Lebanon and the Media

[anthonyX]

Watching the media's coverage and interpretation of the Israel - Lebanon war ****es me off. How long has it been since CNN has been dethroned as a respectable news organization? The whole focus is on the innocent victim of this aggression. BS there is no innocent people in this war. It looks terrible watching the dead children being pulled out of the destroyed buildings but who is to blame? According to most reports it is all on Israel. What I don't understand is that the Hezbollah is a terrorist group whose main purpose is to eliminate a whole group of people. The same thing the Nazi wanted to do. Why do the media try and paint a picture of people just minding their own business and getting caught up in a war that they didn't want. The reason why they are to blame is because they (Lebanon) brought it upon their selves.

They elected this terrorist group as part of their government. They allow these terrorist to assimilate and live among them. How has Hezbollah paid back them back for their favor? They use their women and children as shields. Knowing that the children and women will die but not caring one bit about their lives. It is more important that the rest of the world sees the dead women and children so they can win support of the media and world. They are butchers of their own people. I have no compassion for them or their dead. There was never this outpouring for the Nazi innocent victims. Could you imagine the news media showing pictures of dead Nazi children and trying to paint them as innocent victims? In today society the news media probably would have done that.

I am saddened by the death of multitude of children and women who are dragged into a war that they had little choice in. My anger is with the people of Lebanon who allowed this and even now won’t do anything to stop it. Why can’t the media show the real side of these stories?

[kyleh]

It seems to me that this conflict has always been characterized in this way. The various terrorist attacks or rocket attacks or whatever that Israel has been hit with are usually just ticker-tape items that are not given much substance. Every time Israel retaliates in any way then we get 24 hours of video of homes being bulldozed, dead women and children, or whatever. I think it's always been fairly one-sided coverage at least that I've seen. Granted I don't watch the news much.

[kinein]

I will whole heartedly agree with you completely. It's just another sign of rampant anti-jew feelings being reared up by the media and the Middle East. The European Union recently convened to talk about concerns of rising anti-semitism(israel) in their territories.

This is one of my main issues with most of the media and the middle east.

**** ISRAEL HAS RAINED PAMPHLETS saying " WE ARE COMING.. LEAVE " ****

Yet those people stayed.
- Whose fault is it? The civilians that stayed! They've lived there their whole lives and YET they act as if they do not know if their Hezbollah neighbors will fire rockets on Israel???? *BS*
* They've been given notice and if they stay that is all on THEM.
I recall one lebanese man saying " WHY ARE THEY KILLING US ".

- What he needs to say is WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT WHEN ISRAEL SPRAYED PAMPHLETS all over our CITY. We should have LEFT when the media said Israel was moving further north. We should have LEFT when we heard Hezbollah FIRING rockets.

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What the media and world has to understand is that any fight with terrorists/armed militants is not going to be clean. Especially when it involves city fighting! There are going to be casualties that cannot be prevented if Israel wants to kill the militants.

I love this one interview with someone from the UN was conducting on Fox where he disputed the claim that Hezbollah was firing on Israel right next to the UN peacekeepers ( what a joke ). Then point blank he gets confronted with the email by the peacekeeper stating they were 5-8 meters away from the UN peacekeepers.

__________________________________________________ _____________

I just think it's stupid that the media keeps talking about this whole ceasefire issue when not one EU nation (main backers) has commited any number of troops to handle the issue. They can talk all they want but as with DARFUR, IRAQ, and other issues. THEY TAKE YEARS TO ACTUALLY """ DO """ ANYTHING. I mean look at the Iran and North Korea situation. They've been at it for years now. The UN is a joke. The point is the media needs to stop talking about ceasefire and actually pour some light on how they aren't really doing anything and how despite the jibber jabber by the world. You know they want the US to deploy our troops to do their bidding. If they really wanted this to stop you'd have 50 thousand EU troops on the ground fighting Hezbollah right now. I wait for them to do so.

We already know that almost all the Middle Eastern countries don't mind that Israel is killing the Iranian puppets. That is why you haven't seen anyone get involved from the Middle East. If you look at the history of conflict in the Middle East if everyone was against Israel. You'd have already seen 2-3 different armies invade Israel at the same time in retaliation for their invasion.
But they aren't and if you apply some common sense. You understand what is going on here and the price Israel is paying for defending itself.

