"COWARDS WAR"

Its “Put up or Shut up” Time in Lebanon
Mike Whitney

The Israeli High-Command loves the air-war phase of the conflict. After all, no one gets killed at 30,000 ft. The only victims of this lethal-strategy are the unlucky women and children who are left scampering for their lives while Israeli bombs flatten their homes and all their worldly possessions. For 10 days now Israel has casually showered Lebanon with laser-guided munitions, bunker-busters, Daisy Cutters and cluster-bombs. The cheerily-named ordinance reflects the profound affection that US/Israel feel for the deadly weaponry that assures their dominant place in the global order. But, let’s face it; the bombing campaign is the "coward’s war". It doesn’t take bravery to pelt civilians with high-explosives when the F-16s are unchallenged in the sky. Nor does it show any courage to ravage the countryside leveling bridges, milk factories and mosques. That’s just terrorism, isn’t it? But, now we’re entering the ground phase of the war and that does take courage. Israel is massing troops on Lebanon’s southern border and, apparently, has already taken a few small towns in the south. The Israeli-friendly media can be expected to craft a narrative that is sympathetic to the aggressor but, that’s okay. No one disputes the value of propaganda or the rights of the people who own the printing presses, but that will not diminish what is about to take place in southern Lebanon. We are about to see the most powerful army in the Middle East, armed with every homicidal device know to man, go up against a tough-minded, well-disciplined nationalist guerilla-force. Israel thinks that they’ll be out in a week or two. We’ll see...