They're like the noisy guy who knows what's best for everyone else's kids, while his fail school and do drugs
argh..
NATO is being mentioned specifically by Israel and a large multi-national force by Americans.
Americans would not be a part of the force.
I do believe NATO or some coalition like NATO would be the best option once Israel's operations are complete.
Nice analogy Jacky.
I do agree that NATO would be better than UN/UNIFIL forces. But that doesn't mean they can do the job. Do you believe Italians or French troops will risk getting killed to hold Hizbullah to an agreement? Would they actually fire on ambiguouly dressed civilians who happened to be creeping very, very carefully through the bushes with a really long box marked "made in Iran"? The problem is they have no stake in the outcome, and have no reason to do anything but justify continued inaction, which would allow Hizbullah to rebuild and attack at any time they felt it convenient. Remember the international force on the border with Egypt in the 60's? When they were asked by Egypt to leave, they left, and then the 1967 war began. Would French or German or Spanish troops do any different? These countries already withdrew from Iraq, leaving the US to do the job. Why would they lift a finger to protect Israel? Lebanon must be assisted as much as needed to take control of its own border, and then bear the responsibility and repercussions, just like the rest of the world. Of course this isn't easy because Lebanon is a divided country with many Hizbullah supporters even in its army. But we can't shy away from solving problems just because they are hard; those are the ones that matter most.
I totally agree with you the UNIFIL is useless. But it is as useless at holding back hezbollah and disarming it as it is helpless facing the repeated territory violations that Lebanon had to face. What's the point in having your airplanes take a little ride in our country every once in a while?
The net effect of all that you say is that Hizbullah is launching its inventory of over 10,000 missiles it has saved up. Had it not chosen to do this, there would be absolutely NO violence in Lebanon right now.
You make very good points, partcularly re: Unifil. I have taken to reading your blog daily (well since our power came back on!) and really appreciate the way you can inject humor into such a black situation. My prayers are with you and yours.
Thanks Denise, your prayers are appreciated. May they lead to lasting peace for all of us, and soon. Enjoy the power.
Hi AbbaGav,
I'm sure the Israelis are as distressed about hitting the UNFIL post as the UNFIL troops were while watching Hezbollah kidnap and murder three Israeli soldiers right in front of them a couple of years ago!
BTW, bechatzlechah on making the Watcher's Council. This is a great site!
Regards,
FF
Actually, FF, I have a hunch the IDF is more distressed -- at least they weren't bribed to do it, ie. it was an unintentional act (I'm not even sure the full story is in yet, not that I'm denying it happened, but I've grown hesitant to jump to conclusions around here).
And thanks, I'm honored to have been selected and looking forward to all the fun.
I think it's interesting no one out there in the wide world, including that cud-chewing dimwit Annan, even considers IDF could just have goofed. Israel's precision killing machine, be as occasionally incompetent or inefficient as anyone else?! (Whereas if you check out defense industry websites, the world of military contractors is very concerned about IDF's obvious blunders, like failing to turn on defensive Naval radar systems, blowing up your own helicopter, etc. That all looks like human error, to me)
But, ever the conspiracy theorist,I did sort of wistfully wonder... in the same way that flying over Assad's palace sent a warning shot across Syria and Iran's bow, maybe this was to warn Annan that 'we know who you are, and we know what your role is in this... watch it.'
I agree, accidents happen, at least in the real world. Especially when Hizbullah has been documented to operate near and even collocate with UN bases. When in battle, return fire is called in against a missle location, I don't know if IDF gunmen have to verify every return coordinate against a table of all known locations of UN bases. Perhaps they figured peacekeepers would not be allowing missiles to be shot from next to their base and didn't check. Or mabye it was just simple coordinate error. Stuff happens. My sympathies to the families of the soldiers who were killed though.
Yes, sympathies to the families of all the soldiersinjured and killed, and the legitimate civilians.
I'm finding this situation is a significant dividing line -- people who cannot grasp that a deliberate Israeli strike on the UN Observers would be like hitting the batter in a tie game, bottom of the ninth inning, are so obtusely and irrationally anti-Israel that I can only call it by its real name -- anti-semitism. I swear, they blame Israel for things that happened in the 1920's in Egypt, for the 1979 Iranian revolution -- I've finally realized there is nothing to be gained by even responding to people like that.
Did you ever wonder why there is no life on Mars? Here's a hint: rhymes with "shoes." Nah, I'm just kidding, everyone knows we didn't do that one. I'm just letting my cynicism run free for a few minutes.
This just in...The French upon learning that they might be a part of a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon have formed a surrender committee. In an offical statement the French government declared that they will never again be caught of guard like they were at the beginning of WWII. The statement went on to say that the French government considered it important that every French citizen was properly equipped with a white flag.
In a separate report French fashion designers are reportedly complaining that being required to drop everything and produce millions of white flags was placing an undue burden on them.
I know the French supported Israel at one point in history, but if Israel's existence depends on modern French support, God help us. That was pretty funny Doug, thanks for the laugh.
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