Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Juan Cole accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing
In his morning post, Juan Cole, favorite (and some would say only) major traffic geopolitical analyst on the left side of the blogosphere, looks at the pattern of Israeli airstrikes and sees evidence of ethnic cleansing:
Thousands of innocent Lebanese have been forced from their homes by the bombings, especially in the South, and have headed up to Beirut (which the Israelis are also indiscriminately bombing). Some 100,000 Lebanese have fled to Syria, though Israeli bombing of roads and bridges has not made it easy for them to get out. Although, because of widespread Western racism, very few over here care about these displaced persons, they face a desperate situation. Roads have been bombed out, and bridges are gone. Lebanese television reported on numerous villages bombed. Rescue teams attempting to take an injured woman to a better hospital with more supplies were blocked when they found the bridge destroyed.
If the reports coming out of Lebanon can be believed, the Israelis are only sometimes striking known Hizbullah safe houses or facilities or missile emplacements. A lot of their bombardment appears aimed at punishing civilian populations and forcing them north to Beirut. Such an approach would help explain the high number of civilian casualties. That is, there may be an element of ethnic cleansing in Israeli tactics.
Well, there "may be an element" of stupidity and slander in Juan Cole's writing.
As high as the civilian casualties seem to be under the scrutiny of the combat-hardened Western press, they have been astonishingly low for a five-day bombing and artillery campaign designed to cut off the target -- Hezbollah's fighters located in southern Lebanon -- from retreat or relief. If Israel wanted to kill or eliminate the people of southern Lebanon, tens of thousands would be dead by now. Juan Cole's insinuation is disgusting.
It is also blind. It is Hezbollah that started a war with civilians in place, Hezbollah who fights without uniforms, and Hezbollah who actually points rockets at civilian targets with no obvious military purpose. Ethnic cleansing? It is Hezbollah, with the full-throated support of its client Iran, that wants to eliminate Jews from the Levant. Who is Cole kidding?
14 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Jul 18, 08:38:00 AM:
I am Spc. Patrick Ziegler with U.S. Central Command Public Affairs. I wanted to give your readers a place to get information on the situation in Lebanon and the evacuation of U.S. personal there. The U.S. CENTCOM website is a good place to get information as this situation develops. Our URL is http://www.centcom.mil
By 
Theo p., at
Tue Jul 18, 08:59:00 AM:
Israel is doing terrorist cleansing not ethnic cleansing, the U.S.A. should take a lesson. Before Israel's land for peace apeasement initiatives terrorists threw rocks at Israelie tanks, now they lob rockets at civilian population centers. Terrorists are like a man with a willing companion, they don't need a reason just time and a place.
By , at
Tue Jul 18, 09:20:00 AM:
It is good t osee that Cole has not changed as he has aged. He's just as stupid today as he was five years ago. Unlike wine and cigars, Cole does not improve with age.
By Alexandra, at
Tue Jul 18, 09:54:00 AM:
All Things Beautiful TrackBack The Juan Cole 'Bush-Israel' Derangement Syndrome
By , at
Tue Jul 18, 10:13:00 AM:
Each and every missile fired by Hezbollah into Israel is a violation of UNSC resolution 1568, which demands that Hezbollah (and all other militias) disarm. Israel is enforcing 1568 since the Lebanese Army is incapable of doing so.
Any new UNSC resolutions should require the full implementation of 1568.
By Robert, at
Tue Jul 18, 11:18:00 AM:
So what ethnicity is being "cleansed", exactly? And why shouldn't those who support terrorists pay a price? Cole doesn't even pretend any more to be ratinal.
By Gaius Arbo, at
Tue Jul 18, 12:19:00 PM:
Thanks for the smackdown. Linked to it here:
http://bluecrabboulevard.com/2006/07/18/too-bad-hes-clueproof%e2%84%a2/
By allen, at
Tue Jul 18, 12:28:00 PM:
TigerHawk,
"It is Hezbollah, with the full-throated support of its client Iran..."
When I began reading this sentence I absentmindedly struck "Iran" and added "Juan Cole".
Had I failed to catch my error, the sentence would have read, "It is Hezbollah, with the fullthroated support of its client Juan Cole that wants to eliminate Jews from the Levant."
It seems that you corrected yourself as well.
Thanks for the outstanding work you do!
By , at
Tue Jul 18, 01:18:00 PM:
Israel is behaving as if Hizbollah were a regular organized army. What did we do after the invasion of normandy in france? We took out roads and bridges to prevent the axis powers from resupplying. It's one of the caveats of war. Cut your enemies supply lines.
By Fat Man, at
Tue Jul 18, 02:26:00 PM:
As an alumnus of the University of Michigan History Department (M.A. 1971), let me say how disapointed i was that Yale did not take Cole off our hands.
By , at
Tue Jul 18, 03:16:00 PM:
Is there some kind of award for being the first moron to pull out the ethnic cleansing charge? Maybe a Pulitzer? I mean if the casualty figures were even in the tens of thousands, that would still not indicate ethnic cleansing. And we are only talking a couple of hundred claimed, not verified. Did anybody else notice all the children in Lebanon being taken to the hospital seemed strangely uninjured? No blood, no cuts, doctors turning them up and down looking for injuries. Perhaps he means ethnic cleansing as in forcing people to leave, not killing them. Of course, blowing up the routes out of town would kind of indicate the opposite was true. Egads, what a moron is Mr Cole.
By Georg Felis, at
Tue Jul 18, 03:39:00 PM:
I actually posted the comment below at Mr. Coles's site before hitting Tigerhawkâs website today. FYI, your Blogger account will work to post to his site, but I doubt my post will actually show up because the author has to approve comments, and Juan has no desire to face constructive criticism.
(posted at juancole.com)
Your initial premise is that Israel is not only bombing known terrorist targets that they have been investigating for many years, but also randomly bombing civilian targets to get people to flee the area. This makes no sense, if your other comment is true, that Israel has also been bombing bridges. A much more logical conclusion is that Israel is bombing terrorists and trying to block their escape. In addition, many of these bloody-handed murderers being bombed have known they are targets for years, and that is why they try to hide in the densest populated area they can.
This war will only end when Hezbollah stops trying to kill Jews, or is defeated. And the chain of terror points right back thru Syria to Iran.
By Cardinalpark, at
Tue Jul 18, 07:26:00 PM:
ethnic cleansing? You mean like what Hezbollah and Iran want to achieve by wiping Israel "off the map?" That kind of ethnic cleansing? Or maybe what Saddam was trying to achieve viz. the Iraqi Kurds?
I wonder what Juan Cole's IQ is. If it's not quite low, then he is a truly evil, pathological liar. Mental incapacities (what people use to call retardation) would be a legitimate excuse.
By , at
Wed Jul 19, 05:25:00 PM:
What part of "If the reports coming out of Lebanon can be believed," don't you understand?
Mind you, I realize that the rightwing bent is to quote out of context, but in this case you actually include the disclaimer before the bolded text!
Seriously, when have you righties actually considered racism as an issue unless it serves some wingnutty purpose? It's not as though you on the right are exactly known for championing the jewish community. So, what gives? The need for Rapture follow-through?
