[OldBlondBabe]

My thoughts exactly. Glad someone finally said it.

[BlueLancer]

4th Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Part 3, Article 1, Section 28: "The presence of a protected person (aka civilian noncombatant) may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations."

[Spacetrucker]

The truly sad thing is, this type of commentary will never see the light of day in major media - simply because it sheds light on the truth of the matter, and that will never coincide with left-wing ideals. The Palestinians for years have intentionally targeted Israeli civilians through suicide/homicide bombings, but the second any innocent or even not-so-innocent Palestinian is killed because of their presence as a human shield, the left-wing talkiong heads scream atrocities. I am so fed up with the liberal bias on this and many other issues, I'll probably have a stroke before I turn 40. God bless the Israelis.

[fporretto]

As regards the tactical and moral aspects of this affair, Colonel Peters has the right of it, but it's worth staying attentive to the consequences of such operations.

At this point, Israel and the West generally have to go on estimates of the attitude -- and changes to the attitude -- of Palestinian "civilians." Yes, yes, I know that's an increasingly nebulous category. I've said as much myself. But if Israel remains committed to sifting the terrorists out of the larger population, as police do with criminals, they have to try to stay tuned in to what their operations are doing to the larger population's opinion of them. That would only become irrelevant if Israel had fixed on a policy of extermination -- and, God bless them for their forbearance, they haven't done that yet.

The great difficulty here is that it's all but impossible to get hard information about Palestinian opinion of the terrorists in their midst, or of the Israeli operations against them. Anyone who speaks his mind has to be aware of the Arafat regime's proclivity for executing dissidents. As a result, assessments of the temper of Palestinian society are pretty much guesswork.

All the same, the war for public opinion and allegiance is as important as the war of bullets and bombs. We learned that in Vietnam. The Israelis must remain mindful of it.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

[bert]

The Wall Street Journal has declared Europe to be irrelevant.

[Gaston]

A dozen Palestinian civilians died in the attack,

The attack occurred in a heavily populated residential area at a time when most would be home. I would say that the Israelis should be commended on a precision surgical attack in which there were so few civilian casualties. But the Israelis should also show regret for the loss of life even though such an action was necessary.

[Publius6961]

Why are Palestinian terrorists allowed to target civilians without exciting an international outcry, while every accidental civilian death inflicted by Israel is a crime against humanity?

Exactly.
Why this public breast-beating and hand-wringing by Israel?

Any question or comment by anyone, press or superpower alike, should be handled with the same answer:

"When the similar and deliberate killings by "palestinians" and other Muslim Mass Murderers are put through similar scrutinity, we will be happy to discuss it."
Until then you can go pound sand..."

[Scribe35]

Does anyone else here remember when the United States bombed Moammar Ghaday's home in Libya while his family was there? At least one of his children was killed by the surprise bombing attack, as I recall. We also bombed some of Saddam Hussein's palaces, although I don't recall if any of his family or friends were killed in those attacks.

Israel could just say, as our military has in Afghanistan, that the killing of innocent civilians is regrettable but "these things happen" when you're launching missiles or bombs from the air to kill terrorist leaders.

The only difference is -- Israel got its man.

[goldstategop]

The plans of terrorists for Western civilization make Attila the Hun's sacking of Rome look like a Sunday stroll in the park. This is a no holds barred fight to the death. Its time to get on with the program.

[Stavka2]

Just like Chechin elders in Gudermus kicked out the gunmen to avoid a battle in their city and have it come down around their ears.