The Myth of Sanitary War

There is a myth circulating in the mainstream media that Israel's missiles are finding their targets with surgical precision.

The lie entails comparing something like the 250-pound GBU-39 "smart bomb" to a surgeon's knife. A small side-note: the United States Congress approved the sale of this bomb to Israel. Actually, they approved the sale of 1,000 of these bombs to Israel. Second side-note: Your tax dollars bought the bombs.

So-called "rational adults" argue that this horrible, destructive device, which has enough explosive power to decimate six feet of reinforced concrete, is exactly the same as the precision guaranteed between a doctor's steady hand, a blade, and a patient's flesh.

It's generous to call this myth stupid. It's probably fairer to call it dishonest. Of course a bomb can't be smart, or precise, primarily because of its very nature as a bomb - a tool of mass destruction. This is like the difference between if I punch you in the face or I slam you with a wrecking ball. You may get up after I deck you, but the wrecking ball will turn you into a human stain. I may also knock over a few buildings whilst trying to thwart you because a giant tool of destruction doesn't offer any precision. That's also the difference between a ground invasion and aerial bombing. The whole idea of using a bomb or a missile instead of 100,000 ground troops is to cause maximum damage with minimal casualties on the side of the bomb-dropping or missile-firing country.

That's why we're seeing all of these terrible images coming out of Gaza of bloodied children, slain doctors, and hundreds of young men, who may or may not have been fighting for Hamas. "Smart bombs" and "smart missiles" did this damage because a huge explosion causes unplanned consequences. Shrapnel goes flying. Other buildings topple from the impact. The wrong buildings are bombed. Some bombs don't detonate until much later when a curious child pokes it, thinking it's a toy.

The myth of sanitary war isn't reserved just for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but is used in most western-backed offenses. This lie extends past "smart bombs" and addresses the very parameters of war itself. In our interconnected world, the lines of good guy and bad guy are blurred.

America sends billions of dollars of military aid to Israel, and has almost single-handedly built Israel's arsenal that is now massacring Gaza's residents. Meanwhile, Hamas uses Katyusha rockets built in China.

In a way, the war in Gaza is a microcosm of a stand-off between the superpowers. Separate ideologies sparked the proxy war, of course. America viciously (and unquestioningly) defends its pro-Western ally, and therefore supplies the old girl as she attempts to "defend" herself, and China's interests are profit-oriented.

Still, it's difficult to make the argument that this is a sanitary war when a quarter of the casualties are Palestinian civilians and the bombs, missiles, and rockets themselves are supplied by foreign superpowers.

Israel does herself a disservice by engaging in offenses that will guarantee the deaths of many innocent civilians. Sanitary war is impossible, and just as America lied that its "smart bombs" would spare innocent Afghanis and Iraqis, so Israel lies that her precision missiles will spare innocent Palestinians.

Comments

[1will]

Hamas is known for placing weapons and equipment as close to civilians as possible. After months of having hundreds of rockets fallling on it's cities Israel finally responded to Hamas attacks. What were they supposed to do?

[Magenta]

> > Israel has told the State Department that it originally tried targeted strikes against Hezbollah rocket sites, but those proved ineffective. < <


Israel May Have Violated Arms Pact, U.S. Says
By DAVID S. CLOUD and GREG MYRE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/world/middleeast/28cluster.html?ex=1327640400&en=d2b85edaa9bf6e8d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[mattheweste]

You're wrong; the bombs are hitting the targets.
The civilians ARE the targets.

[SEQUOIABISON]

Great article Ms Kilkenny, it is refreshing to hear a sane voice of reason amid all the crazy justifications we have been listening to about how calculated and careful the Israelis are being as they bombard innocent women and children, oops so sorry, I guess that last "smart" bomb, the one that killed so many civilians did not do well on its SAT test??

[jmpurser]

I for one haven't heard this myth the article is based upon. I've heard that Israel is shelling one of the most populated places on earth because that's where the rockets are coming from. No one is pretending there's anything clean, nice, or precise about this.

[ObjectiveRealist]

Excellent article. I have re-read it several times since it was posted yesterday, and it occurs to me that this idea you call "sanitary war" is largely being used as conceptual stand-in for the "just war" theory that in previous generations, arguably provided some moral validity, to nations who went to war in defense against aggressor nations.

[
The myth of sanitary war isn't reserved just for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but is used in most western-backed offenses. This lie extends past "smart bombs" and addresses the very parameters of war itself. In our interconnected world, the lines of good guy and bad guy are blurred.
]

Now, we are told that our national leaders' aggression is just and to trust that who they kill are our enemies and the "bad guys" merely based on the assurance that our superior technology makes it so. Morally, that is absolutely unacceptable. Tools are a means to an end, and as such may not substitute for a just cause.

