The War Continues

Can you see the key lie in this first paragraph at Muslim Matters?

After an agreement to a six-month ceasefire between between Hamas and Israel expired on December 19th, Israel launched multiple F-16 bombers into the Gaza Strip, dropping 100 tons of bombs in the first nine hours of fighting, indiscriminately massacring over 225 Palestinians and injuring over 700 others.

It's the word indiscriminately. Why would Israel need to send in the air force if all she wanted was indiscriminate death? Israel could simply launch thousands of cruise missiles into Gaza and be done with it.

Israel is specifically targeting Hamas and its evil henchmen. The fact that some civilians die as a result is not the fault of Israel.

Comments

[David Boxenhorn]

There is another key lie: Hamas (not Israel) broke the ceasefire, by indiscriminately launching rockets over the border.

[Mike T]

Thousands of cruise missiles would turn Gaza into a smoldering pile of rubble unless they were the blunt, non-explosive pieces of crap that Hamas has been using :)

In reality, all Israel would have to do is put a few dozen artillery units and have them do a 12 hour-long bombardment of the Palestinian settlements to accomplish what they've been accused of doing.

[diana]

What David said.

[Alex]

Cruise missiles are expensive. The electronics, the avionics, the engines ... it's like putting 5 sticks of dynamite in a Lamborghini Diablo, and then using it to blow up a tree-stump. Sure, it works, but you pretty much want to leave it as a last-resort.

If you just want indiscriminate slaughter, artillery gives you the best-bang-for-your-buck, so to speak. Just tow in a couple hundred howitzers and you can level a major city for about the same budget you'd normally spend on a few months training.

To give you an idea - one cruise missile will run you upwards of half a million dollars. For that much cash you can buy more than 1,600 155mm artillery shells. That works out to at least 100 times as much explosive power, spread over a much larger area. It's a no-brainer.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

"If you just want indiscriminate slaughter, artillery gives you the best-bang-for-your-buck, so to speak."

True. My swift example was costly.

The talk of artillery reminds me of the Battle of El Alamein when hundreds of guns opened upon the Germans. I was quick to mention cruise missiles but somehow forgot about this most efficient method.