" I have never seen such complete devastation in my entire life."

[donsu]

http://www.counterpunch.com/kysia08222006.html


My Journey to South Lebanon
A Resistance to War


OnLast week, I made my first trip to South Lebanon since the war began. Having traveled a fifth of the world, and been present during “wars” in Iraq, Palestine, and New York - I can honestly say that I have never seen such complete devastation in my entire life. The only thing that even comes close are the pictures I’ve seen from World War II. Much of South Lebanon simply lies in ruin.

-snip-

Bombed out gas stations and the twisted, blackened remains of what once were cars line the roads. The roads themselves are a wreck, pockmarked with craters and covered by fallen bridges, in places completely impassable. There are miles of roads lined with chalk-colored vegetation, so covered are they from the dust of destroyed buildings that you can see no green whatsoever. Almost every single city and village throughout South Lebanon has significant war damage. Almost every single one. The dead are still being pulled from the rubble.

-snip-

This wasn’t a war against Hezbollah, with some collateral damage on the side. This was a war against the basic structures necessary to sustain civilians in South Lebanon. This was a war against the basic structures of human life.

-snip-

Abid Na’im lost his sixty-five year old father in the bombing of Selaa. There was barely enough left of the remains to bury but, despite his grief, Abid summed up the spirit of Lebanon today when he told us, “It’s impossible to beat the people. You can destroy the stones, you can destroy the homes--but you can’t destroy the people.”

Ramzi Kysia is a Lebanese-American writer and activist. He’s working with LebanonSolidarity.org to resist war and renew shattered communities in Lebanon. He can be reached at: [e-mail]
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the snips tell what the various towns and cities look like now

and he is right - it looks like Europe after WWII

[DemonFighterLives]

1. I envisioned most of this

The plan was to flatten an area for a buffer zone.
Totally sick IMHO.
:argh: