I’m not certain which I find more appalling — that in Israel, nearly every building has a bomb shelter, including a day-care center for the elderly, or that last week it was needed.
Of course, I can interpolate, Clintonesque, why they aren’t protest Hezbollah’s near-slaughter of the elderly. The protesters say that they are against the targeting of innocents. Hezbollah’s rockets are utterly unguided; any casualties they inflict are pretty much random.
Another interpretation is that dead Jews simply don’t count as much. This theory has some support from Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations. Last week, he issued a statement condemning the fighting in Lebanon. On the surface, it seems a reasonable, compassionate, balanced, fair statement.
Then, prompted by Meryl Yourish’s own dissection of the statement, I looked more carefully at it. The statement goes into detail on the numbers of casualties so far.
But Kofi has the numbers of the Lebanese at hand (300 dead, 600 wounded), but the writer has to insert the number of Israeli casualties (28 dead, 200 wounded) on his own.
Further, he mentions how the Israeli withdrawal was not supposed to lead to this sort of thing — without mentioning that it was the UN that was supposed to make sure the continued bombardment of Israel by Hezbollah didn’t happen.
And does anyone notice that the UN tends to make “tsk, tsk” noises whenever Israel is getting pasted, but immediately feels the urgent need to intervene when it’s their enemies are on the ropes?
Let’s see those “humanitarians” deploy themselves as human shields across northern Israel, around such buildings as schools, hospitals, senior centers, day cares, and the like. I’m sure that Hezbollah will acknowledge their shining innocence and nobility and refrain from any more attacks that might endanger them.
I’m not holding my breath, but I wish they would (and just die already).
…of course, we keep hearing about those 300 dead Lebanese, but for some reason, they don’t mention the age, sex, or political affiliation of those people.
You know: like how many of them fall into the “18 to 26, male, Hezbollah” cohort…
Sure, they’re “civilians,” but terrorists are civilians, too. Officially, anyway.
Don’t get overly wrung out over what Kofi says and does, or doesn’t say or do — I see him as more of a titular head than anything else. Attacking Kofi is an easy target for right-wingers who want to find someone to vilify, but it’s just adding noise to the channel – what the U.N. does provide is an international court of opinion.
Here’s more, from the open U.N. Security Council meeting Friday. Arab states were extremely critical of Israel–no surprise there, but..
Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman insisted that his country was responding to terrorism and the kidnappings of its soldiers, and that Hezbollah had to be disarmed. Taking up his theme, US UN Ambassador John Bolton agreed that… (also quoting from UN summary)
Israel is the “world’s Jew” and as such is held to a different standard.
Hezzbollah has been allowed to remain the defacto ruler of southern Lebanon and sequesters its arms and rockets within residential areas, even homes.
The proportionality argument is specious. It is yet another instance of whatever terrorist act, act of war or crime is committed against a Jew, the Jew has no right to react.
PS
Hezbollah is deliberately using citizens to shield their arms as evidenced by their actions blocking, by force, residents from leaving their homes/towns.
Hezbollah wants Lebanese civilian deaths.
Islamism is a death cult.
The problem, Jay, is that Hezbollah isn’t “on the ropes”. Based on available information the best guess is that their capability has been minimally degraded (Hezbollah’s acknowledged casualties are around a dozen; Israel claims they’ve killed around 100 Hezbollah). That’s a tiny fraction of their total numbers.
Worse, Hezbollah seems to be benefitting politically. Its popularity in Lebanon has grown, if anything—it’s practically unanimous at this point. And although Arab governments are divided popular opinion in those countries is pretty solidly behind Hezbollah.
Lee, one number for you: 1559.
It’s the UN stating that Hezbollah was to be disarmed as part of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.
That worked out pretty damned well, didn’t it?
J.
After a lot of thinking (scary huh), I have figured out why the Euro-weenies and the rest of the appeasers are screaming so loud. It is because, they don’t want their Arab populations rising up and taking them out. As we all know, most of the European countries have a sizable Arab population and a lot of them support Hezbollah and Hamas, one way or other. We all saw the ruckus that was raised over a few piss ant editorial cartoons in Denmark. Well that would be a Sunday school picnic compared to what would happen, if the Euro-weenies and the Unholy Nations decided to support Israel and the United States in its war on terror. Although I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future.
Dave,
Here is a different assessment
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson072106.html
The only difference from the usual scripted Middle East war is that this time, privately at least, most of the West, and perhaps some in the Arab world as well, want Israel to wipe out Hezbollah, and perhaps hit Syria or Iran . The terrorists and their sponsors know this, and rage accordingly when their military impotence is revealed to a global audience — especially after no reprieve is forthcoming to save their “pride” and “honor.”
