Day 5 & 6- ON Ground Updates, Israel/Palestinian Conflict, December 31, 2008 & Jan. 01, 2009

ON Ground Updates:
* Operation 'Cast Lead' *
* Day Five & Six*
Retaliation for Ongoing Rocket Attacks against the Jewish State
Continues With Determined Brute Force
Israel/Palestinian Conflict.
Post Dates: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 & Thursday 01, 2009
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About photo: Gazan boy evacuated to Israel for medical treatment.
Click HERE for the story behind the picture...

Photo Credit: IDF Spokesperson

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On the fifth day of Operation 'Cast Lead' Israel has continued to pound targets all over Gaza and no letup seems to be in sight. Needless to say that Hamas has continued its rocket fire and today they shot further into Israel than they ever have before. Reports on casualties varied late this evening but from what I see... it’s probably around 390/400 Dead and at least 1,700 Wounded.
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Being it’s New Year’s Eve and my wife is telling me to get off the computer today... I’ll leave you with the following reports of this ongoing conflict as it is being reported...
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Benjamin Netanyahu Gaza Statement

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About news video: Benjamin Netanyahu Gaza Statement in English - Posted Dec. 29th
News video posted on YouTube by LikudNetanyahu
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JerusalemOnline.com
Israel’s Channel 2 News Online
Click out their Daily News Report HERE.

(Due to HEAVY Internet traffic, News Video may take a few to load)

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Click Banner above to get all the Updated News from the ones making it... The Israeli Defense Forces!
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POST UPDATE:
Thursday, January 01, 2009
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Israel Kills Top Hamas Figure.

About Video: An Israeli warplane dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on the home of one of Hamas' top five decision-makers Thursday, instantly killing him and 18 others, while the Israeli army said troops massed on the Gaza border were ready for any order to invade. Jan. 1st
Info/News Video posted on YouTube by AssociatedPress
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* YNETNews.com reports it this way...
Israel on Thursday killed a senior Hamas political leader in an air strike in the Gaza Strip, the first such attack in its six-day-old offensive... The air strike killed Nizar Rayyan along with nine other people, including his wife and three children, Hamas said. Another 25 people were wounded. Security sources told Ynet that the house was also used as an arms cache, a communications headquarters and concealed a tunnel's opening... Israeli military sources confirmed that Rayyan, who was considered the Hamas leadership's liaison with the group's military wing, was killed in an attack on his north Gaza home.
Read their report in full at link below...
Hamas leader, 20 Palestinians killed in IAF strikes
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* YNETNews.com also has this report...
The killing of Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan by the IDF would cause the organization to attempt to launch a large-scale terror attack against Israel to avenge the commander's death, IDF officials estimated Thursday... Meanwhile, the IAF continued its airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. A mosque in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza was hit late Thursday night. The army said that the place was being used to store weapons and as a communications outpost...
Read the rest at link below...
IAF strikes continue; IDF expects Hamas revenge

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More updated news to come as Operation 'Cast Lead' continues...

God’s speed in a fast... successful mission, IDF
And in the end...
I hope you can finally achieve a
Long Lasting Peace

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May peace be found in all parts of this wonderful world of ours this coming year. This New Year's Day... go ahead and take a moment to reflect on what has been and what you wish/pray might be in the up and coming year.

And with that said...

Happy New Year Everyone
AubreyJ.........

..
Oh yeah...
For my friends on the left--
Iraq is won.
And Afghanistan is not getting worse...

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Instead... the war has moved to Pakistan, (basically along the rugged, unruly Boarder Regions... just inside of Pakistan... along the Afghan/Pakistan Boarder,) and IT is going to hell in a hand basket... And fast!

