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U.S. cardinal describes 'lesson in frustration' in Lebanon visit
Catholic News Service ^ | August 10, 2006 | Cindy Wooden

Posted on 08/15/2006 12:03:13 PM PDT by NYer

ROME (CNS) -- Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, arrived in Lebanon in early August, visiting Catholic aid projects, church and government leaders and getting what he described as "a lesson in frustration."

His Aug. 10 meeting with two Muslim leaders in Beirut was canceled after Israeli planes dropped leaflets on the city warning of new bombardments.

"It scares the heck out of people," he said of the leaflet drops. "And if they don't leave, they can be killed. But it's awful; they get word to leave their homes because they are going to bomb in the next hours."

In an Aug. 10 telephone interview from Beirut, the cardinal said his visit was meant to be a sign of solidarity with the suffering people of Lebanon, the same kind of visit he has made in the past to Israel in the wake of terrorist attacks.

"I have concerns for the poor people of Lebanon. I'm not making any judgments on what political things are happening, but I know that even now there are people in some villages that are totally blocked off by the war and they have no bread, they have no water and they have no medicine. And that has been going on for almost two weeks," the cardinal told Catholic News Service.

"If that continues, it will be a disaster. We will be starving people," he said.

"I am not a politician, not a statesman and not a general. I can't blame anybody, but I want to say, 'Here is what I find,' and the world must do something," he said.

Cardinal McCarrick arrived in Beirut from Amman, Jordan, Aug. 9 aboard a Jordanian transport plane carrying humanitarian aid. He expected to leave Lebanon the same way Aug. 13.

The cardinal met Aug. 10 with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and other government officials. He said they were courteous, explained the situation in the country and expressed their hopes for a cease-fire.

"They feel they have done what everybody has asked them to do. They are willing to send 15,000 Lebanese soldiers" into southern Lebanon, where the Hezbollah militia are deployed, firing rockets and mortars into Israel.

"But apparently, that is not enough," he said.

A U.N. resolution on an immediate cease-fire faced delays as Security Council members disagreed over when Israeli troops should be asked to withdraw from southern Lebanon and when an international peacekeeping force should be deployed.

"You come here and get a lesson in frustration," the cardinal said.

Cardinal McCarrick visited several schools Aug. 9, meeting with the displaced people being sheltered in them and with the staff and volunteers of Caritas Lebanon, which is running the shelters and providing food, clothing, blankets and medical assistance.

The Salma Sayyegh public school, which he visited, has been turned into a shelter for 360 Muslims -- mostly women and children -- who have fled the fighting and bombardment of their homes in southern Lebanon.

Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency, is supporting the work of Caritas Lebanon at Salma Sayyegh and throughout the country.

In addition to financial support, CRS has sent staff members experienced in the logistical side of emergency relief to assist with security, warehousing, medical care and media relations, among other things.

"Everything is difficult to get here because the bridges have been knocked down and many of the roads have been bombed so trucks can't travel, so the whole food distribution system is in peril," Cardinal McCarrick said.

Most people in Lebanon, he said, "are becoming more and more anti-Israeli," including the Christians, who also have been forced to flee. "It's a very desperate situation."

"Lebanon has the largest Christian population in the Middle East and we're losing that," he said. "The people are going to leave because they cannot work. There is no gas for the cars; there isn't food to eat. We don't know how they are going to open the schools.

"It's frustration that one feels here. They say to me, 'Thank you for coming,' but my visit is not much more than saying, 'We love you and we are praying for you and we understand your suffering,'" the cardinal said.

Cardinal McCarrick said he also wanted to let the Lebanese people know "that together with the Holy Father, we Catholics in the United States are calling for an immediate cease-fire and for corridors of safety so humanitarian goods like food and water can be delivered."


TOPICS: Activism; Apologetics; Catholic; Current Events; General Discusssion; History; Ministry/Outreach; Moral Issues; Prayer; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: 2006israelwar; cardinal; catholic; lebanon; mccarrick; vatican
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To: keithtoo; NYer
The Israeli's do not ever seek civilian casualties

Oh really? Hmm. Apparently you never heard of an event that took place on April 18, 1996 at Qana, also know as Cana (as in the "Wedding Feast of Cana" -- the site of Jesus' first miracle). That was during "Operation Grapes of Wrath." Remember that one? It was a 16 day Israeli military blitz in Lebanon whose objective was to subdue Hezbollah. It ended just like the one in 1993 and the one in 2000 and the one that is hopefully just now concluding: i.e. with 118 Lebanese civilians killed, 350 wounded, hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes, the Lebanese infrastructure destroyed yet again, and Hezbollah still intact and and newly re-energized with a fresh crop of people who have learned to hate Israel after experiencing Israeli aggression. The incident at Qana took on April 18, 1996, when at least seventeen Israeli high explosive artillery shells hit a UNIFIL compound where over 800 Lebanese civilians had taken shelter. Some 102 civilians were killed. A U.N. inquiry found that it was "unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural errors," strongly suggesting that the base had been deliberately targeted.

