You completely ignored every one of my points, in favor of responding to a straw man you made up.

I'm not going to talk to you until you grow a second brain cell.

It seems to me that this article is less about truth and more about opinion. He is offering a dissenting opinion from what we hear on CNN or read in the Times about Hizbollah. I don't know if it's true. I'm not even remotely informed enough about the Middle East, Hizbollah, or Israel to be able to make an informed decision. However, I think it is important to get another perspective on the problem so that I is a citizen of the world can make up my own mind about things.

Which is why Salon exists, correct?

We all know that Sharon is the "Butcher of Beruit" but what ever became of this man? Elie Hobeika

On the evening of September 16, 1982, the Phalangist militia, under the command of Elie Hobeika, entered the camps. For the next 36 to 48 hours, the Phalangists massacred the inhabitants of the refugee camps, while the Israeli military guarded the exits and continued to provide flares by night.

Well, until his death by car bomb on January 24th 2002, Hobeika was active in Lebanese politics, served a decade in parliament and was a mover and shaker .... check out how Hobeika (in contrast to Sharon) was "punished" for Sabra/Shatilla ... [hint: He was named commander of the Lebanese forces in 1985.]

wikipedia:

url, on the massacre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre

url, on Hobeika: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elie_Hobeika

oh, also, I only recently absorbed the fact that Sabra/Shatilla occured on 09/14/1982 or 09/15/82 barely 2 days after assassination of the president of Lebanon ...

On September 14, 1982, Gemayel was assassinated in a massive explosion which demolished his headquarters. Eventually, the culprit who confessed to the crime turned out to be a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and an agent of Syrian intelligence. The Palestinian and Muslim leaders denied any connection.[7]

and Gemayel was deeply hated by many for his COOPERATION with Israel ... but he had, by some reports, just had a personal falling-out with Menachim Began ... lots of players, lots of layers.

I think Wikipedia has done a good job of setting out S&S, a horrible terrible massacre.... and I think the incident deserves a more thorough understanding than a "bunch of innocent PLO Palestinians got massacred by the Phalangists while the Israeli Army did nothing/aided and abetted" (depending on who you believe) ... It's also, imho, an impressive example of how divergent accounts of this incident remain almost 25 years later.

Hezbollah, which is hiding behind women and children as they fire rockets at Israel, is directly responsible for all Lebanese civilian deaths.

Any civilian who provides shelter to armed Hezbollah terrorists, is considered a terrorist under international law. Israel has lost many soldiers by trying to protect Lebanese civilians. Hezbollah is destroying Lebanon and her people.

Read this article in the leading Australian newspaper Sunday Herald Sun:

http://www.news.com.au/sundayheraldsun/story/0,,19955774-5007220,00.html

proving how the Hizbollah fighters in southern Lebanon are deliberately fighting from within centers of civilian population, and thereby endangering civilians.

This is a great example both of Hizbollah's hypocrisy and of how the international media are not exposing the way Hizbollah is cynically endangering the Lebanese population.

So you claim that Hezbollah does not use civilians for cover.

To claim this, you must ignore Jan Egeland of the UN, who complained of this practice.

You must ignore IDF video clips showing exactly what you deny: rocket launchers firing from residential areas.

You must ignore a continuing stream of witness accounts confirming the same thing.

You must ignore the practice of Hezbollah's fighters not wearing uniforms in combat (even though they love to wear uniforms when they march in formation).

In other words, you are in denial about this patently obvious fact. Hezbollah uses civilians for cover. Your reporter, Mitch Prothero is either a liar or a fool. And you editors are willully blind. You owe your readers an apology for carrying an article so patently false. How long will it take before you issue it?

Hi. I have posted a simple PDF that says: "Cease Fire in Lebanon Now." I'm hoping that people will print it out and put it in their windows.

Just wanted to spread the word. Thanks.

http://cease-fire-in-lebanon.blogspot.com/

Even that tool on Yahoo (Kevin Sites) has pictures of Hezbollah mixed in with civilians. Nothin like a rpg in a baby crib.

I can't see anyone with a shred of credibility making a statement like that. You didn't pull this from Mel Gibson's blog did you?

We'll even throw in a Palestinian do-rag.

by posting Rense and Counterpunch's urls. Throw in some Syrian News agency snippets and the odd Stormfront piece for completeness.

...the article should probably refrain from posting. I bet you dumbshits have read lots of books, right? Just gone to the library and walked down the aisles, reading the books as you pass. Pathetic.

Israel knows that quasi genocide is the only hope they have of eliminating the civilian wing of a somewhat popular (though nowhere statistically near reaching the 30% approval numbers that our popular executive may now boast)political party is their only hope of militarily eliminating Hezbollah. It's just too easy to say that "they want to wipe us from the face of the Earth!" and "they won't negotiate"...no, wait..."we don't negotiate with terrorists!"

Israel has known for years that the military wing of Hezbollah was amassing an arsenal with help from Iran and possibly Syria. Israel has known for years that it is partly responsible (along with Syria) for the dilapidated state of the Lebanese government, and it's inability to police Hezbollah. Yet what diplomatic actions has Israel taken? You Israel Hawks tell me. Has Israel asked the world body to take a long hard look at Hezbollah. Oh, wait, I'm sorry again "The world doesn't care about the Jews!"

So now we wait to see the scope of the humanitarian and economic disaster that Lebanon will soon be. With no infrastructure to support what was a thriving economy, and no conceivable popular support or goodwill toward Israel among the majority of the Lebanese population (keep in mind that Hezbollah represented a MINORITY of this population), Israel may see no choice but to live up to its promise to "set Lebanon back 20 years" or even bomb them back to the stone age...a little genocide may be considered a necessary means to an end, or a justifiable "risk".

Israel apologists: we all know that Hezbollah was a "cancer", a terrorist organization, and Israel's enemy. Yet, Israel did nothing to engage them or the Lebanese populace as a whole; complaining about Iranian and Syrian funds buying popular support and weapons for them, meanwhile investing no diplomatic or hard currency of their own. We can only assume now that this was a calculated venture, so maybe you should change your tune.

Veiled (or not so veiled) references to anyone who questions Israel's wrongheaded (though ostensibly rooted in the honest desire to destroy a terrorist agency) campaing as a Jew hater or Anti-Semite are only indicative of a neo-con talking point generator. Why don't you ask your good friend Mel Gibson what he thinks of the Jews?