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Day 4- ON Ground Updates, Israel/Palestinian Conflict, December 30, 2008

ON Ground Updates:
* Operation 'Cast Lead' *
* Day Four *
Retaliation for Ongoing Rocket Attacks against the Jewish State
Israel/Palestinian Conflict
Tuesday, December 302008
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IDF File Photo

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Israeli officials are meeting in Jerusalem this evening to decide on Israel's next move against Hamas. One proposal under consideration is a temporary cease-fire proposal by France. I for one believe that in a key meeting tomorrow... it’s more likely that they will end up taking final steps in the preparations of a soon coming massive ground offensive...
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Let’s see how the news of this ongoing conflict is being reported today...
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* AFP had this report up on their website earlier this morning and it starts off like this... President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday ruled out reopening Egypt's border with war-battered Gaza until representatives of the Palestinian Authority and EU observers are deployed at the crossing point... Mubarak also hit back at critics of Cairo's response to the Israeli offensive, accusing them of playing politics with Palestinian suffering...
Read the rest at link below...
Egypt rejects calls to open border with war-battered Gaza
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* DesertNews.com reports... Palestinian militants, armed with deadlier missiles than ever before, kept up rocket assaults against Israel on Tuesday, despite relentless air attacks against Gaza's Hamas rulers and unwelcome word from Egypt that it would not bail them out... More than 370 Palestinians have died since the Israeli air onslaught against Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers began Saturday, shortly after a rocky, six-month truce expired. Most were members of Hamas security forces but at least 64 were civilians, according to U.N. figures. Among those killed were two sisters, aged 4 and 11, who perished in an airstrike on a rocket squad in northern Gaza on Tuesday...With Israeli ground troops massed along the Gaza border, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that airstrikes are just the "the first of several" phases of attack that have been approved, a spokesman said. The comments, along with new threats from Hamas, signaled a new truce was unlikely...
Read this article in full at link below...
Gaza rockets, Israeli strikes dim chance of truce
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* Islamic Republic News Agency had this report today that goes in part like this...
...Ahmadinejad said, "It is very important for us to fulfill our humanitarian duties towards defenseless people in Gaza and Palestine."... "The crimes of the Zionists have roots in their weakness and desperation and killing of defenseless civilians will not bring them any advantage. Capitalism and Zionism along with their supporters are at the end of the road and have no option but to face their annihilation"...
Read the rest of Ahmadinejad ‘BS’ at link below...
Ahmadinejad: Real Holocaust now taking place in Gaza
Image by IRNA
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* MonsterAndCritics.com is reporting what I figured would happen in the Israeli meeting today. Their reporting starts off like this... Israel rejected calls by the UN, EU and France for a ceasefire and instead prepared for what could be 'long weeks of combat,' as a ferocious air offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip entered its fourth day Tuesday... An Israeli defence official said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had proposed to Israel that it unilaterally halt its assault for 48 hours to give Hamas a chance to end its rocket and mortar attacks as well... Kouchner had submitted the proposal to Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who had passed it on the caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa... But Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said that although Israel would work 'energetically' with foreign governments and international organizations to allow a 'constant flow' of aid into the strip, it would not suspend its offensive before its goals were achieved...
Read the full report at link below...
Olmert rejects French proposal for 48-hour truce
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* JTA.org has this report... Another rocket warning siren wails and eight members of the Levi family, including a grandmother and a newborn baby, quickly cram into the small bedroom made of reinforced concrete that serves as the family's bomb shelter... "Come on, come on! Get in!" they shout. Just before the heavy metal door slams shut, the family dog, Pick, quickly is whisked inside... Standing shoulder to shoulder, they listen as the sound of the siren's wail trails off, replaced by the thud of the rocket landing. Returning to the television news a few minutes later, they see it has landed a few blocks away at a local soccer stadium...Earlier in the day, another rocket landed much closer -- just across the street...
Read the full report at link below...
Adjusting to rockets in Ashkelon and Ashdod
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* IsraelNationalNews.com has this bit of news just released by IDF today... Military censors cleared for publication Tuesday the news that Gaza terrorists for the first time unleashed long-range Grad-type 122-mm. Katyusha rockets a day earlier in attacks on the cities of Ashdod and Yavneh... According to an IDF spokesperson, one of the missiles exploded on the southern outskirts of the city of Yavneh, approximately 10 km north of the port city of Ashdod, and "the furthest a missile has reached from Gaza."...
Read the rest at link below...
IDF: Long-Range Grad Missile Used in Yavne Attack
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JerusalemOnline.com
Israel’s Channel 2 News Online
Click out their Daily New Report HERE
(Due to HEAVY Internet traffic, News Video may take a few to load)
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Israeli Air Force Strikes Rockets in Transit

About Cockpit Arial Video: The Israeli Air Force strikes terror operatives transferring short-range missiles destined for innocent civilians. Dec. 29, 2008
Video posted on YouTube by idfnadesk
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. Click Banner above to get all the Updated News from the ones making it... The Israeli Defense Forces!
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More updated news to come as Operation 'Cast Lead' continues...
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God’s speed in a fast... successful mission, IDF
And in the end...
I hope you can finally achieve a
Long Lasting Peace

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AubreyJ.........

