Ralph Kinney Bennett,
writing at TCS Daily today, must've been reading HazZzMat last week. His following observations certainly ring true with regard to our own point of view; wherein we advise U. S. citizens who are bombarded daily with footage of the horrendous deaths of "innocent" Lebanese "civilians" at the hands of the Israeli Army (with very little corresponding footage of the equally horrendous deaths caused by Hezbollah in Israel) to be careful what they're being tempted to believe.
Maybe, as this terrible business in Lebanon unfolds, we'll finally get it:
Guerrillas like to hide behind civilians.
Muslim guerrillas take it a step further: "Civilians" are a weapon to them -- as much a part of the fight as the AK-47 or RPG they carry.
Those who have visited any Hezbollah installation in Lebanon over the years always remark on the fact that there are families, women and children, in and around the place. "Secret" bases are usually hidden in plain site. Houses or apartment buildings become weapons storage or even operations centers. An innocent shed or garage may contain a Toyota or a missile launcher. Seldom, if ever, has a guerrilla movement been able to so openly and exquisitely weave itself into the fabric of a society as Hezbollah has done in Lebanon.
Indeed, this is true, as we opined last week. Bennett's conclusion, however, is quite poetic and coldly effective:
So what if a beautiful city, Beirut, is destroyed? So what if thousands of the hapless, the ignorant, the innocent die? The Islamofanatic "vision" of submission or extermination is worth any cost. To the Hezbollah leaders, high on the furious anti-Semitic hatred of centuries, this is total war with implications and opportunities for them far beyond any geographical boundaries, and the very term "civilian" -- except for its temporary value in gulling the West -- does not apply.
Exactly.
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