Mitch -- I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt, and presume that you are not simply anti-Jewish, nor an adherent of the view that Israel has no right to exist. You have seen too much violence, over too many years, much of it seemingly indiscriminant or bloodthirsty, and you're tired of it.

But ask yourself -- what is the reason that Israel defends itself vigorously? And why is there so much civilian death? Is it really just that they are STUPIDLY attacking anything with the remotest association with Hezbollah, or just attacking for the hell of it?

If you are intellectually honest, you will admit that the problem is that Israel is under attack. In fact, Hezbollah is highly professional and competent, as you describe -- all the more threatening. There is an entire culture that has grown up believing that Israel (and more broadly, the West) are evil. Believing this from experience -- death and misery, every day of their lives -- and coming to this perfectly understandable conclusion. And in their misery and lack of alternatives, they hate and they attack.

Sad, because the real cause is the EXACT opposite. 1) the mind-bogglingly corrupt ARAB leadership, rolling in their oil TRILLIONS, doing everything they can to maintain control. 2) the deeply damaged religion of Islam, with it's culture and history and ideology of violence, of repression, of opposition to modernity, of enforced combination of church and state -- which cannot stand Western ideals, or deal with them non-violently.

Israel is under siege, and constant threat, and has been for 50 years. Under those pressures, it has NO CHOICE but to fight back brutally, as effectively as possible. It has NO ROOM for negotiation -- because it only takes a few who go nuts from the other side, who fail to meet their group's commitments, to bring more death to Israel. They cannot simply "trust". This is why no cease fire now can work, and why a repeat of failed old strategies cannot work.

It's an old point, but quite valid -- if Israel laid down her arms and stopped fighting, it would be destroyed. If Hezbollah AND the other anti-Israel forces laid down their arms, there would be peace, and a Palestinian state, and economic partnership between Israel and her neighbors.

So as unfortunate as civilian deaths are, they are completely Hezbollah's fault. They are the ones who can stop it. Israel does not have the power to end the conflict.

And I ask you -- do you REALLY believe that Israel kills civilians out of racism and bloodthirstiness? If you've been there, you know better.

"In case any of you were wondering, here's what the email says:

"The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters (sic) of our position and the closest 1000 lb aerial bomb has landed 100 meters (sic) from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but rather due to tactical necessity."

Um, that's only part of what the e-mail supposedly says. The full version hasn't been released or reported yet.

"The UN spokesman neither denies the contents, nor offers an explanation of his own.

I quote:

A senior UN official, asked about the information contained in Maj. Hess-von Kruedener's e-mail concerning Hezbollah presence in the vicinity of the Khiam base, denied the world body had been caught in a contradiction.

"At the time, there had been no Hezbollah activity reported in the area," he said. "So it was quite clear they were not going after other targets; that, for whatever reason, our position was being fired upon.

"Whether or not they thought they were going after something else, we don't know. The fact was, we told them where we were. They knew where we were. The position was clearly marked, and they pounded the hell out of us."

Notice that he doesn't explain the email at all. He seems to prefer to ignore it. It is a very straightforward interpretation of the email that Hezbollah activity near the site created the "tactical necessity" for Israeli counter-activity."

Um, he doesn't need to deny or confirm anything because he's making the relevant point. Namely that there was no reported Hezbollah activity near the UN post during the period it was being bombed, and in fact, they told the IDF what was going on while they were being bombed, got assurances that it would stop, and contiuned to get bombed.

Now, I don't think the bombing of the UN post was deliberate but using half-assed spin to try to excuse it is silly. It was more than likely a tragic accident.

"Or perhaps he was saying there was a "tactical necessity" to bomb the UN observers so the evil Jews could have the run of the place.

The idiocy of the letter writers here continues to amaze."

Since you're a prolific letter writer here that must mean your idiocy is off the charts, eh? Btw, the anti-semitism charge nonsense everytime one of your talking points fails is getting beyond absurd. It's venturing into parody.

What is a "political" member of Hezbollah? The man who recruits the suicide bombers, but goes home every night for dinner with his family? The unarmed man who only publishes the newspaper that calls for the death of the Jews. Or those nice guys who travel to Tehran to collect the cash to buy the weapons but never touch the weapons.

That would make Hitler an innocent man, since he was just the head of the "Political Wing" of the Nazi party?

Just because Israel and America hide behind the masks of "real armies" does not make them any less barbaric or disgusting than what they purport Hamas and Hezbollah to be.

Exactly! Well stated.

Thank you, Zene.

My title says it all: you don't want retribution then don't let the Hezbollah terrorists among you. Unlike your buddies, at least the Israelis are not deliberately targeting innocent civilians.

As a member of the Lebanese "government," it seems as if Hezbollah has themselves brought the trouble upon Lebanon. It would be like our government's contending that atrocities perpetrated by Democrats are not really American atrocities, since the GOP runs the government.