#19-AubreyJ’s Energy Update Report - Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008

AubreyJ’s Energy Update Report
Crude Oil Price falls below $40.00 a barrel -- again...
+ LATEST News out on the Shale Plays...
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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Image credit: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – MOPM

* AFP has this report posted on their website today and it goes in part link this... Oil futures slipped below 40 dollars a barrel on Tuesday as the market focused on weak energy demand after hefty price gains a day earlier amid the Israel-Hamas conflict... New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February, closed 99 cents lower at 39.03 dollars a barrel... In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February slipped 40 cents to settle at 40.15 dollars a barrel... Both benchmark contracts had spiked more than two dollars Monday on the third day of escalating violence between Israel and Hamas...
Read the rest at link below...
Oil prices slip below 40 dollars on weak demand
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* CNN.com reports it this way...
Investors respond to a weaker dollar, rising stock prices and grim economic reports
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* Reuters brings us this report...
Top exporter Saudi Arabia is set to cut oil supplies further in the new year, potentially taking output below its agreed OPEC target, as it strives to shore up a collapsing market, oil market sources said on Tuesday... It lowered supply to 8.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in December as the oil price dived to less than $40, far below the $75 a barrel named by Saudi King Abdullah as a fair price... The kingdom had previously increased production unilaterally to about 9.7 million bpd in August to calm an oil market that shot up to a record of nearly $150 in July... Since then, it has reduced supplies by roughly a fifth and further "significant" output curbs are expected in February, trade sources said...
Read the full report at link below...
Saudi Arabia to carry on cutting to stop oil slide
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* Also from Reuters today is this report...
Angola revises February oil exports downwards: traders
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* The LATimes.com website reports... The U.S. average retail gasoline price fell for the 25th straight week to a level not seen since early 2004, the Energy Department said Monday....
Read this report at link below...
Gasoline prices fall in U.S. but edge up in California, raising concern
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* Here’s another good read I found today at CNN.com and it starts off like this... Oil prices have become something of a contrarian indicator for alternative energy. While the surge above $145 a barrel this summer seemed to promise a golden age of investment in cleaner power, now that prices are back near the $37-a-barrel range and credit is in short supply, things aren’t looking so sunny... As we close the doors on the strange and tumultuous year that was 2008, analysts are looking ahead to what 2009 will bring. So far, signs are mixed...
Read the rest at link below...
Where Are Oil Prices Headed in 2009?
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* And here’s a report from the FWBusinessPress.com website for those of us interested in the Natural Gas Shale Plays...
Shale hit big time in 2008 – 2009 outlook uncertain
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* CHRON.com reports NG this way...
Natural gas glut weighs on prices

. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
Be safe out there...
AubreyJ.........

NASA Will Release New Report Today on 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster

NASA Will Release New Report Today on...

2003 Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry to earth -- killing all seven-persons who made up the crew of STS-107.
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Today NASA will release details of the final moments of the doomed Space Shuttle Columbia.

Read more on this or Watch the Houston KTRX Channel13 Eyewitness News HD-Video from early this morning...
HERE

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Update: 12:30 pm CST
The Crew Survival Integrated Investigation report is now available:
* Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report (16.2 MB PDF)
Also of interest
* Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report
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In memory of the STS-107 Columbia Crew

Here’s a Video Tribute titled:
‘16 Minutes From Home’
Watch it at link below...
http://vstream1.ksc.nasa.gov/ramgen/odv/ksc_direct/sts107/16-minutes2.rm
RealPlayer needed to view
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NASA History Office:
Remembering Columbia STS-107
Visit the website
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AubreyJ.........
Above images courtesy of NASA

DoD Identifies Marine and Army Casualties

No. 1047-08 December 30, 2008
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Tony J. Gonzales, 20, of Newman, Calif., died December 28th in Sadr City, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.
For more information media may contact the U.S. Army, Europe, public affairs office at 011-49-6221-57-5816 or 8694, or e-mail: ocpa.pi@eur.army.mil.


