1] “Israel has a right to defend itself” [said to justify Israel’s engaging in despicable levels of destructive force]. Following this logic, I guess it is alright for a much bigger person [like a parent] to respond to being kicked in the shins by a much smaller person [like a child] by sustained bone-cracking beatings, starvation, and locking up the ‘offender’ in a closet.
In my moral sense of right and wrong, whomever has the advantage of bigness, whether that is physical bigness or military might, also has a commensurately greater responsibility to use that power advantage with restraint and ultimate fairness. Otherwise, the bigger one is a situation-grabbing bully who deserves condemnation.

2] ‘We will fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here.’ I wince every time I hear this statement. It is the moral equivalent of saying we choose to allow the destruction of war to affect others rather than ourselves. This ‘logic’ is morally equivalent to me saying, ‘Oh, I hate the weeds in my lawn, but I don’t want to put toxic poisons out there where my kids play…..so, I will spray the poison on my neighbor’s lawn [where their kids play]’.

CUI BONO? is a latin phrase that translates as ‘who profits?’ or ‘who benefits by it?’

moonbat speculates that this conflict is designed to get America ‘drawn in’ to a war wanted by the neo-cons. Could be that, or it could be a big political ploy, the timing of which eyes polls before our midterm elections, to have Bush come in later as a heroic broker to settle the conflict.

After studying the Israel wars with its neighbors, I can easily see that Israel always benefits with increased territory and resources and more military and financial aid from America. And guess what, Israel is right now, under the excuse of ‘defense’ clearing the Lebanese side of the border. But just a few years ago, Israel was alarmed enough about that same border [and threatening conflict then] because Lebanon was planning to use some of the border river Wazzani’s waters….which would have left less of those waters for Israel’s water needs….Israel gets 10% of its water from that river. The clearing of the border on the Lebanese side might be a ‘hidden agenda’ plan to keep the Lebanese from using their share of the waters of the Wazzani.

It is also clear that Israel and America did all they could since Hamas was elected to increase pressure on that fledgling government. No news accounts are adding to the story of the Israeli soldier’s kidnapping that that kidnapping was done a day after the Israelis kidnapped and ‘disappeared’ two Gaza citizens. I for one can smell the phoniness of all the spin about Israel being the victim here….when the story line leaves out such an important provocation. Also, it is amazing that the news I have listened to on NPR while I drove cross-country never ever tells the death totals in a way that the listener can compare who is doing the most killing and destruction of livelihoods.

Just the spin of the news is enough for me to ask what the hidden agenda is for this latest ‘created war’. But always, I ask, CUI BONO? That is the question that gets my feet on the ground when I get sick of listening to the latest propaganda designed to cover the motivations behind the scenes.

As for Bush and the Middle East -

1) yes our country is tremendously weaker today because of Bush’s actions, both in a fighting capacity sense but especially in a morally corrupted sense, a palpable sense of impotence indeed.

2) Nonetheless, I believe Bush’s hands off stance in the Middle East is exactly what he and the neocons want at this time. They don’t want peace, they want to see things escalate to where “we have no choice” but to be drawn into the fight, guns a blazin. They’re looking for an excuse to fight, and waiting for their opening, much as the neocons waiting for “the New Pearl Harbor” to invade Iraq. If they can get others (Israel) to do the fighting for them, so much the better.

Also, I like “impotent.” It’s succinct, particularly in describing a group of men who are all about macho masculine cowboy prowess.

The Dems need to stop playing games. Attacking Bush is all well and good, but they should also offer a tangible alternative. “Bush is about as strong on defense as a box full of kittens. We’re gonna get us out of this mess finally because we have a plan, we’re strong on X, Y, and Z, and your life will get better if you vote Democrat in the fall. Wooo!”

A traveler’s forum website, a thread where two friends report being woken up first thing in the morning by explosions … one of the friends in a small Kibbitz in Israel right on the Lebanese border, the other friend being in downtown Beirut… That thread truly makes me hopeful that maybe things can eventually turn out right…

-me