23-Jul-06: Ladies and Gentlemen, A Caption Competition

If there is a more inane, self-incriminating act of journalistic hubris than this one of The Independent (UK), it's difficult to think of it at the moment. (The picture at right reproduces the cover of that left-wing British newspaper as of Friday 21st July.)

Bearing in mind that:

• Hezbollah is estimated to have had about 13,000 missiles in their arsenal when they started this war, and has a clearly demonstrated willingness to use every last one;
• 93 such missiles landed in various parts of Israel today
• killing two people - Habib Awad, 48, of Aabalin; and 60-year-old Shimon Glikblich - in Haifa, to bring the total number of Israelis killed by Hizbullah missiles in their living rooms or running to bomb shelters in this Hizbullah war to 37 
• Hezbollah has no stated strategic goals other than (a) surviving - which they have said amounts to victory and (b) destroying Israel and if not now then at some point in the future.
• About a million Israelis are living under direct missile threat from Hezbollah, many of them sleeping tonight in bomb shelters;
• Nasrallah and his jihadist fanatics have no strategic demands...
• and have spent six years entrenching themselves in southern Lebanon as a state within a state under the noses of the authorities in Beirut and the bosses of those authorities in Damascus;
• And - finally - anyone having minimal familiarity with the realpolitik of this region understands that Hizbullah is a willing proxy for the Mullahs of Iran who are happy to see them throw everything they have at the Israelis, and fight and die to the last Lebanese

we think it's time for a caption competition.

Write a headline that can replace the one composed by the editors of The Independent. To get your creative juices going, a couple of suggestions:

• Hezbollah missile war: Who gives a damn about dead Israelis?
• That shitty little country: Who wants the problem eliminated?
• Jihadism - Who doesn't have a clue what it is, or what to do about it?

First prize: A very fine book: "Burning Flowers, Burning Dreams - Consequences of Suicide Bombings on Civilians" (Civilian Press, 2005).

Judges' decision final. Go to it, folks. Entries close on Wednesday 26th July at noon, Jerusalem time (the first day of the month of Av).