# Letting slip the dogs of war **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-slip-the-dogs-of-war/36219 "2000-10-09T03:32:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Abe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@Abe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2001, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-slip-the-dogs-of-war/36219/21 "2001-04-18T05:27:30Z")
> [@](#): > > _Posted by JoltSucker_ > Actually, I posed a serious question that doesn’t belong to the GD forum. If, by some miracle of political and personal fortitude, Barak decided to appeal to the Palestinians for forgiveness in terms that would resonate with them on an Islamic basis, is there precedence in the Koran/Islamic tradition for doing that? What are the teachings on that? Is anyone here knowledgeable enough with Islam to address that? I think this has more to do with the here and now than Islam. Religion, as always, is an excuse for aggressive behaviour. Righteousness seems to make otherwise unacceptable behaviour excusable. The Arabs have the righteousness of Jihad against the oppressors, the Jews have the righteousness of persecution/protection. If the Israelis were ever to apologize to the Palestinians, it could smooth things over _provided_ that the palestinians did not use the apology as an admission of guilt with which to drive their efforts. I don’t think there are many movements anywhere in the world who would accept an apology with good grace! So, for the time being, and even assuming the Israelis would consider it, that is probably not a possibility. Abe ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2001, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-slip-the-dogs-of-war/36219/22 "2001-04-18T06:19:33Z")
It’s worth mentioning here that according to the Koran, the _only_ situation where war is ever justified is in defense of the Faith. Not in defense of the country, nor offense on behalf of the Faith. I think we can safely say that the folks waging this whatever-it-is aren’t paying much attention to the Koran. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2001, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-slip-the-dogs-of-war/36219/23 "2001-04-18T14:49:06Z")
> [@](#): > > I just hope the CBN hardware stays in the bunkers. > [@](#): > > I’ve always heard NBC (Nuclear Biological Chemical) as the version of that abbreviation. Maybe because I grew up with the National Broadcasting Corporation. BTW, is there a Canadian Broadcasting Network (CBN)? I’m afraid that in the event of a serious conflict in the Middle East, there’s essentially no chance that the [CBN](http://www.cbn.com)’s hardware wouldn’t be massively deployed to the region. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-slip-the-dogs-of-war/36219/24 "2001-07-23T04:00:46Z")
Any updates, in light of the following? [US intelligence: Israel will attack](http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=204500): > [@](#): > > The CIA believes Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has decided to > launch a retaliatory full-scale attack on Palestinian-controlled territory > if there is another suicide bombing attack, several former Agency and other > U.S. intelligence officials said. > > Some intelligence sources said they expected the Israeli attack probably > within a matter of days. [War fears grow as Israelis start recruiting overseas](http://www.smh.com.au/news/0107/22/world/world7.html) (These are newslinks, so I don’t know how long they’ll last.) It doesn’t look like a major confrontation with those Arab militaries that have been discussed previously is shaping up - just Israel planning on going in and taking out the Palestinian Authority. I doubt Syria will do much besides defending its current boundaries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-slip-the-dogs-of-war/36219.md?page=1)