In A Word: Damoclean Sword – It is beyond torture to sit and wait for a sword to fall.
Gerald Eisman
August 01, 2006
Damocles: Greek courtier to Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse, who according to legend was forced to sit at a banquet under a sword suspended by a single hair to demonstrate the precariousness of a king's fortunes.
The world bristles with every bomb that is dropped by the Israeli Air Force in its war with Hezbollah and castigates the little nation for its callous disregard for civilian life. Meanwhile, on July 27, the Hezbollah forces launched 151 missiles into Israel aimed at civilian targets and not one word was mentioned by those same critics about the terrorists. The only difference between the two forces is that Hezbollah is targeting the civilians directly, on purpose.
Part of what makes Hezbollah unique as a fighting force is that it is well armed and has a supply of rockets in excess of 10,000. Among them are a few hundred Syrian and Iranian made missiles that can travel 60 or more miles and carry large warheads. Many of the Syrian missiles can be filled with antipersonnel weaponry such as ball bearings, like the one that landed in a Haifa rail yard. Not one complaint was heard from the world concerning that incident or its vicious potential to kill.
The question many ask is why has Israel responded so violently to the incursion of Hezbollah terrorist forces into its northern territory. The answer is, simply, the hair that held the Sword of Damocles over Israeli heads has parted and the weapon finally dropped.
When one lives under a constant threat of armed intervention and violence, the nerves begin to fray and a certain dread permeates the consciousness. Think of it as a torture where a body is immobile and a steady drip of water falls in timed intervals on the head of the victim. Eventually, the mind snaps. So finally, it happened to the Israeli population. The little country and its citizens reached a breaking point. It and they had enough.
Since 2000, Israeli forces have been totally withdrawn from Lebanon. The United Nations had long since passed a resolution demanding the disarming of Hezbollah, another failure in the long list of failures by the U.N. All of this meant nothing and Hezbollah flourished as Lebanon struggled to gain its independence from Syria and maintain a semblance of self-determination. What it (Lebanon) couldn't do is control the "nation within a nation" on its southern border (the Hezbollah).
The result was, for the last six years, the incursions continued and Hezbollah grew in stature and strength, backed by Syria and Iran. Everything culminated with the last incursion, the killing of eight Israeli soldiers and the capture of two. It was the final indignation and instigation. Israel responded.
In the intervening years, Hezbollah has had the time to entrench itself in the southern Lebanon area and their fortifications are intertwined with the Lebanese civilian population. Thus, it is virtually impossible for Israeli forces to target them without collateral damage. This greatly heightens the possibility of serious loss of civilian life, something Israel regrets but cannot avoid without jeopardizing its own safety.
Katyusha rockets can be launched, on command, by a man who takes it from his house and be back inside in ten minutes, his launch completed. Though he is being commanded by a superior officer, he is still a civilian living among civilians, a damnable situation when trying to keep civilian casualties to a minimum.
This is the situation facing the Israelis and there is no easy solution. In the meantime, George Bush and the administration are steadfastly refusing to call for an immediate cease-fire, ostensibly to allow Israel to defend itself from Hezbollah, but more likely, to hope Israel cripples the terrorist organization without any assistance from the administration other than lip-service.
It would appear there is only one way to solve the complex trouble that exists in the Middle East today. War is not the answer for too many innocent people are losing their lives while the guilty blend into the civilian midst to hide. The first step would be to bring in a large force of peacekeepers to act as a buffer between Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
Step two would be to totally disarm the Hezbollah fighters, rearm and retrain the Lebanese army to take over the peacekeeping and border protecting chores. At the same time, the government of Lebanon should be bolstered so it can stand-alone and withstand the pressures of outside interference.
The third step would be to disarm the Hamas fighters and establish a new Palestine. By doing so, their borders could be patrolled by another, smaller peacekeeping force. It would be better were the peacekeeping forces be other than from the UN since they are inept, ineffective and have been everywhere they have been sent. This brings us to step four, reestablishing an effective U.N. peacekeeping force.
This new force would be an elite army capable of doing what it never was able to before; keep the peace and strike instantly to quash and destroy any force creating problems in the world. This last force would be capable of ending genocides that plague the world in ever more frequent incidents. It would also be capable of propping up governments that need propping and toppling those that need toppling. Such a force, sponsored by the United Nations, is possible and necessary if peace is to reign on the planet and the Sword of Damocles put in its scabbard.
