Can you imagine the Allied Forces trying to fight Hitler's armies under today's rules?
Attack cities with tons of bombs? Oh no, innocent civilians might be killed.
Blast through entire towns to relieve allies surrounded by German army units? Oh no, you might run over a cocker spaniel.
Fire bomb Dresden killing hundreds of thousands by literally sucking the oxygen out of the atmosphere? How horrid. Why, they didn't do anything wrong. You Americans, English, French, Australians and other allies are heartless, cruel, thugs taking revenge on innocent civilians for the crimes of a few bad Germans.
I am truly sorry 50+ Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli air attack today. But I put the blame where it belongs: Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, the U.N., the cowardly governments of Europe, and the Arab thugs-of-state who will do anything to prevent democracy from taking hold in the Middle East. Hezbollah hides among civilians, launches their rockets from civilian enclaves, refuses to even wear fucking uniforms so the Israelis know whom to attack.
Hezbollah — a made up group of displaced lunatics who've taken over Southern Lebanon — is a collection of cowards who've convinced too many bleeding heart morons in the West that somehow this is all Israel's fault.
Israel has shown more restraint that the entire Allied Forces in WWII. Over the years, Israel has done everything but give up Israel itself to try to create peace with its Arab neighbors. And in return, for every gesture of peace, the Arabs have responded with violence against Israeli civilians.
What did the United States do when the World Trade Center was destroyed? We launched an invasion of Afghanistan — you think there were no civilian casualties? Do you really believe that our primary goal was to minimize bloodshed? We weren't harsh enough. The Taliban still exists and is trying to take control of the southern regions although the drug lords are giving them a hard time.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
Well put, Mark. Now prepare yourself to be erroneously called a Neocon by the ignorati.
Dave
2 - Apollo
Excellent piece Mark. Now let's brace ourselves for the inevitable shelling from the bleeding heart [Edited] like Christopher,
Dean etc...
3 - gazelle
the lesson from hitler is exactly to avoid human suffering - massacres, camps, raw firepower used on innocent civilians overwhelmingly children women and the aged.
its a twist of history that its the israelis, the zionist jews, who have learnt the opposite lesson - justified as 'self-defence' - hence any amount of power is okay! this truly shameful. and that on muslims, not even the europeans, the nazis or the fasvist germans.
now the zionist have no pretence of a moral case. they are naked in their hitleresque nazi posture. zionist tribal superiority indeed.
and this time the 'mussulman' of the concentration camps actually are muslim in palestine and lebanon.
best
4 - Apollo
I heard Hitler raised some Bosnian Muslim SS divisions with the help of Grand Mufti of jerusalem. Is it true? ;)
If yes then the "zionist" jews are not too wayward in targetting u know who.
5 - Mark Edward Manning
Bravo, Mark! B-R-A-V-O! Lebanon is suffering because of Hezbollah not Israel, but of course, our politically correct elite refuses to understand this (apparently, it's not politically incorrect to be anti-Semitic). Israel fights back and suddenly cries of "WAR CRIMES" ring out from nearly every sector in every other nation. Hezbollah and radical Palestinians plot the destruction of Israeli every single day and yet they're always the victims. You're right, Mark, Hitler would have loved the political/social climate we're living in today.
6 - Mark Edward Manning
With regard to Afghanistan - just as an aside - we fought with NATO under NATO's pledge: An attack on any member state is an attack on all. The U.S. got attacked, NATO - including America - stepped in to help administer justice. That explains why even Canada and Germany were and still are in Afghanistan to this day.
I know you know this already, Mark, but I'm just explaining it to the anti-war mushheads who might be reading this and who probably think Afghanistan was as "illegal" and "unilateral" as Iraq.
7 - Elvira Black
Great piece, Mark.
8 - ss
Israel is being critisized by the international community, not restrained by it.
If the international community was cheering Israel on, at the end of the day, Hezbollah would still be in Southern Lebanon. Ahmanadinejad would still be running Iran (kinda), etc. etc.
Granted, when the truce fails the doves don't admit negotiations failed, they blame the hawks, overlooking the fact that without violent extemists, the hawks would be SOL.
It works the other way to.
When the war fails the hawks don't admit the war failed, they blame the doves, overlooking the fact that pacifists protest every war. If the war achieves what most people wanted it to, the pacifists are SOL.
These issues are so divisive because neither side can admit that neither war nor negotiations stand much chance of success in this situation.
If war and negotiation both fail, what options are politicians left with?
None, so they circle endlessly between war and negotiations.
One day the Middle East will change, but it won't be America, or the EU, or Israel, or the UN that changes it.
9 - chantal
Great article Mark----
And the idea that war somehow should be kind and humane is ridiculous. War and battle, by nature, are violent and barbaric. The HUMANE idea is to avoid war at all costs. War can't be politically correct....there is no PC way of killing people.
10 - Deano
I will note that the UN and other states were strangely silent in the last few years when rockets, shells and suicide bombers were killing Israeli civilians....
11 - Apollo
yeah where were the Al-Media and the UN when innocent israelis were being butchered by these animals :(.
12 - Mark Schannon
Gazelle, you and I will never see eye-to-eye I fear. The point is that if we fought WWII under the conditions you would impose, we would have lost and we'd all be goose-stepping our way to a Nazi utopia--well, not me, but you goyim.
Read Dave Nalles article Lebanon. I've called it heartbreaking and it is...but blame the people responsible--the Arabs who could have taken Hezbollah's guns away at any time, the UN and their sniveling coward of an anti-semetic rule, Kofi "I Never Met A Jew I Liked" Annan, European rules so terrified of the Arabs in their midsts that they won't take real action.
If you attacked me and I knew your goal eventually was to kill me, I wouldn't sit around and wonder what would be a reasonable response. I'd got after you with everything I could.
It's not right, it's not good, it's the horrible side of the fact that human beings are fundamentally savages. But you can't talk a savage into behaving like a human being.
In Despair Veritas
13 - Mark Schannon
Good gracious, where are my manners. Thanks for the positive comments, folks. I have to admit being surprised, but maybe my liberal brethren are still abed (yes, I'm still a liberal, whatever that means.)
Dave, the day someone calls me a neocon will go down as the funniest day of my life. I'll have to bronze myself or something.
In Decaf Veritas.
14 - kanrei
From the left: Great piece Mark! I agree 100% with every word.
15 - Mark Schannon
What the hell's going on here??? Where are all the attacks? Where's the righteous indignation? What's the point of a wild, late night rant if no one attacks you. Gazelle, say something mean and nasty, please.
Sheesh.
In Despair Veritas
16 - kanrei
Mark,
Maybe this is a sign that we are actually growing up beyond that stupid and meaningless divide of "left/right" and are now looking to "right/wrong".
17 - DrPat
Mark, I'm afraid the talking heads are all busy debating Mel Gibson's wild rant, and haven't any time to spare for yours...
18 - Les Slater
The U.S. had no complaints about Hitler and his machine until it threatened U.S. material interests.
Many in the U.S. ruling class, Henry Ford, Josesph Kennedy, to name a couple, were chering on der fuher in 'diciplining' labor and maybe solving the 'Jewish question' to boot.
There was no concern for demorcracy.
Yes, Dresden was a war crime. It is left to the victors to dismiss the crimes it has committed.
19 - Bliffle
Good article.
20 - Clavos
Excellent (but not PC) article, Mark.
I've long contended that the US has for years been too squeamish to be involved in wars; all our talk of "surgical strikes" and "smart bombs" ignores the inevitability of what we euphemistically call "collateral damage." As a grunt in Vietnam, I was all too painfully aware of the limitations (and danger) imposed on our troops by such a policy. It's also the chief reason we lost that war, and will probably lose Iraq.
21 - Mark Schannon
Dr. Pat--you're probably right. That damn Mel Brooks...er, Gibson...er. whatever. And I liked him too.
Les, you got me on Dresden. Had I taken the time to edit the article more carefully, I would have taken that out. It was a war crime, an inexcusable act of barbarism. That's what comes from ranting and then posting...but it was late. Thanks for pointing that out.
Clavos, a lot of people have written that the U.S. never got over the Vietnam war, especially since it was the first war where TV brought it to the homes of Americans. I think we have grown squeemish, which is why Gen. Schwartchcough...whatever the hell his name was, was adamant about if you're going to go to war, go to win. The media's effect on U.S. foreign policy when it comes to the military is an interesting idea for a story...
In Decaf Veritas
22 - Mark Schannon
Someone from DesiCritics found the following article from the Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer that's a must read.
23 - Jonston
Interesting. Personally, I have no use for either side and wish they hurry up and destroy one another. I'm not trying to troll; I really think the rest of the world will be much better off. Neither muslims nor jews have done anything for my people. Truth be told, they've been harmful. Can you guess which people are my people?
24 - Truth Teller
Thanks for the laugh. This is one of the most content free and idiotic propaganda pieces I've read on this website.
25 - John Spivey
rage, rage
IS the dying of the light