Israel is doing exactly what is has to do. It’s messy, but it’s appropriate. Israel has every right to defend itself. Their freedom, democracy and independence depend on it. Their very existence is at stake.Israel did not start this. It was Hamas who attacked in Gaza and kidnapped the Israeli soldier, setting the stage for this latest flare-up. And it was Hezbollah that further stoked the flames when they crossed the Lebanese border and kidnapped additional Israeli soldiers. It is Hezbollah raining missiles inside Israel. Israel must respond.
In the name of self-defense, Israel must do everything within its power to protect itself from Hezbollah and Hamas. Clean out their sanctuaries, their terrorist training camps, weapons caches and the terrorists themselves. They must do this; they are right to do this; and they’re going to do this. This is Israel’s deal and they have every right to protect themselves.
Much praise is due President Bush for his support of Israel. He deserves enormous credit for defending our democratic ally. Bush refuses to publicly ask the Israelis to pull back. This is the right policy. Israel, of course, is the only true democracy in the Middle East.
Bear in mind that much of what these terrorist groups are doing is at Iran’s behest. They are financed by Iran and they are armed by Iran. Perhaps Syria has a small piece in all of this, but the real dough comes from Iran and its crazy-ass mullahs. That’s the deal.
American hawks will argue that the U.S. should be taking out the terrorist harboring governments in Iran and Syria. These countries are run by ruthless dictators. They’re statists; they’re anti-capitalists; they’re anti-human rightists. These people have absolutely no morality. The model for these malcontents is anything but religious. It has zero to do with Mohammed or Jesus, or whoever. Their model is based upon evil, brutal, dictators like Stalin, Hitler and other totalitarian murderers.
However, the reality is that it is highly unlikely the United States will take military action against either Iran or Syria. We may be moving closer towards economic sanctions, to discourage Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weaponization, but the military option simply does not appear to be on the table. Perhaps economic sanctions will bring Iran to the negotiating table, but right now everything looks further and further away from that.
As for Syria, they seem to have fallen off the radar screen. I just don’t understand why Condi Rice has stopped the pressure on Baby Assad that she was applying a year ago during the Lebanese elections. There doesn’t seem to be any talk about Syria anymore. Despite the fact their country is a hotbed of terrorist activity and probably has weapons of mass destruction (either of their own, or weapons stored in Syria that were moved there with the help of Russians on the eve of the American regime change in early 2003). Even in the court of world opinion, the U.S seems to have taken the pressure off Syria. This is discouraging.
The U.S. is not going to come in with troops. The Israelis are not getting help from anyone. This is not news in the history of that great nation. It is their story.
The great reality here is that Israel must do what it has to do.
