And thanks for the reasonable post.

On a Board where everthing posted is judged as to origin, the Washington Post is regarded as a left-wing rag (except for George Will) and the New York Times is a tool of that part of the liberal establishment which wants to suck dry the taxpayer while removing every conceivable liberty, one has to use what will pass muster.

I realize the point of the article was that the Palestinians have become more efficient at killing Israelis. And it's true.

Even using their figures, though, the 25-1 losses suffered before the suicide bombings are closer to a slaughter than a loss, and 3-1 losses haven't been considered "good" since Grant was fighting Lee.

What US military commander is going to sustain 3-1 losses over the long haul? (Besides US Grant?)

The only way I can imagine accepting those losses, myself, is if the US were occupied by a foreign army. And then, bigawd, I would hope we'd endure those losses while trying to get them to 3-1 and finally get rid of the occupiers or ourselves.

Since that's the only way I can justify those in my mind, I'm assuming the Palestinians are feeling something similar.

And, I just can't get past the 25-1 losses. I don't know that's been seen since the US Cavalry cleared out the Native Americans. Someone feels pretty passionate about their cause, something more than just plain hate, more than religious differences.

May as well talk about "passive resistance", or civil disobedience. That only works against a civilized army, one which might be reluctant to inflict 25-1 losses upon a civilian population. The British, for instance. Had they started inflicting damage like that on the Indians, I think there would have been a bloody revolution. There were just too many Indians for the British to handle no matter how they went about it, though.

And, I appreciate the post. I believe the damned situation is like having two pit bulls in a ring, and blaming one or the other for the fight. Or two fighting cocks, with one a bad, bad, dirty rooster who fights unfairly while sustaining 3 cuts for every one he inflicts on the honorable rooster, who is fighting only because he's been driven into it by the mean guy.

And I don't believe that it will be solved by folks who do see it that way unless you're going to completely wipe out the Palestinians. While 40 and 50 years ago the Arabians would have liked to get rid of Israel, no one, even them, believes Israel will go away, and the US properly guarantees their existence.

By the way, there are some good books on the matter of the USS Liberty, a US ship repeatedly attacked by the Israelis way back when. They don't have a lot of restraint, didn't blame them for that when they were beleaguered.

This is too long. So long.

Arf