Fact is, there is only party to this incident that stands to gain anything from it -- not Israel, but Hezballah.

Everyone should keep their eye on the facts and not react prematurely.

Remember the UN had responsiblity for protecting Israel once the land in southern Lebanon was vacated by Israel. Remember over 1,000 rockets have been fired by Hezbollah at civilian targets in Israel, containing warheads with ball bearings inside to intentionaly kill civilians.

Where is the moral outrage against Hesbollah for intentionally trying to kill civilians? Where is the outrage against the UN for not doing the job of protecting Israel and honoring the withdrawal agreement?

Israel has no choice but to fight for self defense and the saftey of civilians. No one else is has stepped up on thier behalf, even afer they gave up the territory in southern Lebanaon in good faith.

More or less exactly the kind of proportionality that you all have been yammering for? I mean where did you think 'appropriate' would lead? The Big Rock Candy Mountain?

9-11

REMEMBER "NINE ELEVEN"

I am your uniter, your protector,

I promise NOT to sleep 'on the job' again, not like Septembet 10, 2001.

I will choose my Vacation Time accordingly,pick up a shovel when needed as I have been known to do, and I will stop ROVEing On. I will work "for the People". I think I spelled WORK correctly, but a uncertain to the meaning.

WE MUST

How do you spell America?

WE MUST

"Stay the Course"; because to the Victor goes the decision of WAR CRIMINALS and who they are.

Warsaw Ghetto: American spelling FALLIGUA.

to the Victor go the Museum Treasures.

Abu Ghrib: American spelling GUANTANAMO BAY.

PEACE ON EARTH: American spelling PIECE OF EARTH.

I WAS PROUD TO BE AMERICAN: then I realized that I could Not spell America.

SUB SOLE SUB UMBRA VIRENS

jp irving msha

human rights watch? where have they been all these years as israeli women, children, and elders have been killed and maimed by these wicked terrorists? and calls for a cease-fire from morally corrupt scum like chirac? he has to mind or courage. and how the heck does one have a "cease-fire" with terrorists who are willing to strap a bomb to a babies body? the real outrage is that the world body, in its infinite anti-semitism, has the gall to criticize israel defending itself against these vicious murderers. too bad for those people in qana but that is the complete responsibility of hezbollah and the citizens that allow them to attack israel from behind their homes. what cowards are these terrorists who use human shields, yet the world body points a finger at israel, even claiming these people could not leave qana. yet all these reporters who are merely tools of hezbollah made it from tyre to qana easily. maybe there is another reason these people were still there and the terrorists were firing rockets from this position. look at those who encourage such tragedy, not at those who seek to avoid it,

kg

kevg021@yahoo.com

Man, you are a hard-core cold-hearted person. Can't even be bothered to stop for a second to mourn for the innocent dead, the kids. Regardless who is right who is wrong, regardless whether you are pro- or anti-Israel, it is truly horrid to see those gastly pictures from Qana. Please be a human and take a moment to really SEE the carnage. Yes, I mourn for the dead Israeli civilians too.

The attempts to justify Israel's attacks on Lebanese and Palestinian civilians are disgusting and reveal the moral bankruptcy of those making them. Ball bearings in bombs? How about white phosporus and cluster bombs targeting civilians - and these weapons actually do hit their marks and they have been used over and over by Israel. How about snipers taking out Palestinian children? For everything you mention, Israel has done the same or worse ten times over. Their aim is accurate and their intentions are clear.

Will there be peace and justice in the Middle East? If the American taxpayer stops funding Israel's crimes against humanity, then perhaps peace has a chance.

Excellent article away from the usual "Israel does no wrong" articles. I think what the Israeli army is doing is not in the interest of the U.S. in the long term. Lebanon might become a museum for how brave the IDF soldiers are in killing and destroying civilians and their homes. Israel is good at giving excuses and spinning things but I think people in Europe and somewhat in the U.S. are seeing that Israel is wrong and it must be stopped.

More brave writers and experts are speaking their minds and not being intimidated by the Pro-Israel lobby that label anyone who disagrees with them as anti-semite or pro-Hizbollah.

