July 14, 2006
It's in the P-I
As anybody who reads the P-I could have predicted, its editorialists couldn't wait to condemn Israel for defending itself from unprovoked attacks.
The world community can and should condemn the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers as well as the military incursions into Lebanon and Gaza.
It's rather outlandish to draw moral equivalence between indiscriminate terrorist attacks and targeted responses that are designed only to destroy terrorists and their infrastructure. The P-I seems to think that UN resolutions are important (for restraining Israel from defending its citizens) but fails to mention that the Hizbollah militia's very existence is in violation of
a two-year-old Security Council resolution which calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all militias in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, at this writing, both Hamas and Hizbollah continue to fire rockets indiscriminately into Israel's cities.
UPDATE --
This WaPo article does a better job of analyzing the Israeli action against Hizbollah than do the AP stories in the Seattle dailies.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 14, 2006
01:11 AM | Email This
1. They hate Israel and that's it.
P-I nothing but trash can paper. "fools"
2. What can you say about a city that has its citizens fly the flag of the UN instead of Red, White and Glory.
3. It's as if a country of Palestine existed. It doesn't. These people are terrorists backed by Syria and Iran. The have names (Hamas and Hezbolleh), they are organized, and they will never have a peaceful coexistance with Israel because it is their ultimate goal to destroy Israel. What is so hard to understand about that? Even if they say "truce" or "peace", they don't mean it. I say, break them unti lthey resist no more. Run the Syrians out of Lebanon. Bomb Iranian nuclear facilities if necessary. Israel is on the defensive, and have been throughout their history. Anybody who says otherwise does not know what they are talking about and are quite possibly anti-Semetic.
4. Personally, I'm tired of hearing about the Middle East, the Israelis and Palestinitans. The US shold declare itself neutral and the combatants will settle the matter between themselves.
5. Libertarian: And the world looked the other way as Hitler occupied Austria and then actually assisted in the carving up of Czeckoslovakia to achieve "Peace in our time", as the newspaper headlines ran. The result? World War II.
6. Libertarian-
Does the term, "I got your back" mean anything to you?
7. Reminds me of a bit from one of the great comedians of our time, Eddie Izzard...
Pol Pot killed one point seven million Cambodians, died under house arrest, well done there. Stalin killed many millions, died in his bed, aged seventy-two, well done indeed. And the reason we let them get away with it is they killed their own people. And we're sort of fine with that. Hitler killed people next door. Oh, stupid man. After a couple of years we won't stand for that, will we?
8. Over 50 rockets have slammed into Israel from Lebannon so far. Why am I not seeing this reported in the newspapers online?
9. Well the whole conflict has been one that the UN appears to only take the side of the Palestines. How often is Israel given any help. Yes you have some resolution supporting Israel that are never really carried through. Yet the world decries Israel if one civilian gets killed. What of the hundreds of innocent civilians killed by terrorists. This is a very tough to handle. Hats off to Israel trying to target terrorists only. Yes a few civilians innocent will die. But what do you think will happen when terrorist hide behind them to start with. Where is the outcry of using Civilians as shields. Until Arabs accept Israel as a real state that has rights there will be no peace. It only takes one country in the Middle East to keep the pot at the boiling point. It can be a different country every time. It only takes one. Here is a case where we have two. Syria and Iran. I think Iran is the major player. But we will not know for sure for some time who is pushing all the buttons. As long as hate is taught to the youngest child peace is not possible.
10. No, S/He doesn't know what it means. And s/he's not actually a libertarian either. Even they would understand. Agree? not a chance but understand they don't. I'm sick of those who just want the world to go away and leave them alone. The don't bother me I'm napping attide. They turn the other way when the crack dealer moves in next door. They think the thug needs a place to live too. Just keep those baby rapers out of my neighborhood! Well Livertarian, those who want to drive Israel into the see are the same ones who want you dead. Yes you! And the crack dealer, thug and baby raper. Not out of the way, not silent and accepting, not even tucked away out of sight somewhere. No understanding, no time, just D E A D.
But don't worry bud, I'll still have your back. Run away if you have to, I'll guard the trail.