"Amnesty International conducted an on-site investigation of the incident in collaboration with military experts, using interviews with UNIFIL staff and civilians in the compound, and posing questions to the IDF, who did not reply. Amnesty concluded, "the IDF intentionally attacked the UN compound, although the motives for doing so remain unclear. The IDF have failed to substantiate their claim that the attack was a mistake. Even if they were to do so they would still bear responsibility for killing so many civilians by taking the risk to launch an attack so close to the UN compound."[full report]

Human Rights Watch concurred, "The decision of those who planned the attack to choose a mix of high-explosive artillery shells that included deadly anti-personnel shells designed to maximize injuries on the ground — and the sustained firing of such shells, without warning, in close proximity to a large concentration of civilians — violated a key principle of international humanitarian law."[full report]

In light of the above, you'll forgive me if I don't share your certainty about Israelis not seeking to harm civilian casualties. But if that's not enough, then why not take them at their own words:

"Everyone in southern Lebanon is a terrorist and is connected to Hezbollah," roared Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon on July 27.

"Every village from which a Katyusha is fired must be destroyed," bellowed an Israeli general in a quote bannered by the nation's largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth.

The Israeli paper then summarized what the justice minister and general were saying: "In other words, a village from which rockets are fired at Israel will simply be destroyed by fire." That was Thursday (7/27/06).

Sunday (7/30/06), in Qana, 57 of Haim Ramon's "terrorists," 37 of them children, were massacred with precision-guided bombs. Apparently, Katyushas had been fired from Qana, near the destroyed building.

"One who goes to sleep with rockets shouldn't be surprised if he doesn't wake up in the morning," said Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman.

Today, we hear unctuous statements about how Israel takes pains to avoid civilian casualties, drops leaflets to warn civilians to flee target areas and conforms to all the rules of civilized warfare.

But Israel's words and deeds contradict her propaganda. As the war began, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accused Lebanon, which had condemned Hezbollah for the killing and capture of the Israeli soldiers, of an "act of war." Army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz publicly threatened "to turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years."

Gillerman, at a pro-Israel rally in New York, thundered, "[T]o those countries who claim that we are using disproportionate force, I have only this to say: You're damn right we are."

"His comments drew wild applause," said the Jerusalem Post.

Though Israel is dissembling now, Gillerman spoke the truth then. No sooner had Hezbollah taken the two Israeli soldiers hostage than Israel unleashed an air war – on Lebanon. The Beirut airport was bombed, its fuel storage tanks set ablaze. The coast was blockaded. Power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges, roads, trucks and buses were all hit with air strikes.

Within 48 hours, it was apparent Israel was exploiting Hezbollah's attack to execute a preconceived military plan to destroy Lebanon – i.e, the collective punishment of a people and nation for the crimes of a renegade militia they could not control. It was the moral equivalent of a municipal police going berserk, shooting, killing and ravaging an African-American community because Black Panthers had ambushed and killed cops.

If Israel is not in violation of the principle of proportionality, by which Christians are to judge the conduct of a just war, what can that term mean? [go here to read the complete article, by Pat Buchanan]

now Israel has declared a cease fire. So, what did their detestation of Lebanon reap? Hezbollah is not only still intact, it's been legitimized by being invited to the negotiating table! Yes, the Israelis are now discussing a prisoner swap with Hezbollah. Can you say "Yassir Arafat all over again"? Will they ever learn? Will our government ever learn?

How many more 9/11s do we have to have before we figure out that "they" hate us for a reason, and it's not because they don't have MTV, Starbucks, Hugh Hefner, abortion on demand and all the other "joys" of our democracy. The rest of the world sees what we do and recognizes our hypocrisy. If any other nation behaved the way Israel did (i.e. exacting collective punishment on innocent people for the actions of a rogue entity that the whole world knew that they could not control and for which they asked for help), we would rightly call them terrorists. But Israel does it, and we fed-ex them more bombs! And we dismiss their hatred by labeling all of them "Islamo-fascists". Here's a Newsflash, folks: the Maronite Catholics, the Greek Catholics, the Eastern & Syrian Orthodox Christians, and the Armenian Christians of Lebanon are not Islamo-fascists. And yet I have no doubt that they loath, and even hate, our country now. And they have a good reason to.

