Misguided War - When Civilians Are Caught In The Crossfire

The debate about what happen in Qana rages. Israeli supporters claim it was all a Hezbollah propaganda piece. These commentators look at the bodies and destruction but that's not what they see. They are looking for suspicious evidence, that a Hezbollah missile was the cause, that these children were perhaps transplanted from elsewhere, already dead.

What I have yet to see disputed is that the children who may or may not have died in Qana while they were sleeping in what they and their mothers thought was a safe house, were killed from some form of an Israeli attack, and surely a missile.

There is an acceptance by so many that the children were in the wrong place and time. Ain't that the truth! However, there are many who would squarely point the finger of blame, not at those that killed them, but at those that brought on the attacks that killed them.

By this reasoning, I can only assume that the Israelis are not capable of restraint. Their's is a reflex reaction - when they are provoked, they attack back. Consequently, any harm that comes to those that provoke Israel is all on the provokers, not on Israel.

So, nevermind that woman and children might be killed in the process. They are casualties of war.

Recall the Beslan catastrophe, when Russian forces stormed the school with tanks and heavy weaponry? The result was chaos and 344 civilians were killed, including 186 children. I know most Americans were rightfully horrified at the huge loss of life during the rescue, and would never have accepted that kind of outcome were the hostage crises on U.S. soil.

The same should hold true everywhere. If Hezbollah is mingling with populations of woman and children, that has to be taken into account, it cannot be dismissed. There are ways to win a war, ways to execute a battle, but they should not include putting civilians in danger, even if that's what the "other side" is suspected of doing.

And this is what is causing the public opinion backlash against Israel. At the very least, they have allowed themselves to be lured into the type of war Hezbollah wants to wage, and by taking the bait, they fall to the level of the foes they would want the world to demonize as terrorists. They become partners in terror to the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. Those that feed the beast are equally branded as demons.

And what of the vaunted precision guided missile system the Israelis are using? You know, the ones we sold to them. Is it a case of operator error when we hear report after report of mistaken hits on civilian homes, Red Cross vans, or U.N. observation posts? If so, it would seem that we need to get them some better training in the future to avoid such inconveniences. Too many such snafus can get embarrassing.

Is it the anonymity of a long distance strike that enables people to obscure the horror of the result? Is that an adequate enough defense that "shit happens" in war?

How is it different than lining up the civilians, the woman, the children, and shooting them at point blank range? Does the blind bomb make it alright?

If it does, then isn't that an admission that the precision guided missile isn't as precise as we claim it to be, and therefore when such weapons are used, they have the same result as the less precise missiles Hezbollah has also been accused of using?

What we're left with is yet another war with no winners, only losers. Israel's gambit that they could pound Hezbollah into submission isn't working, and the casualties have escalated to the point the whole world is watching for every new Israeli misstep. The powder keg that is the Middle East is poised to erupt if hostilities are not ended swiftly and completely. Otherwise Israel could find itself wishing it had responded to a kidnapping, let's say, "differently".

Just as Israel and its supporters will say Hezbollah is getting what it had coming, Israel has also fermented the seeds of international discontent against it. Even those that would not support Hezbollah's actions cannot condone the escalation of confrontation. Israel, as a democratic nation has the most to lose from this miscalculation, and will have played into Hezbollah's hands. They need an exit strategy that allows them to save face - but the big question is whether there is any opportunity for that now.

Cross-posted at World View.