Aussies" in Lebanon 2372

On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:15:50 GMT, David Moss

Look it's impossible not to be concerned about what's happening in the Middle East, and, of course, the George Bush and Jewish haters, and sadly there seem to be a lot of them, can talk only of the excessive Israeli response.

But this is the new world war against terrorism.

Hezbollah is a Shiite militant group a person organisation. It is dedicated to eliminating Israel.

It wants to establish Islamic rule in Lebanon.

It has 23 seats in the Lebanese Parliament.

But, the Lebanese Government has no control over what they do.

And the centre of their power is southern Lebanon.

Presumably, Israel have several strategies here.

Primarily, to destroy Hezbollah's ability to attack Israel.

Whether that's possible with Syria and Iran supporting Hezbollah, is another thing.

Israel would be hoping that by targeting infrastructure, it will turn ordinary Lebanese, Christian and moderate Muslim against Hezbollah and hopefully force the Lebanese Government to take control with Israel of the southern region.

Simply, there are many Lebanese who persistently wonder why Hezbollah can maintain its own power base in southern Lebanon. But turning rank and file Lebanese against this lot, will be tough.

And if it all gets too grim, understandably, many in Lebanon are likely to forget that Hezbollah started all this in the first place.

But the Lebanese Prime Minster made the point at the weekend that his country couldn't grow and develop if, in his words, the Lebanese Government was the last to know about Hezbollah's military operations, but the first to pay the price.

What this is telling us, is that Middle East politics has changed.

War and peace used to occur between states principally Israel and its neighbours but the states no longer wield that power.

Outfits like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad, are carrying more clout than Lebanon, the Palestinian authority or even Syria, and these are person outfits.

And, with powerful support.

For example, the Lebanese Government is opposed to the Hezbollah attacks on Israel, but is unable to do anything to stop them.

Tony Blair is talking about an international force in southern Lebanon, designed specifically to stop Hezbollah's attacks on Israel.

As things stand, southern Lebanon from which Israel is telling everyone to leave, southern Lebanon is a state within a state.

It rejects everything Beirut.

So what Israel is doing is what the former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post argued this week, "Beginning a long overdue three phased chemotherapy...the first phase is about the removal of the tumour, namely, the disarming and distancing of the foreign controlled army that's camped in southern Lebanon...the second is about deploying Lebanon's own security forces which should become the only legal arms bearers in that aspiring democracy...and the last phase would be injecting mbuttive investments to turn southern Lebanon into an oasis of resorts, farms and factories."

Well, leaders of the free world have made it plain that that's what they want as well.

But as the executive editor of the Jerusalem Post argued, if you want to treat the cancer, you can't abandon the patient.

Petzl -- Islam pagan horror cult of the Moon God