I tell it as I see it

I would like to comment on the recent Israeli attack on Palestine and Hezbollah controlled Lebanon and the corresponding stand taken by the rest of the world.

US and Israel are allies and both have been in the recent past involved in armed conflicts. For the former it was the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and for the latter it has been the military action taken in response to the abduction of its soldiers.

I see a reflection of hypocrisy in the response of the international community to these recent events.

The US began its war on terror after the tragic events of 9/11 that brought terrorism to American soil. It began with the Afghanistan campaign and the establishment of a government there. However, after Afghanistan, the focus shifted to Iraq. The Americans invaded Iraq in the name of "weapons of mass destruction", "a direct threat to the US", "aiding and abetting terrorism" and "human rights violation". Now, in the post invasion scenario, terrorism is just as active as before with American soldiers being the targets of resistance attacks. Human rights are still being with instances of sexual abuse by American soldiers and also innocent civilians being killed in the line of fire between the Americans and the local resistance.

It is key to note that as a prologue to this invasion, there was more than a year of political build up, starting with the UN weapons inspectors to Mr. Bush's visits abroad to convince allies and was concluded with a promise to raise the standards of living of the Iraqi's. Also, before the invasion, Iraq had never in any way posed as a direct threat to the US raising several questions as to the necessity of the invasion. Post gulf war II, I don’t think it would be wrong to say that Mr. Bush has not lived up to his words pertaining to the post war rehabilitation of Iraq.

Coming to the more recent Israeli operations, in this case the Israeli were directly provoked into a conflict by the Palestinian militia and the Hezbollah. The consequence has been pretty much the same as in the case of the Iraq with Israel responding in kind. Air strikes, armed conflicts and the civilians ending up being the ultimate victims. In Israel's case the international community has been highly critical asking the country to stop its military action and announce a ceasefire in the name of preventing a humanitarian disaster.

My question is " Has Iraq not become a humanitarian disaster of the same proportion as Beirut may become ?" Couldn't the international community foresee the outcome of an invasion of Iraq despite having the recent precedent of Afghanistan before them to scrutinize and evaluate? Why wasn't America stopped then and why is Israel being asked to back down now when it is fighting for the security of its people which is directly under threat?

I must clarify at this point that I am in no way condoning or opposing Israel's actions in the middle east. I am merely pointing out a fallacy in the double standards of the international community when it comes to the stand taken by them in response to global human tragedies.

The fact, as I see it, is simple, the world hasn't learned much from WWII. The policy of appeasement and the diplomatic mistakes made by the European powers, such as England and France, then pertaining to Germany and their policy of appeasement are being repeated again after half a century. It is truly unfortunate that the value of life varies from region to region and people in high places can, at times, entirely override life's worth, by their own political games. The bottom-line is in case of Iraq is that it was all about the hunger of oil and everything else said was to blanket this fact. For various political and economic reasons, it had become necessary for the US to invade Iraq so as to divert attention of the American public from much needed economic reforms, to secure oil reserves for the American oil companies, to gain dominance in the oil rich middle east, etc. And the world sat back and watched Iraq being "liberated" saying to themselves that humanity is fighting for such a noble cause.

And now that Israel is directly being threatened by its neighbors and it is striking back at them, then it is being urged to stop in the name of humanity!! For them, it is a question of survival more than greed for any natural resource, with its aggressive neighbors hell bent on its destruction.

I feel war in any form, on any scale, between anybody is a human tragedy. Be it war on terror, jihad or open warfare, it must be condoned and discouraged. It must be recognized that human life is as valuable on the equator as on the poles. War can only cause destruction and can never lead to a positive outcome for mankind. The international community, especially the developed nations, must understand this and accept this and in the future act more responsibly.