See this page for links to articles on OpEdNEws that articulate both sides on the issues in the middle east. It is the goal of OpEdNews to air opinions from both sides to stretch the envelope of discussion and communication. Hate statements are not accepted. Discussions of issues and new ideas for solutions are encouraged. .As often occurs in the tricky world of international relations, President George Bush and the United States find themselves viewed by the rest of the world as supporting the wonton killing of innocent civilians right now.
And Hezbollah is to blame.
Using the most despicable trick known to man: hiding behind innocent civilians including women and children, the terrorists Hezbollah nation (you heard me right: "nation") has found a way to antagonize Israel to such a point that the Israeli's feel compelled to respond. And when they do respond with F-16s armed with precision guided weapons, innocents get killed.
So then Hezbollah drags mindless newsmen and women to the scene and screams, "Look what the bloodthirsty Jews are doing to us!!"
And the mindless news people even get a big time ally: Kofi Annan of the UN, to agree. Without the benefit of any investigation, today the leader of the world's largest peace-loving organization, accused a sovereign member state of murdering peacekeepers intentionally. I find that deplorable.
Then we see a stampede of everyone who likes to knife the United States speaking out: like Jacque Chirac of France saying the Israeli response is "not proportional." Hey, I'd like to see the French reaction to angry Arabs shooting unguided rockets into downtown Paris. In fact, we know exactly the French reaction when unhappy Arabs merely speak out about unemployment in France: they face hundreds of armed policemen.
Hezbollah brilliantly antagonized Israel to such a point that the Israeli's sent their defense forces into Lebanon in an effort to get the Hezbollah to stop shooting rockets into Israel: rockets that have no guidance systems and kill indiscriminately.
So Israel, using many precision, laser guided bombs and other high tech equipments supplied by the United States, has gone into Lebanon. And much of the world blames, who else? The United States.
Well, I don't mind saying I blame the Hezbollah, their backers in Syria and Iran, and the United Nations.
Blaming Hezbollah seems pretty straightforward. Hezbollah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is on the record:
"This state [Israel] was established on the basis of occupation....I say that this is a state based on occupation, that has usurped the rights of others.... I don't believe in the State of Israel as a legal state because it was founded on occupation."
We have several complaints about this. First, by denying the legitimacy of a UN state, Hezbollah allows itself to treat the citizens of that state with distain. Hezbollah has been murdering innocent Jews for years. Second, why doesn't Kofi Annan set the record straight on the legitimacy of Israel, which was created by UN mandate?
Why do we blame Syria and Iran? Because they admit guilt. In fact, they are proud of their bloodthirsty ways and want to eliminate the State of Israel, a State they do not recognize as "legitimate."
"Iran is standing by the Syrian people," Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi proudly told reporters.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted that Israel was not tough enough to counter Iran and also warned against an attack against Syria.
"Thanks be to God, despite its criminal and savage nature, the Zionist regime and its supporters in the West do not have the power to look in the same way towards Iran," the fiercely anti-Israeli president wailed.
