The Middle East spirals out of control!

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Israel has only killed civillians because Hezbollah hides among civillians, making them collateral damage.

How quick we are to devalue life. Of course Israel aren’t intending to kill civilians –and who would be stupid enough to admit that? This fact, however, doesn’t make the results of their actions any less abhorrent or somehow immune from criticism. Does a ‘kill or be killed’ argument really apply given the disproportionate military strength in Israel’s favour? Ok, there are rocket attacks in Haifa in the north, but based on the death and injury tolls, it is relatively little compared to sophisticated carnage created by the Israeli precision strikes. It’s like going after a fly with a hammer, but calling for some restraint at this point is too little too late.

Israel have been keen to differentiate between Hezbollah targets and the ‘normal’ Lebanese, however ask yourself what kind of impact do you think these activities will have on the moderate Lebanese government and the future of the region? You have to remember that past conflicts with Lebanon have been resolved with dialogue and diplomacy; ie a government open to discussion. There’s been some talk that if the invasion was able to convince normal Lebanese to reject Hezbollah (Adamigan’s mentioned the shift already), but if the long term effect ends up with them being replaced by radicals… well, it’s not as if the region isn’t destabilised enough already.

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1.) Is Israel using its full military might on Lebanon?

maybe some other side issues to consider is why isn't Israel using it's nuclear weapons if its intent was to cause maximum civillian casulties? Why is Israel bothering to tell people to evacuate ahead of time? Why is Israel doing house to house fighting when it could just level the entire city?

I mean damn... if a military general was aiming for maximum civillian casulties they sure SUCK AT IT.

Maybe Israel do suck at military strategy. This attempt to crush Hezbollah over a couple of soldiers has gone on for three weeks and killed more civilians than terrorists, so wouldn’t you say that this quick show of strength has backfired? On the day Israeli leader Olmert announced that they’ve crushed Hezbollah, the rockets still continue to fall. Now there’s some talk of holding the territory or leaving it to an International (UN) peacekeeping force -good luck on getting volunteers for that. Until that happens, Israel will be holding onto territory while all the while losing casualties and international goodwill (not that they’ve ever cared for that).

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Whether Hezbollah is a terrorist organization or not is open and shut case.

I think it’s a little deeper than that. Simplifying things is often a good idea, but it lends itself to making you look like a shallow fool. Ask yourself what kind of ‘terrorists’ are you thinking of? If you’ve really read your history, you’d know that the origin of Hezbollah was entwined in a regional conflict in repelling Israel from Lebanon, and thus lends itself to much popular support from the Lebanese. Freedom fighters could also be an apt tag, although this on its own does not justify their actions. As such, any implied comparisons to ‘destroy the non-islamic world’ global terrorists (a la Al-Qaeda) are null.

Jam it back in, in the dark.