Do you want to know what they see? Do you even care? Do you even consider them human beings anymore? I'm using the term "they" and "them", but "they" are really me. I am a Lebanese Maronite. And there but for the grace of God, I could have been lying under the rubble -- just as the family of my Christian Lebanese friend was. We are not Islamic extremists. They are human beings who want to live in peace. They don't have the means to "remove" Hezbollah.

A lot of Freepers seem to make the assumption that the Lebanese deserved the ruin that rained down on them because they "harbored" Hezbollah. That's like accusing a sea captain of "harboring" rats aboard his ship. Hezbollah came without being invited and have proven very difficult to remove!

And while people are quick to point out Lebanon's mistakes, they're awfully silent when it comes to acknowledging Israel's own failures and shortsightedness. This whole situation might have been different if the Israelis had listened to SLA members like Etienne Saqr (surely the Cassandra of Lebanese politics!) when they asked Israel to aid them the same way that Syria and Iran are aiding Hezbollah and thereby empower the Lebanese to remove Hezbollah themselves. Instead, Israel abandoned its Lebanese allies when they pulled out in 2000. They left them to face a fate of either forced exile or imprisonment by the Syrian puppet government on charges of "collaborating with the Zionist enemy". Thousands of them were sent to Syria and remain "lost" in Syrian prisons. Saqr himself rebuked Israel's leaders before their Knesset for making "heroes out of Hezbollah."

But they are not the only ones who failed by lack of foresight. The United States also betrayed the democracy-loving and peace-aspiring Lebanese. In 1990 during the build-up to the first Gulf War, George Herbert Walker Bush lobbied Syria to join his UN-backed coalition. Syria agreed, but had one small request. Bush 41 had to promise not to meddle in Syria's handling of Lebanon. So, in exchange for Syria's help (such as it was) in the first Gulf War, Bush sold Lebanon to Syria. The puppet government was put in place. The various militias disarmed with the understanding that everyone was going to disarm. And everyone did... everyone but Hezbollah that is. The puppet government let them keep their weapons. Now, fast forward to 2006 where historically illiterate posters make snide comments about how the Lebanese should have taken care of this problem themselves.

How?! How exactly were they supposed to do this with a Syrian controlled government in place that was systematically raping and pillaging their country? How were they supposed to do this with no weapons and no militias? How were they supposed to do this when all of their militia leaders and soldiers either disappeared in Syrian prisons or were forced into exile?

And even if Lebanon had a well-armed and operational army, it still would be very difficult to get Hezbollah out. Israel has been trying to do that for the last 18 years! And lest we all forget, this isn't the first bombing offensive Israel has launched to get rid of Hezbollah. Remember 1996 and “Operation Grapes of Wrath”? And don’t forget about “Operation Accountability” in 1993. That one was a seven day strike to remove Hezbollah. Needless to say, that one didn't work out either.

It would be churlish of me to belittle the Israelis by taunting them with their failure to get rid of these thugs just as it is churlish of them to taunt the Lebanese with this. The Lebanese army is only slightly larger than the Vatican's Swiss Guard and is trained to do about as much (i.e. guard monuments and try to look sexy in their uniforms). Israel has the fourth largest army in the world and 200 nuclear missiles in its arsenal! If they haven't been successful, how can they expect an abused unarmed civilian populace to be? The Lebanese had enough to worry about trying to get their war-torn country in order with little or no help from the rest of the world. And sure enough, every damn time the Lebanese rebuild their country, their neighbors (from all sides) march right in and transform it into Belgium circa 1915.

But, perhaps this whole argument depends on who we mean when we say the "Lebanese". By Lebanese, I'm referring to the people who are historically from Lebanon (of all sects & sub-sects of Christians, Druze, and Muslims), who own the land and have done so for centuries. They have learned the lessons of their civil war, and now want to build a secular Lebanon without sectarian set-asides and divisions.

As Pope John Paul II says, 'Lebanon is more than a country, it is a message of fraternity for the entire world.'

As the editor of America magazine put it in an editorial this month:

Christians, and Catholics in particular, have reason for acute concern, because Lebanon has been the last country in the Middle East where Christians play a significant role in society. The Lebanese experiment in multireligious co-existence, what the Lebanese call conviviality, a promising alternative to government by the mullahs, has been dealt a crippling blow. The weakening of Lebanon means fading possibilities not only for Middle Eastern Christianity but also for interreligious coexistence.

The other day, a Lebanese journalist pointed out on C-Span that the most popular leaders in Iran, Iraq (think of the Shiite al-Sistani), and now in Lebanon (Nasrallah) all wear turbins, not Western suits. I fail to see how allowing the destruction of the infrastructure and economy of westernized, multi-ethnic, multi-religious Lebanon serves the American interest.

21 posted on 08/15/2006 4:29:55 PM PDT by GipperGal
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To: NYer

Dear NYer,

"Here are the statistics. This 33 days of war left 1140 dead (427 are under 18), 3630 wounded, 973,000 refugees, 11 billion dollars of damage, 30 vital constructions destroyed (airports, sea ports, power stations, ...), 33 gas stations destroyed, 630 Km of roads damaged, 145 bridges smashed to the ground, 7000 apartments gone, 9000 institutions (factories, shopping malls, shops, farms, etc...) burned down.

"You consider this to be the actions of a civilized people?"

In that it is the Israelis who caused this destruction while fighting for their nation's existence against terrorists who randomly fire missiles in order to murder Jews, your question implies that perhaps you don't think the Israelis are civilized.

Is that true? Do you view the Israelis as not civilized?


sitetest


22 posted on 08/15/2006 4:38:16 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: NYer
The author is a blithering idiot.

As soon as the facts of the Bint Jbeil ambush, which ended with relatively high Israeli casualties (eight soldiers died there), became public, the press and television in Israel began marginalising any opinion that was critical of the war.

Marginalizing people who don't want to defend their own country is a perfectly normal survival instinct for a people who were just attacked.

The media also fell back on the kitsch to which Israelis grow accustomed from childhood: the most menacing army in the region is described here as if it is David against an Arab Goliath.

The fact is, David doesn't threaten anyone unless David is getting shelled. If Goliath doesn't make threats or kill Jews, Goliath gets to live in peace. It's a fact.

Yet the Jewish Goliath has sent Lebanon back 20 years

No, HEZBOLLAH has set Lebanon back. No country can call actions which put an organization like Hezbollah in office and to legitimize terrorism "progress."

, and Israelis themselves even further: we now appear to be a lynch-mob culture,

What hyperbole. I have yet to see a single lynching in this affair.

glued to our televisions, incited by a premier whose ‘leadership’ is being launched and legitimised with rivers of fire and destruction on both sides of the border.

Rivers of fire that are 100% Hezbollah sponsored on both sides of the border. For the terminally stupid : When Hezbollah launches rockets into Israel, Hezbollah chose to randomly murder whoever happens to be near the spot where they land. When Israel responds by targetting the spot where the rockets were launched, Hezbollah has chosen to sentence to death whoever happens to be in that spot. Hezbollah chose to initiate the war - or perhaps its masters in Teheran; all blood shed in it is on their hands.

Mass psychology works best when you can pinpoint an institution or a phenomenon with which large numbers of people identify. Israelis identify with the IDF, and even after the deaths of many Lebanese children in Qana, they think that stopping the war without scoring a definitive victory would amount to defeat.

The children in Qana died because Hezbollah started a war.

Quit putting the cart before the horse.

Not scoring a definitive victory is a huge mistake that will cost more blood later as the mass psychology thing takes hold on Hezbollah, who will assume that because they lived through the Israeli response they "won." That belief will cause Hezbollah and its allies to try to murder even more people next time the start a fight.

This logic reveals our national psychosis, and it derives from our over-identification with Israeli military thinking.

What BS. Israelis most likely identify with the IDF because it is Israeli. Same reason we Americans identify with our armed forces- they aren't our enemy, they are our protectors and family and friends. Get it? Do you seriously expect Israelis to identify more with the people who are trying to kill them or get them killed? The IDF are their family and friends who are also Israel's means of defense. They don't become strangers or enemies just because they put on a uniform.

23 posted on 08/15/2006 5:10:10 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: piasa

Excellent post. Thank you.


24 posted on 08/15/2006 5:16:19 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: MainFrame65; NYer; C2ShiningC
Israel is duty bound to protect its citizens, and to do that it MUST respond forcefully to aggression against it.

