# |> >
# |> >It is NOT a "terrorist camp" as you and the Israelis like 
# |> >to view the villages they are small communities with kids playing soccer
# |> >in the streets, women preparing lunch, men playing cards, etc.....
# |> >SOME young men, usually aged between 17 to 30 years are members of
# |> >the Lebanese resistance.  Even the inhabitants of the village do not 
# |> >know who these are, they are secretive about it, but most people often
# |> >suspect who they are and what they are up to.  These young men are
# |> >supported financially by Iran most of the time.  They sneak arms and
# |> >ammunitions into the occupied zone where they set up booby traps
# |> >for Israeli patrols.  Every time an Israeli soldier is killed or injured
# |> >by these traps, Israel retalliates by indiscriminately bombing villages
# |> >of their own choosing often killing only innocent civilians.  
# |> 
# |> This a "tried and true" method utilized by guerilla and terrorists groups:
# |> to conduct operations in the midst of the local populace, thus forcing the
# |> opposing "state" to possible harm innocent civilians in their search or,
# |> in order to avoid the deaths of civilians, abandon the search. Certainly the
# |> people who use the population for cover are *also* to blaim for dragging the
# |> innocent civilians into harm's way.
# |> 
# |> Are you suggesting that, when guerillas use the population for cover, Israel
# |> should totally back down? So...the easiest way to get away with attacking
# |> another is to use an innocent as a shield and hope that the other respects
# |> innocent lives?
# 
# Tell me Tim, what are these guerillas doing wrong? Assuming that they are using
# civilians for cover, are they not killing SOLDIERS in THEIR country? If the
# buffer zone is to prevent attacks on Israel, is it not working? Why is it 
# further neccessary for Israeli guns to pound Lebanese villages? Why not just
# kill those who try to infiltrate the buffer zone? You see, there is more to
# the shelling of the villages.... it is called RETALIATION... "GETTING BACK"
# ..."GETTING EVEN". It doesn't make sense to shell the villages. The least
# it shows is a reckless disregard by the Israeli government for the lives of
# civilians.

  Please clarify your standards for rules of engagement.  As I
  understand it, Israelis are at all times and under all
  circumstances fair targets.  Their opponents are legitimate
  targets only when Mirandized, or some such?

  I'm sure that this makes perfect sense if you grant *a*priori*
  that Israelis are the Black Hats, and that therefore killing
  them is automatically a Good Thing (Go Hezbollah!).  The
  corollary is that the Hezbollah are the White Hats, and that
  whatever they do is a Good Thing, and the Israelis only prove
  themselves to be Bad Guys by attacking them.

  This sounds suspiciously like a hockey fan I know, who cheers
  when one of the players on His Team uses his stick to permanently
  rearrange an opponent's face, and curses the ref for penalizing
  His Side.  Of course, when it's different when the roles are
  reversed.