Act of War
As promised, the Isreali response to the kidnapping of two soldiers has been heavy handed.
BEIRUT, Lebanon -
Israel intensified its attacks against Lebanon on Thursday, blasting Beirut's international airport and the southern part of the country in its heaviest air campaign against its neighbor in 24 years. More than two dozen civilians were killed, officials said.
That seems about right. Capture two soldiers, and the response is to bomb a civilian airport and kill 24 civilians. How anyone can not see this as an act of terrorism is completely beyond me.
24 civilians dead, at least.
Now what happens? What will the response be? Probably more civilian deaths in an equally barbaric retaliation.
BEIRUT, Lebanon -
Israel intensified its attacks against Lebanon on Thursday, blasting Beirut's international airport and the southern part of the country in its heaviest air campaign against its neighbor in 24 years. More than two dozen civilians were killed, officials said.
That seems about right. Capture two soldiers, and the response is to bomb a civilian airport and kill 24 civilians. How anyone can not see this as an act of terrorism is completely beyond me.
24 civilians dead, at least.
Now what happens? What will the response be? Probably more civilian deaths in an equally barbaric retaliation.
posted by Praguetwin at
11:19 AM
9 Comments:
This is far worse, in my estimation, than simply Israel attacking Lebanon.
This insanity has the potential to really set the Middle East on fire, and Iraq or Iran will hardly matter in the end.
By
Cartledge, at 5:33 PM
Okay. Slightly off topic but yesteday, July 12, marked the 80th anniversary of the death of a remarkable woman, Gertrude Bell. There was a piece on her on NPR yesterday afternoon; check her out in Wikipedia; there is a recent book by Janet Wallach, "The Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell."
In short, this was a Victorian woman, b. in 1868, who graduated w/ a 1st in History from Oxford @ age 18, was a friend of T.E. Lawrence, and was partially responsible for founding of modern Iraq.
Sadly, she succumbed to her depression on July 12, 1926, and took an overdose of sleeping tablets. She is buried in the British cemetary in Bahgdad.
She wrote over 1000 letters during her life and I suspect that they too are available.
She recognized that the concept of Iraq was doomed to failure, becuae of the tribal nature of its societies and its disparate ethnic makeup.
It is easy to understand why George W. Bush never read Gertrude Bell b/c Mr. Bush doesn't read much. He just goes w/ his gut feelings. It is inexcusable for his advisors: Donny, Condi, Dickie, et al., not to have read Gertrude Bell b/c if they had, they have have formulated another policy regarding Iraq.
God save the republic indeed.
Earlier this week, a concrete slab forming part of the ceiling of a tunnel that is part of the Big Dig project in Boston fell, killing a 38 year old womwn who was a passenger in car driven by her husband.
The Big Dig is the most expensive public works project in US history. Ground was broken in 1991 and the last phase was completed in December 2004. The total cost exceeded 15 billion dollars.
The cost of opeartions in Iraq is approximately 3 billion dollars a week.
3 billion one dollar bills laid end to end would circle the Earth ath the equater more than 11.4 times.
Perhaps our energy and resources could be better spent in attempting to resolve Israel's intractable rpoblems w/ security. Just a thought.
By
Anonymous, at 7:31 PM
this is a terrorist attack. The IDF is as much terrorists as Hezbollah
By
Graeme, at 7:39 PM
Graeme, it is music to hear that sort of recognition of fact. TY
By
Cartledge, at 7:51 PM
So far they IDF has bombed the airport, the interior ministry, several towns, and now is urging people out of southern Beirut.
To be fair, Hezbollah has shelled northern Isreali towns with help from Syria. They really started this with the incursion in some respects, but Israel has decided to make this a call to all out war.
Cartledge,
I think you may be right. I had a sick feeling when this started, and now the bombing of Beirut and in turn Haitha seem foregone conclusions.
If you read this timeline here, you really get the sense of where we are and where we are going.
Tony,
I will look it up. You really need to start blogging dude. You got game.
Thanks for the info. I've hear of her, but didn't realize the significance.
Graeme,
I couldn't agree more. They are both nasty and this cloake and dagger has been going on for a while I'm sure.
Welcome, by the way.
By
Praguetwin, at 10:06 PM
Rumors this morning were that Hezbollah is trying to pack the two kidnapped soldiers off to Iran--the height of insanity in my estimation. First it might spur the US to begin preemptive bombing of Iran, and given Olmert's reaction to events so far...if the US doesn't, Isreal will.
By
Anonymous, at 10:36 PM
I'm starting to believe that they really want this to get out of hand. That is the strategy. The final solution.
There are people on both sides who want this. Frightening.
Does anyone remember Balance of Power. It used to be a polital theory.
By
Praguetwin, at 11:00 PM
They've been trying to blame Iran for years. Nothing will stop them now. And with Americans inbetween. HAHA! I pitty the food, says mr. T...
By
Anonymous, at 9:26 AM
Not my take, but perhaps you intuited that. I notice a lot of moral equivlaence from your readers. No sale. Read recent Krauthammer (about the reason for attacks from Lebann and Gaza) and post again, if you have the time and interest. Keep up the good work.
By
Roger Fraley, at 2:07 AM
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