11. "It's rather outlandish to draw moral equivalence between indiscriminate terrorist attacks and targeted responses that are designed only to destroy terrorists and their infrastructure"
Which is what the left does all the time.
My question for those on the left is a simple one. Why are you so in love with terrorists?
12. Screw the Seattle P.U. and it's two dozen subscribers. GO ISRAEL!!!!! At least they have the courage to deal with those bastard radical butchers. Like mad dogs, they must be dealt with in the only effective way known. These Arabs are totally Hell bent on War and refuse to accept anything but the destruction of Israel. Let's get the !@#$ thing over with. Accept Israel or dissapear. Then bulldoze the P.I. building for a park.
13. I support the USA. The USA supports Israel, therefore I support Israel.
If Hamas is truly going to claim they are a legitimate government then it follows that they have committed an act of war against Israel by digging a tunnel into Israel killing 2 soldiers and kidnapping a 3rd.
14. Israel should pass a law making it a capital offense to belong to the terrorist groups Hamas and Hizbollah. That way, when thet capture terrorists from these groups, they can execute them, instead of having to hold them as prisoners indefinitely. The Geneva Convention would simply require a duly constituted military court martial, with the same procedural protections that would be available to Israeli soliders -- i.e. the terrorists would have to get a "fair trial" on the issue of whether they were terrorists.
Otherwise, we end up with a never-ending cycle -- Israel invades Palestine or Lebanon, captures thousands of terrorists, then eventually has to release them without administering any effective punishment whatsoever.
15. When the PU mentions at the end that we could at least join the talks with all parties in an attempt to broker peace, I am assuming they mean Clinton's Oslo agreement? Well, that was a whopping success, wasn't it? The Palestinians have always put forth that when Israel gives up occupied territories, the vioence will stop. Well, Israel left Lebanon, Israel left Palestine, Israel left the Gaza strip. And that begat more violence, in fact facilitated better rocket attacks into Israel. Palestinians don't want peace. Bottom line, they like killing Israelis. They like any killing. Another thing the press is not reporting is the character of this prisoner exchange thing the Palestinians want. They will return kidnapped Israeli soldiers if they get back prisoners like the Palestinian "gentleman" who has been languishing in prison for 15 years because he snuck over the border into an Israeli settlement, broke into a settler's home, and slit the throats of the father, mother, and children while they slept. I guess they consider him a national hero. And these are the people the PU sympathizes with.
16. Part of me thinks Isreal should just recognize Palistine as a sovereign nation, simply so that when the ruling party of Hamas pulls this crap like kidnapping soldiers from the Isreali side of the fence or lobbing rockets into Isreali lands, the Isrealis can stop calling it "terrorist acts" and call this what it really is-- an act of war.
Not that the PI would change it's stance at all... because we all know that know matter what Hamas or Hezbollah does, they are never as bad as Isreal. They could set off a nuke in Tel Aviv, and the PI would find a way to blame it on Isreal.
17. Mike H:
Actually, the PI could probably find a way to blame it on Bush and Israel equally.
18. Joel Connelly is probably sad it did not go further and demand we fight along side Hamas and Hizbollah. How long until the Jew Hating papers demand the UN and USA go in on the dark side?
Do the editorial boards pray with a small p that they Iranians launch their nukes on Israel?
Go IDF Go!
19. The moonbat left hates anyone or any country that would stand up and take a principled, reasoned defense to any threat. The moonbat Progressive left harvested this altruist, equivocal premise from Christianity. It's always "turn the other cheek" when it comes to thugs, terrorists, dictators, or any minority with a grievance.
Of course in typical subjective leftist fashion, harvesting from religion is a-la-carte. They don't like those commandments about adultery or God, but if there's a truism for the mollification of terrorists, they approve.
Israel has every right to stand up and defend themselves. In 50 years, they built a thriving, Westernized culture that is more successful, sans oil wealth than any other nation in the Middle East. Israel is our little brother in the forthright stance of Western Culture and the American Way.
Not only is it not time for Israel to back down and cower to the mainstream media leftists elites, it's time for them to double down and finish off the terrorist threat once and for all.
