A small word on a big problem

I haven't been ignoring the Israeli-Lebanon conflict -- I've just been trying to sort through what few facts I have available to me.

While the loss of human life, especially that of innocent civilians, is very, very troubling and should be brought to a speedy end, I do think the Israelis have a right to defend their nation. Their attitude, I think is more noble. They are saying,
"For our own survival, we need to prevent this small sect (Hezbollah) from fulfilling their goal to wipe us off the face of the planet, but we have no qualms with the Muslim religion existing at large." Hezbollah, by contrast, wants all Jews exterminated. And Lebanon, I'm afraid, is culpable because they have allowed Hezbolla to openly train soldiers, aquire weapons and set up missle launching sites in civilian communities without any interference.

To me, that would be like the U.S. government allowing the Ku Klux Klan to operate openly, aquire their own army and weaponry and start launching missles agains Mexico. If the U.S. did that, we could expect Mexico to retaliate against ALL of us, just as Israel is retaliating against primarily Hezbollah, but Lebanon, too.

All in all, though, a very sad situation and a brutal war and the sooner it ends, the better.

--Sparki