Dee Dee Downing Feghali is a native of North. For the past week, she has been communicating with her cousin and T&D copy editor/designer Kristin Coker by email from Qatar. Her husband, Frank, is of Lebanese origin. They have family and friends in Lebanon. She sent the following on Friday.

This has got to stop! Right now I am feeling the same tremendous sense of anger, sadness, fear and grief that I felt on Sept. 11, 2001, as I watched in horror the bombing of the twin towers on the news. But now, I am talking about the situation in Lebanon today.

If the timing had been a bit different, I would be there right now with my husband and our four young daughters. We would all be there STUCK with war raging all around us. Not knowing where to turn to get out, not knowing if we could get enough food, knowing that the car would run out of gas before we actually made it to the border of Syria to try and get on a plane there, not knowing if there would be a plane we could get on, or even if we'd make it to their airport. There is bombing all around. Every sound we hear above us would make us cringe in fear. We would have to be careful not to get close to any big trucks, because they are also bomb targets. Our car could be blown up! A trip that would normally be like driving from Orangeburg to Myrtle Beach would now be like trying to drive to Richmond, Va., after a hurricane. We would probably have to sleep in the car or on the street because there are no hotels available at this point. Resting under a bridge is out of the question. Most are gone. The rest are major targets.

I agree "Israel has the right to defend itself." But this isn't self-defense, it's total and outright annihilation. This is NOT a measured response. There have been around 400 people killed so far. That's almost half of the entire town of North. More than 700,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Remember, all of Orangeburg County is less than 100,000 people. Who knows how many women and children have been injured, not even mentioning the men. The numbers of  civilian victims is increasing by the hour. The viciousness of these attacks has attained terrifying levels where a child has been cut in three while another was half burned. I see the pictures and think, "That could have been my toddler, my 4-, my 6-, my 9-year-old!'' What if the next victim is a good friend or uncle or young cousin?

'A nightmare'

This is a nightmare I live with every second since the attacks began nine days ago. We are constantly following the news, wondering where the latest bomb has fallen and the next bomb will strike. I never thought I would know this feeling in my life. I never hope this on anyone.

There are pictures in the media of young Israeli children signing bombs that are being sent across the border -- bombs that are so powerful they can destroy four- or five-story buildings if they hit their target. We really hope the people in the building they hit are underground, because they will definitely die otherwise. What are we teaching our children when they are allowed to freely participate and, worse yet, enjoy military bombing and murder?

With blind savagery, Israel is destroying the lives and the very foundations that could help the civilians survive after this massacre. Twenty-five years of civil war did not cause as much infrastructure damage as the first few days of this craziness. To totally attack and destroy every bridge, airport runway and electric power plant is without reason. That is a reaction totally disproportionate to the initial act of aggression that supposedly began this tragedy. The entire civilian infrastructure is being destroyed. The ordinary people of Lebanon are besieged from air, land and sea. No one can leave or enter the country, evacuations are accomplished with military involvement.

Villages are cut off from each other and from other main cities. All major entrances to the capital, Beirut, are blocked. Roads, bridges and overpasses are being bombed to the point where the entire country is debilitated. Villages in the south of the country have been destroyed completely. At the international airport, runways and fuel tanks for the civilian planes have also been blown up. Electrical plants and gas stations throughout the country have been attacked. 

Most Lebanese already wanted Hezbollah disarmed. The first day of bombing may have been useful in convincing the remaining part of the Lebanese to want the same. Continuing this disproportionate and violent aggression on Lebanon may have caused the opposite effect. It makes no sense! This situation, if not stopped immediately, is only going to cause more feelings of hatred toward Israel and the United States. Situations like this one are provoking terrorism in the world, not eradicating it. The Middle East doesn't want Lebanon destroyed. Lebanon is where everyone here spent their vacations. Lebanon is not the desert we Americans think it is. It was like a paradise -- beautiful, fertile land between two mountain chains, the "oasis in the desert," the "Paris of the Middle East." In the fall and spring, one could snow ski in the mountains in the morning and end the day swimming in the sea.

The Lebanese had spent the last 10 years rebuilding the country after over two decades of civil war. They had nearly totally rebuilt their beautiful country too. I was excited each of the five times I had been there previously to see what new accomplishments had taken place since our last trip. This year, Lebanon had more to offer tourists than ever before. It was back on the map as a serious vacation spot. Indeed, there was so much beauty in the country that the tourism board recorded more visitors in Lebanon this summer (so far) than any previous summers. All these petrified tourists are being evacuated now.  We hope it is not too late for them and that they are able to get back home safely. Then, what about the innocent families that live there? What will happen to them if this is not stopped?

Lebanon not all terrorists

Lebanon is very diverse religiously, much like the United States. There are many Christian churches as well as Islamic mosques. Please don't think that because Americans have been told there are terrorists in Lebanon that all Lebanese are terrorists. That is like me saying everyone in Orangeburg is Catholic because there is a Catholic Church there. We each have our beliefs and many years of fighting in Lebanon were about those differences in beliefs.  Please don't let this go back to something about religion. Please help us stop this tragedy now.

Reporters here are saying that if anyone has influence to stop this, now is the time to use it. The only thing that the continuation of this destruction will cause is more deaths. The time to act is now!

We sit here dumbfounded as yet another report comes to us of something else destroyed or bombed or set ablaze. In one week, we were going to Lebanon to visit family and friends. It was to be a vacation and reunion as well for the people we haven't seen since before my husband's job with an oil company moved us from Houston to Qatar (on the Arabian peninsula). We are safe, but worries about our relatives living in Lebanon keep us far from being comfortable. Our prayers are also for friends who are visiting in Lebanon, wishing they were at their own homes in the United States or here in Qatar. Most of them who are stuck are there without their husbands. The ladies were traveling ahead taking their children to visit their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. They were to be met later by their husbands when vacations from work started. Many I know have small children. One friend is pregnant and another one has a newborn. I am not sure if she can manage to get diapers or formula for her young daughter. The store shelves are emptying fast. How will they get refilled? The truck drivers are afraid to bring anything into Lebanon. Every big truck that moves is being bombed for fear that it might be carrying some weapons. Do we really think ambulances and humanitarian aid can blow things up? The Lebanese people have previously lived through many years of civil war. But we are being told by our family there now that this is like NOTHING before. Previously, during the years of civil war, there was always food because the ports were open. No one died of hunger. The ports are closed now. What will they do?

I am so upset, but I still want to help as people helped others during Hurricane Katrina relief. But what can I do? I am only one person. Besides donating money, I don't know any other way than to plead with our government to stop this. Lebanon is begging daily for a cease-fire and innocent civilians are still being collectively punished in deliberate acts of aggression.

Our children don't understand what's happening. We are trying to protect them from the news, but they know we are stressed. Just this minute, the eldest asked, "Mama, why are you and daddy so upset? Why are they bombing Lebanon? Why are we so worried about our family?" She just begged for an explanation. Trying to understand, she said, "So it's sort of like a snowball fight when you build a fort to hide behind. Lebanon is that fort, right mommy? Why don't the countries that are really involved fight on their own land?"

Lebanon is not Hezbollah and Hezbollah is not Lebanon. We've got to make the bombing stop. Please write a note to the president, your congressman and senators and ask them to stop the violent bombings. Please take action immediately.

Time is of the essence.  Please help.

Here is a Web link for U.S. citizens to take action with the US government.  All that one needs to do is enter his/her ZIP code and the Web site leads you to how you can e-mail the president and Congress. http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

Thank you and may God bless us all.

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