More on Lebanon

This piece from Salon is a very important article, I think, in judging the conflict. It argues forcefully that Hezbollah fighters are not hiding among civilians to such an extent that would require or even justify such widespread and almost indiscriminate bombing as we have seen so far from Israel.

As with all Salon content, you will need to watch a short ad before viewing the entire article, but you do not need to register or pay for anything.

I will, however, skip to the end for you:

the analysts talking on cable news about Hezbollah "hiding within the civilian population" clearly have spent little time if any in the south Lebanon war zone and don't know what they're talking about. Hezbollah doesn't trust the civilian population and has worked very hard to evacuate as much of it as possible from the battlefield. And this is why they fight so well -- with no one to spy on them, they have lots of chances to take the Israel Defense Forces by surprise, as they have by continuing to fire rockets and punish every Israeli ground incursion.

And the civilians? They see themselves as targeted regardless of their affiliation. They are enraged at Israel and at the United States, the only two countries on earth not calling for an immediate cease-fire. Lebanese of all persuasions think the United States and Israel believe that Lebanese lives are cheaper than Israeli ones. And many are now saying that they want to fight.

I strongly encourage you to read the whole article.