No. 1046-08 December 30, 2008
DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Robert L. Johnson, 21, of Central Point, Ore., died December 20th as a result of a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to the 5th Combat Logistics Battalion, 1st Combat Logistics Regiment, 1st Marine Logistics Group, Camp Pendleton, Calif. The incident is under investigation.
For additional background information on this Marine, news media representatives may contact the I Marine Expeditionary Force public affairs office at (760) 763-4675.

Day 3- ON Ground Updates, Israel/Palestinian Conflict, December 29, 2008

ON Ground Updates:
* Operation 'Cast Lead' *
* Day Three *
Retaliation for Ongoing Rocket Attacks against the Jewish State
Israel/Palestinian Conflict
Monday, December 29, 2008

.About above AP News Video: Israel widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers Sunday, sending more tanks and artillery toward the Gaza border for a possible ground invasion. (December 29th)
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Let’s see what other news sources are reporting this Monday...
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* VOANews.com gets us started with this news report... An Israeli offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip has entered its third day Monday, with the Palestinian death toll from air strikes surpassing 300... Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the operation that began Saturday may last a long time. However, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says Israel has no plans to re-occupy the territory, as it did for 38 years ending in 2005. Israel says the offensive is in response to repeated militant attacks from Gaza against Israeli territory...
Read the full report at link below...
Israel Continues Gaza Offensive For Third Day
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* MFA.gov.il had this report on their website Sunday and it started off like this... On Sunday, FM Tzipi Livni met in Sderot with foreign diplomats serving in Israel and briefed them on events in Gaza and the situation in southern Israel...
Following link has excerpts from this briefing...
FM Livni briefs foreign diplomats in Sderot

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* YNETNew.com has this report this Monday morning and it starts off like this... An Israeli Arab laborer was killed Monday morning from a Grad rocket which hit a construction site inside Ashkelon. An air raid siren was sounded in the seaside city just before 9:30 am, followed by an explosion which rocked many areas across Ashkelon... Sixteen people were injured in the attack, five of them sustaining moderate wounds and the rest lightly hurt. They were evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon...
Read the rest at link below...
Laborer killed by rocket in Ashkelon
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* CNN.com had this informative read posted up on their website early this Monday morning...
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza enter third day
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JerusalemOnline.com

Israel’s Channel 2 News Online
Click out their Daily New Report HERE
(Due to HEAVY Internet traffic, News Video may take a few to load)

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Here’s a few more updated reports I found this evening that you might want to click out...

* PressTV.ir has this report... A top Hamas official rules out any talk of a new ceasefire with Israel unless all missile strikes on Gaza stop and border crossings open... "Stop all kinds of aggression, open all (crossings), stop all the violence against the people," deputy head of Hamas' politburo Moussa Abu Marzouk said in an interview with The Associated Press in Damascus... Abu Marzouk also vowed that the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement will not give in and it is prepared to encounter any Israeli ground incursion.

Read the rest at link below...
'Stop Gaza attacks for new ceasefire'
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* BBC.co.uk had this report posted on their website this evening and it goes in part like this... "The United States understands that Israel needs to take actions to defend itself," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe... "In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire."... It is an attitude that is very similar to the one adopted by the Bush administration during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon - calling for a sustainable cease-fire and a lasting peace rather than pressuring Israel to immediately halt a military operation that was killing civilians...
Read the full report at link below...
US tacitly backs Israel offensive
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* IDF has the following posted up on their website late Monday evening. It goes as follows...
.Image by IDF - Aerial attack in the Gaza Strip
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At about 18:00 Monday evening, the IAF struck a Hamas vehicle loaded with dozens of Grad type missiles in the Jabaliya area, in the Gaza Strip. The vehicle was hit resulting in the secondary explosion of the Grad missiles in the vehicle. According to IDF assessments, the missiles were being transferred by Hamas to a hiding location, fearing that the previous location was being targeted by the IDF, or were on route to missile launching sites.

