This War
I don't fall on either side. I can't make up my mind. With routine questions of war and public policy ethical positions are easy to stake out. With emergencies, with situations of conflict where the stakes are as high as this one, it is much more difficult to do so. Here are the two deciding factors which make it so hard for me to decide where to fall:
1. The Shiite alliance of Hezbullah and Iran openly calls for the eradication of Israel. And their anti-Semitic rhetoric is frighteningly similiar to that of pre-war Hitler's (Andrew Sullivan has had some real nice coverage of this point). Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. And why else? “We shall soon witness the elimination of the Zionist stain of shame". Iran now openly admits that they are waging proxy-war on Israel and that they are controlling the decision-making of Hizbullah's leaders (i.e., where is bombed, when, how). Essentially, Israel is being openly attacked by a state that is pursuing a nuclear weapons program and that is bent on nothing short of its eradication. There is no appropriate response for Israel except full use of military force.
2. Look at this terrifying media feature from the New York times. Anyone who was been to Berlin will instantly recognize the similiarities between these before and after pictures and those taken of Berlin before and after the war. A completely bombed-out, ghost of a city. Lebanon is being destroyed and the Lebanese people are dying in droves for the sake of the future of the region and whether it will be decided by an American/Israel axis or a Shiite/Iranian one. This conflict ultimately depends heavily on how strongly Arabs/Sunnis will be won over to Iranian/Shiite cause, respectively. Unfortunately, the longer this war continues, the easier that will be.
1. The Shiite alliance of Hezbullah and Iran openly calls for the eradication of Israel. And their anti-Semitic rhetoric is frighteningly similiar to that of pre-war Hitler's (Andrew Sullivan has had some real nice coverage of this point). Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. And why else? “We shall soon witness the elimination of the Zionist stain of shame". Iran now openly admits that they are waging proxy-war on Israel and that they are controlling the decision-making of Hizbullah's leaders (i.e., where is bombed, when, how). Essentially, Israel is being openly attacked by a state that is pursuing a nuclear weapons program and that is bent on nothing short of its eradication. There is no appropriate response for Israel except full use of military force.
2. Look at this terrifying media feature from the New York times. Anyone who was been to Berlin will instantly recognize the similiarities between these before and after pictures and those taken of Berlin before and after the war. A completely bombed-out, ghost of a city. Lebanon is being destroyed and the Lebanese people are dying in droves for the sake of the future of the region and whether it will be decided by an American/Israel axis or a Shiite/Iranian one. This conflict ultimately depends heavily on how strongly Arabs/Sunnis will be won over to Iranian/Shiite cause, respectively. Unfortunately, the longer this war continues, the easier that will be.
posted by James at 9:36 AM
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