After all, for every one Israeli Hezbollah kills, they lose ten. You are not winning when “victory” is assessed in terms of a single hit on an Israeli warship. Their ace-in-the-hole strategy — emblematic of the entire pathetic Islamist way of war — is that they can disrupt the good Western life of their enemies that they are both attracted to and thus also hate. But, as Israel has shown, a Western public can be quite willing to endure shelling if it knows that such strikes will lead to a devastating counter-response.
(Hezbollah’s acknowledged casualties are around a dozen; Israel claims they’ve killed around 100 Hezbollah). That’s a tiny fraction of their total numbers.
Well, the total boosters in their fan club, anyway.
As we keep finding out, when a terrorist-aligned organization claims a membership number, it’s most often a small fraction of that, with an even smaller fraction actually being involved in daily operations, and a miniscule minority with any training or skill.
Out of the couple of hundred thousand “loud” Hezbollah in Lebanon, there are probably only 5,000 to 10,000 with any real official involvement in the group, with only 1000 or so having any real training or weapons, and only a couple of hundred with what a modern army would consider enough skill to deploy on the battlefield.
This is the conclusion from the link above. Exactly what I think, but he can express it much better. So enjoy (maybe Lee is not happy about the Bush reference)
In this regard, it is time to stop the silly slurs that American policy in the Middle East is either in shambles or culpable for the present war. In fact, if we keep our cool, the Bush doctrine is working. Both Afghans and Iraqis each day fight and kill Islamist terrorists; neither was doing so before 9/11. Syria and Iran have never been more isolated; neither was isolated when Bill Clinton praised the “democracy” in Tehran or when an American secretary of State sat on the tarmac in Damascus for hours to pay homage to Syria ‘s gangsters. Israel is at last being given an opportunity to unload on jihadists; that was impossible during the Arafat fraud that grew out of the Oslo debacle. Europe is waking up to the dangers of radical Islamism; in the past, it bragged of its aid and arms sales to terrorist governments from the West Bank to Baghdad .
Some final observations on Hezbollah and Hamas. There is no longer a Soviet deterrent to bail out a failed Arab offensive. There is no longer empathy for poor Islamist “freedom fighters.” The truth is that it is an open question as to which regime — Iran or Syria — is the greater international pariah. After a recent trip to the Middle East, I noticed that the unfortunate prejudicial stares given to a passenger with an Iranian passport were surpassed only by those accorded another on his way to Damascus .
So after 9/11, the London bombings, the Madrid murders, the French riots, the Beslan atrocities, the killings in India, the Danish cartoon debacle, Theo Van Gogh, and the daily arrests of Islamic terrorists trying to blow up, behead, or shoot innocent people around the globe, the world is sick of the jihadist ilk. And for all the efforts of the BBC, Reuters, Western academics, and the horde of appeasers and apologists that usually bail these terrorist killers out when their rhetoric finally outruns their muscle, this time they can’t.
Uh huh…. sure they’ll “deploy themselves as human shields” to protect Isreali’s. I’m not holding my breath waiting till I see the appeasement crew crossing over from Lebannon to the Isreali side to take up their positions.
Cricket’s……………
Jay,
Thanks for the analysis of Anan ‘s statement. We knew that that Anan and the UN are simply useless and corrupt. They have allowed the UN to be used as a cover for the terrorists. Folks like Mantis made a big deal of that speech to score cheap personal insults against posters like Retired Military in the other thread. I gave mantis the benefit of the doubt for his argument in that thread. But I also made the point about his tactic of resorting to personal insults to cover up his lack of args.
Following the passage of Security Council 1559 Syria withdrew its military. Lebanon, however, failed to expel Hizbullah, despite repeated calls from the UN to do so.
Lots of resolutions fail to achieve their stated goals. Vilifying Kofi Annan clouds the real issues. Yes, the “righteous right” has to feed its constant hunger for someone to hate, but it is misdirected here, in my opinion.
well..I have to ask…how many images of children killed by bombs from whatever “side” will it take before we give up our petty opinions and quit spouting BS opinions that we have not experienced?
