Israeli bankruptcy

[salim]

Israeli bankruptcy!

 

The current Israeli over reaction might be looked at by some analysts as a proven measure when dealing with armed groups that showed irresponsible violent acts. Most of those analysts might agree with Israel in defending itself, especially after the unexpected Hezbollah’s attack on an Israeli military unit that left tens of killed and wounded soldiers and the prison of two more and the success of moving them across the well guarded boarders without any casualties on the attackers!

 

Israel was in real need to overcome the humiliation to its well trained and armed military, so a harsh retaliation toward Hezbollah was very expected, not only by observers but by the attackers too. That might explain the immediate appearance by Hasan Nasralah to consider the act as an isolated one, offering immediate stop to any escalation and prisoners exchange deal. What was not expected was the wide mass attack by The Israeli military using all means to destroy the Lebanon infra structure using such huge machinery of shelling through out almost all of Lebanon by Air and sea.

 

Having the 1982 of Israeli wiping out of Palestinian militia in mind, which was also started by complete destruction to the Lebanon newly recovered infrastructure, some might expected the third wave of destructing Lebanon’s infrastructure would achieve same goals of wiping Hezbollah from the northern neighbor boarders, or at least create the necessary dynamics to get mission be done by a third party.. As the case with the previous one, the current mass attack might be thought to intensify and facilitate a separation between the interests of Lebanese people and Hezbollah...

While such mission is a possibility, I would go differently...

 

Using exact same strategy to deal with Hezbollah as the previous one of dealing with PLO militia is a clear bankrupt and that the strategic planning machine at the Israeli side is in a big trouble... Hezbollah is not PLO, Nasralah is not Arafat, Lebanon is not the same; the Middle east is not static as it was, and the whole world is different. Yet Israeli government had no choice but to use same tactics!

 

Hezbollah is not an imposed force, as was the Arafat’s bands, on Lebanese. By any measure, the Lebanese movement was an invention of people of Lebanon that had developed through the last twenty years and had succeeded to establish very strong bonds within the Lebanon social and political fabric. It is not a band of militia men who impose their force on people as was the case with Arafat’s PLO militiamen. The violent acts by it’s men is just a the tip of the ice mountain under the Lebanese complicated sea of power that for first time in Arab history had severely humiliated the well armed force of Israel.

 

Nasralah is not Arafat. While Arafat had his wife and mistresses enjoying the spenditure of Palestinians money, Nasralah refused to put the crops of his elder son on preference when exchanging the fallen fighters by crops of some fallen Israeli soldiers. Nasralah built his reputation through personal scarifies and commitment while Palestinian PLO had a long history of corruption and secret police authotorian means of control...

 

In the Eighties, Lebanon was under the direct Syrian military and intelligence control, today Lebanon is almost free country with no foreign power that can claim full control. While some might think that Syria has the big say on Hezbollah, I would say that this say was weakened too much by forcing Syria out. A move that Hezbollah was encouraging indirectly by not opposing it.!

 

On other side, the possible strategic plan of wiping out Hezbollah by a third party, had no volunteer to offer enforcing it. Israelis are too afraid to repeat the previous experience of humiliation, the Lebanese government is too weak and was wakened more by the current destruction, Syrians will never repeat the intervene to please the west … I assume no third party is able to do the job, risking lives of it’s soldiers in a suicide mission that Israelis are not able or willing to do.

One might argue that the continuing bombing would create a popular pressure on Hezbollah. I personally think such dreams to be completely short sighted. On the contrary, it’s continuation might give Hezbollah more legitimacy and stronger stand in proposing itself as the only protector to Lebanese,. While Lebanese might be upset today by Hezbollah acts, they will gradually be forced to believe that it is only Hezbollah that represent their counter force against the Israeli aggression and no care of Lebanese lives, no difference being Muslims or Chrastians

I think Israel was successfully dragged by Hezbollah to this trap , a trap that makes both rivals of Hezbollah, Lebanese and Israeli governments, paying the higher price.. Today the more shellings by Hezbollah, the more casualties on Israelis. The more bombing by Israelis, the weaker the Lebanon government would be and the stronger Nasralah . All this is happening at a time where no one knows for sure where Hezbollah is hiding and from where it lunches its rockets….

