The pity of what is happening in Lebanon is that the Lebanese brought it on themselves. Just as the Taliban, a terrorist gang in the guise of a religious party, took control over Afghanistan, so has Hezbollah taken effective control over Lebanon (with help from Syria and money and weapons from Iran). The Taliban and their Al Quidde cohorts choose to launch an attack on the US, and we responded. Why should anyone be surprised when Israel responded after being attacked by Hezbollah controlled Lebanon?

Israel's response to its attack is understandably fiercer than was ours to 9/11 since their tiny country's very existence is in the balance. Their cities along the border (and ones now well away from the border) have been bombarded repeatedly with rockets and mortars, the rhetoric of the terrorists (and their Syrian and Iranian sponsors) call for the extermination of their state, and the terrorists operate in an adjacent country – not half way around the world.

So the fate of Lebanon and its citizens was sealed when they allowed this gang of fanatical terrorists to acquire massive amounts of arms. The Lebanese had not the moral courage to stand up to this gang and disarm them. And so, over the last year, Lebanon has been moving along the same trail of other failed states, those countries whose legitimate governments were effectively pushed from power by fanatical, well armed terrorist groups. Besides Afganistan, this has happened in Somalia and Ivory Coast and most recently in the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, places where anyone at any age can grab a gun and claim they are liberators. It doesn't take much moral courage to be follow the fiery oratory and to shout and scream slogans and march and wear uniforms and wave banners and rifles in the air. Living in a modern democracy requires self control and discipline, the acceptance of the rule of law, of the primacy of institutions of government, and of some serious sacrifice of some of your own will (and of your willful actions) for the good of all. And a state must provide security, by not allowing itself to by hijacked by such terrorist gangsters.

So, all of us who worry about the ability of modern civilization to survive the onslaught of anarchy and bloodshed by religious or ethnic based terrorist gangsters - whether it be wrought by planes flown into buildings, schools attacked and the children killed, bombs detonated in subways or buses or pizza restaurants or mosques, or by missiles, ... all of us ought to support the Israeli effort to fight this battle - it is our battle also.

What would be a proper response by Israel? Since Israel has withdrawn from Gaza they have been subjected to a steady stream of rockets from Hamas and it's associated terrorist minions. These are rockets being sent into the pre-1967 borders of Israel--the same borders that the Palestinians and the rest of the world have been clamoring for Israel to observe. Why, you ask? because Hamas is bent on Israel's destruction.
Next we have a raid by another terrorist organization into Israel in which 8 soldiers are murdered and 2 others are kdnapped. This raid, carrie dout by Hezbollah, another organization bent on Israel's destruction. By the way, Hezbollah was suppose dto have been disarmed, as per the UN resolutions of a few years ago.
So to satisfy you, Israel should just sit back and allow terrorist organizations, who make no secret fo their desire to destroy Israel, to run rampant killing and maiming.
Lebanon has reaped what it sowed--it has refused to disarm Hezbollah and has even given it a spot in it's government. Now they are paying the price.
It is unfortunate, Jagjit, that you have very little real knowledge of what is happeneing in the Middle East, but rather your rhetoric is driven by hatred for Israel, as evidenced by your postings on this blog and your letters over the years to the PA Weekly and PA Daily.
Finally where do you get your "facts" from (destruction of milk factories, 40+ bridges, convoys of ambulances etc)???

It may be that Israel did the best it could, under the circumstances. The Hezbollah weapons were often hidden in civilian homes, with women and children nearby. How do you destroy such arms caches without "collateral damage?" These innocent people are purposely being sacrificed in order to give the press and the world a twisted view of Israeli callousness.

Hezbollah has been allowed to establish itself along the southern border of Lebanon. What are they intending to do there, as they store weapons and build manpower? Is Lebanon enabling Hezbollah, yet remaining neutral in this conflict? Neutrality could only be exemplified by not allowing your soil to be used as a weapons storage area, a staging area for future incursions. What if Mexico or Canada harbored terrorist camps at our borders with missiles aimed at our cities, would we object somehow? Would we wait until we were attacked?

We don't know what it is like to be nearly surrounded by countries determined to exterminate every one of our folks. Jordan and Egypt have been good neighbors with Israel for some time now, so it is possible to coexist in peace. There is no buffer zone large enough to separate sworn enemies in this world, so we need a different solution in the long run. We are all demeaned by the endless conflicts. War is the wrong solution.

Jag,

The root cause seems to be Lebanon's inability to prohibit a terror group from creating a military base in the middle of its residential neighborhoods.

The inhumanity is not from the Israelis. Their response is as to be expected. The inhumanity is displayed by Muslims (Hamas and Hezbollah) who are willing to massacre Lebananese people by using them as shields. Then pointing a finger at Israel.

A hypocritical gesture. Unfortunately, its human nature to treate the symptom (Israeli attacks), not eliminate the cause (Hezbollah).

Jag,

Let me understand. Hezbollah claimed that it can protect Lebanon from Israel. It provoked Israel by attacking it. Israel retaliated and Hezbollah has failed to protect Lebanon. Its leaders are well protected in their bunkers, leaving Lebanon to suffer.

So is the best way to protect solve the situation is to cry wolf? Isn't the best way to help Lebanon is to demonstrate in support of disarming Hezbollah? Will Israel attack Lebanon if Hezbollah does not have a militia?

Hezbollah, like all Jihadists are cowardly, unmanly swine, hiding behind babies and asking children to do their fighting. If this is the flower of Islam, God help Islam.