QUOTE(redlion @ Jul 16 2006, 11:07 PM)
But that is what you would do. You're sensible. The nation as a whole is far less reasonable. There would be Mexican blood over 50 million troops' hands by the days end. Either that, or we'd nuke mexico city and be done with it. What you would do and what a nation would do are two entirely different things.
No matter what happens, we aren't going to nuke any cities.
Even if WE'RE nuked. Nukes do very little to help a war effort - it's scare tactics only. You'd want more efficient and centralized bombs. Like the MOAB. It worked on Japan because Japan was so small and already very weak from years of blockades. That sort of thing wouldn't work, on say, China.
Give the US a
little credit. We would probably wait to find out what happened before we bombed. However, once we knew it was malicious and that the Mexican government was responsible (as opposed to it NOT being the Mexican governemt - at the moment, we'd probably assume it was some sort of terrorist cell), then yes, we'd bomb the hell out of Mexico, but only on military targets. Do civilians get killed at military targets? Yes, but it can't be helped if you wish to retaliate in a war. Not only is attacking civilian targets not something we do (UNLESS it's a business that is making manufacturing weapons, etc), but there are quite a few of our citizens who have family in Mexico, so it would be silly for us to do anything that might anger that (large) portion of our population.
Noit, Israel as a government has all the justification they need until someone else more powerful stops them. You say they attack civilians, but that is just a technicality. Just because a person is not officially employed by a government does not mean they aren't soldiers. You would call them, perhaps, militia. They aren't innocent. Israel does not capture random Palestinians off the street - not only is that foolish, it's stupid and a waste of time and resources, as random civilians can't do anything for them. Whereas "arresting" active militia is something else entirely.
That does not mean all supporters of Hezbollah and Hamas (while we're on it) are militia, but the ones who act in the same capacities as a soldier are. Just like not every Israeli "soldier" is really a soldier.
Israel is, in hindsight, smart to enlist all their citizens into the army in some form - then, if anything happens to their citizens, it's an act of war, not just civilians being kidnapped. Although in this case, it was actual soldiers. Hezbollah acted stupidly - it GAVE, it HANDED OVER, all the justification Israel needed in order to do what they're doing. Even though Israel does not need that justification, as I stated, it makes THEM look good if they're acting in response to soldiers being captured outside of war.
That doesn't mean Israel hasn't done some horrid things - they have and continue to do so. But they are only half of the problem, not all of it.
Edited by Casilla, 17 July 2006 - 05:01 PM.
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