OMG, it's a conspiracy! I'm sorry Will, but all that information does not exactly prove anything. I could get very suspicious about this guy who I keep spotting around burning buildings, until I realise he is a volunteer Fireman... it is not impossible that the recurring characters are in fact professional or volunteer rescue workers who get called out to, and hence are frequently present at any bomb site. In any case, if "Green Helmet" and "T-shirt man" are Hezbollah actors, the IDF is supplying them with plenty of props and stage sets for them to act out their drama. As I have said before, if you behave like the Good Guys, you are beyond reasonable reproach. If you don't go around bombing residential areas, there is no way people can pin any bodies on you.
It could be. That's an age old insurgency tatic, to set up operations in or near an obviously civillian target and the other side then has to either ignore you or else run the risk of hitting the civillian target as well. The example that immediatly comes to mind is during the fighting in Hue City in Vietnam during the Tet offensive, but there have been thousands of others. Hezbollah is a very "professional" organization and I'm sure they know how this works. They realize that the object here is as much international as domestic opinion and the UN observers were probably just too juicy of a target to let go. As usual recently, Isreal played right into that one. EDIT: Congrats on 7K, Nexxo
I never actually said it *proves* anything and accept that it may well have been coincidence, as my post said! Your comment about being the good guys and not bombing residential areas - are Israel essentially supposed to just let Hezbollah operate with inpunity as long as they're in densely populated areas? Now there are other ways other than this military action, for sure, but the international community has thus far shown itself somewhat ineffective (or unwilling) at getting Hezbollah to disarm and cease operations in south Lebanon in the past six years - some suggest Hezbollah had grown in strength over this time (the severity of resistance thus far seems to have surprised the Israelis thats for sure).
You guys just watching the BBC? There should be a balanced arugment on both sides here. Yes, Israel where wrong to kill inoccent civilians, but why Hezbollah would want to launch from a civilian area. In my opinion they are just as bad, or perhaps very sly in war!
Right, I think this needs to be said because some people are obviously under the impression that us whiney sods like the Hizbullah. We don't. If it was just Hizbullah dying I'd be as happy as Ehud. But the problem is we're seeing hunreds of lebanese dead in return for a few israeli's. It doesn't look like a terrorist operation to me, it looks like two sides hurting the other sides civilians. Disliking the Israeli government, army, and general POV on it all does't mean I like the Hizbullah, it just means I don't like the Israeli one.
I stand corrected. Ah, the price of being the Good Guy... I know this probably applies less to the Jewish fate, but does anybody perchance think that Jesus was making a point when he let himself get nailed to a piece of wood? Being the Good Guy is hard. It involves sacrifice. It involves doing what you believe is the right thing to do, even if you know it is making things harder for you. Most people are not evil because they think it is hip to be evil, but because it is easier, more seductive. Evil, unfortunately, can be quite profitable and gratifying. Being good has no perks. Being good is a matter of principle, not reward or profit. Being good is not the fluffy, angel-on-a-cloud, aren't-I-nice option. It is the hard, gritty, painful option. As to what Israel could have done: over the last month it could have said this: "We are being unprovokedly attacked by the Hezbollah. However, we refuse to retaliate while there is any risk of harming innocent Lebanese civilians which these terrorists deliberately hide behind and use as a human shield. They may be monsters, harming our civilians whilst deliberately endangering the lives of Lebanese civilians, but we will not join them. We rather see our civilians continue to be harmed by the Hezbollah, than to harm one innocent Lebanese life in return, even if by accident. We will rather die to preserve who we are, than live to become monsters like the Hezbollah. Instead we will extend free medical care to anyone, Jew or Lebanese, who is injured by their actions." Not a popular political option that will win many Israeli votes, I bet. But it sure would build street cred with the Lebanese. The only way to beat terrorists is to marginalise them with their own support base.
