Bush To Iraq: Israel Is The Standard

It looks as if the President of the United States has finally declared a future goal for the Iraqi people. Although it is doubtful that the violence in the region would end (as that would be like asking for taxes to disappear) Bush seems to have settled upon what a future Iraq should look like.

And Israel is its name-o.

(IndyStar.com) President Bush held up Israel as a model for defining success in Iraq on Thursday, saying the U.S. goal there is not to eliminate attacks but to enable a democracy that can function despite violence.

With his Iraq policies under increasing fire from the American public and lawmakers from both parties, Bush went to the U.S. Naval War College here to declare progress. As the president pleaded for patience, his top national security aide went to Capitol Hill to meet with Republican critics.

Despite the fact that Israel has its own problems regarding terrorism, this has not stopped the nation from thriving in a hostile region. Israel has given much to the world, especially in the realms of health and technology, not to mention attracting internet giants like Google, Microsoft and AOL.

The tiny state of Israel leads the entire middle east region as far as innovation is concerned, and hopefully Iraq (and other aspiring democracies) would be able to attain a similar status as the Kosher state.

Kosher Training For American Fire Chiefs

In our day and age, it's always better to be safe than sorry, something us Americans learned on 9/11.

Now it seems that our fire chiefs will be taking lessons from Israel on how to properly respond to terrorist attacks.

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency) Fourteen American fire chiefs went to Israel to learn about responding to terrorist attacks.

AIPAC's American Israel Education Foundation partnered with the International Association of Fire Chiefs for the trip. [...]

"Our goal is to ensure that U.S. first responders have the opportunity to learn from Israel's vast experience and bring home those important lessons to help save American lives."

This should definitely help us out here in the states as most fire fighters probably have little experience in dealing with these kind of threats. The firefighters came from "New York City, Atlanta, Baltimore, Miami and Las Vegas."

I wonder if any other cities will participate in these types of events in the future?

Anti-Kassam And Anti-Katyusha Defense, Anyone?

It looks like Israel is shelling out $300 million in order to protect Israeli citizens from anti-Kassam and anti-Katyusha rockets.

(Israel Reporter) The defense establishment plans to make an official decision in the coming days to invest $300 million in an anti-Kassam and anti-Katyusha defense system under development by Rafael - Israel’s Armament Development Authority. According to the plan, a combination of a laser and an anti-Kassam missile interceptor will be operational for deployment outside the Gaza Strip within a year and a half.

Originally Israel was going to contract a US company to develop an anti-missile system via lasers, but decided against the idea because their laser was "environmentally unfriendly."

The Israeli laser missile combo should help defend the homeland against another attack, although I wonder what it would look like to see one of these shoot down an enemy missile out of the sky?

Note: I'm not desiring another attack, but if G-d forbid another one happened, it would be neat to see this Israeli technology defending their homeland in the sky.

US East Coast Protected By Israeli Technology

Okay, so maybe not the entire east coast, but an important part of it (the it being our water supplies) not to mention a few other commodities.

(Israel 21^st Century) Magal's DreamBox is a state-of-the-art, intelligent video, audio and sensors management platform - all in one box. DreamBox offers local and networked digital video and audio recording (DVR/NVR), intelligent video analysis (IVA), virtual video matrix switching, two-way audio and site security management. In doing so, the DreamBox helps high-security facilities - such as airports, seaports, train stations, refinery facilities and utility companies - increase safety and security, according to Magal CEO Izhar Dekel.

"Water supplies are particularly vulnerable to hazardous threats - ranging from terrorist attacks to accidental contamination. While traditional perimeter protection measures, such as fence and ground sensors, are not viable in this environment, risk can still be mitigated by leveraging advanced 'Intelligent Video' for perimeter protection," said Dekel.

You can visit their site for more details. It is comforting to know that these guys are defending our way of life in the states.

Is Hezbollah Defending Israel?

If so that's a first.

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency) Hezbollah reportedly has thwarted planned Palestinian attacks on Israel.

Sultan Abu al-Einin, the Fatah movement’s secretary-general in Lebanon, told the Nazareth-based newspaper Kul al-Arab that four attacks Palestinians in Lebanon planned to carry out along Israel’s northern border had been blocked by Hezbollah, which engaged Israel in a war this summer that proved devastating for Lebanon.

Perhaps this is a sign that Israel did more damage to Hezbollah than everyone initially thought?