*promote

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Monday, November 19th, 2012 7:47am PST - promote requested by radx.

Has asymmetric warfare ever been proven to do much more than create civilian casualties?
It's like killing people to create peer pressure.

Every bomb equals people being killed, injured or maimed. Innocent and guilty alike. Remember, as Biden said "Israel is our closest ally". Now wonder why the Arab world is dubious if not hostile to America's claims of being a force force for good in the world. Can you blame them for being skeptical?

I don't mean to detract from the seriousness of this situation, but do these reporters really need body armor like that? Does their entire crew have that or is it just for show? What about the translators? The drivers?

So you're saying that there is trouble in the Middle East again?

Seriously though, what is expected of either side in all of this? Israel initiated it by killing Hamas military leader. You know, the leader sworn to removing Israel from existence and directly responsible for planning and preparing direct attacks on Israel with that goal. Still, Israel can be faulted for being too aggressive in that. But what followed was hundreds of volleys of rockets aimed at Israeli civilians, only killing very few, but reaching further into Israel than ever before. Including claims, later verified, by the militants that the rockets where Iranian in origin. So Israel's worries and concerns about Hamas being armed and used as a proxy by Israels enemies is proven, again.

If you are fair, it is easy to see both side's reasons for outrage, anger and retaliation. The answer isn't to blame one side or the other. Israel has legitimate security concerns from Hamas, and all the regional nations arming them. The Gaza people are legitimately living in decrepit conditions and it is no surprise a group like Hamas has an easy time recruiting there. It's hard to blame the people of Israel and Gaza for supporting those acting in their own defense.

Why do I say this? Simply to observe that if it was as simple minded a problem as your statement, things would've been resolved ages ago. The answer, regrettably, isn't as simple as simply demanding Israel passively sit there and ignore every threat, attack and act of aggression against it.

>> ^Kofi:

Every bomb equals people being killed, injured or maimed. Innocent and guilty alike. Remember, as Biden said "Israel is our closest ally". Now wonder why the Arab world is dubious if not hostile to America's claims of being a force force for good in the world. Can you blame them for being skeptical?

Fuck Israel.

I don't like necessarily Israel's tact on this issue nor how much force they are employing. But, on the other hand I really don't know what else they should be doing that would bring about a ceasefire with people that don't seem overly concerned with focusing on things like "good intentions". As @bcglorf said this is a complicated scenario and it has no easy solutions. I'm even more afraid, ultimately, that it will always be true that if either of these sides (or countries if it ever comes to that) decide to break their ceasefire, even for something "minor" (something in the Cold War that wouldn't have provoked us or Russia into action) it may lead to conflict. Conflict like we now see playing out.

To be truthful, I have no advice for either of them, but I do think the world community including the U.S., someday, should agree together to tell ALL of the Middle East one thing, "Grow up!". Until we can agree unilaterally the Middle East will continue to be a powder keg. Though if Iraq truly becomes powerful, self-reliant, and democratically free then perhaps they can work opposite Israel to reign in groups and even countries that have "contracts of death" created for the purpose of destroying Israel. But, these are all long-term scenarios...

For now it really is up to the people in that region to decide: do they want war? Or would they rather they had peace? Israel is guilty of acting immature for a country that should now better in some circumstances. But, those around Israel are guilty of blind idiocy, pure ignorance, and following a self-destructive mandate (destroy Israel) that is the key to what leaves them behind the rest of the world. What a mess--one both sides need to clean up and eventually decide who is wrong...maybe a bit of both...

But, like that would ever happen...