[I did not write this, but I thought that it was worth posting because I believe that we all DO need to look at the bigger picture and try to save ourselves and our country by adjusting our thinking about who our enemies really are. –CW]
I have to admit I am deeply discouraged too. It is not a matter of just dropping a few bombs to end it all, as far too many think. These fanatics are dug in and the "disease" they carry is creeping round the world and threatens to engulf the entire world in a massive conflict it if we don't act soon, and act decisively.
We can stop the spread of this disease if the American people will unite in a common alliance instead of engaging in fruitless, counterproductive political bickering marking today's tenor. It is moving us in the wrong direction and placing our fate directly into the hands of those who want us gone.
George Bush and his administration are being blamed by the left for every conceivable ill on earth, from Hurricane Katrina to high gas prices and you name it. Bill Clinton was plagued by excessive criticism from the right that was equally counterproductive and damaging. Then you have the news media, complicit in exacerbating this negative environment. In fact, the disclosures of our secrets by the New York Times is tantamount to Treason for which it should be held accountable.
All this combines to obscure the grave danger we face. Instead of rallying behind Bush--who at least has had the foresight to recognize the threat, and the intestinal fortitude and courage to stand up to it--people like John Kerry and many on the far left are doing everything conceivable to undermine Bush at every turn, and they are succeeding, judging from recent opinion polls.
In order to regain political control in Washington, these leftists actually want Bush to lose the Iraq battle. They are perfectly willing to put this nation at risk to regain power, under the naive and dangerous assumption that they can make the terror go away when back in control. Just last week, that jackass Kerry said he could have prevented the Hezbollah/Israel conflict if he had been elected president. His actions border on Sedition and serve as an example of how insanely power hungry our politicians have become. And, the right is just as guilty!
If the polls that show Bush's popularity at a low ebb are credible, far too many Americans believe that the President of the United States is the cause of the conflict in the Middle East and the hatred that is directed toward America. This totally ignores the blatant reality that this inborn vicious, hatred--the cause of all the conflict--has been festering for the last 2,000 years or so, and it is gaining strength like never before in the history of civilization and throughout the entire world. So the right and left need to recognize this fundamental fact and unite in the defense of our culture and ideals.
I am feed up with ALL of them. The Republicans were just as guilty in blaming Clinton for letting the opportunity to capture bin Laden slip right through his hands. Clinton dared not act because of his fear of what the American people would accuse him of, and he feared the attacks from the right that would ensue, so he did nothing but talk. Apparently Bush does not fear the loss of public support, and I thank God for that.
We can go on and on with this blaming exercise, which is the greatest tool these crazed Islamists have in their arsenal--that and the American free press.
It makes not one particle of difference who occupies the White House or which party controls the Congress, because this hatred and threat to our very survival will not diminish one iota, no matter how much parleying and negotiation the naive believe, polishing, will work. You cannot parley and negotiate with those whose announced and avowed intention is to wipe you off the face of the earth. This hatred and danger will be with us for a very long time, until every last vestige of its source, radical Islam, is either totally contained, or literally burnt and obliterated from the face of the globe. It is going to take years, and it is going to be very painful and costly in terms of human life and economic hardship.
Right now, these fanatics are gaining the upper hand because we can't get our act together. We are playing right into their hands, blaming one another for the horror that is being perpetrated against us. We argue like 5 year old children about things that really don't matter compared to this grave threat from these religious lunatics. We must stop pointing the finger at ANY American an accusing him or her of wrongdoing. Every utterance of that nature is the vital fuel that feeds the terror machine, and it must stop. It is far too easy for Americans to lay the blame in Washington for this menace, so I say let dispense with this dangerous accusatory political environment.
What is happening in Iraq and Lebanon is just a sample of the bitter cup that will pass to us if we don't unite and step up the plate. That is why I continue to support Bush, despite whatever mistakes he has made, and he has made many, as did Clinton. Had we carried on like this after Pearl Harbor, we would all be speaking Japanese and German. The country united behind our military and behind Roosevelt. They stood beside Truman too, until we had won an unconditional surrender from those who wanted to destroy us. The gravity of the current situation is no less urgent. Nothing short of this kind of unity will work to defeat radical Islam. As I have repeatedly stated, this war was declared on us long before George Bush or Bill Clinton ever occupied the White House. It's most recent incarnation dates back to the time when Carter was president and our embassy and citizens were held captive by a radical religious regime in Iraq for 444 days! We must never forget that this was when they declared war upon us.
