March 28, 2002
No More
No More
After this last attack, I now have no sympathy for the Palestinians. They don't want peace, they don't want a homeland, they want to kill Jews, Christians, and anyone else they disagree with. As Stephen Green said so Stephen, or Lileks, so I'll direct you to their amazing writing.
As an American, I'm all for disagreement. I love disagreement, argument, debate. My father refers to me and my mother as "Olympic Class Arguers", which I'm pretty sure isn't a compliment, but should rule out the possibility that I want all debate crushed. With that said, someone needs to explain to the Palestinians, and the entire Arab world, that you do not argue by killing everyone who disagrees with you. If that's the way you absolutely must argue, then don't be surprised when the rest of us get together and kill you.
Which leads nicely, I think, to the next point. The Captain pointed out that we can't just militarily defeat the Islamofascists, we must break their will, destroy their confidence, defeat them so badly that there is no way for them to spin it as a victory, or even a stalemate. I feel that this applies to all of the belligerent Arab states and quasi-states; Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Palestine, etc.
I didn't always think this way. I had sympathy for the Palestinians, they've had a rough time, nobody likes them, no countries will give them a place to live, lotsa bad shit. In my naivete, I wondered why the IDF went after these poor unfortunate rock chuckers with tanks, gunships, and trained soldiers. This was before September 11th, when I was still living in my perfect little world. Then, while NYC burned and thousands died, these fuckwads were dancing in the streets and celebrating!?! Celebrating, for the love of God! At that moment, they became my enemy.
Back to the Palestinians plight. Like I said, I was sympathetic. Then I started reading about the attacks on civilians by Al-Aqsa, and the retaliations from the IDF, and I began to understand. I've read about the "cycle of violence" in the news, on Metafilter(will not link), on Indymedia(really will not link), and I started to realize that everything that I had thought true about the conflict was wrong. So I read more.
The Israelis (why is it Israelis, and not Israelites?) are not perfect. They've got blood on their hands. The IDF has had its moments of barbarity, its shameful behavior. Overall, though, they have been prosecuting their attacks with extreme restraint, and limiting their attacks to military targets. If they didn't restrain themselves, does anyone really think there would be a single Palestinian left anywhere near Israel? So, for the most part, they are fighting like a soldier fights: with honor.
The Palestinians, for the most part, have been bloody awful. They attack civilians, unarmed men, women, and children, whose only sin is being Jewish. They attack them in Sbarro's, in hotels, in shopping malls, anywhere they can find them unprotected. This is not the way a soldier fights. Their is no honor in targeting and killing civilians.
Back to my original point, the terroristic Arab states must be defeated. When I heard about the latest attack, I was ready to go further and demand their cities razed, no stone standing upon another, and sowing the earth with salt. I've calmed down a bit, although I'm not sure it's that noticeable. Now, I just want them stomped so hard their descendants will talk about it in hushed voices, while looking over their shoulders in fear. I would like this to be known as the day that the Palestinian cause died, the day the "American Street" rose up in rage.
Well, that was rambling. I apologize to anyone who has made it this far.
Posted by Dork at March 28, 2002 08:29 PM | TrackBack