Stop the Madness. Keep Shooting.
Stop the Madness. Keep Shooting.
By Marc Leeds
August 1, 2006
For those urging a quick cease-fire in the face of what they perceive to be excessive and disproportionate violence wreaked upon Lebanese civilians, forget about it. Among other things, war is almost always about the tragic deaths of civilians.
What is happening in the Middle East is more than war. It is the promise of genocide and reaches beyond ethnically cleansing the Middle East of a Jewish state. Israel—and the worldwide Jewish community in general—is simply the target of origin, as they seemingly always have been. It is not Israel that says it must drive its neighbors into the sea or be bombed back to the Stone Age. A culture predicated on learning, scientific and philosophical inquiry, and that peacefully but vociferously struggles with the various strains of its own belief system is more interested in advancing the human condition than it is with eradicating other cultures.
It is becoming cliché, and for some simply cynical to say that Western civilization is at stake. All that is of a Judeo-Christian origin is at stake. The fallacy of the Bush Middle East Democratization Doctrine is that if the populist ideology of the Islamic world were to become the de facto policy of its various governments, Israel would be set upon by all its neighbors. That same populism would declare war on the Western world. Now that Iran and North Korea have solidified their relationship, there is enough seed money to advance their combined nuclear aspirations.
Hezbollah’s recent introduction of a slightly longer range rocket only begs the question of the utility for creating a buffer zone of any size in southern Lebanon. It is inevitable that the rocket capabilities of Israel’s foes will eventually morph into more potent launch vehicles with sophisticated guidance systems. Under those circumstances, what good is a buffer zone?
The best that can be had at this point is continuing the fight to degrade the weapons and personnel of Israel’s (and the West’s) genocidal neighbors. Realistically, this will only push back in time the point at which the West’s terrorist foes will be capable of fighting with any sort of technological equivalence. In the meantime, Arab extremists will have to rebuild infrastructure and house their refugees.
The argument that increasing the number of refugees and civilian casualties will only turn the average Arab against Israel and its Western supporters is, in a word, bogus. When given an opportunity to express themselves with any sort of democratic voice, Arab populations have voted into power parties that support anti-Western and anti-Israeli sentiments (just note the very public rise of Hamas and Hezbollah as both militias and political parties dedicated to the eradication of Israel). Even our new friends in Iraq are expressing support of Hezbollah’s goals.
What the West needs to expect is what Israel has experienced throughout its existence: periods of intense warfare punctuated by brief periods of sporadic deadly skirmishes. These less intense periods also include mostly ineffectual diplomatic discussions. We haven’t yet reached that point with the current conflict in Lebanon. President Clinton’s protracted talks with Israel and the Palestinians at least produced a time of relative peace, despite the fact the Palestinian electorate voted down a plan negotiated by Arafat that would have delivered 94% of all the land they claimed. In the end, the democratic voice of the Palestinian people rejected compromise and recently installed their terrorist base, Hamas, as the true voice of the people.
It may seem cruel to sit in the United States and advocate that Israel determine when it should cease fire. After all, we are not yet under direct fire and we have little understanding of the hardships and devastation faced by those on both sides of this conflict. But one thing is sure. Israel has assumed a defensive military posture since its inception and has never known peace. Israel can not afford to lose a single war.
Copyright (c) 2006 Marc Leeds. All rights reserved.
By Marc Leeds
August 1, 2006
For those urging a quick cease-fire in the face of what they perceive to be excessive and disproportionate violence wreaked upon Lebanese civilians, forget about it. Among other things, war is almost always about the tragic deaths of civilians.
What is happening in the Middle East is more than war. It is the promise of genocide and reaches beyond ethnically cleansing the Middle East of a Jewish state. Israel—and the worldwide Jewish community in general—is simply the target of origin, as they seemingly always have been. It is not Israel that says it must drive its neighbors into the sea or be bombed back to the Stone Age. A culture predicated on learning, scientific and philosophical inquiry, and that peacefully but vociferously struggles with the various strains of its own belief system is more interested in advancing the human condition than it is with eradicating other cultures.
It is becoming cliché, and for some simply cynical to say that Western civilization is at stake. All that is of a Judeo-Christian origin is at stake. The fallacy of the Bush Middle East Democratization Doctrine is that if the populist ideology of the Islamic world were to become the de facto policy of its various governments, Israel would be set upon by all its neighbors. That same populism would declare war on the Western world. Now that Iran and North Korea have solidified their relationship, there is enough seed money to advance their combined nuclear aspirations.
Hezbollah’s recent introduction of a slightly longer range rocket only begs the question of the utility for creating a buffer zone of any size in southern Lebanon. It is inevitable that the rocket capabilities of Israel’s foes will eventually morph into more potent launch vehicles with sophisticated guidance systems. Under those circumstances, what good is a buffer zone?
The best that can be had at this point is continuing the fight to degrade the weapons and personnel of Israel’s (and the West’s) genocidal neighbors. Realistically, this will only push back in time the point at which the West’s terrorist foes will be capable of fighting with any sort of technological equivalence. In the meantime, Arab extremists will have to rebuild infrastructure and house their refugees.
The argument that increasing the number of refugees and civilian casualties will only turn the average Arab against Israel and its Western supporters is, in a word, bogus. When given an opportunity to express themselves with any sort of democratic voice, Arab populations have voted into power parties that support anti-Western and anti-Israeli sentiments (just note the very public rise of Hamas and Hezbollah as both militias and political parties dedicated to the eradication of Israel). Even our new friends in Iraq are expressing support of Hezbollah’s goals.
What the West needs to expect is what Israel has experienced throughout its existence: periods of intense warfare punctuated by brief periods of sporadic deadly skirmishes. These less intense periods also include mostly ineffectual diplomatic discussions. We haven’t yet reached that point with the current conflict in Lebanon. President Clinton’s protracted talks with Israel and the Palestinians at least produced a time of relative peace, despite the fact the Palestinian electorate voted down a plan negotiated by Arafat that would have delivered 94% of all the land they claimed. In the end, the democratic voice of the Palestinian people rejected compromise and recently installed their terrorist base, Hamas, as the true voice of the people.
It may seem cruel to sit in the United States and advocate that Israel determine when it should cease fire. After all, we are not yet under direct fire and we have little understanding of the hardships and devastation faced by those on both sides of this conflict. But one thing is sure. Israel has assumed a defensive military posture since its inception and has never known peace. Israel can not afford to lose a single war.
Copyright (c) 2006 Marc Leeds. All rights reserved.
posted by Description at 7:43 AM
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