Italy readies up to 3,000 troops for Lebanon

Reuters ^ | 08/12/2006

[Republicain]

ROME, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Italy is ready to send between 2,000 and 3,000 troops to Lebanon as part of the planned United Nations force to enforce a ceasefire, Defence Undersecretary Lorenzo Forcieri told Reuters on Saturday.

Forcieri said it was "realistic" that Italy would be given vice-command of the force, which would be led by France.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema issued a joint statement earlier on Saturday to say Italy would take part in the force, which was approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday. "We will probably be sending between 2,000 and 3,000 men from all the armed forces, said Forcieri.

The U.N. resolution authorises up to 15,000 U.N. troops to move into Lebanon to enforce a ceasefire in the conflict between Hizbollah guerrillas and Israel, expanding the existing U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Prodi and D'Alema's statement said Italy "has an interest in participating from the outset in the consultations that will be launched in coming days to determine the composition, structure and mandate of the force."

They will meet Defence Minister Arturo Parisi on Sunday for detailed discussions on the size and nature of Italy's contingent, Prodi told reporters.

[xkaydet65]

And when Hezbollah does the car bomb thing again, how long do the Italians, the French, the New Zealanders, and whoever else remain on the wall? My guess is this is 1983 redux. Now, with no Christian Falange militia to even give a hint of opposition, Hezbollah wraps up Lebanon for Iran inside a year.

[NonValueAdded]

expanding the existing U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

After all, they did such a good job in preventing Southern Lebanon from militarizing when the Israelis pulled out the last time that they have earned the right to do it again. /tagtotallyunnecessary

[John Carey]

We made this report from Lebanon when the war between Hezbollah and Lebanon opened:

"They [Unifil] are barely able to take care of themselves," said Timur Goksel, referring to the UN peacekeepers. "How can you expect them to do their work?"

The blue-helmeted UN Unifil soldiers include a moderately trained and semi-disciplined Irish brigade. These Irish UN troops were routinely referred to as the "whisky army" by both Islam and Jewish observers who came into contact with them. The Israeli-backed Christian militiamen - known by the Unifil acronym LAUIs (Lebanese Armed and Uniformed by Israel) countered any effort by the Irish troops to stray far from their base at Camp Shamrock.

And we hate to give red meat to "red necks" but our dear friends the French command Unifil just now.

Over the past few years, with the U.N. paralyzed, Israel consolidated its border "security zone" and Iran began to openly support the terrorists, many of whom are called the Lebanese Shia Amal movement. Rememeber: these guys are in a life or death struggle.

[hinckley buzzard]

And when Hezbollah does the car bomb thing again, how long do the Italians, the French, the New Zealanders, and whoever else remain on the wall?

Besides which, just how do the Italians and Frenchmen intend to "disarm" hezbollah? Maybe they can trade guns for fast food coupons like American liberal police chiefs. Seriously, this "plan" has loopholes you can drive a hummer through.