Palestinian/Israeli conflict

[amalia]

It is barbaric that one group of people feels justified to slaughter the children of another group of people as a means to dominate, or in retaliation, or in
self defense. The act of murdering children is just as barbaric when it is carried out by the Israeli military as it is when it's done by Hamas, the U.S. Marines, the Janjaweed, Basque separatists, the British army or any other group with weapons.
No amount of religious or historical rhetoric, or political posturing can alter the fact that killing children is a brutal act for which there is absolutely no justification. That so many seemingly sensible and intelligent people condone this savagery as regrettable, but necessary "collateral damage" is equally horrifying.

Amalia

["Mad" Miles]

It is barbaric that one group of people feels justified to slaughter the children of another group of people ....The act of murdering children is just as barbaric when it is carried out by .... Basque Separatists ....
Amalia

Dear Amalia,

While I completely agree with your opinion in the original post, and was happy to see it printed as a letter to the editor in today's PD, I have one quibble. When has ETA targetted children?

(ETA is the military underground wing of the Basque / Euskadi movement in north central and north eastern Spain. For decades they've used bombs as part of their tactics to win a separate nation from Spain. When I was in Bilbao in August of 1981, during a week of anti-nuclear power activities, a popular chant during street marches was: "ETA, ETA, ETA ... ETA Militaire!!!!!" So they appeared to have some popular support at the time, at least among the young and radical of that day.)

I was not aware that that was a consistent practice of theirs. I know they have targetted police and military but was unaware that they have consistently targetted non-combatants with a specific emphasis on the young.

Perhaps I'm uninformed, could you fill in the blanks in my knowledge?

"My Race is the Human Race" - from a mini-bumper sticker I saw at Community Market the other day.

"Mad" Miles