and the Brigadier-General's picture says it all. This like asking Al Capone to issue a fatwa on using the Thomson machine guns while robbing a bank and spraying the customers with bullets was a "necessary" thing to do.

It sounds like a very learned and well reasoned legal argument to me.

What do you know about international law? Nothing!!

The ongoing slaughter and maiming of Lebanese children for thenext decade is quite alright then because the bully-boys that dropped more than a million of the deadly and disgusting weapons says so. Israel's mighty judiciary, that demands multiple life sentences for Palestinians daring to resist an oppressive and illegal occupation, has spoken. We can all walk to shul now with our head held high again. What a relief.

Is it so much different than terrorists putting nails and bolts into a bomb? I don't hear anyone whinging about that. You use what you must to ensure your country's survival within international laws. End of discussion.

Probably the same one used by Harold Pinter, Steven & Hillary Rose, John Rainer, and other British self-hating Jews.

If IDF says it is legal, Hezzies should fire cluster bombs with high defect rates into heavily populated areas like Tel Aviv. What a stupid comment in righting a morally wrong thing

I ask because this is not a common name nor a common nickname.

Thats why Israel has to be a bit creative .Youve probably not noticed as you have been too far up the Amazon

Keep piling up cluster bombs, it will take terrorists years to reach the border.

..If there's a problem with civilians being injured by these weapons - the answer is stay away from them! I've read the pathetic blame-Israel-for -everything comments here. You people are so stupid, sickening. Its as if all what's occurred is within a vacuum of any responsibility cast upon the Lebanese combatants in the area. Cluster bombs have been very effective in preventing the enemy from properly re-establishing itself along Israel's border. Nobody with any decency wants innocents hurt, but foolish friends - that is WAR. and what occurred and is still occurring is WAR. The causes of this conflict are , contrary to your opinions, not all of Israel's making. The message is clear as it has been for sometime: Israel is staying put - too bad, live with it, get over it. If you choose to confront - suffer the consequences. If you hurt her citizens - you and your own will suffer too. In the meantime , stay away from cluster bombed areas. This is the price of war.

the same page again I see. The C.I.A. keeps declaring that its destruction of videotaped evidence of torture during interrogations was "legal and proper". Aren't these self investigations just wonderfully predictable? Now if they could just make them conform with reality...

cuz i think you just said your no better then the terrorists???? did i read that right? Is it so much different than terrorists putting nails and bolts into a bomb? I don't hear anyone whinging about that. i think you stole that last line from hamas: You use what you must to ensure your country's survival how many qassams today? Hamas use what they must to ensure Gaza survival within international laws by launing qassams at israeli cities, just like israel did to lebanon cities.

Cluster bomblets hang around for years, hurting mostly civilians and children. That's one reason why the international community was finally turned against them (after lots of lobbying by humanistic groups). What ever happened to "the purity of Jewish arms?" Or did that die along with the generation of Ben Gurion. Sure, it was ignored as much as it was honored, but at least the idea and the ideal was there. And isn't the IDF good enough that it doesn't need such things? Tzedek, tzedek tirdof.

if the Hizbullsh!tallah didn't attack Israel 3 times unprovoked the Israeli's would not have used any bombs. Israel should have hit them back harder than they did. If the Hizzy's had cluster bombs of course they would use them! the hizzy's would also kill any Jewish child if they could, but some of the talkbackers here fail to reconize the moral side that the Israeli's do try to minimize collateral damage.

Everything Israel does is inherently legal & internationally acceptable & ultimately good. Rejoice in your own guaranteed goodness, oh children of Prophets! Hallelujah! Anyone in doubt?

If cluster bombs to where children and women live is morally right, you should also accept the mad arab suicide bombers.

I thought you knew arabs terrorists hide behind children and women.If you didn't know,I am telling you now what kind of enemies Israel has. (are you the football player?)

I read your anti-Israel opinions and I do not understand you. The Persians and Jews were never enemies and have no reason to be enemies. You were betrayed by Carter / France / Saudi who destroyed the Shah to isolate the Persians. Iraq, with Arab/French/USA support, attacked Iran including with poison gas (mustard/nerve) and Scuds against your cities, murdering 1 million Persians. I would have thought you would be clever enough to realize that now Condoleeza/Arabs are manipulating Israel and Iran into a war where Israel will be destroyed and Iran under Arab domination. Wake up to see who is your enemy and who could be your friend.

I have never expressed any "anti-Israel" opinion. On the other hand I have made my opposition and outright hatred of the Israeli Zionist governments very clear. This is what I stand for: There are two groups of extremist, right wing groups in the ME which use religion as an instrument of war, occupation, apartheid and land grab, that is the Israeli government; another group which uses religion as an instrument repression and extremism, that is the Iranian mullahs. BOTH function just like two criminal gangs that have overrun two nations who want to live in peace and security; both perpetuate their criminal rules by creating permanent crises and institutionalized fear mongering to keep the people in both countries in fear and insecure. The remedy in my opinion is to ERADICATE both Zionism and Islamism. Once that's done peace will prevail between the Muslim and the Jews. It has happened before, it can happen before. I am well aware of who is trying to sow the seeds of war in the ME and I'm glad that you know that too. BTW, don't forget the UK and German culpability in the war either. I am not sorry to see the Shah go, he caused his own demise , and Iran's, by intentionally destroying any vestiges of democracy and failing to build the democratic institutions necessary to keep the mullahs at bay. The Shah was part of the problem not the solution.

The Lebanese shuld have suffered 100,000's of casulaties, and then they would have stopped hezbollah. Too bad we're even wasting time thinking about it.

Actually, our clusters and land mines that we spread harmed us and civilians, and never hurt hizbollah. When we were fighting in second Lebanon war, several of those mines exploaded and hurt our comrades. What our smart government and generals forget is the fact that the floods and rain move such stuff along with them to places supposed to be clean. This cost us a lot. I would like to read some statistics about how many of us died or were injured by our own clusters and mines, before legalizing them.

fired rockets with cluster munitions into virtually every town in North Israel. Of course when HRW tried to publish a report on this, Hizbollah threatened the lives of the researchers.