20. I stand by what I said: the war between the Israelis and the Arabs is their affair. We are not going to solve a religious conflict between two of the world's major religions.
I also believe it's time to shut down the show in Korea. We've been camped-out there for over 50 years. If that chucklehead in North Korea is a problem, then it's a Japanese, South Korean, Chinese, and Russian problem.
21. Libertarian:
Did you miss the little bit about North Korea's recent missle launch tests being aimed at Hawaii? If they were not successful last week, don't worry, they'll get it right. So Hawaii gets hit. Will that be enough for you to take your head out of that hole in the ground?
22. I used to be like Libertarian--let countries settle their things; however, thinking back to my childhood lessons, I remembered that bullies and real threats & dangers have a habit of spilling into/on to other bystanders. Like Europe in the late 30's, one can't sit by and "do a Switzerland" forever. I support Israel. Crush the terrorists. As for the PI, watch what would happen if THEY had a mortar round indiscriminately lobbed into their corporate campus. Outrage & vengance would fill their pages like never seen before.
23. Libertarian,
You make a great argument for why Libertarianism is a false philosophy. Essentially, what you are advocating is isolationism. Like your moniker, you want to be free. But free from what? Freedom for freedom's sake is nothing. Ideas matter, and they have context. You are not free to do whatever you want, your are free to live your life, trade freely with others and pursue hapiness, but not at the cost of others. And if you understand that, then you should understand why others who would ignore that pact, pose a threat to you.
We live in a world where the threat of Islamic Fanaticism has chosen to confront Western Civilization on our home turf. Factual and proveable links tie Hezzbollah, Hamas, Syria, Iran, Al-Qaeda, etc. Failing to confront the growing threat will not solve the problem. 30 years of isolationist policy has seen the threat get larger and more dangerous.
The growth of Dicatatorships, Theocracies and other statist, individual smaashing regimes are a threat to all free peoples, and particularly when they use terror tactics and seek to use weapons of mass destruction. How long will it be before a WMD is unleased in a Western Country? Then can we count on your support? Or will you continue to bury your head in the sand?
Meanwhile, the steadfast will confront the threat.
24. Then use nuclear weapons to kill them.
25. Then use nuclear weapons to kill them
Now that would be a little excessive, wouldn't it? Isreal does it's best to minimize civillian casualties. Using a nuke would be to disregard those civilians live completely... which is what Hamas and Hezbollah does.
26. Then use nuclear weapons to kill them. (Libertarian)
TELL ME YOUR NOT THAT STUPID!
More than just the fools would die.
_________________________________________
I've read your posts before and I know your not the dumb. Put your thinking cap back on.
27. The AP is up to their usual biased crappy reporting. Let's not let facts get in the way! You either support terrorism or you don't. It is that black and white. There is no "let's play nice" option. These b*st*rds want to eliminate all who do not give in to them. Do any of the moonbats think even for a nanosecond that these fanatical turds would stop the violence if Israel did everything they asked? Are you really that stupid?!?!?!?!? (Sadly, I know the answer is yes to that question)
Wake up and look at reality!! These terrorist fanatics want to kill and maim and torture in the name of allah. Israel is rightly defending itself. Too bad the Israelis can't do a proper job and eliminate a large number of these thugs. It's time we pull out of the UN and join with Israel to help defeat this evil. The time for putting up with the group hug "diplomacy" is over.
28. Since the pull out in Gaza Hamas has fired around 3000 Qassam rockets into Israel. These are dumb rockets, completely unguided ballistic fire in the general direction of concentrations of civilians.
Israel abides by it's agreements and pulls out of Gaza, a "truce" is declared and Hamas kills 2 soliders and kidnaps an Israeli solider.
Hezbollah fires rockets and artillery on a regular basis into N. Israel. Again targeting civilians.
Suicide bombers sent to Israel target markets, restaurants and clubs. Again the the intentional targeting of civilians.
Israel responds by targeting known Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, locations and positions, also target are the strategic targets in suppling the terrorist groups.
The Seattle Least Intelligence and a majority of the world calls for Israeli restraint.
It is nothing less than complete and utter moral bankruptcy, the total lack of a moral compass in guiding decisions.