So let's forget the mistakes of Bush, Clinton, Bush Sr., Reagan and Carter, as there are plenty to chose from. Instead, let's place the blame and focus directly where it properly belongs--not in Washington, but in Tehran, Damascus, and Pyongyang. We must not scuttle Iraq either, and [we must] remain steadfast in establishing a stable democracy there, to serve as our pivotal base in dealing with Syria and Iran, and Hezbollah.
I think it unbelievable that Israel has not attacked Syria and Iran, which is the real source of the conflict in Lebanon. The idea of dispatching "an International Peacekeeping Force" to a buffer zone in Lebanon is about as ludicrous and unworkable a scheme as anyone could possibly concoct or conceive. As long as Syria and Iran are permitted to support Hezbollah with money, arms and even personnel, the best that can happen is a short, temporary lull in hostilities, which will give Hezbollah an opportunity to regain strength and fight another day, and a very soon at that.
It is the avowed intention of Tehran and Hezbollah to obliterate and destroy Israel. Other than 9/11 and the deaths and injuries caused by Osama, Hezbollah has caused more deaths to Americans than any other terrorist group, bar none. The intentions of Hezbollah, Tehran, Damascus, and yes, North Korea will not subside with more resolutions from the feckless, toothless organization comprised of too many of our enemies, the United Nations. You would think we would have learned by now that the UN is, indeed, and enemy of the United States, but we are falling right back into the trap, once again, of giving this useless organization credence, by toying around with another useless resolution, which will do nothing more than strengthen the prestige of Hezbollah in the eyes of the world--exactly what they want.
The UN has never prevented a war. The UN has never stopped a war and it will not stop this one between the West and radical Islamists. The UN has been "peacekeeping" in Lebanon for 28 years and during its tenure, allowed Hezbollah to arm and take control of the southern half of the country--a state within a state. We must not, nor should Israel, relinquish one iota of our sovereignty to this corrupt gang of renegades in the United Nations. How can anyone, in their right mind, conclude otherwise. When, when, when, will Americans learn that the UN is our mortal enemy? It always capitulates to terror, and to those who oppose us. One would think and hope that we would steer away from this monstrous institution and never let it get even close to involvement in this mess in Lebanon, yet here we are, yielding to Kofi Annan, the Russians, and the French, in supporting this current insanity of a cease fire. I have only to hope that we are merely mouthing the words to keep the left and our so-called International allies at bay, while we quietly allow Israel to finish the job of eliminating, or at least dramatically crippling Hezbollah, temporarily. I hope this is the case, because pushing Israel out now, under the guise of a sham peace accord, is exactly what Iran and Hezbollah are expecting, and very likely to get, if we fall into their clever trap, which seems boldly obvious to me.
No matter what happens in Lebanon, if Syria, Iran, and North Korea are not dealt with decisively--and very soon--we will find ourselves in a nuclear war that will make World War II seem like a cupcake. It killed over 400,000 American soldiers and over 35,000,000 civilians, not to mention the hundreds of millions who perished under the brutality of the Soviet Communist regime. Most of this could had been prevented if the free world had been courageous enough to act in a timely and decisive way to destroy these tyrants before they gained enough power to threaten the entire world. But we didn't, and the costs were enormous. Have we learned from our mistakes, or are we bound to repeat our futility? It is not too late for us to once again defend ourselves, but if we wait until Iran and North Korea can nuke us, then I fear all will be lost.
One final note. I hope that whoever wins the election in 2008 will have the courage and balls to continue to stand up and fight this menace, as George Bush has done. I think when history eventually judges Bush, it will be recorded that he did what was right for the country and helped to save our nation from destruction, just as Lincoln did in preserving the Union, in the bloodiest war of all time. Let's just hope the next occupant of the White House will do the same.
There is just one thing in your message below that troubles me where you say: If the Muslims really do try to take over the world, including the US, I guess my . . . ."
This is not a question of IF.
Radical Islamists ARE, indeed, attempting to establish a world wide Caliphate, with the Middle East as its epicenter. The West stands in the way, so they don't want to "take over" the US, they literally want to destroy the United States, along with Israel and other freedom nations of the world who do not to embrace their radical version of Islam, That's what a lot of folks simply don't understand about the nature of this Clash of Civilizations.
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Comments: 26
Does it not occur to you that a superpower can't control a relatively small country like Iraq? How on earth can you believe that some rag tag bunch of loonies could dominate us? It's not a game of dodge-ball, where a single "hit" can knock us off.
The goal of terrorism is to create fear in an adversary, BECAUSE you can't actually challenge them militarily. When you get all panicky you are dancing to the "enemies" tune, your not being "patriotic" or strong.
Relax, we're the ones the world is terrified of, and for good reason.
Iran and Syria build no ships, they build no airplanes, they build no rifles or bullets and without their oil profits they cannot buy them from anyone else.
The single most strategic move we could make is to wean ourselves from a fossil fuel based economy and lifestyle. When they can no longer use our money to arm themselves, they will run out of bullets and they can go back to killing each other with swords.
This is all about FEAR MONGERING, what our current administration does best. They would like nothing better than suck us all into a world wide war...their supporters are all for it (evidence the article) because their 'leadership' tells them it is the only way...kill kill kill all enemies or would be enemies...seems that many of them would like to start right here at home on us 'un-American, haters of our country, liberal scum peace-niks'
What a sad state of affairs...grow up, get real, quit whining about how terrified you are. Live by the sword-die by the sword (sword/gun/bomb)....THINK !!!
If the people won't make the effort to be informed, they will be believe anything.
The notion that Iran and Syria are threats, that the Bush administration's not calling for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon - the first time the US has not called for one when hostilities between Israel and toher nations has happened - are an indication of how uninformed the people are and willing to accept whatever the government in power says. What is this about? What is thie "War on Terror" and the Iraq War and now the war in Lebanon and what the US is doing about?
The strategy driving Israel's invasion of Lebanon is not based on self-defense. It is consistent with Israel's traditional aims. Since Hizbollah forced Israel to leave Lebanon in 2000, Israel had not changed it's goal - stated in its petition for statehood to the UN in 1947 - of occupying southern Lebanon. Hizbollah was not a threat to invade Israel. The record of daily incursions by Israel far exceeded those by Hizbollah. The UN recorded about 1800 by Israel, 100 by Hizbollah. Assassinations in Beirut by Israel and and its killing of civilians in south Lebanon were not uncommon. No civilian deaths were attributed to Hizbollah . Military kidnappings prior to 2006 had resulted in prisoner exchanges. Israel had refused to give maps to the location of some 400,000 mines they had placed in south Lebanon. The Shebaa Farms territory was still under dispute. Most nations and European Union and the UN do not consider Hizbollah a terrorist organization (see Wikipedia). The US does call Hizbollah a terrorist organization, yet it has to deal with the fact Hizbollah has elected members in Parliament and Ministers in Lebanon's government.The Lebanese government's consensus is that Hizbollah's military militia should be disbanded as the Lebanese army becomes strong enough to defend the nation. The Lebanese people in general support this view. Hizbollah was created in response to the Israeli occupation of all of Lebanon, and it was responsible for expelling Israel.
The US has become a partner to the same Middle East policy as Israel's. "Clean Break" (the Cheney' policy paper of 1996) is a carbon copy of Israel's, except it called for the US to directly participate in conquering Iraq, Syria and Iran. The neocons in Israel and the US are both now loudly lobbying for attacks on Iran and Syria in the media. "The War on Terrorism" is, of course a "cover story". (The percentage of extremists, jihadists and terrorists among Muslims is
small, and Saudi Arabia is the only "fundamentalist" Islamic state) . The US invasion and occupation of Iraq has indeed convinced millions of Muslims that the US and the West - and their partner Israel - have declared war on all Muslims. For years, Iran has sought recognition as a power in it's region, and offered to recognize Israel in 2003 if the US would negotiate with it regarding their mutual interests . The US refused. Iran's ties to Lebanon and Syria are based on their affording Iran defensive protection from Israel and the US. Syria and Lebanon gave Iran a "second front" because of their geographical location.
Israel's policy in the Middle East and it's behavior regarding Palestine and Lebanon have a long history,dominated by a single theme. This history is unfortunately not well known in the West, especially in America.
What Americans read about Israel is usually as fantastic as the "War on Terror," as were the threats from Iraq to the West and the US motives for invasion.
