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Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
1. Calling Hezbollah a political party is a little misleading, since the political parties in Lebanon are based on religion. Hezbollah is more like a state within a state.
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You are correct that Hezbollah is more than just a political party -- but they run candidates in Lebanese national elections and hold seats in their Parliament.
Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
3. I understand the logic of bombing Lebanese civilians to pressure them to see Hezbollah differently. I don't think it's a whole lot different from attacking civilian populations with other kinds of bombs to pressure them to, e.g., support a withdrawal from Northern Ireland or Iraq, etc. It might work, but it seems wrong.
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I agree. I suspect that, caught up in that kind of conflict (which we are not, really), Israel has decided that the moral calculus has changed, and that survival must take precedence over conventional morality (which they will try to accomodate to the extent they can).
It seems to me that it is open to debate whether this will actually help Isreal in the long term, but they have clearly decided to seize on the opportunity/excuse provided by Hezbollah to try to radically change the conditions on the ground. This conflict is about so much more than the kidnapped soldiers, that the concept of "proportional response" makes no sense.
S_A_M
