This most recent conflict began not with Lebannon actually but with Hamas capturing an Israeli soldier and demanding a prisoner exchange. Hezbollah decided to steal their thunder and not only capture TWO soldiers, but decided to start shooting Katyusha and other types of rockets at the civilian population of Israel.
Meanwhile Israel responded with air strikes on missile launch sites and a ground movement intended to flush out Hezbollah from certain villages along the border. Governments from across the world ignorantly criticized Israel for a "disproportionate" response. Now they didn't say inappropriate respanse so I assume they were congratualting Israel on the proper way to overwhelm the enemy. If they were implying that the response was inappropriate then I have a counter suggestion: Israel hasn't gone far enough.
It is only in the modern times that warfare has been fought in a mannner in which we deliberately try to minimize casualties of the enemy people, not just the military forces. Right or wrong this is a fact. Even in WWII the United States of America and by association its allies deliberately targeted civilians and infrastructure to achive victory. Our bomb sights were primitive compared to today's laser and GPS guided bombs, but they achieved a far different effect back in WWII than the precision munitions today. Bombs hitting civilian buildings such as power stations, bridges and other infrastructures not only hampered German and Japanese military efforts but struck FEAR in to the hearts and minds of those people, which in the end helps with the pacification of the population without a messy occupation. To prove this I will cite the fire bombing of Japan, which killed more people and did more damage than the nuclear weapons used later in the war.
Also on the 13th February 1945, 773 Avro Lancasters bombed Dresden. During the next two days the USAAF sent over 527 heavy bombers to follow up the RAF attack. Dresden was nearly totally destroyed. As a result of the firestorm it was afterwards impossible to count the number of victims. Recent research suggest that 35,000 were killed but some German sources have argued that it was over 100,000. The bombers used incendiary bombs an set this medieval city aflame.
The United States and Great Britain have never appologized for these morally objectionable acts. In my opinion they should not appologize as it would serve no purpose other than to undermine the "justness" of the war becuase doing these things made us as bad or worse in some cases than the Germans. However war is not a "moral" thing in and of itself, in fact in every case it is the most evil thing nations can inflict upon eachother. What exacerbates the whole problem is trying to fight a less deadly war. If a nation cannot promise death to its enemies on a large scale, there is nofear to resist and eventually drive that weaker nation out.
Power on a national scale is more than just military size, morethan what form of government exists; it is all of those things, plus the will of the people whihc adds up, and the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. To break a national spirit, one must completely shock the people, and use a measure of ruthlessness in order to make them think you really are serious about achieving your goals. Now that doesn't mean there should be wholesale slaughter of civilians, but a measure of fear should be struck into a population.
In Iraq we call it a liberation, but they were never "taken over" by some foreign army. As far as I am concerned only the Kurds in the north were deserving of any effort on our part to separate them from Saddam Hussein. Of course Turkey would have flipped its lid over that issue.
In the case of the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah/Lebannon (the southern part) the Israelis are showing too much restraint. If as it is projected that Hezbollah consists in some part up to 40% of the Labannese population, then Israel should hve no compunction about striking some fear in to that 40% (perhaps killing up to 30% of that 40% which would be 12% of the population, or roughly 420,000 people) in order to destroy Hezbollah.
A cease fire is stupid until the other side can no longer fire at you.
Be quick, be decisive, and be ruthless.
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