In a very interesting post on Hyscience and Freedom's Zone, I realized there is a glaring comparison to be made between Lebanon and Iraq.
My comparison will be below.
As Hyscience and Freedom's Zone states:
Jules Crittenden makes a good point:
It will be interesting after the assassination of Pierre Gemayel in Lebanon ... not to mention last summer's hijacking of the nation by Hezbollah ... not to mention last year's assassination of Rafik Hariri ... not to mention the last 25 years of Syrian and Iranian interference in Lebanon and now in Iraq ... it will be interesting to see if anyone will still counsel talks with Syria and Iran under any terms that do not include a very real threat of force.
The Lebanese, cursed by geography and history, were making the best of a bad lot, some of their leaders bravely standing up for national sovereignty. But their work was undone as long as they allowed a private terrorist army to dictate their foreign policy, as Hezbollah did.
Israel went halfway to doing Lebanon and the world a favor and destroying Hezbollah last summer. But Israel knew that to do so would require even greater destruction in Lebanon and direct attacks in Syria. World opinion in large part was already inexplicably against Israel's act of self defense, and Israelis themselves had no desire to repeat their Lebanese occupation experience, ended only six years ago. So Israel compromised, and when France offered half-heartedly to stand as a buffer force, Israel went along. That left a seemingly powerful, adult nation in a position of responsibility in southern Lebanon. To the extent the French will ever take responsibility for anything.
Read it all here.
Now, there are fears that Lebanon will explode again.
Now, the international community was warned, time and time again, that without a resolution that could be enforced as 1701 was not, that tensions would rise again and war would be inevitible in the near future. The UN passed a watered down, unenforecable resolution, with no teeth and no direct demand to disarm Hizbullah and look where it is today.... on the brink of yet more chaos.
The comparison I see here between Lebanon and Iraq, is this: In Lebanon, the left media made sure that ever death was published in graphic detail as they do with Iraq. The focus and the pressure of the world became so much and so grotesquely unfair against Israel that while they showed the destruction in Lebanon and cried out about the innocent victims that were killed, they deliberately downplayed the fact that Hizbullah was using those victims as human sheilds, using the media to complete a job that Hizbullah could not complete.
In Iraq, the insurgents and al-Qaeda have done the same thing, they have used the media and the Democratic party for the exact same goals. Once again, proving that we, as people, do not learn the lessons of history.
In Lebanon the Israeli's were forced to leave a job half done and in Iraq, the anti-war fanatics are trying to force political pressure into our doing the same.
In Lebanon, we wre warned that if the job was not allowed to be completed, tensions would rise and the country would once again be thrown into chaos by Hizbullah, Syria and the main benfactor, Iran.
In Iraq, Iran sends suicide bombers in to create chaos, al-Qaeda is preparing to fill a void that would be created shoud we leave as the Democrats have promised the terrorists we would if they got elected, and once again, we know that if this happens, then we will be forced back there within years again.... because you do not leave a job half done and expect NOT to have to go finish it at a later date.
As Memri states:
On November 3, 2006, MEMRI reported on political tension in Lebanon, which has increased to the point where civil war appears imminent - due to Hizbullah's violent struggle to seize a significant portion of the government by instigating street clashes. [1] Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nassrallah even issued an ultimatum, threatening that his people would take to the streets on November 13, but the ultimatum was later postponed, pending consultations between Hizbullah and the "March 14 Forces." The failure of these talks led to the resignation of the five Shi'ite ministers, representatives of the Hizbullah and Amal parties, from the Lebanese government. At this point, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud declared that the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Al-Siniora government was "illegal," a statement later reiterated by Hizbullah and its political allies.
Read more here.
Gateway Pundit has more on how this is the fifth assassination in the past two years.
We should try to actually learn from these lessons instead of ignoring them and continuing to repeat them over and over.
Others Posting:
Opinion Journal.
MSNBC.
StratFor.
Washington Times.
Front Page Magazine.
Wapo on Bush meeting Maliki.
Bloggers discussing this:
Counterterrorism Blog, Riehl World View, Townhall.com Blog's