An Unguarded Moment
July 17th, 2006 by Stephen
You see, the irony is what they need to do is to get Syria, to get Hezbollah to stop doing this sh** and it’s over
Said George Bush to Tony Blair – revealing just how little he understands Middle East politics.
What’s incorrect?
Hezbollah’s a terrorist group that organises suicide bombers and has the express aim of destroying Israel (or the ‘Zionist Entity’ as it would no doubt say).
Hezbollah is funded and supported by Syria and Iran, both nations supporting the aim of destroying Israel.
Now, if Syria stopped pushing Hezbollah on, it would make a difference. Don’t you think?
And is it that simple?
If Syria just told Hezbollah (which I would guess is recruiting very well just now), to stop, do you think that all would be well? Would it be the case that Lebanon’s shia population will simply dismantle what they see as Lebanon’s only defense against an aggressive neighbour, who has just killed thousands of their countrymen, one third of them children?
Certainly Syria should stop arming Hezbollah (if they haven’t stopped already. I am not sure how recently they acquired the rockets they are using), but it does not take rockets to shoot a man dead, and guns are not hard to come by.
Bush’s comment is idiotic, because – as usual – he fails to think deeply into the situation. The U.S. is approaching an election season, and it is widely believed that failure to support Israel is political suicide in such a climate, so Americans support Israel. But the worry is that Bush actually seems to believe that the issue is as black and white as his comment above indicates.
No, of course it isn’t just that simple. But it’s a start.
Hezbollah’s Shia, not Sunni, BTW. Same as Iran. Before you call people idiotic (ad hominem, yes, or is that merely hypocritical?) I’d learn a bit more about the siutuation if I were you.
Could you tell me where I said that Hezbollah is Sunni? I specifically asked:
Would it be the case that Lebanon’s shia population will simply dismantle what they see as Lebanon’s only defense against an aggressive neighbour?
As for “it’s a start”, that is not true either. There can be no start to that process until Israel modifies its tactics, uses proportionate force and targets military objectives only. That would be a start, but notice that Bush does not call for it. He does not say “Israel must be proportionate in their response, so that we can engage with Syria, cut of funding and support to Hezbollah, and start a dual process of disarmament and reconciliation”.
Read Bush’s private voew above once more. That is why it is idiotic.
Of course this argument is carried to the man. I am attacking the man. That was the point of the article.
No start until Israel modifies its tactics? Really, ok, so I’ve trawlewd through this blog and didn’t spot the point where you were arguing that Hezbollah should stop shelling Israel from the protection of Lebanon, or the point where you called their capture of two Israeli soldiers, in Israel, and the murder of others, a crime.
Why not?
There’s a bandwaggon passing by. Better make sure you’re on it.
You will notice, however, that I did not say that Israel’s action was wrong per se. Israel have a right to self defence, but that must be proportionate. If Hezbollah is to be dismantled and destroyed then Israel needs the support of Lebanon, and the political will to reign in Syrian support for them.
Killing civilians, destroying families and wrecking the infrastructure of a country, taking livelihoods with it, is not going to engender that political will.
The Lebanese majority (as far as we can tell) wanted the end of Hezsbollah prior to this war, but whilst these same Lebanese people know who to blame for precipitating this crisis, every family that loses a child or a brother, or sister or mother or father will remember that it was an Israeli bomb that killed them.
But if you want to defend Bush’s analysis above, then that is fine. I suppose someone has too
)
And you’ll notice you said nothing at all about Israel or Hezbollah until provided with the opportunity to decry Israel’s action.
Thank you for the opportunity.
[...] Stephen: Thank you for the opportunity. [...]