Great post. The "disproportionaholics" are nuts. I suppose that they would argue that a "proportionate" response to the destruction of the Trade Towers in New York would have been to fly an airplane into the tallest building in Kabul.

The mistake we made during Gulf War I was listening to the Colin Powells who after viewing the "Highway of Death" convinced Bush 1 to stop the war. Just set up the stage for the second war.

There was no opposition in Baghdad - all of Saddam's forces were in the South or Kuwait being routed.

Similarly all the people decrying the "disproportionate response" were conspicuously silent during the months of rocket attacks and suicide bombings against Israel.

If your readers want to know more about the history of the Nazis penetration into the Muslim Middle East, they might want to check out this old book: Hirszowicz, Lukasz. "The Third Reich and the Arab East." London: Routledge and Kagan Paul, 1966.

Sephardic James

When the U.S. and Britain were threatened by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, we burned whole cities to the ground. When we were threated by Soviet Communism, we stood ready to incinerate tens of millions of people at the turn of a key. What Israel is doing does not even remotely begin to approach these levels of violence.

John Krenson writes about "proportionate response" in the light of Catholic Just War doctrine.

Great post and links. I'm amazed that you find the time to do all this - given it's not your main job.

Now I hope that Israel continues to apply the lessons they learned during 2006. The enemy gives no quarter and no mercy. Let them enjoy the benefits of their actions.

Ditto the others who complimented your (and others you mentioned) work. I would like to add that the focus of recent Israeli governments on holding out to the rest of the world Israel as a secular (non-Jewish) state has been the wrong thing to do. It has made Israel appear like a lesser among equals - embarrassingly timid of its clearly Jewish and Biblical roots. It's that gutless "I want to be just like the rest of you," image that has come across and has wanted me to spit nails over the past few years. This is the way I see it; Most Jews are proud of being Jews. Most Jews, whether they live in Israel or not and no matter the depth of their religious belief, need Israel. Israel should be a Jewish state. And when the rest of the world that Israel has been so bent on emulating tries to tell her to bow her head and take whatever the Arabs (Islamists and whoever else) try to hand her, she might be able to instead say, "Nah. Don't think so. I'm Jewish. I tried that a few times in the galut and it didn't turn out so well. This isn't the galut and this isn't the Jew you once knew."

G-d willing, this Election Campaign War will be what it should be. The Six Days War didn't have the right aim, but G-d took over.

To balance my cynicism, a friend is posting from the front lines, Notes from Netivot.

Hi Robert - Thanks for the link and your kind words and thoughts.

Regards from Eretz Yisrael,

J. & Crew,

(see, for Karen's sake, I didn't use the name "Jameel" :-)

I can only hope and pray that Israel has the fortitude and courage to complete this task.

Paco:

And, I suppose, a proportionate response to the Hamas missiles would be for Israel to launch random missiles targeting Gaza's civilian population.

Bill:

Agree completely about not finishing the Kuwait war properly.

Naturally, I am afraid that Israel will suspend Operation Cast Lead way too early.

Sephardic James;

Hey, thanks so much for the book recommendation. Ordering from Amazon.com asap.

David:

Thanks so much for the link. Extremely compelling!

Mata Hari:

Thanks so much. Seraphic Secret is my emotional and intellectual outlet in Hollywood that, except for a small minority, is deaf and dumb when it comes to the Islamo Nazi threat to western civilization.

Jack:

I'm with you, but I do worry that Israel will accept a cease fire before Hamas is dismantled, and before Gilad Shalit is returned.

Kae:

Thanks so much. I agree about the Jewish character of the Jewish state. Only problem is, too many Jews define Judaism as, er, voting for the Democrats, in America, and in Israel, secular Jews who just want define Judaism, as well, most anything that sounds fuzzy and democratic and multi-cultural. Both notions are naive, self-defeating and a-historical.

Batya:

Can't blame you for being cynical, but this war is actually being led by a real general, Gabi Ashkenazi, intel seems quite good, and hey, the govt. is doing its job. And let's be honest, every war is, in one way or another, a political war.

Jameel:

You're welcome. You are doing a great job. And yeah, Karen still doesn't get the Jameel handle:-)

Thud:

The ordinary IDF soldier certainly has the courage and fortitude to complete the task, but I fear that the current government are not up to the job.

America utterly destroyed Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan during World War II

Don't forget the Soviets!

And the British of course