Monday, July 31, 2006

Angry Hezbollah supporters protest civilian deaths after Hezbollah terrorists fire rockets from residential areas

Life is full of irony. (See my prior post, "Angry Muslim Terrorists Protest Cartoon Stereotypes of Angry Muslim Terrorists.")

Ten years ago, Israel withdrew from Lebanon. More recently, it withdrew from Gaza. "Land for peace."

There is no peace.

After Hezbollah terrorists crossed the border into Israel a few weeks ago, killing 8 Israeli soldiers and kidnapping 2, and Israel responded by attacking Hezbollah positions, Hezbollah terrorists have fired more than 1,600 Katyusha rockets into Israeli cities, many launched from residential areas.


The caption of this AP photo: "Hezbollah supporters, furious over an Israeli attack that killed up to 57, storm their way into the main UN building in Beirut yesterday."

So. Hezbollah supporters blame the U.N. for civilian deaths in Lebanon? And they are angry about Israeli attacks that kill civilians? Really?

Instead of breaking U.N. windows they should look in a mirror.

Hezbollah terrorists are themselves "civilians." They wear no uniform. They represent no recognized nation state. They operate in residential areas, firing missiles at Israeli civilians (not military targets) in Israeli cities, using Lebanese civilians as human shields.

It is obviously a Hezbollah tactic to create civilian casualties in Lebanon so they can turn world opinion against Israeli counterattacks.

So "Qana" is now the buzzword.

But we should take a step back and consider
"the meaning of "civilian" in this conflict and in the larger global war on terrorism. And we should consider that every Hezbollah fighter killed in the conflict is a "civilian" casualty. And we should consider whether there is a moral equivalence between intentionally targeting civilian noncombatants with ball-bearing-warhead missiles, and targeting the launchers that fired them after dropping leaflets warning that such attacks will come.

As Glenn Reynolds has said, "Terrorism is an information war disguised as a military operation." Firing missiles at Israeli civilians from Qana was a Hezbollah operation in that war. And so far truth seems to be one of the most serious casualties.

2 Comments:

Blogger Garry Wilmore said...

I deplore what is going on over there, but what really bothers me is that amid all the protests, outrage, and condemnation being generated by this war, I have yet to see one single mass demonstration anywhere in the world directed against Hezbollah, Syria, or Iran.

12:47 PM  
Blogger Barney said...

Good point, Garry.

11:11 PM  

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