July 28, 2006
Moral Equivalence, Disproportionality and Stupidity
Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world."...William Shakespeare: Hamlet; Act III, scene ii
What better to describe the sheer arrogence of those decrying the defense of Israel when attacked by Hezb'ollah? Victor Davis Hansen, writing in National Review Online puts forth a lexicon to describe the reaction of the world, the left and those who do not believe in Israel's right to exist. A sample:
“Collateral damage” refers mostly to casualties among Hezbollah’s human shields; it can never be used to describe civilian deaths inside Israel, because everything there is by intent a target.Of course, anything VDH writes is worth reading, but this "lexicon" is worth reading in its entirety and I urge you to follow the link and do so.
[...]
“Disproportionate” means that the Hezbollah aggressors whose primitive rockets can’t kill very many Israeli civilians are losing, while the Israelis’ sophisticated response is deadly against the combatants themselves. See “excessive.”Anytime you hear the adjective “excessive,” Hezbollah is losing. Anytime you don’t, it isn’t.
[...]
“Eyewitnesses” usually aren’t, and their testimony is cited only against Israel.
This brings up, of course, a larger question. What do we do about the mini-war going on right now in Southern Lebanon? Negotiate? With terrorists or their supporters in the UN or Iran or Syria? Why for pete's sake? The terrorist organization known as the "Party of God" or Hezb'ollah has no intention of keeping an agreement, Iran most certainly set up this little war to keep the G8 focus off of their nuclear weapons program (and if you don't really believe that they have one, then you are no where near as bright as you think you are and your ability to read and understand facts is less than your ability to read chicken entrals) and to get the Arab/Muslim world to rise up against Israel:
DOHA, Qatar (CNN) -- With a poster of the burning World Trade Center behind him, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant appeared on tape Thursday calling on Muslims to join the fight against Israel and "rise up seeking martyrdom and attack the crusaders and Zionists."Crusaders and Zionists indeed. Notably, this yo-yo made his tape standing in from of a poster of the burning WTC. And they wonder why we take up arms against them and in defense of liberty.
In today's Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal Leslie Gelb calls for "negotiations" with Syria, Iran, and if necessary Hezb'ollah and Hamas. Wow, could he be any more dense? Folks, this is not about Israeli aggression, this is about an ideology called islamofascism that is out to destroy everything you believe in, to kill you and yours or to convert you to Islam in "dhimmitude." Well, I don't know about you, but I'll submit when hell freezes over, when Bin Laden converts to Christianity or when the Democrats quit their quest for power and begin governing.
Cross Posted in The Real Ugly American
A tip 'O The GM Derby 
to Dr. Sanity
Tracked at Stop The ACLU!
Hey, GM.
Speaking of Leslie Gelb (a man) he was a big proponent of splitting Iraq into three countries...
Post Here from way back...
Gelb was also an extra-loud proponent of surrender in Vietnam...and a Carter administration foggy-bottomer...
Leslie Gelb has always been a tyrant-appeasing, limp-wristed, empty-skulled, tinfoil-topped, spineless inspiration to the moonbats of the US.
Posted by QuickRob at July 28, 2006 12:21 PM
Spot on, Mr. Hanson!
His last few paragraph summarizes most of the world's attitude towards Israel to a "T" (make that read, to a "swastika").
In fact, global onlookers would prefer either one of two scenarios for the long-suffering Jews to learn their lesson. The first is absolute symmetry and moral equivalence: when Israel is attacked, it kills only as many as it loses. For each rocket that lands, it drops only one bomb in retaliation — as if any aggressor in the history of warfare has ever ceased its attacks on such insane logic.Actually, I think Mr. Hanson being too generous here. Rather, since the world KNOWS Israel is at fault for every attrocity committed against them, the world would expect Israel to offer compensation to the perpetrators of these attacks.
The other desideratum is the destruction of Israel itself...If tomorrow more powerful rockets hit Tel Aviv armed with Syrian chemicals or biological agents, or Iranian nukes, the “international” community would urge “restraint” — and keep urging it until Israel disappeared altogether. And the day after its disappearance, the Europeans and Arabs would sigh relief, mumble a few pieties, and then smile, “Life goes on.”And for them, it would very well..
Bullseye! After all, just yesterday, here in the op ed section of our local paper, I had to read this revolting statement, one of the worst twistings of the English language I've encountered in a long time:
Israel has murdered more than 300 civilians, compared with about 30 tragically killed by Hezbollah.
Note the juxtaposition of murdered with tragically killed.
And another writer calls for the Final Solution in black and white, no equivocation whatsoever...
Israel is a cancer in the body of the Middle East, fed by billions of dollars and all kinds of weapons from the United States. There are only two possible outcomes: either the cancer is extirpated or it'll kill the patient.
The Jewish state is a criminal entity...and it must be removed.
'Tis a dark time indeed, when the truth has been exchanged for a lie...
Posted by civil truth at July 28, 2006 01:20 PM
Brillaint..linked to this one GM!...:)
Posted by Angel at July 28, 2006 03:57 PM
Great rant with a perfect ending: Democrat Quest for Power, Hell Freezing and a Christian OBL?! Good wait you've lined up for us!
Posted by chrys at July 28, 2006 06:43 PM
It's good to see that Bush, Bolten and Rice are making it clear to the world that this kind of insanity must not continue. Listening to the UN bitching about disproportionate actions and calling for a ceasefire, just makes me sick to my stomache.
This would be an "easy" war to win if the western civilizations dared to be intellectually honest. But with people like Goofy Annan this will never happen. It's a crying shame!
Posted by Michael Meyn at July 29, 2006 09:32 AM
Yep, good round-up, GM!
Allowing Hezbollah to survive in any form in Lebanon would be like Chamerlain signing that flimsy piece of paper with Hitler, letting him annex Sudetenland away from Czechoslovakia.
The enemy state entity in this conflict is Iran. So far Israel's response has been "disproportionate" insofar as Iran has not been subject to attack. Why American and Israeli officials aren't deliberating precise or thorough strikes against Iran, or at least imposing choking sanctions on them immediately, is beyond me. I thought a geomilitary advantage of liberating Afghanistan and Iraq was to isolate Iran. But Iran has been calling the shots all year. I'm not confident of American's and Israel's handling of this inescapable conflict.
Posted by Jeremayakovka at July 29, 2006 08:22 PM
Rave on Bro, your disgust with the hate Israel crowd is nearly on a level with my own. How can any rational....?
Posted by Bill Sell at August 1, 2006 03:15 AM
