Reply to: Comment #15988 by R. A. Earl on 7/31 at 8:32 pm

I try not to laugh at people who are trying to be serious, but in your case I couldn’t help a little snicker or two. You write:

“And as I said, I can guarantee I would find a way to evacuate the area if I was there… even if ALL the bridges were blown!”

Maybe you were trying to be sarcatically humorous? After reading of the families killed in their autos and vans fleeing the south of Lebano ... I don’t know.

Maybe you were simply caught up in the “energy” of the moment, and the helplessness we all feel as innocent civilians are being slaughtered ... for whatever reason.

But let me again quote from wikipedia about the Fourth Geneva Convention:

“In the First World War, Germans executed Belgian villagers in mass retribution for resistance activity. In World War II, Nazis carried out a form of collective punishment to suppress resistance. Entire villages or towns or districts were held responsible for any resistance activity that took place there. The conventions, to counter this, reiterated the principle of individual responsibility. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Commentary to the conventions states that parties to a conflict often would resort to ‘intimidatory measures to terrorize the population’ in hopes of preventing hostile acts, but such practices ‘strike at guilty and innocent alike. They are opposed to all principles based on humanity and justice.’”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Geneva_Convention

To Shawn Patrick, #15899…

As I’ve stated elsewhere, we who are “beaking off” here, and I include myself, DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL WE’RE TALKING ABOUT.

We aren’t there. And those who are ALL HAVE AN AGENDA AND BIAS. It’s a great big game being played by ego-maniacs on both sides. It is indeed unfortunate there are so many “innocents” caught in the middle. And as I said, I can guarantee I would find a way to evacuate the area if I was there… even if ALL the bridges were blown!

The whole thing is insane… what’s the point of further comment on insanity?

RA Earl,

There is one problem with them leaving town. Israel has blown up over 90 percent of the bridges and most of the infrastruture. Ambulances and convoys have been bombed in Southern Lebanon.

Therefore while Israel urges those residents to flee, they have no way of doing it. They are trapped.

It is a complete fabrication that Hizbollah mixes with the general population. As for the 24 hours crap, thousands of people in New Orleans had more that 24 hours notice but had not the means to escape Katrina. Israel is targeting civilians to terrorize the population of Lebanon and has killed at least 320 children so far. American media is no longer trustworthy. Quoting it is fallacy.

I take a summer break ... and all hell breaks out!

When are we going to learn that it is up to the strong to end the cycle of violence!

Are we not a Christian nation? Didn’t Jesus teach, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God”?

What is happening between Israel and Hezbollah is total insanity on Israel’s part. Of course Hezbollah started it IN THIS INSTANCE by capturing the Israeli soldiers ... but, my god, Israel then decided to make heroes of Hezbollah through collective retribution toward the civilian population of Lebanon?

And now after making a complete mess of everything, Israel wants the UN to come in and bail them out with a peacekeepng force?

Sure thing, stir up the hornets nest and then run for cover.

Any metaphor quickly loses relevance in this situation.

Let’s be clear. Hezbollah IN THIS INSTANCE stung the Israelis first. Dah! Let’s not even ask why, let’s just stipulate first causes. How does that justify collective retribution against the civilian population ... something Israel is saying is justified because the they claim the civilians are hiding the Hezbollah soldiers?

“Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishments are a war crime. Article 33 states: ‘No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed,’ and “collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

“By collective punishment, the drafters of the Geneva Conventions had in mind the reprisal killings of World Wars I and II. In the First World War, Germans executed Belgian villagers in mass retribution for resistance activity. In World War II, Nazis carried out a form of collective punishment to suppress resistance. Entire villages or towns or districts were held responsible for any resistance activity that took place there. The conventions, to counter this, reiterated the principle of individual responsibility. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Commentary to the conventions states that parties to a conflict often would resort to ‘intimidatory measures to terrorize the population’ in hopes of preventing hostile acts, but such practices ‘strike at guilty and innocent alike. They are opposed to all principles based on humanity and justice.’”
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Geneva_Convention

My friends, lest we forget, there is a silent epidemic among us, the people of this earth: it’s known as the Military Industrial Complex (MIC).  Note Eisenhower’s parting, haunting words.

“In the counsels of Government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the Military Industrial Complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

-  President Eisenhower - January 1961

See http://www.irc-online.org/rightweb/profile/1432 (long read, but quite informative)

So it seems that these “huge industrial and military machines” have somehow stole away with our sanity, in the name of profits, uninterrupted.  In the name of Hezbellah and Israel alike.  And we, the people, the asleep and nullified citizenry have been strong armed, and hoodwinked into submission.  With no time for neutrality on a runaway train, our efforts to understand and contain this growing problem must be equally cunning and decisive.

