In Search Of Utopia: Photos that damn Hezbollah?

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July 30, 2006

Photos that damn Hezbollah?

Okay, I wake up this morning to the news that the Israeli Military has killed a bunch of civilians hiding in a basement:

QANA, Lebanon (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed 54 civilians, including 37 children, on Sunday, prompting Lebanon to tell U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice she was unwelcome in Beirut and fuelling world pressure for a ceasefire.
The raid on the southern village of Qana was the bloodiest single attack during Israel's 19-day-old war on Hizbollah. Rescue workers dug through the rubble with their hands for hours, lifting out the twisted, dust-caked corpses of children.

The U.N. Security Council met for an emergency session to discuss Lebanon at the request of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Annan said he hoped council members would realize "how dangerous the situation is and how it can't escalate and get out of hand and the urgency for them to act."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "deep sorrow" at the bombing, but vowed the war against Hizbollah would go on. He told Rice the army needed another 10 to 14 days to press its offensive, a spokesman at his office said.

As anger convulsed Lebanon and the Arab world, several thousand protesters chanted "Death to Israel, Death to America" outside the United Nations headquarters in downtown Beirut and some smashed their way into the building.

Rice, who was in Israel, said she was saddened by the Qana air raid, but stopped well short of calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Her mediation drive in tatters, Rice will leave for Washington on Monday to work on a U.N. resolution that could achieve what the White House called a "sustainable" ceasefire.

It also said the Qana raid showed the critical need for Israel to take "the utmost care" to avoid civilian casualties.

Then I see Condi Rice spinning the fact that the Prime Minister of Lebanon has canceled talks with her... To hear Condi talk, it was her idea, but no matter...

The next thing I see, is an orgry of justification for the Israeli attack by conservative blogs, based on this:

Graphic images smuggled out from Lebanon show how Hezbollah is waging war amid suburban homes.
A stream of images, obtained exclusively by the News Ltd, depicts how the extremists are using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy calibre weapons.

Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly melt back into suburbia, the fighters carrying automatic assault rifles ride in on trucks laden with cannons.

The photographs from the Christian area of Wadi Chahrour in the east of Beirut were snapped by a visiting journalist caught in the midst of the war, then smuggled out by a friend.

I go expecting to see images of Hezbollah terrorist using women and children as shields. Those pictures must have been taken down (sarcasm intended). What I saw was a bunch of pictures of urban street fighters in SURPRISE, an urban environment!

But the line that takes the cake for me in all this, is this one from Wizbang:

"These pictures illustrate what may have happened in the bombing that killed 54 Lebanese civilians. How many of the civilians were actually terrorists? We may never know."

Well... its probably a safe bet that at least 34 of them were not...

I find myself agreeing some with Digger in his post on the subject. I do not sympathize with Hezbollah, and I agree that Lebanon should have evicted the Hezbollah terrorist a LONG time ago. I also agree with Israel's right to defend herself. To suggesst that Israel should just let terrorist sit accross the border and shell their cities would be ridiculous. As Digger says,

"If someone was launching missiles into cities in America I can guarantee you there would be action and while civilian deaths of those who are truly innocent are always a travesty, there's nothing that can be done about it when you allow evil to flourish amongst you with no complaints."

But that does not mean we should not be concerned about the innocents dying in this war. That does not mean we should dismiss the deaths of 34 children as simply collateral damage. It does not mean Israel should be exempt from standards of acceptable warfare. Condi Rice is NO Collin Powell. She seems ill equipted to handle this type of crisis, and there I dissagree with Digger... It IS a crises.

There needs to be an international Peace Keeping Force in Lebanon. Hezbollah MUST be dissarmed. Israel must take more care in determining the legitimacy of targets, and the U.S. must show more leadership in dealing with this issue. At the moment, this conflict is contained. A few more images of mangled children and it may not be...