[hogan]

The news from Bint Jbeil and Maroun Ras seems to indicate Hezbollah is not hiding, but standing and fighting.

[salim]

Seems some from the Isreali lobby are in agree with my point..

What the NT editor missing, is that the current Isreali tactics is reflecting a new dynamics in middle east that Isreal might need to adopt to. Military force is no more the only way to solve your problems, a new vision is a necessity!

The editor , however, seems not yet to see the new dynamics and thought that deplomacy might be an option to achieve what military was not able to. I think this is no loger an option now after the huge distraction to Lebanese government reputation and infrastructure.. I think the only way now is for US to open direct dialoge with Hezbolah. US already ran into such option in Iraq with those who killed Americans and succeeded in breaking deals, why this is not an option with those who killed Isrealis!

Let us look around , there might be some Khalil Zad..Who knows!! dealing with incompent Arab governemnt brokers might not be the only possible option.. I don't think that Alqaeda is more smart or courage to have such choice of offering truce with their number one enemy , Hezbollah and Nasralah..

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/29/opinion/29sat2.html

 

A Right Way to Help Israel

Published: July 29, 2006

There is a difference between justified and smart. Israel’s airstrikes against Hezbollah targets are legitimate so long as Hezbollah wages war against Israel and operates outside the control of the Lebanese government. But the air campaign is now doing Israel more harm than good. A better answer to the Hezbollah problem would be an immediate cease-fire, paving the way for an international force to patrol Lebanon’s southern border. That is what Britain’s prime minister, Tony Blair, was pushing for in Washington yesterday, and there were signs that President Bush may be finally coming around.

 

For more than two weeks, Mr. Bush has been playing for time, declining to join calls for an immediate cease-fire so that Israel can continue its military actions. Israel and the administration are right to argue that a cease-fire alone cannot provide a lasting solution. But if Washington is now prepared to exercise diplomatic leadership on behalf of Israel’s security, rather than simply run interference for Israel’s military operations, a cease-fire now could become the first step to a more lasting solution.

 

The glaring flaw in the administration’s logic is that there is no way that even weeks of Israeli airstrikes can eliminate more than a fraction of the 12,000 rockets Hezbollah is believed to have in Lebanon. And more weeks of television screens filled with Lebanese casualties, refugees and destruction would be a propaganda bonanza for the Hezbollahs and the Hamases, and a mounting political problem for the Arab world’s most moderate and pro-Western governments. Whatever a major Israeli ground offensive might achieve in military terms would have far too steep a political and diplomatic cost. Israel’s 18-year occupation of Lebanon brought no lasting gains, and few Israelis are eager for a repeat.

 

What is needed, as almost everyone now agrees, is a strong international force, including well-armed units from NATO countries, to move into southern Lebanon as quickly as possible. Its mission would be to disarm Hezbollah in accordance with U.N. resolutions, thereby reasserting the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and preventing further attacks against Israel. An immediate internationally imposed cease-fire would spare Lebanese civilians from further suffering.

 

Yesterday, there were some encouraging signs of movement in this direction, with Mr. Bush sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice back to the Middle East for the weekend and calling for a multinational force to be dispatched quickly. A United Nations meeting to discuss such a force has now been moved up to Monday.

 

The pressure for bringing in an international force should now be coming from American diplomacy, not Israeli airstrikes. If Washington is about to come off the diplomatic sidelines to which it has foolishly consigned itself for the past two weeks, it will discover a real opportunity to help Israel’s security, America’s international image and pro-Western Arab governments.