Hmm. Interesting statement. Have you ever read anything at all about the 1967 War? Lebanon didn't participate in that war, by the way, but the Lebanese suffered for it, primarily because they had a couple hundred thousand Palestinian "guests" deposited on their border by Israel. The presence of these Palestinian guerrilla groups, who used and continue to use Lebanon as their playgroup to make war on Israel, led directly to the destabilization of Lebanon and the subsequent civil war.

The first attack that Israel made against Lebanon was, I believe (I could be mistaken, who can keep count) on December 28, 1968. As you may recall, Israeli commandos attacked Beirut International Airport and destroyed 13 brand new MEA (Middle Eastern Airlines) civilian jet airplanes that were just sitting idle at the gates of Beirut International.

Brand new, ready to shuttle tourists and businessmen to and from the jewel of the Levant -- "the Paris of the Middle East".

"Why?" you ask. It was in retaliation for a Palestinian attack on an Israeli civilian airplane at the airport in Athens, Greece. Two Palestinians (you remember them, they're the "guests" that Israel escorted to Lebanon and dumped in refugee camps for the Lebanese take care of them) were charged in the Athens attack that left one Israeli passenger dead.

So... seeing as how Israel attacked Lebanon for something the Lebanese weren't even responsible for, do you feel that Lebanon was "duty bound to protect its citizens, and to do that it MUST respond forcefully to aggression against it"?

Just curious. I can't wait to read your apologia for Israel. It ought to be a hoot. Actually, I predict that I will be either: a) lynched by the FR "Israel Uber Alles Amen Corner" crowd, b) be branded anti-Semitic (ironic considering that I am semitic!), c) be banned from FR for life, or d) all of the above with worse punishment to follow. Such is the state of debate in our free Republic.

25 posted on 08/15/2006 5:18:39 PM PDT by GipperGal
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To: bornacatholic

Excellent posting. I feel the same way with some of the Orthodox "prelates"---they hide behind their cassocks. But they neglect the truth!


26 posted on 08/15/2006 5:20:20 PM PDT by eleni121 (General Draza Mihailovich: We will never forget you - the hero of World War Two)
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To: sitetest; NYer
In that it is the Israelis who caused this destruction while fighting for their nation's existence against terrorists who randomly fire missiles in order to murder Jews, your question implies that perhaps you don't think the Israelis are civilized.

Yeah, you're right. How dare NYer call Israel "uncivilized" for destroying a country in retaliation for the kidnapping of two soldiers. Shame on her. She doesn't know that if Israel (with its 200 nuclear missiles and the fourth largest army in the world) is fighting for its very existence against those vicious Gucci bag-toting, Prada clad, Mercedes driving, Paris educated Lebanese living in Beirut. Yeah, I can just picture Selma Hayek donning a bandolier and fighting side by side with those Syrian/Iranian paid fruitloops in Hezbollah.

I can not believe how much cool-aid seemingly intelligent people drink when it comes to the actions of the State of Israel.

27 posted on 08/15/2006 5:32:11 PM PDT by GipperGal
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To: keithtoo

BTTT for you!


28 posted on 08/15/2006 5:36:24 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Alouette

Ping!


29 posted on 08/15/2006 5:37:49 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: sitetest; GipperGal; bornacatholic; LordBridey; piasa; Patrick_k; maronite
In that it is the Israelis who caused this destruction while fighting for their nation's existence against terrorists who randomly fire missiles in order to murder Jews, your question implies that perhaps you don't think the Israelis are civilized.

I refer you to GipperGal's post below.

"Have you ever read anything at all about the 1967 War? Lebanon didn't participate in that war, by the way, but the Lebanese suffered for it, primarily because they had a couple hundred thousand Palestinian "guests" deposited on their border by Israel. The presence of these Palestinian guerrilla groups, who used and continue to use Lebanon as their playgroup to make war on Israel, led directly to the destabilization of Lebanon and the subsequent civil war."

It bears repeating!

30 posted on 08/15/2006 5:51:46 PM PDT by NYer
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To: keithtoo; NYer
The writer of this piece is delusional.

Oh. Thanks for clearing that up.

And who says we don't have vigorous debate on foreign policy here in America?

