AP: Lebanon: Captured Israeli Soldiers 'OK'

[Eugene]

Lebanon: Captured Israeli Soldiers 'OK'

By HUSSEIN DAKROUB
The Associated Press
Sunday, July 23, 2006; 6:22 PM

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Lebanon's foreign minister said Sunday the two Israeli soldiers
captured by Hezbollah are in "good health" and another leading politician said
the government was ready to negotiate a prisoner swap with Israel through
intermediaries.

Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said he was basing his assessment on the soldiers'
condition on what Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said.

"The prisoners are OK and in good health. I was basing it on what Nasrallah said.
So let the United Nations or another friendly party come to Lebanon and start
the negotiations (for a swap)," Salloukh said after meeting a German Foreign Ministry
official.

Nasrallah said soon after the soldiers' capture on July 12 that the two _ Ehud
Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26 _ were in a safe location. The capture of the
soldiers triggered the Israeli military blitz against Lebanon and Hezbollah guerrillas.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300497.html

[Kagemusha]

1. The fool makes it sound like the government's involved.

It's only in the 3rd paragraph that we find out it's based only on the word of the leader of Hezbollah, whereas the earlier reporting presents it as both personal knowledge and governmental responsibility.

I realize he wants to make it sound like the elected government matters at all but, that's not going to be the result.

Edit: Oh and, Israel said it wasn't gonna negotiate anyway, even though it's holding 13 Hezbollah fighter bodies captive for negotiations it says it won't hold. So offering to negotiate seems a little odd.

[snappyturtle]

2. Offering to negotiate is NEVER odd.....

it shows a willingness to end the violence.

[rocktivity]

3. DING DING DING! Kagemusha, you're our grand prize winner!

...he wants to make it sound like the elected government matters at all...

What has bothered me about the press coverage is that the Lebanese government seems to have been written out of it. You'd think that Hezbollah was a nation that shared a border with Lebanon and Israel. Doesn't Lebanon have a military of its own, and why don't THEY go after Hezbollah, or at least form a "coalition of the willing" of them and Israel?

:shrug:
rocknation

[Zhade]

4. Lebanon's military is too weak.

And they don't trust Israel - with due cause, especially now.

[Kagemusha]

5. What he said.

Rocknation, in reality, what you said - Hezbollah is a nation bordering Israel - was REALITY. It has been reality ever since the Israeli withdrawal (when Hezbollah was a resistance group in Israeli-occupied territory). Lebanon has a lot of reasons to not want this to be reality; notably, the risk of having Beirut pounded like this in retaliation for something Hezbollah does, like has happened here.

But that does not in any way, shape, or form make the Lebanese Army some sort of super anti-guerilla force. Maybe they'd have better intel with the civilians. Maybe not. But why assume they'd have better luck rooting Hezbollah out than the vastly better equipped IDF?

[Yupster]

10. If Lebanon tried to send its army after

Hexbullah, I think the army would splinter with a good chunk of it going over to Hezbullah directly.

[daleo]

9. His full statement may not have given that impression

The press just cuts and pastes the bits they like, often destroying the full context of somebody's words. Sometimes that is for propaganda purposes, sometimes just for brevity. It often makes people seem stupider than they are.

[WillieDee]

6. H'zbullah treats their prisoners better than we treat ours.

If this was our prisoner, he would have already endured 2+ weeks of waterboarding and lord knows what else.

[cali]

7. And you know this how?

Sometimes I really wonder.

[Catch22Dem]

8. I do too

That's why I take frequent and extended breaks.