Terrorist Tactics

Images of the suffering coming out of Lebanon are chilling and have a very predictable and powerful way of galvanizing world opinion against Israel. EU Referendum, however, has a post documenting the despicable extent to which many of these photos have been staged. It would appear that the only thing more valuable to these Islamic savages than a dead Jew is a dead Muslim child. Just one more example of the death cult of Islamic fascism finding greater value in death than in life.

On a related note, Naomi Regan makes the following point in a recent article:

Terrorists and their supporters have lost the right to complain about civilian casualties, since all they have done this entire war is target civilians. Every single one of the more than 2,500 rockets launched into Israel is launched into populated towns filled with women and children. Just today, another suicide belt meant to kill civilians in Israel was detonated harmlessly by our forces in Nablus.

So, don't cry to me about civilian casualties. Cry to those using your babies and wives and mothers; cry to those who store weapons in mosques, ambulances, hospitals and private homes. Cry to those launching deadly rockets from the backyards of your kindergartens and schools. Cry to the heartless men who love death, and who, however many of their troops or civilians die, consider themselves victorious as long as they can keep on firing rockets at our women and children.

Lesson learned the hard way

Click here to read how this excerpt from a story applies nicely to the Israel-Hezbollah situation.

Each punch opened a cut on the Marine's startled face and by the time he had been backed completely into the corner he was blubbering for someone to stop the fight. He invoked his split lips and chipped teeth as reasons to stop the fight. He begged us to stop the fight because he could barely see through the river of blood that was pouring out of his split and swollen brows.

Nobody moved. Not one person.

Good article

So much writing is out there on the war Israel is rightly waging against the terrorist group Hezbollah. But I thought this piece, more than most, is right on the mark: Patience is Wearing Thin

A few excerpts:

Finally, the world is accepting that the Middle East problem was never about so-called occupied land -- but only about the existence of Israel itself. Hezbollah and Hamas, and those in their midst who tolerate them (or vote for them), didn't so much want Israel out of Lebanon and Gaza as pushed into the Mediterranean altogether. And since there will be no second Holocaust, the Israelis may well soon transform a perennial terrorist war that they can't easily win into a conventional aerial one against a terrorist-sponsoring Syria that they can...

What then would be the new Western approach to terrorism? Hard and quick retaliation -- but without our past concern for nation-building, or offering a democratic alternative to theocracy and autocracy, or even worrying about whether other Muslims are unfairly lumped in with Islamists who operate freely in their midst.

Any new policy of retaliation -- in light both of Sept. 11 and the messy efforts to birth democracies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the West Bank -- would be something of an exasperated return to the old cruise-missile payback. Yet in the new world of Iranian nukes and Hezbollah missiles, the West would hit back with something far greater than a cruise missile.

If they are not careful, a Syria or Iran really will earn a conventional war -- not more futile diplomacy or limited responses to terrorism. And history shows that massive attacks from the air are something that the West does well.

So in the meantime, let us hope that democracy prevails in Iraq, that our massive aid is actually appreciated by the Middle East, that diplomacy ultimately works with Iran, that Syria quits supporting terrorists, and that Hamas and Hezbollah cease their rocket attacks against Israel -- more for all their sakes than ours.

Snapshot of tyranny

North Korea has been in the news a good bit recently for their missle launches. No doubt, the North Korean government is going to regret its ill-thought provocations. However, in all the international bravado, one can quickly forget about just how bad it is for the citizens of North Korea. They live under the brutal control and oppression of a truly evil regime. Given the situation in North Korea, these pictures are probably as close as I'll ever get to having an idea of what it's like over there.

Discovery

The above is a photo I took of Shuttle Discovery from the town of Titusville--about 11 miles from the launch pad. Sadly, after waiting over 4 hours, NASA scrubbed the launch with only 9 minutes to go in the countdown. They'll try again tomorrow (Sunday), and we'll be there hoping will beat the odds (60%) that bad weather will delay it further. Whether there's a launch or not, I'm thrilled to be here--to see the Shuttle in person and see the thousands of other people from all over the world who've come to watch something truly spectacular.