Israeli Aggression in Lebanon...

[andyhinds]

From earlier in the conflict, but still a great quote:

Earlier, Israel's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, told Israel's Channel 10, "If the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/ ... index.html

Ya from stone age to pre-stone age.  F*ck'm I say we send Ian and his crew over and mess'm up Big Time!!!

[Cheeze_IZ_G00d]

Who do you think made the rockets that Israel is firing into Beirut right now?
quote]

Do you read the news, or just guess... the rockets were built in Iran and Lebanon (Beriut) is firing them at any part of Isreal they can reach...

Isreal has AH-64 and I am damn glad they do! And the they are targeting Hezbolla not just any part of Lebanon.

Sorry, I didn't quite make myself clear. What I mean is that the Israeli missiles were made in the US.

[Ghostsequel]

Furthermore, the Hezbollah response was due to Israel's attack on the Palestinian government, what with kidnapping a group of democratically elected cabinet members and firing upon the Prime Minister's office, this is a huge no-no.

True.  But that brings up another problem; the democratically elected cabinet members are cabinet members of a democratically elected terrorist group; Hamas.  And the Israelis kidnapped them and fired on the PMs office in response to Hamas posing a serious threat to Israeli citizens.  Of course, Hamas was elected because the Palestinians have been very badly mistreated by Israel in the last 50 years...  Basically, that entire region is one gigantic Catch-22.

[stoneaglewolf]

Since when did the US make:

Katyusha missiles
Ra'ad rockets

These are the missiles being launched at Israel.

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002582.html

You will notice by looking at the picture that these rockets cannot be targeted with any precision so firing them at a city means that you don't care about hitting the target just the city...


As for Israel they have spent a lot more money on buying technology from us that will allow them to attack specific targets this less collateral damage. Since Hezbollah is hiding with civilians and not allowing them to leave, Israel has to get the best intelligence it can before attacking. Israel could have easily bought cheaper missiles from Russia that are very inaccurate.

No country is ever completely clean when engaged in a war but at least they don't strap bombs to themselves and target buses, etc...

It is easy to be democratically elected if you reign by fear and no one is there to stop you. The system may look democratic but he who is feared most gets the votes.

Here is an article that will illustrate what Lebanon is really like

http://www.spiritofamerica.net/site/blo ... _Hezbollah

[TheStenGun]

I believe that ghostsequel is refering to the weapons that Israel is using against Hezbolla, not the katyushas being fired into Israel.

[stoneaglewolf]

Yeah, that’s why I covered the bases with the second section

"As for Israel they have spent a lot more money on buying technology from us that will allow them to attack specific targets this less collateral damage. Since Hezbollah is hiding with civilians and not allowing them to leave, Israel has to get the best intelligence it can before attacking. Israel could have easily bought cheaper missiles from Russia that are very inaccurate. "

Update... Now that the Syrians have been pushed out of influence in Beirut, the Lebanese people are voicing their opinions about them and Hezbollah. They are tired of allowing the Iranian puppet security state of Hezbollah to operate in Lebanon and they want to get rid of Hezbollah. Even the Arab nations are not really supporting Hezbollah’s actions. They condemn Israel but don’t run to the aid of Hezbollah because they don’t want Iran’s influence to be so strong in the Middle East. I don’t think they really want Iran to have nukes either.

[rclementew]

there is a significant difference between arms that are sold to sovereign militaries in compliance with international law and those that are not.

[stoneaglewolf]

The BBC reported that most of the 400 dead in Lebanon are not civilians, so we will see as this plays out. They also reported that Israel has been dropping leaflets telling the Lebanonese to leave the area so they can target Hezbollah.

[andyhinds]

Then again how can you tell civilians for the militants, its not like they wear uniforms.

[KOBO]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14029827/

Looks like UN got caught in the middle of it now. Be interesting to see how this is explained.

[The Cartographer]

Figures that the UN sticks their noses where they don't belong.

Seriously, if the UN just let the two sides fight it out the problem would be solved much more efficiently.

The UN has messed up that part of the world enough already.

[sNiPeRWoLf88]

The biggest problem with this issue, or rather how it is being perceived, is that many people don't quite grasp the fact that this is an Iranian/Syrian driven fight, being played out through the Hezbollah.  Lebanon is tragically just caught in the middle, and they are the Hezbollah's shield and the mask of Iran and Syria.

One thing that seems to be making Lebanon more conflicted is that the government is striving more for UNITY than they are for SOVEREIGNTY.  As a result, they have not come out and taken a stand against the Hezbollah.

As for sides, and who's right and who's not, I don't really think many of us are in position to really have an opinion.  This is still fundamentally a millenium-old fight, that almost certainly will continue.  Just remember, this particular little "skirmish" isn't what it seems like.  It's not Israel vs. Lebanon, but rather, Isreal vs. Iran/Syria.

All of that said, I think that the United States should re-think their undying allegiance to Isreal, because being friends with the "enemy" of all of these Middle East countries really doesn't rally for a better opinion of the United States throughout 75% of the Middle East.

[The Cartographer]

I think that the United States should re-think their undying allegiance to Isreal, because being friends with the "enemy" of all of these Middle East countries really doesn't rally for a better opinion of the United States throughout 75% of the Middle East.

So far, Isreal has proved the most reliable and trustworthy of any country in the MidEast.

[warlock]

:evil: for the misleading topic name. Israel is not aggressing Lebanon, they are defending their sovereignity, attempting to retrieve two of their soldiers, against an enemy that is being housed in another country.

You can't honestly tell me that if the drug cartels in Mexico came up and snatched a couple of our Border Patrol guys, and the Mexican Government made no attempt to correct the situation, that we wouldn't hit back and HARD. And *then* they started lobbing missiles at us, we'd level the country.

[Ghostsequel]

You can't honestly tell me that if the drug cartels in Mexico came up and snatched a couple of our Border Patrol guys, and the Mexican Government made no attempt to correct the situation, that we wouldn't hit back and HARD. And *then* they started lobbing missiles at us, we'd level the country.

Actually, I could tell you otherwise.  Did some research, it turns out the Mexican military has crossed over the US border, quite frequently on human and drug smuggling runs.  They even get into gun battles with Border Patrol agents.  Quite a few BP guys have been killed in the past 50 years from these things.  It was in a book I looked through, called 'On The Line.'  Just read the introduction, it's about the author (Border Patrolman) being shot at by the Mexican military in the desert on our side of the border.  Makes ya really hate what our government has been (not) doing.  our government has done absolutely nothing about it, and I wouldn't be surprised if the  Mexican government was condoning it.

SniperWolf, here's the thing; who gives a sh!t if %75 of the ME hates us.  You can't set your nation's foreign policy on a popularity contest with the voters being stuck in a Middle Ages-type mentality.