I am condemning these attacks on Lebanon by Isreal.
While I truly hate to see civilians get caught up in a conflict not decidedly of their own making; I think this blanket condemnation is premature. Israel is a VERY tiny nation--that has been surrounded by a bunch of hostile bullies who've been determined to push them off the planet since the day their nation was re-established after WWII. They played the "nice guys" for a VERY long time, and watched quite literally MILLIONS of their people die horribly because of the basest hate-filled bigotry imaginable. They're very intelligent people, superb fighters, and they're just NOT going to take it any more, and I don't blame them a bit.
The terrorist organizations like Hamas, and Hezbollah are NOTORIOUS for killing countless innocent civillians--they actually TARGET women and children--events like weddings, hospitals, and schools... something that Israel has NEVER done. Then the terrorist SCUM run into civillian areas figuring that Israel is in a lose lose situation whereby they simply cannot strike back. Thank GOD that not everyone believes in fighting a war with a touchy-feely PC mentality. It's fighting a PC war that has gotten the US into two VERY ugly quagmires--first Vietnam, and now (unless it hopefully changes) Iraq. The people of Israel KNOW they can't afford that kind of long-term war. The Terrorists outnumber them by 1,000 to 1, and would undoubtedly wear them down if granted the time they so desperately cry for. The Jewish nation allowed (for lack of a better word) one holocaust to happen in the 30's and 40's of the 20th Century... and they're not ABOUT to sit back and let these DIRTBAGS who hit innocent people, then use their own innocents as shields to get away with it. I don't blame them ONE LITTLE BIT.
Had the United States NOT nuked "innocent civilian" targets like Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, in Japan, and carpet bombed German cities MERCILESSLY (like Hamburg--which had MORE deaths than either of the nuked cities of Japan)... it's quite possible that we'd be speaking German or Japanese today, and saluting a Fuehrer. Sherman put it best: "WAR IS HELL"... but unless you go after the enemy, ruthlessly, and do what you have to do to bring about a quick end, in which, sadly, some innocents WILL get caught up, then you truly CONDEMN a LOT more innocent people to a protracted conflict that will go on for more decades of PC back and forth BS, while more and more "innocent" civillians die. The problem is that the Israelis have FAR less innocents to expend than do the horrible terrorists they are surrounded by. Their only "advantage" is that they have a superb military, and are notoriously reputed for the fact that they WILL strike, and strike HARD at anyone truly threatening them any more.
The days of Israel sitting back and just watching their population be decimated by a truly EVIL organization/state, hell bent on real genocide... are gone. If the Arab states around Israel push this too far---it will get ugly.... VERY ugly... and those Arab states just might find out they've bitten off a LOT more than they can chew--as they did in the now legendary "Six-Day War" in which Israel literally kicked the butts of every one of their hostile neighbors in record time.
No more genocide in the Middle East... Israel is sending out a flare declaring LOUD and CLEAR: "We just Ain't gonna take it any more!" and I think it's high-time they do. I DEEPLY regret innocet victims on EITHER side; but I equally have enough of an understanding of war to know.. **** happens, and when you fight, if you intend to win, you have to worry about tending the needs of the innocent AFTER you've achieved objective #1... and that's winning the war.
I dearly hope and pray that Israel survives what will almost assuredly be yet another onslaught of terrorist war waged against the ONLY democracy (and TRUE US ally) in the Middle East. As far as Syria is concerned--they can ...(fill in the appropriate expletives)
Shalom! In it's proper time.
(And no, I'm not Jewish--but I DO know who's on the right in this conflict!

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A2K