Don't Mess With the Jews!

There is, indeed, one truly sane country left in the world today. One country that takes threats against itself seriously, has the guts to actually do something about those threats, and doesn't much care what anyone else in the world thinks about it. That country has spent the last 6 days bombing Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. Perhaps 'bombing' is not the appropriate term - how about 'kicking the living sh*t out of them with airplanes'. Seriously, all Israel has done is bomb for 6 days and somewhere between 40 and 50% of all Hezbollah military capability has been destroyed. Ouch. That's like Italian tanks versus Ethiopian bows-and-arrows bad. (And yes, the Ethiopians vs. Italians is a real historical event.) Furthermore, I believe Israel will actually have the brains to stay and finish the job they started; instead of deciding half-way through that they feel like they've 'sent a message' and can go home.

Needless to say, I fully support Israel and its right to beat Hezbollah to a pulp. Terrorists who willingly attack innocent civilians do not need to have old Soviet-era rockets at their disposal. Fortunately, the task of getting rid of Hezbollah's weapons falls to Israel, a Nation who is quite happy to complete it.

Furthermore, what do these successful attacks say about Hezbollah and the situation in the Middle East? Or Islamic terrorism in general? Well, first of all, it shows us, once again, that Israel really does have a right to exist. Remember, Hezbollah is a group on par with the PLO, (who are also on the receiving end of this bombardment) and they have crumbled, for the umpteenth time, in the face of Israel. How can one possibly say that a people who lose 40% of their military capability in six days, despite not even being invaded, deserve to have a country? Remember if you run a country, you are in charge of "National Defense" something these Arab groups don't quite seem to have figured out. Especially compared to Israel.

Also, on a more philosophical note, this could tell us one of two things about Islamic Terrorism. Either a) the Islamic will to fight is weakening slightly or b) Bush was right. Hezbollah's resistance is quite minimal and, on top of that, they seem to be getting little or no support from the rest of the Arabic and Islamic world. To me, this seems an indication that Islamic militants really feel that Hezbollah can't win this fight; and given the Islamic terrorists 'Allah is with me so I'll never give up' attitudes, that's kind of surprising. On the other hand, it could mean that Islamic terrorists can't help Hezbollah fight back because they are already overcommitted in different places. In other words, no one can support Hezbollah because all their terrorists have been deployed to, say, Iraq. Which would course vindicate President Bush's belief that going into Iraq would attract the terrorists there and prevent them from doing harm elsewhere. Again, this is purely philosophical, but I find it compelling.

So, to our allies and friends in Israel: Good Luck and Happy Hezbollah Hunting!!