Hezbollah's twilight zone

Watching the anguish in Lebanon following an Israeli airstrike that killed at least 37 children in Qana Sunday put me in mind of Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother who drowned her children several years ago. The Smith parallel requires a small stretch of free association, so bear with me. You'll recall that Smith killed her children, then tried to blame a fictional villain. After allowing her car to slip into a lake with the boys strapped to their car seats inside Smith claimed the children had been kidnapped. Her infertile imagination provided a racist cliche: a black man did it.

Fast forward a few years and I bumped into a woman who had just visited Smith in prison, where she is serving a life sentence for the double murder. When I asked how Smith was doing, the woman replied: "Like any grieving mother, she's mourning the loss of her children.'' Then Rod Serling stepped into the frame and cued the "Twilight Zone'' soundtrack. Let's see: You kill your children, and then you get sympathy for your loss? That dissonant comment has haunted me ever since, and it came to me a few days ago as I watched reports of the Qana airstrike.

In the next few days, one of two things will happen. Either the United Nations Security Council will pass a resolution demanding that the Israelis accept a cease fire plan and stop the bloodshed or the war in Lebanon will continue.

We think the war in Lebanon continues.

There are a myriad of reasons why resolutions pass or don’t pass at the UN. A resolution’s passage or failure before the august international body does not necessarily mean the ideas underlying the resolution are good or bad. Sometimes, as in any political system, a bad idea gets accepted by everybody or a good idea ends up on the floor.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned from Jerusalem to Washington on Monday saying a cease fire resolution in the UN could be just a few days off. Israel, it seemed, had mistakenly bombed Lebanese women and children at Qana, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to a 48 hour cessation of air attacks and bombing in that part of Lebanon near Israel.

Hezbollah took that olive branch and broke it over its knee.

Secretary Rice reiterated her belief in a UN cease fire resolution Tuesday evening on the PBS Newshour, saying about the timing of a resolution, "This week is entirely possible. Certainly we are talking about days not weeks."

We just don’t believe it.

Israel has stated that it needs time to create a new situation whereby Hezbollah’s missiles cannot reach into Israel again. They launched a ground assault into Lebanon to assure everyone that this objective was more than talk.

It is an imperative.

Israeli soldiers tell me they are fighting for the future existence of Israel. They are fighting for the life of their nation.

And using Churcillian words, "pain, tears and blood," Israel’s Olmert reaffirmed Israeli resolve after the abbreviated “48 hour” air bombardment semi-cease fire.

The losers in that miscarried idea, an idea created after the regrettable deaths at Qana, were Secretary of State Rice, Hezbollah and Olmert himself.

Israeli pilots we were able to reach said they were shocked by the brief cessation of the air campaign. One pilot was positively frantic on the phone, saying, “Stopping now violates every sound principle of war. You cannot give the enemy opportunities to rearm, move around and regroup.”

This was not one man’s voice but the sound of the collective shout of the Israeli people. What Mr. Olmert heard during the air bombardment cease fire was not the silence due to the lack of exploding bombs. He heard the deafening roar of objections from his military planners and the public at large.

So Mr. Olmert cancelled the cease fire and ordered the ground assault.

Ephraim Sneh, Labour MP and a former general said: "This war must not end in a draw."

Over the course of two days we made contact with and had discussion with one of Israel’s smart experts on counter-terrorism, Hezbollah and war. Boaz Ganor told us the priorities of Israel’s military campaign and combined diplomatic initiatives were as follows: (1) Destroy Hezbollah's rocket forces, (2) Dismantle Hezbollah, (3) Cut the physical connection between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran (via Syria), and, (4) Rescue the Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah.

We scrambled to phone our editor at The Washington Times to get his remarks in print on Tuesday. But we are not sure Secretary Rice believes his analysis.

We certainly do.

Israel is now fighting to achieve its top two priorities: the destruction of Hezbollah’s rockets and the destruction of Hezbollah itself. The soldiers capture by Hezbollah remain priority four. And the notion of isolating Syria seems not to have gotten off the ground, at least not diplomatically.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad mobilized his military, saying, "We must understand that every effort and each drop of sweat put into training now will save a drop of blood when the hour comes.”

So nobody misunderstood his position, he added, "The fight will continue as long as our land is occupied and our rights are violated. Victory will be ours, with the help of God."

When nations talk like this, they are not likely ready for a note from Kofi Annan that says, “Knock it off.”

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