Lebanon: Killing innocent people to get Hezbollah

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The Killings in Lebanon to rid Hezbollah

I was thinking that an earlier post just might understand how history must be considered when taking actions today. His words on pacifism are true. They did work in an area very close to where needed today. But they worked against a "real country", who could not bring themselves to just kill all the supporters. I do not believe they would work against a "group" who are not a country; and who's only purpose is to kill all of the opposition.

Six years ago the "world shut them down". One voice (complete with UN Resolution)(translations vary) said basically that Hezbollah must immediately and forever leave Lebanon. Lebanon was ready to live in peace with Israel and wanted Hezbollah out. Had this voice been heard, today's problems would not be.

The world ignored the continuing invasion of Lebanon by Hezbollah, and the continuing escalation of the attacks against Israel. Hezbollah took over all of southern Lebanon and kept moving north.

One part of a previous post pretty well summed up the result. ["Hezbollah (which Time magazine spells Hizbollah for some reason) has effectively hijacked Lebanon's government."] There was once (yes that is past-tense) a real country called Lebanon. They had real borders and real citizens and a real government. There is very little hope of that ever being true again. Israel will be called invaders in the history books. They did invade a "country" (controlled by Hezbollah). Everyone knows Israel will once again pull back; just as soon as they have any hope of living in peace - if just for a while.

Please, do not misunderstand, I do not advocate it, but:
Actually "retaliatory violence" does work - if you kill off all of the opposition.
Israel has that capability.
Hezbollah does not have that capability - yet.
Israel has chosen to not use it.
Hezbollah will not hesitate to use it.
Just one persons opinion. I could be wrong.
-Daniel

My problem is that all this bombing and shooting isn't working and never has worked in this situation. It's like trying to shoot quicksilver...it just divides and scatters. Worse than that, it grows. The actions by Israel, supposedly, have made Hezbollah fighters out of ordinary Lebanese. Continued killing will never work...if killing worked, there would be peace in the Middle East by now if you define peace as an absence of gunfire.

Clearly, I need to do some research and reading on pacifism. I'm quite certain that these problems have been analyzed by pacifists before. Having always pooh-poohed pacifism as an impossibly idealistic dream, I've never really looked into what those writings might have to tell me. I mean, I read "Peace is Every Step" by a Tibetan monk (don't remember his name) but that's not really the thing I'm looking for, that was more of a personal life thing. I need something that addresses specific situations in history, like the Nazis, for example, from a pacifist view.

Right now, I'm reading, a book about the Civil War; E.L. Doctorow's new book "The March", a novel about Sherman's march through the south. I just started it and it's utterly captivating, can't wait to have the weekend to really dig into it. I imagine after that wallow in war atrocities, I'll be ready to start my little quest.

By the way, aren't the Republicans lucky to have the fear issue all pumped up again at election time? God really must be on their side.
Chris Thompson, TX

I think your statement that "retaliatory violence does work - if you kill off all of the opposition" is true on its face. The problem with the idea (morality aside, of course) lies in the application. To use violence to end violence, it is not only necessary to kill all the people who consider themselves your opposition, it is also necessary to kill all those who love and care for them. As long as one individual breathes who now, or at some future point, will seek revenge, the tactic has failed. For ancient peoples for whom the idea of blood feuds is common place, this approach seems doubly impractical.
That's my immediate, briefly considered response. I'm worn out from a day of traveling, so I'm probably missing something. I look forward to replies.
-Bob, NM

What if we put as much attention into trying to understand someone's differing views as we do in killing them (or hating them)...in other words, trying to understand why they think the way they do, what are the reasons, ...why can't we reach out with a conversation instead of a gun. The point being.....'reach out”. Yeah, maybe it takes hundreds of conversations but it beats killing. There should be a rule... you have to look the person in the eyes (really look) before you can blow him up....We need to stop thinking that all the innocent people being killed are just the mistakes of War. Would you draw a gun and shoot someone's mother, children, or grandpa....well, they do every day in War...they just can't see the people's faces they are killing.

When I worked at the Department of Corrections, I came in contact with lots of low-lives in the system. At first, I had no compassion for these people who had committed crimes, drug related, robbery, even murder.....until I met them face to face....there is something about looking into someone’s face, actually meeting them and talking to them that makes a difference in how you think of them...

I am simply saying.....when you look a person in the eyes, you think twice about pulling the trigger.....the trigger of a gun or the trigger of hate. We should all have to walk a mile in someone's shoes before we hate them. Killing has not solved anything so far!
-Sharon, NC

You're way right. One of the worst things that happened to humanity was when airplanes started being used in war. You can kill large numbers of people and remain, literally, above it all. The TV show MASH had an episode once where a fighter pilot, who thought his work was clean, had to see one of the kids who had been mutilated by a bomb. It was a memorable episode.

Chris, TX