News That Isn’t
They made it quite clear to anyone that was paying attention what they intended to do, so reporting that Israel violated the cease-fire is a waste of bandwidth.
As far as the Israeli government is concerned, only Hezbollah can violate the terms of the agreement passed by the Security Council. That is the way they have always treated Security Council resolutions and the US protects them, so there is no point in even bringing it up.
This is why the European nations want clarity in the rules of engagement – they want the ability to return fire at anyone who shoots at them, not just one side.
The same article demonstrates why Hezbollah is so powerful. Beginning the instant the cease-fire was in effect, representatives of the social service wings of Hezbollah spread out throughout their areas and began assessing damage and cleaning up. They set up claim centers to begin distributing cash to those affected by the clashes.
The Lebanese government is still talking and trying to come with a plan, while Hezbollah obviously already had a plan in place and arranged funding for it.
If FEMA and the insurance companies were as organized as Hezbollah, the Gulf Coast would already be rebuilt. Hezbollah is like Tammany Hall with it’s own Special Forces brigade.
[I would note that 2½ weeks after the first anniversary of Katrina is being noted, the second anniversary of Ivan will occur, and things are still a mess.]
[Update: A Newsweek article on the rebuilding effort by Hezbollah.]
August 19, 2006 2 Comments
