Mr. Andrea Joyce
Posted on 07/17/2006 7:20:53 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
Edited on 07/17/2006 7:35:06 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
by Mark Finkelstein
July 17, 2006
Is Harry Smith's goal at every stage of every war to stop it? If he had been around on June 6, 1944, would he have been asking what could be done to stop D-Day? The question arises in light of Smith's questions on this morning's Early Show to Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.
Right out of the box, cease-fire seemed to be on Harry's mind: "We have Hezbollah content to fire rockets into Israel, just as we heard a couple of minutes ago from [CBS reporter] Sharyn Alfonsi. We have Israel intent on squashing Hezbollah. Is there any country in the world, any group of countries, for that matter, that can compel either side to stop?"
O'Hanlon didn't think so, noting that at this stage neither side show the remotest interest in a cease fire.
Smith's secondary goal is apparently to keep the United States from going too directly to the aid of its ally Israel: "Iran is supplying rockets to Hezbollah. Even revolutionaries from Iran are said to be on the ground working with Hezbollah day by day. How does the United States stay out of this mess?"
O'Hanlon again gave a less-than-sanguine response: "It's a tough one."
Smith also wanted to know whether "the world will stand by and watch if Israel sends ground troops into Lebanon to really try and quash hezbollah town by town."
An equivocal O'Hanlon: "That's an open question."
O'Hanlon gets a certain kind of credit for not pretending to know too much!
Over at GMA, Charlie Gibson made the point that the g-8 leaders meeting in Russia "have not called for a cease-fire. That's surprised many people." And in an interview on the Today show, John McCain mentioned that, remarkably, a number of Arab countries have condemned Hezbollah. There are reports that some Arab countries are not-so-secretly hoping that Israel crushes the terror group.
But in Harry Smith's world of MSM moral relativism, are all side equally blameworthy, the only solution being to stop the fighting and return to the deadly status quo?
Early Show/NewsBusters ping to Today show list.
I'm not wild about Harry
And Harry's not wild about me
But this is what I tell Harry
Take a flying .... in the sea.
Harry is no real man. More like the 3rd sex.
For the record, when I first heard that the Saudis said "Hezbollah started it!" I almost spit my coffee out.
A "girly man.'
Harry, the moral equivocator.
Cowardice and self-interest are the main causes of moral equivocation.
The Saudis know that if the Iranian sponsored Hizbollah takes over Lebanon the Sunni Arabs will be their next target.
The only way to end terrorism is to CRUSH them with a force beyond their imagination. Has to happen, is the only thing they will understand.
Whenever I want an explanation of world affairs, I turn to Harry Smith. I'm surprised he's not working for the WH or State Department right now...
LOL - seriously!
I agree. Keeping in mind what countries have been largely silent gives us a pretty good indication of what is going on in the Muslim world over this. It's Shia - Iran, Hezbollah, parts of Lebanon (which explains the fractioning of the Lebanese Army and a limited support for Hezbollah) and Syria (well, Assad is of a minor sect formally recognized by the Shia mullahs at Iran's request) - vs Sunni - a much larger sect comprised of most of the rest of the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc. Many of those countries have significant Shia minorities though, and I think Iraq is just about split down the middle.
The fact that Hamas is Sunni doesn't really affect much - the Palestinians will throw themselves in with whoever might pursue a common goal of Israel's destruction.
Mr. Andrea Joyce
Ahh...thanks for the info: makes sense. But STILL, even the APPEARANCE of taking the Joos' side is amazing.
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