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• Monday, January 5, 2009 05:05 PM

  Actually, considering the original rise of the taliban and the current resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, people will give up a great deal

  to be safe ... fwiw.

  I've seen little (none actually) mention of two things I would mention wrt to Israeli support for this action.

  First, the ceasefire, flawed and holey as it was, represented a step forard, it was hopeful, Hamas was willing to engage ... the end of the ceasefire represented a step back (IMHO, for both sides).

  While many have mentioned how pointless and futile Israeli military reaction is and has been, only a few have mentioned how futile, pointless, and self-defeating the rockets from gaza into Israel are and have been. Ditto Intifada I and Intifada II.

  As I mentioned elsewhere, Israel gave stern warnings for weeks as to what would occur if the ceasefire was not renewed. That anyone would doubt Israel's promise of an overwhelming response is beyond reason, so I have to figure Hamas knew what was coming and did the math.

  The problems with not confronting Hamas, allowing Hamas to thumb its nose while ESCALATING rocket attacks would not only create an intolerable precedent, yes, it could also lose Kadima the election, because, I guess, Israeli citizens expect their government to protect them.

  Second, I've seen no mention of something that was fairly widely written about a year or so ago -- that the wall built in response to Intifada II, the security afforded by strict (oppressive) border controls, and an improving economy, much of Israel was quite able and increasing willing -- after decades of fruitless attempts at "peace" -- to just live their lives and turn their backs on the Palestinians, who -- particularly by electing Hamas -- seems to spit on such efforts.

  Israel can live quite well without the Palestinians ... thank you very much. They already have replaced their large Palestinian work force ...

  in my humble opinion, this talk about a one-state solution ios a pipedream -- kumbaya, y'all.

  Finally, I'd like to mention the "state's" need to control vigilantism. When Hamas agreed to make efforts (which were partially successful) to control the rocket-firing folks -- who appear to be "vigilantees", they showed that it could be done. Absent some credible action by the Israeli government in the face of increasing rocket attacks and nose-thumbing, I suspect Likud would have been a shoe-in. That's not cynical "manipulation" ... that's reality.

  Both Hamas and the Israeli government need to play to their constituencies and their benefactors. Hamas is not remotely exempt from this charge, imho.

  The United States is building an equally wasteful, stupid and offensive wall on our southern border, in part to avoid what was a rising threat of vigilantism by our own yahoos who believed it was their duty / mission to stem the tide of "illegal immigrants" and the "social ills" they believe they cause.

  The Mexicans (and all those other folks living at the lower latitudes) are not firing missles, they're just trying to find work.

  Personally, I'd love to see some of the outrage directed at Israel instead directed at the "disproportionate response" of our use of air power in both Iraq and Afghanistan ...

  I could say more but I have to get back to work. Bye.

  —susan sunflower Read susan sunflower's other letters
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