There IS a moral equivalency between the civilian casualties on both sides

[bigtree]

Bolton on civilian deaths Monday:

"it is a matter of great concern to us ...that these civilian deaths are occurring. It's a tragedy."

"I think it would be a mistake to ascribe moral equivalence to civilians who die as the direct result of malicious terrorist acts," he added, while defending as "self-defense" Israel's military action, which has had "the tragic and unfortunate consequence of civilian deaths".

"It's simply not the same thing to say that it's the same act to deliberately target innocent civilians, to desire their deaths, to fire rockets and use explosive devices or kidnapping versus the sad and highly unfortunate consequences of self-defense."


I wonder what Bolton is defending? Is he trying to assuage any guilt Americans or Israelis may have over seeing the dead men, women, and children that found themselves in the way of the Israeli army's reprisals?

Normally, when we make the calculation that our military actions will result in collateral killings, the mission is perceived to outweigh the deaths. Yet, in Lebanon, there are a reported 300 civilians dead and 1,000 maimed. What mission has Israel accomplished along with these deaths? There are only a few actual Hizbollah militants reported killed.

Were the deaths worth 'targeting the financial institutions used by Hizbollah'?

Did the airstrikes on the residential areas, the Hizbollah 'strongholds', or on the downtown headquarters outweigh the killings and injuries suffered by the innocent Lebanese civilians?

There is certainly a 'moral equivalency to their deaths, no matter what Bolton and others mean to convey with their callous language. The killings of the Lebanese are deliberate in that the Israeli forces have made a calculation that their deaths are outweighed by the objective. They know there are Lebanese civilians under their bombs. Their 'warnings' to civilians are in the form of flyers with cartoons mocking the Hizbollah, as well as the leaders of Syria and Iran. Their efforts to 'warn' the Lebanese population were hollow.

The airstrikes may turn out to have been justifiable, but there is absolutely no evidence so far that these deadly strikes are doing much more than killing innocent Lebanese. It seems like revenge killing. Their deaths do not appear to have made Israel any more secure. In fact, the aggression by Israel have folks on the ground in Lebanon questioning their move for independence from Syria, since it appears they have no protector; no one seems to be doing anything to protect the innocent lives of the Lebanese who are in the way of Israel's airstrikes.

Everything Bolton described as pernicious can be attributed to the actions of the Israelis as the Lebanese civilians are being mowed down by the dozens, without any evidence that Hizbollah militants have been at all impacted. Apparently, his 'grave concern' hasn't manifested itself in any way that would cause him or his regime to press Israel to halt the airstrikes on residential areas, suburbs and cities which are inhabited by Lebanese civilians unassociated with Hizbollah except, perhaps, by geography.

These deaths, along with those of the innocent Israelis caught in the way of the rockets lobbed into Israeli neighborhoods by Hizbollah, are more than a 'tragedy' as Bolton described. They are the deliberate acts of combatants who know well of the effects of the munitions they launch into these populated areas. There is no justification, and there has been no evidence produced that the Israeli reprisals are doing anything more than inflict the same pain on Lebanon as the Israelis must feel over their own meaningless deaths. There is certainly a 'moral equivalency between the killings; between the deaths and the maiming. They are both morally wrong.

[Waya]

1. I'm gonna be sick...............

:puke: :mad: :argh:

[mmonk]

2. Life is cheap

when you love war.

[Lindacooks]

5. And when you're not in harm's way.

Like all these neocon chickenhawks and their children.

[HereSince1628]

3. Both sides have targeted civilians and non-military infrastructure

They've both committed war crimes. Getting the criminals on both side into the docket in the Hague would go a long way toward holding radical politicians in check, and preserving innocent life.

[UndertheOcean]

4. Wasn't there a Rabbi who said something to the effect that a million arabs

are not worth a Jewish fingernail , I may be mistaking , but I remember reading such a statement.

While the majority of Israelis surely don't agree with such a statement , it still seems that the IDF tends to kill ten civilians for each Israeli killed

[Full Metal]

6. I believe you're referring to Kahane

He was banned from holding public office due to his racist views and his party (the Kach party) was banned from all future elections by the Anti-Racist Law of 1988.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. John Bolton, like Paul Wolfowitz, stands with Israel to the death. It

was Bolton, as VP of AEI,that helped the Israel lobby (JINSA). "Together with Ariel Sharon, he endorsed the game plan that, after Iraq, the United States and Israel must deal militarily with Iran and Syria." -Convert Action: the Roots of Terrorism by Ellen Ray and William H. Schaap

[bigtree]

8. Lebanon PM: Are Our Lives Worth Less?

Jul 19, 2006

Saniora Says He Wants Israeli Compensation For 300 Lebanese Deaths

(CBS News) BEIRUT, Lebanon Lebanon's prime minister said Wednesday that 300 people have been killed, 1,000 have been wounded and a half-million displaced in Israel's week-old onslaught on Lebanon.

Speaking to a gathering of foreign ambassadors, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said he would seek compensation from Israel for the "unimaginable losses" to the nation's infrastructure.

He also made an urgent appeal for an end to the fighting, saying Lebanon "has been torn to shreds."

"Is the value of human life in Lebanon less than that of the citizens of other countries?" he asked.


http://wfrv.com/topstories/topstories_story_200133133.html

[MoseyWalker]

9. Yes, there is

a moral equivalency. Dead is dead. Innocent is innocent. Life has the same value whether from this side of the fence or that side of the fence.

There absolutely is an equivalency, and anyone who says differently is simply justifying indefensible actions in their own minds in an attempt to avoid the truth.

A dead civilian is a dead civilian, and if anyone launches a bomb or a rocket into a civilian area, there will be dead civilians. A dead civilian doesn't speak a certain language, or have a particular belief system. A dead civilian is simply dead.

[bigtree]

11. I expect more from those who claim to care about the lives of innocents

than I do from the militants indiscriminately lobbing missiles into Israeli towns. I don't believe the Hizbollah give a wit about Lebanese lives any more than they do about Israelis'.

[Beelzebud]

10. Here is the gist:

As long as you are murdering civilians with an organized military, it's ok.