Thursday, October 12, 2006

Shorter Stephen Harper

If Hezbollah does it, it's a war crime. If Israel does it, it's self defense.

In criticizing Liberal leadership candidates as "anti-Israeli", Harper has once again shown how limited and short sighted his positions really are.

Hezbollah lobbing rockets at Israeli settlements is just as wrong as Israel dropping high explosives on Lebanese villages. Both are civilian populations, and neither side is exempt from criticism for it. Under many standards, both Hezbollah and Israel can be accused of "war crimes" for attacking civilian populations.

Mr. Harper's own response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon last summer was to call Israel's response "measured", as if some kind of restraint was exercised. I suppose, if one considers the prospect that Israel could have nuked Lebanon, one might consider Israel's invasion "measured"...but that's like saying that a disgruntled customer that burns a restaurant down after a bad meal experience engaged in a "measured" response - it just depends on what rubber ruler you use.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A candidate who comments that certain actions taken by the Israeli military were criminal does not make that candidate, nor the rest of the Liberal candidates, "anti-Israeli".

Harper is trying to appeal to the religious fundies and the Jewish community as he is fully aware that they represent a _motivated voting group_, which will come in handy when the next election rolls around if he can get them on his side. This is a page out of the operating manual of the Rethuglican Party.

SB

(For more information on what the motivating factors are behind Harpers actions read the article in the October 2006 edition of The Walrus)

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