Sorry pal, but civilians are always dying in wars. Yes, wars are generally thought to be fought between the army of one country and another, and most ill-informed observers would normally think that most of the casualties would come from the soldiers on each side. They think that the spectators should somehow be afforded magic protection against shot and shell.
War is not a spectator sport. Unlike say going to a game of rugby, where you can sit on the sidelines and watch the biffo and not get hurt yourself, military action does not normally take place on a nice, neat field marked by white lines and patrolled by touch judges and the odd referee. A lot of people would be amazed when told that in a lot of wars (if not all of them), the majority of victims are civilians.
Civilians die for lots of reasons. You get stubborn idiots who refuse to leave their house when an artillery battery digs in next door (probably because they have never heard of counter-battery fire). They starve because food distribution systems break down in the battle area. They get shot by mistake. They don't know how to dig in. They don't recognise the sound of incoming. They sometimes get murdered or raped by looters. They tread on mines because they don't recognise the symbols for mine fields. They get blown up trying to remove that pesky unexploded bomb from the back lawn. And as we've seen in Iraq, they get pissed and hoon around in the middle of the night weaving in and out of convoys and wondering why they get brassed up.
In short, civilians on the battlefield are idiots. They have no idea what they are doing or what is going on. Unfortunately for them, the battlefield generally comes to them rather than the other way around, so they don't have a lot of choice in the matter. However, it is a nasty and sad fact that ever since we started braining each other with rocks and stabbing each other with sabre teeth, civvies have got the rough end of the pineapple. Lebanon is no different to any of the battlefields of the last 5,000 years that you might care to wander over if you have a spare moment.
The poor dumb bastards are going to cop it, so get over it.
Frankly, I have no sympathy for the Lebanese. If the Drummoyne Liberation Militia ever decides to setup a Katyusha rocket in my neighbourhood and starts to lob missiles at Leichardt, I'll have two choices:
- Get my neighbours together as our own militia and shoot the bastards, or
- Split. That is, pack up the valuables into the bongo van and leave town. Then hope there is something to come back to after the annoyed folk in Leichardt have run a few tanks up the street and shot any fool that stuck his head up.
Some people are happy to buy 10,000 rockets and have them sitting in a warehouse doing nothing. They feel content just knowing that they own them and can wheel them out and use them if someone gives them the shits.
Then there are other people who don't buy weapons to just let them sit in warehouses - they buy them to use them. Hezbollah are the second type. Anyone with half a brain could see that they were just itching to run around the place lighting fuses.
And before we piss and moan and complain about the Israelis zotting a few civies that happened to be standing near a rocket launcher, we might like to think about what Hezbollah would do to any farmers that dared to complain about a Katyusha under the olive trees. A short burst of AK-47 fire to the head or torso would be their answer.
War is a nasty little business. Get over it. Hezbollah are a nasty bunch of people. Accept it. If an F-16 is circling overhead and you are standing near one, practice the old trick of "run away, run away!"
And then shut the fuck up.
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