Terrorism necessitates a higher degree of professionalism in law enforcement than we presently have. It does not justify any wars and advanced technology does not bridge the logical gap between terrorist attack and invasions based on hunches.

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

I think you might be doing a disservice to your goals by confounding 'sanitary war' and 'just war'.

The former is a propaganda device, at best suitable to make palatable to the public a war which does pass the test of a 'just war' in the sense elaborated by the theorists and policy makers employing that notion.

A policy maker who himself believes that 'sanitary war' is possible is an ignorant fool. This is not at all the case when it comes to 'just war'. The fact that ill-suited comparisons have frequently be drawn in the recent past to WWII and the necessity of the US to fight that war does not imply that there was a mistake involved in the decision when it was made.

[GrainOSand]

Perhaps someone will develop a death ray. The problem I have with war beyond the killing, the maiming, the sadness, and the irreparable damage done to mind, body, and spirit, is that humans want to beautify war. I await the press conference where the general comes on and says with a grin, “We killed everything in sight! There was blood, guts, and brains everywhere. Some of the dead are women and children, but we got our target and that is all that matters!”

How about if prior to Iraq Bush had said, “I want authority to go and kill Saddam Hussein and occupy his country for reasons I do not want to share?” Because I take an anti-war stance I am often confused for someone who is soft where it concerns matters of self-defense. My war study tells me the best way to win a war is to stay out of one, but if an enemy should press the case such that resistance to conflict is not possible, then lay waste to all demons without hesitation, fear, or doubt. This is the way war should be entered into, not with a wink, a nod, a poor plan, and a dog and pony show utilizing smoke and mirrors, lies and embellishments. The case for war is always clear to the people if the leader is worthy. If not, war remains a question, a thorn, a bone of contention among the population.

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/000965.html

[degenerate1991]

The trouble with "smart" weaponry is that "smart" and "accurate" are relative terms. Smart bombs are relatively more accurate and might hit within 50 feet instead of a mile. Unfortunately, accuracy within 50 feet does nothing for the civilian next door. Politicians like to say that a smart weapon can miss the house next door but that is not the case. As far as cluster bombs go, they are an anti-personnel weapon and insisting that they could miss civilians with them is dishonest at best.

[larry278]

Precision bombing has been around since WWII. In WWII US fliers boasted that they could drop a bomb in a picle barrel. Now US fliers boast that they can hit a particular spot on a particular wart on a particular pickle in a piclke barrel. That rocket or bomb won't hit any other pickle in the barrel but it will destroy the targeted pickle while not doing any damage to any other pickle. The IAF's fliers can do just as well or better & say so.
I can't account for the IAF destroying so much during this episode unless the IDF & its fliers lie as much as US air forces & fliers lie. While officials, particularly generals, don't often say so, pilots have been known to exaggerate.

[degenerate1991]

In WWII, us bombers would be lucky to land a bomb within 100 yards of their target.

[mattheweste]

They developed extremely large pickle barrels specially for the war!

[MajorKong]

The Norden bombsite of WWII was actually quite accurate - IF you could see the target. Knowing the weather in Europe, that was a mighty big if. Much of the time the target was obscured by clouds.

The British got around all that by just dropping incendiaries all over the place and burning the whole city to the ground. (Also because they flew at night and accurate night bombing was almost impossible at that time).

[Boyaca]

Its funny. The USA is trumpeting its anti missile missilies. They are putting them in eastern Europe etc. They are telling the American Public that they can destroy incoming missiles from Russia etc. But they cannot even stop a homemade rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. How good would they be against a mutible targeted very sophisticated missile like the Russians have in there arsenal by the thousands? American`s need to wake up and smell the coffee. They are being seriously and dangerously misled by the Industrial Military Complex. Could very well spell their collective doom.

[Magenta]

Archontruth, you need to take another look at reality. If the israeli IDF bends itself backwards to protect civilians, it would not have rejected the 2-day ceasefire:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/world/middleeast/01mideast.html?th&emc=th

Do read up on what happened the last time Israel invaded and bombed its neighbour:

"Israel has been heavily criticized for the killings across Lebanon. In a report released Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said it had documented 153 deaths of Lebanese civilians. It said the killings formed a pattern so extensive that it seemed to indicate that the Israelis were deliberately targeting civilians. It went so far as to accuse Israel of war crimes...."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/02/news/civil.php
Israel attacks convoy fleeing south Lebanon Fri Aug 11, 6:18 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060811/wl_nm/mideast_south_dc

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft fired rockets at a convoy of hundreds of cars carrying people fleeing south Lebanon on Friday, killing at least seven people and wounding 36, witnesses and medical sources said.

[TheyAllSuck]

Just because you're not Israeli doesn't give you a license to lie either. Hamas's statements for a cease-fire is merely propaganda. What they mean is that we'll keep quiet for a day or two, and then we'll keep lobbing off a rocket every week like we've been doing for the past year. The Israelis never found that to be an acceptable status, and going in full bore is the only way they're going to remove the rockets. What's not acceptable are their tactics to achieve their goal.

[Magenta]

The IDF targets Arab civilians. That's the truth. Get it from Israeli Jew reporting from Gaza Strip.

"JERUSALEM " Israel is engaged in an "all-out war with Hamas," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Parliament on Monday as his air force struck at the organization"s civic institutions " the Islamic University, Interior Ministry and presidential guesthouse. The death toll surpassed 350, some 60 of them civilians, according to United Nations officials."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/world/middleeast/30mideast.html?th&emc=th

====

Even Israeli Jews are condemning Israel for their target Palestinian civilians strategy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/isareli-journalist-decrie_b_154219.html

A powerful column appears today in the Jerusalem daily Haaretz, written by one of its top correspondents, Amira Hass, reporting on Gaza, which opens: "This isn't the time to speak of ethics, but of precise intelligence. Whoever gave the instructions to send 100 of our planes, piloted by the best of our boys, to bomb and strafe enemy targets in Gaza is familiar with the many schools adjacent to those targets -- especially police stations. He also knew that at exactly 11:30 A.M. on Saturday, during the surprise assault on the enemy, all the children of the Strip would be in the streets - half just having finished the morning shift at school, the others en route to the afternoon shift."

'Nuff said.

[Archontruth]

The IDF bends over backward trying to avoid civilian casualties, yet people act like they're monsters. Hamas seeks solely to inflict pain and death on civilians, yet they're somehow noble victims.

What's wrong with this picture?

[SiberianRat]

"The IDF bends over backward trying to avoid civilian casualties" - utter nonsense.

[BrettnCalgary]

They certainly bend over backwards trying to convince us that they try to avoid civilian casualties, but, a one ton bomb on an apartment building so as to kill one person definitely makes that claim nonsense.

[jeg]

Hence their use of cluster bombs in Lebanon?

Anyone who uses clusterbombs in populated areas cannot claim to be avoiding civilian casualties.

[lefty joymonger]

What is Israe'l's excuse for blockading Gaza's borders preventing its civilians access to food, medicines and other commoditities since way back whenever? It appears that they don't care a flying frisbee about the humanitarian rights of Gazan civilians. Cutting off essential supplies to a people and then going off in a fit of righteous indignation when they fire a couple of rockets back at you out of frustration is no way to appeal to my better nature.

[Clavis]

Who's saying they're monsters? Who? Quote me someone. Give me a link. Or else admit you're deliberately screaming "AHH PEOPLE ARE SO UNFAIR TO THE ISRAELIS!!!" to get sympathy. You're like defenders of Sarah Palin who accused everyone of sexism when all they were really doing was asking questions.

Q: Is a Palestinian child killed in a bomb blast the same as Hamas?

Dude, it's stupid to say the IDF is "bend[ing] over backward trying to avoid civilian casualties". Bending over backwards would be NOT ATTACKING IN THE FIRST PLACE. Bending over at all would be sending in ground troops to target Hamas leaders and not drop any bombs. How is it that they could have killed MORE civilians while still hitting all their targets? You make no sense. You are responding with froth because you think someone is questioning what you feel is insulting to question.

[MajorKong]

Monsters - no.
Swatting flies with sledgehammers - arguably yes.

I wouldn't call dropping a 2000 lb MK84 on an apartment building "Bending over backward to avoid civilian casualties".

[miguelobrien]

And how smart are cluster bombs, at least hundreds of which are still lying around south Lebanon and Afghanistan, looking like toys, and which Israel seems to love as much as the Russians?

How many of those are being dropped? Is any journalist checking that out, and is that one of the reasons the Jews won't let journalists into Gaza?

[christopherflynn]

Dumb people create or utilize smart bombs...

[realcon]

I bet some very smart engineers designed them.

[darthmaul]

Governments love to give names and verbs to their weapons, to mask the true horror of death and destruction that they cause. Examples: "Patriot Missiles" "Peacekeeper Missiles." "Smart Bombs" "Brilliant Pebbles" etc...

The truth is that Smart and Dumb have nothing to do with it. The issue is morality, or in this case the lack of it. Israel has an overwhelming superiority in ordinance and sophisticated weaponry compared to the Palestinians. The casualty ratio is 100 Palestinians killed to every Israeli killed in this so called "war." Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on earth, so the killing of large number of innocent civilians is inevitable. The latest figures I have heard are 38 children and 25 women have been killed.