High cost of rocket fuel - Hezbollah going bankrupt!

Very OT. But I couldn't resist!

The high cost of showering Israel with Hezbollah rockets:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/51350

 

There is a much higher cost. There are 9 days before fuel runs out in the
American University Hospital in Beirut. I don't see Hezbullah who locks
their women and children into buildings so that they can make photo-ops on
CNN doing a helluva lot about this.

In tough times, docs can try to use sub medications in compromized countries
or after the moronic Bush medicare plan they are doing it in the creme de la
crem us and it's resulting in furthering US substandard medical care. That
the Senate Majority leader Bill Frist is a Vanderbilt Thoracic Surgeon
highlights this Administrations anti-science medical stupidity even more.

At Beirut this is the situation Hezbollah has chosen to set up, and for the
last 72 hours, weaponry from Iran has been rushed into Damascus, Syria's
airport. Condi and Georgie had a heated difference of opinion this morning
over whether to have direct talks with Syria and Iran. That fact
intensifies the backdrop of this article:

August 9, 2006
Shortages
As Lebanon’s Fuel Runs Out, Fears of a Doomsday Moment
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 8 — Dr. Nadim Cortas saw the destruction wrought by
Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, and the shortages of medical supplies that went
with it.

But, he says, he never thought he would face a situation like this: the
respirators and critical medical equipment in his hospital could soon come
to a halt.

“This is the doomsday scenario,” said Dr. Cortas, dean of the faculty of
medicine at the American University of Beirut and vice president for medical
affairs. “We have about 10 days of power left,” he said.

Almost one month into the siege of Lebanon, with a land, sea and air
blockade by Israel choking off the country, fuel reserves have all but dried
up.

Two ships that were to offload more than 30,000 tons each of diesel fuel and
fuel oil to crank the country’s power plants and generators have languished
in Cyprus, unable or unwilling to enter Lebanese waters.

A large stockpile of fuel oil at the Jiyeh power plant, just south of
Beirut, was lost when Israeli warplanes bombed it on the second day of the
war, sending oil seeping into the Mediterranean Sea or catching fire,
sending a thick plume over Beirut.

Even when authorities have been able to scrounge up diesel fuel to power
generators, trucks have not been able to deliver it to hospitals in the
south of the country because of bombed out roadways and continuing air
strikes.

The most pessimistic estimates have the country running out of fuel for its
power plants in a week; the most optimistic give Lebanon less than a month
before the blackout.

“We’re counting down the days,” said Nabil al-Asr, a government adviser who
has been focused on fuel issues for the High Relief Council, a governmental
board. “There are going to be problems everywhere from hospitals to water
pumping. The pain will go all around.”

The blockade has affected every part of Lebanon’s economy. Lines at gas
stations now stretch for blocks in Beirut, making filling up a half-day
affair. Gasoline sold on the black market in Beirut costs at least twice as
much as usual; in the south it can reach $100 per gallon.

Electricity is being rationed, with the power out almost 12 hours a day in
some places. Lebanon’s utility company has dropped generating output to a
quarter of its capacity just to make supplies last, Mr. Asr said. But that
has only increased demand for diesel to fuel private generators.

The menus at most restaurants have shrunk, too, as food supplies have begun
dwindling. Even diet cola is in short supply.

Newspapers have begun to run out of newsprint, forcing some to reduce page
counts and make plans to stop printing altogether. Even for those that can
print full editions, sales have dropped because of the difficulty of
distributing them.

Nowhere have the shortages been more critical, though, than in Lebanon’s
hospitals, many of which have been forced to close departments or turn away
all but the most critical cases.

Kidney dialysis supplies have been running out, as have stocks of heart
medications and nuclear medicine for diagnostic tests, Dr. Cortas said.

The potential loss of electrical power — both from the national utility,
Électricité du Liban, and from in-house generators — poses the most
catastrophic problem, he and others said.

“A hospital won’t stop working because it’s missing one or two medications —
you simply find substitutes,” said Sleiman Haroun, head of Lebanon’s
association of hospital owners, which has scrambled to find fuel and keep
supply lines running. “But a hospital will grind to a halt if it’s out of
fuel.”

The American University Hospital, the region’s pre-eminent medical research
and treatment center, never closed its doors during the civil war or during
numerous Israeli bombardments that followed. But even here, doctors and
personnel have begun to fear a possible shutdown.

“We never thought we could get to ground zero in such a short time,” said
George Tomey, who became acting president of the university when the school’s
American and European staff evacuated at the beginning of the war. “I have
been here for 40 years and this is the worst it has ever been.”

By Monday, 200 of the hospital’s 325 beds were occupied. There were between
8 and 12 patients in intensive care, 22 babies in critical condition in the
neonatal ward and at least 37 casualties from the bombings in the south.

It could take up to 20 tons of diesel fuel a day to keep the hospital
running if the main utility shuts down, says Dr. Haroun, the hospital
association official. Even smaller hospitals need hundreds of gallons of
diesel per day to stay powered, quantities that are becoming harder find.

“Hospitals typically store 20 day’s worth of fuel — now many have only two
or three days,” Dr. Haroun said. “Sure you can eventually find one or two
days’ worth. But then what?”

In Beirut, hospital administrators have agreed to funnel utility power to
Beirut’s four largest hospitals and leave smaller hospitals powered by
generators, said Dr. Cortas, the medical school dean.

That decision ensures diesel supplies remain with those hospitals, buying
perhaps several more days. More drastic plans include gathering critical
patients at one hospital that will get priority for diesel.

American University Hospital officials have also begun to lobby the United
States to pressure Israel to allow oil tankers to sail into Beirut. The
ships’ captains have refused to enter Lebanese waters without Israeli and
United Nations guarantees. So far, however, the Israelis have not granted
the ships safe passage, Mr. Asr said.

CH

 

SPAM!

 

No, "SPAM(tm)" is a trademark of the Hormel Foods Corporation. You can learn
about SPAM (yum) here:

http://www.spam.com/

 

Heck no, spam is http://linux.gda.pl/pub/spam/Monty_Python-Spam.mpg

;-)

jud

 

Israel isn't concerned at all about the cost of its military. It's paid for
by the US taxpayer.

--
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