Of course, the usual suspects will insist that this is support of George W Bush, because in some circles the mere acknowledgement that a person you generally disagree with is evidence of “forming a bloc” with them, however…
President Bush, in an unscripted and unguarded moment has given us a glimpse of where the US and the UK stand on the current crisis in the Middle East. And it is encouraging.
According to the BBC, Bush leaned over to Tony Blair and said:
“The irony is, what they really need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it’s over.”
Realising that a microphone was on and recording, Tony Blair reached over and switched it off and the rest of the private conversation continued without collective eavesdropping.
While some of the media is flapping over Bush’s use of a four-letter word, it should be obvious that the governments of the US and the UK haven’t been hoodwinked by those pushing the “Israel is a Terrorist State” bullshit. Hezbollah attacked Israel, Israel responded. The Lebanese government admits it’s impotent to deal with Hezbollah, so Israel is. It’s really as simple as that.
Those peddling the meme of the day “collective punishment” are only able to do so because they have long internalised their own infantilising of Middle Eastern Muslims. Hezbollah, in their view, are naughty children who must simply be appropriately “punished” when they act against Israel. If the “punishment” is too severe, they shout ‘child abuse’ (or ‘war crimes’ as they prefer to call it).
The fact of the matter is that Hezbollah are not naughty children. The International Herald Tribune reports that they have thousands of rockets – and new model Fajr-5 missiles – capable of being fired 45 miles into Israel. They are armed to the teeth and funded to the tune of hundreds of millions.
They are a clear and present threat to the safety and security of Israel. The response to their aggression is NOT to enter into an interminable tit-for-tat retaliation. That’s a tactic more suited to gangland movies and Shakespearean tragedies, not resolving anything. We wouldn’t tolerate a group firing rockets at us from Belgium. If the Belgian government claimed it was unable to stop them, I’m pretty sure there would be a public demand for our military to put a stop to it.
Indeed, the solution is to remove the threat, not “punish” it “symmetrically” or otherwise.
Besides, what’s the point of punishing those who never learn… those who simply do not “stop doing this shit”?