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Late Sunday night (Dec.28), IDF forces struck dozens of Hamas targets including headquarters, weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, tunnels, missile launching pads, and equipment warehouses.
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Among the targets hit was the office of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City. The IAF also targeted a weapons research and development center, located in the Rimel neighborhood of Gaza City, which was used as a laboratory to develop and manufacture explosives and was an integral part of the Qassam rocket manufacturing infrastructure.
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* I’ll end my post today with this report I found at the MetroNews.ca website. It was posted early Tuesday morning, their time... and it starts off like this... Israel obliterated symbols of Hamas power on the third day of what the defense minister described Monday as a "war to the bitter end," striking next to the Hamas premier's home and devastating a security compound and a university building... The three-day death toll rose Monday to 364, with some 1,400 reported wounded. The UN said at least 62 of the dead were civilians, while medics said eight children under the age of 17 were killed in two separate strikes overnight... Israel launched its campaign, the deadliest against Palestinians in decades, on Saturday in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns...
Read the rest at link below...
Israel describes Gaza assault as 'war to the bitter end'

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Note: This post now closed
Read my newest updated post...
on Operation ‘Cast Lead’ HERE

Click out my past posts on Operation ‘Cast Lead’ below...
Day 1- HERE - Day 2- HERE
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AubreyJ.........

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

No. 1044-08 December 29, 2008
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Cpl. Charles P. Gaffney Jr., 42, of Phoenix, Ariz., died December 24th in Paktika, Afghanistan, when his combat outpost received enemy rocket fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
For more information media may contact the Fort Campbell public affairs office at (270) 798-9966, or go http://www.campbell.army.mil/eh/eaglehonors.htm

Photo for the Day - December 30, 2008

* Photo for the Day * Toy Box
U.S. Army Sgt. Phillip Brown of Ironhawk Troop, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, carries a box of toys into the Orphanage of Saint Joseph in Al Qosh, Iraq, December 23rd.
Photo by Staff Sgt. JoAnn Makinano - Courtesy of MNF-I

CIA Uses Viagra as Bribing Tactic to get Intel from Afghan Warlords

CIA Uses Viagra as Bribing Tactic...

to get Intel from Afghan Warlords
Monday, December 29, 2008

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The WashingtonPost.com website brings us this uplifting report and it goes in part like this...
...The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift. Four blue pills-- Viagra... "Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam... The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills...
Read the rest of this Rousing Story at link below...
Little Blue Pills Among the Ways CIA Wins Friends in Afghanistan
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* DNAIndia.com reports it this way...
US uses Viagra against Qaeda, Taliban
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The things we do for our country...
AubreyJ.........

2-ON Ground Updates, Israel/Palestinian Conflict, December 28, 2008

On Ground Updates:
* Operation 'Cast Lead' *
* Day Two *
Retaliation for Ongoing Rocket Attacks against the Jewish State
Israel/Palestinian Conflict
Sunday, December 28, 2008

Photo credit-IAF

As day two of Operation 'Cast Lead' nears an end... over 285 people have now been killed and near a thousand more have been wounded from air strikes targeting Hamas Military targets in the Gaza Strip. Among the targets hit by Israeli war planes were some 40 or more tunnels on the Gaza-Egyptian border, which were being used to smuggle arms to militant groups inside Gaza.. 

Here’s how the MSM is reporting the news today:. * Xinhuanet.com gets us started with the following report...Israel on Sunday continued intensive air strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip for the second successive day, killing 285 Palestinians so far in a powerful offensive aimed to halt nearly daily cross-border rocket attacks... "The death toll so far is 285 and is subject to increase," said Mu'awia Hassanien, director of emergencies at the health ministry, adding that 900 have been wounded, 180 of them seriously...Read the full report at link below...Israel strikes Gaza for second day, killing over 285

Lots of photos/videos and more at the above link. ********************************** .* The IDF website is reporting...UPDATED: Sunday, December 28, 2008

About image: One operation's targets... A Hamas terrorist organization training campImage from IDF website
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Operation Cast Lead Continues In The Gaza Strip

And 

> IDF Opens Border Crossing for Humanitarian Aid Transfer to Gaza

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.* AlJazeeraEnglish website had their take on the news this Sunday morning with this News Video...