[salim]

I have a feeling that the last four weeks unfortunate escalation in Palestianian and Lebanon borders with Isreal, had brought a disastrus damage to what ever left of image of American policy of calling for new democratic middle east. Today, you are even not able to talk about any positive aspect of American policy in Middle east. The single sided stand by the US government is really very surprising to many who believed in President Bush as a new liberator. One might listen to the speaches by different US policy makers to put a very simple question that my 12 years old son asked, " How come President Bush is defending Iraqis while hellping Killing Lebanese?" I know many would have different explanations and points, but it is a question that many Iraqi are raising today..

 

Hope this question can make it's way to the President that many in Middle east thought of as only leader that represented a sign of light at the end of a long tunnel.. What is happening in Lebanon is not related to Hezbollah or Hamas any more , it is all about the image of the American call for new democratic free middle east..

 

What Isreal is doing is to bring that region of the world tens of years back .. It is simply distroying the out come of all sacrifieces !

[abusadiq]

Risks Escalate as Israel Fights a Ground War

By GREG MYRE

Published: August 5, 2006

JERUSALEM, Aug. 4 — After resisting a major ground offensive for three weeks, Israel now has an estimated 10,000 troops in southern Lebanon trying to build a buffer zone free of Hezbollah, and the risks are already evident. Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed in two days of brutal battles on territory the guerrillas know far better than the Israelis.

A crowd gathered Friday near the bodies of 28 farm workers killed when Israeli missiles hit a warehouse at Qaa, near the Syrian border.

The plan of the country’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, an air force man, to destroy Hezbollah from the air has proved wanting, and now, nervously, Israel is sending the country’s young men into the forbidding hills of southern Lebanon, where its forces battled Hezbollah for 18 years before pulling out in May 2000.

 

“We certainly hope that some international resolution will come before another 18 years passes,” Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan said.

 

In the past few days the troops have crossed the border by the thousands — with seven brigades, including reserve units, totaling around 10,000 troops — now in Lebanon, according to army radio and other Israeli news reports.

 

“In the first days, we concentrated very much on the air campaign,” said General Nehushtan, who declined to comment on the reported figures on ground troops in Lebanon. “Now we want to clear Hezbollah from all areas near the border. Our plan is to push north on a much larger scale.”

 

The Israeli forces are now positioned in or around more than a dozen villages and towns in Lebanon and are up to four miles inside Lebanon in some regions, according to the Israeli news media.

 

The ground operation poses acute dangers for Israel and will severely complicate international efforts to end the fighting.

 

For one thing, Hezbollah is fighting on terrain that it knows best.

 

During Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000, its long-term presence and the allied — largely Christian — militia, the South Lebanon Army, gave Israel an extensive intelligence network that is no longer present. And in the six years since Israel left, Hezbollah has built military posts, bunkers and tunnels that have strengthened its ability to resist an invader.

 

As the ground offensive picked up pace, Israel has encountered stiff resistance in several towns and villages. Four soldiers were killed Thursday and three more on Friday, all by antitank missiles, one of Hezbollah’s most potent weapons.

 

Over all, more than 40 Israeli military personnel have been killed since July 12, most of them on the ground in Lebanon.

 

A large presence of Israeli troops in southern Lebanon could also make a cease-fire more difficult to achieve. Israel insists it does not want to stay in southern Lebanon for long, but it also says it does not want to withdraw until an international force can take its place.

 

However, Hezbollah has said it will not agree to a cease-fire until Israeli troops have left Lebanon.

 

Israel is operating on the premise that a large, muscular international force will come soon to take control of southern Lebanon. But it is not clear when that force will materialize, and what its mandate will be.

 

And Israel faces the prospect that it will again be viewed as an occupier in Lebanon if its ground forces stay for an extended period. Whether they stay for long, their plans have expanded quickly and substantially over the past few weeks.

 

In the first few days after Hezbollah’s July 12 raid, Israel said it intended to send only a limited number of troops into Lebanon on brief, specific missions against Hezbollah strongholds.

