I've been hearing a lot about Hezbollah's(Hez) use of citizens to give them the advantage(The Shield) and then being fingered for the losses of
their lives when Israel kills them. Well excuse me but being taught how to fire arms at a young age, we were taught that
WE were responsible
for what we fired at. What is being portrayed is flawed logic imo.
First off, I do not condone the ineffectual rockets that Hez is firing into Israel. Nor do I condone the excessive military force that Israel is using
in Lebanon. They are killing as indiscriminantly as Hez's rockets and with much more devistation. OK, this is where the "Human Shield" comes in.
Why does Hez fight in this manner? Because they are cowards, as some put forth here? Unlikely if you look at things
logically. Hez has what?
2000 fighters some say but if you do the math it's closer to 6000. How does a force accomplish it's objective if they went toe to toe with
this?
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF as of August, 2004 had (according to unofficial estimates) 168,000 personnel, including 107,500
conscripts. The army had 125,000; the navy had 8,000; the air force had 35,000. Full mobilization to 576,000 could be quickly achieved with the
reserves of 408,000.
It would be a quick demise for Hez, not even a weekend exersise. Looking at the numbers alone would say that they aren't cowards but to the contrary,
they are fighting the only way they can in the face of a HUGE mismatch.
It seems like they are doing quite well too:
Source
It's hard to defeat a group of extremists who can mingle among civilian supporters and are pros at propaganda. Israel's military faces the same
conundrum the United States has encountered elsewhere — finding that air strikes are costly in civilian deaths and public support, while ground
attacks are risky for soldiers.
That does not mean Hezbollah is winning militarily.
But the guerrilla group has so far avoided a knockout by Israel, even as international pressure for a ceasefire has grown. And in the war of
perceptions, Hezbollah has only to look strong against Israel and make Israel look bad to win across much of the Arab world, many analysts say.
That was brought into stark focus yesterday when an Israeli air strike flattened a house in southern Lebanon, killing more than 50 people, mostly
women and children.
Israel apologized for the deaths and blamed Hezbollah, accusing it of using civilians as human shields.
Hez is fighting in the only way that they can in the face of a HUGE disadvantage, in numbers, in Tech, in firepower. Blaming them
solely for
the deaths of the Human Shield is shortsighted. Calling them cowards is idiotic at best or why would they go against those odds at all.