What is behind the current invasion of Lebanon? The past shows the style and pattern for today's events. Israel's aims are the same now as then.
Ehud Olmert's political party, Kadima, currently leading the murderous charge in Lebanon, was forged out of Likud, and Likud out of Herut, the political party of Zeev Jabotinsky's Revisionist Zionism, a movement at odds with socialist Zionism and taking its cues from Benito Mussolini and fascism.
In 1940, Avraham Stern, inspired by Jabotinsky, formed Irgun Zvai Leumi be-Yisrael, or simply Lehi, a terrorist group dedicated to killing not only officials and soldiers of British colonialism in Palestine, but anybody, regardless of race or religion (including Jews), who stood in the way of realizing a "homeland in the Land of Israel within the borders delineated in the Bible," as Stern declared in his 18 Principles of Rebirth (see David Ohana's Zarathustra in Jerusalem: Nietzsche and the "New Hebrews"). Stern and Lehi, also called the Stern Gang, attempted to team up with the Nazis during the Second World War, declaring a "common interests could exist between the establishment of a new order in Europe in conformity with the German concept, and the true national aspirations of the Jewish people as they are embodied by the NMO (Lehi)."
"Neither Jewish morality nor Jewish tradition can negate the use of terror as a means of battle," an article published in a Lehi underground newspaper stated in 1943. "We are quite far from moral hesitations on the national battlefield. We see before us the command of the Torah, the most moral teaching in the world: Obliterate ,until destruction. We are particularly far from this sort of hesitation in regard to an enemy whose moral perversion is admitted by all . But primarily terror is part of our political battle under present conditions and its role is large and great." In other words, as commanded in the Old Testament (the reference to "obliteration" is taken from Exodus 17:14 and Numbers 14:45), enemies should be destroyed completely and their "remembrance" blotted out for all history. Such mass murder and brutality, uncoupled from any moral restraint, "shakes the Yishuv [settlers] from their complacency"
After assassinating Lord Moyne in Cairo in 1944, followed by the murder of the UN Mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948 (Bernadotte was assassinated in part for revealing the depth of Zionist efforts to murder and ethnically cleanse Palestinians), Lehi was integrated into the Israeli Defense Forces on May 31, 1948, and a member was elected to the first Knesset. In short, terrorism became a military and state policy after the British decided to withdraw from the Palestine Mandate and the UN General Assembly approved a 1947 UN Partition Plan dividing the Palestine into two states (or rather one state, as the Israelis not only reneged on the promise to abide by the plan, but began ethnically cleansing Arabs in short order).
In the months prior to declaring a Zionist state (in fact, declared one day before the expiry of the Palestine Mandate), according to British Colonial Office and Foreign Office files, "the Irgun Zvai Leumi and the Stern Gang, in coordination with the Hagana, committed the infamous massacre of Deir Yassin, where 250 men, women and children were butchered and many of their houses blown up over their heads," writes the Palestinian Christian Issa Nakhleh, a representative of the Arab Higher Committee for Palestine in New York City 1947-1948
The details of the crimes committed by Zionist terrorist organizations in 1948 are verbatim reports photocopied from the War Office, Colonial Office and Foreign Office files i d Public Record Office, Kew Gardens, Surrey, the United Kingdom. Following is a summary of the types of crimes committed by Zionist terrorists in 1948:
