Thanks, Nathan Issues Beyond Palo Alto, posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 4, 2007 at 7:17 am
The 200th birthday of my country dawned dismal. We had run out on our obligation to an ally and left her people exposed to slaughter and slavery. We had turned inward, sucking our metaphoric thumb. The long slide into the funk and surrender that would only end with the Election of Reagan was begun.
Then the news came in - Israeli commandos had landed in Uganda’s Entebbe airport and rescued a planeload of passengers hijacked by Islamic terrorists. Jonathan Netanyahu led the party and celebrated our 4th with an action that said manhood was still alive. Thanks, Jonathan. The world owes you. I owe you.
Posted by Dr. Ferragamo, a resident of Stanford, on Jul 4, 2007 at 7:54 am
Israel's Operation Thunderbolt story goes beyond absurd.
On July 4, 1976 four C-130 tranports and two 727 jetliners leave Israel for a 7.5-hour flight to Entebbe.
You have to believe six transports flew 2400 miles without being detected by Arab or African radars.
You have to believe that these 200,000-lb transports were able to glide in - at night - without landing lights - at a very small, isolated airstrip where there are 100 Uganda soldiers and 8 terrorists on high alert. And that no one hears or sees these howling beomoths.
You can hear these things a mile away.
Israel said there were snipers and sentries on the Entebbe control tower, but they didn't see 6 planes landing 1000' away.
And oddly, the Ugandan mig fighter squadron stationed at Entebbe didn't scramble and there weren't any pilots around.
"This extraordinary interpretation on the Entebbe raid was cited by a British diplomat, DH Colvin of the Paris embassy, in June 30 1976 as the world was transfixed by the hostage crisis in Entebbe, which features in the recent film The Last King of Scotland.
In a document released by the National Archives, Mr Colvin, citing an unnamed contact at the Euro-Arab parliamentary association, wrote: "According to his information, the hijack was the work of the PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine], with help from the Israeli secret service, the Shin Beit."
Describing the collaboration as an unholy alliance, he went on: "The operation was designed to torpedo the PLO's [Palestine Liberation Organisation] standing in France and to prevent what they see as a growing rapprochement between the PLO and the Americans."
Another excerpt:
"Although the Ugandan president, Idi Amin, frequently visited the hostages and tried to encourage them, it is generally believed, particularly by Israel - as the documents show - that he collaborated with the hijackers."
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