Rambo is Burning

[Daveparts]

Rambo is Burning
By David Glenn Cox



There are no answers, there are no solutions; the future is dark as the gauntlets hit the ground. In Israel the death of Shuli Katz, the 70-year-old mother killed in a Kassam rocket attack, is described in a Jewish Post article titled "Who will wake me from this hell?" The populace is enraged at what they see as another senseless terrorist attack.

Meanwhile, in the same issue of the same newspaper, “Palestinians: 5 killed by IDF in Gaza.

“At dawn IDF troops pushed into southern Gaza to target rocket-launching squads, the army said. Two Palestinian gunmen were killed in air strikes near the town of Khan Yunis, Palestinian doctors said. Hours later, army tanks entered an area northeast of Gaza City in pursuit of gunmen who opened fire on troops near the border with Israel, the army said. Soldiers returned fire, killing a gunman but also a 17-year-old riding his bike and another civilian, doctors said.”

While one is reported with all the trappings of emotional sophistry, the other is reported matter-of-factly. Blending two attacks, the first, an air strike(s), the second (tanks) entered the area near the border with Israel (on which side of 'near the border?') “Soldiers returned fire.” The soldiers in the tanks returned fire? “Killing a gunman but also a 17-year-old riding his bike and another civilian, doctors said.” To be called by no name except "another civilian."

A headlined article quotes Shuli's son, "Gov't's Powerlessness Is Intolerable," and received over seventy responses from the outraged Israeli populace, calling for blood and vengeance and for a total war on Gaza. Yet the article that causally mentions that the IDF in tanks killed two civilians and one gunman receives not one comment.

On the other side of the street, the Palestinian press refers to the gunman as a martyr for the cause, and 17-year-old riding a bike and the civilian are martyrs as well, they just didn’t know that that is what they were. Each death so enrages the other side that the voice of reason is drowned out by cries for vengeance for the dead, but only for their dead. I throw a rock or fire a tank shell or launch a rocket because my cause is righteous, and only when it kills an innocent child or a teenager or someone’s mother, then it is unfortunate. I’ll try to aim better next time.

All solutions are wrong! All politicians who call for solutions are wrong, craven cowards, bent on our destruction by seeming weak in the face of the enemy. The Israeli populace despises George W. Bush for his perceived coddling of the Palestinians, Condalezza Rice is viewed as a Quisling traitor for asking for Israeli concessions in exchange for peace, and the rocket attacks are viewed as just proof of her folly.

The Palestinians despise George W. Bush. They see through his duplicitous policy of pretending to be objective while he is in bed with Israel the whole time. Condaleeza Rice is viewed as a Quisling traitor, wringing tiny concessions from the Israeli’s while looking the other way on illegal settlements and Israeli blockades of humanitarian supplies.

The Fatah party in Palestinian territories was viewed by the population as too accommodating to the Israeli’s so the population voted for Hamas. Hamas was viewed as too radical for the Israeli’s and the US to work with so they withheld support and financial aid; this caused the general Palestinian populace into hardship which fed into the belief system. The Israelis don’t like Hamas, so we should. Every effort by America to prop up support for the Fatah Party seemed to just prove the point.

Lebanon, as well, is drawn in. A country of coalitions, they’re like a juggler trying to juggle bowling balls, chainsaws, and hand grenades, while riding on a unicycle. Too accommodating to Israel and the Syrian’s and Hezbollah interfere, too accommodating to Syria and Hezbollah and the Israelis interfere. Why is Hezbollah so popular in Lebanon? Because the population supports them and for the same reason the Palestinians support Hamas; no one on any side considers anything but the most radical solution as acceptable, anything else is viewed as cowardice.

During the July war the Israeli government warned the Lebanese government to rein in Hamas. This was done while the Israeli Air Force was bombing Beirut, saying in effect that you hold back your radicals while we give free reign to ours. Worldwide calls for a cease-fire were ignored by Israel and the US until it became clear that Israel was not achieving its goals

The UN-brokered cease-fire brought Prime Minister Ehud Olmert only trouble; he was stuck in the jaws of a dilemma. World opinion was calling for a cease-fire; military opinion was calling for escalation for total war against Lebanon. Ether direction he went meant catastrophe. Hezbollah was much better prepared than expected, which meant more Israeli casualties, and Israel was less prepared than expected which meant more casualties.

In the end he took the moderate path and was roundly criticized by all sides. Hezbollah was viewed as the winner of the conflict. The Israeli politicians blamed the military, the military blamed the politicians and everyone blamed the UN and George Bush. No one was radical enough; both sides wanted war but neither side wanted the causalities or the costs associated with war. That kind of war is called diplomacy, but that form is totally out of the question.

The tragedy here is that all sides know what the most logical outcome is going to be. This is the legacy of Rambo; eight years of unilateralism have brought world opinion round to the point of view of “Why not?” If the Americans can invade Iraq and Afghanistan and the Turks can bomb the Kurds in Northern Iraq, then why not?

Wars roll on in Sri Lanka and Somalia, Sudan, Columbia, all while the US saber rattles in Iran and Venezuela. The Rambo policy of Kill Them All, let God sort them out, seems well-suited to the Middle East. As all sides claim title to the land through the mouth of the Holy one, yet the same Holy one has decreed that we share with each other, a caveat that seems forgotten.

And He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

But Rambo is burning, his time is short. The little horn of the beast is broken off. You see, that is his legacy, that is what he leaves to us. There are no answers, there are no solutions; the future is dark as the gauntlets hit the ground. War is the answer and Rambo’s always ready for it, no matter how many innocents must die.