They have THE BOMB and haven't used it... There's your restraint!

I have to say, political, religious and moral ideoligies aside, in this era of the U.N. and constant requests on retaliating countries for restraint, it is so damn refreshing to see a country defend itself at the force that IT deems reasonable.

It wasn't more than a few hours after the initial rocket attacks, murders and abductions of Israeli soldiers, that right away the world was calling for Israel to practice restraint in its retaliation. Israel, thankfully, ignored these ingorant and ridiculous pleas. How's this for restraint - Israel has nuclear weapons and has not used them yet. You happy? There's your freaking restraint.

I think that even though the world cries out, as they always do when there's an opportunity against Israel, there is finally some understanding that enough is enough. Land for peace has been a failure. They left Lebanon in the hopes of peace and got war They left the Gaza Strip in the hopes of peace not even a year ago and got war.

The problem is the same as it always has been. Were Israel to lay down its arms and hope for peace, there would be another Holocaust. Were surrounding countries and militant groups to lay down their arms, there is no question there would be peace. Therein lies the problem.

The days of pretending there is moral equivalency are long gone. The days of Israel holding back in the hopes the maybe, just maybe, this one time diplomacy and conversation would end the bloodshed are long gone. The days of believing that becoming the only country in history to return land won in a legal and justified defensive war in exchange for peace from neighbors are long gone. The days of irrelevant and often counterproductive foreign "forces" are long gone. Dare we say that the United Nations as an organization is obsolete. They are certainly ineffective. Look at conflicts across the world where the U.N. has placed its peacekeepers. There are numerous places across the world where they have failed and none where they have succeeded. And this is not just a function of the Middle East, because it has happened in many more areas as well - look it up, it's true.

Most people don't even know what a Palestinian is. If they only truly understood the history. There is no nation of Palestinians. Palestine was a British controlled land prior to 1948. It was named after the ancient Phillistines of Biblical times who constantly fought in the area. In 1948, under the Partition Plan that was rejected by the Arab countries, Israel was created. It was only a tiny strip of land, compared to the still very small strip of land it is today. In 1967, Jordan and Egypt along with a number of other Arab countries surrounding tiny Israel declared war simultaneously. In 6 days Israel managed to defend itself, and in-fact to annex buffer zones extending Israel into what once was Jordan and Egypt displacing thousands of Jordanian and Egyptian residents. Jordan and Egypt did not want these refugees in their country and in fact blocked them from entering. These same refugees were offered the opportunity to become a part of the Israeli state, according to many, a huge mistake by Israel who should have exiled these people back to their countries. From these mostly Jordanian and Egyptian refugees came the birth of the Palestinian and the claims of a lost homeland that was never truly theirs.

Perhaps Israel needs to do a better job educating the world, but is that really their responsibilty? Perhaps the world just needs to better educate itself. Until then, it is nice to see a country that truly believes in the action it is taking, and feels no need to answer to anybody but its own civillians who need protection. And it is just as, if not more refreshing to see a country like the United States and its leaders throw its unwavering support behind one of its greatest allies.

Holy Hell

These people are out of their freakin minds...

Al Quaida calls for holy war

Bombing of the U.N. Observation Post

Yesterday, Israel "accidentally" or "deliberately" bombed a United Nations observation post in Beirut killing four U.N. "soldiers". While Israel claims this was a terrible mistake, Kofi Anan called it "an apparently deliberate" attack. Whatever.

Now I by no means will belittle the deaths of the four United Nations observers, but I will say this - Don't you think the U.N. as an entity deserves to be hit? I'm going to be totally frank and honest as I always am. If the four obliterated soldiers did nothing wrong besides have good seats to the game and jump on the field and get blasted, then it is a horrible tragedy... But don't tell me you can't picture a scenario where these four guys were giving coordinates to Hezbollah and Israel found out and then, well then, oops.

Afterall these are the same U.N. observers who observed Hezbollah building up resources and arms over the last six years when they were supposed to be ensuring that very group's disarmament. This is the same U.N. whose observers videotaped the Hezbollah kidnapping of an Israeli soldier a number of years ago and then denied having the tape, only to be forced to apologize to Israel for lying and forced to turn over the tape. This is the same U.N. who has been trusted by Israel to provide a buffer from terrorism in numerous locations throughout Israel, never once proving to be effective, and in fact more often than not proving to be cooperating with terrorist forces. This is the same U.N. that for years has condemned Israel for the humanitarian crisis in neighboring countries and areas, demanded restraint from Israel in its reaction to terrorist attacks, but not once has addressed the humanitarian issues caused by the constant terror attacks against civillians in Israel. The same U.N. that insists that Syria and Iran should be a part of the diplomacy but refuses to recognize that they are not a part of the problem, but in fact are the problem.

So maybe this was a mistake and maybe it wasn't. Either way, I'm not losing any sleep over it, and I doubt the Israelis are either. If it was truly a mistake, well, things like that happen in a war zone and it couldn't have happened to a better group of guys. And if it was in fact, as Kofi Anan calls it, "deliberate", well then I tip my hat to Israel for having the balls to make a point that should have been made by someone years ago. America made that same point to France when they were bombing Khadaffi in Libya. France tried to get in the way, and their embassy's backyard got a free gardening job courtesy of the United States Airforce.

Nobody wants to see violence and nobody wants to see death, but when someone tries to kill you, you kill them first. It's a simple and natural principle. Derived from that principle is another - if someone aids those who try to kill you, you kill them too. Just because the United Nations is a diplomatic entity and not a military entity doesn't mean they are objective, unbiased or in fact innocent. I would argue that along with many countries and entities (E.U. and Arab League included), they have a big decision to make in this global war against terror. Make no mistake about it. This is World War III. It's much different than the first two World Wars and not as easily recognized, but it's clearly a World War. The interesting factor is there are really three sides here.

You have the worldwide terror organizations such as Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Hamas along with their supporting countries such as Iran, Syria and parts of Iraq. Then you have the United States, Great Britain and Israel along with a few other democracies with a black and white view on terrorism. Finally, there is the U.N., E.U., and Arab League along with many European and Arab nations who will pick and choose when terror is acceptable and when it is in fact unacceptable. It is this third group that is key in the War on Terror. Without their support and understanding of what this war is truly about, victory will not occur.
The terrorists cannot win. They do not have the resources to, BUT they don't want to win. They only want to keep fighting as long as possible. Until other world powers come to this realization, the terrorist nations and groups will continue to fight and punish us for our stupidity.

So while the real enemies are Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and others - the U.N., E.U., Arab League and many of their members are certainly not allies at this point. Israel's bombing of the U.N. position, whether deliberate or accidental, will hopefully drive that point home. It's time to get on board with the good guys.

Are You For Real?!?!

I started typing up a post about my frustration with the U.N. and European nations. As I was typing I realized I'm wasting my time. So I'll just say this:

I hope that Kofi Annan gets full blown AIDS - and not from a blood transfusion... I want him to get raped by a wild ape in the Congo. Then I want him to get caught sodomizing a little Russian boy who happens to be the child of a Russian political leader. Then I want the child's father to get so sick that he needs a blood transfusion, and they use the child to give the transfusion. Of course the child has contracted HIV from Kofi, and has now passed it on to his father. Then I want the German leader to read about this story in the paper and realize that he is at risk for AIDS because he is a pedophile. He gets so nervous that he has a heart attack and needs a heart transplant. Then the doctors mistakenly replace his heart with a baked potato instead of a heart like they do to Kenny in South Park. I don't care about the French because if they piss me off I'll just get a group of friends together and take over France.

I want to put them each in a room and flick their ears every 15 minutes for a week and see if they react in any way. I want to lob missiles at their families and blow up the restaurants where their friends eat, and then when they get mad, I will smile and ask them to show restraint. I want to make them watch videos of Israelis getting blown to bits while eating lunch with their children on their days off from school, and then give them copies of the leaflets the Israeli army always drops on civillians the day before they respond to an attack warning the civillians of the upcoming assault so they can avoid harm.

I want to plant little Hezbollah and Hamas cells in their countries and see how quickly their views change when it's their families, children and friends under attack. When it's there lives that are constantly at risk. When it's them who can't take a bus ride to town without fear or send their children to school not knowing 100% that they will get there and back without issue.

More than anything I guess I just want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them violently and yell at them, "What if it were you!?!?!?!?! Wouldn't you do exactly the same or more!?!?!"

Middle East Situation

Israel agreed to the partition plan in 1947. The Arabs didnt. Therein lies the problem.

Instead of accepting a two-state solution, they declared immediate war which Israel miraculously won, very much due to U.S. help that came later on. Had the Arabs accepted the two-state plan, then any terrorist act following, to this day, could have been deemed an act of war by the international community, which is in effect what it should be. However, because they never became their own state, it is deemed acts of independent terror and not war, and the supporters are not enemies or soldiers, but freedom fighters and victims.

The moves have always been political and well thought out. Originally the Arabs rejected the two-state solution becasue they felt they were powerful enough to drive Israel into the sea and end it in 1947 before it started. Thanks to miraculous victories and evenentual U.S. help, Israel managed to hold on and form a state. Through years of war and attacks they have managed to build a powerful, sovereign and secure democracy amongst a region of tyranny, evil and terror.

