The Full Half of the Glass

August 16, 2006 - 9:42 AM by

Stephanie doesn’t understand why everyone is so gloomy:

I make a concerted effort at keeping apprised of world events. I read blog entries, commentary, newspaper and web articles and analytical content regarding any number of subjects in the news arena each and every day. My focal point, of late, has naturally been the situation in the Middle East being that I live there and all.

Despite my efforts, I am having a difficult time understanding Israeli claims of an Israeli loss in the recent/current Hezbollah crisis. Militarily? Why? Because Hezbollah wasn’t completely disbanded and dismantled? How does an organized army – or disorganized, for that matter – go about completely disrupting a rebel force hiding out underground in suburban and urban civilian centers? The U.S. has been in Afghanistan for how long? And where is Bin Laden these days? What would have constituted a victory and at what cost?

And let’s not forget, when throwing up comparisons to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, that this is a different era. There were tremendous losses then but now the world is in a different state. The quagmire that is Lebanon has repeatedly proven itself as a regional effort in futility and a death trap for Israel’s forces.

So although UN Resolutions have failed in the past and Lebanon’s south has proven a fertile breeding ground for extremist factions, what is the alternative? Hit them harder? How and for how long and using what strategy?

I simply don’t view this as a loss. Politically it was a tremendous gain. The world got a glimpse of fighters hiding behind children and using hospitals as bases, of a people willing to use dead toddlers for public relations gains, of so-called journalists altering war images to garner an edge. And the voices of moderate Lebanese, disgusted with the effects of extremism, reverberated loudly.

Tags: • Category: A New Reality 

Comments

3 Comments on The Full Half of the Glass

  1. Layla Abaza on Wed, Aug 16th 2006 12:08 PM

    2. Politically it was a tremendous gain for Israel? I’d like to claim the opposite: The world got a glimpse of a state dropping bombs on civilians in return for 2 kidnapped soldiers (the percentage of children killed is 35%), of a state not caring for world opinion (public outcry was ignored after 4 UN members were killed by the IDF after repeated warnings), and finally, even moderate Lebanese rallied behind Hisbollah (even if only temporary), as confronted with Israel’s vicious war machine, they were left with no alternative. Bravo!

  2. Stefanella on Wed, Aug 16th 2006 4:26 PM

    3. I understand why people are gloomy, Allison. That is a no brainer. I don’t understand the claim of a loss. slf

  3. Joseph on Wed, Aug 16th 2006 6:19 PM

    4. Ignoring unintended consequences, the simplest way to judge whether or not the war was a success would be to observe whether or not the stated goals of the military action were achieved.

    These goals are outlined by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs at:

    http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Israels+counter+terrorist+campaign+-+FAQ+18-Jul-2006.htm

    The web page says, “The purpose of the Israeli operation was two-fold – to free its abducted soldiers, and to remove the terrorist threat from its northern border.

    Israel understood from the outset that although military operations were necessary to defend its citizens by neutralizing the threat posed by Hizbullah’s terrorist infrastructure, the eventual solution would indeed be diplomatic.

    The components of such a solution were as follows:

    # the return of the hostages, Ehud (Udi) Goldwasser and Eldad Regev;
    # the effective deployment of the Lebanese army in all of southern Lebanon;
    # the expulsion of Hizbullah from the area, and
    # the fulfillment of United Nations Resolution 1559.

    # the preservation of IDF gains in removing Hizbullah from the border region
    # the elimination of the Hizbullah long-range missile threat
    # the prevention of Hizbullah’s re-arming by closely monitoring of the possible routes into Lebanon from Syria or elsewhere (an arms embargo).”

    Was it a success? We have to wait and see if the UN resolution is implemented to see if these goals are achieved.

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