Reflections in Lebanon of a Failed Bush Doctrine

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July 25, 2006

By Ron Fullwood


I walk'd the shores of my Eastern Sea,
Heard over the waves the little voice,
Saw the divine infant, where she woke,
mournfully wailing, amid the roar of cannon,
curses, shouts, crash of falling buildings --Wordsworth


The stated strategy of Israel is to provide a deterrence or a disincentive for combatants to attack their homeland. That is to be effected with the demonstration of their military force in Lebanon; shock and awe. The killings of hundreds of Lebanese and the destruction of their infrastructure is apparently supposed to provide the incentive for the Lebanese to abandon Hizbollah as their provider or protector.

The problem with that approach is that the Hizbollah are not available to the masses of Lebanese civilians to offer up to the Israelis. Those who have been killed or maimed as they were caught in front of the Israeli's military reprisals apparently did not have the power to influence Hizbollah as the Israeli's assumed their deaths would.

The other stated goal of Israel's military campaign is to halt the attacks. So far, the scores of innocent civilians killed in Lebanon by Israeli airstrikes have not effected any lessening of the attacks from the Hizbollah combatants.

That's the case as well in Iraq and Afghanistan. The wanton attacks which envelop masses of innocent civilians in their wake have not made these countries more secure. Rather, these collective reprisals - undertaken as a 'defense' against acts which are clearly indefensible, morally and otherwise - have alienated the very groups and individuals who may have been amenable to joining in a unified effort to disband, disarm, and neutralize these militarized splinter organizations.

That's the legacy of the Bush doctrine, which is really no plan at all; save their determination to overrun everything and everyone who stands in the way of their manufactured mandates to expand and conquer across sovereign borders.


Was not so sick from the blood in the gutters running-nor from the single corpses, nor those in heaps, nor those borne away in the tumbrils;
Was not so desperate at the battues of death-was not so shock'd at the repeated fusillades of the guns.


Israel's determination to attack civilians in Lebanon, deliberately or not, who have absolutely no influence with the political or militant organization of Hizbollah (or any other group which supposedly threatens) and destroying their lives and livelihoods as a 'deterrence' is reprehensible.

That's Israel's stated intention behind the airstrikes. They want to influence the Lebanese away from any support they may have with Hizbollah, politically or otherwise. However, Lebanon's citizens didn't vote en masse for Hizbollah; they voted for the present Lebanese government which the Bush regime claims to be so enamored with.

Israel's violent reprisals have led many in Lebanon to question their move for independence from Syria and actually drawn them closer to the militant splinter group. The anecdotal evidence has the majority in Lebanon blaming Israel for the destruction rather than Hizbollah. I rather doubt the assertion made by some that the strikes will make the Lebanese civilians want to disarm them. At this point, there doesn't seem to be any country willing to step up and protect them from Israel's misguided reprisals.

It's a political and diplomatic effort that will dislodge Hizbollah from its influence in southern Lebanon and in the region. I believe the actions of the Israelis are antithetical to that end.

That's the issue now: Have Israel's actions, intended as declared to neutralize and isolate Hizbollah and halt the attacks achieved that result? I would argue that they have, so far, had the opposite effect. As Kofi Annan said yesterday, " "You cannot disarm Hezbollah by force."

It's not practical or even possible disengage and neuter Hizbollah without finding a way to bolster and support the Lebanese government. Otherwise, Israel is left advancing toward Syria; something none of the Arab states will tolerate. The more Israel advances into Lebanon, the less able they will be to convince the Lebanese that they don't need the political and militant organization of Hizbollah as a buffer against the destructive Israeli military.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said today that Hizbollah was the aggressor in this conflict. I agree.

But, Israel, in destroying so many Lebanese lives who apparently have nothing to do with the rockets lobbed by Hizbollah, is also an 'aggressor.' If not, then they (and their supporters) need to show how their 'collective' killings have lessened the threat to Israel, or accomplished ANY of the goals they claim to be prosecuting in their reprisals.

There has to be an accounting as to what the specific missions of their sorties were in which hundreds of Lebanese civilians were killed, and there needs to be an accounting of what the intended result was, measured against the actual result. That shouldn't wait until the mass graves are grown over.


Pale, silent, stern, what could I say to that long-accrued retribution?
Could I wish humanity different?
Could I wish the people made of wood and stone?
Or that there be no justice in destiny or time?


French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, remarking to reporters about Israel's reprisals against Lebanon, found it "obvious that there were a certain number of hits where one did not exactly see the point."

Wondering about the Israeli decision to bomb Lebanese factories that produced powdered milk for infants, she remarked, "One cannot ask the Lebanese national army to disarm the militias and at the same time bomb the main Lebanese barracks."

