Another night of going sort of international in the internet thought stream. We’ll be back on the Polk County Democrat Machine very soon. I think next week will be big on the home front. But tonight, my thoughts are on the need for education about war.
The people of Lebanon have allowed Lebanon to become a battlefield. This could only have happened for one of two reasons. Either Lebanon as a nation is incapable of controlling its own territory and has allowed its territory to be a staging ground for the world’s most powerful terrorist organization’s war against Israel or Lebanon has actually allied itself with Hezbollah and is complicit in Hezbollah’s genocidal motivated aggression against a neighboring nation, Israel.
The people of Lebanon have allowed Lebanon to become a battlefield. This could only have happened for one of two reasons. Either Lebanon as a nation is incapable of controlling its own territory and has allowed its territory to be a staging ground for the world’s most powerful terrorist organization’s war against Israel or Lebanon has actually allied itself with Hezbollah and is complicit in Hezbollah’s genocidal motivated aggression against a neighboring nation, Israel.
When all of the rhetoric is stripped away those are the only two possible reasons that Lebanon is now a battlefield. If, as I think, most Lebanese would like to see the end of Hezbollah then Israel is a liberating force in restoring Lebanese sovereignty. If the Lebanese government is complicit with Hezbollah, then the Lebanese people have allowed themselves to be drawn into a war they cannot possibly want or win. The only way for the war to end is for the Lebanese people to force their government to expel Hezbollah, through whatever means necessary, including allowing occupation by foreign military forces.
If Hezbollah is expelled from Lebanon then the forces of civilization will have won a tremendous victory. If Hezbollah is merely defanged then Americans will still sleep more safely. But if Hezbollah and Iran win, and they win by surviving as a military force to any significant degree with access to southern Lebanon, then the forces of the darkest vision mankind has yet produced will feel empowered to conduct even greater acts of aggression against the West.
As I often say, don’t believe me; believe the words of the terrorists themselves. As the madman President of Iran, Hezbollah’s admitted arms supplier, said today (8-4-06)
“[a]lthough the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented”. So the next time some simpering liberal drools out the need for a cease fire to stop the killing, ask them who’s interest that would serve, America and our friend Israel or Hitler, Jr.
3 comments:
Ted, i look forward to blogging about the home front next week.
is your Exec Dir going to have her own post? Rebekah for SOS!
I agree with your post in most respects. The problem of non-state actors waging war on states is one that international law does not anticipate and to which the History of war provides no guidance. Non-state armed militias must be stopped, regardless of their ideology. The problem becomes even more acute when they consist of insane radicals whose sole goal is genocide.
But I think the question of how to best achieve the goal of disarming them is more nuanced than your post admits. I thought it was an amazing development, and a demonstration of how far the west has come in influencing middle-east politics, when most of the arab world came out against Hezbollah and in favor of Isreal when Isreal's soldiers were kidnapped, and even at the start of the conflict. When Egypt came out in favor of Israel and against Hezbollah, we witnessed history.
Armed disarmament of Hezbollah is necessary. But the way the disarmament is currently being conducted is only accomplishing to garner sympathy and support for Hezbollah, to increase the ranks of Hezbollah/Hamas/Al Quada recruits, and to turn the non-crazy arab world against us. There has to be a more intellegent way to conduct the disarmament that combines military, diplomatic, and economic devices, and that uses whatever clout we have remaining with Egypt, Saudia Arabia, and Jordan.
And as an aside, I'd be interested to know how you think America's interest have been served by our current military adventurism in the Middle East. Trillions of dollars and thousands of lives later, we have more enemies, and the world is more dangerous for Americans, than before. The only argument you ever hear made anymore is that we are bringing freedom and democracy to formerly repressed masses, and that this is noble. That seems more alturistic than interested.
It seems Lebanon has finally realized they must either control their own border with Israel or have non stop fighting. Lebanon obviously turned a blind eye to Islamic terrorism as long as it struck only Israel. Israel is fighting back and the price is higher than Lebanon wants to endure. Lebanon is talking of securing their border - it's about time.
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