Calling a war a war

Submitted by Irwin Prince (United States), Jan 8, 2003 at 08:48

Particular attention should be paid (by Israel) to Pipes comment: "On occasion, prospective suicide bombers have turned themselves in, or were turned in by their parents, out of fear that the family house would be destroyed in retaliation."
In my opinion, swift, brutal retaliation directed against the particular suicide bomber's own people has always been the key to stopping the violence. Israel should have labeled suicide bombing exactly what it was - a weapon of war, and not terrorism. By calling it terrorism, Israel tied her own hands behind her back, and limited her response to ferreting out the "terrorists" individually, or in small groups. You don't win a war by taking out enemy soldiers one at a time while taking special care not to injure "innocent" bystanders. You win a war by destroying the enemy's ability and/or desire to make war, and public relations be damned.

Israel's casualties in this intifida are now approaching those suffered during the Six Day War. For a weak, disorganized and disunited people, with few armaments, to launch a war against a neighboring state with a powerful army and air force is mass insanity. Israel must do whatever it takes to stop the insanity, and if it takes a helicopter gunship rocketing the home of a suicide bomber while the family and friends are inside celebrating their new found Iraqi wealth, so be it. If such retaliation had occurred after the first bomber, perhaps there wouldn't have been a second one. Certainly, there wouldn't have been a third. Consider the number of Jewish and Arab lives that might have been spared in the long run and then tell me that I'm the barbarian.

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