Disproportionate force

In tennis, if your opponent is injured, for example has blisters on his feet, do you limp as well to keep things even. In boxing, if your opponent has a cut eye, what do you do, you punch him in the eye to make it worse. In war, if your enemy has bows and arrows do you give up using guns. If this had happened the history of the world would be very different.
The Romans built their Empire because they had a very efficient army that was highly disciplined and marched forward in formation, with large shields protecting them and with short sharp dagger swords that could kill an enemy with one blow from below. Brutal and efficient. The British conquered their Empire because their army was also highly disciplined and brave. Their aim was to win wars and to do so they killed as many of the enemy as possible. When the Americans suspect that an al Quaeda leader is holed up in a remote villa, do they make sure that no civilains are in there too. Maybe they try to do so, but that doesn't stop them blanket bombing the area so that nothing remains alive for miles around. That's the way to defeat terrorism, wipe them out!
Only now, when most European powers have exhaused themselves in blood-letting, not to forget the Germans and the Russians and two world wars, is pressure put on Israel not to use "disproportionate force." I write this now because I suspect and hope that Israel will finally unleash the IDF to invade the Gaza strip and deal a crushing blow to the Hamas forces there. PM Olmert has warned this will happen about 6 times "Israel will know when and how to respond, etc..." But, finally after the Grad missile hit on a shopping mall in Ashkelon, with mainly women and children as casualties, maybe finally he means it now. Certainly Pres. Bush in his address before the Knesset, which I thought was an excellent speech, did not shrink from supporting such responses to terrorism.
Hamas has been building its forces since it took power, using both funds from Iran and training from Iranian revolutionary guards and arms smuggled over the Egyptian-Gaza border. With time things can only get worse for Israel, as they amass long range rockets and form a better trained, larger army. The time is to strike now, before they are too strong and before they expand their control over the West Bank, where Fatah under Pres. Abbas has a tenuous hold. If the aim of the US and Israel is to empower Abbas, this is the best way to do that, defeat Hamas in Gaza. And when I say defeat, I don't mean only militarily. The extremist positions of Hamas and the Iranians must be shown to be hollow, without force and power. The first way to attack Iran is not through sanctions, but by defeating their proxies in Gaza and Lebanon. And the best way to do this is to use disproportionate force!