Annan: "You cannot disarm Hezbollah by force"

[bigtree]

Annan: Wants Agreement On Crisis From Key Mideast Players

UNITED NATIONS (AP)--Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday he wants the upcoming meeting of key Mideast players to agree on a package to stop the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting and ensure lasting peace between Israel and Lebanon.

"You cannot disarm Hezbollah by force," the secretary-general said, stressing that this will require a political understanding among the Lebanese. That is why Iran and Syria, Hezbollah's main supporters, must be part of a solution, he reiterated.

"What is important is that we leave Rome with a concrete strategy on how we are going to deal with this and we do not walk away empty-handed and once again dash the hopes of those who are caught in this conflict," Annan said.

The package should include a cessation of hostilities and cease-fire, deployment of an international force, the release of the two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah that sparked the conflict, an end to Hezbollah's shelling of Israel and Israel's shelling and bombardment of Lebanon, he said.

more: http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564775439344993503

[snappyturtle]

1. And now if all his wishes come true.....

maybe some semblance of peace will arise out of the ashes. I wish Annan had also included the release of some of the Israeli captives but..........

[sandnsea]

2. Maybe not

But you can sure as hell motivate people to WANT to disarm Hezbollah, motivation that was missing until Israel launched its military campaign.

[bigtree]

3. the 'motivation that has occurred as a result of the 350 plus civilians

killed in Lebanon as a result of the Israeli reprisals has unquestionably alienated many of those who might have been amenable to some dismantling of the Hizbollah organization which many looked to as a means to drive Israel from southern Lebanon in the past.

I think the notion that killing civilians who have absolutely NO influence with the political or militant organization and destroying their lives and livelihoods as a 'motivation' is reprehensible. That is Israel's stated intention behind the airstrikes. The result has led many in Lebanon to question their move for independence from Syria and actually drawn them closer to the splinter group. The anecdotal evidence (I've posted it here) has the majority in Lebanon blaming Israel for the destruction rather than Hizbollah. I rather doubt your assertion that the strikes make them want to disarm them at this point where it seems NO ONE is willing to protect them from the misguided reprisals.

[sandnsea]

4. Who cared when it was Israeli dead and injured?

Nobody, that's who. If anybody was amenable to dismantling Hizbollah, they've had 6 years to do it. I blame Bush's brilliant "diplomacy" as much as anything for the lack of attention to getting it done, btw.

No, I don't think Syria is going to be inclined to disarm Hizbollah, but I don't think they were going to support that anyway since Hizbollah is already supported by Syria.

Lebanon, on the other hand, has a choice to make. Get rid of Hizbollah and stop ignoring or supporting attacks on Israel, or pay the consequences. Most of the world is ready to step up and help Lebanon, all they have to do is say no more Hizbollah.

[bigtree]

6. Annan just acknowledged that it was impossible by force.

It's a political and diplomatic effort that will dislodge Hizbollah from its influence in southern Lebanon and in the region. I believe the actions of the Israelis are antithetical to that end.

That's the issue now, not a rehashing of the past. Have Israel's actions, intended as declared to neutralize and isolate Hizbollah and halt the attacks had that effect? I would argue that they have, so far, had the opposite effect.

I don't think they can disengage and neuter Hizbollah without finding a way to bolster and support the Lebanese government. Otherwise, it leaves Israel advancing to Syria, something none of the Arab states will tolerate. The more Israel advances on Lebanese territory, the less able they will be to convince the Lebanese that they don't need the political and militant organization as a buffer against the destructive Israeli army and air force.

[sandnsea]

9. I didn't say it was possible by force

I simply said military action is quite a motivator which is evident by the fact that people are finally paying attention to what's been happening in northern Israel since they pulled out of Lebanon.

[bigtree]

10. that military 'action' is the seemingly callous destruction of lives

by parties who claim to be so concerned with the loss of their innocent own.

[sandnsea]

11. And what was the last 6 years?? n/t

[bigtree]

12. That won't wash

unless all of this action is just vengance. If it's strategy, then it has to be accountable, especially if our government is supporting Israel with funds and missiles.

[sandnsea]

14. What was Hizbullah doing?

Was that vengance?

[bigtree]

16. possibly, yes. Whatever the motivation, it was murder

but, you knew that I felt this way. I've responded on this over and over to your queries. What you are doing is badgering. I believe you mean to paint me as a supporter somehow of Hizbollah. That's the same tactic the right uses when they don't have an argument: distract, deflect, demonize.

That won't work with me. You should quit chasing me around with the same tired question. If you have a point to make then start your own thread. This one was about Annan's statement that Hizbollah won't be disarmed militarily. The rest of your argument is an attempt to hijack this thread and change the subject. None of what you are arguing about what Hizbollah has done in the past, or even about the responses to their actions, has anything to do with the question of whether Hizbollah can be disarmed by military means alone.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. What are the Israeli casualties from Hizbollah attacks since 2000?

ie since Israel withdrew from Lebanon? If these can be split into civilian and military, killed and injured, this might give us an idea of the problem Israel faced.

[sandnsea]

18. I have no idea

I couldn't possibly count up every newspaper article and Israeli military press release over the last several years. No reporter has deemed it important enough to do it either, which is actually my point as much as anything. Nobody knows what's been going on because the media, and our own government as well, hasn't been paying any attention to it. They never show the background behind any of these I/P conflicts, they just act as if it all rises up out of next to nothing and that is almost never true.

Israel should have focused on the southern part of Lebanon only and never bombed Beirut and the infrastructure and the rest of it. But I can totally understand why they finally took action against southern Lebanon and I can't understand why people think any country is just supposed to live with rockets being fired at them.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. But do we know they were living with rockets being fired at them?

I can find some stuff about missiles being fired at Israeli Army positions in the disputed Sheba Farms area (everyone agrees it's not Israeli; some say it's part of the Syrian Golan Heights that Israel occupied, others that it's part of Lebanon); but how often were there rockets fired at Israel itself? And were they at civilians, or the Israeli military? Whether the Israeli action now is reasonable depends on the danger Hezbollah had posed to Israel.

[sandnsea]

20. You don't know?

How can you make an opinion on the current military action if you don't know what Hezbollah has been doing to northern Israel for several years now.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Exactly - it seems neither of us knows

which is why I'm asking the question.

[sandnsea]

22. Oh, I know

I said I don't know the *total number* since 2000. I didn't say I didn't know whether Israelis had been killed and wounded by Hezbollah rockets since 2000. I just asked expressed shock that YOU didn't know since you seem to be claiming expertise on the conflict what with throwing 'Shebba Farms' around and all.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Well, Shebaa Farms was mentioned in the news stories I remember

and my searches on the internet kept on turning up Shebaa Farms. But just as it's difficult to find stuff now without getting information about the last few weeks, it seems difficult to get the information about the attacks on Israel, not Shebaa Farms.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. How does that work?

Wouldn't it motivate people to go out and join Hezbollah?

[EFerrari]

5. Kick

[me b zola]

7. Annan is correct

I believe that this war is Israel's version of PNAC's war on terror, and I also believe that the two are symbiotic. You can't defeat an ideology with weapons, but the use of force will strengthen that ideology.

[bigtree]

13. as was demonstrated by the Bush regime in Iraq and Afghanistan

both boiling over with resentment

[Warren DeMontague]

15. Apparently, you can't disarm them any other way, either.

As the past 6 years have borne out.

But I agree with Kofi on the "package". I think that's where we need to go, now.

[Deja Q]

23. Japan was stopped. By force.

Mind you, once we gave them electronic toys to duplicate, they took over and annihilated our market...

:tinfoilhat: