During this conflict I have seen the same intellectually dishonest comments repeated over and over again usually by the bleeding hearts club. Most of these are assertions are blatantly untrue and they are repeated over and over again. Is it ignorance or dishonesty while trying to prove their point. I don't know. But after pointing out correct info and seeing the same people make the same claims, I think dishonesty is a bigger factor. Is it be possible for bleeding hearts to speak to the topic at all without resorting to obvious misrepresentations?
1: Israel is purposefully targetting civilians.
It should be obvious to any remotely unbiased observer, this is not the case. If this were the case casualties would be orders of magnitude higher (100 of thousands rather than thousands). Israel is using weapons designed for taking out infrastructure not the shrapnel bombs that it's enemy is using, which are targeted at doing people damage rather than equipment damage. Look at Darfur and Rwanda to see what casulties are like when it is purposeful. Casualties here are actually very low.
2: Israel is engaged in Indiscriminate attacks. Again falacious. One of the best trained armies on earth. The are very discriminating, targets are planned before planes launch. There is a pattern of attack. There is actually some loss of efficiency as warning leaflets to civilians also let terrorists know when to relocate. So indiscriminate attacks seems an outright lie here. Same as the above.
3: Israel is targeting civillian infrastructure that has no military value.
Again it should be obvious, but infrastructure targets (bridges, roads, power, radar, airports, fuel depots) are all attacked in every war where they actually existed. These are common military targets. Look up what nato allies (including Canada) bombed in Yugoslavia. Israel is not hitting any unusual targets. These are all fair game military targets.
Some tidbits from wikipedia about kosovo raids.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Allied_Force
"Strategic targets such as bridges and factories were also bombed, particularly in the later stages of the conflict. Long-range cruise missiles were used to hit a number of heavily defended targets such as strategic installations in Belgrade and Pristina. Civilian installations such as power plants,water processing plants and the state-owned broadcaster were also intentionally targeted."
"The Canadian Airforce deployed CF-18s which were responsible for 10% of all bombs dropped. "
"As far as the civilian casualties go, estimates range between 2500-5000 people. That includes Serbian & Albanian civilians killed by NATO bombs, both intentional and misguided by satellite & GPS system."
4: The disproportionate nonsense. Ex "Are you saying that killing over two hundred men, women, and children, and injuring God knows how many, is a reasonable response to two soldiers being kidnapped?"
The is basic cluelessness or straight on dishonesty. Considering the number of times people have pointed out that this was obviously a trigger event for war, and once enjoined the goal becomes eliminating the threat, it looks like basic dishonesty to ask this question. It is like saying is the death of millions of people a reasonable response to the murder of one Austrian heir? (see shot heard around the world) This war was inevitable, this was just the flashpoint where it ignited.
Injecting a a little reality into peacenik fantasy land. There are two choices here now that battle is joined. 1 - Cripple Hezbollah to the point that they are irrellevant, 2 - Stop short and end up doing this again in a few years down the road. It should be obvious that once going down the road, option 1 is the preferred course of action.
It is a tragedy that Lebanon is getting the crap knocked out of it after it was finally coming back after the last time militants wrecked the country when the PLO became a big player in Lebanons Civil war and later when the PLO got into it with Israel. The best outcome for everyone is the removal of Hezbollah. Only Israel seems capable of doing this and in reality there will be a price to be paid. That is the unfortunate way reality works.
1: Israel is purposefully targetting civilians.
It should be obvious to any remotely unbiased observer, this is not the case. If this were the case casualties would be orders of magnitude higher (100 of thousands rather than thousands). Israel is using weapons designed for taking out infrastructure not the shrapnel bombs that it's enemy is using, which are targeted at doing people damage rather than equipment damage. Look at Darfur and Rwanda to see what casulties are like when it is purposeful. Casualties here are actually very low.
2: Israel is engaged in Indiscriminate attacks. Again falacious. One of the best trained armies on earth. The are very discriminating, targets are planned before planes launch. There is a pattern of attack. There is actually some loss of efficiency as warning leaflets to civilians also let terrorists know when to relocate. So indiscriminate attacks seems an outright lie here. Same as the above.
3: Israel is targeting civillian infrastructure that has no military value.
Again it should be obvious, but infrastructure targets (bridges, roads, power, radar, airports, fuel depots) are all attacked in every war where they actually existed. These are common military targets. Look up what nato allies (including Canada) bombed in Yugoslavia. Israel is not hitting any unusual targets. These are all fair game military targets.
Some tidbits from wikipedia about kosovo raids.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Allied_Force
"Strategic targets such as bridges and factories were also bombed, particularly in the later stages of the conflict. Long-range cruise missiles were used to hit a number of heavily defended targets such as strategic installations in Belgrade and Pristina. Civilian installations such as power plants,water processing plants and the state-owned broadcaster were also intentionally targeted."
"The Canadian Airforce deployed CF-18s which were responsible for 10% of all bombs dropped. "
"As far as the civilian casualties go, estimates range between 2500-5000 people. That includes Serbian & Albanian civilians killed by NATO bombs, both intentional and misguided by satellite & GPS system."
4: The disproportionate nonsense. Ex "Are you saying that killing over two hundred men, women, and children, and injuring God knows how many, is a reasonable response to two soldiers being kidnapped?"
The is basic cluelessness or straight on dishonesty. Considering the number of times people have pointed out that this was obviously a trigger event for war, and once enjoined the goal becomes eliminating the threat, it looks like basic dishonesty to ask this question. It is like saying is the death of millions of people a reasonable response to the murder of one Austrian heir? (see shot heard around the world) This war was inevitable, this was just the flashpoint where it ignited.
Injecting a a little reality into peacenik fantasy land. There are two choices here now that battle is joined. 1 - Cripple Hezbollah to the point that they are irrellevant, 2 - Stop short and end up doing this again in a few years down the road. It should be obvious that once going down the road, option 1 is the preferred course of action.
It is a tragedy that Lebanon is getting the crap knocked out of it after it was finally coming back after the last time militants wrecked the country when the PLO became a big player in Lebanons Civil war and later when the PLO got into it with Israel. The best outcome for everyone is the removal of Hezbollah. Only Israel seems capable of doing this and in reality there will be a price to be paid. That is the unfortunate way reality works.
