July 22 - Coming as the first item does from CBC, I suppose it is supposed to imply disapproval but I'm solidly on the side of the Israeli ambassador: Israeli ambassador says Louise Arbour doesn't get it:

Israel's ambassador to Canada has dismissed a warning from Canadian jurist Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, that war crimes charges may be warranted against Israel and Hezbollah if measures aren't taken to protect civilians.

[...]

Arbour issued a statement on Wednesday saying that indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians and that bombardment of sites with alleged military significance, but resulting invariably in the killing of innocent civilians, is unjustifiable.

She has the support of her boss, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who has condemned both parties for killing civilians at an alarming rate.

The Israeli ambassador isn't apologizing for his country's strategy. He says Arbour fails to grasp the nature of the conflict.

"The Hezbollah are using schools and clinics and the back gardens of houses to put their missile placements there, and they are turning these civilian establishments and civilian areas into legitimate targets." (Emphasis added.)

The only good thing about the movie Black Hawk Down was the number of documentaries it spawned. I remember one in which a Marine recounted his experience of being pinned down by an oh-so-brave insurgent firing from behind a woman and she was laughing at the Marine. He finally steeled himself, shot at the woman and then took down the sniper.

I'll never forgive these bastards for making decent men do things their upbringing and training has taught them they should never do. There are times when George Bush's injunction that "you're either with us or against us" springs out fully-grown as did Athena from Zeus's head with the horrible recognition that we must do the unthinkable for our own -- and our children's -- survival.

I steel myself and remember that it is our understanding of right and wrong that marks us as the morally superior element in this struggle but I regret the loss of innocence that accompanies asking our men and women to pursue this war and all that doing so against an unprincipled enemy brings with it.

One thing that is not unprincipled: the NY Times reports that the U.S. speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to IranÂ’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.

But there is a hint that the item may cause the bad guys some real concern:

Pentagon and military officials declined to describe in detail the size and contents of the shipment to Israel, and they would not say whether the munitions were being shipped by cargo aircraft or some other means. But an arms-sale package approved last year provides authority for Israel to purchase from the United States as many as 100 GBU-28Â’s, which are 5,000-pound laser-guided bombs intended to destroy concrete bunkers. The package also provides for selling satellite-guided munitions.

An announcement in 2005 that Israel was eligible to buy the “bunker buster” weapons described the GBU-28 as “a special weapon that was developed for penetrating hardened command centers located deep underground.” The document added, “The Israeli Air Force will use these GBU-28’s on their F-15 aircraft.” (Emphasis added)

One last thing: did anyone else find it hysterically funny that U.N. Secretary-General Annan's call to Syria weren't returned ?

I know, I'm evil. In case you forgot (or thought I'd gone soft.)

Posted by: Debbye at 06:47 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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