[conservativehistorian]

This putative cease fire agreement is a huge setback for the United States and possibly an existential disaster for Israel, for the following reasons:

Hezbollah has not been destroyed, but only weakened.
Its prestige is greatly enhanced, not only in Lebanon, but amongst the world wide Moslem community.
Its enabler, Iran, will be emboldened, and will cause even more difficulty for the US in Iraq.
The arms "embargo" will not be enforced.
The aura of military invincibility previously enjoyed by Israel has been destroyed.
Hezbollah will have no constraints upon its rocketing of Israeli civilians, nor will its crony, Hamas.
The United States will be viewed, perhaps unjustly, as a feckless ally.

The culprits (other than the bad guys, of occurs) are:
Olmert, who had the opportunity,the motive, and the means to seriously damage, if not destroy, for four weeks, and blew it.
C. Rice, who has been shown to be a both incompetent and weak in confronting Iran. It was due to her that two months ago the U.S. changed its long-standing policy and offered "inducements" to the mullahs. The results of this mistaken policy are evident.

I hope that the my fellow freepers may be able to disciple my profound gloom.

[Mac94]

You said "Hezbollah has not been destroyed, but only weakened." But, based on the following items you listed, I don't think we can really say they have been "weakened."

IF (and I will say IF because nothing has gone into effect) this U.N. resolution is passed and IF Israel accepts it, Hezbollah will emerge with power it could only dream of.

Yeah, it will need to replace men and material, but those commodities of war are "easily" replacable, but the power within Lebanon and the rise of it's prestige in the Islamic world is incalculable. It is possible that Hezbollah could use this conflict to end up in political power in Lebanon and Syria and esp Iran can easily rearm Hezbollah.

A small paramilitary militia will be seen as having fought the "big bad" IDf to a stalemate in a full months worth of warfare (this will be the perception). Hezbollah will gain so much from this while Israel will be left with alot of questions and finger pointing.

[Txsleuth]

I wish I could help you...but I agree with what you just posted.

You posted that Israel's "military invincibility" will be destroyed.

THAT is the thing that I have been most disappointed in so far...I had always assumed that not only did Israel have the BEST intelligence gathering...but, that they didn't hesitate to take action after they are attacked (suicide bombers)....and they could beat ANY foe.

I think a lot of that comes from the awe I felt when I found out about them taking out the nuke facility in Iraq...without getting permission from the international community.

[racing fan]

The culprits (other than the bad guys, of occurs) are:
Olmert, who had the opportunity,the motive, and the means to seriously damage, if not destroy, for four weeks, and blew it.
C. Rice, who has been shown to be a both incompetent and weak in confronting Iran. It was due to her that two months ago the U.S. changed its long-standing policy and offered "inducements" to the mullahs. The results of this mistaken policy are evident.
_____________________________________________________

Also add President Bush, since he is Condi's supervisor.