Thursday, January 08, 2009

The Comparisons

Where do they come from? Those screaming idiots in hijab and kefiyah waving signs and filling the streets in New York City outside the UN building? Where? Can they really be our co-workers, neighbors and the parents of the kids in my local school? What are they thinking? How corrupted have our thought processes become? They scream in favor of Hamas and decry the defensive response of Israel.

Here's a perspective on the conflict from the Wall Street Journal opinion page:

Bibi Speaks

Now, let's acknowledge that there is an Israeli election in a few short weeks and that Netanyahu is a candidate for Prime Minister. Let's also admit that he's on the hawkish team.

But, can anyone refute the basic facts of his statements? Did Israel voluntarily give up a chunk of countryside and coastline in a good faith movement to gain peace? Did the people of Gaza elect a known terrorist faction as their representative government? Have Hamas indiscriminately fired unguided rockets regularly and frequently into Israel resulting in death and destruction of innocent civilians? Is Hamas a militant proxy for Iran, a government vocally dedicated to the extermination of Israel and not representative of either Arab interests or Palestinians? Is there a limit to tolerance for such violence?

When the recipient of the terrorist activity gets tired of being bullied and then stands up to take charge of the situation, what rational individual can whine about proportionality?

If there is one concept in this entire muddled philosophical world which can prompt me to suspend discussion and resort to administering an ass-kicking, it is the idea of proportional application of military power.

Once military power is applied, it is never a slap me/slap you game. It is kill people in vast quantities and break all of their stuff so that they have lost all will and all means to resist.

As the Red Baron might have said, "anything else is rubbish."

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