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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Sacrificing Civilians for Political Gain

Today's Guardian has a very disturbing commentary on the parallels between the recent Israeli invasion of the Jabaliya refugee camp in Palestine and in the Iraqi town of Samarra. Simon Tisdall points out that in both situations, overwhelming military force is being used to root out a small number of insurgents. In Israel this is standard policy. In Iraq, this may be a dress rehearsal for bigger operations in Fallujah and other problem areas:
And thus are the personal political fortunes of Mr Sharon and the US president, George Bush, bound up to a critical degree in what happens in places such as Jabaliya and Samarra.

Both men are fighting to convince sceptical electorates, and their own parties, that they know what they are doing. When elected, Mr Sharon promised to achieve security for Israelis. Mr Bush declared victory in Iraq more than a year ago.

Each man has a credibility gap. To fill it, it seems ongoing civilian carnage is not too high a price to pay.
It seems to me that these callous calculations are the logical continuation of a century in which civilian casualties have become more and more acceptable in the name of percieved short-term security from Dresden to El Salvador.

In reality, these kind of operations are like borrowing from a particularly sadistic loan shark. In the short term these massive operations can create a perception of security and stability. In the long therm, these operations are creating a generation of Arabic and Muslim children who will hate Israel and the US. What they do with their anger and rage 20 years from now is obviously not a concern for Bush and Sharon.

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