"And unfortunately, more and more, we are seeing a number of bombardments that are hitting civilians, even convoys of people who were simply seeking to reach Beirut to find shelter have been hit by bombs." Alliot-Marie said.

There needs to be an accounting of all of this. Israel needs to account for how they treat those who are seeking refuge from their assaults, as well. There is no convention in war that would allow them to wantonly bomb areas with impunity where civilians are fleeing their destruction, as they have repeatedly.

Further, there needs to be some acknowledgment that most of the refugees and the existing supplies are being directed to Syria. If the US and Israel want to continue their animosity with the Syrians then they have to take responsibility for the refugees who are caught in the middle of their political maneuvers. Little chance, however, of any humanitarian initiative like that succeeding if it's managed by the Bush regime who has yet to return the electricity (or security) to the unfortunate residents of Iraq.


O Liberty! O mate for me!
Here too the blaze, the grape-shot and the axe, in reserve, to fetch them out in case of need;
Here too, though long represt, can never be destroy'd;
Here too could rise at last, murdering and extatic
Here too demanding full arrears of vengeance.


http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ron_full_060725_reflections_in_leban.htm

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Besides being immoral, the invasion of Lebanon is stupid.

Just as the invasion and attempted subjugation of Iraq has resulted in a tenacious insurgency and the horrors of civil war, and has made America the ultimate enemy throughout the region, Israel's version of "Shock and Awe" has effectively removed a potentially neutral neighbor. They have also, by their actions, endangered the fragile ruling classes of the nations (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan), who have been trying to stay in power by allying themselves with the USA and acting as proxy arbiters in the middle east. They are now in the position of defying the wishes of their own people and are seen as collaborators with the Israelis and Americans.

Just as BushCo responded to the attack on the WTC/Pentagon by doing exactly what Al-Queda wanted it to do, so has Israel responded to the attacks of Hezbullah by doing exactly what it wanted Israel to do.

And, the Americans government, by backing the Israeli actions is doing exactly what the Jihadists want it to do. Whatever progressive/democratic forces remain in the region are now seen as, at best, ineffective, at worst, collaborators with the west.

The results of this idiotic policy can be seen in the Lebanese refugees fleeing to Syria, the country they just forced out of their country.

[bigtree]

2. The strategy of using 'overwhelming force' to upend resistance

to their military expansionism and imperialism is as arrogantly naieve as their original notions to conquer. Unless they are prepared to actually eliminate and supplant the populations in these countries they seek to conquer, they will never realize that utopian 'liberation' they've convinced themselves is their ambition.

Hizbollah is most certainly muckraking for chaos and hoping to inflame resentment toward Israel, for whatever reasons; power, influence, ideology . . . and the Israelis, urged on by the Bush regime, are obliging.

[bigtree]

3. kick

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4. hey

Sure would be nice to get more responses . . . the positive kind would be nice, but I'll take them as they come . . . if they come

[jsamuel]

6. i know exactly how you feel

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8. another try

[jsamuel]

5. sounds a lot like what I have been saying

nice to know there are others out there

Suicide Anti-Terrorism

[bigtree]

7. I lost track of that post, jsamuel.

thanks for bringing it back to me

[bigtree]

9. .

[K8-EEE]

10. Nice To See A Thoughtful Reflecton

Very well-reasoned....this can't possibly achieve the stated goals, however, like BushCo they must have unstated goals that are being fulfilled.

In the way that Iraq is working out just fine for BushCo, in all it's spectacular failure of every single "reason" given for doing it; so might this be working out, for a very small number of people, while the fires of Nationalism keep Israelis from seeing what's up. That's my feeling on it.

[eridani]

11. "One cannot ask the Lebanese national army --

--to disarm the militias and at the same time bomb the main Lebanese barracks."

Sure they can. Didn't they ask the Palestinian Authority to act more effectively against suicide bombers right after they destroyed their police station and all of its computerized records?

[nashville_brook]

12. the US and Israel are threatening international peace

a civilized world would exert sanctions and demand collective security.

[OneBlueSky]

13. the political "leaders" who disgust me the most are those who . . .

support policies they know in their hearts to be immoral and/or illegal for reasons of perceived political expediency . . . I'm specifically thinking of people like Hillary Clinton, who has to know better -- yet supports the Israeli attacks on Lebanon just the same . . .

there seems to be no depth of hypocrisy to which some of these "leaders" will not descend . . .

[bigtree]

14. I'll admit I didn't see it coming

I should have known, however, that Israel has an establshed base in congress and voter power in many of their constituencies that would not allow much open criticism or skepticism of Israel's actions.

[Karenina]

15. GOOD ONE!

:thumbsup: