If it isn't Jenin, it's no "Massacre"
No UN Security Council emergency sessions or General Assembly resolutions. No statements from the Peace and Human Rights community. Barely any fuss at all in the blogosphere. Something must be different....
AP,
TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Under the cover of artillery barrages, dozens of Lebanese army tanks and armored carriers moved toward a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Friday in pursuit of Islamic militants holed up inside.
The artillery bombardment sent clouds of white smoke rising out of the Nahr el-Bared camp where Fatah Islam militants have been holed up in a 13-day siege by the Lebanese army. The shelling also ignited fires in the camp that spewed black smoke. The militants have barricaded themselves in residential neighborhoods of narrow, winding streets and apartment buildings.
About 50 armored carriers, battle tanks and military vehicles from elite units massed at the northern edge of the camp and drove toward the forwardmost positions, according to APTN television crew at the scene.
As I noted in a blog here , Amy Goodman carried
an interview with Seymour Hersch about
that camp and who helped establish Fatah al Islam: us. Prince Bandar convinced Cheney
that it would serve as a bulwark against
Hezbollah.
As for Jenin , I argued at the time against accepting the media reports of the body counts in Jenin. But whatever the exact , smaller ,number , civilians did die and that should not be treated lightly no matter the extent of the standard response of exaggerating the toll.
Absolately not unique to the IDF. Merely the latest example of Clausewitz's doctrine of exemplary punishment of civilians . Every country does it without exception : Sherman's March to the Sea , Armitsar , Coventry ,Dresden .
Always popular at home. Sometimes actually prevents far greater casualties:Hiroshima. But always deplored by bystanders. Which is probably a good thing considering the alternative.
June 1, 2007 9:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
In no way do I mean to treat civilian deaths and injuries lightly. It is the matter of the complete lack of any singularly consistent standard in the non-reaction of the Peace and Human Rights communities and the world body that offends me. Not to mention the troubling inconsistency within Lebanon itself, as you correctly point out, with the apparent blessing of US policy. Hizbollah in the guise of a parliamentary representative while Lebanese forces battle Fatah al-Islam is as if White Aryan Resistance were holding seats in Congress while US armed forces battled the Earth Liberation Front as "eco-terrorists."
June 1, 2007 9:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
June 1, 2007 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
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June 1, 2007 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink