1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Proportionality and collateral damage - Gaza compared to 'Trouble' Northern Ireland

Discussion in 'News & Current Events' started by Matt Black, Jan 9, 2009.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Top Posters
Page 2 of 2
  1. NaasPreacher (C4K)

    NaasPreacher (C4K) Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2003
    Messages:
    26,806
    Likes Received:
    80
    You don't know how much I appreciate intelligent discussion able to leave emotions aside. It is a breath of fresh air.

    Good points. I think one thing is clear, nothing is as simple as it appears at first glance.

    I don't know about your contentions. We are living in a different age and environment. It is clear that British forces were not above heavy-handed tactics in the situation as it was. This by no means makes light of IRA activities.

    I do think that if a Sinn Fein Eire government supported IRA terrorism serious action would have been required. I think the analogy breaks down again over the difference between rocket launchers and a 'bomb factory.' Special forces could very well 'take out' a bomb factory in Cavan, but if IRA had rocket launchers in Cavan, Dundalk, Letterkenny, and other border towns air strikes would have been a reasonable response.


    I had to look up Sayeret Matkal. I didn't know what the Israeli Special Forces were called :) . I think you have a point, perhaps that would have been a better option early on.

    Again, thank you for a reasoned intelligent discussion.
     
    #21 NaasPreacher (C4K), Jan 15, 2009
  2. Matt Black

    Matt Black Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2003
    Messages:
    11,548
    Likes Received:
    193
    Thanks, Roger! No, it's not clear-cut at all. The problem with rocket and missilse launchers, for example, is that they are mobile and therefore difficult to locate - as the SAS found out in Gulf War I when trying to locate Saddam's Scuds.

    Another contra point re the Israeli tactics: the radicalisation issue - if you duff up large numbers of civilians, it tends to have the effect of radicalising their nearest and dearest and thus increasing the threat of a new generation of terrorists being raised up. The biggest recruiter for the IRA, and one which really acted as a turning point from them being regarded by the Catholic population as "I Ran Away" to them being an organisation worth joining, was Bloody Sunday...This is always going to be a risk when you have regular forces rather than elite*/specials involved in an operation where the lines between military and policing actions are blurred.

    *Not that I'm saying the Parachute Regiment in Derry in January 1972 wasn't an 'elite' force, just that it was inappropriate to use them for counter-terrorist and quasi-policing operations in an urban environment. But there you are: hindsight is everything!
     
    #22 Matt Black, Jan 15, 2009
Page 2 of 2
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Loading...