…at what point in time will we quit being afraid and realize that how misarable our life might be…
if we were eight years old…in Iraq…Gaza..Beriut…Israel…the house down the block…
I read all this passion…what are you Jay…and others here doing to channel this passion into easing the trauma with children in your neighberhood? What are you doing to ease the trauma for children in the world? It takes less than you think…oh yeah please post borrowed pharses like “moonbat”…discount what I say if you have no children..if you have kids..to what cause are you willing to have them die for?..
We have to back away..it is not about our hate..it is about how far are we willing to go to teach children “our hate”…
Lee:
You can’t possibly be defending Kofi Annan?
Drew E.:
Please share some of your wisdom as to what the US and Isreal should do when attacked by terrorist. You are not a “moonbat”, but you sure have your head buried in the sand, and if you bury your head in the sand long enough something will bite you in the ass.
Kinda like Iraq?…see Israel thinks(like we do) their techno advantage means victory…just like we thought in Iraq…we invaded iraq because of 9/11..Israel crushes Gaza and bombs Leb..because of a few hostages..a simple question…
Are you willing to surrender your owned guns?..should those anywhere be required to do so?
forget all the weirdness…
What is “victory”
In my lifetime the things that have bitten me in the ass are bugs…you have a method of ridding this world of “ass biting bugs?”
anybody who is proud that Bush represents our nation…is..well..entitled to that belief
Drew E:
Yes! It’s called insectiside, and when they come back I kill some more of them. I don’t just let them wander off and come back for some more blood whenever they feel like it. It’s the same thing you do to terrorists. You kill as many as you can find, and when they crop back up you kill some more, or you bury your head in the sand and let them drop a rocket on your (8) year old child.
Is it really necessary to engage someone that still holds to that falacious idea?
Or for that matter use the tired tactic of avoiding an honest question (“Please share some of your wisdom as to what the US and Isreal should do when attacked by terrorist.”) with some idiocy about giving up our weapons.
Ignore him and he will go away.
Lee
Why should Israel (or for that matter, America) trust the UN? It’s not like Kofi and company haven’t collaborated with Hezbollah before.
DrewE
If you think Israel’s going after Hezbollah is only over “a few hostages” then you haven’t been paying attention.
Or is your blindness about the ongoing predations against the Jewish State deliberate?
Moreover, Anan is a corrupt and incompetent leader at the very least. His son was involved in the oil-for-food bribery with Saddam, as his deputy. The Congo sexual abuse of refugees happened under his watch too. How successful the UN has been in Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo … so far?
Darleen,
This post summarizes well the sad state of the left ‘s intellectual and moral bankruptcy
http://therealuglyamerican.com/2006/07/21/blog-rolls-best-72106-weekend-open-trackback/
All Things Beautiful has an excellent find today. She links to this editorial from The Editor-In-Chief of the Arab Times, Ahmed Al-Jarallah
He concludes the article with this:
Unfortunately we must admit that in such a war the only way to get rid of “these irregular phenomena” is what Israel is doing. The operations of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon are in the interest of people of Arab countries and the international community.
If even many in the Arab world realize this, (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan condemned Hezbollah’s attacks) and the left doesn’t that tells you volumes about the nature of the left.
“It’s not like Kofi and company haven’t collaborated with Hezbollah before.”
And you offered that link as proof? A blog post?
Hmmm. Right-wing bloggers today are waving their arms in the air — claiming that the NYT has committed treason with the release of a story about a Friday arms shipment to Israel. That’s a lie too.
Linking to right-wing blog posts as proof makes your claim less believable, instead of more.
In order to comply with DNFTT, I will simply thank Lee-who-will-not-be-named for all the links and logical arguments to support their “debunking” of the myth that the UN peacekeepers are corrupt, collaborating, abusive and inept, sometimes all at the same time. Quality bloggin’ at its best.
Epador,
Lee didn’t bother to follow all the links to Israel news, UN report etc… in the article. Why is Lee compelled to defend such a corrupt figure like Anan?
LEE is Kofi Anan..
Epador, Lee didn’t bother to follow all the links to Israel news, UN report etc… in the article”
LoveAmerica Idiot — I most certainly did, you liar. My most recent comment was directed to Darlene, and the link she provided. That’s why my comment is preceded by a quote from hers.
You trolls are amazing – either that or you are just plain stupid.
Lee
All the supportive links are in the one link I provided.
But hey, it might shake your faith, so why should you look?
The UN “peace keeping” forces rape and take bribes at will with little or no consequence. And coverups go right to Klepto-Kofi
BTW Lee
If you want to sneer at me directly, drop an email…but when you post on this thread, you cannot expect others not to comment.
Amazing that you seem to think they are trolls!
Classic projection …. dayum!