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Indiscriminate wasting of human lives

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See this page for links to articles on OpEdNEws that articulate both sides on the issues in the middle east. It is the goal of OpEdNews to air opinions from both sides to stretch the envelope of discussion and communication. Hate statements are not accepted. Discussions of issues and new ideas for solutions are encouraged. .
Are we for it?

No matter what an American citizen's point of view or politics, it might be useful to review how war is waged in this modern age of terrorism

The film "World Trade Center" is opening and should provide some reminder into that tragic day now memorialized in the world lexicon as 9-11. The film focuses on the heroes but reminds us of the methods of the terrorists.

British police today announced that they uncovered a plot to explode commercial airliners filled with passengers in mid-flight using liquid explosives carried aboard in hand luggage.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah is using Katyusha rockets to bombard Haifa and other targets in Isral. A news report also said that Hezbollah has now fired some 3,333 of these unguided rockets.

The rockets going into Israel are older types but there are more ominous weapons out there.

Mr. Bernard Lewis, professor emeritus at Princeton, wrote in the Wall Street Journal this week, "It seems increasingly likely that the Iranians either have or very soon will have nuclear weapons at their disposal, thanks to their own researches (which began some 15 years ago)."

Professor Lewis also said, "To some of their obliging neighbors, and to the ever-helpful rulers of North Korea. The language used by Iranian President Ahmadinejad would seem to indicate the reality and indeed the imminence of this threat."

North Korea launched a ballistic missile that flew over Japan in 1998. On July 4 this year, they fired seven missiles in test. Iran's missile engineers were on hand in North Korea to evaluate performance.

These ballistic missiles are purely offensive with no defensive capability. Most experts also say they are meant only to destroy population centers.

Just today there was a news report that veteran "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace conducted an exclusive interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

This is the same President Ahmadinejad that said last autumn that the Jewish state had to be wiped off the face of the earth. This is the same President Ahmadinejad that is defying the United Nations while he does nuclear research that most experts believe is intended to make a nuclear bomb.
This is the same President Ahmadinejad that is arming Hezbollah and devloping his own long range ballistic missiles.

Experts in the pentagon are calling this threatening to destroy civilians indiscriminately and without warning "asymmetric warfare" against people more accustomed to at least making attempts to warn civilians and avoid collateral damage.

There have also been numerous news reports in the past weeks about Israel's extensive use of aircraft dropped leaflets to warn Lebanese civilians of impending attacks.

In a story in the Los Angeles Times by Ashraf Khalil on August 1, Khalil detailed how the Israelis are also using cell phones to warn civilians of impending attack.

Khalil showed the predominant reaction of most Arabs, writing, "In Gaza, where the Israeli military began issuing specific warnings [to individual cell phone users] in the last two weeks, the practice has not won over many hearts or minds. Few here accept the idea that Israel, even for public-relations reasons, really is trying to limit civilian deaths."

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John E. Carey is the former president of International Defense Consultants, Inc.
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