Just a Few Observations of the ME War...
I'm glad that some of you carried on with my previous post while I was gone. I had to spend four days in a hospital for severe back pain. Though it was very difficult, I've had the pleasure of being a news junkie while being in agony in room 210.
Since I don't subscribe to cable, I had the pleasure of having non-stop coverage of the Mid-East turmoil, presented mainly by FOX and also MSNBC and CNN. Perhaps I am imagining things, but it seems that 24 hour news outlets lust for information, to the point that they try to determine ahead of time what will happen, and with that, the consequences of that which may happen...if it happens. I found this to be irritating.
Second, a question began rolling around in my mind as I watched the news coverage. Have you noticed that world opinion howls much louder and with greater vehemence at Israel (i.e. the actions of the Israeli's attack at Qana and the 40 (28?) children killed) when innocent people die in bombings than when Hezbollah kills innocents with their rocket launches? Do different rules apply? It seems that if you have a superior military, you must operate with a set of expectations that are next to impossible to fulfill; if you are an inferior force or an underdog, you are allowed to break some rules to make it even. So, Israel is stronger...therefore, they have no excuse for the deaths of innocents. Poor Hezbollah can only afford these stupid little rockets that they cannot aim...they can't help killing innocents when they send their rockets into Haifa to kill innocents.
My hope is that Israel completely dismantles Hezbollah, both militarily and diplomatically before the soft-skulled dupes of our media et al succumb to the propaganda of Hezbollah.
posted by Underground Logician @ 4:13 PM
14 comments
14 Comments:
Kathleen:
Hey!
I have only my opinion, but there seems to be a fear of being strong, that somehow strength is something to be mistrusted. The push seems to be around having everything be equal.
This idea doesn't even work on the playground, not to mention the battleground. What bully is going to give up his advantage to make all things equal? I know of none. Vice versa, what moron would give up his superior strength or position to a bully who wants to hurt or destroy him. This is absolute lunacy.
I have heard about UN witnessing the abduction, but I'm not sure. I'll take a gander in the WWW to see.
Great to have you on board!
"It seems that if you have a superior military, you must operate with a set of expectations that are next to impossible to fulfill; if you are an inferior force or an underdog, you are allowed to break some rules to make it even. "
No, It seems to me that if you claim the moral high ground you are expected to operate from that ground. If it is wrong for your enemy to kill your innocent civilians then it is wrong for you to kill theirs, period. The same thing goes for torturing prisoners at abu Grhaib, gitmo, killing civilians, etcs...
I agree. Now let's clean up the communication. It is gravely wrong to INTENTIONALLY kill the innocent or hide military installations or activity within the civilian population that would make the killing of innocent people possible.
A moral equivalence is being made that Israel is doing precisely what Hezbollah is doing, which is categorically false. Israel has video of rockets being launched from residential neighborhoods that with said rockets, innocent people are dying. Israel is NOT invoking a terrorist approach to war. In walking the high moral road, Israel made horrific errors.
Let's face it. I hate war. I don't want war. It is precisely the death of innocent people and the manner of their deaths that make it immoral. However, the casual and sloppy approach of the world's media in handling this situation is a travesty in justice regarding the media's obligation to give us the truth. This is my main gripe during this terrible crisis.
Israel carry out acts of terror and war crimes across the region and has done since its foundation. It de-stabalizes the entire region with its aggressive, exspansionist behaviour.
Are you are suggesting that the aggressive behaviour of Israel and the children it kills needs to be forgiven? The death totals don't match up, Israel is targetting civilians and committing war crimes.
That is a fact.
Your observations UL are consistantly based on a disfiguring of Zionist history and a seeming lack of respect for the Arab world.
Why is this?
I don't disrespect the Arab World. That is really really big and too much for me to handle. I just despise terrorists like Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Qaida, and their ilk. That's all. Unfortunately, they're all Muslim. And more, I don't feel sorry for the little Muslims who just want to fire Katyusha rockets to kill innocent Israeli citizens without the threat of physical harm. So you could say I'm really really really mean, insensitive and Zenophobic, not to mention homophobic too. I'm a real mess. But, you knew all this when you asked. Silly goose.
If a murderer hides behind a child do you kill the child to get the mruderer?
Is there good killing and bad killing? Is it relative to the situation, to your culture or your belief system?
This usually thepoint at which the moral absolutist goes off the tracks.
You have a false analogy. If a man is hiding behind a child and continues to shoot and kill innocent women and children and is intent on continuing to do so, what would you do?
It's a tough call.
I know what I would not do. I would not shoot the child he is hiding behind. I would remove any other potential victims from his range before I did anything else. Then I would contain him and wait him out, just like Police do everyday.
If the analogy is going to fit the ME situation, your murderer would be continually firing his weapon and killing people. According to your analogy, Israel would have to completely evacuate the populace out of range of the Katyushas. Then when the Hezbos start using medium and long range missles, then what?
In a situation as your analogy describes, no doubt that is the proper course of action. However, your analogy doesn't fit the Israel/Hezbo situation.
I don't have the ability to prescribe a solution here. I think it is an excruciating dilemna.
Sure it does. You just refuse to accept it.
The best course of action for Israel would be to do nothing. It would prove that Hezbollah can fire all the ineffective rockets they want and it isn't going to change a thing about Israel. Too bad the Israelis are mainly Jews. They could have learned a lesson or two from Jesus on how to react to an adversary. Don't you think? That was not meant to be a slur.
The number of people killed by Hezbollah rockets is miniscule and remember Hezbollah started firing after Israel attacked Lebanon in retatliation for the Kidnapping of the Soldiers.
If the Israelis really wanted to get those two guys back they could have called my old unit and they would have had them back within a week and all the perpetrators would have been captured or dead without a single civilian loss on either side. The world would never have known who returned the soldiers and Israel would look like heroes/saints for their restraint.
But of course they chose the low road as dictated by the $hrubbist in Washington. It sucks that this was an election year. It would have most likely gone down differently otherwise.
Do NOTHING?
And I thought you were being serious here. I see.
Next.
That's right. What they are doing now isn't working. What they have been doing for them past 60 years isn't working.
You know...turn the other cheek...
Next troll, please.
Post a Comment
<< Home