Quote:
Originally posted by Undertoad
Huh. Good point.
But is he lying about the rockets?
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I'm not certain which part of the article linked you are referring to, so let's address the critical parts separately:
Krauthammer (CK) writes that...
<I>Hezbollah is armed with 8,000 Katyusha rockets.</I>
CK has no way of knowing this, unless he has privileged access to either US intelligence satellite data or an agent inside the Hezbollah. Thus, the mostly likely source for that precise data (note how he doesn't even claim 'approximately', he specifies exact numbers) is Israeli data. Without wanting to call them liars, it is only in their best interest to vastly exaggerate the danger and capabilities of their opponents. CK is basically reading off a press statement straight from the Knesset.
Naturally, the Hezbollah were sponsored in the past by the USSR, to fight America's ally, Israel. Katyusha rockets are Russian-made; we can see eerie parallels to the US Stinger-missile armed Afghan forces. So yes, of course the Hezbollah have rockets, and they want to fire them at the Israeli troops who they think are occupying their territories. They are guerilla fighters, and some of them are terrorists. Will they fire them at Haifa or other population centers? Probably not - their main beef is with the army, much closer, and a much more convenient enemy to fight.
<I>
Syria could not withstand such an Israeli attack conventionally. It might then launch its missiles equipped with chemical weapons into Israeli cities. And that could trigger Armageddon. Israel was established so that never again would the gassing of Jews be permitted.
</I>
This is where it gets interesting. We leave logic behind and switch into emotional pleading mode. We invoke the image of the holocaust, but not even as the abstract entity, but rather specifically 'gassing of Jews', as the humane, approachable image. We emphasize that the whole purpose of the state of Israel is to avoid gassing of Jews (which is patent nonsense, the Balfour declaration, Zionist movement, and steps to establish a Jewish state are much older than that), thus showing us the supposed gravity and threat of the situation.
Oh my.
We are of course ignoring the fact that Syria using chemical weapons is an entirely hypothetical scenario that we have no reason to believe would be true. Whatever they might be, the Syrian leadership isn't made of complete imbeciles. Israel is a nuclear power. Striking the focal Israeli population centers would be suicidal, and not even in a good, 'dying-for-Allah' way of suicide, either. The most commonly invoked chemical weapons spectre was Iraq, and did the Iraqi ever launch any chemical weapons at either Israel or the US troops, even when a far superior army to that of Israel was invading the Iraqi homeland?
Hell no. And the Iraqi leadership was a lot more radical than the Syrians.
<I>
Western observers totally missed the irony of the Arab summit whose "Saudi peace plan" ostensibly offered Israel peace in return for full territorial withdrawal.
</I>
Western observers totally missed any willingness to compromise on the Israeli side. The deal was full recognition of Israel as a state from its Arab neighbours. This would be a first, incredibly important step. It's been obvious for more than two decades that a land-for-recognition deal is the only viable solution.
<I>
Look at Lebanon, where Israel gave up a defensive occupation and is now looking squarely in the face of Armageddon.
</I>
The hyperbole is so thick that he is practically frothing at the mouth. Israel is looking at Armageddon because it's struggling for survival. I feel very deep sympathy for the Israeli people, but the Arabs aren't going to go away, they've been there for entirely too long. Persecuting and murdering them at every turn isn't going to work, that's state-sponsored terrorism. Israel, as a supposedly democratic state with the US as its backer, ought to be able to come up with a better solution than the one described in my thread-starting post. A land-for-recognition deal must be the first step.
X.
<a href="http://rense.com/general24/jeninslaughterhouse.htm">Read this</a>.