Deconstructing Lebanon

For many years, Israel has made deterance of aggression their policy by using controversial actions that may violate international law. Although they deny it, Israel has used collective punishment for many years against Palestinians. They've also used retaliation by overwhelmingly disproportionate response regularly, quite effectively with their neighbors who have retreated to a uneasy peace.
Now Israel is typically responding disproportionately to kidnapping of it's soldiers by Hamas and Hezbollah. Both of these reprehensible terrorist organizations strengthen their power by bring on suffering of their people. Then they can say to their followers, "See how the Israelis behave? Only we can lead you to respond to the aggressor." This tactic has been around for eons. No one in the line of fire dare believe that their leaders brought death and destruction upon them, because doing so would leave them totally alone and helpless.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah were created and strengthened under smothering Israeli oppression, each generation more ruthless and fanatical than the previous. It may be true that Jordan, Egypt and even Syria have been coerced into peace by Israeli tactics, Syria and Iran are content to foment terrorism by supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. Hezbollah has military capabilities that are stronger than some governments. No country would tolerate a government within a government on their border.
But I've been raised with the value that two wrongs don't make a right. Kidnapped of soldiers does not justify a bombing campaign whose victims are mainly innocent civilians, including women and children. War begets more war. Hate creates more hate. The children under fire today will be the next generation of terrorists. This next generation will more than ever see Israel along side of the US as their enemy.
Reuters.com

Israel's campaign, launched after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight on Wednesday, has killed 93 people, all but two civilians, and paralyzed Lebanon's economy.


[...]The Israeli army said on Saturday it had struck about 150 targets in Lebanon so far, fewer than a dozen of them linked directly to Hezbollah. Most have hit civilian installations.


[...]Since the Gaza offensive was launched on June 28, Israel has killed about 85 Palestinians, around half of them militants.

The biggest victims of this war are the civilians and their infrastructure. Lebanon, at one point Bush's new Democracy showcase, has been condemned to destruction by Bush's mindless support of Israel. His proclamations of saving civilians and infrastructure falls on deaf ears with no consequences threatened and serves to appease the Republicans that Bush is "doing what he can." BS!
The Daily Star of Lebanon - Editorial

This week has given a sense of just how quickly things can change in the Middle East. In a matter of hours, a relatively confined conflict in the Gaza Strip erupted into a two-front war, posing a dangerous threat of even wider escalation. But perhaps the most startling development of late is that the United States is at least publicly trying to take a relatively balanced approach to the conflict unfolding in Lebanon.


But now, our fledgling independence is under fire. Only a little over a year since we started making our own decisions and trying to forge a sense of national unity, we have been hit with a crisis of unexpected proportions. Our fledgling government, which like any 1-year-old is still struggling to stay on its feet, is under fire. Our civilians, who had no part in the decision to abduct Israeli soldiers, are being killed. Our infrastructure, which has only recently been built, is being destroyed.


Yet even now, as Israel is laying waste to our country with guns and missiles paid for with US tax dollars, and as American-made bombs are raining down on our cities, we are still clinging to the same values and ideals that the Bush administration has promoted: We want life, liberty and happiness; we want democracy, sovereignty, freedom and independence.


No one is calling for the return of Syrian occupation, even though one could argue that Syria's presence served as a deterrent to this kind of Israeli onslaught. No one is asking whether the US government only asked the Syrians to step out only so that the Israelis could step in to replace them. We are holding out hope that the Americans will be faithful to the values that they have championed and protect us from further harm.


The Americans now need to choose sides, not between warring parties, but between right and wrong. They must now demonstrate their commitment to freedom, human rights and international law and speak out loudly and firmly against the killing of civilians, the destruction of infrastructure and the brutal collective punishment that all of us are now enduring.

This field of tears is full of bad guys. The only good guys are the civilians. David Ignatius identifies the threads of future history in today's events.
The Daily Star - David Ignatius

In the Lebanon crisis, we have a terrifying glimpse of the future: Iran and its radical allies are pushing toward war. That's the chilling reality behind this week's events. On Tuesday, the Iranians spurned an American offer of talks on their nuclear program; on Wednesday, their Hezbollah proxy made what Israel rightly called "an act of war." The radicals want to lure America and Israel deeper into the killing ground, confident that they have the staying power to prevail. We should not play their game.

Bush, on his adventure in Iraq, leaves the US with few options to respond.