One would think, from the abysmal, context-less, uncomprehending coverage (of which a perfect example is Richard Engel of NBC, who can be seen in front of large quantities of counterfeit, uncut sheets of one-hundred dollar bills, at www.littlegreenfootballs.com, 2-3 days ago, among the detritus from a Hezbollah-connected "financial institution" (counterfeit American bills and all), but not uttering a word about those bills, apparently completely oblivious to them. Not surprising. The coverage from Lebanon is essentially all about journalists of the most mindless sort, the kind who have no real idea what is at stake, no understanding, much less sympathy, for what Israel is attempting to do -- the most hellishly difficult task in military history, which is to remove 12,000-15,000 rockets that have been squirreled away, sometimes in fixed bunkers often deep (100 feet or more) underground, sometimes moved about and shot from right next to(three meters, according to Canadian General Lew Mackenzie) U.N. posts (why are those U.N. soldiers still there? Why? And why did not Kofi Annan publicly thank Israel for saving the life of a wounded U.N. soldier hit by Hezbollah fire in one of two separate, deliberate attacks -- in contradistinction to Israel's hitting of the U.N. post, which only a madman would think Israel would have done deliberately, for it had absolutely nothing to gain, and everything to lose, from such an outcome -- on U.N. positions, and why has Kofi Annan not referred to the email received by General Mackenzie from the Canadian U.N. soldier? In other words, why has the U.N. shown itself to be, from top to bottom, infiltrated not only by agents of the Islamintern International, but also, at the top, so infused with anti-Israeli feeling that no semblance of decency or fairness is any longer even pretended to?).

Christians in Lebanon have been going about their business, and whatever their take on the destruction of some of the infrastructure, they are all, they cannot but be, secretly pleased, as are the Druze, as are, to an obviously lesser extent, the Sunni Arabs, at the lessening of Hezbollah's power.

But none of them are likely to say this openly and clearly for now. Why should they? They can only be attacked, or be made to suffer, if they say what they are thinking. They do not fear Israel -- why should they? -- they fear only retribution from Hezbollah and the Shi'a masses in Lebanon, and of course don't need to offend Arabs and Muslims, especially Saudi Arabs who will be funneling money to rebuild their Arabic-speaking vacationland, through Sa'ad Hariri and others.

It is the job of Western journalists to figure this all out. It is the job of Western journalists not merely to seek out, hour after hour, touching scenes, the more gory and therefore, apparently, the more heartrending the scenes, or the tales of woe (not all of them to be taken seriously, and of course any Shi'a refugee will be engaged in exaggeration, of the most obvious kind, for the most obvious reasons -- but try getting any reporter from CNN, or the BBC, or the major American networks, to explain that possiblity, that likelihood, that absolute certainty).

In a few months, or a year, if Israel manages to do what it has to do, the other Lebanese will show that the fool's paradise of the "new Lebanon," which existed purely as a matter of real estate development, while those 12,000-15,000 missiles were being brought in, installed, aimed, and made ready, along with all the other military preparations that, sooner or later, would lead to something, and which -- those Lebanese preferred not to think about -- of course would lead to Israel doing what it is now doing, what it will have to do again if necesary, and again, only next time without pulling its punches and without taking such scrupulous care to warn civilians, and to harm only Hezbollah or Hezbollah-related in frastructure. This campaign, whatever else it is, is a warning to countries that think they can ignore gigantic terrorist groups and pretend they have no obligation either to constrainthem and limit their ability to build an army and deploy it, or if that country lacks the power to enforce its will, to insist that some outside forces come in and do the job. The recent governments in Lebanon, of Lahoud, the Christian lackey of Syria, as all Maronites know him, and of the Sunni Siniora, until recently merely a technocrat who has allowed to come flowing out of his strangely twisted, Tony-Judtish mouth, a steady stream of phrases, all about "Lebanon's pain" (Lebanon's "pain" is entirely a function of Hezbollah, and indeed, almost all of the "Pain" is being felt by Hezbollah -- just look at the traffic jams in Beirut, look at the hotel pools and the perfectly normal life in Beirut, all carefully hidden from the CNN and BBC and other network coverage), that Siniora no doubt is enjoying, but what he takes to be oratorical brilliance is, because it is so hollow, and so false, merely embarrassing grandiloquence.

