More disproportionate response, please

Jonah Goldberg's latest just convinces me that Israel really has nothing to gain from trying to placate international opinion. You're not going to get respect, no matter what you do, and in that neighborhood, being the craziest and meanest sumbitch on the block may not be whe worst option remaining. There's a Far Side cartoon out there labeled "Nature's ways of saying 'Don't touch.'" It has a coiled rattle snake, a cat with its back raised and showing its teeth, etc. The last panel is "a man wearing a trench coat, with a boot on his head, a child's pool floaty around his middle and carrying a bazooka."

Maybe disproportionate response is the only kind these people understand. Western military technology is highly advanced, and highly cumbersome. It takes a lot of time and effort to gear up for a military response. So you take a lot of harassment and even violence from people like Hezbollah or Al Qaeda before you hit back. Our problem, and maybe Israel's, is that we waited far too long before responding. The longer we allow them to operate with impunity the more encourage escalating attacks. Hezbollah specializes in provoking "disproportionate responses." I favor letting them know that there are other kind from the U.S.

Sadly, we have too many weak-kneed "leaders" in Washington to make that work. It's time for the people to take back the leadership, but I'm not sanguine about that happening as long as our media are dominated by bien pensants.