Beirut neighborhood crushed

Israelis merciless


Before watermarked ``Google Digital Globe", after watermarked ``Digital Globe''; see http://bloggingbeirut.com/ for more information

To her credit, CNN's Paula Zahn last night did show this massive destruction of civilian areas of South Beirut by Israeli bombardment. But, naturally, Zahn had to speak for Israel, ``And, of course, the Israelis would argue that they had actionable intelligence that would make them want to bomb that part of Beirut, because that's where Hezbollah is operating from,'' and ``But the Israelis would argue, they wouldn't be targeting these parts of Beirut if Hezbollah wasn't operating among the civilian population. You have to concede that Hezbollah is blended in to that part of life in southern Beirut,'' in response to a desperate Lebanese official.

Last night Zahn did not mention Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention prohibiting collective punishment. Her Lebanese guest did point out that, ``Article 50 of Protocol 1 of Geneva Conventions, the presence of individuals within the population which doesn't come within the definition of civilians doesn't deprive the population of its civilian character.''

In my opinion, this is far beyond a ``war on Hezbollah.'' The Israeli aggression is a salvo in the US neoconservative plan to apply US power to ethnically cleanse and reshape the world to neoconservative liking.