Proportionality, Pacifism vs Peace, & Iran's Bomb

Just about everyone on the tube, and on the internet seems infatuated with the idea of Proportional Response. Israel should use restraint, and only retaliate proportionally, ie; kill eight Lebanese, kidnap two and fire approximately 1200 rockets at civilian targets... With the intent to kill CIVILIANS.

The United Nations seeks a cease fire, as does much of the world, but they all fail to see that the only thing cease fires accomplish is to allow enough breathing space for both sides to regroup and restock. No conflict is ever resolved by a cease fire.

At The American Enterprise Online, Daren Bakst, in his piece, 'The Fallacy of Proportionality' explains why Israel has no choice but to reject the World's insane new standard. Israel has far too much to lose by reacting other than she already has, and the World gives a glimpse as to why it treats Israel with a 'Disproportional' standard....

Israel isn't reacting, nor should it, based on a one-to-one response to Hezbollah's actions. Instead, it is identifying the means by which future-- not past --attacks will cease. It is hard to imagine any other country being so roundly criticized for such reasonable self-defense.

If "disproportional force" were used in its proper context, there wouldn't be any criticism of Israel. Certainly, a country can fairly be criticized for acting disproportional to a provocation if it is going beyond what is necessary to defend itself. For Israel, it must meet a much tougher standard-- a standard that has nothing to do with self-defense.

"A standard that has nothing to do with self-defense." What then does this new bizarre standard have to do with? The world seeks to hold Israel to a standard it would surely consider anathema were it applied to itself. Perhaps the reasoning behind this stems from the sure knowledge that Israel is a creation of the U.N. Before permission was given for Israel to declare herself a nation, Israel had no borders to speak of... Anywhere.

The worlds deplorable attitude toward Israel may be further explained by the obvious guilt Europe and the U.S. felt at the time over their own efforts to prevent the Jews from emigrating to Palestine before and during World War II. But the world today can only see that were it not for their benevolence, Israel would not exist, and Israel therefore must obey the dictates of its less than loving parents. The current attitude toward Israel and "all those Jews..." is colored by the worlds feelings of affront; that Israel won't mind the nations that graciously allowed her to become a nation.

One question remains: how old must a child be before its parents grudgingly recognize its maturity, and subsequent ability to fend for itself. Israel is doing the only mature thing it can in this, and that is to insure its survival and that of its people.

But that doesn't satisfy all the peaceniks, or the peaceniks in enlightened clothing. There are far too many people in the world with unrealistic visions of what it takes to make peace, and it's not entirely their fault, says Thomas Sowell...

One of the many failings of our educational system is that it sends out into the world people who cannot tell rhetoric from reality. They have learned no systematic way to analyze ideas, derive their implications and test those implications against hard facts.

The world, in short-- especially America --suffers from a deficiency of honest intellectualism; to say nothing of intellectual honesty. Peace movements, says Sowell, do not actually produce peace.

Take the Middle East. People are calling for a cease-fire in the interests of peace. But there have been more cease-fires in the Middle East than anywhere else. If cease-fires actually promoted peace, the Middle East would be the most peaceful region on the face of the earth instead of the most violent.

Was World War II ended by cease-fires or by annihilating much of Germany and Japan? Make no mistake about it, innocent civilians died in the process. Indeed, American prisoners of war died when we bombed Germany.

There is a reason why General Sherman said "war is hell" more than a century ago. But he helped end the Civil War with his devastating march through Georgia -- not by cease fires or bowing to "world opinion" and there were no corrupt busybodies like the United Nations to demand replacing military force with diplomacy.

Just as much of the world has forgotten its collective guilt over the murder of 6 million Jews, so too has the world forgotten why Germany and Japan were defeated-- why ANY enemy is defeated... Overwhelming force and firepower. It has never been because of any peace movement, or proportional response to aggressive and violent neighbors. For an example of just what a peace movement WILL achieve we need only look at Vietnam, and the last helicopter pulling away from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon... And the masses of refugees begging for a ride. One need only look at the millions killed by the Communist Regime that took over South Vietnam, or the resultant extermination of millions in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge when they saw America would not be a deterrent.

