Yeah, Israel should have taken care of business (no doubt about that). But Bush went wobbly big time--in no small part due to the influence of Miss Rice and the State Dept.
Bush gave Israel a green light to go into Lebanon and clean house, (not that Israel necessarily needs US permission, but it always helps).
But for 30 days, Israel sat there like a skinny female soccer player facing a pack of NFL line-backers.(I know it's easy for me to criticize, cause it's not me or my kids who would face death)
But Israel only sent in small excursionary forces, which met with strong resistance from Hezbola villages. IDF forces thus retreated.
Israel apparantly thought they could destroy the Hez-barbarics with air power alone, and without taking casualties.
When the IDF saw the deep fortified bunkers, and realized that Hezbo-terrorists had powerful Iranian anti-tank weapons, they got cold feet. (Recall the large number of Israel tanks that were destroyed while entering a Hez-barbaric village. That had never happened before on such a large scale.
After 30 days of defacto stalemate, the US (in late July) saw that Israel was not going to launch the necessary ground invasion, and in essence said, "Shit or get off the pot."
Israel got off the pot.
GWB, I am certain, was as disappointed as me at this lack of tenacity from a country and a people that I love and admire.
I just pray that the IDF, backed by the US, is formulating a new plan to turn the barbaric Islamo-Hezballs into a massive pile of hair, fingernails, and eyeballs.
Oh yeah, and a few splatters of blood.