Ok..
Let’s talk about images of children and war, shall we? No I am not talking about pictures of dead children (we have grown numb to them in this sick part of the world). I am talking about the living variety, dressed up and prodded by the sick adults who are their parent to glorify war.
Yesterday night I saw the images of the Israeli girls writing ‘messages’ on tank shells bound for Lebanon (source AFP and AP). Something like that just makes me BOIL. What the HELL is this.
I am sure these images are popping up on many Arab sites, to show the degree of barbarism the Israelis reached.
But wait a minute! For every such image, there is a mirror image on the Arab side of kids (and babies) guns and dressed up as suicide bombers, that pro Israeli sites can use just as potently to show Arabs as child-abusing savages..
Everyone living in this region has to realize how far we have gotten to dehumanize each other. And how far some of us have gone in abusing children.
Let there be no doubt: The current assault of Israel on Lebanon IS BARBARIC. But in the name of human decency let’s stop this killing of children and the abuse of the living and dead as propaganda dolls.
Comments
22 responses to “Dragging children to war: sick! sick! sick!”
I appreciate your honest effort of finding a balance here, but at the times of war, balance and neutralism is not a weapon to fight your enemy with, you can have a look (I’m sure you did) on the Israeli and the western media, a glance on them makes your blood boil, the amount of misleading and hiding of the truth is unbelievable!
This is a war we’re fighting, we need every weapon.
children are not weapons.
the last picture is bad
the worst way to die is by a suicide bomber, to have your life change in 3 secound, and its on our children, but think of the picture that those kids are seeing right now im sure israel did a good job to show them a worst real pictures to be printed for life, and that dosent give an excuse for that picture or propaganda.
this is a serious messed up world we are living in.
So you managed to remain neutral by declaring both sides as equally criminal despite the fact one side is doing the annhilation and the other side which is being annhilated is merely reacting crudely. You are holding the palestinains who are living in extremely violent and abnormal conditions with the israelis who create those violent and abnormal condition. very smart Ahmad.
Adi.. please don’t misrepresent my ideas and make assumptions.
This is not about being neutral. Israel’s agression on Lebanon and Gaza is barbaric and criminal. I think I made this clear.
The point I am trying to make is that using pictures of children engaging in war related activities is not only sick, but also futile.
And if we are trying to take the moral high ground in confornting Israel’s actions we’d better pay attention to this whole issue of using children to make political statements.
those images are tragic. this latest situation is heart breaking. i don’t feel this is palestinian, lebanese or israeli issue, this is a global issue and i really hope more people wake up to themselves about the appaulling injustices occurring. peace, from australia.
People should not be doing this to their children. There is no excuse. By indocrinating children, they lay the foundation for future conflict and bloodshed, effectively dooming them to a life of violence.
Way to go in showing these pictures, all of them.
Israel can’t do anything right. When they withdrawl and appease, it’s a victory for the resistance. When they prevent and repay, they ignite the resistance.
In any case, the resistance is never condemned or kept in check because they don’t actually have their own state. Any Arab gov’t can simply sit back and condemn while reaping the benefits of their warfare.
The point is that children do not belong in the equation of psychological warfare. Granted, they are already there, and granted they are in the middle of much more than psychological warfare. Children are not spared, they are killed, maimed and disfigured, and above all that, they are losing whatever humanity left to them through constant abuse. Being the face used to instigate the public sympathy is abusive. Being desensitized to the images of war is abusive. Being the innocent causulty of war is abusive.
it’s not about being neutral, its not about taking sides either. its about death, the death of innocence, the death of the child.
Natalia: for the 100th time, please condemn state sponsored terror in the form of the US murders in Iraq and the Jewish murders in Palestine. Why the silence? Do you support the killing of Arabs at the hands of jews and white christians?
War is chaos. Every weapon seems to be allowed to the fighting counterparts. Also, it is prime time for propaganda.
Instead of condemning one single side, it is most important to understand the other side’s motivations and fears. Only then a solution through dialogue is possible.
