Civilian targets not Kosher

Via: Prison Planet

Israeli pilots 'deliberately miss' targets

At least two Israeli fighter pilots have deliberately missed civilian targets in Lebanon as disquiet grows in the military about flawed intelligence, The Observer has learnt. Sources say the pilots were worried that targets had been wrongly identified as Hizbollah facilities.
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As one well-connected Israeli expert put it: 'If we have such good information in Lebanon, how come we still don't know the hideout of missiles and launchers?... If we don't know the location of their weapons, why should we know which house is a Hizbollah house?'
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Yonatan Shapiro, a former Blackhawk helicopter pilot dismissed from reserve duty after signing a 'refusenik' letter in 2004, said he had spoken with Israeli F-16 pilots in recent days and learnt that some had aborted missions because of concerns about the reliability of intelligence information. According to Shapiro, some pilots justified aborting missions out of 'common sense' and in the context of the Israeli Defence Force's moral code of conduct, which says every effort should be made to avoiding harming civilians.

I say kudos and huzzah to these pilots. Some would say that these pilots are cowards, but I say that this defiance of orders in this case is an example of bravery. It appears that Israeli intelligence is trying to play the odds and figure that if half the sites they hit are actually Hezbollah, then these bombing raids are successful. I think the pilots that actually have to drop the bombs and fire the missiles into buildings housing civilians, who are seeking shelter from those very bombs, see it a different way. Good for them. Would that ever happen in the US military? I don't know, but I doubt it.

It also makes me wonder if some of these attacks on houses and cars are not some sort of personal vendetta killing. The house may not be Hezbollah, but that of a political or business rival of some Israeli higher ups.

The rocket attacks fromHezbollah must stop. They could be stopped by bombs that also kill children, but they could also be stopped by a cease fire. Is that permanent? No. Would a Condi Rice solution, her so-called 'sustainable cease fire' be permanent or actually sustainable? Don't be ridiculous. But a cease fire in any case stops the violence now. Thankfully, some Israeli pilots realize that bombing 'random' Lebanese houses isn't the solution.

(and also check out this great Mark Fiore animation.)