Tom,

This situation stinks, and you spray a bit of skunk juice over it and say you can't smell anything.

The Israelis said 23 of them were combatants. The rest were serially massacred. Most folks think a massacre has to happen all at one time and in one place. Not so. It can be a serial massacre. The Germans did that, too. Now, where are all the folks arrested, over 4,000 by an Israeli report? Arrested, by the way, just because they were Palestinian males, not because of any charge, not because they had weapons.

Second, the Israeli soldiers interviewed said they were given instructions to shoot out every window in every house and apartment they saw. Not shoot at snipers, shoot out windows, regardless if they could tell what was behind it or not. That's terrorism. And vandalism. Not the mark of an "army", unless it's under Sharon.

Third, the Israeli soldiers said they didn't use human shields. Then the same soldiers said they made Palestinians knock on doors with the Israelis standing behind in case someone protecting their home shot through the door. What would a human shield look like? Well, Sharon's army would look like that. But why deny shield, then define shields?

You know why? Because there are people out there who will believe they weren't shields because the Israelis said so. Yes, there are folks that dumb. Hook-line-and-sinker suckers.

Fourth, as Raoul said, Israel was created by the UN. If not for the UN, no Israel. So much for the prejudice. It seems Israel doesn't live up to her agreements, vis a vis the settlements, etc. Why won't Israel let in a commission which is quite credible to the rest of the world so as to reassure the rest of the world that their invasion of the Palestinians was this innoccous campout you think it was? Is it because Israel is indifferent to public opinion, or they think that they will look better by hiding what happened?

It's one thing to take a reasoned stance. It's another to blindly follow the "line".

Do all "libertarians" support violating written agreements, building on their neighbors land, shooting kids who throw rocks, and punishing anyone of the same race as a suicide bomber because they are the same race? Looting civilian homes, bulldozing the homes of innocent bystanders? Or is that a sub-sect of libertarians?

Arf