Optimism in Syria : "We are closing the noose on Israel. This may be the last battle, and we may be able to redraw the map of the Middle East"

[Isabel 0]

I hope the US keeps at least our soldiers out there, since it is a conflict in that area. The United commision in europe already said they will maybe send soldiers down there to support that area. How many innocent people will die?!

God damn war, cant they solve their problems different? SHot the one who invented weapons and everything thereafter!

Isabel

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

JERUSALEM - An Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Monday destroyed at least one long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv, military officials said.

Israeli aircraft targeted a truck carrying the weapons before they could be launched, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of military regulations. The force of the blast sent at least one missile flying into the air, but it fell nearby.

During nearly a week of fighting, Hezbollah militants have fired missiles up to 25 miles into Israel. But officials have raised concerns the guerrilla group could strike Tel Aviv, about 80 miles south of the border with Lebanon.

this will all end when one of the following is met:

1- hezbollah realises they are iranian puppets

2- israel cleans their clock so good they can't even win a war with the boy scouts

3- lebanon says enough is enough and runs hezbollah outta the country

[Peter Miami 0]

The only map they will re-draw will be that Isreal now has taken possession of Lebanon. As long as hostile govts like Syria and Iran fund these efforts, they will force Isreal to defend itself as it is entitled to do.

Amen! Israel has a right to defend itself and America should continue to support the only real democracy in the region.

I agree!!!

Peter Miami

JERUSALEM - An Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Monday destroyed at least one long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv, military officials said.

Israeli aircraft targeted a truck carrying the weapons before they could be launched, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of military regulations. The force of the blast sent at least one missile flying into the air, but it fell nearby.

During nearly a week of fighting, Hezbollah militants have fired missiles up to 25 miles into Israel. But officials have raised concerns the guerrilla group could strike Tel Aviv, about 80 miles south of the border with Lebanon.

this will all end when one of the following is met:

1- hezbollah realises they are iranian puppets

2- israel cleans their clock so good they can't even win a war with the boy scouts

3- lebanon says enough is enough and runs hezbollah outta the country

Very true!

Peter Miami

[mercuryroad 0]

At this point they have little choice - but to 'respond in kind' to Hezbollah, yet as I said previously - whenever Israel engages in these sorts of punitive actions they invariably play into the hands of their enemies. Ultimately its all rooted in this never-ending game of 'he said, she said'. You notice of course, that it's always the other guy's fault.

So much for any sense of moderation, their discourse (rather similarly to ours) is ultimately dominated by extremists, and violence perpetuates it.

So if Lebanon decided to attack Israel it would be justifed too wouldn't it? (I think that if they did all hell would really break loose but just trying to make the point.)

At this point, I think they would! They are defending themselves and are a soverign nation. Remember....I said Israel was going too far with their reactions. However, I cannot blame them for taking the fight to Hezbollah when Lebanon was unwilling to. Again, you cannot allow a rogue terrorist group to invade your country and abduct and kill your soldiers without a response.

What if one of those soldiers was your brother? If Israel does nothing, then the message to their soldiers is that if you are captured, then you will die and we will do nothing to prevent it. If you negotiate, your message to the terrorists is that abducting soldiers is an acceptable action that will be rewarded.

But you still haven't answered my question. What should Israel have done in this situation? If you are as objective as you claim, then put yourself in their shoes and tell me what actions you would have taken in this instance.

I will say that it would have been nice to see a very visable cooperation between the Lebanese government and Israel on this matter.....or at least an attempt to work together. Lebanon knows they cannot eradicate Hezbollah on their own, and they must realize that Israel is in a bad situation with the abduction of their soldiers.

A joint stance and military operation between Lebanon and Israel would have been historic. Talk about sending a message. I'm sure Israel would love for that to happen......makes you wonder why it did not, or why it is not possible.

I think any reasonable person could agree that the actions taken by Hezbollah require a response and is not acceptable.

So for me, I would have like to have seen a public statement for assistance from Lebanon......if they refused, then in my opinion Israel would have the right to do what they had to do because they had no choice. This was an international crime that these two governments should have been working together to eliminate and solve.

[ual777 0]

I'm glad Israel has the balls to stand up to these scum.

