Your post was proven so nakedly today when "Lebanon's" Fouad Siniora held his press conference, which was so emotional, but nakedly pleading. In addition, Hezbollah's strength against Israel, almost sinking one of their ships, took Olmert and Bush by surprise. The game has changed, no doubt. That Israel is making matters worse for the U.S. should not be ignored as a small event. It's treachery from someone who is supposed to be our ally.

blog: www.taylormarsh.com

This will be informative to watch, as many mainstream prognosticators seem to be predicting that this will turn Lebaneese opinion firmly againse Hezbollah (Hisballah?) and render them weaker if not defunct.

I tend to lean more towards your camp, in the sense that I think that the Lebaneese will more or less blame Israel when Israel blows them up. Depending on how it shakes out, Hezbollah could end up marginalized for their role as provocateurs, but they could also end up lionized. In particular, it seems like within "their territory" they seem unlikely to loose their popular support, but then again the IDF is getting ready to roll in full-bore, so who knows what the ultimate outcome will be there.

Is gas $4 a gallon yet?

I imagine right now that a lot of Lebanese are wishing both sides would go away. Problem is, the people asking, "Are you with Us, or with Them?" are always holding a weapon when they ask you.

Is it too late to advocate gun control in the Middle East?

"Death before being dishonored any more." - Col. Ted Westhusing

This is a great column. This is how it starts: Hasan Nasrallah is exactly where he always wanted to be. Congratulations, P.M. Olmert, you helped put him there.

Scathing critique

This isn't directly related, but none the less topical:

I watched a programme tonight on the History channel about Major General LeMay. It's title was, “Baiting the Bear”. LeMay, the SAC commander, was referred to just before he retired as, “The Culture of Destruction” I was shocked to learn under his command a test missile had been fired and aimed at Russia—he had deliberately attempted to provoke Russia. He probably wasn’t the first General to advocate ‘Preventative War’ by thinking the United States had total missile superiority--they felt they could literally wipe Russia off the map. This SAC commander hid details of JSCP from President Eisenhower. He launched a mission May 8, 1954 without advising the President what he had done. His mission was called, “Project Control.”

Thank goodness Dulles and Booie (spelling?) were against the military plan pointing out that it wasn’t sound or wise and would have led to all out world war. LeMay and General Power’s strategy would not have destroyed all the Russian silos. President Kennedy during the missile crisis was heard to remark, “Are these guys (military) human?”

If you will recall when President Eisenhower left office he gave a warning that the military must be commanded by civilians. It was a very disturbing historical documentary to watch.

LeMay and General Power retired in 1964. It was felt when LeMay ran with George Wallis as his Vice Presidential choice, he was responsible for the loss of Wallis's popularity.
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Israel appears to be taking pages from the neocons and General LeMay’s books. Israel continues to use massive force to assert their authority. Perhaps their technologically advanced weapons trick them into believing they can be used against guerilla forces. Arms superiority didn't work in Viet Nam, isn't in Iraq and/or against Israel's foe, Hezbolla and Hamas. Wiser Generals, almost always stress 'more than enough' boots on the ground. They don't make the mistake of overemphasizing the effect of drones and unarmed missiles.

There is something distinctly self-congratulatory and delusional in these comments that see Hizballa as possibly winning this altercation. The real reason they can't "win" is that Israel has no where to go. Unlike all these other conflicts where the invading army could bbe out guerrillaed, Israel is staying put and can not let these "freedom fighters" dictate whether people in Israel can live safely or not. Personally I am very happy to see them punish these megalomaniacal terrorists.

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 16 July 2006 2255 hrs

Syria vows to respond directly to any Israeli strike

AFP/CNA

DAMASCUS : Syria has warned it would respond directly and by all means necessary to any Israeli attack on its territory, in its first official reaction to Israel's offensive on neighbouring Lebanon.

The warning on Sunday coincided with a similar threat by Damascus's key ally Iran, and came amid rising fears that the Middle East is being dragged deeper into the spiralling conflict sparked by the capture of Israeli soldiers by militants linked to Hamas and Hezbollah.

"Any Israeli attack against Syria will provoke an unlimited, direct and firm response using all means necessary," Information Minister Mohsen Bilal told the official SANA news agency.

Iran also warned arch-enemy Israel of "unimaginable losses" if it attacked Syria and vowed that it was standing by the Syrian people.

"We hope the Zionist regime does not make the mistake of attacking Syria, because extending the front would definitely make the Zionist regime face unimaginable losses," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters in Tehran.

Israel said one of the rockets fired Sunday by Hezbollah guerrillas on Israel's third-largest city of Haifa, killing eight people, may have been Syrian-made.

"There is a possibility that one of the rockets was made in Syria," a senior military official told reporters following the deadliest cross-border attack in decades.

"Maybe Hezbollah wants to involve Syria in this mess," he said. "It could be a big advantage for Hezbollah to open a third front against Israel."

Israel had said a day earlier that Syria was not a target in its offensive, after firing rockets close to the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Damascus denied its territory had been hit.

The escalating Middle East conflict is central to discussions at a G8 summit of world leaders, and Russia has warned of a "real threat" that the Middle East crisis could widen.

Syria's official media on Sunday denounced "the silence" of Arab countries amid the deadly Israeli offensive in Lebanon, launched on Wednesday after two soldiers were captured by militants from the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement.

"Silence has become the ideal reaction for Arab regimes when they find nothing to say that will satisfy their grand masters," the state daily Ath-Thawra said.

"Those who have expressed doubts over the actions of the resistance are in one way or another implicated in the (Israeli) aggression against Beirut and Gaza."

The newspaper was referring to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan which indirectly criticised Hezbollah for "adventurism" in provoking Israel's onslaught on Lebanon and putting all Arab nations at risk.

Another Syrian government daily, Tishrin, accused Israel and the United States of waging war in order to gain total control over the region.

"After having achieved the destruction of Iraq and sabotaged all efforts to solve the Israeli-Arab conflict and find a just peace in the region, the US administration has given its green light to the Israeli government of Ehud Olmert to burn down the region beginning with Gaza and Lebanon," Tishrin said.

"This is part of an Israeli-American plan for total hegemony in the region."

Syria, which backs but denies arming Hezbollah, was the long-time power-broker in Lebanon until an international outcry over the assassination of five-time premier Rafiq Hariri forced it to withdraw its troops last year. - AFP/de