There is no bigger man here.

"However, the footage shows a tank firing the first of two shells, at close range, at a group of civilians who are running away."

-- BBC News

It's not hard to agree with Isreal's right to defend itself. Living here in Washington, we were given just one small taste of the unreasonable fear of death and the unknown. Try living under that every day.

And the Isrealis know who their attacker is. I have still yet to see the evidence that convicts anyone in the September 11th attacks.* Everyone including the attackers and their government admit Palestinians are implimenting their attacks.

So we feel bad for Isreal. They are trying to be the 'bigger man'. They are trying to ethically fight back against an enemy willing to do anything to get their point across.

Bull-fucking-shit.

The isreali defense forces have razed homes of admittedly innocent people to send messages to their families. They have taken over whole cities; instituting cerfews and travel restrictions backed up with lethal enforcement, that can and likely will result in starvation for a majority of the Palestinian people living in those cities. Now they are caught firing on children running away with a fucking tank.

There is no bigger man here.

You have two governments, both being run by former (and current) human butchers, who will defend their people, no matter how many of their own lives it costs.

And the best the rest of the world can do is present peace plans that do little more than quote Rodney King and Reginald Denny?

"Can't we all just... get along?"

--

* The automatic assumption of binLaden's guilt makes that hard to remember. The american government assured foriegn leaders it had damning evidence that convicted the Al Queda in the destruction.

I don't remember them ever showing it to us, though. The american people they represent.

I saw video tapes. I don't happen to know anyone in the area who speaks arabic who could translate for me. But even taking the government translations, (which took way too long to just 'translate') as literal, binLaden admits to nothing but joy over the success of the attacks.

That may be sick, but it is hardly evidence, and hardly shocking. I would be amazed to learn that at least a third of the world weren't happy to finally see the US get bitch-slapped. We are not well liked people. And when I am forced to listen to Joe-Bob and Bertha telling me how they wished they could get out there and help kill those damn A-rabs in Aphgany-stan, I don't have trouble understanding why.

Show me the fucking evidence.

Or was the evidence more in the nature of the US pointing out to these foriegn leaders that if they went along with this campaign, it gave them free reign to take out (translation: kill) every force they could declare subversive to their own beliefs?