A Look Into The Madness

I saw this type of sentiment on tv this morning. The same in Iraq. I don't support any type of terrorism on any side, but I have had a nagging question. Why do they always say that they couldn't help it, that the "terrorists" are using innocent people as a shield.

If a country is being attacked, where one lives, just where are you supposed to fight from? Is there a specific parcel of land each country has where people that want to fight are supposed to gather?

If Canada was ever attacked, have we set aside or been notified where that location is? All people deciding to defend thier country can meet and be blown to bits in a group setting. I expect people understand that it is only natural that one would want to defend the country where one resides. Each side thinking they are in the right.

But, come on. You expect people to fall for that line? That they are using civilians as shields. They live there. Is it only me that shakes my head on this one?

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These days, if you are not confused, you are not thinking clearly. Mrs. Irene Peters

No it is not just you FootPrints. I also wonder when it was that capturing IDF soldiers was equated with kidnapping them?

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"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
(Albert Einstein)

I think to all watching these events unfold that the reasons for the war have nothing to do with captured soldiers or civillians used as shields. The war has nothing to do with self defence either. This war is just the same as almost all other wars. It's being fought over territory and religious hatred.

I think it's fair to say that both sides have done some very ugly and evil things. The reason that the war is continuing, is because it benefits some of the players, and the options to war are unacceptable to at least one side.

For the Lebanese people, the option of living with Israel is unacceptable. This is plainly obvious. For the Israelis, giving back land they have stolen is unacceptable, so they claim self defence whenever someone tries to take it back by force.

About the only reasonable outcome of this Middle East conflict is more war (punctuated by occasional cease fires), or a nuclear conflict that eliminates one or both factions. These are about the only mutually agreeable options either side has left. I say we should step back, and let them fight it out. Designate the area a permanent war zone, and forget about them. Give asylum (and outlaw return) for anyone who flees the area.

The US should stop fanning the flames by shipping billions of dollars worth of hardware and aid to Israel. And Iran/Syria should back off either.

Ya right like that's going to happen. So I guess the only thing left is a nuclear exchange, that will start by someone in the region, and end with the larger powers finishing each other off. Start digging your bomb shelters now.

(Beirut, July 30, 2006) – Responsibility for the Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 54 civilians sheltering in a home in the Lebanese village of Qana rests squarely with the Israeli military, Human Rights Watch said today. It is the latest product of an indiscriminate bombing campaign that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have waged in Lebanon over the past 18 days, leaving an estimated 750 people dead, the vast majority of them civilians.<br />
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“Today’s strike on Qana, killing at least 54 civilians, more than half of them children, suggests that the Israeli military is treating southern Lebanon as a free-fire zone,” said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli military seems to consider anyone left in the area a combatant who is fair game for attack.”....<br />
“Just because the Israeli military warned the civilians of Qana to leave does not give it carte blanche to blindly attack,” Roth said. “It still must make every possible effort to target only genuine combatants. Through its arguments, the Israeli military is suggesting that Palestinian militant groups might ‘warn’ all settlers to leave Israeli settlements and then be justified in targeting those who remained.”...<br />
According to the Lebanese civil defense and the Lebanese Red Cross, at least 54 civilians, including 27 children, were crushed to death when the building collapsed. Rescue teams were unable to reach the village until 9:00 a.m. because of ongoing heavy IDF bombardment in the area. None of the bodies recovered so far have been militants, and rescue workers say they have found no weapons in the building that was struck.<br />
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Qana was the site of a 1996 Israeli air strike on a U.N. compound sheltering fleeing civilians that killed more than 100 people. Human Rights Watch research established at the time that the 1996 strike was also an indiscriminate attack by the Israeli military...<br />
<a href="http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/30/lebano13881.htm">http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/30/lebano13881.htm</a><br />
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The targeting and capture of enemy soldiers is allowed under international humanitarian law. However, captured combatants must in all circumstances be treated humanely. <p>---<br><br />
"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."<br />
(Albert Einstein)

To bad you could not have a war and all civilians everyone would just get out of the way.

Then armies could just walk in and destroy what they like and declare victory. Then everyone could just go back and rebuild the stuff and the whole process could start all over again.

The english had the same complaints during the American Revolution. Why don't those damm American soldiers just line up and march at us, and we'll line up and march at them and the we'll all start shooting.

Excuse me Israel , there are no Army bases for Hezbollah. You say they are hiding in with civilians, that they are using civilian shields. Thats Crap and you know it.

Just like those dam American revolutionaries hid behind trees and shot the british, and the dam french resistance in the second world war hid in farm houses to fight the Germans. Thats a fact of war. You know it we know it.

If there are civilian casualties , don't try to disguise it and say your sorry. It is your obviously your intention to bomb buildings, the fact that UN peace keepers, civilians , women and children die is just a fact of your war.

The Reverand Stevie Harper's take on this one:

"What was a residential apartment complex filled with innocent civilians doing in Lebanon, anyway?"

If any other ethnic group was doing this type of bombing, it would be appropriately labeled genocide by the international community.

<blockquote>"We don't know what the people were doing in the basement. It is possible they were being used as shields or being used cynically to further Hizbullah's propaganda purposes," the spokesman said.<br>http://www.guardian.co.uk</blockquote> <br> The sheer audacity to say such a thing after killing 60 plus innocent people is disgusting. <br><br> Can't wait to hear what the Conservative government says about this.. oh yeah, who am I fooling, they won't say shit.<p>---<br>If there was ever a time for Canadians to become pushy - now is the time - for time is running out on this nation called Canada.

I think to all watching these events unfold that the reasons for the war have nothing to do with captured soldiers<

It never has.This was only an excuse. When was "Kidnapping" ever a cause of war? If an army knew of a POW camp they may attempt to free the prisoners. Kidnapping results in a ransom demand of some type. This was never the case.

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Expect little from life and get more from it.

I mean't the ransom(POW release)was not a negotiation but a direct assult on Lebanon not the kidnappers.

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Expect little from life and get more from it.

I agree Milton. Kidnapped, that's a new spin. Ummm, how about POW? And the tunnel, that huge tunnel dug in the sand. Boy, I'd like to see a photo of that one.

As a matter of fact I'd like to see all this destruction from the missiles into Israel. Where is it? I did see a cracked window on a building last week. Oh the horrors!

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These days, if you are not confused, you are not thinking clearly. Mrs. Irene Peters

"What was a residential apartment complex filled with innocent civilians doing in Lebanon, anyway?"

Did he really say that?

If he did, I'd love to read/hear it for myself from whatever source you gleaned it from.

Btw, the only "god" Harper and his ilk "revere" is Mammon.

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"and the knowledge they fear is a weapon to be used against them"

"The Weapon" - Rush

Someone wrote this today: <p> <a href="http://progressive.org/mag_wx073106">We survived for 5,700 years so we could do this?</a>

I'm pretty sure that was just sarcasm and satire Deacon. Even Harper wouldn't be that incredibly stupid.

As far as I can recall, there are two species on the planet that engage in this kind of war.

Ants and humans.

Somehow one expects better from humanity, don't you?

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"and the knowledge they fear is a weapon to be used against them"

"The Weapon" - Rush