[kinein]

Has anyone mentioned that the UN peacekeeper group " UNIFIL " has been in Lebanon for decades? That in all that time they have accomplished NOTHING? They did not stop Hezbollah from bombing the Marine Barracks and the Frenchies in the early 80's. They did not stop anything. They just " observe " and with these observations the UN has been silent. You think maybe the one whom is really responsible is not actually Hezbollah, Lebanon, or Israel ... ? perhaps.

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Israel is using missles , jets, etc but do you know that Hezbollah Katushya's are built to do maximum damage to civilians? They are filled with buckshot and on implosion they have a huge blast radius. Do you know that the only country that makes rockets purposely designed to kill civilians like this are the Syrians and that Hezbollah had over 15,000 at the beginning of this conflict?

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I hope Johannes is okay, we haven't heard from him since early into the conflict.

[kinein]

"""" But France said it will not participate in a Thursday meeting at the U.N. to dicuss the troop deployment, saying such discussions should wait until fighting halts and the U.N. Security Council agrees to a wider framework for lasting peace. """""

Right .... well I never thought that a international peace army would be organized anytime soon anyways. (lol) Europe is a joke and so is Kofi Annan. When you see the same folks that fought Hitler reappear again in Europe. Then you'll have them lifting up their skirts and manning up and actually sending large amounts of troops. Instead of a token sign of 1-2000. Hezbollah will run over any tiny force. Lebanon has 70,000 soldiers and it didn't have the ***** to take on Hezbollah. The frenchies better be ready to bleed for their peace because Hezbollah would love to kill some more decadent infidels.

The problem is if this international force isn't savage enough and skilled in killing the enemy. What do you think Israel is going to do if even 1 rocket kills one of their civilians even AFTER a international force is in place? It will only get UGLIER. The stupidest thing is to hear these politicos scream for a ceasefire and not really understand the job that needs to be done to ensure that things don't get WORSE after they get involved.

[ToddGreenway]

i think its unfair to label people who dont agree with Isreal's actions as anti-jew or anti-semitic, thats a bit of a hasty generalization
thats just like saying people who are against the Iraq war dont support the troops...although its popular among the neocons to do this

there is a difference between not supporting a government and not supporting a culture...though keep in mind im not trying to downplay the existence of anti-jew sentiment in the world, im well aware of it having a jewish brother.

[kyleh]

Haha, complaining about labels, then labeling Neocons. The heated section is on it's way back! :D

Kin will be ecstatic when he sees this. hehee

[Thrak]

I've heard that Hezbollah is launching rockets from civilian rooftops and other civilian locations, so they can utilize the media propaganda when Israel retaliates and kills innocents. Its all part of the strategy...unfortunately.

[kyleh]

Folks have been posting videos of this supposedly happening on Youtube and Google vids for weeks now.

Here's one linky (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyHQFyO_fu4)

Peeps moving rockets around in huge crowds of civilians (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7470425542767632835&q=israel+rockets)

More hiding among civilians (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM35dzT9dUI&mode=related&search=rocket%20attack)

More rockets from civilian areas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK7q3IFvGXU)

Granted, most of the vids out there are coming from this vitalperspective.com source, I don't know if that means anything.

[ToddGreenway]

Haha, complaining about labels, then labeling Neocons. The heated section is on it's way back! :D

Kin will be ecstatic when he sees this. hehee

whats wrong with labeling neocons? thats what they are...you know, the people who call themselves conservative yet support big government and the degredation of our constitution....those types of people

please note Kinein im not calling you a neocon...i was simply pointing out that the neocons are often the ones who will say people dont support the troops because they dont support the war. but if you do actually get "ecstatic" about my comment, ill make another comment about how i fell about liberals to call it even.

also note that i do support Isreal and their actions, i just highly doubt that the everyone who doesnt supprt them are anti-semitic, as i said before, that is a hasty generalization

[kyleh]

Who gets to decide who is a neocon? People that hate them. :) It's just a fancy shortcut to try to disguise the same types of generalizations.

