Oct 17 - 46/45 - McCain +01
I Miss Bill
Bill Clinton has called for the US to take an immediate, increased role to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. President Clinton was a defender of Israel and worked hard to secure peace with its neighbors. Why then, would he call for Israel to stop "defending" itself? These might be a few reasons: - Hezbollah is firing rockets further into Israel, south of Haifa. One rocket hit an Israeli hospital.
- Israel's bombing of civilian areas could be investigated as war crimes. It is illegal to deliberately fire on civilian areas, regardless of the intentions to kill criminals.
- The longer the conflict goes on, the more support Hezbollah gains among Arab people and leaders. And against Israel.
It is in ours and Israel's best interest to find a way to end hostilities and begin working on a true solution to prevent future conflicts. This means Hezbollah should not be allowed to remain on Israel's border. But the fighting must stop and the US must take a role. Unfortunately for the Israelis, we don't have a thinker for a president, we have a cowboy.
By terra - 7/28/2006
10 Comments:
Ok...lets have a cease fire and everyone puts down their weapons, what's going to happen next? Israel will be attacked again, no matter what country they boarder.
WE NEED A STATESMAN:
how about Pres. Carter. Let him head up the negotiation and perhaps we can have the same lasting agreement we have with North Korea.
Terra,
I think your exactly right about the need for someone to get up to his or her elbow's in the situation - can Bill be enlisted again? It'd do the region much good if a statesman would make more than a half-assed attempt to solve the problems here instead of creating a road map and dabbling with the peace process like a child playing with food.
A side note from the perspective in Israel: some people are suprised by the resistance and 99.9% of Israelis agree with the response towards the Lebanon (this is never the case for the actions in Palestine). In recent days, more and more people now want to see the fighting end and are questioning the US and some Arab states "urging on" of the response.
Since I feel this is an entirely ridiculous statement:
"Israel's bombing of civilian areas could be investigated as war crimes. It is illegal to deliberately fire on civilian areas, regardless of the intentions to kill criminals."
Below is a snip of an article published in Haaretz, I think it does a good job of addressing the Israeli perspective of these potential "war crimes".
"Moral Muddle" an article by Meron Rapoport talks with an IAF commander who cites a previous experience (though abrupt and lacking some humanity):
"We see a vehicle that launched a rocket and entered a house. A civilian house that was not defined as a terror target, a three-story house. What is this house? A civilian building? A terrorist building? The answer is unequivocal: The building is a terror building, period."
"That was an easy decision, because there was a hostile terrorist attack there and because the entire surrounding area long ago received warnings that the IAF is operating in it and they are requested to evacuate in order to prevent an attack on the uninvolved"
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=Rapoport&itemNo=743730
Anon. Of course they're not going to tell everyone to stop fighting and leave it at that. It's pretty hard to talk with a gun in your hand, right? They stop the killing, and then work out a way to prevent it from happening in the future. You seem to be conveniently missing the last part of the plan.
Littler Zelin, I was surprised to hear that the UN may be able to investigate war crimes, but that's what I heard. It is unfortunate that so many civilians have died, which gives more support to Hezbollah. That's why the fighting should stop. The longer it continues, the more support Hezbollah will gain in the region. Israel has a right to have Hezbollah removed from their border, but they aren't doing themselves any favors by this continued fighting and killing of civilians. It's a tough situation all around, but nothing will get done as long as the killing continues. Do they think they can kill all of Hezbollah? And no one will step up in their place?
Let's send Jessie Jackson over.
Terra, How are you going to stop the killing when you are dealing with more then one country/terrorist organization who have said they want to wipe Israel off the map?
Bush did not pay Israel much attention before the war began and he is having to play catch up.
I guess I have to eat my words after a day with large civilian deaths...
Hezbollah is best known for kicking Israel out of Lebanon and now for putting up a very strong fight against Israel - unforunately they are now gaining even more support.
If Israel doesn't kill all of Hezbollah (probably won't happen) this new UN force will, I hope, be in charge of dis-arming them.
Once a cease-fire comes, It'd be great to see some serious dialogue - though this really doesn't happen in international politics and never in the mid-east.
Israelis are now so used to these wars that they've learned to live with it, just the same with the suicide bombings. I think they've given up all hope of peace with Arab countries. Frankly, they just don't trust them any more...
WAR CRIMES?
the islamic fascists have no worry on that count they are not a nation so they are free to do as they please.
Israel is in a no win situation. If they avoid civilian casualties they cannot destroy the people dedicated to their dsetruction. If they do what they need to do the media turns the world(the ones that already are not) against them. Those dedicated to destroying Israel and jews win. I am sure many of you are a great fan of Allen Durshowitz(apology for spelling) read his thoughts on how our obsession with innocent civilains(and no they are not all innocent) only encourages the scum to hide among the population and the ultimate disservice this does to the world.
p.s. to those that complained about the less than first class treatment by our government in leaving Lebanon move on and to the lawyers suing in the name of Americans that were in Lebanon---------I cant even come up with a vile enough suggestion.
Terra, I love the picture for this post. Nice work.
The picture is of President Clinton's last day in office. There's a letter on the desk for President Bush. What could it say?
"learn from mistakes, both yours and others"
"always tell the truth or you'll get into trouble"
"think before you act"
"history and culture are important"
"read your security memos"
Ah, to be able to leave a note for President Bush...
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