IMO, both sides of the conflict have their responsibility in this war (sure Israel is overreacting, but knowing that Iran is supporting Hisbollah and its president openly doubts its right of existing, which country wouldn’t?). I hope that the region will find to peace and prosperity. Hope must never die!
Natalia: for the 100th time, please condemn state sponsored terror in the form of the US murders in Iraq and the Jewish murders in Palestine.
Here’s the thing. When the US kills civilians it is an accident; when muslim terrorists kill innocents it is on purpose. Do you see the difference? Obviously the outcome is the same, but if one does not regard intent as well as outcome then one is a nihilist. What is israel supposed to do? Just sit there and die while animals tear at it’s belly? Frankly, if what happens to israel were to happen to the US, we would haul-off and decimate whomever did it… And only the extreme left in the west and the arab world would have boo to say about it. Same for every nation on earth except one. Israel gets attacked more because it is a Jewish state, and we all know how arabs and euroscum feel about jews, now don’t we?
“Here’s the thing. When the US kills civilians it is an accident; when muslim terrorists kill innocents it is on purpose. Do you see the difference?”
So that’s how you rationalize murder. when muslims kill its intentional and terrorist, but when white christians and jews kill and maime it’s always accidential and in self defense. Just like Abu Gharib? the murder of over half a million iraqis by diseas via sanctions? the sabra & shatila and the bombeing of residential areas and the use of human shields in palestine and the expulsion of non-jews? all accidential???
YOUR REFLEXES ARE TRULEY CRIMINAL.
The arabs who prescribe to the leaders of terror should all die a torturous death in my opinion. If you arabs would quit killing each other, America wouldn’t be in the middle east. Your leaders are brainwashing you to hate America because it takes the attention away from their own shortcomings, and they’re raping of your wives and daughters, and their pilfering of your national resources. Most of your arab leaders (terror leaders included) have been using you as pawns for years, and will continue as long as you let them.
Ya’ll are damn lucky you haven’t been nuked yet. I guarantee, if a nuke ever blows in an American or European city at the hands of middle eastern terror, you’ll all be blown to hell to pay for the sins of the leaders you support.
There is a difference. Come to America and see how people live in peace in acceptance of all religions. Go to the middle east and see a bunch of backbiting going on within one religion(islam) while it looks for others to blame(the west).
This is not about oil… in a couple years America won’t need your oil, then where will your money come from? Your countries will crumble if you all don’t get your shit straight and quit supporting terror – get out there and make an honest peaceful living and get on with a peaceful life – not one of hate and blame of people (West/Jews) who are not the cause of your plight. Look to your own leaders and quit being weak, brainwashed go-alongs who coddle terror and praise terror on a daily basis.
I have many muslim friends who live in the US, from Iraq/Iran/Lebanon, etc. 99% of them think most of the middle east is a shithole full of shitheads who are too blind to see the reality of the world and the failure of the future in the middle east if things don’t change. And they all say that change is is a task for the middle easterners, not of the US/WEST/JEWS…
Instead of blaming the rest of the world for your problems, look withing your own selves, your own culture, and your own leaders. You have not been able to forment peace amongst yourselves for the past 1000 years in any reasonable measure and it’s only getting worse. Your leaders are raping your lands and your minds.
I think the original post’s meaning has been lost here. Children at war – children taught to hate – on both sides of the equation – should be opening our eyes to the hellish mindset of ourselves and our governments.
This statement is untrue: “If you arabs would quit killing each other, America wouldn’t be in the middle east.”
We’re there for the oil – and we’re there for Israel. We’re not there to prevent Arabs from kiling each other. And it’s “Arabs” with a capital A, Mr. America, just as Muslims starts with a capital M. (You got West and Jew right – funny.)
Re-read your comment again – you’ll find buried in it the barely disguised xenophobic ramblings of a terrorist. An American terrorist who hasn’t the brainpower nor the will to understand anything other than his own selfish interests. YOU are why so many Arabs hate America.
Mr. America said: “There is a difference. Come to America and see how people live in peace in acceptance of all religions. Go to the middle east and see a bunch of backbiting going on within one religion(islam) while it looks for others to blame(the west)”.
Meanwhile, in Iraq thousands of people die because of that ‘peaceful’ America! Murder is always MURDER, disregarding who is killed and who is the killer.
Mr. America said: “The arabs who prescribe to the leaders of terror should all die a torturous death in my opinion”.
Same for G. W. Bush and his colleagues.
(And I’m not an Arab nor I live in an Arab country…)
even more disgusted than after seeing the images of the israeli girls I felt after reading the post by Mr. US.
Both the children and this poster have been mislead by the same monstrous propaganda that makes them think that they are the Good and everything Arab is evil. for the kids’ defense one can say, that they are only kids, not knowing the complexity of the conflict and actually living in a state of constant danger, for the defense of Mr. America, one can only say that he is unbearably stupid and ignorant.
If the US-forces are in the Middle East not for the oil but to prevent Arabs from killing each other, then WELL DONE! I guess the 40000 civilian casualties (according to iraqbodycount.net) in Iraq—the latest of a long history of glorious American attempts to prove their ability to bring peace— have made that point cristal-clear. And if America really wants to end its dependance on oil you guys should seriously rethink your lifestyle. This world and this conflict is far to complex for your all-Arabs=evil+should get nuked and/or die painful-deaths-logic. maybe you should leave your Island of the Free for a while and see that there is actually life outside.
To respond to the first point in the thread: the first victim of war is always innocence. That from me (someone so far removed from your plight and someone raised in arguably the most peaceful country in the world) just sounds like trivial bullsh*t. But unfortunately, it’s true. America will side with Israel because, how couldn’t it? They’ve been waging their own “war on terror” so how hypocritical would it be to turn around and question Israel’s actions? But don’t be so f*cking ignorant as to think there are no Arabs in the west or that we’re a bunch of Muslim hating bible thumpers. A Canadian-Lebanese family of 8 were killed on vacation there. A Canadian UN observer was killed there yesterday. The Israelis continue to bomb despite pleas to stop. But here’s the thing: The Israelis, with enough pressure, will stop. Will Hezbollah? Not f*cking likely. If my neighbours were sworn to my destruction how could I ever expect peace? That’s the other reason the Americans will let this go. If the Israelis can put a major dent in Hezbollah, Lebanon will be one more state on the good ole road to democracy, American style. That’s once less hiding place for terrorists. Or at least, that’s the American rhetoric. But understand this: no international body will ever side with you, will ever put the kind of pressure needed on Israel, as long as your people strap bombs to themselves and blow up Jews. It doesn’t matter what the reasons are. As long as your brother or cousin or second nephew is picking up a rocket and firing it into Israel, you can expect more of the same. He might as well fire the rocket at you. I am in no position to judge, and I do not. May God protect you all.
If the Arabs would leave the Jews alone maybe this shit would stop. But to be fair, I believe that both the Arabs and Jews alike raise their children to hate one another.
So that’s how you rationalize murder.
Bullshit. If a killing is unintentional in any way then it is not murder. At worst it is described as ‘manslaughter.’ If we are to fight no war unless there would be zero civilian casualties then we could never fight a war. The same goes for any state, obviously. The reason that the west is civilized in some minimal way is that we do not intetionally kill [therefore ‘murder’] civilians. Occasionally some rogues will perpetrate atrocities, but they are punished. On the otherhand, the dar-al-islam can unquestionably be called ‘uncivilized’ in that the primary method of foreign policy is to explode office buildings. Islam was backward even in it’s own day, let alone today.
POR DIOS… ¿SE PUEDE INCULCAR TANTO ODIO??
So. You say we need “every weapon”, OmAr?
May I tell you a little secret?
Children are not weapons.
Let’s not use them in war.