Blogging for Freedom

Women and children and old peple and babies are being killed, wounded and driven out of their homes. The assault on the entire population of Lebanon is causing a major humanitarian crisis.

As Israeli groundtroops mobilize to cross the border into Lebanon, I am reminded of another historic battle, more than 50 years ago.  Leon Uris wrote an amazing novel called Mila 18 (1961) chronicling the heroic struggle of a city in Poland under siege by Nazi troops.  The residents of that closed-off city fought long and hard as urban guerillas to save themselves and to evacuate as many women and children out as they could through the sewers and underground tunnels.  The ferocity of the freedom fighters held off the Nazis for far longer than anyone believed possible.

The Warsaw Ghetto is still today honored by Jews world-wide as a sacred battle against evil.

Israelis would do well to remember that the Lebanese will fight just as hard and strong to protect themselves, their people and their own sovereign land as the Jews did in World War II in the Warsaw Ghetto.

in the holy land
that which almost destroyed them
they have now become

There is absolutely no doubt what side of war and peace the Bush administration is on.  The two most heavily weaponized nations in the world - the US and Israel - are battering one of the weakest countries on earth. What kind of victory is this?  Billions of dollars of sophisticated killing machines bombing and destroying a democratic nation with NO AIR FORCE. 

By the way, at the same time Israel is completely annihilating Gaza - a tiny slice of land where the per capita income (prewar) is $800 a year.  What kind of prideful people stomps into the dust a weak opponent?  Israel has at it's disposal the best of the best arsenal of smart bombs and munitions and Black Hawks and Apache helicopters and drones and rocket launchers and tanks and Special Forces and F-16s. All against an enemy lobbing 1950s Soviet-era rockets at them.

Israel has dropped so many bombs on Lebanon that they need more. Bush is rushing delivery ... 

Even gladiators understood that there is no victory over a clearly overpowered opponent. 

Yes. Israel has the right to exist.  Yes. Israel has the right to defend itself.  Yes. Israel has the right to defend its citizens from attack.  But, Israel DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to destroy the nation of Lebanon and put millions of civilians in grave danger.  All the jingoistic rhetoric in the world can not excuse the fact that we are betraying and abandoning a weak and struggling democratic government in Beirut and that we are standing by while an overwhelming military power assaults inncocent civilians, civilian infrastructure, hospitals, dairy farms. The Bush administration actually opposed a United Nations cease-fire resolution. The rest of the world sees this as an American green-light to Israel to go ahead and do whatever it wants to in Lebanon because "Israel is fighting the good fight in the War on Terrorism."

It's almost painful to listen to American politicians and media talking heads continually try to spin events in the real world to comply with this vision.  Tucker Carlson, yesterday, showed amazing lack of historical knowledge and cultural understanding as he broadcast from northern Israel for MSNBC.

Standing on a hill overlooking the Israel-Lebanon border, he said, "It's easy to see where the border between the two countries are.  Whatever is green is Israel, whatever is brown is Lebanon. I don't know why."  Then, he turned to the Lebanese Prime Minister (via telephone) and before he could say anything, Siniora said "I'll tell you why Israel is green and Lebanon is brown. During the Israeli occupation, they diverted the water supply from southern Lebanon into Israel making it imposssible for the Lebanese to farm or cultivate their land."

Lord help us all.

From the Beirut Daily Star:

Bombing Milk and Medicine 

"Israel switched gears in its military campaign against Lebanon Monday and Tuesday, launching a series of debilitating air strikes against privately owned factories throughout the country and dealing a devastating blow to an economy already paralyzed by a week of hits on residential areas and crucial infrastructure.

The production facilities of at least five companies in key industrial sectors - including the country's largest dairy farm, Liban Lait; a paper mill; a packaging firm and a pharmaceutical plant - have been disabled or completely destroyed. Industry insiders say the losses will cripple the economy for decades to come. 

"I think the picture will be much worse than we can possible imagine when the whole thing ends, but the direct damage from yesterday's attacks to the industrial sector alone will take years to recover from," said Wajid al-Bisri, the vice-president of the Lebanese Association of Industrialists (LAI)." 

 Dairy farms, pharmaceutical plants?

To get the facts about what's really going on in the Middle East, one must read international news.  For example, Fox News reported that Israeli missiles hit a terrorist convoy, showing footage provided by IDF of burning vehicles on a bombed-out highway. The rest of the world's press, however, is reporting that this convoy was in actuality a NGO humanitarian effort and instead of weapons the trucks were carrying food, medicine and water to civilians in ravaged southern Lebanon.

History will show that the 2006 July War on the nation of Lebanon is a crime against humanity.

This is a post off of the Israeli-Lebanese discussion blog at the London Times. 

"It is an unfortunate state of events in Lebanon today - While everyone in the world loves to preach Pacifism and how 'an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind' - but what does the Arab world expect of Israel? Idly sit by and suffer the gouging of a nation's eyes by allowing the kidnapping/death of its soldiers? I agree with Graham Smith's post - Against organizations bent on destroying its existence - Israel has no choice but to fight back - this is human nature - something we will never be able to extinguish ."

But, it could just as easily read:  "It is an unfortunate state of events in Israel today - While everyone in the world loves to preach Pacifism and how 'an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind' - but what does Israel expect of the Arab world? Idly sit by and suffer the gouging of a nation's eyes by allowing the kidnapping/death of its civilians? I agree with Graham Smith's post - Against organizations bent on destroying its existence - the Arabs have no choice but to fight back - this is human nature - something we will never be able to extinguish."

... Absolutely Nothing! War is nothing but suffering, death, injury, disease, famine, hunger, poverty, disaster, dishonor, destruction, unemployment, homelessness, ruin, trauma, orphaned children, refugees.

“Lucifer claims power by spreading delusion unto the world, making bad appear good and wrong appear right.” J.Porter

We must ask ourselves as Americans - do we have the stomach to wage war for ever and ever? What Israel is doing to Lebanon now absolutely guarantees that your children, my grandchildren, our young for generations to come, will be forced to deal with terrorism and hatred. In a civilized world, one nation cannot bomb another nation into a wasteland without rightfully arguing that innocent lives are being unnecessarily sacrificed. Israel may have every right to defend itself, but it has no right to annihilate the Palestinian and Lebanese people and cause a major humanitarian crisis. Israel has put the entire country under siege. What exactly are the citizens of Lebanon supposed to eat when their granaries and food storage have been bombed? What are they supposed to drink when their civilian power and water treatment plants have been destroyed? Medicine for the injured? The hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. Whole neighborhoods in southern Lebanon have been reduced to rubble.

The Israelis demand that the Lebanese army take control of the southern border, then they bomb a Lebanese army base and kill Lebanese soldiers. GW Bush says "The US will always support a democracy against terrorism." - meaning Israel. What about Lebanon?

in the holy land
that which almost destroyed them
they have now become

"I don't know what weapons will be used in World War III, but I do know what weapons will be used in World War IV - stone clubs."  Albert Einstein

This is my post to a Lebanese-Israeli blogging discussion on the London Times site.  I find the juxtaposition of what's happening in Lebanon and Israel to what's happening in our Senate - debating the ethics and morality of stell stem research - fascinating and horrifying.  Our government is making a huge display of protecting the rights of fertilized eggs in this country - but, notice, they are not saying a word about all the children who are being killed, injured, maimed, traumatized, made homeless in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan - and, yes of course, Israel.

All children everywhere are harmed and damaged by war. Are American embryos more important than the millions and millions of children in war-torn countries?  Our arrogant leaders say, "Better over there than here."  How dare they?  I'm a mother and my heart absolutely weeps for the suffering of the children "over there".