The current climate in America-- the belief that America cannot win, is a direct result of Peaceniks and Pacifists, who, though well-meaning, believe beyond question the immortal words of Lennon... "All you need is love". And yet these are the same people who also religiously claim Lennon's "Imagine" as their Party Anthem...

"Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky..."

But all these worshippers fail, just as Sowell postulates, to discern rhetoric from reality. They chant 'Imagine there's no heaven' without seeing the implications inherent in the song... To imagine something isn't there, implies the recognition that 'it is indeed there, and wouldn't it be nice if it wasn't?'

Israel wants peace. But her neighbors won't allow it. And all the marches, all across the world, and all the grand speeches will not sway the hearts of Palestinians or Syrians or Iranians, to let them live in peace.

Perhaps the biggest flaw in the American educational system is its departure from historical truth. Very few on the web and on TV have an accurate grasp of how Israel came to be, and just who the poor Palestinian people truly are.

But while America and the world bemoan the evil Israelis for their disproportional response to 8 murders, 2 kidnappings, and a thousand plus rockets aimed at innocent civilians, Iran is conveniently forgotten-- when the cat's away, the mice will place, or so it's said. Yes, Iran, the very same nation who has been ordered to cease their refinement of uranium. There's a lot of speculation about who's responsible for the current hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, and why now?

It was expected of Iran to present its official response to the U.N.'s Nuclear Proposal, but with hostilities now in Palestine, Iran is deciding to wait awhile... By August 24th they now say. What is Iran really up to?

Some claim that Israel, as a non-signatory of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, has every right to "The Bomb". Others point out that Iran is playing the long game... Cheap and cheerful measures such as giving Hezbollah and Hamas a few rocket launchers via Syria to keep the spotlight off her nuclear weapons program. The wars, they say, are phony-- the real war is the one Iran will direct when she has nuclear capability, especially in light of Ahmadinejad's recent Hitleresque rhetoric. Still others are ignorant and wonder why Israel is allowed to break the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Iran is not.

There's even those who think Hezbollah's offensive is nothing more than the testing of missile delivery systems for later fitting with tactical nuclear weapons now under development in Iran.

One comment I found is very telling... Keeping in mind, of course, that these comments are coming from average folks like you and me, which only goes to highlight the complete and utter lack of useful commentary from the media elite....

"The Iranians are stalling so determinedly that weeks and months seem to be of critical importance to them. I wonder therefore if they are on a timescale of 12-18 months rather than the 5 years suggested by Hans Blix..."

And echoing a comment I made... Somewhere... A few days ago,

"The real war is between Iran and Saudi Arabia across the whole region, to see who has hegemony. It is Sunni vs Shia in Iraq, as it is in Lebanon where Iran seeks to impose a Shia solution. For the first time, Israel is not the key issue but represents for the Saudis a bulwark of their system, and for the Iranians an impediment to their power and influence."

In other words... It's all about politics. The world is a great big "Risk" board, where armies are the game pieces; where continents, and ultimately world domination, the big prize.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to me is Ahmadinejad's letter to Germany, all but asking Germany's help in the Palestinian Solution, which, if one looks at it from the Islamofascist perspective, is the destruction of Israel. Imagine that! Iran asking Germany for help with the 'Final Solution'! A solution, I might add, that Ahmadinejad refuses to believe even occurred! "Amazing gall, how sick the stench..."

But none of this really matters in the long run. Iran will never destroy Israel. Hezbollah will never defeat Israel. Not Hamas, Syria, or all the hosts of every nation on earth will ever defeat Israel. God fights for them.

That's not to say Israel won't suffer. God never promises we won't suffer. But through suffering-- through fire --individuals and nations are purged of impurities; refined like silver and gold. Everything that would tarnish their luster are burned away, and the metal poured out and made ready for the smith and jeweler.

Time is growing short. The moment will come as abruptly as my closing. And it's time now to choose sides.