Nasty Little Man

A smattering of op-eds on the Middle East

Harrisburg Patriot News: From the Haifa incident to the Qana incident

I do not recall any outrage or a single demonstration anywhere in the world at this hideous act committed by the Hezbollah.

Actually, the Haifa incident and the Qana incident are similar, yet different. The similarity is that in both many people, most of them children, were killed. For kid-loving people who don't care about context, that would have been enough reason to demonstrate in both cases.

But that is where the similarity ends. It makes all the difference in the world that in the Haifa case the kids were murdered. In the Qana case the kids were unintentionally killed. Israel did not target the kids in Qana -- we never do -- but Hezbollah did target our kids in Haifa. Then and now, it always does.

Now if those pious souls thousands of miles away from here, taking to the streets in outrage -- people in other continents, most of whom probably are unable even to point out Israel on the map -- really cared about kids, should we have heard of them when the body parts of our kids were sprayed on the pavement and the walls of the homes across from the bus station where the Hezbollah-launched human bomb mounted the bus?

I could be completely off on this, but I think many people feel helpless when it comes to rogue groups like Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, etc. while we feel a certain level of control over elected governments like Israel and the U.S.

NY Times: Ground to a Halt

Nearly two decades of Israeli military presence did not root out Hezbollah. The only thing that has proven to end suicide attacks, in Lebanon and elsewhere, is withdrawal by the occupying force.

Thus the new Israeli land offensive may take ground and destroy weapons, but it has little chance of destroying the Hezbollah movement. In fact, in the wake of the bombings of civilians, the incursion will probably aid Hezbollah’s recruiting.

Equally important, Israel’s incursion is also squandering the good will it had initially earned from so-called moderate Arab states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The countries are the court of opinion that matters because, while Israel cannot crush Hezbollah, it could achieve a more limited goal: ending Hezbollah’s acquisition of more missiles through Syria.

Joe Klein, Time: Even Churchill couldn't figure out Iraq

While the world has been fixed on the crisis in Israel and Lebanon these past few weeks, Iraq has reached the brink of a "very grave occurrence," an all-out civil war between Sunnis and Shi'ites that could quickly spread to neighboring countries. The Iraqi-led military push to pacify Baghdad, Operation Forward Together, has run into fierce resistance from the Sunni insurgency and the Shi'ite militias. The death toll—an average of 100 per day—is at least double the rate of casualties in Lebanon.
...
We are in free fall in Iraq, and there is no net.

posted by Kinder Gentler Little Man @ 8:43 AM