29. JCM,
Righto. Or worse, a deliberately skewed moral compass where the value is the non-value. The left's hatred of Western Civilization is what this is really all about.
30. The left's hatred of Western Civilization is what this is really all about.
And their hatred of Israel.
I wish more of them would move to the lovely countries they defend in the Middle East. I hear Syria is lovely this time of year. I bet they would find out that living in the 14th Century is no picnic.
31. You hit the nail on the head, Bill! I have been telling the perpetually clueless to pack up and move the medieval theocracy/dictatorship of their choice, but so far none have done so.
I am all for having Bush provide the one way tickets to Syria and Lebanon to all those who oppose Israel's actions. The terrorists will be more than happy to assign "tasks" (be a suicide bomber) to this influx of supporters. I suggest we start with all celebrities, journalists, and government officials. And if the goons take the liberal weenies as hostages, I would love to see their faces when they are told "Sorry, but because we respect your strongly held beliefs, we can't send anyone to rescue you. We would not want to ruin your day by having the very American and Israeli troops you loathe put their lives on the line to save your sorry butts."
32. Just heard a news report that Israel has been hit with over 300 rockets in the past fourty-eight hours. Then I read in the P. Unintelligencer the phrase "disproportionate use of force" describing Israel's response.
"Disproportionate use of force." Reminds me of that ubiquitous and nausiating contemporary buzz phrase "Mean spirited." Yes Johnny, you got the cr@p beat out of you by the kid you mouthed off to because the other kid was "mean spirited."
Johnny grows up to be a liberal moon bat scared to death when he sees a picture of a fanatic wearing a black hood running through the streets of Gaza. Johnny knows that if he smiles and condemns Israel the guy in the black hood won't chop his head off if given the chance. Sorry Johnny, life doesn't work that way.
33. Why is it that Liberals are so anti-Semitic? Why do they lust for another holocaust in which the Jews march silently to the ovens?
34. I like the Israeli ambassador's comment about the "disproportionate" use of force, and I don't have the quote so I will paraphrase, "the only way that our use of force is disproportionate is that if rockets were fired into France or other countries, their response would be much greater."
I also read that CAIR is complaining that residents of Gaza are selling their belongings to pay for scarce food. Perhaps we can send Can't-do-well over there to lecture them about price gouging.
A great editorial advancing the point that Iran is trying to provoke a fight with the West through their proxies, Hamas and Hizbollah, and our proxy, Israel:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/07/the_war_comes_to_us.html
35. Have you seen the "rockets" the Hez are launching? I bought bigger ones at Boom City. The American military should take notes on this one to learn how to deal with Syria and Iran down the road. It's going to be like watching sharks feed.
36. Yes, it's definitely time to start warming up the F-22 Raptors and the B-2s, B-1Bs and plenty of KC-135s for refueling support. The nice thing about Iran being so intent upon starting this war with the West, is that it will give us a very convenient excuse to obliterate their nuke progam.
Islam wants this fight. So it will come.
37. Acting like the multicultural, bed-wetting, Dhimmicrats they are. These idiots don't think about Iran, who is behind this and the Islamofascists - who are out to exterminate the infidel.
What will it take to get these pukes to comprehend that the enemy - that opposes Israel wants to try and bomb everyone into submission that does not convert to Islam ?
38. Liberals will never fight for America. I fear one day there will be civil war here as the enemy within must be defeated before the enemy without can be defeated.
39. This is why I don't read EITHER of the Seattle Papers and only read the Tacoma News Tribune. I don't like either Seattle Paper as there so far Left its sad-plus all its good for isto use as paper for your pet to go bathroom on. Or Fireplace.
40. My Dream: Israel gets rid of Hez and Hamas, and we get rid of the ACLU !
41. Hear what the surrender party (Dems) are calling for? More talks.
Did anyone hear Hammas or Hizbollah ask for talks?
Don't think so.
No amount of Viagra will cure the limp dick attitude of the Democrapic party.
To paraphrase an old commercial, the Dem's service mark should be, "I'd rather surrender than fight."
42. Kick lots 'o tush, Israel! We're behind ya!
43. Kick tush, Israel!