Arming of Hezbollah Reveals U.S. and Israeli Blind Spots

The Treasonous NY Times ^ | July 19, 2006 | MARK MAZZETTI and THOM SHANKER

[Proud_USA_Republican]

If this is a suprise to the US and Israel, how come the US pushed for the UN sanction to disarm Hezbollah?

Everyone and their frickin grandmother knew Hezbollah had missiles.

[monkeyshine]

Yep. Though this headline is a little misleading. It hasn't revealed a "blind spot", only that they have more sophisticated weaponry than originally thought.

This leads one to worry whether any of Saddam's WMDs ended up in Syria, and if little boy Assad was dumb enough to give any to Hezbullah.

[Magnum44]

definately???

It could not possibly have been the fog of war?

[NorCalRepub]

..well everyone knew they had "rockets", not missiles and not that advanced....they were surprised when that silk worm hit the naval vessel.....they were not aware of that one....or it doesn't seem like it

[hipaatwo]

.but the article stated that Washington and Jerusalem were surprised.....am I missing something?


LOL..it's the NYSlimes. Like they print the truth.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Several of their air strikes have produced secondary explosions which proves your point.

[NorCalRepub]

.....well I thought they might get a simple fact correct, like 2 + 2 + 4.....but maybe I give them too much credit..
on the other hand....I do think they were surprised by that silkworm hitting their Naval vessel

[zarf]

Jesus Christ the TImes is insane. It's the UN and lack of willingness to commit to all out wars against insane ideologies that the problem.

Appease appease appease and bizarre social pathologies are permitted to develope that should have been aborted in the womb.

[msnimje]

....maybe they are just saying they didn't to keep low on the other secrets they hold in their back pocket.

I roll my eyes just about everyday when I see some self-professed expert get on TV or write in the NYT like they know everything there is to know about national security and the state of the world.

I bet we don't know a great deal more than we do know.

[NorCalRepub]

.....oh I believe that....but on the other hand....I just don't believe what Repubs say and disbelieve what others say..have to sift thru all the news, analysis and come to your own conclusions.......

[Mike Darancette]

Well NYT jerks here is a Nov 2002 article that shows that someone knew pretty much what was going on.

Hezbollah's Strategic Rocket Arsenal

[CurlyDave]

I would take everything in here with about a ton of salt.

...they were surprised when that silk worm hit the naval vessel...

That is about the only thing we are certain of. I give no credence to reports that the missile defense system was "turned off". There is plenty of reason to hide its real state of readiness. For instance, if the system was active and did not work, I don't think anyone would want to advertise that.

The really surprising thing is that we have only seen one silkworm missile (well, OK, two launched at the same time) so far. Considering how well it worked, why haven't the muzzies didn't pulled out a few more? This is "the dog that didn't bark", and it is a real mystery.

Blatant speculation: Two missiles were shipped in from Iran and tried, just so the Iranians could see what happens. The success was so good they are holding others back for their own use, or possibly the Israeli attacks on the suply chain have been successful.

They said they had also been surprised by the advances that Hezbollah had made in improving what had been crude rockets — for example, attaching cluster bombs as warheads, or filling an explosive shell with ball bearings that have devastating effect.

As far as cluster bombs and shrapnel in a warhead being marvelous military advances goes, they are certainly more advanced than simple explosives, but only in the mind of a NY Times reporter are they on the cutting edge of military technology.

[msnimje]

....I just don't believe what Repubs say and disbelieve what others say..have to sift thru all the news, analysis and come to your own conclusions

I do that but first I disregard what certain media outlets say out of hand because their record is so bad.

[NorCalRepub]

......well ok....that is fine....but I for one want to know what the enemy is saying....being in America or not.. that way I'll know what they are thinking...many here won't read, talk to or discuss what they say....but one needs to know what is going on in the other guy's camp.....

[maine-iac7]

just now learning the extent to which the militant group has succeeded in getting weapons from Iran and Syria

Or more likely, knowing the 'world' wouldn't believe it were the US/Israel to claim this, this action is proving it to the world, who thinks they are discovering it - Now the case against Syria and Iran is 'in your face', world.

[maine-iac7]

this one slipping by them must have been a very covert deal.

I doubt very much this 'slipped by' either one.

See my post #35

Not EVERYthing is printed in the NYT

[John Lenin]

I think both knew more than these two clowns think they knew.

[appeal2]

Totally untrue. For years Bibi Netanyahu has been sounding the alarm about the missile buildup. What surprised everyone was their willingness to use the missiles and really this should have come as no surprise to anyone.

[kingu]

But neither Jerusalem nor Washington had any idea that Hezbollah had such a missile in its arsenal, the officials said, adding that the Israeli ship had not even activated its missile defense system because intelligence assessments had not identified a threat from such a radar-guided cruise missile.

It had not activated it's defense system, according to a report in Ynet due to air operations by Israel in the area. Similar problems would happen in the Gulf region when and if we ever get around to disarming Iran.

They said they had also been surprised by the advances that Hezbollah had made in improving what had been crude rockets — for example, attaching cluster bombs as warheads, or filling an explosive shell with ball bearings that have devastating effect.

The 'improvements' are the improvements of terror, not in making the missiles more accurate, the usual standard of improvement. But one expects these standards from the Slimes.

[t2buckeye]

Give this some time.....just as previously, the Times' call for better intelligence of Hezbollah now will be contradicted when they publish our "secrets" on combating them on some future front page.