Just a couple of things to say here …
First of all, Bill O’Reilly is the only one I’ve heard make the important point that we in America have very little understanding of what Israel is going through. What would we do if a large, well-armed militia was hiding in northern Mexico and had powerful missles from Cuba and Venezuela pointed at major American cities and began firing? What would our position be then? Many are ready for a cease-fire, and peace is always preferred, but most intelligent people realize its not that simple.
The UN will prove to be as useless as ever here, unless a miracle occurs. They are beginning to make some more noise on Iran but I still haven’t heard what the “consequences” would be if they don’t comply.
America is caught between wanting to help Israel, get rid of another terrorist organization in their self-proclaimed war on terror and helping Lebanon continue to be a viable democracy and keeping them from being even more hated among the Arab world while making Hezbollah heroes and martyrs for a cause.
In the midst of all this, the real issue is the inability of Lebanon to control its own borders and protect its own people from extremist groups, who are forcibly keeping civilians in the south so that they can make Israel look like the monsters when innocents die while they keep shooting at Israel. This is the last thing that Lebanon wants, but their inability to control their own sovereign borders is a contributing factor.
Ultimately, however, even if Hezbollah is completely wiped out, which I don’t think will happen, this conflict will not solve the issues in the region, where millions are ready to hand Israel their head. Many are arguing against a band-aid cease fire agreement, but I’m not sure you’ll get anything better if you kill every Hezbollah in the world.
Peace.
The best comment I’ve heard on this is that if Israel puts down its weapons, it will be utterly destroyed. If Hezbollah puts down its weapons, there will be peace. Few people in the media are really willing to analyze the moral stance of each side in the conflict – they’re more interested in turning Israel and Hezbollah into moral equivalents. But you cannot negotiate peace with someone whose objective is to destroy you.