Here is a quote from

Richard N. Haass, who was President Bush's first-term State Department policy planning director. "The biggest danger in the short run is it just increases frustration and alienation from the United States in the Arab world. Not just the Arab world, but in Europe and around the world. People will get a daily drumbeat of suffering in Lebanon and this will just drive up anti-Americanism to new heights."

I never post letters. I mean, who cares what I think. Well, here goes.

It's a war. Civilians are gonna die on both sides. That's what happens in wars. Americans don't seem to understand that because our mainland has never experienced war. That's why 9/11 was such a shock to people.

I see some truth in the statement that Hezbullah aims at civilians, while the Israelis aim at Hezbullah. Lebanese civilian deaths don't serve Israel's interests - so it's not intentional. But civilian deaths do serve Hezbullah's interests. And regardless, there will be civilian deaths. Why? Because it's a war. On what had been a U.N. certified, peaceful border. With the peace broken by Hezbullah.

What bugs me about the rhetoric:

One guy says that Lebanon's "entire" infrastructure is destroyed. "Entire"? Really?

Or "The response by Israel is disproportionate". Ok. Perhaps Israel should quietly set up an extremist, independent militia in Northern Israel and respond, rocket for rocket, with attacks aimed specifically at populated civilian areas instead of aiming to hit Hezbullah. That would be a mirror image response to Hezbullah's attacks, and it would give the Israeli government the same alibi used by the Lebanese government.

I understand Lebanon has an Army of 80,000 - you would think 25,000 could take back control of Southern Lebanon from the 5,000 or so extremists. Yes, the politics are a mess for Lebanon. Yeah, some of those Lebanese soldiers would get killed. But was this war a better alternative? Oh well, perhaps the Lebanese thought they had another decade or two to get things in order. The pundits say that Israel was surprised by Hezbullah's rocket attacks. And the Lebanese and Hezbullah were surprised by Israel's harsh response. Mutual surprise and miscalculation: Another attribute of war.

Question: Would the Lebanese be better off if the country across the border were:

= Russia? (think chechnya. 50,000 civilian dead ... or is it 100,000 ... and Chechnya is 1,100 miles from Moscow!)

= China? (think tibet, yeah, those monks are really dangerous to China)

= Iran? (what would a Hezbullah vs. Hezbullah fight look like?)

= Britain? (they sent ships halfway around the world to defend the Falkland islands?!)

= France? (think Algeria... god only knows how they could think Algeria actually belonged to them)

= The U.S. (no comments necessary)

I also never seem to hear "war crime" mentioned in relation to Hezbullah. Never. Seems odd. What is that? The "soft bigotry of low expectations"? (with apologies to GWBush for appropriating his speechwriter's clever line). Seriously, I think observers are bending over backwards to be sensitive to the "oppressed" - but the failure to criticize Arab failings suggests that observers just don't expect anything better from the Arabs. Any criticism of the insane riot and trashing of the U.N. building? Not a peep - it's just taken for granted, as if it's to be expected.

There was this line: "If someone throws stones in your yard, do you set their house on fire?"

How about "If someone kills 50 of your citizens, do you try to kill the killers?"

And if you accidentally kill some innocent bystanders who are next door to the killers, well, c'est la guerre. (Yeah, I must be a terribly heartless person)

And this line: "The hatred of Israel for Muslims and Islam success is beyond immagination (sic)"... oh brother. I thought Israel was the successful society in the middle east - and c'mon now: which way does the hatred flow? Rollback to '67 is a nice idea - I think the Israeli plan to retreat from 90% of the west bank makes sense. But do you really think the rocket fire will stop? 90% is a lot more than half a loaf.... it's ... why it's 90% of a loaf! That's pretty good! Too bad the Palestinians will make themselves miserable over the 10% withheld. If I were a Palestinian, the bourgeois public policy wonk in me would look at those Israeli settlements and I'd bargain with the Israelis for revenues from sales tax, real-estate tax, income tax, lease-revenue and consumers spending money in my markets. But that's very bourgeois. Sorry. Whenever those miserable feelings about the 10% arise, the Palestinians should count their blessings they don't live next door to Russia, China, etc ...

Oh well. I hope both sides work it out. But it all seems a lot more tame than Darfur or Congo or Chechnya. Or *Iraq* for crying out loud.