The Dusty Dog

Ambivilence and Peace

Joe Conason wrote an article for the New York Observer, called Dysfuction Rules In The Middle East. It truly resonates with me. He seems to somehow solidify my feelings about the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. As many of my readers have already figured out, my feelings are very ambivilent.

According to Conason,

The government of Israel appears to suffer from the same mental and moral dysfunctions that afflict the Bush administration: an urge to wage war without any plausible objectives, any viable plan for disengagement, or any rational assessment of costs and benefits. Israel’s second invasion of Lebanon, only weeks old and with considerably more justification, is already beginning to resemble the American invasion of Iraq.

My friend, mike b., made that rather disturbing comparison last week in a comment/response to my July 23rd article, They Both Make Me Sick. Mike b. said,

To destroy so much of Lebanon's infrastructure in the hope it will turn people against Hezbollah isn't very bright, but then is Israel really employing collective punishment against Lebanon? Or is this like attacking Iraq because of September 11?

And, therein lies my ambivilence. But, back to Joe Conason's article.......

Just as American policymakers badly miscalculated what would be required to occupy and stabilize Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, so Israel appears to have underestimated what kind of resistance its forces would encounter in driving Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. The Americans failed to anticipate the ruinous effects of the war and occupation on our international reputation and national interest. The Israelis somehow failed to recall the terrible stain on their national image left by their last incursion.

There is no American strategy for the Middle East. There is only crisis management, performed incompetently, and slogans about “democracy” and “evil” and “terrorism.” From somewhere inside this intellectual vacuum, the voice of President George W. Bush assures us that things are getting better in Iraq.

I really do hate that the Hezbollah, whom I consider to be dirtbags of the worst kind, are firing rockets, initially without provocation, into Israel. They began this lastest bloody conflict. At the very least, they should be held accountable for that. But, Israel's response was, and still is, so over the top, as to solidify a world against its otherwise "high ground" on this particular event. Now, it's a quagmire they've created with their indiscriminate raining of bombs and bloodshed into Lebanese neighborhoods.

Don't get me wrong. Hezbollah's only strategy ever is to fire rockets indiscriminately into Israeli neighborhoods. That is how they operate. Their mission is to destroy the Zionist "vermin" using whatever terrorist tactics their deranged minds can conjure up. But, I sure would have liked to see Israel take a more measured approach to the situation than raining bombs over Lebanon. The price they are paying for this knee-jerk reaction is too high. The price that the Lebanese are paying is immeasurable. In fact, all the Israelis are accomplishing is solidifying a commitment by the Lebanese and other Arabs to the Hezbollah mission. Smacks of what the Americans are accomplishing in Iraq, doesn't it?

We've all heard the expression, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Now, we are watching it play out in a horrific way in the Mideast. Do I know what the solutions are? Hell no. It's beyond my understanding of Mideast politics and peoples. But, I am quite certain that whoever is running this fiasco has no better grasp of the situation than I do. Olmert is just Sharon reincarnate. (Forgive me for speaking this way of a man still alive. But, functionally it's the same difference.) I certainly was never a fan of Ariel Sharon when he was "functioning", and always felt that peace was unachievable until both Arafat and Sharon left the stage. Well, I was wrong. Things are as bad, if not worse than before. And, I haven't even raised the dubya dummies' intervention. That's another shameful exercise in futility. After all, how can they discuss peace between Israel and Lebanon while they're busily immersed in their own Iraqi fiasco. That would seem rather hypocritical, wouldn't it?

Israel had a chance to negotiate with Lebanon and possibly the Hezbollah, though I have very little hope that negotiating with the party of god would have resulted in any successful outcome. Therefore, Lebanon was the primary hope for negotiations. Israel even had the UN Resolutions on their side, by insisting that Lebanon exercise its authority, with the help of the UN possibly, to dismantle Hezbollah, and maybe get the soldiers back, thereby ending the standoff. But no..... they had to flex their military muscle. Now, hope is but a glimmer in the distance, so far away that it is all but gone, if something isn't done soon. What is that something?

STOP THE FUCKING BOMBINGS. Goddamm, give peace a chance.

Art by Sergey Shutov

posted by Dusty Dog at 8/04/2006