Sunday, August 13, 2006

Sounds Like Hiding Among Civilians to Me

Do a quick search of "hiding"+"Hezbollah"+"civilians" on NPR's web site and you'll see a lot of airtime has been given to the frequently specious claim that Hezbollah uses civilians as a cover for its operations (It is always interesting to me when an aggressor nation invades another nation's civilian areas and then carps about resistance coming from civilian areas). However today's report from Linda Gradstein from northern Israel is really quite interesting for reasons that I'm sure were unintended. Her report focuses on the massing of Israeli reserve forces in northern Israeli towns near the Lebanese border. The story features the seamless interaction of military operations with the use of civilian homes and facilities in Israel. Soldiers camp out in towns before moving into battle in Lebanon and then return and use homes for rest, supplies, showers, etc. Yet I didn't hear one word in this report about "blending in among civilians" or "using civilian shields." Could there be a double-standard afoot? BTW the photo is of armed Israeli "settlers" not those dreaded Hezbollah militants.

No comments: