Posted on 07/31/2006 7:04:51 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Within 48 hours, it was apparent Israel was exploiting Hezbollah's attack to execute a preconceived military plan to destroy Lebanon – i.e, the collective punishment of a people and nation for the crimes of a renegade militia they could not control. It was the moral equivalent of a municipal police going berserk, shooting, killing and ravaging an African-American community because Black Panthers had ambushed and killed cops.
If Israel is not in violation of the principle of proportionality, by which Christians are to judge the conduct of a just war, what can that term mean? There are 600 civilian dead in Lebanon, 19 in Israel, a ratio of 30-1 – though Hezbollah is firing unguided rockets, while Israel is using precision-guided munitions.
Thousands of Lebanese civilians are injured. Perhaps 800,000 are homeless.
Yet, whatever one thinks of the morality of what Israel is doing, the stupidity is paralyzing. Instead of maintaining the moral and political high ground it had – when even Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan were condemning Hezbollah and privately hoping Israel would inflict a humiliating defeat on Nasrallah – Israel launched an air war on an innocent people. Now, 87 percent of Lebanese back Hezbollah, and the entire Arab and Islamic world, Shia and Sunni alike, is rallying behind Nasrallah.
...
For two weeks, Bush seemed unable to find a word of criticism for what our friends in Israel were doing to our friends in Lebanon. He publicly sent more bombs to Israel. He and Condi emphasized that America did not want a cease-fire – yet.
...
Rubbing our noses in our own cravenness, "Bibi" Netanyahu took time out, a week ago, from his daily appearances on American television denouncing terrorism to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the terror attack on the King David Hotel by Menachem Begin's Irgun, an attack that killed 92 people, among them British nurses.
This was not a terrorist act, Bibi explained, because Irgun telephoned a 15-minute warning to the hotel before the bombs went off. Right. And those children in that basement in Qana should not have ignored the Israeli leaflets warning them to clear out of southern Lebanon.
Uh?
Pat, define a Hezbolla soldier? Is he the one in the neighborhood that's not wearing a uniform??
Pat define a civilian? Are they the ones that are placed in apartments above and below the stash of weapons, that are not wearing a uniform??
Now, in the attack in question, why did so many women and children die in the Isreal midnight attack, but there were so totally few men who were killed sleeping with their families ??
???Couldn't be a setup, could it????
Uh?
Pat, define a Hezbolla soldier? Is he the one in the neighborhood that's not wearing a uniform??
Pat define a civilian? Are they the ones that are placed in apartments above and below the stash of weapons, that are not wearing a uniform??
Now, in the attack in question, why did so many women and children die in the Isreal midnight attack, but there were so totally few men who were killed sleeping with their families ??
???Couldn't be a setup, could it????
Hate to tell them that Lebanon has been on Hezbollah's side for a long time.
Pat has jumped off the right side of the pool into the deep end, and I for one do not feel disposed to toss him the life preserver. Good bye, Pat.
Excellent points.
I've spent years defending Pat on this forum. I voted for him in 2000 and have seen him react to all sorts of people up close. I've never seen him utter an inappropriate word or act out of character in front of them.
That being said, there's only so much you can say about a person who can't see the validity of the Iraeli side in all this.
All those who trash Israel, every last one of them, wouldn't take someone firing on their homes for two seconds let alone nearly 60 years.
It is amazing to watch folks have so little empathy or understanding for Israel. It's as if it were impossible for them to think how they'd feel in it's place. That's a real shame.
Let us remember, Pat is the fellow who bankrupted the "Reform Party", the wholly owned subsidiary of BDS sufferer Ross Perot.
Great post Ward Churchillbuff. You know the truth. Everyone who has posted on this board except the people that worhsip Pat are a bunch of Neo-Cons! Pat is the greatest and he, along with Chris Matthews and MSDNC, know who the True Conservatives are!
Not sure it would matter to him, as with all anti-semites, the Jewish question is really one of their very existance, not anything specific they might have done. He might be made to blush with embarrassment, when confronted with the reality of the brazen cynicism of the "Qana Show" but it wouldn't change his opinion, or his forgone conclusions. Pat, I am afraid, is lost.
I agree.
susie
He's just a another columnist despite his claims of special knowledge and discernment.
Both raised by parents who were avid fans of Father Coughlin.
Buchanan, don't you realize how totally irrelevant you have become?
Dear Mr. Puke-Channan:
They probably supported Hezballah before the attack; hence, they are not innocent. When the majority of a nation support a terrorists group and allow them to operate freely on their soil --- they forfeit their innocence. They are not innocent and if the children suffer, it is the supporters of Hezballah who are at fault, not Israel who is defending its citizens. Blind are definitely leading the blind in this world. They should send a delegation to the UN and ask the UN to send in a multi-national force to root Hezballah out if they do not want Israel to do it. The people of Lebanon will not, because they are as guilty as Hezballah by their support of the terrorist group.
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