Posted on 08/16/2006 7:19:55 AM PDT by presidio9
FIVE weeks have passed since the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers provoked Israel to launch its most unsatisfactory military operation in 58 years. What problem has been solved, or even ameliorated? Hezbollah, often using World War II-vintage rockets, has demonstrated the inadequacy of Israel's policy of unilateral disengagement - from Lebanon, Gaza, much of the West Bank - behind a fence. Hezbollah has willingly suffered (temporary) military diminution in exchange for enormous political enlargement. Hitherto, Hezbollah in Lebanon was a "state within a state." Henceforth, the Lebanese state may be an appendage of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is an army that, having frustrated the regional superpower, suddenly embodies, as no Arab state ever has, Arab valor vindicated in combat with Israel.
The "new Middle East," the "birth pangs" of which we supposedly are witnessing, reflects the region's oldest tradition, the tribalism that preceded nations. The faux and disintegrating nation of Iraq, from which the middle class, the hope of stability, is fleeing, has experienced in these five weeks many more violent deaths than have occurred in Lebanon and Israel. U.S. Gen. George Casey says 60 percent of Iraqis recently killed are victims of Shiite death squads. Some are associated with the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry, which resembles a terrorist organization.
The London plot against civil aviation confirmed a theme of an illuminating new book, Lawrence Wright's "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11." The theme is that better law enforcement, which probably could have prevented 9/11, is central to combating terrorism. F-16s are not useful tools against terrorism that issues from places such as Hamburg (where Mohamed Atta lived before dying in
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
And hopefully, with last week's events, that point is almost here.
Nonsense.
IIRC, that event coincided to some degree with his going, er, soft. Politically at least.
We've seen again..and again...and again...that personal life IS telling of political character.
(And to DUmmies who gleefully point to Ronald Reagan's divorce, I'd point out that it was apparently not RR who did the dumping there.)
ANyone else think George is trying to look more moderate to get the head job at ABC's, "This Week with George Will"? Stephie's numbers suck.
of course if liberals fought the war on crime like they face the war on terror they would want us to redeploy the cops outside of the cities becuase capturing criminals just creates more criminals /sarcasm off
F16s are quite useful for regime change. Many of the problems of Iraq would have been solved if our troops had proceeded ito Damascus after taking Bagdad. Other could have been sent to the Iranian border to establish a presence there. If there was ever a plan to do this, and among the follow on troops in Iraq there was a rumor that there was, it evidently was squashed was divided counsel in the administration.
actually kerry was right about the war,
of course its easy to be right about something when you take both sides
john kerry was wrong about the war before he was right about the war...
Sounds like this writer has the Walter Cronkite Tet Offensive Cliff's Notes.
How can someone be be declared the victor when they've lost every engagement, lost most of their hardware that they spent decades acquiring, lost a large part of their ground forces without any military affect on their opponent and didn't achieve any of their strategic objectives? They barely survived.
Kerry was right to vote to authorize it, but other than that, he has been wrong about everything in his pathetic life.
In other words, people like George Will wanted the war stopped before it fulfilled its purpose.....just like Kerry. See my tagline, George
Thank you for that enlightening, well-argued response.
Nail on head.
Two conquered, large islamic countries in 5 years and GWB has no fortitude?
Elected democratic govt's in both and both allies of the USA now. Where the HELL have you been?
Hezbollah has willingly suffered (temporary) military diminution in exchange for enormous political enlargement. Hitherto, Hezbollah in Lebanon was a "state within a state." Henceforth, the Lebanese state may be an appendage of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is an army that, having frustrated the regional superpower, suddenly embodies, as no Arab state ever has, Arab valor vindicated in combat with Israel.
AS WITH Iraq, this war turned on a propaganda campaign.
In Iraq, the US media betrayed our troops and nation by blowing Abu Ghraib out of proportion WITH THE ASSISTANCE of one of the families involved in the criminal activity. All in the effort of smearing our military, our mission, and our President and his administration in an election year.
Support for the war dropped in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib and terrorist activity in Iraq dramatically increased.
So in Lebanon, we have Al Reuters continuing their agit prop with fraudulent staged and photoshopped images.
But the drive by media did their damage. Public perception was forever tainted against Israel.
Which time was Kerry right about the war on terror? The guy flip flops so often it's hard to keep track.
Wonder what kind of off the record talks they have in back rooms.
That's a lot of resources that will forever be dedicated trying to step on "cockroaches" in the kitchen.
Or you can go to war against "Nazi Germany" and rid the world of any substantial Nazi movement. We still face a threat from Communist governments, but not from Nazi governments. Let's not make that mistake again. This is a political ideology with supremacist beliefs.
We are not the first generation to deal with this threat. It has existed for hundreds of years and is making the biggest stab to conquering Europe that has been made a very long time. This is no "aberrant" cult; it is a strain of the ideology that persists. We have to get that belief system (not "Islam" but militant supremacist Islam that seeks world domination) universally rejected.
A lot of regimes have to come down for that to pass. No amount of law enforcement will change that.
How many "lone nut" terrorists are within John Kerry's "acceptable nuisance level"?
To put this into terms Will might comprehend.....This is like to telling a batter that he needn't worry about a pitcher who repeatedly throws at his head. After all, he's got a perfectly good baseball bat to defend himself, and he's a decent hitter, just be sure to make contact every time. How many bean balls do you accept before you head out to the mound?
George Will is just another NE Liberal who was towing the Conservative line because it gave him airtime as an opposing viewpoint.
Now that there are other channels for Conservative views, Will is becoming just another voice of Liberal thought so the left can say they have another convert.
Basically, like Buchanan, George Will has become irrelevant.
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