Lebanese PM hints at anti-Hezbollah move

[spindrifter]

<snip>

Trying to defuse the crisis, Lebanon’s prime minister indicated he might send his army to take control of southern Lebanon from Hezbollah guerrillas — a move that might risk civil war. In a more ominous sign that the struggle could spread, Israel accused Iran of helping fire a missile that damaged an Israeli warship, a charge Iran denied.

<snip>

Choking back tears, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on television to plead with the United Nations to broker a cease-fire for his “disaster-stricken nation.”

The Western-backed prime minister, criticizing both Israel and Hezbollah, also pledged to reassert government authority over all Lebanese territory, suggesting his government might deploy the Lebanese army in the south, which Hezbollah effectively controls.

That would meet a repeated U.N. and U.S. demand. But any effort by Saniora’s Sunni Muslim-led government to use force against the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas could trigger another bloody civil war in Lebanon. Many fear the 70,000-strong army itself might break up along sectarian lines, as it did during the 1975-90 civil war.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13853565/

[Poppyseedman]

1. Good move if it works.

If the Lebanese government took control of the situation, I wonder if Iran would force a civil war there.

[jean]

2. But does the govt have the firepower to dominate?

[Poppyseedman]

3. 70,000 strong military can do the job, if military discipline can prevail

Reacting to Saniora’s statements, Israel’s Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Lebanon must prove it was serious by deploying troops on the border.

“We have to see what they do and not what they say,” Peres told Israel’s Channel 2 TV.


The rubber meets the road statement

[otokogi]

5. psst...

iran won't have to do jack to foster a civil war if he sends in the troops against the only ones standing up to israel who is raining rockets on the civilian population.

fyi

[Poppyseedman]

9. Hezbollah is raining missiles on on the Israel civilian population.

before Israel responding likewise

Hopefully, the people of Lebanon who threw out their Syrian masters will have the same guts to cleanse themselves of Hezbollah

[otokogi]

10. in response to israeli aggression, of course what did you expect?

roses?

your take on this situation reminds me of the neoCONs take on iraq... 'we will be greeted as liberators'

i ain't buy'n it, sorry.

[The Magistrate]

11. Lebanon, Sir, Is A Civil War Disguised As A Country Already

Sometimes the sides exist in uneasy armistice, and at other times go at it full-bore. Hezbollah is already what the old phrasings would call a combination capable of setting aside the lawful authority in the southern portion of the country: that is what its remaining in arms means. It remained in arms when all other militias did disarm in favor of the national army, and the reason this state continued was that the gocernment feared to disarm it,being unsure who would wuin the confrontation certain to ensue. Now the refusal to grasp the nettle before has brought this situation into being.

[otokogi]

13. civil wars only occur in countries, sir

also, it is important to understand the reasons why those conditions exist, persistent israeli aggression over the decades.

populations tend to side with whoever is fighting back against the enemy, remember the polls after 911 for our dear leader? remember the democratic election of hamas?

i think i have a good idea who will win the peoples support in this further episode israeli aggression against the people of the ME.

time is on the peoples side, per usual.

[The Magistrate]

15. Are You At All Familiar With The History And Make-Up Of the Place, Sir?

Do you seriously maintain that but for "decades of Israeli aggression" it would be a peaceful and joyous union of peoples and creeds?

[otokogi]

17. are you, sir?

do you seriously refuse to acknowledge such behavior?

who can tell where we would be today without it but i certainly would think it would help a great deal if it was removed from their modus operandi.

i understand that there is violence on both sides but in this latest conflagration we have one side capturing legitimate military targets vs collective punishment of whole civilian populations by the most technologically advanced weaponry on the planet.

certainly you don't seriously maintain support for such atrocities and war crimes, do you?

[The Magistrate]

20. Familiar Enough With It, Sir

To be wondering whether at this time of night and with matters so busy here, I should take time for an extended piece on the subject....

It is unclear to me, though, whether you would ever be willing to entertain even the possible valiodity of alternatives to the rigid templates you seem to employ in comment on this matter.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Excellent. Overdue, but it would be a very good move. nt

[cynatnite]

6. Maybe Israel would be inclined to stop the shelling if he did

:shrug:

It is an option that shouldn't be ignored.

[shadowknows69]

8. They should stop the shelling on good faith

and give him time to show results.

[Yupster]

7. Hope it works, but

I'm reminded of Cambodia when we convinced the Cambodian government to go after the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese using its borderlands.

The result was we eventually pulld our support and the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh and the Killing Fields was the result.

It is to our great shame that the Cambodian army fought as hard as it did until it ran out of fuel and ammo, and then it was massacred often by a shovel to the back of the head.

What it's told me is that when we leave Iraq, we need to take our hundreds of thousands of collabertors out first so we don't have to witness another Killing Fields in our lifetime.

[ConsAreLiars]

21. A detail about Cambodia and the "Khmer Rouge"

Sihanouk's policy of neutrality re: Vietnam was ended in a military coup backed by the US. The result was that US bombing of the supply trails in western Cambodia was "legalzed" by the Lon Nol puppet gov't. As a result of military actions, the nationalist opposition in the northwest which had ideological ties with with the Vietnamese nationalists was badly weakened, while the opposition faction in the east, led by Pol Pot, was strengthened.

When the US was defeated and forced out, the Lon Nol regime quickly collapsed, but as a result of US intervention the Anti-Vietnamese faction won the internal war between the factions, and Pol Pot's ideology and strategy gained power. The US then recognized and supported Pol Pot as an anti-Vietnamese pawn and resisted attempts by the UN and world community to expose and take effective action against the atrocities his party committed.

[cigsandcoffee]

12. This would justify Israel's actions

It is probably what they were aiming for by elevating the situation. I hope the Lebanese PM follows through on his pledge.

[otokogi]

14. aggression will only increase the support of the resistors of israeli

aggression, imho.

[cigsandcoffee]

16. Well, if their aggrerssion succeeds in making Lebanon....

...reel in Hezbolla, then Israel's actions will have produced a major step toward peace in the area. That's assuming that Israel reacts in kind to this Lebanese plan by withdrawing and negotiating for a cease-fire (and also that Hezbolla can remained subdued).

[otokogi]

18. the ends justify the means, ic

i still don't think it will work if history and human behavior under such circumstances is anything to go by.

[moondust]

19. Yes!

I feel sorry for the PM caught in the middle, but opportunity is knocking.