Sand to glass until Hezbollah, Hamas, (insert islamist scum organization here) gets the message that the targeting of civilians and engaging in terrorist activity will NOT BE TOLERATED.

AmeraMouttaki, those resolutions are nice and all, but they are 14 years old! Israel has pulled out of Gaza and tried to appease the islamists but it doesn't work, nor will it ever.

The difference between what Israel and these scum are doing is the method and INTENT. Israel is targeting MILITARY targets. The militants are targeting CIVILIANS, trying to TERRORIZE them.

Winston Churchhill once said "You can judge the character of a nation by how they treat their prisoners."

You be the judge, and as I said before, sand to glass until it stops.

[Veiled Princess 1]

the targeting of civilians and engaging in terrorist activity will NOT BE TOLERATED.

Unless it's America or Israel doing it right?

I think it's best if we just drop this discussion for the time being. More than one member of the VJ family is either themselves or has loved ones caught up in this so it is a very sensistive subject for a lot of people. I think everyone can understand that people's emotions are really high right now and we're all adults here so I don't see why we can't just talk about something else at least until it blows over and folks here are not worried that a missle might actually drop on them!!!!

I think having 127 different threads about this topic is very distasteful considering the circumstances. People are dying and the rest fearing for their lives.

Can we please just let this go for now?????

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

At this point they have little choice - but to 'respond in kind' to Hezbollah, yet as I said previously - whenever Israel engages in these sorts of punitive actions they invariably play into the hands of their enemies. Ultimately its all rooted in this never-ending game of 'he said, she said'. You notice of course, that it's always the other guy's fault.

So much for any sense of moderation, their discourse (rather similarly to ours) is ultimately dominated by extremists, and violence perpetuates it.

So if Lebanon decided to attack Israel it would be justifed too wouldn't it? (I think that if they did all hell would really break loose but just trying to make the point.)

At this point, I think they would! They are defending themselves and are a soverign nation. Remember....I said Israel was going too far with their reactions. However, I cannot blame them for taking the fight to Hezbollah when Lebanon was unwilling to. Again, you cannot allow a rogue terrorist group to invade your country and abduct and kill your soldiers without a response.

What if one of those soldiers was your brother? If Israel does nothing, then the message to their soldiers is that if you are captured, then you will die and we will do nothing to prevent it. If you negotiate, your message to the terrorists is that abducting soldiers is an acceptable action that will be rewarded.

But you still haven't answered my question. What should Israel have done in this situation? If you are as objective as you claim, then put yourself in their shoes and tell me what actions you would have taken in this instance.

I will say that it would have been nice to see a very visable cooperation between the Lebanese government and Israel on this matter.....or at least an attempt to work together. Lebanon knows they cannot eradicate Hezbollah on their own, and they must realize that Israel is in a bad situation with the abduction of their soldiers.

A joint stance and military operation between Lebanon and Israel would have been historic. Talk about sending a message. I'm sure Israel would love for that to happen......makes you wonder why it did not, or why it is not possible.

I think any reasonable person could agree that the actions taken by Hezbollah require a response and is not acceptable.

So for me, I would have like to have seen a public statement for assistance from Lebanon......if they refused, then in my opinion Israel would have the right to do what they had to do because they had no choice. This was an international crime that these two governments should have been working together to eliminate and solve.

Lebanon was a massive war zone for many years, as you know. The Lebanese government trying to eradicate Hezbollah or giving tacit support to Israel would likely cause a civil war, that's why they're staying neutral.

Ultimately the country is overshadowed by Israel on one side and the interests of Iran and Syria and the other. Syria (who up until last year had a specific military presence in Lebanon) sponsored the assassination of Lebanons Prime Minister last year.

I dont think its about them not wanting to either integrate (and disarm) Hezbollah or removing it entirely. The fact is the makeup of the country makes the situatiion extremely volatile if they were to try to do so.

[deptrai 0]

How can you honestly expect a national governement to control a "terrorist" organization. As our own dear President has said "they are everywhere, the leadership and cells are spread out etc. etc. etc"

The Lebonese cabinet has open Hezbollah members. That's hardly underground cells.

An Israeli rocket hit a bus carrying children out of Beiruit - killing 12 of them.

Do you have a reference on that? I haven't seen it in any of the international press that I read. A search of Google News doesn't give any references either, nor does a search of Aljazeera. Where did you hear that?

