This bloody incursion, which dispossessed over a million innocents, was intended to create a "new Middle East." But what did Israel actually accomplish?
* The prisoners, who served as casus belli (or pretext) for the war, have not been released. They will come back only as a result of an exchange of prisoners, exactly as Hassan Nasrallah proposed before the war.Avery leaves out one other important result: Hezbollah, which previously commanded only minority support in Lebanon, and which many Arab states had viewed with derision and suspicion, has now attained high levels of popular support and international prestige.
* Hizbullah has remained as it was. It has not been destroyed, nor disarmed, nor even removed from where it was. Its fighters have proved themselves in battle and have even garnered compliments from Israeli soldiers. Its command and communication stucture has continued to function to the end. Its TV station is still broadcasting.
* Hassan Nasrallah is alive and kicking. Persistent attempts to kill him failed. His prestige is sky-high. Everywhere in the Arab world, from Morocco to Iraq, songs are being composed in his honor and his picture adorns the walls.
* The Lebanese army will be deployed along the border, side by side with a large international force. That is the only material change that has been achieved.
This will not replace Hizbullah. Hizbullah will remain in the area, in every village and town. The Israeli army has not succeeded in removing it from one single village. That was simply impossible without permanently removing the population to which it belongs.
According to Avery, Israel's rightists are now spreading backstab theories: "The politicians would not allow us to win!" Slogans of that sort helped a fellow named Adolf achieve power. You'd think that folks in Israel would know that history.
If your hearts can take it, look at these pictures of the horrors awaiting the returning Lebanese.
7 comments:
I did the math and 117 dead IDF soldiers in 33 days would be the equivalent about 5500 U.S. soldiers (based on population). That's about twice what we've lost in Iraq in a little over three years.
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your blog is politicaslly interesting. We should not praise terrorism nor encourageit by any means. hizbullah remains a terrorist organizationm and we need to discorage it by elucidating write-ups.
jio, that's an interesting presentation of those data.
another way to look at such numbers is the following:
we've lost less than 3000 soldiers, which is about .00001 of our population.
israeli lost about 100 soldiers, which is about .000023 of its total population.
lebanon lost about 1000 citizens, mostly civilians, which about .00025 of its population.
lebanon's loss is thus one tenth that of israel's, just in raw numbers. but then we must also consider strongly the fact that most of lebanon's losses were civilians.
and though you don't list the 40 or so civilians killed in israel, about half those were arabs, who are unconscionably denied sirens and bomb shelters, among a thousand other niceties as the oppressed living in a 'democratic' israel.
then we must also consider the utter destruction of lebanon's infrastructure, the attacks on villages and hospitals and the UN, for god's sake.
this, jao, THIS is terrorism.
with all due respect, i do not condone wanton killing under any circumstances. but just because a government places a label on an organization does not give that organization sole ownership of that identity. and it certainly does not render the government immune from becoming its own enemy, even by its own definition.
hell, joe; israel cannot even see how its treatment of the palestinians so blatantly mirrors the treatment jews suffered in germany last century, and most of europe before that.
terrorism is laying waste to lives and land, destruction of resources and rights, disrespect of a people for no good reason but greed and/or hatred.
to the people of iraq, the US is a terrorist organization. to the people of lebanon and palestine, israel is a terrorist organization.
to the people of england in the 18th century, the american colonials were terrorists.
i would now, after this latest insanity on the part of israel, have to question whether or not hizbollah remains a terrorist organization. as joe points out, they have proven themselves to be far more than that in this past month. relative to hizbollah, israel is the terrorist now.
we must each and all take great care that we don't just accept the labels this administration applies, especially when they have no business throwing the first stone from the very fragile glass house they - WE - have built and now occupy.
dr. elsewhere,
I limited my comparison to a single example -- IDF soldier to U.S. soldier; Israel's population to the U.S. population. A veteran's myopia, I suppose. Like my tendency to populate numbers north of zero rather than south.
But you're right. There's a lot more to compare between many countries' costs and outcomes consequent to the twin incursions of the U.S. and Israel.
It would be interesting to see an expanded relative population based data set comparing Israel - Lebanon costs with U.S. - Iraq costs. (Notwithstanding our huge monetary and materiel subsidies to Israel.)
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until those stiff-necked people do not uphold the covenant w/their God, they will be cursed. What just happened in Lebanon is indicative that their "God" does not approve of their warmongering and evil deeds, where is Jehovah now, I thought he was going to let them claim victory...try again, better luck next time! Until they don't do right by others they are doomed forever, why are they so stupid, universal laws cannot be broken without facing the dire consequences--karma idiots!
dr. elsewhere,
I limited my comparison to a single example, IDF soldier to U.S. soldier -- Israel's population to the U.S. population. A veteran's myopia, I suppose. Like my tendency to usually populate numbers north of zero rather than south.
But you're correct. There's a lot more stuff to compare between diverse costs and outcomes consequent to the twin incursions of the U.S. and Israel.
It would be interesting to see an expanded relative population based data set comparing Israel - Lebanon costs with U.S. - Iraq costs. (Notwithstanding our huge monetary and materiel subsidies to Israel.)
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ah, jio, apologies if my comment was too confrontive to you. i fear i may have been responding to a conflation of your comment with jao's.
your follow-up makes more sense of your first notation; relative 'investment capital', if you will. one concern i have is that we don't get the mercenary numbers, those 'contracted' soldiers. for all we know, that might bring our real numbers up to par with israel's, proportionally.
but certainly not spiritually. for all my disappointment, and yes, disgust with israel, their soldiers are their own and they fight from their hearts.
our soldiers, whether the poor slobs who couldn't find a job or the reservists who needed to extra cash or the godforsaken guns for hire - it's all about the money.
regardless, though, anon is certainly right that israel is STILL not listening to her many wise prophets!!
and sure, here comes the easy line: and the US only listens to the profits.
(badaboom)
jio, by the way, thanks for your service; i hope you're well.
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