Omar -
You speak just like George W. Bush. Black is white. And white is black. You
should run for office, you're that good.
Stan Spiegel Portland, ME
Phil freely engages in making unsupported assertions and then he expects me to spend my time and energy refuting them. Simply, there is no evidence for the claims that Hezbollah was using civilians as human shields other than the statements of the IDF press service and Egeland. This is refuted by the accounts of the survivors as well as by the lack of Hezbollah causalties at the sites where civilian casualties were inflicted. With regard to the Qana massacre, even the IDF later admitted that it could not give a coherent explanation as to why that building was targetted. Also, it is a fact that the Hezollah had killed more Israeli soldiers than civilians, whereas Israel killed many more civlians than Hezbollah fighters. All this has been parrotted over and over in the articles I posted as well as by myself. (See especially the articles I posted in the thread "Rules of War.")
Further, even the IDF did not claim that it was targetting only the Hezbollah fighters; it said repeatedly in public that it was targetting infrastructure such as roads, bridges, factories, installations etc. Where Phil is getting his supposed "facts" is beyond me.
As to the claim that: "Israel sent in its military with rules of engagement that required a minimum of civilian casualties, thereby endangering the lives of its soldiers" this is complete nonsense. Israel only brought in its ground troops after two weeks of heavy bombings when most of Lebanese civilians had already fled the South of the country.
Finally, as to Israel having supposably attained rational objectives "to clear a buffer zone from its border and force a peacemaking presence to maintain peace" I reply that: 1) these were not the objectives that were originally stated and 2) whether Israel has indeed achieved this is highly doubtful.
O.K.
--- Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
------------------------------------------------------------------The facts:
1. Hezbollah fired more than a thousand rockets well beyond the attacking Israeli forces, targeting Israeli cities. Hezbollah targeted Israeli civilians. Israeli fire was directed where they believed Hezbollah fighters were hiding. Israel targeted Hezbollah fighters.
2. Hezbollah made themselves indistinguishable from the civilian population. Hezbollah endangered the lives of Lebanese civilians so that they could launch rockets aimed at Israeli civilians. Israel sent in its military with rules of engagement that required a minimum of civilian casualties, thereby endangering the lives of its soldiers. Israel endangered the lives of its soldiers so that there would be a minimum of Lebanese civilian casualties.
3. Hezbollah declared itself victorious because its fighters were able to successfully hide from the Israelis while at the same time terrorizing the Israeli civilian population. Israel declared itself victorious because it was able to clear a buffer zone from its border and force a peacemaking presence to maintain peace.
Omar should feel free to indicate which facts have been refuted. Further, he should feel free to indicate other facts that would refute any claims I am making. Finally, he should do this himself.
Sincerely,
Phil Enns Toronto, ON
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