A recent cartoon in our ‘West Australian’ speaks reams concerning today’s political truth in the Middle East as one Lebanese says to the other as a long column of tanks cross their border, guns blazing, . warplanes above.

“We’re lucky!”

“What do you mean ‘lucky’?” says the other.

“Imagine what they’d do if we’d captured more than two Israelies?”

The above pretty well says it, the Israelies are being pestered by the Palestiners, but not much different than frustrated natives fighting for their rights in colonial times, like the redskins gaining a few rifles and still trying to attack a far superior military force - and as beknown of history still able to capture and kill the occasional white soldier.

But we never read or hear about an oversize military force moving in. The big problem is of course that modern technological means of retaliation can be so severe - in fact as aptly shown in the cartoon to the point of stupendous ridiculousness. Already for the taking of two of their soldiers, the Israelies have rendered the main Lebanese airport unuseable, as well as most other
military establishments.

Like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut as the old saying goes, but it remains the same. As also has been the same ever since the US has protected Israel as a tiny country or group of special people that had to be protected at all costs. But overdone, so very overdone in the Middle East where both the US and Britain have more mercenary interests, hegemon, and contraband in the shape of oil, especially in Iraq and Iran who also have the world’s best quality oil, as well as the world’s easiest to recover.

Historians and social scientists know all about it, as do journalists, but as reported in last week’s Guardian, US neo-cons have been given free reign in the media to whitewash the crimes of empire, and as what is happening in the Middle East today is only the carrying on of the crimes of empire, a situation that has not changed, but only got worse, hidden either by immoral craftiness or by very careless management by our leaders pertaining to the true meanings of freedom and liberty.

The Israelis whom we were so passionate about giving a go in the Middle East after their genocidalisation in Nazi Germany, have now spoilt themselves in the Middle East with their US-backed arrogance, pepped up not only with US supplied planes and tanks as shown in the cartoon but also with two hundred nuclear-capped missiles all ready to go.

Why this was all allowed by America, with the Arabs pretty well unarmed, and a meek United Nations standing by, will certainly have future historians in a huddle.

Graphic descriptions will be all part of the play, a depiction of desperate Jewish families not so loved by Britain who foresaw future trouble in the Middle East between Jews and Arabs, but America and most Australians ready to agree to settling the long wandering Jewish families back into Israel, their long Promised Land. Certainly the Arabs proved resentful, as the British predicted, starting to drive the new Israelis out. But not for long the Israelies already prepared with planes and artillery flown in, and after two short wars, the Arabs were beaten both by lack of modern weaponry and Israeli determination.

Unfortunately, for future Middle East peace, the strong power position of a US-backed Israel, has now placed her in a position from an Arabic point of view like a red-backed spider with her nuclear sting able to protect herself against all comers. It is no wonder that Iran could desire nuclear artillery

The Israeli's have massively over-reacted and are using propaganda to justify their desire to squash any resistance to their domination of the Palestinians.

I would have thought the lessons from their last war efforts against organised Arab world resistance would have sobered their drunken-like militarism. Have they forgotten how they retreated through Sinai in the face of a superior Egyption effort? Have they forgotten how Hezbollah successfully pushed them out of Lebanon?

Seems to me the invasion and re-occupation of Gaza, the detention of freely elected Government members and the killing of civillians in Gaza are violations that are being obscured by the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the attacks on civilians and civilian targets throughout Beruit and Lebanon. World opinion was turning against them in that mess they helped create.

I support the Europeans stance over this blatant militarist opportunism. It is an over-reaction and it is unsupportable.

We should all fear that when the tables do turn and if the Israeli's are really threatened they will use their WMD. No-one can reasonably support that senario.

Bushbred. Yes the Iranians are interested in acquiring Nuclear weaponry to counter the Israeli ownership of the same. There is one big difference though. The Israelis, over the last 30 years have never used it. The Iranians though, have said that they will wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

By the way, the Mad Thug believes that he has been sent to prepare the way for the return of the 12th Mahdi,which will be preceeded by chaos, and the destruction of Israel, so that their Ummah in the Middle East is complete.

This screwball also believes that he is able to communicate with the 12th Mahdi by tossing notes down a well in the city of Om.

It wasnt so long ago that the then PM of Malaysia, Maharthir, was giving speeches describing the Israelis as monkeys, who get others to fight their wars. I wonder what he thinks now. I thought they were quite capable of fighting their own anyway.

On the subject of Malaysia, which of course is a Islamic state, which supposedly tolerates other religions, well so far this year they have bulldozed 3 Hindu temples.

Me thinks the Israelis have decided that enough is enough and we have to make a stand.The rest of us would do well to take note.

Stephen Green of the US army got drunk, took 4 or 5 drunken mates into the house of a 14 year old Iraqi child, raped her, shot her, burnt the body and slaughtered her parents and 6 year old sister.

Israel ordered Lebanese civilians to leave the south so they could blow it up and slaughtered 15 children as they were running away.

Each and every death has been counted with the numbers in the 100's in Palestine and Lebanon and in the 20's in Israel. Israel spends $12.5 billion on arms, the US has sent $210 million in jet fuel to keep up the killing.

The rest of the area only spend a few million a year on arms with Syria being the worst with $1 billion. It is said that some of the weapons are coming from Iran - well who the hell is supplying Israel and who the hell is itching to blow up Iran?

The same self-righteous, moronic hypocrite who had to blow up Iraq due to WMD that didn't exist, the same hypocrite supporting the murdering thugs in the new Afghan government (see Paul McGeough in the Herald on Saturday) and the same snivelling moron who got a resolution against Korea in the meantime for firing off a few dud rockets.

The sooner Bush the moron is gone the better off the world will be.

As for the constant insistent support of Israel - who gave them the right to collectively punish the entire population of Israel and the Gaza for the crimes of a few?

"The irony . . ."
Pierre Tristam begins with "The Irony . . ."?
Who cares about the irony of it all.
Bodies are being bown up, families are being smashed, buildings are being levelled, thousands have no homes and have lost relatives and their homeland.
This is the trouble with the "modern" person they have no emotion and have lost theri humanity. They have no caring for life and other people.
Who bloody cares about "irony" when life is being snuffed out.
Go and get some emotion and write about people and theri life and death and why people suffer.