# U.S. Convoy attacked in Gaza. Should the U.S. retaliate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 15, 2003, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534 "2003-10-15T09:30:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/61 "2003-10-16T14:13:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by msmith537 \* > That’s what we need in the world. More ignorent rednecks of all races and creeds. :rolleyes: You might say that. I couldn’t possibly characterise such enthusiastic and loyal employees of the US Government in those terms. ---
**Author:** ![Daisy\_Cutter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Daisy\_Cutter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daisy_Cutter)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/62 "2003-10-16T20:52:25Z")
What’s with all this CIA nonsense and other ridiculous claims that various people are throwing about ? :smack: The solution to this problem is quite simple. US diplomats should not go to palestinian areas to interview people for scholarships, as American lives are obviously in danger in that hatefilled, violent, lawless region. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/63 "2003-10-16T21:16:50Z")
I find the thought quite comical. I can just imagine a bunch of Americans chasing some Palestinian while they shout “come here, we only want to give you a scholarship!”. ---
**Author:** ![swami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@swami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swami)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/64 "2003-10-16T21:49:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daisy Cutter \* > \*\*The solution to this problem is quite simple. > > US diplomats should not go to palestinian areas to interview people for scholarships, as American lives are obviously in danger in that hatefilled, violent, lawless region. \*\* True, US lives are in danger in Israel. ---
**Author:** ![swami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@swami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swami)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/65 "2003-10-16T21:57:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by msmith537 \* > **No, I support Saddams right as a sovereign leader to murder and torture whomever he pleases.** I do suppose Anti-War = Pro-Saddam, :rolleyes: \*\* > [@](#): > > Actually I do support the war.\*\* Then if you re-read your original statement you might find some irony you left for those who didn’t\*\* > [@](#): > > I think the method of carrying it out could have been a little better.\*\* You are not alone it that view. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/66 "2003-10-16T22:09:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > \*\*I know, I shock myself sometimes! Actually, I read the Haaretz article linked to in the OP and that’s what it says, many times – one imagines they are reasonably well connected in their own backyard and don’t put letters together that form ‘CIA’ lightly. Or, in fact, it’s what the article did say, it’s a very different article this morning to the one they put up yesterday and know also includes denials of CIA involvement from the CIA – maybe the Israeli Intelligence network in Gaza just isn’t up to the job and got it horribly wrong 😃 > > I can only surmise reality has shifted already.\*\* I only saw the recent edition as well as articles in BBC and Reuters, so I hope you can understand my confusion over your certainty that they were in fact CIA. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to find out that embassy personnel are in fact intelligence agents. > [@](#): > > \*\*I know, I know, such nice boys! What was I thinking of . . . people all over Latin and South America, Asia, Africa and throughout the Middle East will be appalled . . . > > Fwiw, when faced with the modern-day equivalent of the Four Horsemen, I’d be inclined to shoot first and ask questions later – it’s not as if the good ol’ boys wouldn’t understand and appreciate that philosophy. Actually, I’d imagine they’d be offended if one didn’t think like that about them, such is there ‘self-esteem’. \*\* Maybe I’m just an old bleeding heart, but I find it distasteful to cheer on the deaths of others, whoever they may be. With regards to the Four Horsemen and the CIA’s misdeeds, does this apply to all the Horsemen or just the CIA? The next time I’m down in DC should I be staking out the Russian, Chinese, French and British embassies to blow up their intelligence agents for their nation’s misdeeds? Or is it acceptable to simply give the old “Huzzah!!” if it happens? I don’t see how the bombing in Gaza does any good for the Palestinian/Israel situation, which is already a big enough mess as it is. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/67 "2003-10-16T23:16:29Z")
\>\> I don’t see how the bombing in Gaza does any good for the Palestinian/Israel situation, which is already a big enough mess as it is. That’s about the only thing we can all agree on. Killing more people does not solve problems, it just makes them worse. it is true of the terrorists of the Palestinians, of the Israelis and of the USA. Escalating violence rarely leads to peace, it just leads to more violence. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/68 "2003-10-16T23:22:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brutus \* > Calling a spade a spade, and all that. Go back and read some of the interesting and colorfull posts in this thread. From killing Rummy to shooting CIA agents, I certainly wouldn’t characterize those attitudes as being particularily friendly towards America. Out of curiousity, **Brutus,** but did you condemn G. Gordon Liddy when he told his listeners how to most effectively kill federal ATF agents? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/69 "2003-10-17T00:11:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*condemn G. Gordon Liddy \*\* In all fairness, he explained were to shoot agents “or anyone else who breaks into your house and is trying to kill you” because they will be wearing body armour. The discussion was about some Federal agency breaking into an innocent person’s house and shooting them. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/70 "2003-10-17T00:33:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*Out of curiousity, **Brutus,** but did you condemn G. Gordon Liddy when he told his listeners how to most effectively kill federal ATF agents? \*\* Holy crap, you are stretching. What the hell does G.Gordon Liddy have to do with Palestinians attacking Americans? Regardless, the only thing I ‘know’ about Liddy is that candle story. If he condoned killing US gov’t officials, then he is as batshit insane as some of the posters here. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/71 "2003-10-17T01:11:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brutus \* > Calling a spade a spade, and all that. Go back and read some of the interesting and colorfull posts in this thread. From killing Rummy to shooting CIA agents, I certainly wouldn’t characterize those attitudes as being particularily friendly towards America. I do not interpret them as being anti-American perse but rather as reconising the fact that people have the right to resist an invasion. Nobody has talked about going to Washington and killing CIA people but of fighting them if they were coming down your street in a foreign country. At least that’s the way I interpret it. I find it a reasonable thing to say which is not anti-American per se. You could say it about any other country. It just so happens that it is the USA who is meddling around the world in other countries but if it were the Soviets who were meddling in other countries I would expect to hear the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/72 "2003-10-17T01:20:03Z")
Er, good points, Sailor, but there are no more Soviets. ---
**Author:** ![Daisy\_Cutter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Daisy\_Cutter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daisy_Cutter)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/73 "2003-10-17T01:25:19Z")
Resisting an invasion ? If the palestinians idea of _resisting an invasion_, is to target diplomats who are there to interview palestinians for scholarships, then they really need to figure out some new methods, because their current logic isn’t doing them a whole lot of good. As a matter of fact, things are getting worse for them. I assume their next move will be to do some more foolish, ridiculous things, as this is in line with their current, self destructive thinking. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/74 "2003-10-17T01:31:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dissonance \* > I don’t see how the bombing in Gaza does any good for the Palestinian/Israel situation, which is already a big enough mess as it is. Was it supposed to “do good” - what does “good” mean in this context ? On a brief appraisal, I can only think Arafat suffers from the explosion. The US doesn’t – it is trying to back out of the ‘Road Map’ and the bomb helps. Ditto Sharon. The extremist Palestinians want the Road Map to end, also. Point to any of the above for your convenient ‘I accuse’ – of course, we’ll never know who did plant it, even if it is highly unusual for the extremist org’s to not claim responsibility. Hmmm . . Indeed, everyone’s a winner ‘cept (maybe) Arafat, plus the three dead men and those who want the peace process to continue. And then there was the CIA - like I said before, funny old world. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/75 "2003-10-17T01:34:33Z")
I think when your son blows up my sister at the bus stop, and I bull doze your house in an effort to make others stop, we come to hate each other so very deeply that we are concerned only with “making them drink from the same cup” and all our actions are foolish, ridiculous and self destructive. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/76 "2003-10-17T01:55:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > **Indeed, everyone’s a winner ‘cept (maybe) Arafat, plus the three dead men and those who want the peace process to continue.** I don’t see how anyone is a winner in the mess. The Roadmap was unfortunately a dead issue from the get-go, it was no more than a crass political maneuver and I doubt anyone in power ever placed any real faith in it. At least you do show some compassion for the dead – you do realize that this was the entirety of my objection to your posts? ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/77 "2003-10-17T02:07:43Z")
I have to admit that what happened makes me feel not very sympathetic concerning the plight of the the Palestinians. I suppose polarizing the issue it pretty much what the attackers wanted. I hate to give it to them. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/78 "2003-10-17T02:24:02Z")
\>\> Er, good points, Sailor, but there are no more Soviets. Er, that was kind of my point, wasn’t it? \>\> diplomats who are there to interview palestinians for scholarships, I have an extremely hard time buying this. Extremely hard. Not that it changes much in the sense that the killing serves no good purpose and can only make things worse but I find the idea that American diplomats would go around a war zone interviewing candidates for scholarships quite ludicrous. \>\> I assume their next move will be to do some more foolish, ridiculous things, as this is in line with their current, self destructive thinking. Not all Palestinians feel that way but there is enough of them that do to make peace impossible just like not all Israelis feel the same way but enough of them do. They are engaged in a spiral of never ending violence. The idea from any side that more violence is the answer seems stupid and yet many people believe it. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/79 "2003-10-17T04:48:32Z")
Is Gaza really much more of a warzone than one of our inner cities? I don’t know how much inter-Palestinian violence there is, but Israelis only kill about two Palestinians per day. Isn’t LA’s murder rate higher than that, and don’t government workers go there? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534/80 "2003-10-17T10:11:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adaher \* > Is Gaza really much more of a warzone than one of our inner cities? I don’t know how much inter-Palestinian violence there is, but Israelis only kill about two Palestinians per day. Isn’t LA’s murder rate higher than that, and don’t government workers go there? So if some gang in LA kills some German tourists or even some German professors who were interviewing candidates for scholarships in SW LA. . . would Germany be entitled to retaliate against the gang who did it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-convoy-attacked-in-gaza-should-the-u-s-retaliate/207534.md?page=5)