Did the commandoes enter from the Golan or from Iraq? The latter, probably.

Kishke:

Y'know, it's a funny thing. I wrote to a friend who knows stuff and he declined to comment. Stunning.

That could be read either way.

Kishke:

I read it to mean that the commandos entered via Brooklyn.

Kishke:

Seriously:

Here is a link from Janes.
Israeli Patrols in Western Iraq: A sensitive and dangerous job

- 27 September 2002

While politicians and media are discussing the prospect of war with Iraq, the Israelis are taking action. Foreign Report has been told exclusively that Israeli special forces are already operating reconnaissance patrols in western Iraq. These operations are carried out secretly by Israel's best-trained commandos, the 'Sayeret Matkal'. Their mission: to find and identify places used by, or likely to be used by, Iraqi Scud missile-launchers
http://www.janes.com/regional_news/africa_middle_east/news_briefs/fr020927_01.shtml

I read it to mean that the commandos entered via Brooklyn.

You're probably right. It's a lot easier to live off the land when you're in the land of a thousand bagel stores.

They sure didn't come off of the 405. They'd still be passing Getty Center.

That's all fine. What, however, do you think about Obadiah Shoher's criticism pf Rosh Hashanah as aholiday that has nothing to do with New Year? Here, for example http://samsonblinded.org/blog/petty-paganism.htm

Robert:

Finally Israel has restored her military deterrence in the middle east!!

The recent raid deep into Syrian territory has no doubt rattled Assad. He will surely rethink any intention he had regarding a military strike against Israel.
Iran no doubt has also come to realize that it's borders are wide open to Israeli air assault.

The thing about the arabs is is that they are actually quite cowardly. Much like a small dog who barks incessantly, once you make even the smallest aggressive move toward him he quickly cowers.

Long live the IDF and it's courageous young men and women- true jewish heroes

There's interesting stuff on the topic here. The site is annoyingly slow to load.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.c...rain- bolto.html

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.c...n-cement- n.html

This raises another thought, though. If Saddam had sent his remaining WMD to Syria, they wouldn't be dealing with NK for what they already had. Trucks were seen going to Syria - what was in them? The deserts are immense - could he have "planted" them in Syria without Syria knowing? I still believe that Saddam had _some_ WMD. We didn't find them. Where did they go?

David:

Yes, now that the wretched Dan Halutz is gone and replaced by Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. It also helps that Ehud Barak is Minister of Defense. Though he's angling for PM.

This is what happens when the IDF is not constrained by political considerations and civilian populations.

Suek:

We don't know what Saddam sent to Syria. It might have been chemical, bio weapons, notoriously difficult to safely store and then weaponize.

We just don't know.

We do know that the Norks are doing nuclear deals with the Persians and we know that this cannot stand.

The laser pointer is mightier than the sword.

Ralphie:

An advance team of CIA operatives also set up a laser spear-head in Afghanistan to help direct the American air campaign. This beautifully coordinated ground/air attack rolled up the Taliban and sent them scurrying in retreat in record time.

The Syrians and the Iranians have just been put on notice that every one of their incredibly expensive Russian air defense systems are little more than junk; they know that they are vulnerable to an IAF strike anytime, anywhere and they can do little about save kvetch in the U.N.

Which is lovely to behold.

Robert--Did you see Iran's reaction to the Syria raid? I think there is a direct correlation between the size of Iran's threat and how freaked out they are that Israel can enter their air space whenever it pleases: Iran says 600 missles pointed at Israel.

Fern:

The Iranians are in melt-down mode. They have no air force. No real pilots. The Israelis would blow them out of the air before they could take evasive action. It'd be pure slaughter. Iranian air defenses are a mild joke. Six hundred missiles? I doubt it. Maybe 60, half of which will explode over Tehran.

Still, Israel has to take the Persian threat seriously. If even one missile gets through the casualties could be terrible.

The Persians are very good at killing civilians, and hiding among civilians. In truth, they fight like old women. But fighting like true men, forget it, the Persians are simply incapable. They are a terrorist nation, have been for 30 years.

Good job guys this is the first post in a long time that wasn't just name-calling. I've learned quite a bit and you are added to my bookmarks now. It is also good to see Iran being called Persians instead of Muslums, a distintion that needs to be made, but too few in the U.S. actually realize.

i ment arabs not muslims my mistake

Sterling:

Thanks so much for your comment. Too many in the West think that Persian and Arab culture are the same.

Not.

In fact, the Arabs hate the Persians and the Persians hate the Arabs. The Persians are Shia, and the Arab states are by majority Sunni.

And let's not forget that Iran and Iraq fought a bloody 8 year war that resulted in approximately 1 million battlefield casualties.

The big, dirty secret of the Arab world is that every front-line Sunni Arab state would like nothing better than for Israel (or America) to bomb the Persian nuclear program out of existence.

The Saudis, certainly the most anxiety-ridden Sunnis in the neighborhood, would probably share intelligence with the infidel Jew-Israelis in order to make sure the job is done properly—that's a pretty stark measure of how deeply they hate and fear the Shia Persians.