NationStates Jolt Archive

Back during Hurrican Katrina, the US was rightly criticized for not evacuating the poor, the eldelry, the sick, with the same efficiency that was applied to those with the means to get away.

I mean, it doesn't look good when the local, state, and Federal government can't get any of their asses together three days before a storm to coordinate the movement of people.

Why there are still so many civilians in south Lebanon?. I mean, you only have to move the people about 20 miles - it's not like they have to drive from New Orleans to Houston. We hear from the news that the stragglers are too old, sick and poor to leave. If Lebanese families are abandoning their sick and elderly as they flee the war zone, and the Lebanese government is abandoning the old, sick, and poor, what does that say about the nature of those people?

Yes, I already know the IDF is bombing people - but you would think that people who are running would not leave the old, sick, and poor behind.

If you had a choice between your entire family being killed just because you wanted to help a sick person or helping your family get the hell out before your city gets bombed like a WWII axis city, which would you choose?

If you had a choice between your entire family being killed just because you wanted to help a sick person or helping your family get the hell out before your city gets bombed like a WWII axis city, which would you choose?

Gosh, the people in charge of Louisiana were castigated for not helping the sick, elderly, etc. - and the hurricane and flood was far more damaging than the IDF.

That's not an excuse for not helping.

Gosh, the people in charge of Louisiana were castigated for not helping the sick, elderly, etc. - and the hurricane and flood was far more damaging than the IDF.

That's not an excuse for not helping.
Jeeze, I didn't say one was okay. I didn't say I'm glad the sick and poor are dying, even though we have too many people starving to death. I'm just saying it's a bit understandable that people would leave the weak behind when their families' lives are at stake. Plus, asking a government to help is like asking a single sheet of 2-ply toilet paper to lift up a tank.

If you had a choice between your entire family being killed just because you wanted to help a sick person or helping your family get the hell out before your city gets bombed like a WWII axis city, which would you choose?

The bombing of Lebanon is being conducted like the bombings of World War Two? Why, I didn't realize that the IDF was causing things like 40,000 casualties in a single night (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Hamburg_in_World_War_II).

Look, collateral damage is always regrettable, and I'll be the first to admit that the IDF can be too heavy handed at times in thier approach, but try to keep the hyperbole in check?

The only difference I can think of in comparison between the disaster at NO and Lebanon is that at least after the fact, you don't have to worry about bombs falling out of the sky and landing on your head.

Certainly in New Orleans, you had gangs, scavengers and the general lawlessness that follows suit in disasters. But there's still something more tangible to the idea of "getting out now!" when there's the threat of a artillery shell landing on you because that person over there with a bagel was thought by the IDF to be a Hezbollah insurgent with a rifle.

NO, you mostly ended up dying slowly, either from exposure or lack of supplies. In Lebanon, it's usually fast and messily.

Comparing situations that aren't comparable again, are we?
How much early warning did the Lebanese civilians have before the IDF began hitting roads, bridges, airports, and cars that were trying to leave after it all started?