 

A few days later, Israel said it intended to create a small buffer zone along the border perhaps a mile or two wide where no Hezbollah forces would be allowed. Israeli officials said they hoped to patrol this zone from the air and with artillery fire from Israel’s side of the border.

 

Now Israeli military commanders are talking about a zone similar in scale to the one that existed in the 1980’s and 1990’s: thousands of troops stretched nine miles deep across southern Lebanon.

 

Maj. Zvika Golan, a spokesman for Israel’s northern command, said Thursday that the zone could cover nine miles of southern Lebanon in the next few days.

 

The defense minister, Amir Peretz, told the army to begin preparing to push to the Litani River, about 15 miles north of the border, according to the newspaper Haaretz. It is not clear whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is said to be wary of such an extension, will approve such plans. The security cabinet has so far approved plans for only a five-mile zone, the newspaper reported.

 

The point of such a border zone, of course, is to significantly reduce Hezbollah’s ability to attack northern Israel.

 

Hezbollah has powerful, long-range rockets that can be fired from well behind the zone. But because those rockets are large and cumbersome, the launchers are relatively easy to spot and destroy, military officials say.

 

The short-range Katyusha rockets and launchers are small and nimble, and Israeli aircraft and artillery have had difficulty in finding them, even though they are close to the border, the military officials said. A large ground presence is seen as the best way to limit that kind of fire.

 

Michael Oren, a senior fellow at the conservative Shalem Center in Jerusalem, said Israel’s ground campaign had been slow to develop for three reasons.

 

“There is the historical, psychological level,” he said. “No one wants to go back. We spent 18 years there.”

 

The second is the diplomatic, strategic layer. “We could go in and wait for an international force,” he said. “But what if the international force doesn’t come?”

 

And there are also military limitations, he said. The army had to call up reserves, who have not seen this kind of combat in years, and they needed at least a few days of training before they could be sent into Lebanon, Mr. Oren added.

 

The army has focused its training on the kind of urban combat it has waged with the Palestinians in recent years, and not the tank warfare of earlier conflicts.

 

Mr. Oren, 51, who served as a paratrooper in the Israeli military, said his training was very different from that of his son, who recently finished his army service.

 

“I was trained to take out Syrian tanks,” Mr. Oren said. “My son was trained to go into a house in Hebron at 2 in the morning and grab a terrorist.”

More Articles in International »

[Airedale]

If Nasralah didn't receive funding from Iran,

he would have been out of the refugee camp welfare buisness.

 

Who supplies financial and material assistance to Nasralah ?

 

Israeli bankruptcy!

....

........

Nasralah is not Arafat. While Arafat had his wife and mistresses enjoying the spenditure of Palestinians money, Nasralah refused to put the crops of his elder son on preference when exchanging the fallen fighters by crops of some fallen Israeli soldiers. Nasralah built his reputation through personal scarifies and commitment while Palestinian PLO had a long history of corruption and secret police authotorian means of control...

 

In the Eighties, Lebanon was under the direct Syrian military and intelligence control, today Lebanon is almost free country with no foreign power that can claim full control. While some might think that Syria has the big say on Hezbollah, I would say that this say was weakened too much by forcing Syria out. A move that Hezbollah was encouraging indirectly by not opposing it.!

 

On other side, the possible strategic plan of wiping out Hezbollah by a third party, had no volunteer to offer enforcing it. Israelis are too afraid to repeat the previous experience of humiliation, the Lebanese government is too weak and was wakened more by the current destruction, Syrians will never repeat the intervene to please the west … I assume no third party is able to do the job, risking lives of it’s soldiers in a suicide mission that Israelis are not able or willing to do.

