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Israeli Vulture Suspected of Spying Returned

Posted by timothy on from the bird's-eye-view dept.

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.

56 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Well d'oh! by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    1. Re:Well d'oh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yeah, this remind me of Saddam Hussein's weapon of mass destruction we are still searching. Complete paranoia, and totally one sided.

    2. Re:Well d'oh! by cold+fjord · · Score: 2, Informative

      *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

      “'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.”

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    3. Re:Well d'oh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      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 return to a homogeneous and peaceful state, then we can resume importing more migrant that are compatible with our values.

      Paralysis because of fear from being called racist will only put us in a situation where ethnic cleansing become a reasonable thing to do. Don't pretend it is not; It happened before and will happen again. Can we be reasonable about immigration today? Or do we want to hand control the extreme left because of your inaction.

    4. Re:Well d'oh! by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      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

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    5. Re:Well d'oh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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 it to their government, which performed an investigation and returned the animal once the equipment had been vetted serves, perhaps, to underline the pervasive mistrust that decades of occupation and war have created, but it ought not be used, as it is being, as an excuse to ridicule those who distrust such a violent, well-heeled, and determinedly colonialist society.

    6. Re:Well d'oh! by Marquis231 · · Score: 1

      The sarin/taurin rockets, mustard shells - they're real. And horrifying. But 'WMD' ? I know many chemical weapons fall under the 'wmd' umbrella but without a sophisticated delivery system like modern ballistic missiles they don't represent such a threat. I'm sure you yourself can attest that the gas was stored with, and intended to be used with, very rudimentary rocket systems featuring limited ranges. Those rockets and deadly gas cache's would never be used as a casus belli to justify an invasion, and yet...that's what happened. Kind of. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you're both right, from a certain point of view. There weren't really WMD in Iraq the likes of what Colin Powell dreampt up in his worst anthrax-laden nightmares - but there were chemical weapons all the same, and they are technically classified as WMD even if Saddam lacked the capabilities to fully deploy them.

    7. Re:Well d'oh! by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      Mustard gas has been around since WW1, I supposed you could call it a WMD but when politicians say "mushroom cloud" and "WMD" in the same breath, they are talking about nukes. The Bush administration were pretty adamant Saddam had a bomb, we all knew he had gas since the west sold it to him in the 1980's and then acted all morally superior when he used some on the Kurds (rather than the intended targets - Iranians). It was also pretty obvious from early on the "mushroom cloud" was pure propaganda used to justify the invasion, that's the WMD that people are "still looking for", the one that makes a mushroom cloud.

      The conservative tabloid stories you point to conveniently forget about Powell's "Saddam has Nukes" slide show that failed to convince the UN to back their crusade. Personally I think they set Powell up to take the fall for the mushroom cloud propaganda before they got anywhere near the UN, at the time he was the only moderate in the upper ranks of the administration.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    8. Re:Well d'oh! by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      Well said. Wish I had a mod point for you. The story sounds a bit like the plot to a "Dad's army" episode about a carrier pigeon, but the fear and mistrust (on both sides) is a rational response to their environment.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    9. Re:Well d'oh! by quenda · · Score: 3, 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.

    10. Re:Well d'oh! by cold+fjord · · Score: 3, Informative

      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

      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 insecticides can produce nerve gas. Mustard gas is less demanding, if a country has a chemical industry it can make it.

      Below is a link to the text of Powell speech. He seems to mention chemical weapons a lot, with some mention of biological, and of nuclear program information.

      Full text of Colin Powell's speech

      Powell wasn't setup, at least not deliberately. Most intelligence agencies thought Saddam had WMDs, but not everyone thought it was worth going after him. It was very unfortunate in many ways that the Bush administration didn't make the information public. At the end of the day Powell was not responsible for the information he presented, that was the responsibility of the intelligence agencies. His job as the US chief diplomat was to make the US case.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    11. Re:Well d'oh! by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    12. Re:Well d'oh! by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      "Clutching at straws"? That's funny! :D

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    13. Re:Well d'oh! by cold+fjord · · Score: 2

      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, biological warfare bombs, and was preserving documents and know-how for the nuclear program. What he didn't have was current manufacturing (to the best of my knowledge), but his regime clearly wanted to reestablish production when it became possible.

      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.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    14. Re:Well d'oh! by cold+fjord · · Score: 1, Informative

      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).

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    15. Re:Well d'oh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > 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 opponents would be back to the stone ages. The only time Israel hits outside it's borders is in retaliation, or to counter proxy wars against it. Even when it's carried out assassinations it's only been of targets who themselves have targeted or funded/trained/provided weapons for attacks against Israel or it's people. Even when it hits Palestinian territories you only have to look at the tally of rockets that have been fired at Israel proper before they finally go in.

