Jerusalem Post/CNN: US Navy Ordered Ship Away From Haifa Before Attack

[MallRat]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885991246&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

For the first time ever, two rockets launched from Lebanon landed in Haifa in the neighborhood of Stella Maris. Sappers came to the scene to neutralize the rocket that landed in the middle of a road. One person suffered from shock. The launch represented the farthest a rocket had ever reached into Israel.

Hizbullah denied that they had launched a rocket at Haifa.

Five Katyusha rockets struck an apartment building in Nahariya on Thursday evening. Fortunately, there were no people in the apartment at the time, but a cul-de-sac in the road below caught fire as shrapnel and debris hit a nearby electrical pole. Eleven people were reportedly wounded. Israel Radio reported that one of the wounded was a foreign photographer.

Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hasaan Nasrallah warned earlier that his organization would strike Haifa if Israel attacked Beirut. There were no reports as yet that Israel had struck Beirut. Before the attack on Haifa, CNN reported that the US Navy ordered one of their ships that was docked at the Haifa Bay to be moved to a safer location.

I'm not usually a tinfoil hat kind of guy, but something doesn't add up. Since when is Hizbullah reluctant to take credit for an attack on Israel? And if a Katyusha rocket has never penetrated as far as Haifa, why would the US Navy find it necessary to leave port to be moved to "a safer location?"

Dear god, I hope my gut feeling is wrong about this.

-MR

[Terran1212]

1. I don't know but it probably won't matter

Drone US media won't do any investigative reporting beyond "Israel can defend itself! Silly arabs!"

[Cush]

2. CNN said it was a tugboat

[Chimichurri]

3. First thing Bush did was blame the capture of the Israeli soldier

on SYRIA and IRAN. I couldn't believe my eyes. Could this man be so brazen. then I thought a second. Yes. Yes he can.

I guess Bushco find it convenient to bait Israel into invading the nations they want to invade. All this smells fishy to me too. But it is just in time for the elections in '06.

[WiseButAngrySara]

4. Is that an intentional typo? "Hizbullah", as in bully, mullah, etc? IMO

Israel is the BULLY. Classic case if victims becoming the victimizers. I hate what Israel is doing. I simply hate it!

If not an intentional typo, please note that the correct spelling is Hezbollah!

[MallRat]

5. Hizbollah, Hezbullah, Hizbullah...

I've seen all of these spellings.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. yeah...

arabic names, owing to a different alphabet, have no correct spelling in English.

[WiseButAngrySara]

18. Thanks for the clarification. I was overly sensitive! ....n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Not to disrupt your tin foil shielding device...

but ordering ships away from Haifa seems like a rather prudent thing to have done.

[shadowknows69]

8. If we detected the missles did we bother to tell Haifa?

We apparently knew they were coming.

[KansDem]

11. Are you saying that the US received a warning prior to the launch?

Could a naval vessel get under way and move out into safer water after it learned missiles were launched?

This is fantastic!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. I don't think we detected the missles.

[bridgit]

9. yup...

[MallRat]

14. How would we know that our ships needed to be moved?

Just sayin'.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Because the shit's flying.

I'd get out of dodge too. Wouldn't you?

[MallRat]

16. Not if I was in Haifa. A Hizbollah rocket never made it as far as Haifa...

...until now.

And why is Hizbollah denying that they fired the rocket? They're usually quite proud about killing innocent civilians... why aren't they taking credit for firing on Haifa?

Again... just sayin'.

-MR

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Hezbollah denying it is weird.

I thought they usually took credit for that sort of thing.

But I don't think that has anything to do with US ships pulling out.

[MrPrax]

10. Good point...

or why if rockets are raining down on northern Israel, why the Israeli military is bombing the Beirut airport and the Bekaa valley -- again. You think their incursion would be closer to the 'areas' of rocket 'range' if there intention was to STOP all these terrorists.

No tinfoil hat required to state that Israel might be softening targets in Lebanon for another full-scale invasion of a much expanded war -- the elements are in place. The US in Iraq will provide protection if Syria or anyone else gets involved and there have been long stated plans of US intentions to attack Iran...

Sounds like convergence of what obstentively started as a routine kidnapping in the Gaza strip?

[chimpymustgo]

13. NBC News JUST opened a brand new bureau in Beirut. Prescient?

Guess GE gave them a heads up on where they'd be bringing good things to light, next.

****

NBC Opening Middle East Bureau In Beirut
NBC News is opening a Middle East Bureau based in Beirut, Lebanon, Steve Capus announced today.

Richard Engel, who has spent the last 3+ years covering Iraq for NBC, has been named Middle East correspondent and Beirut Bureau chief. NBC says "the choice of Lebanon was strategic. Its airports are well connected to the rest of the Middle East. It is a hub for many international media outlets, and is home to a dynamic mix of religious and ethnic groups that make it particularly sensitive to changes in the region."

The announcement does not affect the Baghdad bureau, according to NBC. Engel was a rotating reporter, and the network will continue to rotate correspondents in and out of Baghdad. Engel is joined by Jim Maceda right now, and Mike Boettcher is rotating in later this week. "Engel will continue to cover Iraq on assignments," the press release says...

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/nbc/nbc_opening_middle_east_bureau_in_beirut_37232.asp