.
[Powell] seems to mention chemical weapons a lot
Iraq's 'hidden' chemical weapon [independent.co.uk]
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. . . filled in chemical agent production lines built in Iraq . . .
The West didn't sell Saddam chemical agents, Iraq manufactured them by itself.
Remarkable.
It was also reportedly embarrassing for the US government that had found chemical weapons – but not of the kind that they had claimed existed.
They found existing Iraqi chemical weapons. That's good enough.
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Let me get this straight, the lack of WMDs in Iraq -- easily Bush's single biggest embarrassment in eight years in office -- was actually a lie perpetrated by the Bush administration. You're nuts. And an idiot.
I find it more likely it was a lie that Saddam's underlings told him. He believed it, some of the top brass believed it (or were at least playing along).
They couldn't or didn't have the capacity to make more than what they had in the war vs Iran and they lied to the guy at the top to avoid getting killed for failure of it.
When foreign intelligence found this out, they thought the lie was true because they were plugged in too high to figure it out.
Iraq didn't have a useful amount of WMDs at the time o
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Aren't you tired of fighting Israel's war? We need to close our border and let these idiots, on both side, fend for themselves. Fuck these bronze age retards.
I see no reason to open our country to immigration unless unemployment is 0% AND the existing immigrants are fully assimilated.
We don't need to deport anyone with his simple measure, the problem will solve itself as the fanatic that refuse assimilation will face more difficulty functioning and therefore should produce less offspring. Once society retur
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You'll have to be more specific. It isn't clear if you are talking about Europe, the US, or Israel for closing its borders and so on.
You should be clear that the US will defend itself when attacked, such as Pearl Harbor and 9/11, both made on US soil. The war in Iraq was an outgrowth of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.
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So if the usa discovered those chemical weapons in 2006 why where they transported away and disposed of?
There is a 6 year gap in there. I know the US government is slow but why didn't they do something about those weapons back then?
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From that article:
Yet all the chemical weapons found by soldiers were manufactured before 1991, the Times reported. They consisted largely of 155-millimeter artillery shells or 122-millimeter rockets – not designed for mass destruction, and produced in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war.
According to the Times, the reports were embarrassing for the Pentagon because, in five of the six incidents in which troops were wounded by chemical agents, the munitions appeared to have been “designed in the US, manufactured in Europe and filled in chemical agent production lines built in Iraq by Western companies”.
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The point is that the whole "weapon of mass destruction" story was grossly over-exaggerated. Bush and Blair made out that Saddam Hussein had the capability to launch long range targeted weapons capable of causing multiple thousands of deaths in Western cities. That is in a totally different league from dropping c
Oh, look, found them. (Score:2)
Yeah, this remind me of Saddam Hussein's weapon of mass destruction we are still searching. Complete paranoia, and totally one sided.
Oh, look, found them! [wikipedia.org]
Glad I could help.
Seriously:
I too think there's quite a bit of really bizar non-sense that went down with the Iraq invasion.
However, you should keep two things in mind before flinging around the words "totally one-sided":
1.) Between desert storm and the invarion the UN issued 16 (that's sixteen, as in four more than a dozen) *ultimate* resolutions against
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Animals could certainly be, and have been, used to carry small packages for spying purposes. The derisive tone of the media blasts on this story clearly are meant to ridicule these fears and make those who are jumpy about Israel appear ridiculous, but these facts combined with the state of mistrust that residents of its neighbors feel towards high tech and aggressive Israel make the reaction more than understandable. The fact that some villagers found a bird carrying strange Israeli electronics and reported
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> but these facts combined with the state of mistrust that residents of its neighbors feel towards high tech and aggressive Israel make
Whilst I'm rather unimpressed with the fact Israel keeps voting in these hard right leaders that genuinely do make their problems worse, this sort of attitude is why I have little sympathy for Israel haters because it's basically the exact opposite of reality.
At the end of the day Israel really just isn't aggressive, if Israel was aggressive then it's surrounding opponent
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a bird carrying strange Israeli electronics
I bet the GPS tracker was made in China.
I guess (Score:4, Funny)
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Those vultures! (Score:2)
Those vultures!
suspected? (Score:5, Funny)
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Part of the deal involves exiling the vulture Stateside, with a scholarship to a decent law school.
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Imagine the intensity of the interrogations. The relentless staring, poking and clawing.
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Don't tell Lebanon their osprey was Terned.
If it was Lebonese and captured in Isreal (Score:3, Insightful)
Surely it would be equipped with explosives, not GPS.
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How did they interest the bird in a bunch of virgins?
Maybe it IS a drone! (Score:1)
As Israel might be trying to make new drones that US cannot spy on!!!
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Only half the story (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Only half the story (Score:5, Funny)
And who do we see watching all of this from a safe distance? Turkey.
Paranoid conspiracy theory (Score:5, Insightful)
The Arab press is filled with fairy tale stories about israel and about Jews. I remember a few years ago one story was circulating that israel was dropping poisoned candy to children on gaza. Then there was the story that aids was created by Jewish doctors to afflict the Palestinians. Then there was the one the israel was organ trafficking palestinians. Etc. Etc. Etc. The vulture story is frankly rather mild, if amusing. Much of the paranoid conspiracy theory about israel's and Jews on the Arab world could be rooted right off the pages of Nazi propaganda rags. Why this kind of trash is actually believed in the Arab world is another story entirely, but illustrates wht it's so hard for the two parties to come to compromises - if one side believes the other is capable of such inhuman Acts, it's no surprise they won't compromise.
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How about this Israeli generals son for a fairy story, very interesting interpretation of events https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] and very interesting changes in time line as presented by main stream media under the direction of Mossad and well, the history as presented by the Israeli.
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And... then the Israeis justify considerable paranoia by secretly or against their will injecting refugees with birth control drugs.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-admits-ethiopian-women-were-given-birth-control-shots.premium-1.496519
Not all paranoia is wrong.
Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory (Score:4, Insightful)
Except that wasn't the case:
http://ukmediawatch.org/2016/01/25/report-refutes-guardian-indy-claims-ethiopian-jews-given-birth-control-wo-consent/
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The western media is full of Israeli shills spreading their Hasbara, just like you.
Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory (Score:4, Insightful)
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Bizarre, improbably stories of "foreign agitators".
I read that as "foreign alligators."
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Shill the Hasbara again eh Cold?
Israel-related animal conspiracy theories (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Israel-related animal conspiracy theories (Score:5, Insightful)
Religious nut jobs (Score:1)
Will be shooting suspicious birds out of the sky suspecting they have other religious nut jobs spy tech on them.
Religious conflicts (Score:1)
This foolishness is motivated by religious conflicts where it's Jews vs. Christians vs. Muslims. All believe they're correct and have a god-given right to live in a particular spot. Furthermore, they believe god authorizes using all means necessary to evict others from those locations or force them to convert. As long as religion is permitted, these issues will continue. Of course the bird wasn't a threat to Lebanon or anyone else, nor was its GPS tracker. But this is the type of stupidity that occurs when
should have known better (Score:3)
And after the vulture is returned. (Score:2)
"I gave zem nussink!"
Misunderstood the cartoon... (Score:2)
reintroduce raptors to the Middle East (Score:1)