The way to the MIC’s jugular is a convoluted route.  They’re dug in and well fortified.  But they are dependent on military spending and appropriations committee approval for some of their cash, for some of their budget.  So write your congressional reps and tell them that enough is enough.  The senseless horrors unfolding in front of us daily (and for some Lebanese, Afghanis, and Iraqis literally exploding in their front yards, or bedrooms, for that matter) can be curtailed; halted.  But we need to speak with an unmistakably clear voice of concern, and more important, voice of opposition against this candidate come future elections, should they “stay the course.”  And don’t be fooled.  Democrats love cash for their constituents as much as the other bastards.

See http://www.house.gov/writerep/ to determine who your congressional representatives are, and use that website to write personal letters to these elected men and women, and speak clearly your concerns about Eisenhower’s warnings.  Demand change, and demand accountability.  Review the voting records of these people, and promise active involvement if changes aren’t made swiftly. 

This mess is ours to fix.  We let it happen, we let it spiral out of control to the terrifying place that it’s come to reside today.  Get active.  Never Forget.

Qana and The Warsaw Ghetto

same place
different time
while the world stool by
genocide
live

Twenty years ago I used to believe anything Israel said about the Middle East and swallowed their story line that Israel was a lonely outpost of progress and virtue in a barbaric, terrorist world. And then I started to listen to other voices and dig beneath the surface. And what did I find out over time? That the Israeli State has lied about nearly everything in the past and is lying about nearly everything right now; that the Israeli State is a fearful and deeply paranoid entity that has thrown all ethics and morality to the winds and considers itself accuser, judge, jury and executioner of anyone and everyone it perceives to be a threat. But because the Israel State is in reality psychotic, their perspective is horribly skewed and dangerous to all. Their vicious, Nazi-style actions outrage millions and create countless enemies where there were none before, thus justifying their psychotic delusions and spurring them on to kill, maim and torture more. This is what’s known as a vicious cycle.

If Israel was personified in one deranged individual, some SWAT Team would have already surrounded and disarmed this psychotic and hauled him off to the lunatic ward under heavy guard. But instead of a SWAT Team, we have the Neocon White House standing guard. What have they done? Given our lunatic the keys to the armory and told him, “You go, boy! Get ‘em! Sic ‘em! Kill ‘em all until we say stop!” So now one realizes that there is a second psychotic we have to deal with.

It’s quite troubling to see our American media continue to put the Israeli spin on everything.  Starting to wonder if MSNBC is an Israeli news network?  Can’t believe what I’m hearing.  There is no justification for the mass killing Israel is doing, yet their PR spin continues.  I’m outraged that my tax dollars support our one sided Middle Eastern foreign policy.  What ever happened to truth, justice, & the American way?  Hijacked by Zionists?

The murder of those children is an obscenity perpetrated by BOTH SIDES… the Hezbollah for locating their rocket launching machinery in residential neigborhoods, and the Israeli’s for shooting anyway.

The Israelis say they warned the people of Qana they were in a targeted area and for them to leave town. 50 of those who didn’t heed the warning are now dead. Who’s to blame?

I don’t know about you, but if I was told that missiles were going to land in my neighborhood, I would leave… even if every road and bridge out of town had been obliterated. I’d WALK over broken glass and swim infested rivers… whatever it took to take myself and family to safety. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES would I just remain and hope for the best.

Sadly, those missiles were American missiles dropped by American war planes provided to Israel by the Bush administration.

“During the Bush administration, from 2001 to 2005, Israel received $10.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing—the Pentagon’s biggest military aid program—and $6.3 billion in U.S. arms deliveries. The most prominent of these deals is a $4.5 billion sale of 102 Lockheed Martin F-16s to Israel.”

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3387

http://www.operation2012.com

bush & condi are egging israel on—that’s why america keeps sending more armaments to israel

Looks like the American-Isreali list of war crimes is expanding.  This outrage has got to be stopped.  Don’t count on Condi to do anything though…..the Lebanese Prime Minister has angrily cancelled their meeting (he’s onto the ‘let’s make it look like we’re for peace’  American scam) while Condi and the US are spinning it (ie lying) by saying they ‘postponed’ the meeting. The US credibility level is at zero, and our leaders have failed us miserably. And don’t forget to check out the NY Time’s report on the ‘shell game’ of reconstruction in Iraq.  It’s all a fraud…and that children’s hospital Laura Bush was promoting so heavily being built by Bechtel has been abandoned incomplete.