Others Blogging:

Rantingprofs, Captain's Quarters, PoliBlog, Michelle Malkin, Outside The Beltway, Flopping Aces, The World Wide Rant, Israel Matzav, The Strata-Sphere, Murdoc Online, Wizbang, Blue Crab Boulevard, Macsmind and The Corner TigerHawk, Sister Toldjah, Taylor Marsh, Secular Blasphemy, TPMCafe blogs, Pam's House Blend, From Beirut to the Beltway, All Spin Zone, Dohiyi Mir and Abu Aardvark All Things Beautiful, The Volokh Conspiracy, Solomonia and Atlas Shrugs Talking Points Memo and AMERICAN FUTURE

Posted by David A at July 30, 2006 12:43 PM
Filed Under Israel, Terrorism | 888 Words

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Comments

I still feel the Lebanese need to stop playing the victim card with every attack. When you let a group like Hezbollah grow without anyone stopping them then you can't complain when they get you into trouble.

Now not to play the Nazi card here as I'm not comparing them to Nazi's -- but to use the Nazi's as an example -- the population in Germany allowed them to flourish and take control of their destiny. So of course during World War II it was a travesty when civilians in Germany were killed on bombings because of the actions of the Nazi's. There were innocent Germans who were just going to work and raising their kids and could have cared less about the Nazi party, but the aggression and evil needed to be stopped and unfortunately the tactics of Hezbollah by hiding in civilian populations puts them at further risk.

Let's not forget who is the real blame here. A terrorist group (sponsored by countries calling for the elimination of Israel) that is attacking a country that is not looking for expansion. Israel isn't going on an offensive and trying to take over the Middle East. It is the terrorist groups that want to eliminate Israel here. So far, by judging the media reports, they seem to be getting the upper hand with sympathizers of the Lebanese people actually condemning Israel for attempting to defend themselves.

I simply can't put the blame on Israel for this. It sounds callous, but there is no other way for them to get to these launching sites without having to attack civilian areas. If there was another way to eliminate Hezbollah without killing civilians I'm pretty sure Israel would take that route as these attacks don't make them look good to a lot of people, but there's just no way to negotiate with these terrorists. They will continue to attack the civilian population in Israel until they are totally eliminated.

A cease fire would simply allow Hezbollah to regroup and rearm for more attacks in the future as has been shown time and time again in the past.

Posted by: Digger at July 31, 2006 06:01 AM

Digger, there is a big difference with the Nazi analogy. They were the government of Germany, originaly elected by the Germans. But there is a better analogy. By the end of the war, most Germans wanted out, hence the assasination attempts on Hitler. I do think the Lebonese are victims. They are a small, struggling country who is caught in the middle between Syria, Iran and Israel. From what I have read, "kicking Hezbollah out has not been a simple thing for them. I don't want to see Israel continually attacked either, but what is happening in Lebanon will only aggravate the tensions in the region, and I believe it is a powderkeg, ready to explode.

Posted by: David Scott Anderson at July 31, 2006 08:56 AM

Please tell us some way that Hezbollah can absolutely be kept from basing and attacking from within residential areas and then you can tell the whole world why Israel should not be firing into those areas.

As long as there is no way to keep Hezbollah from firing on Israel from civilian-based areas, then there is no reason to expect or compel Israel to stop firing into those civilian areas where Hezbollah is attacking Israel from.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 31, 2006 04:42 PM

Ok Anon, let me answer you. Perhaps you cant. But the moral question is whether an Israeli civilian life is worth more than a Lebanese one? Hezbollah is launching rockets into civilian areas and killing innocent people (though far, far fewer), and they are rightfully labled terrorist. Israel does the same thing and they are, "defending themselves?" Explain the moral rightousness of that. It was pointed out that one of the issues involved in the death of civilians in Lebanon is that many do not have the resources, or are too affraid to escape.... But then the subject of this post is something entirely different... It's about the hypocrisy of the Conservative bloggers trying to defend the indefensible. Your rationale... Honestly, is a lot more HONEST.

Posted by: David Scott Anderson at July 31, 2006 07:09 PM

What do you do with mad dog when it comes biting towards you.........certainly you would kill it .its instinctive.So when the jew dogs come biting,who are inflicted with american and british rabies,who are butchering the innocent children,smashing off their heads with their jealous faces and long snouts and the american pigheads laughing over them.WHAT DO THEY DESERVE!

STRAY MAD DOGS SHOULD BE KILLED!

Posted by: madiha at August 13, 2006 12:31 PM