1. Sneak attacks on many Arab villages, resulting in the death of many men, women and children.
2. Blowing up of bridges in different parts of the country.
3. Blowing up of Arab houses and hotels.
4. Firing on Arab cars and killing many Arabs.
5. Robbery of Barclay's Bank.
6. Assaulting British officers walking alone.
7. Firing into cafes and streets and cars, killing many innocent civilians.
8. Blowing up Arab trucks and killing occupants.
9. Attacking Arab shepherds and stealing their flocks.
10. Throwing hand grenades into churches.
11. Robbery of arms, ammunition, trucks, provisions and equipment from British Army depots.
12. Throwing bombs into Arab markets, killing and injuring many men, women and children.
13. Blowing up of trains and killing many passengers; in one incident alone, 40 Arabs were killed.
As Nakhleh notes, it was the fascist orientation of the Jabotinsky Zionists that permitted and excused these terrorist crimes. "By reason of their very objectives, Nazis and Zionists are fascists, a fact confirmed by their methods of doing things, and their attitude toward human life. This is demonstrated in their attitude toward war," a method of war completely at odds with international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, a fact demonstrated once again with the invasion and ethnic cleansing of Lebanon. In essence, the bombardment and invasion of Lebanon is a repeat of the 1948 expulsion of the Palestinians:
In the first period of the Zionist war for the partition of Palestine, the Zionist forces bombarded indiscriminately every possible Arab village with mortar fire, killing innocent men, women and children. In some cases the villagers fled the murderous fire on their own; in other cases Arab authorities recommended flight to the villagers to escape the murderous fire raining down upon them for no apparent military reason . In many cases the Zionists killed Palestinian villagers by bombardment from the air, the same type of war crime they continued for decades afterwards against Palestinians in refugee camps ?. When bombing and shelling and the shooting of unarmed civilians to set an example of the fate awaiting those who would remain in their village was insufficient to force the Palestinians out, the Zionists would simply order the inhabitants to leave . After expelling those Palestinian Arabs they had not murdered, the Zionists wantonly burned and destroyed the houses of the inhabitants they had expelled . Many times Palestinian Arabs from villages on main roads fled temporarily for safety to nearby villages, expecting to return to their homes when the fighting died down. When they tried to return home, they found that the Zionists had wantonly destroyed their homes to make it impossible for the indigenous Arab populace to return. (Nakhleh, Chapter Nine, The Conspiracy to Expel and the Expulsion of Palestinian Arabs 1948-1950).
Although the pro-Israel (and some would contend Zionist controlled) corporate media engages in nothing short of a herculean effort to portray Israel's invasion and bombardment of Lebanon as a justified response to Hezbollah provocation, the fact is Israel is repeating what is now an established historical pattern. The personal diary of Moshe Sharett [the second prime minister of Israel, 1954-1955] sheds light by amply documenting the rationale and mechanics of Israel's "Arab policy" in the late 1940s and the 1950s. The policy portrayed, in its most intimate particulars, is one of deliberate Israeli acts of provocation, intended to generate Arab hostility and thus to create pretexts for armed action and territorial expansion. Sharett's records document this policy of "sacred terrorism" and expose the myths of Israel's "security needs" and the "Arab threat" that have been treated like self-evident truths from the creation of Israel to the present, when Israeli terrorism against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and against Palestinians and Lebanese in South Lebanon, has reached an intolerable level. It is becoming increasingly evident that the exceptional demographic and geographic alterations in Israeli society within the present generation have been brought about, not as the accidental results of the endeavor to guard "Israel's security" against an "Arab threat," but by a drive for lebensraum.
In addition to the Nazi philosophy of Lebensraum (ethnically cleansing an area in the interest of colonial settlement), the Israeli scorched earth policy in Lebanon, as in Gaza and the West Bank, is designed to destroy the economic infrastructure of the Arabs (a process well along in the latter areas). "The exact parallel between Nazi Germany?s willful destruction of the economies within Axis-occupied Europe, and Israel's willful destruction of the economy of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is of fundamental importance," notes Issa Nakhleh. "The destruction of the economies of Nazi-occupied Europe was not implemented solely for the purpose of exploiting the assets and labor of the occupied nations. It was not simply transitory wanton destruction in acts of war. It was for the purpose of expanding the Third Reich through the integration of the territories of occupied nations into Nazi Germany and utilizing the destruction of the economies of the indigent inhabitants as a prelude to their expulsion"
In grotesque fashion, the corporate media papers over the repeat of these crimes by Olmert and the supposed "centrist" Kadima dominated government of Israel, refusing to note the obvious pattern of pathological and murderous Zionist behavior. Instead of noting or even hinting at the fascistic character of this behavior, we are told "some civilians are more innocent than others" (Dershowitz) and Hezbollah is responsible for Israel's extermination of hundreds, possibly thousands of Lebanese civilians. "The Zionist and Israeli leaders have followed in the footsteps of the Nazis. 3,000 Zionist and Israeli political and military leaders, during a period from 1939-1989, participated as organizers, instigators and accomplices in the commission of crimes of terrorism, crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Palestinians and peoples of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt," writes Nakhleh in the preface to his online book.
