Posted on 08/03/2006 12:08:45 PM PDT by neverdem
Associated Press
The United States plans to help train and equip the Lebanese army so it can take control of all of its territory when the warfare between Israel and Hezbollah eases, the State Department said Thursday.
The program was approved by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to take effect "once we have conditions on the ground permitting," said department spokesman Sean McCormack.
McCormack provided no details on what equipment the United States might provide, the type of training that would be conducted, how many U.S. personnel would be involved, or how much the effort would cost.
Other nations in the international community will help out as well, McCormack said, as American diplomats continued consultations with French and other officials to work out a U.N. resolution for a cease-fire in Lebanon.
Gen. John Abizaid, who heads the U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that the Lebanese armed force "needs a significant upgrade of equipment and training capability that I believe the Western nations, particularly the United States, can assist with."
Before the outbreak in violence, Command officials visited the Lebanese armed forces and assessed their capabilities and needs, Abizaid said "We saw that they needed some significant spare parts," he said, and other help.
Speaking of prospects for ending the fighting, he said "it will never work for Lebanon if, over time, Hezbollah has a greater military capacity than the Lebanese armed forces."
Rice, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and Assistant Secretary of State David Welch are working with other governments, mostly by telephone, to hammer together a resolution "that stands up," McCormack said.
This would include disarming Hezbollah, already ordered by the Security Council in 2004, and establishing an international peacekeeping force to move into southern Lebanon.
Nations that would contribute troops to the force are expected to meet next week at the U.N. A meeting was postponed on Monday and again on Thursday. The Bush administration has ruled out U.S. troops taking part.
Rice plans to spend the weekend at President Bush's ranch in Texas and "she's going to be working the phones from Crawford just as she would be working the phones here in Washington," McCormack said.
"There's still some diplomacy that needs to be done," he said. It is "going to take some time," McCormack added, while also holding out the possibility of working out the terms by Friday.
Bush has said he does not envision the United States contributing ground troops to a peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, but could provide communications, logistics and other behind-the-scenes support.
The Bush administration is striving for a resolution that not only would end the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, now in its fourth week, but establish conditions for a lasting cease-fire. Many other countries favor an immediate cease fire.
One key element is having Lebanon take control of areas in the south that Hezbollah has used to carry on a cross-border war with Israel.
The training would be designed to help the Lebanese armed forces "exercise control and sovereignty over all of Lebanese territory once we have an end to the fighting in such a way that is durable," McCormack said.
This is just one of those things that can't be good.
My Islamo-facist tax dollars at work.
I really don't get this. Didn't Lebanon's PM say that his army would fight along side Hezbollah against Israel?
Better this than US troops doing it.
What are the safeguards that we will use to make sure we aren't training and equipping Hezbollah, like we trained Fatah and Hamas terrorists in allegedly attempting to help the PLO form an effective police?
I wouldn´t judge about that so early. The war won´t go on forever, and if the moderate Lebanese get enough power afterwards, this will stabilize the region and thus serving the security of Israel.
And how many tanks have tried to stop the IDF? The Lebanese "army" is a paper-tiger.
Let someone else do it this round, how about the Swiss or Germans sending advisers to get shot at for once, they benefit from a stable ME as much as the rest of us do.
More money down a rat hole.
Don't worry...Rice has made MASSIVE changes at the State Dept...
Agreed. The problem of course is it will take more hard work, lots of money and there WILL be more terrorism like we are seeing in Iraq. Somebody's gonna have to fight back. So far, the only ones who have shown any stomach for that have been the Israelis out of necessity.
Yikes!
Lebanon commits agression against Is.,,,U.S. to train Leb. Army?
just rhetoric /sarc
even if lebanon invites to help train them to fight hezbollah, the democrats will still call it an occupation.
We're going to train the Palestinians next?
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