My friend Dani moved here 15 years ago from Lebanon. He left to lebanon five six weeks ago along with his wife and three children to visit his parents and his siblings.
Things were not heated back then. The climate turned on a dime.
IMHO, the "climate" didn't turn on a dime.
Hezbollah has been terrorizing Israelis along the border for years.
What happened was they (Hezbollah) poked the lion with a stick once too often, and Israel finally responded.
I guess in that way, you could say that the Israeli's response "turned on a dime"...but the terrorist actions in southern Lebanon have been there for years.
Is your friend a schoolteacher? Anyway, still, 5-6 weeks is a long time to expose your wife and kids to a politically unstable place. Still a dumb move if you ask me. Should have cut the trip to a week or two.
Your friend, Dani, moved to the U.S. from Lebanon? And now he writes this? He must have become totally Americanized.
Man, I hope you ignore some of the posters who take their anger out on your friend. Lebanon used to be a lovely civilized country. Unfortunately, families have been split up because of the muslim takeover. Your friend had every reason to go back home. Who wouldn't long to see their parents and brothers and sisters? I am very happy to hear his gratitude toward our great Marines. And I appreciate this up close and personal bit of history in the making. This one little detail tells us a lot about the difference between muslim and civilization: the inability to wait in a line.