Lebanon and Morality
The longer I live and the more I experience the more I come to realize that there are very few moral absolutes in the world. There are very few firm lines, places where you can draw a line and say this is right and this is wrong; here is the light and here is the dark. Mostly, there are a lot of shades of gray in between light and dark. Or so I’ve come to find.
Take the situation in Lebanon for instance. There’s no real dispute that Hezbollah is a terrorist group. I define ‘terrorist group’ as a group that knowingly and deliberately attacks civilians. I don’t go in for the definitions that are bandied about these days and keep expanding; to hear some folks talk, any form of dissent constitutes terrorism! And I’m well aware that some governments fall under my definition of terrorist group.
Back to Hezbollah. Yes, they’re terrorists. And terrorism is wrong. Period. But –I can see what drives them to it. It doesn’t condone it, but it does explain it. It goes back to the old adage, desperate people do desperate things. Take away someone’s options and they will react by taking whatever is left. I may condemn their means, but I can’t condemn everything about them out of hand.
And then there’s Israel. Yes, they’re responding to the kidnapping of two of their soldiers. But –does that justify what they’ve done? They’ve not only attacked Hezbollah, but they’re pretty much destroying Lebanon a bit at a time. They’ve destroyed the airport and every bridge, bombed every major road, taken out factories, hospitals, schools. Not to mention residences and apartment complexes and everything else. Hundreds of Lebanese civilians are dead, and more will surely follow. If not in the fighting then in the humanitarian crisis that will inevitably come hard on the heels of the fighting. People will die from starvation, disease, and worse. All of this –over two soldiers? And we’re supporting it.
Both sides are in the wrong here. But is either side more wrong. And, how much more blood must be shed before this insanity is stopped?
Take the situation in Lebanon for instance. There’s no real dispute that Hezbollah is a terrorist group. I define ‘terrorist group’ as a group that knowingly and deliberately attacks civilians. I don’t go in for the definitions that are bandied about these days and keep expanding; to hear some folks talk, any form of dissent constitutes terrorism! And I’m well aware that some governments fall under my definition of terrorist group.
Back to Hezbollah. Yes, they’re terrorists. And terrorism is wrong. Period. But –I can see what drives them to it. It doesn’t condone it, but it does explain it. It goes back to the old adage, desperate people do desperate things. Take away someone’s options and they will react by taking whatever is left. I may condemn their means, but I can’t condemn everything about them out of hand.
And then there’s Israel. Yes, they’re responding to the kidnapping of two of their soldiers. But –does that justify what they’ve done? They’ve not only attacked Hezbollah, but they’re pretty much destroying Lebanon a bit at a time. They’ve destroyed the airport and every bridge, bombed every major road, taken out factories, hospitals, schools. Not to mention residences and apartment complexes and everything else. Hundreds of Lebanese civilians are dead, and more will surely follow. If not in the fighting then in the humanitarian crisis that will inevitably come hard on the heels of the fighting. People will die from starvation, disease, and worse. All of this –over two soldiers? And we’re supporting it.
Both sides are in the wrong here. But is either side more wrong. And, how much more blood must be shed before this insanity is stopped?
posted by RAS at 7/20/2006 07:21:00 PM
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