I'm not taking either side of the issue, so don't think I'm implying anything by asking this question but:

Is the "appropriate" response, while a mortar attack is ongoing and potentially killing innocent people at the receiving end, to sit by and allow the attackers to continue their assault indefinitely?

Putting aside why either side does what (e.g., launching mortars from a school), just generally speaking in terms of offense/defense, if someone is continually launching weapons killing people from a distance and they don't stop (because they have no reason to stop while Israel exists), what should the response of the attacked people be? I'm trying to conceive of a viable alternative to 1) sitting and watching as innocent people in your own country are being killed, hoping it stops some time soon, and 2) launching an attack against the attackers to force them to stop.

Again, I'm just looking for a better understanding of the differing points of view, not spouting rhetoric.

Also, I don't know the results of this specific incident. Did the IDF drop a bomb destroying the entire school?

[edit]
To be clear, my questions are more in general than this specific attack. Whether mortars or rockets, near or far, schools or hospitals, the issue remains.

>> ^mharvey42:
>> ^volumptuous:
Today, Israel bombed the shit out of a UN school, filled with kids.

More on that school bombing: http://www.videosift.com/video/Hamas-firing-mortars-froma-school-d
rone-video


It isn't a surprise of course that Hamas militants are using schools to launch attacks from. The bastards WANT Israel to fire back on that position. Condemn Hamas in the strongest terms for it, but IMHO that doesn't take Israel off the hook either. Israel still shouldn't be blowing up schools, Hamas' "forcing" of the issue just makes them BOTH guilty. I'll even accept Hamas is 'more' guilty, but when we are talking about blowing up a school I don't think being 'less' guilty is really much of a commendation.

>> ^volumptuous:
Today, Israel bombed the shit out of a UN school, filled with kids.


More on that school bombing: http://www.videosift.com/video/Hamas-firing-mortars-froma-school-drone-video

i dun mean to call anyone out and cause waves but.......i am thoroughly perplexed by Drachen_Jager's comment.

Well first of all, I didnt call what she was firing a gun. I merely said that I'm a gun guy, meaning I love to shoot, I have (I would say) above average knowledge of how they operate, how to maintain them, and how to properly and effectively employ them.

Furthermore even if I HAD called it a gun (which it friggin is) how is it not a gun? I'm really just confused at how you came to the conclusion that an SMG is not a gun. Should i just call it light arms next time? That would be way more vague (considering AT weapon systems and even mortar systems are light arms).

Not angry or offended or anything........just utterly perplexed that you wouldnt call that a gun and then called me out for, according to you, calling it such (even when i didnt). I really am baffled lol

I feel compelled to post my weapon qualifications resume but then I would just look like a bragging, poopfaced, jerk. However, I will say that that person holding the M4 with the M203 attachment in my profile pic.......thats me =P


(no hard feelings there Drachen, just yankin yer chain mate)

>> ^rougy:
Doesn't it look like fun?
Don't you wish you were there?
"Cool scars...."
Getting their stories straight on the 120 mortar....
That is fucking insanity.


There isn't nothing fun about friendly fucks, and there ain't nothing fun about war. Any one who likes war, is as choggie says "Damaged Goods", to me they are fucking sociopaths.

PS: I know it was sarcasm.

Doesn't it look like fun?

Don't you wish you were there?

"Cool scars...."

Getting their stories straight on the 120 mortar....

That is fucking insanity.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Mortar, Rocket, Phalanx, Insurgent, eerie' to 'Mortar, Rocket, Phalanx, Insurgent, eerie, CWIS, Gattling' - edited by MarineGunrock

"Lob-Bombs are the new threat here in Iraq.
It is the process of taking and oxygen tank that
is designed for welding and using it as a weapon.
You cut it open pack a portion of it with ball bearings,
screws, and bolts. You then weld the tank back together and put pressure into it. Some 3,000 pounds of [PSI].

For maximum effectiveness you attach small mortars or rockets
to the side and set those off. Since none of the pressure inside the tank
is expended once it hits something rigid it makes a much large explosion.
this causes the scrap metal and ball bearings to fly at a much higher rate of travel."

Don't worry, do what the rest us have been doing, import it from overseas for a third of the brick and mortar retail price.

There is no other mindfuck like it. The company that I work for ships on pallets- so they're used alot. And whenever someone prepares one, they take it off the stack, put it on it's side, and let it drop. It's just how it's done. But when it hits the concrete floor, it makes a really loud sudden Crack! which never fails to jump the shit out of me. No, it doesn't really sound like the dozens of mortars that fell around me, but it's enough to make me shit my pants every time.



This guy was really well spoken, too.
Really good Sift, ZIfnab. Thanks.

*gasp again, that was a good response dag.

but i would argue your "features" are counterproductive.

siftquisition for adhom is still "helping ourselves", and with a clear definition you wouldn't even need to moderate the threads. three strikes and you're out, retard. then this juvenile thoughtless retarded slippery slope would disappear. i would even stop calling you all retards if that's the rules you set. it would be worth it for a more productive environment instead of a waste of time cock waving competition.

it's not censorship at all, there's plenty of other intertubes to be a wanker in. an internet community differs from a bricks and mortar community in that it is very easy to move, consequently you can't bitch so much about free speech or hide behind the excuse that you are "joking" ...if your neighbours tell you to stop being a misogynistic cunt, just move, you are a user, not a citizen.

of course i would argue for a definition of ad hom that allows for strong argument and strong language. it's just "die in a fire, bitch" should not be paraded as the pinnacle of commenting on here. the feedback loop of retarded comment voting is biting you in the ass.

>> ^SaNdMaN:
>> ^charliem:
Seen an interview with a EOD trooper in iraq (from the UK army) saying that they constantly find UXO RPG shells, 105mm mortars / arty shells, all with trademark iranian signatures from iranian weapons manufacturers.

There are also plenty of AK-47s. Doesn't mean that Russia is supplying the Iraqi insurgency.


Thats my point.
There are iranian arms inside iraq, the army shouldnt just blatantly use that as proof-positive that the iranian state are supporting terrorists.

>> ^charliem:
Seen an interview with a EOD trooper in iraq (from the UK army) saying that they constantly find UXO RPG shells, 105mm mortars / arty shells, all with trademark iranian signatures from iranian weapons manufacturers.


There are also plenty of AK-47s. Doesn't mean that Russia is supplying the Iraqi insurgency.

There is plenty of evidence of the weapons being used by insurgents as originating from Iran.

Cenk is missing the point here, its not that they ARE made in iran, its wether or not the iranian state is giving these weapons to the insurgents with an intent to be used in iraq on US troops.

Seen an interview with a EOD trooper in iraq (from the UK army) saying that they constantly find UXO RPG shells, 105mm mortars / arty shells, all with trademark iranian signatures from iranian weapons manufacturers.

>> ^omnistegan:
I live quite dangerously in the realm of piracy but I stick to at least one rule for myself: If I like it, I'll support the artist. So if I pirate a movie and enjoy it I'll either buy it or rent it, and if I pirate a CD and like it, I'll buy it. I put money into the industry but I don't want to be told which sequences of code I can or cannot have on my hard-disk.


Better to send a check directly to the artist, because when you buy/rent it at a brick-and-mortar 90% of the money goes to the useless retailers and useless wholesalers and the useless publishing companies.