CONSERVATIVE TRUTH

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CONSERVATIVE TRUTH

08/14/06 The Cease-Fire That Isn't
By Tom Barrett
Publisher@ConservativeTruth.org

Last night my friend Alvin Day spoke briefly at our church. He talked about patience, about waiting for the Lord's timing. He spoke of Abraham's impatience with God's schedule which resulted in Abraham having an illegitimate son, Ishmael. As we know, Ishmael was the father of the Arabs, out of whom came Islam. So one man's impatience resulted in a hate-filled religion intent on destroying the rest of the world.

Today we can see the results of impatience in the ill-conceived "Cease-Fire" resolution that has just been announced by the UN Security Council. Can anything good come out of the UN? If the latest Security Council resolution is any indication, the answer to that question is a resounding "NO!"

Israel, the official Lebanese government and the real rulers of Lebanon, Hezbollah, have all signed off on the resolution. But both sides know that the "Cease-Fire" can never hold. So it's just good PR to agree to something that most of the world wants, knowing that it's all for show.
Hezbollah says it agrees to the resolution. But it says it will not stop fighting as long as there is one Israeli in Lebanon. So as far as Hezbollah is concerned there is no "Cease-Fire," because according to the resolution Israel will remain in Southern Lebanon until a replacement force arrives.
The full Israeli cabinet, with one abstention, agreed to the resolution. But Israel has properly retained the right to respond to any aggression by Hezbollah. Virtually everyone concerned knows that the trigger-happy zealots of that terrorist gang will not be able to resist lobbing missiles at Israeli civilians. And when they do, the make-believe "Cease-Fire" will be history. It's anyone's guess whether the "Cease-Fire" will "cease" the firing for hours or days. I will be shocked if it last more than a week.

Now, what about the much-vaunted replacement force the resolution call for? It is to consist of 15,000 Lebanese troops, supported by 15,000 UNIFIL troops. A paper tiger and a pretend tiger; what a combination.
In essence, the Lebanese army does not exist. Oh, they have guys in uniforms who carry rifles and such. But a trained, motivated, professional army? Better look elsewhere. The Lebanese army is AFRAID of Hezbollah. Why do you think they haven't exerted control over this ragtag group of terrorists before now? Because they are scared. Does anyone think moving 15,000 of them into the South will somehow give them courage? Hezbollah has been telling the Lebanese "army" what to do for years. That's not going to change because they have some UN troops hanging out with them.

What about UNIFIL. As I described in a recent article the initials UNIFIL stand for UN Interim Force in Lebanon. This "interim" force has been temporarily in Lebanon for over 28 years. They cannot fight; they can only "observe". They should have been removed years ago. Instead, their "mission" (whatever it is) has been extended for one more year by this resolution.
So we have 15,000 guys who are afraid to fight supported by 15,000 guys who are not allowed to fight. (The UN troops are again there to observe and provide "humanitarian assistance. The only use of force allowed in the resolution is for self-defense; see LINK below.) Their opponent is a heavily armed force of dedicated fanatics who are willing to die in order to get their way. If they say "Boo!" the Lebanese and the UN guys in their cute little powder-blue helmets are going to run as fast as they can.
Personally, I do not believe the Israelis are going to turn over the buffer zone they have won with the lives of brave soldiers to a pretend army. If they do, Hezbollah will chase the boys in blue out, move their rockets right back into the same positions, and continue bombing Israeli civilians. I think Israel is going along with this, knowing that Hezbollah will start the fighting again very soon. They are hoping (probably in vain) that the "International Community" will then realize that a true international force that knows how to fight will be deployed to rein in Hezbollah.
Shortly after Hezbollah's unprovoked attack on Israel (which was the start of the current conflict) the United States and Great Britain proposed a resolution which would have provided for a true international force. This force would have been made up of professional soldiers from NATO. It would have had the ability both to enforce the peace and to defend itself from attack by any means necessary.

This force would also have had a mandate to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which in 2004 called for the immediate disarming of Hezbollah and other armed militias which did not submit to the authority of the elected Lebanese government. Of course, France torpedoed this reasonable plan by threatening to veto it unless it was watered down considerably. The watered down version was what was released last week.

If all the "international community" can offer is a paper tiger and a pretend tiger, I say leave Israel alone and let them do the job they started. They didn't ask for this war; it was thrust on them when Hezbollah entered Israel, murdered eight soldiers and kidnapped two others, and then started killing civilians with rockets. Now that Israel has started to defend itself, it is very easy for countries which are not under attack to wring their hands and cry about peace.

Let he who is willing to risk his country's troops to defend peace cast the first stone at Israel. Otherwise, let him shut up, and let Israel do what they have done so well for decades. Let them fight vicious terrorists in order to survive, all the while making the world safer for the rest of us.