About News Video: For a second day, Israeli aircraft have pounded what they say are Hamas targets in Gaza. The death toll has risen to at least 280, among them women and children.Hamas has vowed not to cave in, but Israel's operation could soon escalate. Tanks have massed at the Gazan border, and Ehud Olmert's office says military reservists are being mobilized.The UN Security Council has demanded an immediate end to the violence, and Egypt is trying to broker a ceasefire. But the airs raids are continuing, as Clayton Swisher reports.

- This Video removed by me in respect to Google’s Ad Policies

Above Info/ News Video posted on YouTube by AlJazeeraEnglish

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* Also worth noting in the news today is this report out of Lebanon. It starts off like this... Israeli warplanes on Sunday flew low over south Lebanon, already the target of an overnight reconnaissance flight, a Lebanese security official said... "At least five aircraft overflew the Bint Jbeil region (south of Beirut) and headed for the port town of Tyre" farther north, the official told AFP... The security official said an Israeli MK-type reconnaissance aircraft flew over the south all night until dawn broke... Meanwhile, the Lebanese army and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have stepped up security at the border with Israel...

Read the rest at link below...

Israeli warplanes fly low over south Lebanon

* IsraelNationalNews.com reports it this way... IAF warplanes flew over Lebanon Sunday following a vow by Hizbullah terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah to attack northern Israeli communities in retaliation for the IDF military operation against terrorists in Gaza... According to Lebanese Army officials, four IAF aircraft were spotted flying in southern Lebanese air space. The aircraft, which appeared to be combat planes, remained in the Lebanese skies for more than an hour...
Read the rest at link below...
IAF Warplanes Seen Flying Over Lebanon

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Note: This post now closed.
Read my newest updated post...
on Operation ‘Cast Lead’ HERE
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* Click out my past post on Operation ‘Cast Lead’...
Day 1- HERE

AubreyJ.........

DoD Identifies Navy Casualty

No. 1042-08 December 28, 2008
DoD Identifies Navy Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Master-at-Arms Seaman Apprentice Joshua D. Seitz, 19, of Pensacola, Fla., died December 25th in Manama, Bahrain. He was assigned to Naval Security Force, Naval Support Activity Bahrain. The cause of death is under investigation.
For further information related to this release, contact Naval Support Activity Bahrain Public Affairs Office at 011-973-1785-4520 or 011-973-3914-6793.

ON Ground Updates, Israel/Palestinian Conflict, December 27, 2008

ON Ground Updates:
Operation 'Cast Lead' Begins
Israel/Palestinian Conflict
Saturday, December 27, 2008

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File photo by IDF Spokesperson..
In retaliation for the ongoing rocket attacks against the Jewish state, Israeli Air Strikes using at least 80 IAF aircraft, including both jets and helicopters and dropping at least 100 bombs, hit at least fifty Palestinian targets in Gaza today and in just over three minutes... over 205 Palestinians were dead..

Here’s how the MSM is reporting this news today:

* IsraelNationalNews.com gets us started off with this report...

The IDF began its long-awaited attack on Hamas-controlled Gaza at 11:30 AM Saturday, and according to initial reports managed to catch Hamas off-guard, after deliberately sending soldiers home on furloughs Thursday to create the impression that a military strike was not imminent... The operation is codenamed "Cast Lead" – a phrase taken from a well known Chanukah song which refers to "cast-lead draydels."...

Read the full report at link below...

Operation 'Cast Lead' Begins; One Israeli and 205 Arabs are Dead

* YNETNews.com has this Opinion Column written by Ron Ben-Yishai posted on their website today and it goes in part like this...

...Despite estimates on the Palestinian side that an Israeli operation was forthcoming, the IDF nonetheless managed to secure a tactical surprise in respect to the operation’s timing. Now it is clear what Chief of Staff Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Barak were talking about when they spoke about waiting for an “operational opportunity.” We should also make note of the diversions and acts of deception undertaken in recent days, such as the transfer of goods through the Gaza crossings Friday... Despite reports about the possibility that senior Hamas figures were hurt in the initial strike, Israel’s objective, for the time being, is not to topple the Hamas regime. Such move would require a lengthy stay of large forces in the Gaza Strip, and it is unclear whether this can be maintained over time. The move that started Saturday will comprise a series of operations, until Hamas announces its willingness to accept a long-term ceasefire on conditions acceptable to Israel...

Read the full article at link below...

Shock treatment in Gaza

* PressTV.ir has this take on the news today and it starts off like this... Israel says the Gaza operation will go on for "as long as necessary", rejecting international calls for an end to the Israeli strikes...

Read this story in full at link below...

Israel says Gaza incursion to go on

* The Canadian Press has the following report and it starts off like this...

(Posted around 12:01pm CST)

The Arab world reacted in shock to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip on Saturday with protests around the region and calls for retaliation against Israel... In Egypt, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit extended his condolences to the Palestinians killed in the attacks and said Egypt, which brokered a six-month long truce between Hamas and Israel that expired a little over a week ago, has been trying to avoid such an escalation... "Today everybody has to stand by the side of the Palestinian people and stop this blind military action," the foreign minister said, calling on Israel to immediately halt its attacks...

Read the rest at link below...

Arab world condemns Israeli attack on Gaza amid calls for retaliation

* AFP.Google.com brings us this report late this Saturday morning...

(Posted around 11:45am CST)

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called for an immediate halt to violence in Gaza following Israeli air strikes that killed more than 200 Palestinians in retaliation for ongoing rocket attacks against the Jewish state... Ban "is deeply alarmed by today's heavy violence and bloodshed in Gaza, and the continuation of violence in southern Israel," a spokesman for the UN secretary general said in a statement... The UN leader "appeals for an immediate halt to all violence... "While recognizing Israel's security concerns regarding the continued firing of rockets from Gaza," read the statement, Ban "firmly reiterates Israel's obligation to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law and condemns excessive use of force leading to the killing and injuring of civilians."...

Read the rest at link below...

UN's Ban calls for halt to Gaza violence

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Hamas Press Conference after Israeli Gaza StrikesSaturday, December 27, 2008

About AlJazeeraEnglish News Video: Taher al-Noono, a Hamas spokesman, speaks to reporters in Gaza following Israeli airstrikes which killed more than 155 people and wounded more than 200 others.
Video just over 8 ½ minutes long - Posted on YouTube by AlJazeeraEnglish

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Israeli air strikes recorded on camera
(Warning: I rate this video MATURE - Some graphic footage within).-
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This Raw News Feed posted on LiveLeak by m4ssive
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Israeli air strikes in Gaza Strip kill 155
(Warning: I rate this video MATURE - Some graphic footage within).-
 This Video removed by me in respect to Google’s Ad Policies

This Raw News Feed also posted on LiveLeak by m4ssive

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* Reuters.com has this report posted on their website this evening...

(Posted around 7:20pm CST)

Israeli warplanes pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 229 people in one of the bloodiest days for the Palestinians in 60 years of conflict with the Jewish state... Hamas vowed revenge including suicide bomb attacks in the "cafes and streets" of Israel, as Israeli air strikes continued late into the night. Israel said the offensive would continue as long as necessary and that it may also involve land forces...

Read the rest at link below...

Israel kills scores in Gaza air strikes

Click out these photos from REUTERS HERE

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Israel set for prolonged Gaza op...
At least 225 now dead
(Warning: I rate this video MATURE - Some graphic footage within)

..- This Video removed by me in respect to Google’s Ad Policies

Read the story behind this News video at BBC.co.uk

This News Video posted on LiveLeak by komakazzi

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My take... 
Light 'em up, Israel!!!

Livni said it best just the other day... “Enough is enough!”

More news to come as Operation 'Cast Lead' continues...

AubreyJ.........

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

No. 1041-08 December 26, 2008
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Maj. John P. Pryor, 42, of Moorestown, N.J. died December 25th in Mosul of wounds suffered when a mortar round impacted near his living quarters. He was assigned to the 1st Medical Detachment, Forward Surgical Team, Fort Totten, N.Y. The incident is under investigation.
For further information on this soldier, contact the 77th Regional Readiness Command public affairs office at (718) 352-5072.