      So going back to the likes of the 67 war and so forth which was an unprovoked attack on Israel, and the number that have occurred since on one hand you have the likes of Iran (and previously Syria) funding arming and training Hezbollah and Hamas (though no so much so now that Hamas have sided with the Sunni insurgency in Syria) to attack Israel, which they do and you call Israel the aggressor?

      At the end of the day Israel would not step outside of it's borders militarily if it wasn't being attacked via proxy by Iran and Syria, and when Iran and Syria attack by proxy then they frankly make themselves fair game - war is war, trying to hide behind a proxy faction to do it for you doesn't really cut much as an excuse other than for people looking for an excuse to hate.

      So given that Syria and Iran have long been waging war against Israel, it's hard to have much sympathy for the idea that Israel is the aggressor simply for launching a handful of counterstrikes each year.

      This feeds into the nuclear debate, and this is why the Iran should have nukes because Israel argument doesn't hold much weight - Israel acts defensively, whereas Iran constantly wages proxy war (just as it's now also doing against Saudi Arabia via Yemen with the Houthis) and just as it was doing against coalition troops via the Sadr militia in Iraq post 2003. Iran is the real aggressor, only it hides behind proxy factions because it knows it'd lose an all out war, but that doesn't change the fact that it's the aggressor. This isn't to absolve "the west", our supposed ally Pakistan does the same.

      Frankly the world would be better off if we stopped pretending proxy wars were anything other than declarations of war. If instead of invading Afghanistan and Iraq we'd hit Pakistan and Iran then we'd have dealt with the problems at the source because the Sunni insurgencies would've lost their backer that is Pakistan and the Shia insurgencies would've lost their backing from Iran. No more proxy wars, no more problems but instead we let them get away with it and now we have ISIS, proxy war in Syria, proxy war in Yemen, proxy war in Pakistan, proxy war in Afghanistan, proxy war in Oman, and so on. Even in Ukraine we have this absurd situation where Russia can pretend it's fighting against terrorists to save Syria, but the West plays like good boys and doesn't parrot Russia's excuse for intervention in Syria to start intervening in support of Ukraine. If Russia can bomb insurgents in Syria, the West should be able to bomb insurgents in Ukraine, let's see how long those Russia BUKs and special forces hang around when the F-22s turn up and blow the fuck out of them before they've even detected a radar blip, and Russia attack helicopters and jets are being down in Ukrainian territory left and right by patriot missiles supplied to the Ukrainians shall we? What are Russia's options to say "Oh actually yeah they were our troops after all, we did invade a foreign sovereign nation, please stop bombing us it makes us angry?" or to run with their tail between their legs know

    16. Re:Well d'oh! by peragrin · · Score: 1

      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?

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    17. Re:Well d'oh! by AC-x · · Score: 1

      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”.

    18. Re:Well d'oh! by jafiwam · · Score: 2

      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 of the second war, but they were convinced they did.

    19. Re:Well d'oh! by dwillden · · Score: 1

      They never claimed he had nukes, they claimed evidence of him trying to by yellow cake Uranium. A precursor to Nukes. Israel stomped his nuke effort in 1984 when they bombed his attempt to build a reactor and facility to generate the materials for nukes.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    20. Re:Well d'oh! by magarity · · Score: 1

      a bird carrying strange Israeli electronics

      I bet the GPS tracker was made in China.

    21. Re:Well d'oh! by 0a100b · · Score: 1

      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

      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 weapons: US 'covered up' discovery of chemical weapons after 2003 invasion – with many are now in Isis’s hands

      It was also reportedly embarrassing for the US government that had found chemical weapons – but not of the kind that they had claimed existed.

    22. Re:Well d'oh! by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      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.

    23. Re:Well d'oh! by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      . . . 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.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    24. Re:Well d'oh! by tehcyder · · Score: 1
      No one is saying there weren't any chemical weapons, the West sold the things to Saddam Hussein in the first place, and his earlier use of them against the Kurds and opponents is well documented.

      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 canisters of mustard gas out the back of a cargo plane.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    25. Re:Well d'oh! by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    26. Re:Well d'oh! by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      That's very nice, but the topic boils down to chemical & biological weapons found in Iraq. A barrel bomb doesn't qualify.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  2. I guess by burtosis · · Score: 3, Funny

    In the end they flipped them the bird.

    1. Re:I guess by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      Which ended up being GPS falafel with hummus.

    2. Re:I guess by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 2

      Must've been the Hartlepool Liberation Front https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  3. Those vultures! by penguinoid · · Score: 1

    Those vultures!