All members of the Hagana, Palmach, Irgun Z?vai Leumi, the Stern Gang, the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund are charged with these crimes. Many of them became Presidents, Cabinet Ministers, Generals, officers of the Armed Forces and continued to participate in the commission of the aforementioned crimes. Many of them occupy high positions in Israeli society. It seems that participating in the commission of these crimes was, and still is, an essential qualification for advancement in the Israeli government and charged with these crimes are still at large, enjoying the fruits of their crimes. They are referred to as heroes. Many of them are being honored and received as heads of State, Prime Ministers, cabinet ministers, high government officials and scholars of an allegedly democratic state. The Palestinians who have been victims of these crimes are until today condemned to a life of a nation in exile deprived of all their rights. Their homeland is occupied. Thousands of them were murdered, hundreds of thousands have been imprisoned and tortured, suffering until today under barbaric Israeli occupation.
The victims are called terrorists, murderers and criminals and the real terrorists and war criminals are being received as respectable representatives of a democratic society.
There are many Israelis who have always not supported this policy and actively opposed it. Some have formed organizations with Palestinians to seek a just solution and peace. Prime Minister Olmert's wife is an active member of the Women in Black, his daughter belongs to a well-known leftist organization, and recently protested the invasion of Lebanon at the house of the Defense Minister .His sons are against military service in the occupied Palestinian lands.
A thoughtful commentary on the current situation by Rabbi Golderg:
Israeli force can stop the rockets, but for how long?
The disproportionate response has increased Arab hatred, alienated the world, and brought criticism from many Jews
David Goldberg
Wednesday August 9, 2006
The Guardian
In one of the tractates of the Talmud - that vast repository of rabbinic law and lore - there is a discussion about the difference between killing in self-defence and murder. A man came before the eminent Babylonian sage Raba and said that he had been ordered by the governor of his town to kill a third party in order to save his own life. Was he permitted to do so? No, ruled Raba, the principle that if someone intends to kill then you kill him first only applies if thereby the life of the intended victim is spared. Otherwise, "Say not that your blood is redder than his; perhaps his blood is redder than yours." Even in extreme circumstances we should comply with certain rules of moral conduct that enable societies to function and sovereign states to maintain relations with each other.
War, too, has its own rules of limitation and restraint, enshrined in just-war theory, the Geneva conventions and international law. Prominent among them is the doctrine of proportionality: that the response to aggression should be commensurate with the act.
It would be true to say that Israel has always taken a robust attitude towards reprisals. Zionist policy from pre-state days was to respond to Arab attacks with double force, as a deterrent. David Ben-Gurion, the first Israeli prime minister, was the supreme exponent of this approach. Yet, interestingly, shortly after Israel's stunning victory in the six day war he counselled returning almost all of the captured territories because, in his view, after such a comprehensive thrashing the defeated Arab nations would leave Israel in peace for at least a decade. Moshe Dayan was dispatched to his desert kibbutz to tell the old man to pipe down. Piecemeal colonisation of the West Bank followed, in retaliation for Arab refusal to recognise or negotiate with Israel, which is why almost 40 years on there are 250,000 Jewish settlers on Palestinian land and no resolution in sight to the claims of Palestinian statehood.
The present eruption in Lebanon is the latest in a long list of major wars, smaller campaigns, two intifadas, terrorist attacks, suicide bombings and targeted assassinations that have bedevilled the region since 1967. Both peoples have been corrupted by the situation. Neither can claim moral superiority.
It is reasonable to infer from newspaper coverage and television evidence that Israel has been noticeably disproportionate in its response to the abduction of two soldiers and the killing of eight others in a Hizbullah ambush three weeks ago. Asymmetric warfare, as it is currently fashionable to call the contest between regular armies and guerrilla forces, inevitably results in asymmetric casualties, at least 10 times higher in Lebanon than in Israel.
The government of Israel has the legal sanction to protect its citizens and forcibly remove Hizbullah's rockets from southern Lebanon, along with the danger posed by 2,000-3,000 guerrillas. However, it should be borne in mind that - intolerable though it is for a large section of the population to be forced into bomb shelters and some of them killed - Hizbullah's arsenal of Katyushas, rifles, machine guns, grenades and mortars represents a negligible military threat to the survival of Israel. This is not a total war between two countries that involves both armed forces and civilians, making Israel's response to Hizbullah rockets analogous to the American response against Japan after Pearl Harbor or Britain's against Germany, as some of Israel's defenders have grotesquely tried to claim.
