Posted by
L Gravel on Sunday, July 30, 2006 6:33:02 PM
A couple Washington lawyers discuss Israel's right to fight in the Houston Chronicle:
Unfortunately, heavy civilian casualties are the inherent and
inevitable result of the type of asymmetric warfare deliberately waged
by Hezbollah and similar groups. They intentionally operate from
civilian areas, both to protect their military capabilities from attack
and to increase civilian deaths, which can then be trumpeted for
propaganda purposes. But the presence of a large civilian population
does not immunize Hezbollah or Hamas forces from attack. Responsibility
for any additional civilian casualties must be attributed to those
groups, not to Israel. The adoption of any other rule would encourage
the illegal behavior of such "unlawful" combatants, which would result
in more danger to civilians in the future.
Israel may legally seek victory in Lebanon, even if it requires a
combination of ground and air operations, takes weeks to accomplish and
results in civilian casualties. It is under no obligation to agree to
an early cease-fire unless the terms of that agreement would vindicate
its legitimate war aims: the security of its population from attack.
The legal rights Israel is exercising to defend itself are the very
same legal rights on which the United States must rely in the war on
terrorism. Attempts to revise the traditional laws of war — moving
toward a law-enforcement paradigm — so that law-abiding states cannot
effectively protect their populations from attack or even defend their
territory from armed incursion are not humanitarian advances. They
simply make the world safer for those who reject any notion of law in
war.
Therefore I urge Israel not to exercise restraint, but to exorcize Hezbollah.