Deja Vu

So far, this whole cease fire has been a maddening rerun of every other cease fire in the Middle East.

• Everyone stops fighting, save for a few skirmishes, mostly on or near the Blue Line
• The UN picks some random countries that will send "peacekeeping" forces (France is promising to send a whopping 200 troops to the region--thanks for the big sacrifice! Bangladesh is sending 2,000 troops for goodness sake!)
• Israel gives back whatever ground it took
• Lebanon gladly accepts Israel's retreat ("Whew, lucked out again!")
• Each side claims victory
• The shadowy terrorist group gets quiet as they look to the next conflict (AND they get to keep the land they occupy while Israel retreats)

I mean, could something just happen?? Anything? They fight and people die and it is all for nothing. No one gained anything, except Hezbollah, who were able to prove once again that Israel has no stomach for a fight and doesn't have the guts to close the deal. Seriously! It's like that bully on the episode of the Andy Griffith Show. He just keeps on taking Opie's lunch money until Opie stands up for himself and won't budge. Hezbollah is a bully, and while they have some pretty decent weaponry from Iran, pound for pound they are no match for Israel. If Israel would just once take off the kid gloves, put a deaf ear to all the criticism from Arab and liberal (wimpy) countries about civilian casualties, and wipe Hezbollah off the map, we would all be better off.

And so everyone thinks Lebanon--who is putting troops south of the Litany River for the first time in 30 years--is going to help disarm Hezbollah. But guess what, they have already said that the aren't going to touch Hezbollah, anymore than the UN is.

30 years is a pretty long time to virtually ignore a very violent and disputed area. That would be like saying US troops have not deployed south of San Diego in 30 years.

And Iran is celebrating Hezbollah's "victory" over Israel with gusto. Last week a public transportation company in Tehran declared a "free travel day" in celebration. Wheeee!!!

Anyway, I'm disgusted with the whole thing. I'm disgusted that Israel negotiates with countries who willingly harbor terrorists. I'm disgusted that the UN has so much power (we're going to be very sorry about that one day soon). And I'm disgusted that I have to watch this happen again and again.

So, since I'm disgusted, unless something major happens, I am taking a day or two off from Middle east updates. Someone let me know when Iran moves into South Lebanon.