The American Spectator: "By any historic measure, Israel's response to a decade of torment is extremely restrained -- maybe too restrained. And it can stop any time the Hezbollah says they will use peaceful means to get their aims. I don't hear them saying that. What I hear is a thousand Hezbollah rockets falling on exclusively civilian targets in Eretz Israel. There's your answer about whether Israel's response is disproportionate."
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Ben Stein
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9 comments:
Yeah, pretty much. As someone or other poitned out, if the Parti Quebecois were shooting rockets into upstate New York, we still would justly be a little sharp with the Canadian government in Ottowa.
Stein is a helluva character. Good economist, great sense of humor (rare combo).
You're going at it from the wrong direction, coisty.
Start with the thousand or so missiles fired into Israel in the year *before* this war started.
If you're Israel, you want to stop that from happening. The PPK hasn't been doing that to Turkey, BTW.
Okay, your turn, missiles are falling all over you, have been for a year, they won't stop--what do you do? What DO you DO?
What DO you DO?
Blame Bush. Then die. For some that would be a life well spent.
On the face of it it would appear to make more sense to target those who are firing the rockets at you rather than, say, the Christian TV station the Israelis bombed Saturday.
Only because you're thinking shallow, off the cuff thoughts regurgitated from thoughtless, shallow commenters.
First off (as Ben Stein points out) if the IDF wanted civilian casualties they could do a helluva lot better job of it than they have.
Now, stretch youself and think about what the IDF wants to defeat Hezbullah:
(1) cut off logistical support --- so bomb bridges, roads, and airports
(2) make life very unpleasant in the areas that are launching the rockets --- so bomb wherever a rocket leaves. Sadly, since the Hezbullah war criminals are firing from in the midst of civilian populations, that means some civilians are being killed, so ...
(3) warn the civilian population to get moving, using every means available (like leaflets, repeated warnigns, and individual phone calls to every home in the southern area for crying out loud.)
(4) Limit hezbullah communications in order to impede their tactical effectiveness --- so knock down major comms, like phones and TV. But notice the phones didn't get it until after the IDF calling campaign.
I just find it interesting that bloggers and journalists who applauded the Cedar Revolution were so quick to diss the Lebanese for not taking on Hezbollah so soon after the Cedar Revolution.
Oh, I haven't dissed the Lebanese, it's not like Lebanon was a nation. On the other hand, Hezbollah needs to be dealt with. The Shia can find someone else to follow, Sistani for instance. Eliminating one of the three Shia centers fighting for religious dominance in the new century is a plus if Sistani's version gains favor.
I haven't called for Israel to go after Syria or Iran either, why should they expand the war more than necessary, that would be foolish. I don't think Syria is much longer for this world in any case. It consists of several ethnic and religious parts, just as Iraq and Lebanon do, and eventually they will come to a parting of the ways.
By the way, the Sunni insurgency in Iraq has pretty much collapsed. What is going on now is a mini civil war in Baghdad where the Sunni and Shia meet.
Anyway, my main problem is the way the democracy-mongers suddenly dumped Lebanon and then blamed its people for not crushing Hezbollah.
I take it you aren't a democracy-monger. Just what *do* you monger?
Coisty, as you well know, politics is the art of the possible. If you looking for pattern deviations, they are everywhere--always have been, always will be. You go with lesser evils. If you find hypocrisy on one side, at least look for the same on the other--and then weigh your interests. Pick a side. But please, no textual substitute for equivalence between Israel's war-fighting vs Islamism's. It just gags me to read it--please--have a heart.
Peter,
Iran only loses a rook - and that applies only if the Israelis get Nasrullah. Otherwise this counts as an exchange of pawns, although Iran is being tossed back on defense.
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