For over a year, I have sat here and seen David make comments time after time that the three stooges accuse Shogun of similarly. I have seen him call Palis a bunch of animals who would sacrifice their children in order to further their cause, his wish to see Gaza wiped off the face of the earth, his wish for a war in Gaza to finally kill all of Israel's enemies, and plenty of comments that would get me or Shogun shunned by several members of this board if we made similar comments about the Jews.
Are you an American Dogbert? Do you support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? What do you want to happen to the people who are blowing them up? Would you like to sit down with Al Queda and have a discussion with them about how they're hurting your feelings? Would you like to offer them maybe some tea and crumpets?
I'm going to say this and I'm going to say this once. The world isn't so nice. There are a LOT of people who hate us, Americans and Israelis. There are also a LOT of people who want to see America destroyed once and for all. Either America is going to kill its enemies or our enemies will kill us. The same goes for Israel. If Israel continues to sit down and have talks with its enemies, they will continue to buy time and re-arm themselves. In fact, Israel recently stopped a ship FULL of munitions and weapons and explosives headed to Hamas from Iran. Hamas now claims they have rockets that can launch Tel Aviv. Iran recently claimed that it would blow up Israel's nuclear power plant.
There are a LOT of people who want to see Israel destroyed and I'm sure there are also a lot of people who want to finish the job Hitler started. I'm not going to sit here and pretend to say the most politically correct, polite words. I'm going to say exactly what I want - I want Israel to survive. I want a JEWISH national home in Israel. The only way for those two things to occur is for Israel and its enemies to go to war against each other sooner rather than later. And while it would be nice if our enemies surrendered and went away quietly, that isn't going to happen. The world isn't full of nice people, Dogbert. Darwin had it right: This world IS survival of the fittest and right now, Israel is slowly losing its "fittest" status. That scares me. So, yes, I do want all of Israel's enemies destroyed once and for all. I would enjoy seeing Gaza obliterated and I would enjoy seeing all of the Arabs illegally living on Jewish land in the West Bank to get up and leave peacefully or decide to become Israeli citizens. Neither of these things are going to happen, unfortunately. Which is why I am scared. America thinks it can negotiate. America thinks it can make peace with the people who want us dead.
This is very simple. Either Israel's enemies are destroyed or Israel is destroyed. There is no in between. The same goes for America. In Vietnam, do you think our brave men and women tried to sit down and reason with the Viet Cong army? It was a war. And America AND Israel is at war with a radicalized version of Islam. America and Israel must decide how important their existence is to them. Because if it's not that important, we can continue negotiating. If it IS important, then we must destroy our enemies. Pussies like Dogbert don't get that.
Quite darwinistic what you say.
Eye for an eye will blind the world.
I think it is far more complex than that.
You can win a war by using every means of winning it. But you still have to make a peace settlement afterwards. Only by this you can ensure not to have to fight again.
Or you have to solve the problem finally. This can be bloody work, as you either crush your enemy in a way, he will never be able to recover, or you produce the next generation of hatred. In Israels situation it would mean (I think) to kill every probable future enemy.
Which leads up to quite a lot of people.
(To compare the situation of America with the one Israel is in, is rather stupid.
Whatever any terrorist group does, even on a large scale (incl. WMD), will not endanger the very existence of the US. Even a full-scale war with an equally strong opponent will not do that. And yes, there are people who hate you. Live with it. They will do so whatever you do.)
In regard of Israel, the situation is much more dangerous:
I daresay, that there is no direct military threat in the region, the IDF could not counter in the next 25 years.
With terrorism it is different.
Strategically this is nothing but a nuisance. But it dissolves gradually the cohersion of the society it is aimed against. It causes fear, but no strategic threat (without WMD).
As any terrorist group, or any insurgency needs support from the outside, it makes more sense to cut that off.
If that is not possible to do by means of police or military, one must use political means.
The IDF can not block off any freighter, lorry or donkey carrying weapons.
So who is supporting Hamas ? Iran.
Can Iran be forced by military power to stop it´s support ? I can not see that this will be possible. They will fight back and at the moment the cupboard is rather empty in the US.
Can Israel do so ? Well, Saddam attacked Iran in the 80s and they fought off his army sometimes only with clubs and stones. So do not think this might be a walkover.
Can this be done politically ?
Perhaps. The Iranians are IMHO good bazari, so it depends upon what they want and what can be offered.
Also, it might be clever to support the rather good-willing from the hardliners.
How to do so ? Give them something they can sell at home as a success.
But I am sceptic.
As I see, the situation is frozen at the moment. Everybody is afraid to give concessions to anybody.
But in the long run Israel has the most to loose and the Palestinians the most to gain.
Therefore there must be a solution to these problems. How this will be, I do not know, but the other possibilty is not pleasant.
Therefore I do not think you darwinistic view is helpful.
regards
ze germanguy