war in lebanon

so ok, here is how it happened. a month ago, an israeli warship killed a woman and her kids, who were just out on the beach on a nice sunny day, for no reason. in response, hamas, the terrorist group in charge of the palestinian territories, took an israeli soldier hostage. the israeli government then destroyed the only power plant in gaza and killed more innocent civilians. so, a few days ago, hezbollah, a lebanese terrorist group with funding from iran and syria, kidnapped two more israeli soldiers, because they had seen how crazy the israelis behave after their soldiers are kidnapped. hezbollah is actually a part of the lebanese government, and its forces control southern lebanon. and hezbollah has been firing rockets at northern israel, just like hamas fires rockets out of gaza into israel. ok. great. let me explain a few things here.

first of all, israel is way more powerful than anyone else. they have the most advanced military, well-trained and well-equipped, of anyone in the region. they have proven time and time again that they can defeat all the other countries in the middle east, combined. there is no doubt whatsoever about israel’s military capabilities. secondly, the muslims who fight israel have to fight as terrorists, and resort to asymmetric warfare, because they simply cannot afford all of the high-tech weaponry that israel has. when you are fighting terrorists, to win, you have to unite people in different nations against the terrorists, and keep them from getting any popular support. also, you must refrain from ever adopting the terrorist tactics of targeting innocent civilians. unfortunately, israel has failed, and they are not careful enough about picking and choosing the targets to attack wisely. they keep spilling the blood of the innocent, and they have even deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure, such as the main beirut airport, bridges, highways, etc. israel has proven through their actions that they are no more civilized than the terrorists they are fighting. the ultimate victory of the terrorists is to make the enemy the terrorists are fighting become just like them.

so, what should israel be doing? well, they could try targeting hezbollah, instead of the innocent civilians of lebanon, for starters. honestly, the united states is not setting a very good example in iraq. just look at abu ghraib or haditha (where 24 innocent civilians were murdered by u.s. marines in cold blood), or what about that mentally ill soldier who raped an underage girl and then killed both her and her family to cover it up? i am just saying, it is not in israel’s interests to kill innocent civilians and make themselves even more hated than they already are. why do they always undermine their own interests all the time? the israelis have a fundamentally flawed way of thinking, where they think any problem can be solved through the use of overwhelming force. they simply cannot realize, the more times you kill innocent people, the more enemies you make, the less friends you have, and the more you undermine your own standing. there is a reason israel is not diplomatically recognized by any of its neighbors, and it is israel’s own behavior militarily, going back many decades.

now what about islamic terrorists? obviously, they must be defeated. but how can you defeat terrorists if you stoop down to their level? you have to be better than them, to not only have superior military force, but also the moral high ground. is it really worth it to inflict higher casualties on the terrorists, if it costs you the goodwill of the people of the world, and makes you discredited and hated? in most countries of the world, jewish people are nonviolent, law-abiding, civilized people who do not cause trouble. what is it about the jews of israel that makes them so violent and bloodthirsty, so different than the jews elsewhere in the world? have they learned nothing from the holocaust? one would think them most fundamental lesson of the holocaust is not to kill innocent people because it is wrong. the holocaust teaches us that although a prosperous country with a large military budget and a democratically elected leader can engage in genocide against millions of innocent people, history will harshly judge anyone who allows this to happen, takes part in it, or enables it in any way, shape, or form. those who resisted the holocaust are considered heroes. so why is it today, that israel is killing so many innocent civilians, and destroying infrastructure in gaza and now in lebanon, despite all the holocaust survivors in israel? i think the jews in israel, unfortunately, learned less from the holocaust than anyone else did.

or rather, the jews have learned from the holocaust, but they did not learn the proper lessons. they learned to be paranoid and think everyone who is not jewish is out to get them, and to instinctively side with other jews and not question whether the other jews are right or not. they learned to accuse people unjustly of anti-semitism. very often, american jews who are pro-israel accuse anyone who speaks out against israel of being anti-semitic. they even level this accusation against their fellow jews, against those few who dare to speak out against the ruling clique of the american jewry. we have seen from the aipac espionage scandal that pro-israel american jewish organizations are not really on the side of the united states of america. that was also demonstrated by the sinking of the u.s.s. liberty. both israel and the palestinian territories, both israel and lebanon, have democratically elected governments. so if the united states is really committed to peace and democracy, why do we keep supporting the militaristic bullies of the middle east who go around imposing their will on everyone else all the time? you have got to think, maybe we in the united states are really kindred spirits to the israelis, since we are also militaristic bullies imposing our will on the rest of the world.

but israel is really on the front lines against terrorism, since they deal with it every day. we in the united states have not really been attacked since the september 11, 2001 attacks, and subsequent anthrax attacks. none of us has ever had to deal with what the israelis go through every day, unless we were soldiers stationed off in iraq or afghanistan or something. but even then, it is different, because we would be off in another land, a foreign land, and not know the terrain. the israelis are fighting in their own backyard. the thing is, awful situations like that should not turn people into monsters who do not have compassion, who support the killing of innocents. i think all this exposure to violence and killing has desensitized the israelis, as well as muslims in the middle east, to that sort of thing, and made them much more willing to support it or participate in it. people over there do not seem to be able to learn that this violence is wrong! they have some crazy-ass sort of mental block in their brains that prevents them from ever learning from their mistakes.