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  4. suspected? by turkeydance · · Score: 4, Funny

    this was a spy swap for the Lebanese osprey.

    1. Re:suspected? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      Part of the deal involves exiling the vulture Stateside, with a scholarship to a decent law school.

    2. Re:suspected? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Imagine the intensity of the interrogations. The relentless staring, poking and clawing.

    3. Re:suspected? by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Don't tell Lebanon their osprey was Terned.

  5. If it was Lebonese and captured in Isreal by fred911 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Surely it would be equipped with explosives, not GPS.

    --
    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B - D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    1. Re:If it was Lebonese and captured in Isreal by magarity · · Score: 1

      How did they interest the bird in a bunch of virgins?

  6. Only half the story by flopsquad · · Score: 5, Funny

    The media is trying to spin this as no big deal, but the secret terms of the exchange required Isreal to release 2 convicted Hezbollah attack pigeons, a weapons-smuggling-tunnel canary, and an ill-tempered parrot that keeps saying either "Yasser Arafat" or "Yes sir, you're fat."

    --
    Nothing posted to /. has ever been legal advice, including this.
    1. Re:Only half the story by Kohath · · Score: 5, Funny

      And who do we see watching all of this from a safe distance? Turkey.

  7. Paranoid conspiracy theory by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    1. Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      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.

    2. Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Shill the Hasbara again eh Cold?

    3. Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The western media is full of Israeli shills spreading their Hasbara, just like you.

    4. Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Such stories are common in any dictatorship or conflict. Look at Russia, Turkey, Venezuela. Bizarre, improbably stories of "foreign agitators". As they say, the first victim of any war is the truth.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    5. Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory by gibbsjoh · · Score: 3, 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/

      --
      -- "...I'm a bad guy because I, well, I sing some rock-and-roll songs." M. Manson
    6. Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory by cemulli · · Score: 1

      Bizarre, improbably stories of "foreign agitators".

      I read that as "foreign alligators."

  8. Israel-related animal conspiracy theories by kopo · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's an entire Wikipedia article about this phenomenon.

    1. Re:Israel-related animal conspiracy theories by techno-vampire · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Honestly, I'm almost surprised to learn that the Arabs haven't accused the Israelis of tying lit torches to the tails of foxes and let them loose to set fire to the Arab's crops. After all, there is a historic account of this being done at least once in the past.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
  9. Religious nut jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Will be shooting suspicious birds out of the sky suspecting they have other religious nut jobs spy tech on them.

  10. Religious conflicts by Anonymous Coward · · 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 religion is involved. It happens elsewhere in the world, too, and with other religions. Buddhists and Hindus can be quite violent, too. At the root of all of these conflicts is religion. And let's not pretend like it's recent. The Old Testament describes god telling the Israelites to commit genocide. There's plenty of violence encouraged by allah in the Qur'an and Hadith. The Crusades were an attempt at conversion by the sword. It is the nature of religion to promote division, in which you're right, everyone else is going to hell, and you have a god-given right to use whatever force is needed. There's always the question of religious moderates who don't engage in violent actions. They still believe that non-believers go to hell, tolerate the extremes, and therefore are enablers for violence. The only solution to nonsense like this is for the countries of the world to come together and outlaw religion altogether. Then, and only then, can we have peace in the world.

  11. Re:Maybe it IS a drone! by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

    Trying to stay ahead, I suppose. Our police started an experiment training large birds of prey to attack and take out (small) drones. Israelis come up with a drone that fights back.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  12. should have known better by superwiz · · Score: 2

    It's Tel Aviv university. Not exactly a high-tech hub. If the vulture was from Technion, that would be a different story.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  13. And after the vulture is returned. by Chas · · Score: 1

    "I gave zem nussink!"

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  14. Oh, look, found them. by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    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!
    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 Iraq and the Saddam Hussein regime. You know, ULTIMATE, as in FINAL, like "THE LAST ONE". ... Rumsfeld might be a neocon butthole, but I can't blame him for making fun of the UN and asking for concrete action back then.

    2.) Iraq had proven beyond any doubt that it posessed WMDs (see link above). You can't argue against that. ... That the predictions were inflated and basically a lie, given. But WMDs Iraq had actively used before - no doubt about that.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  15. Misunderstood the cartoon... by DriveDog · · Score: 1

    It was supposed to be the VULTURE SQUADRON and they were supposed to stop the PIGEON. This is really all because those Lebanese hate men.

  16. reintroduce raptors to the Middle East by Lauriy · · Score: 1

    English isn't my first language. Was quite surprised initially.