For a view of Lebanon that is sane, click to the left on the link to "Ecce Libano" and began reading there. And note the important mention of Antoine Basbous's suggestion that not only should there be foreign troops in the south, capable of keeping Hezbollah from returning with its missiles and its madness, but also there should be protection along the border with Syria, prepared to interdict military suppplies from both Syria and Iran - that border, in fact, may even be more important than the southern one. Without those missiles, Israel will not have to plan, as otherwise it must, to again attack within Lebanon, this time with no holds barred.

Posted by: Hugh at July 28, 2006 10:49 AM

The truth is that as this article above points out, the Maronites want simply Hezbollah to get the heck out of Lebanon. They want to be able to have their own nation again.

Posted by: bigcatgirl13106 at July 28, 2006 3:19 PM

It's too little too late for the Lebanese Christians to "denounce" Nazbollah. Their elites supported them to the hilt and it backfired. When Nazbollah is killing Jews, they're okay with it but once they start using Christian civilians as cannon fodder, well that's going too far.

They made the same mistake as the "Palestinian" Christians and bet on the wrong horse because they couldn't bring themselves to admit that the Jews would have made better allies than their co-ethnics. I feel very little sympathy for the plight of these dhimmified antisemites. A people who hail from a country where 99% of the population has a negative attitude towards Jews cannot be reliable allies in the counter-jihad. Their contribution to the Paliprop cannot be forgotten either. Mouthpieces like Zogby boys and that gargoyle Helen Thomas are far more common than the superb Brigitte Gabriel and Joseph Farah. I've had enough.

Let the Lebanese Christians enjoy their Arab nationalism for now. Humor them. Once they realize that their numbers are dwindling and that they are still being treated like dhimmis despite their "Arabness" then they might realize that they made a mistake in opposing Israel. Or they may do what they've always done and blame the Jews.

It's just foolish to expect them to say nothing about this madness and be satisfied that they know what we are thinking deep down inside. It's not enough. Right now, actions are necessary. Who do the Lebanese Christians side with? The West or the "Arabs". It's time to choose.

Posted by: igor at July 28, 2006 5:44 PM

Lebanon, whose country is it?

Are the people of Lebanon Lebanese, or are they Hezboleze? Is the country a secular mix of Christians and Muslims, or is it a mandatory shariah mix of Muslim believers and infidel Christian dhimmies? Does Heszbollah represent the people of Lebanon, or is it a state within a state that brought upon the whole Lebanon a military response from Israel?

I think Israel's response has been honorably restrained, using precision targeting, and should be commendable. There will always be some civilian casualties, war is hell, but to bring the line of enemy fire into civilian areas is satanic. This has been the Jihadist strategy, "we love death, you love life", to attract enemy fire into their civilian populations for maximum world media effect, and then complain that the other side is being unfair. The media loves to see babies in blood, so they buy into this sinister strategy of death, serving Jihad involuntarily out of ignorance. From's Hugh's above I learn, something I suspected anyway, that Hizb missile launchers were placed about three meters from the UN observers post. Not bad, more blood and death, since even precision guided missiles fired from fast moving jet fighters will have some target perimeter. Three meters is close, so four unarmed UN personnel die. Does Kofi condemn Hezbollah for this insured strategy of "we love death" for those unfortunate soldiers? No! He blames Israel. How about holding Hizbuallah to the Geneva convention? Stop hiding amidst citizens, wear uniforms, and do not draw fire on the innocent non-combatants. But they don't. Geneva convention doesn't apply to them, and carnage follows, the kind we see on TV.

