The Other Side

On the Archersnook (DLSU) Yahoo Group yesterday, I offered to publish any statement about the ongoing war in Lebanon here at Philippine Commentary from Lebanese Consul General in Manila Joseph F. Assad, an old batchmate at La Salle Green Hills and a Lebanese Christian whose own daughter was among the first to be evacuated from Lebanon last week. He posted this article, with the message "Blog this!" -- It is reproduced here in full (with only extraneous whitespace removed) in the interest of presenting the other side after I wrote I am with Israel last week:

The Human Shield Lie Exposed

On the heels of Israel's horrendous massacre of more than 60 civilians in Qana, among them OVER 40 CHILDREN, I will lay to rest once and for all, the colossal lie presented in unison by these mass murderers and their accomplices, in defense of the indefensible - the position that Hizbullah uses civilians as "human shields" against overwhelming Israeli aggression.

Nothing could be more illogical or absurd. Let's examine it carefully.

When someone uses another human being as a "shield," under the plain meaning of the word, it is understood to be a method to deter aggression by adversaries. In order for that objective to be achieved, crucial premises must first exist.

The party who employs the human shield MUST assume that their adversary will hesitate to fire against those shields for fear of harming them.

But in order for that to happen, the adversary must first CARE about the welfare of the so-called "human shields."

If the opposing party DOES NOT CARE about their welfare, then the alleged objective of deterring aggression falls apart.

For example, in the United States, a bank robber might take a hostage to deter the use of overwhelming force by police. In every case, the police DO NOT fire for fear that they might jeopardize the life of the hostage.

Indeed, Israelis frequently take civilians hostage to use as human shields because Hamas fighters are reluctuant to fire on them.

In contrast, Israel has proved time and again, beyond ANY reasonable doubt, that they ARE NOT deterred in any manner whatsoever from employing overwhelming force against whatever target they see fit, regardless of whether civilians are in the area.

Israel's routine AFTER-THE-FACT attempts to characterize civilian victims of their ruthless aggression as Hizbullah's "human shields" is nothing less than a diabolical effort to twist the meaning of the phrase beyond all recognition.

Once the bogus "shield" or deterrence theory is rejected, the only alternative Israel presents in its favor is the outrageous suggestion that Hizbullah fired from near civilian areas for the purpose of proving that Israel DOES NOT CARE about massive civilian deaths. In other words, not as a method to deter aggression but as a method to win the PR war against Israel. If believed, then indeed Hizbullah succeeded in proving that Israel DOES NOT CARE ONE IOATA about the lives of innocent Arab civilians.

Under such an outrageous theory, civilians cannot be characterized as "human shields," but instead must be called "human sacrifices" for the purpose of exposing Israeli savagery.

If accepted, this theory cannot prove that Hizbullah is cynically using innocent civilians without FIRST establishing that Israelis are savage barbarians.

Hizbullah can only prove about Israel that which is already TRUE.

In such a scenario, Hizbullah's alleged cynicism cannot be a cause in fact of civilian deaths without an intervening and proximate cause - the depraved indifference by Israelis to massive loss of innocent civilian lives.

Make no mistake, Israelis are not only remorseless mass murderers, they are unrepentant liars - the most evil combination known to man.

UPDATE:

For clarification, I categorically reject the ridiculous assertion that Hizbullah uses their families' lives as pawns in a PR game to prove a point that is already CRYSTAL CLEAR from how Israel conducts itself in Palestine.

The TRUTH is that Hizbullah fights from their neighborhoods. They have no other option. After all it is their country and they are defending it.

ISRAEL could invade the border with ground forces and attempt to attack Hizbullah selectively with very little Lebanese civilian casualties. But, that course of action results in high Israeli military casualties, which Israel is not willing to suffer.

Instead, they engage in a twisted racist and depraved cost/benefit analysis wherein they choose to KILL HUNDREDS of innocent Arab civilians by using overwhelming arial force rather than risk dozens of Israeli military lives.

One can only conclude that Israelis are craven and depraved cowards, who consider the lives of their military men more precious than the lives of innocent Arab civilians.

And the WORLD knows this as sure as they know that the sun rises from the east.

Israel, you cannot escape the TRUTH.

Abandon your insanity - YOU CANNOT WIN.