 

One might argue that the continuing bombing would create a popular pressure on Hezbollah. I personally think such dreams to be completely short sighted. On the contrary, it’s continuation might give Hezbollah more legitimacy and stronger stand in proposing itself as the only protector to Lebanese,. While Lebanese might be upset today by Hezbollah acts, they will gradually be forced to believe that it is only Hezbollah that represent their counter force against the Israeli aggression and no care of Lebanese lives, no difference being Muslims or Chrastians

I think Israel was successfully dragged by Hezbollah to this trap , a trap that makes both rivals of Hezbollah, Lebanese and Israeli governments, paying the higher price.. Today the more shellings by Hezbollah, the more casualties on Israelis. The more bombing by Israelis, the weaker the Lebanon government would be and the stronger Nasralah . All this is happening at a time where no one knows for sure where Hezbollah is hiding and from where it lunches its rockets….

From what I have read, Hezbollah is divided into threee regions. The northern region refuses to send its manpower to the southern,Israeli border region at the request of Nasralah.

Are the northern and central regions less militarily motivated and more Lebanese politically motivated ? Or do they refuse to work together as a united front against Israel in fear of depleting their own resources ?

[salim]

Revised:

 

I found the following article a very accurate account.. US needs sieze the moment and step forward to rout out Alqaeda ..

http://freemuslims.org/blog/?id=1888

 

 

I was on phone with an old "un educated" relative asking about his well being after the suicider hit Najaf yesterday killing 30 people near to the golden grand mosque of Imam Ali. A comment from him striked me :

The Israeli army is failing to stand face to face with Hezbollah so they send their Qaeda's puppets to retaliat !!!

 

There is a growning belief within Arabs and muslims that Alqaeda is no more than an Israeli Mosad made. They usually argue , how come Al-Qaeda can kill so many Muslims and Westreners at a time they have never committed even one of their cirmes against Israel!! An argument that i admitt that I might not agree with but have no answer to.. Alqaeda claimed their main enymy to be Zionist and Israel, yet the only targets they choose is innocent Muslims and westreners. It succeeded to employ some Palestinians from Ain Alhillwa camp in Lebanon suiciders to hit but in Iraq toward Iraqis.. A friend of mine told me that under the current bombing to the Lebanon governemnt security infrastructure and the security gap, the Qaeda network is trying to extend out side the camps into some Lebanese Salafee groups..This is a worse scanario to allow and all need to pay attention not to allow

 

 

Most recently the emotional and bloody conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has

caused many in the Muslim world, even the extremists, to criticize Al-Qaeda even

further by asking "what has Al-Qaeda done for the Muslims other than kill us and other

innocent people." FMC has read numerous web sites and editorials from the Islamic world

where Al-Qaeda is regularly criticized.

 

No doubt, Al-Qaeda leaders recognized this trend when Al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman

al-Zawahiri, criticized the late Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Al-Zarqawi, for

killing Shiite Muslims. FMC believes that the recent conflict in the Middle East has made

Al-Qaeda

even more desperate and more irrelevant. Thus, FMC fears that in a desperate

attempt to

protect itself from extinction that Al-Qaeda will attempt a major terrorist

operation

against the United States and possibly even Israel although the latter is less

likely.

 

In light of the danger posed by Al-Qaeda, FMC calls on the United States and the

entire

civilized world to be even more vigilant and to step up the effort to discover and root

out Al-Qaeda's members and supporters.

[JCHFleetguy]

The problem for the Lebanese government is that the effectively made Hezbollah the semi-official Army of Southern Lebanon - when the peace treaty that created the new government said that all armed militias were to be disarmed. Hezbollah fighters should have been inducted into the Lebanese Army under central government control if they wanted to pack weapons around and defend southern Lebanon from the Israelis.

 

The same is true in Iraq. If the various militias are not disarmed, or inducted into the Iraqi military under central government control, then Iraq will never know peace and security.

 

Factions like Hezbollah, and Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, must put primary allegiance not to their sect or political view - but to the national unity of their country. Otherwise, no truly unifed government will arise in either Lebanon or Iraq.