Whether Hizbullah is indeed the fanatical spearhead of a Shia arc of extremism bent on the liquidation of Israel followed by world domination, or whether the prospect of Muslim unity among its opposed factions is a chimera, is something for strategic analysts to argue over. What is certain is that governments must respond to events in the present, even while getting their foreign-policy thinktanks to anticipate the shape of future alliances. In replying as forcefully and misguidedly as it has done to provocation from Lebanon, Israel might not even achieve a rocket-free zone in the north.
But given that the Palestinian problem is no nearer solution and that by creating a wilderness in Lebanon and calling it peace Israel has recruited thousands of new martyrs to the Hizbullah cause, military and diplomatic planners are going to have to ask themselves how long the respite will last. Was Israel's disproportionate response worth the cost of strengthening Arab hatred, alienating world opinion yet again and, last but not least, inviting criticism from a growing number of diaspora Jews who wish for Israel to live in security but find it increasingly difficult to condone what is being done by the Jewish state in their name? As the late Richard Crossman said, a policy of pragmatism is never justified - especially if it is unsuccessful.
· Rabbi Dr David J Goldberg is emeritus rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, and author of The Divided Self: Israel and the Jewish Psyche Today.
Fear mongering
Your article is right on the mark. There are some gatherites who refuse to believe what Iran, Syria, and the many Islamic fundamentalists have said for many years and continue to say quite openly. Inspite of the fact that their actions have proven that they mean what they say, these gatherites continue to support them and not our efforts to combat them.
Why do they do so? I do not know, but I do know that we must overcome them as well as our enemies.
Best regards, Ben
Author "Leading People to be Highly Motivated and Committed"
Excellent article. However, the comments clearly indicate there will be no coming together of minds. The Bush Derangement Syndrome (visceral hatred of President Bush) is to great to overcome.
When the 'good' books insist that everything is divisible (divide and conquer) into good and evil, the ultimate duality that turns into a dichotomy, then what is left except to fight for the 'r/Right' by those that believe themselves on 'that side'.
The trouble then becomes, which side is truly 'right', each side insists that it is and each side has ample reason and documentation to prove their case...ad infinitum...and it will never end until there is complete destruction at that rate. Unfortunately each side really believes they will be better off when the other side is all killed off, they even come to interpret their 'good' books to say that so that they can be religiously justified in their acts. What an obscene violation of 'good' !!!
So here we are folks, down our road of divisive conflict in the name of our 'various' concepts of our gods. Kill in the name of god and property rights and values using age old grudges for justification...how 'evolved' is that humanity ? Is that what we were 'Created' for ?
The more 'Crap' that is thrown around about this the more 'Crap' that offends... and then the more....get the picture yet ?
At least those that care enough to try and make a difference in leveling the 'playing' field, take the time to put together an article (comment above from Clarke) that gives enough background and 'facts' to present a fuller picture of what is going on...than do the average 'conservative of today that has been led down that path by their Neo-Con 'leaders' via popular (to them) one line diatribe lies that they want to believe are 'their truths'...just about all of which is FEAR BASED and meant to whip up 'patriotism' and 'nationalism'....and believe it or not ( you had better think about it) eventual Fascism ! We are getting closer all of the time folks...it is not a very pretty picture...unless of course you are a Neo-Con 'leader'....or 'duped' follower.
And overcoming the the "my country wrong-or-right" syndrome and the "they're all out to get us so let's have a knee-jerk reaction and kill them before they kill us" and "anyone who disagrees with the president is being un-American" syndromes are also apparently impossible.
I have no doubt in my mind that it will continue to grow, and if not addressed, we will be involved in a world war. Not over land this time, but beliefs. There is no room in this world for the likes of us to them, it will come if allowed to grow.
For those that think we are too big and what could they do to us, I say that a nuclear weapon is a great equalizer. They don't care if they die martyrs, we do. Even disturbing our economies to a large extent is enough to bring the big guy to his knees as well.
I think it is very important that we not fool ourselves into some kind of isolation in the area, as if it won't affect us. I hope the next President realizes the same.
