Posted on 01/18/2007 6:57:35 AM PST by Diddle E. Squat
The civil liberty activist says news media must realize democracies are in a no-win situation
Author and civil rights attorney Alan Dershowitz called on the American news media Wednesday to take greater stock of the way international terrorists fight their wars by deliberately putting civilians in harm's way.
Dershowitz, who met with the Houston Chronicle editorial board, was in Houston for a speech arranged by the Holocaust Museum Houston titled, "Is There a New Anti-Semitism?"
A commentator on wide-ranging issues that involve Israel, the war on terror and civil liberties, Dershowitz said that today's terrorists have a new way of fighting wars by hiding within civilian enclaves and challenging democracies to engage in conflict.
The democracies, he said, are in a no-win situation. If they don't respond, they appear weak. And if they do, he said, civilians are often killed, prompting sharp criticism from international human rights organizations and the media.
"The media and the international community and the human rights groups haven't really gotten on that issue yet," Dershowitz said. "They haven't figured out that this is a brilliant tactic of forcing democracies into what are perceived as immoral actions."
The tactic, which is spreading to the war in Iraq, was commonly used by Hezbollah guerillas last summer during their monthlong conflict with Israel.
The fighting started July 12 when Hezbollah raiders ambushed an Israeli army unit, killing eight soldiers and kidnapping two.
During the 34-day conflict, Israeli air and naval forces attacked targets in Lebanon, and Hezbollah fighters fired rockets into Israel. The conflict left about 950 people dead, including at least 791 in Lebanon and 155 on the Israeli side, according to official counts.
The Israelis, Dershowitz said, had far fewer casualties because citizens have bomb shelters. But he said Hezbollah's leaders would not build bomb shelters for the civilians in southern Lebanon because they wanted the higher casualties.
"Hezbollah's best day was the day when Israel fired the rocket and killed 26 Lebanese," he said. "It's part of the tactic of how they fight the war, and the media simply has to get onto that."
Dershowitz, a professor at Harvard Law School, has written on the Middle East and the American legal system. He also is known for his legal defense of such high-profile clients as Claus von Bulow, Michael Milken, Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson and Anatoly Sharansky.
Gee thanks Professor. I'd like some more clarification from the Professor on what he means by the media has to "get onto that".
Exactly. And if the Democrats continue on their present course, we will soon be living like the Israelis and dodging car bombs and exploding buses. It will destroy our economy and the Rats will suggest talking with the enemy to appease them.
No way... Is he really suggesting that the terrorists somehow use the liberal media for their own gain?
Is he suggesting that when media outlets send reporters into terrorist areas to discuss their objectives, find out their reasons for hating us, discuss the numbers and types of weapons they intend to use upon us, videotape them shooting our troops through the head, that somehow...it might possibly be considered working FOR them?!?
I hope that he and his associates are capable of influencing the actions of the media...after all, they are both liberal and hate America.
Give the Professor a break. Some of us have been warning of this until we are blue in face. The media won't listen. But we aren't Alan Dershowitz. He has some credibility with the liberal press. (The Professor is liberal, but he's not stupid -- at least where it comes to Israel.)
I would like to see the Professor work up a legal case for charging every terrorist with civilian deaths on both sides of the conflict, since they (1) target noncombatants on our side and (2) hide among noncombatants to insure civilian casualties on their side.
Dershowitz is still liberal, but he appears to have had somewhat of an epiphany after 9/11, and he has been consistently good on the fight against Islam.
Dershowitz is a Zionist at heart and knows what is going on. The left pissed him off this past summer by supporting the Hezzies over the Israelis.
Look at a lot of his recent work. He has taken a conservative stand. Granted he is still a lefty, just not a self loathing lefty when it comes to Israel.
Dershowitz has been a way out lib. all his life. However it should be noted that he supports torture to gain info from terrorists, that he blasted Carter for being anti-semetic and that he is dead set against Islamist terrorists. Too bad more of the RAT & RINO pols. don't agree with him.
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Is Dershowitz going Horowitz?
Dershowitz doesn't hate America. He loves America. Of course, he's still a flaming liberal, but he is strongly pro-troops, pro-war on terror and VERY strongly pro-Israel.
No. Dershowitz has always been pro-war on terror and pro-Israel, just as he's always been a flaming liberal. And probably will continue to be.
Actually, he's building a legal case for suing states that harbor terrorists and fund them. If we can't fight them, we can take their money and freeze their assets.
I heard him speak in Toronto. Great speaker, and sounded like a good long-term plan.
Alan has been making a lot more sense lately in his commentary. He must realize however that the liberal media know quite well the tactics terrorists are taking but they prefer reporting that we are the bad guys and Bush is an idiot.
Not in our lifetime.....
I would not trust Alan Dershowitz one iota. I do not believe he is in any way sincere.
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