Reply #36: Scorched the earth? I don't doubt [View All]

they could have done it, but should they?

Ya know...back when all this first started, in July, I had a phone conversation with a friend. I indicated how appalled I was at the destruction the IDF was inflicting on the Lebanese people and their infrastructure. Well, he started yelling at me. He kept yelling and yelling, and it came around to the issue of the two captured soldiers.

Now let me digress a moment. I subscribe to the idea that it was never about the soldiers, that this was in the works for a year or more and as I think Sy Hersh said, some Israeli official came to DC in June and worked it out with Cheney about how much the US "would bear" in terms of an attack. I don't expect you'll agree with me, but maybe we can set it aside for purposes of this anecdote.

Back to the phone conversation. I said,"So, over the capture of two soldiers, Israel has the right to lay waste to a country? He said, (still shouting)"YES." I continued, "So, if a country's soldiers are captured, they have a right to nuke an entire country and turn everything into glass?" He said, "Yes". <I'm not making ths up.>

Uh..this lack of attention to proportionality is eventually going to get us all dead. That would include his and my grandchildren. Not. A. Plan. What is wrong with people?