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Down The Middle - Jul 31, 2006 - Printable Version
- Why?
by Down The Middle
“Why?” she asked me, when I told her about the devastating Israeli air strikes upon Qana. “Why are they doing this?” she reiterated with even more emotion. I had just heard the same question, shown on a cable news network, from a somewhat grayed, Lebanese man, standing in front of a collapsed apartment building in Qana, claiming a four month old baby was still buried in the rubble. “Why?” he asked.
Of course, today’s question of “Why?” was not asked, just in relation to “why” Israel would destroy an obvious apartment building full of civilians {who for whatever reason, whether it be a lack of money, lack of infrastructure or just the plain and simple fear of being caught in an air strike, if they attempted to refugee out} but why there were actually more than eighty air strikes on buildings in Qana, that night, laying waste to apartment building after apartment building, throughout the city.
Then there is the broader question that I’ve heard more than once, this last week, from Lebanese civilians of all faiths and political parties. “Why was America doing this?” No, they didn’t say Israel. They said, “Why was America doing this?”
I suppose there are varying answers to this question, “Why?” according to whom you ask.
The Israelis claim “rockets were being fired from the area” and have even released a video, showing rockets being launched “near” a large building but offered no proof of the distant, unremarkable building in the video actually being the same structure that was leveled in the strike. Even if they had, the video clearly shows the rockets were not being fired from the building, itself…so “why” was this and so many other buildings in Qana targeted with pinpoint-accurate, laser and/or satellite guided bombs?
We already know the Administration’s answer to the question, “Why”. They have told us from the beginning that we must support Israel, because they are a democracy but maybe we should take note that the U.S. was never a democracy but always a republic.
They also have repeatedly proclaimed that Israel has a right to defend itself, something even I agree with…but they haven’t told us “why” they must be defended from innocent civilians, mostly women and children, who seem to be dieing off at a much quicker pace than Hezbollah fighters.
Militant, Right Wing “Christians”…or “Old Testament Christians”, as I sometimes call them, will gladly tell you “why”. From their understanding of the Bible, the Jews are God’s “chosen people” and therefore, feel obliged to support any and all action Israel prefers to take. In other words, they will tell you that “God wills it” and we must do everything in our power to support Israel, no matter what. Although one doesn’t hear the argument as much today as in recent decades, they will also inform you that God gave the Jews a greater Israel, one which encompasses much more land than the current limits of the modern Israeli state and are more than willing to let Israel reclaim it.
The most powerful claim that these “new age Christians” put forth…and are accused by many of fostering…is the purposeful bringing about of the Apocalypse, so that the Messiah will return and they might be “saved”.
Although I do not necessarily disagree with all of these Biblical interpretations, I cannot help but wonder how they missed the part about the world being brought to it’s knees by these wars {and pestilence} and how the people will be in such terror that they will gladly give over their nations’ sovereignty to a New World Order and bestow absolute authority upon the man who promises them peace and security…another prominent figure mentioned in the Bible, the Antichrist.
Whether you view it from a Biblical or purely political perspective, the answer to your question “why” may actually be the same…the domination of the entire world and the subjugation of all its people.
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