I object to your characterization that Israel lost this encounter.
Misunderspinning
Misunderspinning and misunderwinning: The US and Israel Don't Get It This Time
By John E. Carey
August 14, 2006
President Bush is known for his malapropisms. Some are merely ascribed to the president; he doesn’t hold the copyright.
“Strategery,” a Saturday Night Live creation, became the title of a Bill Sammon book.
But these buzzwords tell us a lot of how the people in popular culture view their leaders and their world.
President Bush said on Monday, August 14, 2006, the first day of the cease fire with Hezbollah, that the "responsibility for this suffering lies with Hezbollah."
"There's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon," Bush said.
"Lebanon can't be a strong democracy when there is a state within a state and that's Hezbollah," Bush said.
We might assign the new word "misunderspinning" to President Bush right now. If he believes any one of those three statements he is very badly advised or just does not understand the Arab world.
First: Responsibility. Arabs, and all the Lebanese are blaming the droppers of the bombs, Israel, and the provider of the bombs, the US.
Second: New Power. Who? Hezbollah is the people of southern Lebanon. They collect taxes, provide welfare, sit in the congress.
Lebanon as a strong democracy. People who are familiar with Lebanaon doubt that it is as many in the west believe. Lebanon is an Islamic state now.
Now for Israel, my word is: “misunderwinning.”
Israeli leaders are claiming tremendous gains, if not outright victory on one side of the border, and issuing a veiled threat on the other.
Israeli Prime Minister Mr. Ehud Olmert insisted, “Hezbollah won’t continue to exist as a state within a state.”
That assertion remains to be proven.
In fact, in Lebanan and the greater Arab world, Hezbollah is a state and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, appeared almost daily on Hezbollah TV (al-Manar "The Beacon"), and al-Jazeera during the conflict saying, "We have not been harmed."
Hezbollah has an army, C-802 Chinese made anti-ship cruise missiles, a flag, a TV station and thousands of short range rockets that can hit Israel at a range of 42 miles and more. They don't have a seat at the UN or an Olympic team; but their army beat the Israelis and their Public Relations beat the Israelis and the US.
And their spokesman, Hassan Nasrallah, beat our spokesman, George Bush, all over the Arab Street.
Within 24 hours before the start of the “cease fire,” Hezbollah fired over 200 missiles into Israel. Maybe as many as 250.
Since destruction of Hezbollah and elimination of these missiles were the number one and two goals of the war for Israel, according to Boaz Ganor, an Israeli expert who discussed the goals with me at the outset of the conflict, who do you think “won”?
And who is going to disarm and disband Hezbollah now? They are going to melt into the public because they are the public. Their weapons will disappear, much like Saddam's WMD disappeared.
A government spokesman said Israel came out ahead in the Lebanon war and will abide strictly by the U.N. cease-fire deal.
"The situation on the ground is advantageous, the diplomatic situation is advantageous to Israel," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.
Yossi Kuperwasser, a brigadier general in the Israeli army, wrote in an article for the Jerusalem Post, "We created the necessary conditions to compel the international community to... ultimately turn Lebanon into an accountable, sovereign nation. If this happens, Syria and Iran would be the main losers of this war."
We’ll see.
In Lebanon, as the clock struck 8 this morning and the cease-fire commenced, the streets of Beirut were littered with a new leaflet dropped by Israeli planes saying that Hezbollah had brought the people of Lebanon “to the edge of the abyss” and brought only “destruction, displacement and death.”
The leaflet warned that the Israelis could return “with all necessary might.”Addressed to Lebanon's citizens, Israel’s leaflet said, "Will you be able to pay this price again?"
Hezbollah distributed leaflets of its own on Monday congratulating Lebanon on its "big victory" and thanking citizens for their patience during the 34-day war with Israel. The populace fired guns in celebration.
This morning, as the cease fire begins, The Washington Post features a page one story under the headline “The Best Guerrilla Force in the World.” The article is, of course, about Hezbollah.
If Israel had won, the headline might have read “Finest Fighting Force On Earth Again Prevails” referring to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
I’m really a military analyst with only ten years in the media as a journalist and even I can figure this out.
For good or bad, Israel appears to have not prevailed in their goals in this war.
Israel, and in particular, Mr. Olmert’s government, are guilty of misunderspinning and also seriously misunderwinning.
Rebuilding southern Lebanon is important. If the Hezbollah is seen as the rebuilder, that will be another setback for the west.
As it is, no amount of misunderspinning can correct the current misunderwinning.
If you think they won you must be related to Olmert? They clearly showed their Arab neighbors that they cant handle and are unwilling to fight a determined assymetric group of terrorists. It encourages Syria and Iran and makes for a much more dangerous Middle East.
In fact, they lose so much, they were wiped out for good twenty years ago. Oh wait, no they weren't. Maybe they don't lose as much as people say.
Hezbollah will not be forced to disarm. Israel didn't get their soldiers back. And Nasrallah has emerged as an even greater political force in Lebanon and will be the prime minister in a few short years.
Other than that, Israel came out smelling like a rose.