Jul

29

Yeah, Right

July 29, 2006 |

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced agreement today to seek a United Nations resolution next week that would send a multinational force to southern Lebanon and end hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Blair at the White House, Bush said he is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice back to the Middle East from a conference in Malaysia to try to obtain agreement from the governments of Lebanon and Israel on the U.S.-British plan.
washington post

Let’s see, three days to get the resolution before the Security council, three days debate, amendments, passage and then….Oh, yes, rounding up the multi-national force that virtually every nation in Rome said they were too busy to contribute to. This is, minimum, another two weeks for the Israelis to get their act together and destroy Hezbollah.

However, they are not going to achieve that goal without being very serious about a full scale ground assault up the Bekaa Valley. There are some signs this is being contemplated. The reserve call up being the most obvious. However, the Israelis need to move fast and they need to move decisively.

Like it or not, if Hezbollah survives to the final bell it wins the fight on points. That win effectively signals the end of Israel’s unchallenged military dominance in the region and if that goes the level of attacks against Israel in the next three or four years will only increase.

There are no easy wars for Israel because each war creates the conditions in which the peace will be lived. The Israelis have been given a gift of time by Bush and Blair. the question is whether they can use that gift to achieve the crushing victory which they need. The alternative, Hezbollah bloodied but unbowed, will create the sort of myth cycle which drives the nastier end of the Arab world.


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