anyway, i simply cannot abide by the killing of innocents, whether it is done by terrorists, the israelis, or my own american military. all sides have blood on their hands, but we need to stop this senseless killing. i do not see what is so wrong with the kidnapping of soldiers, however. in any war, you can take enemy soldiers prisoner. it is better to be alive than to be dead. israel should be glad the soldiers taken prisoner are still alive (assuming that they are). what the terrorists are doing that is really outrageous, of course, is the killing of innocent civilians. in the case of the terrorists, we can be certain that this killing of innocents is deliberate, because, luckily, the terrorists are simple-minded enough not to hide their motives or lie about it. the terrorists are honest enough to admit that they deliberately kill innocent people. the militaries of the united states and israel, on the other hand, always officially maintain that they avoid as much as possible the killing of innocent people. of course, i see no reason to believe them, because this seems like a blatantly dishonest ruse to avoid being held accountable for their actions that kill people. ultimately, of course, in both countries, there are civilian elected leaders in charge, and there is really a failure in leadership, a failure which is partially responsible for these atrocities taking place.

the israelis keep using that tired old excuse, we have the right to defend ourselves, and we can’t just sit idly by while our soldiers get kidnapped and our cities are bombed. great! nobody is arguing with that. the problem is, the choice of tactics the israelis make, in “defending” themselves. it seems like all they ever do is provocation and collective punishment. why is it so hard for them to identify who their enemy is, narrowly defined, and then target and destroy that specific enemy? i do not see the need to destroy civilian infrastructure, or to purposefully kill innocent people. there is no way for any decent person to justify any of it. terrorists are uncivilized, horrible people, because they destroy civilian infrastructure and kill innocent people on purpose. but now it seems, there are more terrorists than just the muslim terrorists. there are terrorists in the militaries of the united states and israel. i think our military probably has less than israel, but the guys who did the killings in haditha, definitely would count as terrorists. i don’t know how many other soldiers in our military are terrorists. some people say it is a fraction of 1%. i can only hope that is true. as for the israeli military, we cannot forget that they are drafted into that military against their will. the united states did the same thing in vietnam, and it resulted in atrocities. i would hate to think how many israeli soldiers have taken part in atrocities, although to be honest, they cannot be held personally responsible for everything they take part in, especially if they are just following orders. then again, going back to the holocaust, we must remember that the nuremburg tribunals established that just following orders is not a valid defense for war crimes. we cannot be “good germans” and stand idly by or support what is going on in our names. if we do not stand up and oppose war, then we shall have a great war, against over a billion muslims, a war we are gradually being drawn into, one that keeps escalating. that is an unacceptable outcome, and for the sake of humanity, we cannot allow such a war to ever occur. we must end the war, and get the muslim terrorists to end their jihad. we as americans should not support israel at all in this conflict, even though we have just as much innocent blood on our hands as they do. would that make us hypocritical as a nation? yes. but we are already very hypocritical as a nation, so it would not really be much of a change.

and do not for a moment think i am a defender of islam, from what you have read in this post. i have been and remain a staunch opponent of that religion. they believe in nothing but superstition, they reject modern science, and their system of morality is oppressive and totalitarian towards individuals. they have a horrible record when it comes to how they treat women, homosexuals, or people of other religions. islam is an absolutely indefensible religion, causing nothing but misery and suffering around the world. the prophet mohammad was a child molester, for crying out loud. still, i think we must avoid war against islam as a whole, as diligently as possible, because there are over a billion of them, and it would suck if we ended up fighting total war against all of them. christianity also has a very poor record, what with the crusades and inquisitions and burnings at stakes and all, and by the way adolf hitler was a christian. and as for the jews, well we all know israel is run by jews, and look at all the violence they have been carrying out lately. all in all, i think all of the monotheistic religions have thoroughly discredited themselves through senseless acts of violence. any religion that teaches people to kill and destroy is not a religion worth saving. but, people still have the right to decide for themselves what to believe in. that is kind of implied by freedom of speech, that people have the freedom to believe whatever they want, no matter how stupid. so even though i disagree with a large percentage of the world’s population about religious doctrine, i do not hold this against them as human beings, and i am still a staunch defender of their rights as people. and i do not think it is fair for us to discriminate against muslim countries just because of their religion, like we do with iran. if we claim to believe in tolerance, how can this be true if we show no tolerance towards other religions? tolerance is part of the basis of our moral superiority to the terrorists, the basis of how we can philosophically prove that we are good compared to how evil they are. we must be as different from terrorists as possible. terrorists kill innocent people, so we should not. terrorists are religious fundamentalists, so we should be atheists or agnostics or something like that. terrorists are intolerant, so we should be tolerant, and maybe that means we don’t have to be atheists or agnostics unless we want to. terrorists are almost all men, so we should be almost all women. mmmmmm... i can hardly wait for that last one.