Politics

The US-Israeli Middle East Game Plan

A series of Israeli airstrikes has killed over 50 civilians in the village of Qana, Lebanon, who had taken shelter in the ground floor of a 3-storey building. At least 19 were children (i.e. potential future Hezbollah militants, and therefore justified targets based on the principle of preemptive war).

Explaining its actions, the Israeli government said it was targetting missile launch sites in the Qana area. Further, the IDF said that (quote from the NYTimes):

residents in Qana and the region had been warned several days in advance to leave the village.

Indeed. As Israeli justice minister Mr. Ramon has said previously, in order to prevent casualties among Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops moved in. To quote him:

All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah.

Too bad then, they forgot to tell the IDF to let the civilians through:

• Lebanon damage report: 62 bridges, 600km of roads, 3 airports, and most power gone.
• Israel kills 17 civilians fleeing South Lebanon
• Israeli Missiles target Lebanese Red Cross ambulances

At least we can take comfort that:

• These are the ‘birth pangs of a new Middle East‘ (courtesy Condoleezza Rice). Jon Stewart explains it better though.
• The damage is regretable but unavoidable, and will lead to a new kind of Middle East (no matter Lebanon is one of the few democratic states there, and the Palestinians had just elected Hamas recently).
• This is a proportionate response: Lebanese casualties - 750 confirmed, mostly civilians. Israeli casualties - 51 confirmed, 18 civilians. Still, compared to Fallujah (from BBC) or Afghanistan, it is.
• At least Qana is used to this kind of treatement, having had a similar attack in 1996.

So how about bombing New York, to create a new kind of America? How would the US react to those ‘birth pangs’?

On a side note, it is useful to read this report, Operation Enduring Freedom: Why a Higher Rate of Civilian Casualties, by the Project on Defense Alternatives. At least we know Afghan, Asian, or Middle Eastern lives are no cheaper than American, European, or Israeli lives - right?

© 2006 The Discomfort Zone.