Best comment I've read in a while. This is why while most countries respect our economic power but they absolutely hate our foreign policies. Not a huge fan of politic at all (my father political science major with 2 masters ), there is so much injustice in politics that it can't connect with my soul at all. I pray and I hope members of these forum pray along with me, that this is not the beginning of a third world war. I mean how else would I drive my E60 if it starts now, I KEED, I KEED. Seriously though, I'm just very afraid and hope this clears up really soon. Damn human beings we can never just seem to get along just enough not to want to kill each other,

 

I hate responding to this thread because I think that this forum is not a place for discussing these matters, but at the same time I couldn't just read these posts without expressing my opinons.

Before I start let me just say that I am a Christian, but I was born and lived in an Islamic middle eastern country until age 12. I don't know whether it makes a difference to anyone, but it may put things in (or perhaps out of) perspective when you read my opinions:

War is a very tragic thing and the fact that anybody has to die, especially children, just is too painfull. After I had my two kids (one 4.5 year old now and one 2 year old) I just can't imagine how those parents must feel whose children die in these situations, it just brings tears to my eyes and saddens me greatly. However (and it is very unfortunate that one has to look at it this way), one has to look at the overall picture of things, which unfortunately make it very impersonal and statistical. There were many millions of CIVILIANS that died during WWII, a huge number of them were killed by the Allies, but I believe (and I would assume many of you do as well) that if the Allied powers had not fought the way they did in fear of killing more civillians then they would have lost the war and in the aftermat a world controlled by the fascists would have caused many more civilian suffering and death.

Thank God that there was no 24 hour CNN and BBC live coverage back then because if there were the pictures they would braodcast would be MUCH more horrific then what we see now. Add that to the lopsided coverage that most of the major world media has (lead by BBC and CNN), I think the outcome of WWII would have been very different.....in a BAD way.

The media keep saying that Israel bombed the UN outpost near the border but there is no coverage of reports that the Hezbollah flag has been flying on top of the UN outpost NEXT TO THE UN FLAG for years and they have been sharing water and telephones. See picture below:



I think the UN must be the biggest joke of an organization in the history of the world. To me they are just useless. They are like parents who tell their children to get back home before a certain hour or else they would be grounded and not allowed to go out for the next month, and then when the kids keep coming home late they do not enforce any of the consequences they threatened the kids with. What good are UN resolutions when the perpatraitors keep ignoring them and the UN does nothing about it?

According to some reports the building where the large number of women and children died after it collapsed was hit by a rocket on the top floors around 12 midnight, but it did not collapse until around 8 in the morning. Now if you were in a building that was hit by a rocket on the top floors would you still stay there for another several hours? or would you get out ASAP. There were several hours to get out before it collapsed, were they not allowed to get out of the building by a group of people? Were they not allowed to get out of the village in the previous few days when they had been warned that the town was going to be bombed?

No, I have no proof of either the two flags flying next to each other (I guess anyone can argue that the picture could have been photoshopped), nor do I have any proof of what happened at that building and whether the residents were not allowed to leave the damaged building in the hours before it collapsed, but all I am saying is this:

It seems like many people just take the reports from CNN, BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, etc. as the absolute truth, yet there is another side to everything they report. A "real" news agency is supposed to fairly report both sides, but these guys seem more interested in self importance, sensationalizing, and editorializing everything when their true job as a member of the press is to "report the news" as factually as possible. So it leaves us having to do the extra work to determine what the other side of the story is.


I hope I have not offended anyone, that is not my intention. I would have preferred that threads like this or others dealing with politics would not be started on this forum because we are all "E60 friends" and do not want our personal political views to get in the way. However, since the thread was started and many people had expressed their opinions I just had to chime in. However, I am not sure if I feel like posting anything else in this thread

 

Yes, this is not the place to discuss politics and personal opinion of the conflict, but I feel the same as you guys ...couldn't read and not respond. However, I will be short.

I couldn't agree more with Rodybmw. Most of us watch the news and take it for what it is...
I have learned to watch both CNN and MSNBC to get a better picture (IMO one is pro Arabs and the other is pro Jews).

I don't like seeing the sad pictures of dead innocent civilians on both sides, and I believe that so many of them would have been alive today if this was a fair war or maybe I should say a fair game.

This war is a different war and it is not about Lebanese, Israeli, Americans etc.
It is a war against terror, and the US is not doing anything to stop this war for a reason.

Like many others, I just hope this is not the beginning of another world war

Peace

 

I don't want this to be a political post - because the politics in this issue don't make an awful lot of sense to me.

It seems to me that the sitution in the middle east is incredibly complicated and that there is a long history of fear, betrayal, hatred and cruelty on all sides.

The arabs believe that israel stole their homeland and that they continue to oppress them. The israeli's believe that they are fighting for their survival amidst hostile enemises who foster and support terrorism.

I think both sides are correct and neither party has a morally superior position. If you have an affinity with either side I guess you might consider that a refusal to take sides is a political act. I don't - in fact I think that politics is the problem.

What bothers me is that it is clearly evident that innocent civilians are being killed.

It has seemed to me for a long time that Israel's response to terrorism - which is to attack the countries that harbour terrorists is counterproductive. It has not stopped the terrorists and I cannot see that it will.

As an analogy this would be like GB bombing Ireland in retaliation for IRA attacks in the UK.

People who see their neighbours, friends and family killed by Israeli bombs will want to fight back just as people who survive a suicide bombing will want to retaliate.

This isn't going anywhere and no matter what you feel about the Israeli response the rest of the world need to call for it to stop - as soon as possible.

 

I don?t feel you can use disproportional use of force in war unless you?re talking nukes. If you fight a war you fight with everything you have and put the odds on your side. However, if Israel is fighting a war with a terrorist force then you can?t use a conventional army with conventional tactics. Israel knows this. Israel is acting as if they?re fighting a guerilla war with a enemy militia that?s using antiquated equipment.

That said, anyone remember the USS Liberty?

 

But Israel haven't declared war ?

 

Please don't get me wrong...I will be the first to say stop this war. However, what is the solution? obviously there isn't one.

You are saying the world needs to call for it to stop and then what? sit and wait for another terror act? I guess you suggest we all wait and see what is going to happen next? This time it's the Hezbolla, next time is the Hamas etc. Is it ever going to stop?

I do have a strong opinion, which I choose to keep off this forum. I often refuse to take sides not because it is a political act but for the simple fact that I respect others and try to avoid conflict.

 

Sometimes i wonder if fighting for them is part of happiness? Hey hey..i am not kidding but what else can i think of that sitatution in the m.e?

But then I think, if that is not the case, why do they do it so often?

 

wow who is here. HI Missy what'up girl? lurking around...

 

I think my position on this is purely practical and humanitarian - not political.

Everyone is entitled to their own views and to have them respected by others.

What I am saying is that I believe the world should call for the current Israeli action to stop because it isn't going achieve anything positive.

In fact on top of the fact that it is killing innocent civilians, I also think it will re-inforce arabic support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah making Israel's problems worse. The Lebanese people who have lost everything in this conflict may not have backed Hezbollah, Hamas or terrorism before, but they will now. In effect, action like this breeds the next generation of suicide bombers.

As an example - going slightly off topic - the history of Afghanistan is such that 3 or 4 generations have lost loved ones in bloody conflicts. I remember reading about a young afghan fighter interviewed in Pakistan who had been born into the warzone. All this young man knew was war, terror and death. Music was banned under the taliban so he liked to listen to recordings of explosions from battles he had fought in order relax. His entire family had been killed in various conflicts going back over 3 generations and he had personally watched his father die. His only wish was to die in battle.

This is how damaged people can become when they have NOTHING decent to live for and NOTHING to lose

I also agree that we cannot simply wait to be attacked by terrorists, we need to defend ourselves as do Israel, but surely there are better ways than this?