Wednesday, August 02, 2006

I can't resist

Except for weekends and holidays I haven't missed a day of blogging since I started this site. And even though I am hip deep in newborn diapers I have a loyal and demanding readership that has made its wishes clear - they need their daily dose of crankiness from an expert. I won't let you down.

Imagine if you ran a large school filled with children of all ages. Imagine your neighbors, some of who talk to you, some who don't, some who are friendly and some who want you to move, have large packs of crocodiles that are allowed to roam free. You've asked them to cage the lethal creatures who might sun themselves most of the day but from time to time crocodiles come into your school and kills and/or takes away some of the children, to eat later. Further imagine that after the crocodiles leave your neighbors' backyards and does this one too many times you decide to pick up a gun and go into your neighbors' yards, in hot pursuit, to eliminate the ongoing threat of the crocodiles. After killing some of the reptiles you are then brought before the U.N. Security Council for condemnation by the very neighbors who did nothing to stop the crocs from using your school as a buffet. Sound familiar?

I know I am inviting another blog flare up in my comments sections but I can't resist. The fact is Hezbollah are a bunch of crocodiles and no neighbor should have to worry when the crocs get hungry. Hezbollah wants to destroy Israel and Israel wants to destroy the terrorist capacity and threat of Hezbollah. Hezbollah doesn't have the ability to destroy Israel (unless Iran slips them a few nukes which they might if they had them) but Israel probably has the capacity to destroy the military threat of Hezbollah. Even if they don't, Israel has severely damaged them and based on the lastest news they are significantly expanding their ground campaign. This may cripple Hezbollah for a long time perhaps setting back their terrorist army capabilities for years. In any event, it seems that the real complaint is that Israel might achieve their goal of de-fanging or caging a lot of the crocs in Lebanon.

Hezbollah's goal is to destroy Israel. Israel's goal is to destroy Hezbollah as a terrorist threat. I can't help but wonder, after listening to the pundits and bloggers, that the real anger behind the critcism of Israel is that Israel might actually achieve their goal and Hezbollah won't.

9 Comments:

Blogger Intellectual Insurgent said...

Israel might achieve what goal? All Israel has managed to do thus far is piss off even more people and make more enemies. If this campaign was meant to make the nation more secure, it has had the opposite effect.

If the goal of this campaign really is to cripple Hizballah, they would have been much wiser to use the Mossad instead of the IDF.

1:26 PM  
Blogger Crankyboy said...

Don't believe the hpe of the Mossad. They're aren't everywhere and t hey can't kill everyone. But I wouldn't want them after me.

3:33 PM  
Blogger Capt. Fogg said...

There is no doubt that they have lost the support of many people. I think all of us truly wish for this to stop, but does anyone doubt that the world is dealing with fanatics that cannot be dealt with, reasoned with or bargained with sort of killing a few million people?

If the UN had been able to enforce the resolution that Lebanon be rid of this armed militia or if anyone else had been willing to do that dirty job, they would be faced with the same opprobrium that Israel is getting and would probably have caused even more destruction because Hizbullah cannot win militarily and must hope to win only by taking hostages.

But of course, nobody did anything about it and nobody is willing to do anything about it. Perhaps at this point even the "world's only Superpower" hasn't the power, super or not to do much but try to occupy Iraq.

We weren't able to destroy the Taliban with all our monstrous firepower and military and intelligence assets. Does anyone really believe we could have done it with a few choice asassinations?

What I'm trying to say is that it's much easier to decry Israel's heavy handedness than it is to get rid of the terrorist group that the world should have got rid of on its own. If they are still there, still armed and still shooting, it's our fault, France's fault, Russia's fault, Egypt's fault, Saudi Arabia's fault as well as a long list of others.

Indeed these madmen continue to encourage the destruction of hospitals, mosques, schools and homes to piss off more people against Israel and continue to do everything possible to martyr their hosts for publicity reasons. They have no other hope but to make Israel look so bad that they will be forced to withdraw by a squeamish, guilty world and let the dirtbags go on and on and on.

Crazy they are, unconcerned for innocent life they may be, but stupid they are not. They have played their foul hand very well.

5:05 PM  
Blogger Intellectual Insurgent said...

There are always leaders who are lunatics, but I think there are always fad followers who can be turned. That goes for any group - kinda like here in America.

Israel would be wiser to focus its attention on those people then attacking people who previously
hated Hizballah and are now members of the fan club.

7:59 PM  
Blogger Crankyboy said...

To put it in Western terms, this isn't the Boy Scouts or some congressional campaign. This might as well be Tony Soprano-land. Show weakness and you're dead. Allow yourself to be taken advantage of? You're dead. Let someone disrespect you without retribution? You're dead. Let somefamily amasss 13,000 rockets and a country full of mortars, rifles, grenades and anti-tank rockets? You're dead. In that part of the world you'ld rather be Tony Soprano than Adrianna.

8:47 PM  
Blogger Intellectual Insurgent said...

How do you know what that part of the world is like? You don't live there. Hate to break it to you, but being Jewish doesn't make you an expert on what it's like to live in Israel.

Here is an interview of people who do live there -

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/24/1439247

8:52 AM  
Blogger Crankyboy said...

How do you know where I've lived? I'm not 13. Yes there is a differnce between being Jewish and knowing about Israel. There's also a difference between Jews, Israelis and just about everyone else on the planet and these rocket launching from the shadows of Mosques and HQing in hospitals in Baalbek - they hate life more than they love their children or their futures. They even tell us all the time, "you love life and we love death, that's why we will win."

And P.S. I have live in Israel and spent time in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon and even the West Bank.

10:21 AM  
Blogger Intellectual Insurgent said...

When did you live in Israel? For how long and was it during wartime?Spending time on a kibbutz with some bedouin when you were 12 does not count. :-)

BTW - how were you received in all the Arab countries and the West Bank (assuming you went places that were Arab and not just the fanatic settler compounds)?

1:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

intellectual insurgent, after reading your comments, I feel compelled to write back - you have NO idea what is going on here in Israel. The world media showes a small part of the big picture. At the moment there are over a million Israeli refugees who fled their home in fear of the daily rocket attacks.These people aren't news worthy since they don't photograph well. They don't live in tents without running water. They live in their family's/ friend's homes, hotels etc. But they are refugees nonetheless. The people who stayed home at the north of the country are living every day under the constant threat of approx. 100 rockets per day. Everything that has been done to stop these attacks hasn't worked thus far. The air force has strict orders not to attack any high rise, even if there is solid information about Hizbullah terrorists in the builing, in fear of killing Lebanese civilians. The same goes for hospitals, mosques and schools (all of which are places where Hizbullah terrorists conduct there attacks from). After a month of rockets being fired at cities, villages, farms, forests etc., I can't say the Hizbullah are showing us the same consideration.

As for your comments: a. please don't mistake Nassralah or any other member of Hizbullah for a lunatic, they aren't. They have a very logical and thought through political and idealogical agenda. b. The Mossad??? you must be joking. Since I Know you have been a soldier in your past, do you really think that that's the way to deal with this kind of massive attack?

Finally, if you ask me if I think everything that has been done by the Israelis, since the soldiers have been kidnapped was the right 'move', probably not. But I think that people who don't live around these parts of the world tend to oversimplify things and see it in black and white. Unfortunatly, usually with Israel being on the black side of things.

A very sad and tired Israeli

3:11 PM  

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