Monday, January 12, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
It is 2006 all over again!
Don't you wish you could turn back time? (No, I am not talking about that mortgage commercial!)
Well thanks to Israel - and to some extent, Hamas - your wish has been granted. We are turning back the clock to a warm summer! Yep. It was summer of 2006, when Israel went on an incursion into Lebanon to stomp out Hezbollah guerrillas and ended up retreating with its tail between its legs while Hezbollah went on to attain widespread popularity and a share of power in Lebanon.
This time, Israel is using the same rhetoric and the same - disproportionate - use of force. The airstrikes, the ground incursion, rebuffing the calls for ceasefire, and saying that it would be a "lengthy operation". Great!
I guess now we know what the term "lengthy operation" means. The term gives one the feeling of "no end in sight". A feeling of deja vu. It seems like the summer of 2006 all over again! Also, when you stare down the horizon and have trouble finding your enemy - and Israel, like America, always has trouble defining who is it that they are really fighting against - then it does seem like a "lengthy operation". You just get in your F-16, fly out there and sort of look for any abstract target. You dump your payload on that imaginary target and report to the world that you just hit a "Security" building or "Command and control" center. BS! 25% of the more than 450 dead so far are innocent civilians. And for every innocent child and woman you murder, you end up creating dozens hard-nosed, suicidal, life long enemy for yourself. If you keep this up, then yes it would seem like a very "lengthy operation". Even though you are dealing with a mere few miles wide "strip" called Gaza.
The American media points to December 19 and say that's when Hamas decided not to renew the six-months long truce and just started lobbing rockets into Israel, when in fact it was Israel who broke the treaty on November 4.
If you ask Ehud Olmert, he would probably have not gone after Hezbollah back in 2006. That war heralded turbulent times for his premiership. And it was not entirely his fault. How could he win a war when there is "no end in sight"? For Olmert this certainly could be "second strike and you are out"! Well, if Arik (Ariel Sharon) could talk, he would tell Israel not to go down this path again. It's a no-win situation and certainly with "no end in sight".
Hamas is also partly to blame for the Gaza crisis. Any way you cut it, they should have refrained from escalating the situation unless they have the means and resources to defend Gaza militarily from the impending onslaught. The key term is "militarily". They know Israel full well. And they also know that they will have to resort to a guerilla war amongst the civilian population. Yet they proceeded to go down the collision path with Israel from which there was only one outcome: War. Mere unguided missiles, booby traps and suicide bombers can not be considered as the means to protect the Palestinians in Gaza strip that was already reeling from economic crisis, let alone wage a war. True that Israel broke the treaty on November 4. But Hamas could have taken a higher ground, respected the sacred month of Muharram and refrained from firing rockets into Israel. More importantly, they must never target unarmed civilians. If you want to fight a war, please do it on a battle field proper. Islam has no place for terrorism.
So, instead of partying like it was 2009, the two parties are doing a throw back to 2006. And the rest of the civilized world is just letting it all unfold as if it is all happening for the first time. Well... Hello, World... It's not!
Peace on Earth.
-- ARK
Well thanks to Israel - and to some extent, Hamas - your wish has been granted. We are turning back the clock to a warm summer! Yep. It was summer of 2006, when Israel went on an incursion into Lebanon to stomp out Hezbollah guerrillas and ended up retreating with its tail between its legs while Hezbollah went on to attain widespread popularity and a share of power in Lebanon.
This time, Israel is using the same rhetoric and the same - disproportionate - use of force. The airstrikes, the ground incursion, rebuffing the calls for ceasefire, and saying that it would be a "lengthy operation". Great!
I guess now we know what the term "lengthy operation" means. The term gives one the feeling of "no end in sight". A feeling of deja vu. It seems like the summer of 2006 all over again! Also, when you stare down the horizon and have trouble finding your enemy - and Israel, like America, always has trouble defining who is it that they are really fighting against - then it does seem like a "lengthy operation". You just get in your F-16, fly out there and sort of look for any abstract target. You dump your payload on that imaginary target and report to the world that you just hit a "Security" building or "Command and control" center. BS! 25% of the more than 450 dead so far are innocent civilians. And for every innocent child and woman you murder, you end up creating dozens hard-nosed, suicidal, life long enemy for yourself. If you keep this up, then yes it would seem like a very "lengthy operation". Even though you are dealing with a mere few miles wide "strip" called Gaza.
The American media points to December 19 and say that's when Hamas decided not to renew the six-months long truce and just started lobbing rockets into Israel, when in fact it was Israel who broke the treaty on November 4.
If you ask Ehud Olmert, he would probably have not gone after Hezbollah back in 2006. That war heralded turbulent times for his premiership. And it was not entirely his fault. How could he win a war when there is "no end in sight"? For Olmert this certainly could be "second strike and you are out"! Well, if Arik (Ariel Sharon) could talk, he would tell Israel not to go down this path again. It's a no-win situation and certainly with "no end in sight".
Hamas is also partly to blame for the Gaza crisis. Any way you cut it, they should have refrained from escalating the situation unless they have the means and resources to defend Gaza militarily from the impending onslaught. The key term is "militarily". They know Israel full well. And they also know that they will have to resort to a guerilla war amongst the civilian population. Yet they proceeded to go down the collision path with Israel from which there was only one outcome: War. Mere unguided missiles, booby traps and suicide bombers can not be considered as the means to protect the Palestinians in Gaza strip that was already reeling from economic crisis, let alone wage a war. True that Israel broke the treaty on November 4. But Hamas could have taken a higher ground, respected the sacred month of Muharram and refrained from firing rockets into Israel. More importantly, they must never target unarmed civilians. If you want to fight a war, please do it on a battle field proper. Islam has no place for terrorism.
So, instead of partying like it was 2009, the two parties are doing a throw back to 2006. And the rest of the civilized world is just letting it all unfold as if it is all happening for the first time. Well... Hello, World... It's not!
Peace on Earth.
-- ARK
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