The world bristles with every bomb that is dropped by the Israeli Air Force in its war with Hezbollah and castigates the little nation for its callous disregard for civilian life. Meanwhile, on July 27, the Hezbollah forces launched 151 missiles into Israel aimed at civilian targets and not one word was mentioned by those same critics about the terrorists. The only difference between the two forces is that Hezbollah is targeting the civilians directly, on purpose.
Part of what makes Hezbollah unique as a fighting force is that it is well armed and has a supply of rockets in excess of 10,000. Among them are a few hundred Syrian and Iranian made missiles that can travel 60 or more miles and carry large warheads. Many of the Syrian missiles can be filled with antipersonnel weaponry such as ball bearings, like the one that landed in a Haifa rail yard. Not one complaint was heard from the world concerning that incident or its vicious potential to kill.
The question many ask is why has Israel responded so violently to the incursion of Hezbollah terrorist forces into its northern territory. The answer is, simply, the hair that held the Sword of Damocles over Israeli heads has parted and the weapon finally dropped.
When one lives under a constant threat of armed intervention and violence, the nerves begin to fray and a certain dread permeates the consciousness. Think of it as a torture where a body is immobile and a steady drip of water falls in timed intervals on the head of the victim. Eventually, the mind snaps. So finally, it happened to the Israeli population. The little country and its citizens reached a breaking point. It and they had enough.
Since 2000, Israeli forces have been totally withdrawn from Lebanon. The United Nations had long since passed a resolution demanding the disarming of Hezbollah, another failure in the long list of failures by the U.N. All of this meant nothing and Hezbollah flourished as Lebanon struggled to gain its independence from Syria and maintain a semblance of self-determination. What it (Lebanon) couldn't do is control the "nation within a nation" on its southern border (the Hezbollah).
The result was, for the last six years, the incursions continued and Hezbollah grew in stature and strength, backed by Syria and Iran. Everything culminated with the last incursion, the killing of eight Israeli soldiers and the capture of two. It was the final indignation and instigation. Israel responded.
In the intervening years, Hezbollah has had the time to entrench itself in the southern Lebanon area and their fortifications are intertwined with the Lebanese civilian population. Thus, it is virtually impossible for Israeli forces to target them without collateral damage. This greatly heightens the possibility of serious loss of civilian life, something Israel regrets but cannot avoid without jeopardizing its own safety.
Katyusha rockets can be launched, on command, by a man who takes it from his house and be back inside in ten minutes, his launch completed. Though he is being commanded by a superior officer, he is still a civilian living among civilians, a damnable situation when trying to keep civilian casualties to a minimum.
This is the situation facing the Israelis and there is no easy solution. In the meantime, George Bush and the administration are steadfastly refusing to call for an immediate cease-fire, ostensibly to allow Israel to defend itself from Hezbollah, but more likely, to hope Israel cripples the terrorist organization without any assistance from the administration other than lip-service.
It would appear there is only one way to solve the complex trouble that exists in the Middle East today. War is not the answer for too many innocent people are losing their lives while the guilty blend into the civilian midst to hide. The first step would be to bring in a large force of peacekeepers to act as a buffer between Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
Step two would be to totally disarm the Hezbollah fighters, rearm and retrain the Lebanese army to take over the peacekeeping and border protecting chores. At the same time, the government of Lebanon should be bolstered so it can stand-alone and withstand the pressures of outside interference.
The third step would be to disarm the Hamas fighters and establish a new Palestine. By doing so, their borders could be patrolled by another, smaller peacekeeping force. It would be better were the peacekeeping forces be other than from the UN since they are inept, ineffective and have been everywhere they have been sent. This brings us to step four, reestablishing an effective U.N. peacekeeping force.
This new force would be an elite army capable of doing what it never was able to before; keep the peace and strike instantly to quash and destroy any force creating problems in the world. This last force would be capable of ending genocides that plague the world in ever more frequent incidents. It would also be capable of propping up governments that need propping and toppling those that need toppling. Such a force, sponsored by the United Nations, is possible and necessary if peace is to reign on the planet and the Sword of Damocles put in its scabbard.
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