It's not on that recent programs list now. Shoot. I should stay on the Internet 24/7.

Yes, thank you for the link Jonathan I was able to watch it last night and it was nice to hear some informed commentary.

I found this link over at Red State Son which is a map showing the extent of the bombing done by the Israeli military.

http://maps.samidoun.org/lebanon_map_july12-aug01.jpg

More than 841 killed and 3243 wounded.

One third of casualties are children and majority civilians.

More than 913,760 displaced

More than 60 bridges and 70 roads destroyed.

Reported Israeli use of internationally banned bombs.

More than ten thousand tons of heavy oil pollutes more than 80 km of sea coast.

Despite the obvious when you view the map that Israel is blanket bombing Lebanon William Arkin suggests that we should be viewing this in terms of how successful the Israeli actually are in their war against Hizbollah.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/08/post_6.html

"Everyone on the planet seems to agree 600 civilians deaths are too many in this two-week-long war.

The condemnation certainly suggests a step forward for humanity: The global community doesn't have much - or sufficient - stomach for war.

But there's another possibility. Perhaps the dominant view of the Lebanon war and expectations about war itself are clouded by innumerable subtexts - anti-Israel, anti-American, anti-Bush, anti-air power - that subtly influence news media reporting?

First, we have to dispense with a core fallacy suggested by those who consider Israel's military campaign excessive and see it as as a "failure": If Israel were militarily "successful" against Hezbollah because of different tactics, would the hatred on both sides really have dissipated?

I, for one, have a hard time conceiving of any Israeli military tactic that would have convinced a prejudiced Lebanon population -- or the "Arab street" -- that the Jewish state was merely defending itself and justified to do so."

Arkin claims that he does not condone what Israel is doing rather he is saying that the news media and other people are misrepresenting what is happening because they are hypocrites for saying Israel has a right to defend itself but if Israel defends itself but then decries what Israel is doing.

However if you look at the map this hardly looks like Israel is defending itself rather it looks more like an all out assault against Lebanon and Arkin conveniently leaves out the fact that it is mostly civilians who are being killed and one third are children.

Dare I suggest that Arkin is wrong? Arkin chooses to view this as winning or losing while I in my naive simplicity view at as just plain wrong. I guess I just don't have the stomach for war, aren't I silly.

Rob,

Wasn't that same 'self defense' excuse used when the USS Liberty was attacked in June of 1967 causing over 200 casualties including 34 dead sailors and marines, even though Admiral Moorer (among others) later condemned the action as a blatant attack? Oh, wait a minute! That was referred to as a 'communications error'. Sorry about that, IDF! In the words of Vince Lombardi "The best defense is a good offense."

Americanintifada,

Good catch, yup the attack was an understandable mistake according to Israel who claimed they mistook the name "Liberty" which was spelled out in Latin letters somehow as the "El Qusier" spelled out in Arabic letters. I can see how that might be a common mistake. All those mistakes tsk, tsk. Yes we mistakenly blanket bombed Lebanon when we were just trying to surgically strike at Hizbollah. Yup, uh sure thing.

SK,

Thanks for the very good link which jibes with much that I heard last night on C span such as the long range plans of the U.S and Israel to topple Syria. And how ironic that here is Lebanon that wants to be a democracy and was trying very hard at it and Bush is sitting there giving the green light to Israel to dismantle Lebanon even though Bush's latest reason for bringing ruin and destruction upon the Arab world is to bring democracy to it. My God, if we cannot trust Bush who can we trust?

Trust in Bush? AHHHHHHHHHH, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!!!

That's a good one! Now make like Ted Kennedy and have another "shot of um, er, uh, vodker" there Rob!

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