Posted on 07/27/2006 3:12:19 PM PDT by winner3000
Israel, with the blind support of the United States, has insisted that a cease-fire must be delayed until its military can inflict meaningful damage upon Hizbullah. The Israelis believe that by bombing Lebanon back 20 years, Hizbullah will be weakened. But so far, Israel's unimaginative military campaign has had the opposite effect. Support for Hizbullah - which was limited before the war - has reached record highs in Lebanon and around the region, with each atrocity only adding to the ranks of angry people who would like to see Israelis suffer retribution. And as Hizbullah gains strength, the Lebanese state - an entity that will be necessary for any political process that would restore calm along the border - is being systematically weakened.
The only way to reverse this trend is to take a step back from war-mongering and then a step toward negotiations. Hizbullah has already agreed to a five-point package that can be quickly implemented once a cease-fire is in place: the exchange of prisoners, and end to Israel's occupation of the Shebaa Farms, maps of Israeli-laid mindefields in South Lebanon, an end to Israeli air, land and sea incursions into Lebanese territory, and the deployment of the Lebanese Army in South Lebanon. If Israel is actually serious about not returning to the previous status quo - or to an even worse future - these five points provide an excellent formula for reaching that objective. http://www.dailystar.com.lb
The Lebanese people will be weighing Washington's words and actions very carefully in the coming days to see whether the "urgent" effort to secure a cease-fire promised by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will actually materialize. If this promise was merely a ruse to prolong the destruction of Lebanon, then the Lebanese had better prepare themselves for a different vision of their future. The "new Lebanon" could end up looking more like an Islamized Somalia than the free and democratic country that was recently held up as a shining example by the Bush administration. If that should be the fate of Lebanon, then the Israelis ought to also prepare themselves for a different future: one of perpetual violence and instability along their border.
Something that is often overlooked is that Iran does not have the ability to mount an offensive campaign against Israel.
They don't have the naval power, they don't have the air power, they are not going to get Iraq, Turkey, Saudia Arabia, or any of the emirates to allow them to march an army through, and they don't have the transport to put an army on ships and go around the world to launch an amphibious invasion.
Their only offensive strike weapon is the missile with some kind of warhead. The closer they get to wmds, the more punch that strike weapon becomes. But no one will win with an offensive capability consisting of missiles.
They can launch some kind of operation through Hezbollah, but Hezbollah is not going to last in head-to-head combat with Israel.
"Hizbullah has already agreed to a five-point package that can be quickly implemented once a cease-fire is in place: the exchange of prisoners, and end to Israel's occupation of the Shebaa Farms, maps of Israeli-laid mindefields in South Lebanon, an end to Israeli air, land and sea incursions into Lebanese territory, and the deployment of the Lebanese Army in South Lebanon. If Israel is actually serious about not returning to the previous status quo - or to an even worse future - these five points provide an excellent formula for reaching that objective."
These points deal with Hizbollah's demands on Israel, but say almost nothing about what they will do in return. They read more like surrender terms than ceasefire terms.
I dont see the support of the USA as being blind. Nor do I see anyone rushing to aid hezballah. Most Arab countries have condemned the attcks on israel and the only people joining Hezballah are the suicide freaks and nut jobs looking for a good place to die.
In completion the daily star Editorial is full of Poo Poo.
I disagree. Those have been Hezbollah's demands for years, except they subsitute "the Lebanese Army" for "Hezbollah" in the final demand. In fact, it will be Hezbollah who will occupy southern Lebanon.
Losers are always begging for negotiations, which is why Israel has to finish this job, once and for all.
Right! They have lived in peace without perpetual violence and plenty of stability along their border, since 1948; Now they are about to blow it. What an ignorant dumb a$$.
One misrepresentation and one outright lie in the same sentence. Ah, journalists.
This particular specimen goes on to characterize Israel's response to kidnapping and a rocketry barrage as "warmongering." I stopped reading at that point. This individual has nothing original or interesting, or even truthful, to say.
We did not promise the Lebanese Jack-Crap. We did not get them into this mess, the hezzies did. They need to get some promises from the hezzies. In the meantime, it sucks to be them. Maybe they can get the UN to disarm the hezzies and bolster the Leb military. Good luck with that, the UN will get right on it after they solve the Korea, Darfur, Kashmir, Kosovo, and Ivory Coast issues. It should only be 90-100 years, give or take 25.
What's the Daily Star?
This Hezbollah terrorism, backed by Iran and Syria, is nothing new. Go Israel!!!!
Marine Families Angry with Hezbollah, Iran and Syria
July 21, 2006
by Jim Kouri - WASHINGTON, DC -- The current hostilities in Lebanon are for some American families a sad reminder of tragic events over two decades ago, when Hezbollah terrorists in 1983 attacked the U.S. barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Marines who had been stationed as an international peacekeeping force.
Those Marines were members of the same unit that is currently protecting and helping American citizens as they evacuate from what has beome a war zone in the Middle East.
"We understand only too well how Hezbollah uses terrorism to advance its radical goals," said Lynn Smith Derbyshire, whose brother was killed in the Beirut bombing.
excerpt: http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/16332.html#
Screw negotiations, kill all the terrorists.
Wrong! Once the dust settles the Lebanese are going to realize that Hezbollah is a threat to their lives and prosperity. They always had support in the south but there won't be many people left there after the war.
Cease fire with terrorists means they get time to rearm.
sounds like this was written by some pansie at the un. what nonsense
The "plan" is for Israel to surrender. No wonder that no one would sign this piece of stupidity.
Rewarding the islamopigs by negotiating after the kidnapping of an Israeli would lead to peace? Only in the mind of a leftist.
One of the more conservative and internationally recognized newspapers in Lebanon and the Middle East.
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