Who links to me?
His article today titled To Save a Revolution is chock full of nonsense and if he is serious ignorance.
You could sense the hurt and anger as Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora pleaded this week to the U.S. ambassador and other diplomats in Beirut for a halt to Israeli attacks on Lebanese targets
Then maybe he should have done more to disarm the people who started this war. Hezbollah. He wouldn’t have had to go far to find them. They are in his own cabinet David.
Unless Siniora’s government can be strengthened, there is little hope for achieving the U.S. and Israeli goal of bringing Hezbollah’s guerrillas under lasting control.
Nonsense. Israel will bring Hezbollah under control. In fact their rocket attacks on Israel dropped by 75% yesterday.
After last year’s triumph of forcing a withdrawal of Syrian troops, Siniora’s government was struggling (and largely failing) to establish a viable nation.
Wait a minute. Struggling how? If you recall just a week ago when Israel first responded to the kidnapping and killing of its soldiers on the Lebanese/Israeli border we were told that this would be the biggest tourist season in Lebanon in decades. Over 25,000 Americans in Lebanon alone, and it is a much more popular destination among the Europeans and Lebanese. All the while down south Hezbollah is firing rockets every day down into Israel. You are telling me there is nothing their government can do? I know its not a very journalstic term David but I have to call bullshit on this one. They were fine with the status quo in Lebanon and that’s the problem.
Now here is the laugher.
The plan is for a beefed-up successor to the existing United Nations force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.
That’s right a UN “force” has been on the Lebanon Israel border for 6 years since Israel pulled out of Lebanon the last time. They have done nothing absolutely nothing to fulfill their mandate of preventing Hezbollah from attacking Israel.
The French now command that force
and now we know why.
Lebanese are angry with Hezbollah for starting the war by kidnapping Israeli soldiers, and most want to see the militia under government control.
That is not going to cut it David. They don’t need to be under government control. They need to be crushed, disarmed and disbanded. There can and should be no peace with a terrorist organization operating freely in Lebanon. Under “government control” or not.
But Siniora has asked why the Israelis are hitting Lebanese airports, ports, roads, villages and other targets that primarily affect civilians.
Maybe Siniora is a fool, and maybe Mr. Ignatius is as well. Destroying infrastructure certainly effects civilians but it is not targeted at civilians. Look at any war we have conducted over the last several decades David and you will notice this is exactly what we and any other force does. Destroy the infrastructure, to confuse your enemy by cutting off their communications, any radar or survielance capability they may have, eliminate their supply lines, and escape routes. I am not a military man but its war fighting 101 in the 21st century.
It’s up to the Syrians to demonstrate that they can play a positive role
What?! They Syrians are not going to play a positive role! They are our enemy. They will do everything they can to keep control if possible, influence at the least in Syria, and Hezbollah in power. They have no positive role to play.
How can this man possibly be paid to write this stuff?
Blue Crab Boulevard thinks Mr. Ignatius has buried a couple of good points in his fatous Op-Ed. I would certainly like to know where he hid them.
Israel Matzav has some advice for Mr. Siniora
The Lebanese army should stand aside and allow Israel to crush Hezbullah.
More to come today I am sure.
Linking Posts
“But Siniora has asked why the Israelis are hitting Lebanese airports, ports, roads, villages and other targets that primarily affect civilians.”
Compare to Sherman’s march across the South.
Comment by Brad � July 21, 2006 @ 10:31 am
I’m just curious as to how people suppose an infant country (Lebanon, for all practical purposes is one) is supposed to quash a dedicated, well-organized, well-funded organization like Hezb’allah? And though I sympathize to an extent with Israel’s desire to eradicate Hezb’allah, asking the Lebanese government and army to do so, while concurrently bombing their military posts, seems to me, just a wee-bit two-faced, no?
Rationalization of Israel’s egregiously disproportionate use of force reveals that you have not examined the moral issue here, at all.
Comment by doinkicarus � July 21, 2006 @ 12:10 pm
Lebanon is not an infant country. The Israelis moved out of Lebanon 6 years ago. Hezbollah was supposed to be disarmed then. The UN and Lebanon completely failed to hold up their obligations to Israel under the terms of their withdrawal.
During this 6 year period Hezbollah has launched six thousand rockets; six thousand into Israel. Let that sink in doinky. Since 9/11/2001 one thousand five hundred Israelis have been killed by terrorists.
In a country of six million people.
We lost three thousand people on 9/11 and launched two major invasions and toppled two governments are still occupying two countries on the opposite side of the world in response to that attack.
You think this response is out of proportion with ours?
I would love it if you could explain your rationale.
Doinky are you aware that this morning Israel called every resident in southern Lebanon and warned them to leave the area and move north of the Litani River to avoid civilian casualties?
Hezbollah is refusing to let civilians leave and is forcing them back into the line of fire in the hopes that massive civilian casualties will help them in their PR battle.
There is no moral equivalence. There is no negotiation with people like this. They need to be killed.
Comment by The Ugly American � July 21, 2006 @ 7:31 pm
“You think this response is out of proportion with ours?
I would love it if you could explain your rationale. ”
I also believe that our response was pretty much, nothing short of retarded. Afghanistan, arguably. But Iraq? Come on. If you honestly believe that the civil war we’ve created there is a step in the right direction - and is worth the lives of 2,500 of your countrymen, then I don’t think there’s any amount of rhetoric which will allow us to see eye-to-eye.
As far as the moral equivalence is concerned - the casualties on the other side are markedly higher. Israel argues that it is a disciplined and humane (LOL) army, and it takes every measure to avoid civilian casualties - despite all the evidence to the contrary. So Israel would have us believe that every single israeli civilian that has been killed was a deliberate act of terrorism, while every civilian killed by an Israeli bomb or bullet was purely an accident that its humane and disciplined army could not possibly have avoided. Bullshit.
Comment by doinkicarus � July 22, 2006 @ 9:15 am