“... is to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to rob them of their wealth, to see those who love him shrouded in tears, and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters.” - Friedman Khan

If you want to be legalistic, Hamas does not target Israeli civilians either. They can't target anything because they are not capable of doing so with their crude rockets (suicide bombers are admittedly another matter - but the current Israeli complaint is over rocket fire). They have no idea where they will land.

So, by this logic, the Israelis have nothing to complain about.

Just because the Israelis may not explicitly target civilians does not excuse their behavior. They know full well that unleashing their air force on Gaza will result in civilian deaths, lots of them. If it doesn't meet the letter of the definition of terrorism, it sure captures the spirit.

Hamas also knows full well that it's rockets may kill Israeli civilians. Neither side cares. They are both wrong in this regard.

This tit for tat violence has been going on forever, and the conflict has only deepened. It's nuts. Israel should simply choose not to retaliate. They should keep their promises to Fatah to dismantle some of their West Bank settlements. There is no guarantee this will help reach a solution, but the back and forth violence has proven ineffective for both sides. The only way violence will work is if one side succeeds in literally killing off a large fraction of the enemy population.

Every war against a democracy is won by changing the minds of the civilian population. The way this is done is by imposing pain. Blockades, etc. - same thing, lower scale.

Name one war that ended the way you describe.

The same principle applies to most wars against non-democracies, as well. Two excellent examples are Japan and Germany circa 1946.

Why don't you cut the shit and admit that you don't believe the US and its allies can use military force in any meaningful way and still maintain your version of "legality."

They can't. If that were the case, NATO would have intervened against the Soviets in Hungary in 1957.

Also, quit singling out Israel, among the many states currently using these techniques - it makes you look like a bigot.

I believe Glenn's analysis has been scrupulous in limiting itself to Israel's current actions alone. But feel free to correct me there.

One easy example is the pounding that the Tigers and their supporters have taken in Sri Lanka over the past couple months. Far more damage and loss of life there on both sides.

So? Again, the focus is on the disaster in Gaza.

We get it - you believe it is morally superior to fail at terrorizing Israel than to succeed at paciifying Gazan rocket fire.

Except all Israel has likely accomplished is it will suffer suicide bombings in its cities, as opposed to occasional and imprecise rocket attacks at its borders.

Some "success".

You are right on.Hamas thought about these consequences when they kept firing rockets into Israel.They celebrate the concentration camp area of Gaza they have created by thier own violence and refusal of recognition or co-existence.They celebrate the deaths of palestinians because it advances thier cause.Glen " Ambassador Joe Kennedy"Greenwald doesn't understand there is no peace at home if someone keeps throwing rocks at your windows.He reduces himself to a mere tool of propaganda for extremists.People here call any opposing view to Glens war mongers and the like.The blood here is mostly on Hamas and to support or defend any organization whose preferred form of action is violence makes them the war monger hiding behind a peace sign.There was a popular tee shirt in the 70's that I detested about the middle east at Ft Bragg it proclaimed "Nuke them all let God sort them out".Thier point was wrong but thier frustration now understood.Palestinians elected Hamas and to drag this out and continue without final resolution is a danger to all of the world's chidren.The final resolution doesn't need to be achieved by violence or war it just needs to be final.The means was chosen by Hamas and the extremist who now, through propaganda, wish to twist opinion on thier side as they've have done again and again and again with no attempt at a lasting peace.To take the same action again and again and achieve the same failed result is defined as insanity.The extremist need to lay down the sword and strive to coexist in peace and the the ones who truly hate war should all be striving towards that end.Maybe we didn't learn anything from Poland in 1939 because the same facist are still at work and we have the same out of touch with reality morons holding out a hand in peace unaware of the club the facist hold ready to strike the back of thier heads.

Friedman's inhumane rationalizations reflect a disturbing tendency among mainstream media types to depersonalize and objectify the death and suffering of innocents -- a classic Machievellian "end justifies the means" apologia for genocide.

As a Jew, he should be ashamed. He is blind to the cruel historical lessons of the not-so-distant past.

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SELECTIVE APPLICATION OF ANTI-TERRORISM MEASURES: "THE OBAMA EFFECT"?

PLEA TO OBAMA: CANCEL RISKY, RECKLESS 'SITTING DUCK' TRAIN STUNT

• What happened to Homeland Security warnings of "heightened risk" during Presidential transition?

• How about the late November FBI warning about possible Northeast train station attacks?

• "Amtrak Joe" Biden's longstanding warnings about security flaws along the Amtrak Northeast corridor -- why isn't he waving this whistle stop tour to a halt?

Attempts to post this link today at CNN.com failed. A post containing the link was taken down since yesterday.

WHAT POWERFUL ENTITY DOES NOT WANT THIS STORY TO GAIN MEDIA ATTENTION?

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/plea-obama-cancel-risky-reckless-sitting-duck-train-stunt

OR (if link is DEACTIVATED or corrupted):

http://My.NowPublic.com/scrivener