The religious rhetoric of Christians, Muslims and Jews may convince some people to support politicians, and politicians use it all the time. What the politicians do is what to watch. Bush, Prime Minister Olmert, Nasrallah have a track record as politicians. Their talk and their rhetoric may be extreme or off the wall, but how they have acted and perhaps will act is what is most important to consider.
Nations who relate to others on the basis on their different ideologies and fail to understand and consider their interests risk making wars when other options exist.
Israel has it's Judaic version of Pat Robertson and Uber-Right Christians:
Hamas is learning from Hizbollah sergio HaDaR tezza - Qiryat Arba - Hebron, 15 Av 5766 / 9 August 2005
Katyshua rockets are being smuggled into the Gaza Strip without anyone stopping them.
Hamas is taking advantage of the criminally negligent decisions of the Israeli government of Sharon, Peres and Olmert to give-up to Egypt and the Europeans (who ran away very quickly) the control over the Gaza-Egypt border, which is now completely uncontrolled.
Hamas is preparing to launch and even deadlier campaign against us, knowing full well from the Lebanon example, that TsaHa"L is CONCEPTUALLY INCAPABLE, NOT MILITARILY INCAPABLE, of stopping the launch of missiles as long as it is done from inhabited areas.
Not even one day has passed in the last few months without missiles hitting our cities and villages in the South, after the Israeli flight from the Gaza Strip in front of terrorism and the creation of Hamastan in Gaza, a terrorist ruled entity and now one of the largest terror bases in the world.
The strategic threat posed by a two front missile attack, could be deadly for Israel, given the growing temptation in the Arab world to try and use war again to eliminate us - which is tickled by Israel's policies of surrender and withdrawal called "peace process", which the Arab enemies see as a success for the armed option and a "piece by piece process" towards our destruction.
In a few months we might find ourselves in the middle of an unfinished war in Lebanon, with our soldiers playing the role of sitting ducks, together with our Northern cities and villages, and with the beginning of a worse rain of missiles on the South, BOTH caused by the IMMORAL COMPASSION shown by Israel toward the Arabs, and an EQUALLY IMMORAL LACK OF COMPASSION towards our own citizens. The Torah, the ONLY source of Jewish morals, explains it very well, teaching us that: He who is merciful with the cruel, will end-up being cruel to the merciful - Kohelet Rabba 7:16
The media and political talking heads have been justifying their defeatist policies of pinpoint strikes which cause the enemy's unpunished chutzpah of killing or trying to kill OUR civilians without paying an unbearable price with a false humanity which is just a form of masochism, a transvestite of ethical principle.
We must put an end to such Diaspora mentality, to the internalisation of foreign, non-Jewish ideas, to the ghetto mentality of our leaders, who consider normal that our Jewish kids suffer and die without appropriate revenge and a price in blood paid by the enemy (and that INCLUDES the populations who support, host and vote for terrorists and nazis of all sorts!).
It's high time to restore REAL JEWISH MORALS among our fighters and People, and pre-empt with all means the spilling of Jewish blood, which is NOT done ONLY through defensive means, but also by making the enemy pay an unbearable price of their own for any attempt on the lives of our People.
A good Jew is one who LIVES for his ideas, not one who dies for them, and a good Jewish soldier is one who does not die for his, but kills his enemy and lets the enemy die for his hatred of Israel
Am I missing something here ? Please let me know where you stand on all of that as I would like to comment further in the interest of the greater picture.
Before my last comment, I had completely re-read the article and thread for the second time paying close attention to answer my question...but it seems that I got lost in the last half of your last long comment where it 'seemed' that you were promoting the killing off of the enemy terrorists till they were all wiped off the face of the earth...those things that the war mongers want to do to each other...it just did not seem to fit what I had read from you earlier which I fully supported.
Just a few minutes ago though, I have read more of your comments on another thread, and am pretty well assured that you think closer to the way I do...at least if you see anything of benefit in the thoughts of Noam Chomsky as do I...
So no reply required, I will continue to support your views it seems. Peace, j.
If we are speaking health wise, what I say is precautions might not hurt. What about Flu shots, taking vitamins, etc. It does not hurt to take precautions.
Many think that we are in the beginning of WWIII. Maybe we are and maybe not, but if so and we don't take precautions there might be more 9-11s or plane disasters. It's better to be safe than sorry as the old saying goes.
I hope I am wrong, but think I am right. There are a lot of people who don't like us and some are prepared to die if they can kill some of us in the process.