 

Back to Lebanon: some outside force was going to have to push Hezbollah away from the Israeli border. This could either have been:

1. the Lebanese army that had no will or ability
2. the Israeli army which is the worst possible player
3. the UN peacekeepers that have done squat
4. the upcoming multi-national force - which will hopefully do better than the UN

This still leaves the Lebanese government (as the Iraqis) with the task of removing armed militias from the zone of their control - or they will never truly have control.

[salim]

JCHFleetguy,

Yes, the only way to have order and stability in Lebanon and also in Iraq is to let have the governemnt a full control on the country and to run the only armed forces. The proplem that I see is that the Israeli short minded mass destruction of the Lebanese government iinfrastructure s making such a call almost impossible.. Just have a look at the US policy of supporting the Iraqi fresh government; it is a very successful policy that represents today the only hope for the Iraqi turmoil..

I think the US needs to step forward beyond the narrow Israeli short term intersts and be up to the moment .

 

A biased policy is risking all the achievements of current policy of encouraging a new ME.

Disarming Hezbullah isn't a realistic demand when a gigantic armed force can be unleashed to kill your people at any time;disarming Alsader militia is also not a realistic when you have Alqaeda and sadamists running free to kill your people..

We need to solve the root cause first..

[abusadiq]

فرصة ذهبة ضاعت من يد الرئيس الامريكي بوش في الازمة بين لبنان واسرائيل، وهذه الفرصة تتلخص في ان تكون الولايات المتحدة القاضي وليس المدعي او المدعى عليه، بمعنى ان تستمع وهي الدولة الكبرى في العالم، الى وجهات نظر جميع الاطراف، من اصدقائها وغير اصدقائها، ولكن الرئيس بوش فضل ان يكون طرفا في النزاع وليس وسيطا لحل النزاع،

وباعتبار الولايات المتحدة كبرى دول العالم ، اذن عليها مسؤوليات وواجبات،، ففي بداية الاحداث كان يمكن للرئس بوش ان يستغل الفرصة، وهي فرصة لا تتكرر، ويجري محادثات مع جميع الاطراف من أصدقاء واعداء، ويحاول التوفيق بينها باعتبارة رئيس اكبر دولة في العالم، وكانت له فرصة ذهبية كي يستمع الى وجهات نظر الاخرين، على الاقل الاستماع اليها، وبذلك يحقق عدة أشياء في آن واحد لعل أهمها تهدئة الشيعة في العراق، الذين غضبوا من موقف الولايات المتحدة المؤيد لاسرائيل، كما انه كان يستطيع ان يسترضي كثير من اللبنانيين، بل وحتى كثيرين في الدول الاخرى من تلك التي تعتبر من اعداء الولايات المتحدة

قد يبدو هذا الكلام نظريا، باعتبار ان الولايات المتحدة لا يمكن لها ان تقوم بهذا الدور ، او ان مثل هذه المحادقات ستكون فاشلة مسبقا أومستحيلة عمليا، وقد تكون كذلك، ، لكنه كان ممكنا اجراء محادثات، مجرد محادثات، ، خاصة في الايام الاولى من الازمة، على الاقل لتسجيل موقف بأن الرئيس بوش قد حاول، او بذل جهدا، او أراد حل النزاع، بل كان يمكن للرئيس بوش ان ينجح في تحييد بعض الاطرافب، وحتى شق اطراف اخرى، الا انه لم يفعل، حتى استفحل الموقف ، واستاء كثيرون في مختلف انحاء العالم من هذا الموقف ، خاصة في مناطق حساسة بالنسبة للولايات المتحدة مثل الشيعة في العراق، ، ووقفت البنانيون مع حزب الله،، والادهى من هذا ان الولايات المتحدة اخذت تتبنى مواقف تصطدم فيها مع فرنسا وهي دولة غربية، اي انها دولة تفضل المصالح الغربية على العربية، وليست دولة عربية او اسلامية،

من هنا نظن ان الرئيس بوش قد ضيع فرصة ذهبة من يده قد لا تتكرر

[salim]

The following a copy of my reply to Tax's comment on other post:

 

For me, the defend of rights of Isreali generals in mass killing of Lebanese is no different than defending the Sadamist and Qaeda in mass killing Iraqis..Both kill randomly under big banners.. In Lebanon to fight Hezbollah , in Iraq to fight Amricans,. while the real target is the new ME and democracy and the free will of the Iraqis and Lebanese.