31 posted on 08/15/2006 5:52:15 PM PDT by GipperGal
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To: GipperGal; MainFrame65; LordBridey; piasa; sitetest; Patrick_k; maronite; Convert from ECUSA; ...
In 1990 during the build-up to the first Gulf War, George Herbert Walker Bush lobbied Syria to join his UN-backed coalition. Syria agreed, but had one small request. Bush 41 had to promise not to meddle in Syria's handling of Lebanon. So, in exchange for Syria's help (such as it was) in the first Gulf War, Bush sold Lebanon to Syria. The puppet government was put in place. The various militias disarmed with the understanding that everyone was going to disarm. And everyone did... everyone but Hezbollah that is. The puppet government let them keep their weapons. Now, fast forward to 2006 where historically illiterate posters make snide comments about how the Lebanese should have taken care of this problem themselves.

How?! How exactly were they supposed to do this with a Syrian controlled government in place that was systematically raping and pillaging their country? How were they supposed to do this with no weapons and no militias? How were they supposed to do this when all of their militia leaders and soldiers either disappeared in Syrian prisons or were forced into exile?

And even if Lebanon had a well-armed and operational army, it still would be very difficult to get Hezbollah out. Israel has been trying to do that for the last 18 years! And lest we all forget, this isn't the first bombing offensive Israel has launched to get rid of Hezbollah. Remember 1996 and “Operation Grapes of Wrath”? And don’t forget about “Operation Accountability” in 1993. That one was a seven day strike to remove Hezbollah. Needless to say, that one didn't work out either.

Thank you!, GipperGal, for the history lesson!

32 posted on 08/15/2006 6:03:33 PM PDT by NYer
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To: GipperGal

Dear GipperGal,

Although it started with the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, the current conflict escalated.

While the Israelis fought with restraint, the real barbarians, the Muslims who wish to murder all Jews, rained down thousands of bombs on Israeli territory, murdering Jews indiscriminately. Not for any military purpose. Not to try to win any battle.

Just to murder Jews.

This from a group of barbarians who were SUPPOSED to be disarmed some years back, by the UN, of all people.

Instead of being disarmed barbarians, they were well-armed barbarians, with over 15,000 rockets. They would have fired them all at Israel if Israel hadn't fought back.

But I guess it's okay to indiscriminately murder Jews, but it's immoral for Jews to fight back.

Gotcha.

I cannot believe how anti-semitic are some of Israel's critics.


sitetest


33 posted on 08/15/2006 6:04:24 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: NYer; GipperGal

Dear NYer,

Actually, the PLO wound up in Lebanon after the JORDANIANS murdered thousands of them in Black September. After being chased out of Jordan by the murderous and great humanitarian, King Hussein, they took up residence in Lebanon.

Not that I blame King Hussein much. He murdered them after they tried to murder him.

Thus, it is not ISRAEL that deposited these barbarians in Lebanon, but Jordan.

I guess this falls under:

If It's Israel's Fault, Then It's Israel's Fault.
If It's Someone Else's Fault, It's Still Israel's Fault.


sitetest


34 posted on 08/15/2006 6:12:03 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: NYer; GipperGal

So, then in answer to my question, do you think the Israelis are uncivilized, I take it that the answer from you two ladies is, "yes"?


35 posted on 08/15/2006 6:14:28 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: Salvation; keithtoo; GipperGal; sitetest
BTTT for you! (As for the infrastructure damage, of course the Israeli's are going to try to destroy the supply lines for the delivery of more arms to their enemies. If the people of Lebanon want peace, they can expel Hezbollah and then they will have peace. If Hezbollah remains, Lebanon will never be at peace.)

So you disagree with Pope John Paul II? I would refer you to Gipper Gal's post #21.

36 posted on 08/15/2006 6:24:55 PM PDT by NYer
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To: LordBridey; sitetest; BlackElk
So, you actually think post #12 had to do with nihilism?

That makes as much sense as to suggest post #12 had to do with F-Troop's "Medicine Man", "Roaring Chicken's," intellectual syncopation with Jonas Salk

37 posted on 08/15/2006 7:01:36 PM PDT by bornacatholic
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To: eleni121

Thanks, Sister. Our hearts vibrate together in the music of reality.


38 posted on 08/15/2006 7:07:54 PM PDT by bornacatholic
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To: GipperGal

You're not allowed to question Israel here. Ever. Or neo-conservative objectives in general. That's just how this site works.


39 posted on 08/15/2006 7:11:04 PM PDT by Conservative til I die
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To: GipperGal; NYer

It just wasn't kidnapping. It was missles being shot into Israel. An outpost was attacked and hostages were taken.


40 posted on 08/15/2006 7:14:24 PM PDT by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
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