Once the Arab nations were unsuccessful in their quest to drive the Jews out, they flipped the tables and no longer played the powerful role of aggressor ; they suddenly became the victims of the evil Zionist regime. This victim role hit its peak in 1967 (and continues on today). In 1967 Arab countries in the region simultaneously declared war on Israel. Israel got up in the air as they always do and ended the war on all fronts in 6 days and in fact annexed buffer zones in many areas (a legal move in a defensive war). However, due to international pressure, they gave back most of these lands.

After this defensive war, the PLO was created giving victim status to Jordanians and other Arabs who lived in what was now Israeli land. There had never before been such a thing as a Palestinian, however, the name was chosen to reflect the time when Britain controlled the land to make it seem as though it was originially a Palesitinian homeland. A quick check in any history book would explain that, but most don't bother to look it up. They had fought only months before to destroy Israel, but when they suddenly and surprisingly lost, they played the victim to the rest of the world and screamed for their land back. Land which they had put at risk in starting a war.

Where does it all feud from? Two places.
1. Anti-semitism. The stronger political leaders have bred a brainwashed society of poverty and terror. This society is noticeably the same in every Arab/Muslim led regime. It is consistent throughout the region. The political leaders stay rich and prosperous while keeping their countries in deep poverty. They use hatred and terror to unite the people and make them believe that the reason for their economic and societal depression is Israel and its allies.
2. The fact that the Arabs did indeed live there, and they do hold the land (specifcally Jerusalem) as the a holy place.

These two factors coupled together mean that they will never stop fighting EVEN THOUGH they have access to all their holy sites and, for the most part, control of them. Because of the first factor, the deep routed hatred they have always had for the Jewish people, they cannot stand to have a Jewish state in their midst (or anywhere for that matter) Look at any of their school textbooks or official government documents, they dont hide the fact that they hate the Jewish people and the State of Israel. It's surprising how far Europe can turn its cheek and pretend its not the case. Then again, nothing in Europe will ever be surprising after WWII and the Holocaust. It is downright scary.

That democratic leaders of civilized countries could even say the words "show restraint" with a straight face is despicable.
Whether Israel is overreacting or using too much force is a fair issue for debate. I'd concede that. I would not agree that it is the case, but I would agree it is a fair topic for conversation - HOWEVER, ONLY after it is recognized that war has been declared on that country and that Israel not only has the RIGHT to respond, but the DUTY to its citizens, and in fact to the world, to respond, and harshly. The first thing that must be recognized is that Hezbollah has been firing rockets, unprovoked, into Israel for many years. These attacks threaten hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens daily. It must first be recognized that these Hezbollah soldiers/terrorists are the responsibility of the Lebanese government as per a United Nations resolution 6 years ago by which Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon with the understanding that Hezbollah would be disarmed by the Lebanese army. It is clear that this has not been the case.

The U.N. cannot on one hand force Israeli withdrawal from enemy land with conditions on the terrorists, and then on the other hand slap Israel when the enemy country defies the resolution and Israel responds to protect itself. Every single member of that committee, as well as the Israelis, Lebanese, Syrians, Iranians and Hezbollah knew that resolution would be followed by only Israel. Yet, because they stuck to their word, they are dealing with a terrorist organization that has had six years to build resources and dig into locations that threaten Israeli civillians. Yet, somehow Israel is supposed to show restraint. This is the same attitude shown by European nations when one of their representatives stated that he did not understand what Israel was so upset about. "It's just three soldiers."

It must be recognized that Syria and Iran are the fuel for these terror groups. While Lebanon is technically responsible, it is a legit fact that they do not have the power to intervene in their own country. This allows Israel the right to intervene. However this fundamental lack of power clearly shows the power line directly from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah. Something that needs to be addressed, but probably never will be.

So while I would have no problem listening to people argue over the extent of Israel's response and actions in connection with Hezbollah attacks, I refuse to listen to the questioning of Israel's right to respond and right to protect its citizens.

At the time, back in 1947, the Arab decision to reject the world's two-state solution was an opportunity for them to continue the Holocaust in the Middle East and to rid the world of Zionism once and for all. That decision to fight in 1947 rather than to accept peace is the crucial turning point in modern-Israeli history. This left many Arabs with no real homeland, no government to control guerilla groups, and no civic pride in being able to call a land their home. This led to the breeding of a society of poverty, hatred and terror.

Had they agreed back then on the two-state solution, there might have been territorial wars, and even terrorist attacks, but because of the "state" status of each source of conflict, they might be well settled by now.

So while at the time, the Arab decision to reject the two-state solution seemed arrogant and violent, in retrospect, it was probably the best move they ever made, and it is a continuing nightmare for Israel. It has given the Arabs fuel, motivation and resources to fight Israel along with international pity; while it has given Israel another enemy to defend against, but no face or state to fight and confront.