So did Isreal do the right thing?

[ericl]

I think Israel is doing the right thing. For Lebanon to cry out save us smacks of hypocrasy. On one hand you have provided a home for what every other country calls terrorists, and then when the terrorist get out of hand and are punished you attempt to seperate the Lebanese people from the terrorist. If the Lebanese people lend them this kind of support, then they have to take the punishment with the terrorist. I feel the same for the Palistinians. If you elect a terror group as your government, don't expect money from us, Europe, or anyone else. And don't cry out when the terrorist have to be put back in the box and you have to suffer in the process.

Flame suit on!

I'm not going to flame you, but from what I have gathered, the Lebanese government is a fledgling, tinpot operation that has no control over Hezbollah. Until very recently Syria was running Lebanon. Syria left, but Hezboollah (supported by Syria and Iran) has remained. They are more militarily powerful in Lebanon than the Lebanese "military".

Of course most of the citizens of Lebanon have nothing to do with Hezbollah. The Lebanese people and government are both essentially helpless. Israel should be able to deal with Hezbollah, but what Israel seems to be doing is punishing all the innocent civilians (destroying their infrastructure and what not) in hopes that it will cause them to "revolt" against Hezbollah or something. They're doing the same thing with Hamas. You can bet that the opposite will happen (actually it already has - Israel's aggression has made both Hamas and Hezbollah the powerful organizations they are today). This is going to rally more people to Hezbollah's cause. It's like attacking Utah because there are some polygamists hiding out there.

I don't like where this is going at all. Next stops, Syria and Iran. At this point, it is safe to say that all of our world leaders are complete failures.

OK, I am going to go back to my policy of staying out of political threads now..

[kexodusc]

I'm not going to flame you, but from what I have gathered, the Lebanese government is a fledgling, tinpot operation that has no control over Hezbollah. Until very recently Syria was running Lebanon. Syria left, but Hezboollah (supported by Syria and Iran) has remained. They are more militarily powerful in Lebanon than the Lebanese "military".

Lebanon's military isn't huge, but it isn't exactly doing much to try either. And her people did elect the political wing of Hezbollah. There's at least some support there...

Israel should be able to deal with Hezbollah, but what Israel seems to be doing is punishing all the innocent civilians (destroying their infrastructure and what not) in hopes that it will cause them to "revolt" against Hezbollah or something

.

Not exactly. In the good ol' days the French and English war tactics were much more civilized..line up in rows, and take turns shooting each other, or settle it "on the battlefield" .... Well now we have Hezbollah terrorists not playing by the rules, hiding in hospitals, stores, schools, public infrastructure and among the general public. If Israel's right to defend herself means collateral damage to another country, the original perpetrators should share the responsibility, if not bear it completely.

I don't like where this is going at all. Next stops, Syria and Iran. At this point, it is safe to say that all of our world leaders are complete failures.

Could get ugly...Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered "attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response" So if Iran bombs Israel (which is quite capable of dealing Iran a blow) does NATO or the UN respond? Bad business for Russia to go against Iran, China is a bit of a wildcard on this one...France seems to be sympathetic to its former imperialist buddies in Lebanon.

Getting pretty soupy..