[fabsroman]

Gumpokc,

I agree completely that terrorists should be killed, but not everybody in the entire nation that the terrorist happens to be in. Heck, we have terrorists right in the US right now, but I don't see us bombing our own cities. I guess it is just plain easier for Israel to bomb the heck out of Beirut, and even if the 76 alleged dead are only that, I am pretty sure that everybody within the city is pretty much stuck there. I wouldn't want to be in that situation either. It is kind of tough for any of us to understand what it is like to be stuck in our own city, but the best analogy I can give is the US right after 9/11 when nobody could fly anywhere. Granted, we could still get in a car and leave, which I did. I went from downtown Baltimore, where I happened to be working, straight to DC, where my parents live and where my sister and father were in the downtown part of when all the stuff was happening. My sister worked right next to the Pentagon and when I got through to her she thought we were being bombed and she was worried for my dad who was also downtown that morning. It is a sick feeling.

If you lined up all the terrorists in the world, and the powers that be told me they were 100% sure these guys were terrrorists, I would have no problem mowing them all down. However, if you lined up 100 people, and told me that 99 of them were terrorists but 1 was probably innocent, I would have a much tougher time killing all of them. Now, throw in the fact that killing them might have global repercussions like starting a war and risking world economies, then it would also be extremely hard.

Almost everything on this board is always so black and white for people: "Go Israel" "Close of the Borders" "Deport all Illegal Aliens" "Kill Everybdoy Convicted of Rape and Murder". Nobody sits down to think about the bigger picture.

For instance, I went to the Outer Banks last week and you would be surprised by the number of young polish people with accents that were working there at the stores and bars. However, they were probably legal aliens, or at least I hope they were. Now, if Americans are so hard up for jobs, why are polish immigrants working as cashiers and bartenders in the Outer Banks? Why is it that these jobs are not filled by American citizens?

Yes, Go Israel, kill all the terrorists. I have no problem with that, but I also think it should be couched with Go Israel, kill all the terrorists, but make sure you follow international law, or you are no better than the terrorists. Go Israel, kill all the terrorists but make sure you limit civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.

I have no problem with Israel killing all the terrorists, but I do have a problem with the way they are going about it. We could wipe out most of the terrorists in the world, or severely hamper their infrastruture if we nuked all of the Middle East, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. If we send the entire Middle East back to prehistoric times, it would be a lot harder for the terrorists to cause any trouble, but I don't see us doing that either. Why, because it is probably wrong.

Now, who is to say that Israel itself is not a terrorist. Just because it uses tanks, warships, and airplanes to carry out its message (i.e., don't mess with us or we will visit a world of hate on your entire nation), doesn't mean that it isn't a terrorist. Terrorist target civilian buildings and civilians to cause terror in their enemies. Well, Israel is doing just that. Now, I have nothing against targeting a civilian building if you know that a terrorist is in it, but targeting an entire city and cutting it off from the outside world because you know terrorists are in it, I have a problem with that. And where do you draw the line. If a single terrorist is in a building, what is the acceptable collateral damage for civilians. Let's say a terrorist is in a civilian building such as the World Trade Center over in Lebanon. I know there is no such thing, but use your imagination. Would it be okay to kill 3,000+ civilians to get this terrorist or is that too much collateral damage? That should be my next pole. Is it okay to kill 3,000 innocent, and I mean innocent, arab civilians to get Osama Bin Laden? Not all arabs are terrorists. Heck, I believe the majority are peaceful people.