But I suppose if the main news source in contemporary America is Fox News then this would all be unheard by the masses.....

My sources are the BBC, Le Monde, NPR, the New York TImes, the Bangkok Post, and anything else that shows up in Google's news index, which often includes Aljazeera. But I would be open to any of your suggestions for more sources if you think that's not balanced.

- sorry if I'm on a tyraid but I can't take the one-sidedness anymore!

I'm not on any 'side', but let's get the facts straight.

[Veiled Princess 1]

Ok apparently I was wrong... we are not adults here... obviously SOME of us are petty little children who just HAVE to continue to voice our opinions even when it's hurtful to others who are in a far more serious situation than we find ourselves

[chri'stina 190]

Ok apparently I was wrong... we are not adults here... obviously SOME of us are petty little children who just HAVE to continue to voice our opinions even when it's hurtful to others who are in a far more serious situation than we find ourselves

I realize many people are in danger and even loved ones of some VJ members are in danger, but that doesn't mean people can't discuss this topic. The people in danger may not even be reading all the threads about this on VJ if they are worrying more about their well-being, why would they spend time reading these threads? And there are many threads on VJ I haven't liked since being a member, so I don't participate in them or if I do I expect to have be in a heated discussion.

It's like the illegal immigrant threads a couple months ago, there were many threads on that topic and some people complained about it. But that can't stop the discussion, and that subject did kind of fizzle out for now. This subject will eventually fizzle out too.

Edited July 19, 2006 by stina&suj

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Ok apparently I was wrong... we are not adults here... obviously SOME of us are petty little children who just HAVE to continue to voice our opinions even when it's hurtful to others who are in a far more serious situation than we find ourselves

Layla,

A lot of opinions are hurtful to a lot of people. That is no reason not to voice them. When you voice your opinion that pepperoni pizza is bad, that hurts the feelings of the CEO of Domino's Pizza. Will you stop? No, nor should you

[ual777 0]

the targeting of civilians and engaging in terrorist activity will NOT BE TOLERATED.

Unless it's America or Israel doing it right?

I think it's best if we just drop this discussion for the time being. More than one member of the VJ family is either themselves or has loved ones caught up in this so it is a very sensistive subject for a lot of people. I think everyone can understand that people's emotions are really high right now and we're all adults here so I don't see why we can't just talk about something else at least until it blows over and folks here are not worried that a missle might actually drop on them!!!!

I think having 127 different threads about this topic is very distasteful considering the circumstances. People are dying and the rest fearing for their lives.

Can we please just let this go for now?????

Tell me when has the US deliberately targeted the civilian population recently........

[MandR 0]

the targeting of civilians and engaging in terrorist activity will NOT BE TOLERATED.

Unless it's America or Israel doing it right?

I think it's best if we just drop this discussion for the time being. More than one member of the VJ family is either themselves or has loved ones caught up in this so it is a very sensistive subject for a lot of people. I think everyone can understand that people's emotions are really high right now and we're all adults here so I don't see why we can't just talk about something else at least until it blows over and folks here are not worried that a missle might actually drop on them!!!!

I think having 127 different threads about this topic is very distasteful considering the circumstances. People are dying and the rest fearing for their lives.

Can we please just let this go for now?????

In the U.S. it's called freedom of speech...

You don't like the thread don't participate........ Just like everyone who may not like a TV program... they change the channel

[VivaMexico 0]

the targeting of civilians and engaging in terrorist activity will NOT BE TOLERATED.

Unless it's America or Israel doing it right?

I think it's best if we just drop this discussion for the time being. More than one member of the VJ family is either themselves or has loved ones caught up in this so it is a very sensistive subject for a lot of people. I think everyone can understand that people's emotions are really high right now and we're all adults here so I don't see why we can't just talk about something else at least until it blows over and folks here are not worried that a missle might actually drop on them!!!!

I think having 127 different threads about this topic is very distasteful considering the circumstances. People are dying and the rest fearing for their lives.

Can we please just let this go for now?????

I find it distasteful to insinuate, once again, that the U.S. Armed Forces are the same as the terrorists.

[CanGal 1]

If you don't like the thread don't come in here and read it and then tell everyone they need to shush. Like someone said above, if you don't like the tv show change the channel.