Posted on 07/19/2006 6:45:07 AM PDT by conservativecorner
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should stay home if her mission is to go to the Middle East in an attempt to tell Israel to stop the war against Hezbollah.
President Bush's message that Israel should use "restraint" in dealing with Hezbollah is equally off the mark. In his first term, President Bush understood the use of pre-emptive war as a necessary national security strategy designed to deal effectively with terrorists. Would President Bush refrain from going to war if Hezbollah sleeper cells launched a terrorist attack in the United States?
Hezbollah committed an act of war when terrorists crossed the Lebanon border into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers. Truthfully, Hezbollah has been launching rockets into northern Israel killing civilians for years. Israel understands that the recent step-up in Hezbollah violence against Israel was in direct response to orders issued by Iran to divert attention at the recent G-8 meeting in St. Petersburg away from Iran's decision to continue enriching uranium.
Israel understands that Hezbollah is conducting a proxy war on behalf of Iran. The mullahs created Hezbollah and even today Tehran funds Hezbollah to the tune of $250 million a year. If the world succeeds in calling Israel off, then terrorists throughout the world will be emboldened. Israel is now in a vice where enemies on all sides are calling for the destruction of the Jewish state – Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza and Ahmadinejad in Tehran.
At this moment, with Israel just about to launch a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, Hezbollah itself is at an existential moment. Israel has the power not only to disarm Hezbollah, but to destroy Hezbollah as a political movement within Lebanon.
Hezbollah's prestige in the terrorist world comes from the 1983 suicide bombing attack on the American Marines barracks in Beirut. The result: President Reagan decided to withdraw all U.S. troops from Lebanon. Then, in 2001, Hezbollah boasted that it defeated Israel by forcing Israel to withdraw from Lebanon. Right now, Hezbollah is viewed as the only terrorist force in the world that has defeated both the United States and Israel, a feat even Iran itself cannot claim.
Israel is at the first stages of going for a fundamental and historic strategic realignment of power in the Middle East. Hezbollah disarmed would become a Lebanese minority political party that at best could command some 20 to 25 percent of the popular vote. Moreover, a defeat for Hezbollah would be a serious defeat for Iran. Tehran hopes desperately that the world community will step in to restrain Israel before Israel scores a knockout punch on Hezbollah.
This time Israel is playing for keeps. With Iran pursuing nuclear weapons and Ahmadinejad openly proclaiming that Israel needs to be wiped off the face of the earth, Israel knows that war with Iran is inevitable, probably sooner rather than later. Removing Hezbollah as an armed terrorist organization would remove a major weapon from the Iranian arsenal.
Even if the war expands to Syria and then to Iran, Israel would rather take both countries on now, before Iran has the short time yet needed to produce deliverable nuclear weapons of their own making.
The United States can exert strong-arm pressure on Israel, but to do so would be to our detriment. By attacking Hezbollah with a determination to destroy Hezbollah as an armed terrorist organization, Israel truly is doing the dirty work for the United States.
If President Bush is truly serious about waging a successful war on terrorism, the administration must be instructed to give Israel enough time to do the job. No one doubts that the Israeli military has the needed skill and force to get the job done. All that is needed now is the political will in Washington to stay the course and back Israel, our only true ally in the region.
If we waver now, Israel will only fear doubly that the coming showdown with Iran may be one Israel will have to face alone. The Bush administration should do everything necessary right now to avoid putting this fear into Israel. The more Israel feels isolated today, the more resolved the Israeli government will become that Israel alone must defend Israel, regardless what anyone, including President Bush, thinks or says.
If Bush were serious about calling off the dogs, why has he waited this long?
It's all chess moves.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should stay home if her mission is to go to the Middle East in an attempt to tell Israel to stop the war against Hezbollah.
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For sure. Outside of the terrorists themselves, this government has done more to PROLONG THE TERROR in the Middle East than any other force. And all for politics. It is time to let Israel determine its own future --- the U.S. should sit quietly on the sidelines, give support to Israel where needed, but again -- STAY OUT OF IT.
Now if Iran or Syria gets involved (as if they are not now) then that is another matter -- but not to stop the fighting. It is high time an end was brought to terrorist nations, especially BEFORE Iran gets the bomb.
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Exactly.
I am beginning to think something is going very wrong inside the White House. Foreign policy has no spine at all.
Drudge is reporting that we've told Israel she has a week and then must stop.
Sounds to me that they will put the pressure on that bad-boy Bashar.
Bush: You see, the … thing is what they need to do is to get Syria, to get Hezbollah to stop doing this sh_t and it’s over...
BTW, last week Drudge reported that Ken Lay killed himself.
"I am beginning to think something is going very wrong inside the White House. Foreign policy has no spine at all"
Congratulations, the most ridiculous post of the week.
Correct. And the ones who are slamming Condi Rice would slam her still if she did stay home.
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Agreed.
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Diplomacy and foreign policy require much reading between the lines.
Yeah. What exactly is your point?
Nobody said anything about not "going to war" - the State Department merely urged "restraint".
We used "restraint" in both Afghanistand and Iraq - we went out of our way to not target innocent civilians. Is that such a terrible thing?
I know the easiest and quickest inclination is to say "wipe them all out - men, women and children". Is that waht we really want to do? Sometimes I think so, but upon reflection - we would become our enemy.
The State Department is full of dilpomats - that is their job. Why act surprised when they make statments like "use restraint". The Pentagon is where the generals work - not the State Department. Let each section of the government do its own job.
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