Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Iran has Answered
A Wall Street Journal editorial today on what's really going on between Israel and Lebanon has covered the situation perfectly, and helps to explain the long delay in Iran's response to the generous offer made to them to cease their nuclear development. Some excerpts:
The war between Hezbollah and Israel is a tragedy for its victims, but it could also be a clarifying moment if the world draws the proper lessons....
...Hezbollah is not the indigenous Lebanese "resistance" organization it claims to be, but is a military creature of Tehran. Iran has used its strategic alliance with Syria to arm the group, primarily via shipments through Damascus airport. The Palestinian terrorist-political group Hamas likewise maintains close ties to both Iran and Syria. And a week ago Monday this axis of evil swung into action...
...The Hezbollah operation would never have been attempted without the agreement, and probably the active encouragement, of Tehran....
...In short, while many elites in America and Europe have spent the past year fretting that President Bush might strike Iran, the Iranians have struck first. But don't take our word for it. Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt recently told al-Arabiya television that "What is happening in Lebanon is part of the struggle between Syria and Iran on the one side and Israel on the other." And: "Iran is saying to the U.S.: '[If] you want to fight in the Gulf or hit our nuclear facilities, we will hurt you in your home, in Israel.' "
...In disarming Hezbollah, Israel would be doing Lebanese patriots a favor. In this regard, one bad idea is the international call for an immediate "cease-fire" to be monitored by a multinational peacekeeping force. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made this suggestion, as has British Prime Minister Tony Blair. This didn't work out too well the last time, in the early 1980s, when 241 Americans and 58 French soldiers were killed in Beirut by truck bombs almost surely sent by Hezbollah. Any international force would be a terror target once again, and at this stage any cease-fire imposed from the outside would merely hand Hezbollah a victory....
But read the whole thing.
The war between Hezbollah and Israel is a tragedy for its victims, but it could also be a clarifying moment if the world draws the proper lessons....
...Hezbollah is not the indigenous Lebanese "resistance" organization it claims to be, but is a military creature of Tehran. Iran has used its strategic alliance with Syria to arm the group, primarily via shipments through Damascus airport. The Palestinian terrorist-political group Hamas likewise maintains close ties to both Iran and Syria. And a week ago Monday this axis of evil swung into action...
...The Hezbollah operation would never have been attempted without the agreement, and probably the active encouragement, of Tehran....
...In short, while many elites in America and Europe have spent the past year fretting that President Bush might strike Iran, the Iranians have struck first. But don't take our word for it. Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt recently told al-Arabiya television that "What is happening in Lebanon is part of the struggle between Syria and Iran on the one side and Israel on the other." And: "Iran is saying to the U.S.: '[If] you want to fight in the Gulf or hit our nuclear facilities, we will hurt you in your home, in Israel.' "
...In disarming Hezbollah, Israel would be doing Lebanese patriots a favor. In this regard, one bad idea is the international call for an immediate "cease-fire" to be monitored by a multinational peacekeeping force. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made this suggestion, as has British Prime Minister Tony Blair. This didn't work out too well the last time, in the early 1980s, when 241 Americans and 58 French soldiers were killed in Beirut by truck bombs almost surely sent by Hezbollah. Any international force would be a terror target once again, and at this stage any cease-fire imposed from the outside would merely hand Hezbollah a victory....
But read the whole thing.
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