Friday, July 21, 2006

To Save Lebanon

Abu Kais argues:
Faced with the failure of its Air Force, Israel has two options: Back off and let the Lebanese battle it out politically. Or invade the country.

The first option is a gamble for Israel but is really the only one that offers hope in the long run.

How? lebop now admits that at the top, Lebanon is a terror state. So if Hezbollah's military wing is left intact, or if Hezbollah gets the last shot into Israel after a cease-fire has been implemented, or if the fear of Syrian hit-squads remains, how can political progress at de-fanging Hizbollah occur? Lebanon's PM now says that he will only implement the U.N. resolution to disarm Hizbollah with "Lebanese conditions" attached.

There remains a third option: to split with Hezbollah now and openly ally with Israel and the U.N. to implement 1559 in full. Civilian casualties from Israeli attacks would decline precipitously as joint Israeli-Lebanese teams will be far more effective at rooting out terrorists. Israel would be sure to leave once the job is done, and Lebanon could become a fully-functioning democracy, with Western aid and Lebanese enterprise rebuilding the country far more effectively than Iranian money and Hizbollah graft and extortion could.

All that's required is courage from Lebanese politicians. The willingness to put one's life on the line for one's country. The sort of courage Hariri accepted before his assassination. We know exactly how the Lebanese people respond to that kind of courage.

It will also avoid that other conflict I fear, that of Lebanon being used as a battleground in a nuclear conflict between Iran and Israel.

Forget hatred. Choose survival and life instead!

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