This mass killing on both fronts has nothing to do with Sects. In Iraq, These criminals are not saving any life though the banner is to kill Shia . They mass punishing Iraqis to stop the democracy. Same with Israeli generals.

When Isreal goverment , led by almost retiered generals mentality, decided to mass killing Palestinian in Gaza, many thought that targeting the democratically ellected Palestinian government was part of Isreal right to fight Hamas radicle group. But the way that these general chose to fight back Hezbalah through destroying the infrastructure of the fresh new democratic governemnt of Lebanon, proved that the real enemy of these generals is democracy.The mass bombing by Isreali raids was not to save a life of any non Hezbolah's being Shia or Durze or Cheristian or Sunni..

 

Let us have a look to the results of the one month Israeli generals campaign.. Hezbullah's rival,the democratic 14th of March movement who succeded to push out Syrians , is in it's weakest state. The democraticly ellected governement who once was the only hope by Lebanese to contain Hezbollah radicle and other groups, is today in it's worse shape.Today most Lebanese are under impression that what had happened to them is just like the 1991 retreat . Many were asking why Ameica is not protecting it's baby.. Hezbollah is in it's stronger ever state. In it's counter back retaliation shelling to Israel, they lunched in the last day much more daily ever rockets. All this at a time while the number of kidnapped soldiers becomes now thousands rather than two. considering all those thousands soldiers who were pushed into Lebanon as easy target hostages .

 

I am not an expert in Israeli affairs but it looks to me that Israeli polictical arena need to stand to the moment and to get ride of the old generals governing mentality. Israelis need to learn from their Iraqi and Lebanese neighbors how to stand against their rulers and radicle mentality..

The ME is changing and no one can stop the call of democracy from flourishing which was planted by the great sacrifies of the young women and men in uniform and of Lebanese and Iraqis who believed that call and had paid the high price standing in front of Fascisim in all of its kinds..

[salim]

Airdale ,

If Nasralah didn't receive funding from Iran,

he would have been out of the refugee camp welfare buisness.

 

Who supplies financial and material assistance to Nasralah ?

 

 

I don't think the current fight in middle east is between Israeli Army and Hezballah /Nasralah. I think it is a war on the new middle east project, on the dream that once the president of US had planted in our souls and was irrigated by the blood of the brave men and women who fall in defending it... All those Americans, Iraqis, Lebanese, Egyptians, Israelis, Palestinians,

Amer Mousa, the Arab league head, was right when he announced the death of the peace road map in middle east. The current conflict and horrible escalations had succeeded to draw back the ME forty years back. Today, the Israeli generals with hand full of innocents blood, and the radical Arabs with their calls to destroy Israel, are the one who decide the destiny of their people. No more calls for peace or democracy... It is time for revenge and kill on both sides... The real victim is the new middle east and the hopes for prospers, democratic and participating middle east. No place for moderation any more.

I think both Hezbollah and Israeli generals had successfully created their resonance of escalation to drive us into the no end road map.

After the great fail in Iraq by the enemies of democracy in ME, they succeeded in hitting us on the other more critical line of fault, the Israeli Arab one...

While any escalation by Hamas or Hezbollah might be expected, the Israel collective punishment and mass destruction to the democracies in Palestine and Lebanon, need to tell us about the real enemy of the new ME.

You might think that I am going too far. I wonder if a killing of some soldiers and kidnapping of two, could ignite a war that might bring the whole middle east into chaos. And if it is fine to attack those who attack the guard post on the border, why did the Israelis directed their war against Lebanon and its government. The government that was believed, even during the first days of the conflict, as favoring Israel stand to eliminate Hezbollah!!

The only target by the Israeli war is the democracy in ME. I think the Israeli generals might be under pressure because of it, because democracy would create strong prospers peaceful Arab societies that would demolish thier position in Israel as the only safe guard to the the threatened state. That is not to undermine the political point by Israeli politicians selling support to the only democracy in ME. Lebanon repeated destruction over the last thirty years by Israel is one of the good examples ...

 

 

Many Iraqis had reflected such thought accusing Israel and its anti-democracy Arab Allies of directing and funding Zarqawee to stop democracy in Iraq at any cost... I used to take such allegations on joke or on the conspiracy theories background, but now with all what is happening by the Israeli army in Lebanon, encouraged by its Arab Allies, today I really find a lot of credibility to such allegations having in mind the big similarities with what zarqawee had committed in Iraq...Both at goals and exercise levels.

What I failed to understand though is the US stands. I expected US policy to defend fiercely its new born baby of democracy in ME and especially in Lebanon, what I found is a full support and encourage of killing it..!

Most Arabs who once believed the American call, are today in full doubts of the real intentions by US... This is the worse scenario I ever thought of. . From Lebanon to Egypt to Iraq to Syria to Palestine, I failed to find any one that is not questioning the US stand to encourage the killing of the American baby... Some went further to preach of a new 1991 retreat..

However, I think that there is a great opportunity for those who had paid the high price in defending their dreams and hope. ME is not the same as it was before, a retreat can‘t bring the ME back as what happened in 1991. On contrary, Today both sides, who try their best to get us back, are in a big trouble.

The only way to get them on track is to play a trusty non biased role... This is a unique opportunity for the US to step forward and should not be lost, even if it cost losing some important voting power in the coming mid term elections!

[salim]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/world/mi...&_r=1&th&emc=th

“But in the long run, if we see Hezbollah rearming itself and running southern Lebanon, I believe the next round is coming.”

 

Interesting article to read about the minds and mentality of Israeli generals..

What the officer might be missing is that peace and security should be the real goals and the two can't be granteed by force only.

Today, rather than killing Nasralah , they practically created millions of his copy . Last poll in Egypt "absolute sunni majority" by libral respected institute of Dr. SaadEldeen, showed 90% are considering Nasralah as their no 1 model!

 

Killing and killing and correct your fails by more killing, that is what I understood from reading thoughts of this officer..

[Safaa]

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/internatio...,431793,00.html

Interesting interview with President Carter..

[hogan]

Salim,

Very insightful posts regarding the dynamics in the ME and Israeli generals' attitude or miscalculations.

 

The Israeli generals' mistake is hubris. The world is changing. The industrial revolution is over. Military domination is no longer perminant. The ancient Greeks loathed hubris more than any other fault. They knew hubris was the destroyer of nations.

 

Bush's strategy may be dead. I hope not. I hope the Americans and Iraqis have the strength to absorb the blows leveled by the bigots and anti-democrat forces and the patience to build the institutions. I agree, Isreal is providing anti-democratic forces with a powerful weapon to control hearts and minds, but their existance seems to me as strong a weapon as their actions. Both the Israel goverment and Hezbollah have acted out of hatred in the latest Lebanese war. Both should be held accountable.

 

Democracy's strongest weapon is freedom of the press and security. It is Iran which is destroying it's citizen's satellite dishes. It is not Isrealis or Americans that are harassing and killing journalist, news paper distributors and citizens of Iraq.

 

Conspiracy theories are just talk and talk is cheap. Actions tell the story. It is a distraction for Iraqis on Isreali conspiracy theories or the unknown reason for George Bush's war. Yes, 9/11 may have been the reason for war or just an excuse, we will never know, but it is the Iraqis' project to finish. That is where their efforts must be focused. The challenges are monumental enough without distractions and misdirections.

 

Continue to watch and analyze actions, Salim. Your insight is incredible. Neither muslims nor non-muslims should get a free pass. Your future is our future.