WOW this guy got balls!! An open letter to the American president By Salim El Hoss(former prime minister of Lebanon ) Special to The Daily Star Thursday, August 03, 2006 Dear Mr. Bush We heard you express your regrets regarding the casualties of Israel's ravaging war against my country, Lebanon I hope you have been furnished with a true profile of the atrocities being perpetrated in my country. You pose as being at war with terrorism. Let me honestly tell you: Charity starts at home Israel is wantonly indulging in the most horrendous forms of terrorism in Lebanon: indiscriminately killing innocent civilians at random; not sparing children, elderly or handicapped people; demolishing buildings over their residents' heads; and destroying all infrastructure, roads, bridges, water and power arteries, harbors, air strips and storage facilities. Nothing moving on the highways is spared, not even ambulances, trucks, trailers, cars or even motorcycles, all in violation of the Geneva Conventions and human rights The displaced population has reached more than one fourth of the total population of my country - all suffering the harshest and most miserable of conditions. The victims include thousands of killed and maimed If this is not terrorism, what is? Israel's savage assault has been labeled retribution for Hizbullah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers. This smacks of collective punishment, which constitutes a brazen violation of the Geneva Conventions and human rights. Furthermore, the alibi is far from plausible. The two Israeli soldiers were abducted for the express purpose of reaching a swap of hostages with Israel. In fact, Israel had acceded more than once to such swaps in the past. Why would a swap of prisoners be acceptable at one time and a taboo, rather a casus belli, at another? This created a conviction among the Lebanese that the sweeping assault against them was premeditated, and the abduction was only a tenuous excuse. Israel is indulging in terrorism at its worst, at its ugliest, using the most lethal and sophisticated weapons you have supplied them We the Lebanese are justified in seeing in Israel as a most atrocious terrorist power, and seeing in you a direct partner. Mr. President: You are indeed a terrorist practicing the worst variant of terrorism as you condone the annihilation of my country, precluding a cease-fire to be announced, supporting the aggression against my people politically and diplomatically and bolstering Israel's destructive arsenal with the most lethal weaponry Mr. President: You are not fooling anybody with your alleged war against terrorism. In our perspective, you and Israel are the most unscrupulous terrorists on earth. If you want to fight terrorism, we suggest that you start with your administration and your hideous ally, Israel You repeatedly claim that Israel is acting in self-defense. How preposterous! Self-defense on other people's occupied territory is tantamount to one thing: blatant aggression You call Hizbullah a terrorist organization. We call it a legitimate resistance movement. There would have been no military wing of Hizbullah if there had been no Lebanese territory under Israeli occupation, if there had been no Lebanese hostages languishing in Israeli jails, and if Lebanon had not been exposed to almost daily Israeli intrusions into its airspace and territorial waters, and to sporadic incursions into Lebanese land and bombardment of civilian targets You cannot eliminate a party by demolishing a whole country. This would have been achieved peacefully by Israel withdrawing from the land it occupies, releasing Lebanese prisoners, and desisting from further acts of aggression against Lebanon Israel is the most horrendous terrorist power. And you, Mr. President, are unmistakably a direct partner, and hence a straight terrorist. Salim al-Hoss, former prime minister of Lebanon August 1, 2006 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=1&article_ID=74444&categ_id=5
Isn't Hezbolla indiscriminatly targeting civilians with their rockets? As far as we can tell they are just lobbing them into cities. How come they aren't being called out on that?
I'm sure Hezbollah would rather have weapons that can target specific targets but since they don't are you saying that they shouldn't fire what they do have? Should we sell them the weapons to hit specific targets? Would that make it ok for them to defend themselves? Israel has the weapons to target specific targets and is still killing far more civilians. Hezbollah did capture 2 Israeli soldiers and Israel also has the right to defend it's self but they have gone way over board. Most of the Middle East condemned the incursion into Israel when it first happened but because of extreme heavy handedness with which Israel has handled this the entire ME, if not the world, is condemning Israel. War creates hate, Hate creates war.
Yes Hezbollah is killing civilians by blindly shooting their rockets, but Israel is killing civilians with their "smart" bombs. I would think if Israel used more discretion then not nearly as many Lebanese civilians would be killed.
Killing those kids was no doubt an accident. It's the last thing that Israel would do, killing innocent civilians. The more of them killed, the higher morale these SOB terrorist would get. And that's the same reason HIzbollah are using them as sheilds.
Don't believe the hype and fall into catch phrases. Should Hezbollah move into open ground so they can be killed easily? If you were fighting an incursion into your country is that what you would do? They live in the city, their supplies are in the city, and they have no way to operate in the open because Israel controls the skies. If a country wishes to fight a battle that takes place in a city it is not just the fault of people who are in the city. You can't cry "hey I want to kill them but they won't fight me fair". Always look for phrases like that in the media; it's just people trying manipulating your perception of events.
You can turn that argument around. Sure Hesbollah can't win a war out in the open so they hide in the city, however, as soon as they do that they place those civilians in danger. If Hesbollah sets up in an apartment building how can you take them out without bombing other apartments. Plus, they WANT civilian casualties. It helps them with their PR war. I guess it's okay for Hesbollah to target civilians because they don't have the advanced weapons (although a suicide bomber can target an objective pretty accurately - targets like cafe's and discos, etc...). If accidently targeting civilians is wrong than it's wrong. Period. Interesting how you give them a pass...
