The American Spectator

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(Page 6 of 17)

/p> p> I am more than disturbed by Mr. Stein's article. Using his circular logic, one may all too easily justify the attack on New York of 9/11 as a response to our earlier bombings of Qaeda sites, as some have indeed justified the bombing of Dresden or the destruction of Nagasaki. Should we then look forward to the hypothetical bombings of Tel-Aviv or Los Angeles? Mr. Stein is, as they used to say, part of the problem. br> -- J.M. Lofficier br> Sherman Oaks, California /p> p> Thank you Ben Stein, for this commentary. I love your books, your Yahoo column, and most of all, this commentary. br> -- Theo Rand /p>

Ben Stein writes, "So, now I see that some commentators are saying that Israel's bombing of Lebanese Hezbollah strong points and neighborhoods is 'disproportionate.' The Israeli campaign, so this story goes, is bullying and terrorizing the Lebanese populace, and this is (so the argument goes) typical Israeli thug behavior."

Well, no, Mr. Stein. This isn't "typical Israeli thug behavior." Typically, Israel has been conservative and well-measured in its response to previous attacks on its sovereignty. I find myself amazed that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has gone against its history and is now blowing out the infrastructure of Lebanon, and is excusing its killing of innocent civilians. This flies in the face of its history, which is replete with measured and deliberate responses to those previous challenges.

Hizbollah has attacked northern Israel with Katyusha and other, longer-range rockets, even hitting Haifa several times. The IDF responded by attacking the Katyusha launchers, and I hope will soon blow them all to shards.

But the IDF made a mistake in taking the fight deep into Lebanon, assuming that Hizbollah spoke for the government of Lebanon, instead as a minority member of that government. It bombed Lebanese army barracks, blew up many bridges and even the runways of the Beirut International Airport, and is now bombing communications facilities all across Lebanon in preparation for a potential invasion. In the process it killed many innocents, and turned many Lebanese enemies of Hizbollah into enemies of Israel.

p>To quote Forrest Gump's mother, "Stupid is as stupid does."

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