Bush and Blair call for a multinational force in southern Lebanon. This must be far better than calling on the Lebanese army, almost a non-sequitor, since it appears an army only on paper. Why are they not already moving into position to occupy the southern territory as soon as shelling stops? How will the new forces be equipped, trained? Are they effective militarily, or so constrained by rules of non-engagement, fire back ONLY if fired upon, that they're worthless. Military capability must be able to advance and take positions, and not be equipped with large megaphones calling for peace, or their own "We surrender!" They better have advanced training, though exactly what kind of training do you need for rat hunting in spider holes? The enemy hides in bunkers while their relatives are sitting ducks topside, good for casualty reports to the media. Only a convoluted brain-cell-deficient Muslim "we love death" Jihadi mind can come up with such hideous strategy. And then, to make it more insane, they cry that the Israelis are firing back at them, killing civilians, so they are the evil ones. No mention of surrendering their ill begotten prisoners, no mention of cease fire to remove the dead from the rubble, no mention of recognition of a people having a right to live on their land in peace, no mention of of disarming in obedience to UN 1559. Why pass UN resolutions? They're useless anyway. such an exercise in futility. Hizb'u'shaitan's position is always to kill, as many as they can from either side, and then claim they are victims of Israeli aggression. Only a Muslim mind can make sense of this. The rest of us have brains. So is it any wonder that both Christians and Druze within Lebanon would support Israeli actions? They're getting a second chance from the outside, since their own government was so inept. In fact, if there remained any live and healthy brain cells in Arab Street, and other Muslims within Lebanon, they would ALL call for Israeli victory. Hell'sbo'allah, the party of Shaitan, is totally absolutely in the wrong.

IT IS RIGHT AND JUST FOR LEBANESE CHRISTIANS TO WANT THEM TAKEN OUT. And so should the rest of the world, Muslim or non-Muslim. How about holding Nasrallah for war crimes? I hope they capture him alive, the vicious coward, and do a 'Saddam trial' on him too.

Posted by: Battle_of_Tours at July 28, 2006 6:19 PM

With the current conflict on my mind and needing a book, last week I bought the Iliad, a chronical of the Trojan war. Being in a place without baseball coverage or TV, I spent several hours today reading it, getting through about 1/4 of the book.

One paragraph stuck with me. A Trojan archer had shot at and wounded a Greek Officer without provocation. The Greeks did not decide to respond 'Proportionally'. I'll quote Homer (Book 4; 180).

King of the Greeks speaking: 'Transgressors will pay the price, a tremendous price, with their own heads, their wives and all their children. Yes, for it is in my heart and soul I know this well: the day will come when sacred Troy must die, Priam must die and all his people with him...'

Pretty unproportional for a wound to a soldier. Imaging what the Greeks would have done if they're women and children were shelled.

Posted by: limes at July 29, 2006 1:28 AM

I sit in front of my TV watching the news reports yelling words I can't use here at the reporters. All I hear is how difficult and determined Hezbullah is. BUNK!!! They are nothing more than a defensive force. All they can do is fire rockets. 90% of which miss their targets. Unless an open field is what they want to hit. Eventually they WILL run out of rockets, then what does Hezbullah do? Nothing. They do not have the military power to invade Israel. All they can do is sit in their bunkers, think Maginot Line. Instead of pushing into the Maginot Line, the IDF needs to take the high ground from Syria to the sea and wait until the Hezbullah fighters want their 72 virgins. Time, that's what the IDF needs, 2-3 months, we can only pray God gives them the time.

Posted by: WLF at July 29, 2006 2:43 AM

But none of them are likely to say this openly and clearly for now. Why should they? They can only be attacked, or be made to suffer, if they say what they are thinking...

The 6th Pillar of Islam. Which is exactly why we should praise the selfless efforts of Spencer, Fitzgerald, and the rest of the Jihadwatch.org crew. For they endeavor to breach the 6th Pillar.

Although I disagree with their strategy & tactics, they are on the front and I am not. This fact is not lost on me.

I think I'll donate another $100 on that Make A Donation button today. I can only apologize for the paltry amount, but it is an amount. You should donate too. (College kids excepted, we understand about your urgent need for beer money on this Saturday night.)

Posted by: Alarmed Pig Farmer at July 29, 2006 11:28 AM