I do agree that generalizations are bad. I was just pointing out what I saw as a bit of an irony. :)

[ToddGreenway]

while i see your point...what would you suppose we call people who are supposedly "conservative" and support or allow the socialization of the country, contrary to long held conservative ideals. because the spectrum of political ideology isnt black or white, or just two sided, we cannot simply call people either liberal or conservative...also IMO there is a big difference between racial oriented lables and political ones, others may disagree with me though

[kyleh]

I dunno, it's longer, but I'd probably just call people who are supposedly "conservative" and support or allow the socialization of the country, contrary to long held conservative ideals "people who are supposedly 'conservative' and support or allow the socialization of the country, contrary to long held conservative ideals".

That's really hard to say though, so I would probably just call them by thier names and not try to pigeon-hole them into a specific class.

Of course, even saying 'liberal' or 'conservative' in a derrogatory way in my opinion is an unfair generalization that gaurantees no progress when it comes to important issues, so there ya have it.

[Wingnut]

I don't get how the world media give Hez a free pass on their tactics. Many times they FORCE the families to not leave and then cry when the families get killed. Of cousre the Lebanese generally like Hez because for years they have been giving them free stuff. Most likley from UN AID money.. mostly likely a significant portion of which came from the US.

If the people of Lebanon want to stop being killed by the Isreali forces, they need to kick the Hez bastards out and make peace, accept that the Isrealis are not going anywhere without a long and bloody fight, and then get on with their lives. I know it is more difficult than it sounds, but hey, what isn't.

[kinein]

i think its unfair to label people who dont agree with Isreal's actions as anti-jew or anti-semitic, thats a bit of a hasty generalization
thats just like saying people who are against the Iraq war dont support the troops...although its popular among the neocons to do this

there is a difference between not supporting a government and not supporting a culture...though keep in mind im not trying to downplay the existence of anti-jew sentiment in the world, im well aware of it having a jewish brother.


eh I don't mind people throwing around the word neocon. It's the same attempt to dehumanize people as the term demoncrat or demorat. I'm a independent so it matters little if others decide to use new hate terms to characterize people they dislike based on their views and stances.

But in response to Todd. Here are a few quotes from the President of Iran.
* I suggest you do some research.

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."

"They have created a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets. "

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Also please refer to the past wars against Israel since not long into it's establishment as a state. The middle east didn't invade Israel time and time again

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Pretending like there isn't a huge anti-jew following in the muslim world isn't going to change that it exists and is spearheaded by fanatical Islam.

Some noteworthy links :

Some EU Documents
- http://eumc.eu.int/eumc/index.php?fuseaction=content.dsp_cat_content&catid=449677441f3f3

http://haganah.us/hmedia/euasr-00.html

WJC puts shelved EU anti-Semitism study on web
( 2003-12-03 09:27) (Agencies)

The World Jewish Congress made public Tuesday a disputed anti-Semitism report kept under wraps by the European Union and accused the EU of not facing up to anti-Jewish sentiment among Muslim immigrants in Europe.

The WJC and Jewish community organizations in the 15-nation EU put the report on their Web sites even though it has not been released by the EU's European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), which commissioned the study.

The report was also posted on at least one European news Web site, that of Danish television station TV2 (http://gfx.tv2.dk/images/Nyhederne/Pdf/report_en.pdf).

The EUMC has denied accusations in the European press that it had shelved the report because it singled out Muslims immigrants and pro-Palestinian groups as the main culprits.

"We think the failure of the EU to release it until now was an act of intellectual dishonesty and cowardice," said Elan Steinberg, executive vice president of the WJC.

"To be candid, I think they are not prepared to deal with the sensitive subject of anti-Semitism among Muslims, who constitute Europe's largest minority," he told Reuters in a phone interview from his New York office.

Steinberg did not say how the EWJC obtained the study, which has been published in excerpts in some European media.

The WJC and the affiliated European Jewish Congress said the report was available in English on Web sites including those of the French umbrella group CRIF (www.crif.org), Britain's Board of Deputies of British Jews (www.bod.org.uk) and the Central Council of Jews in Germany (www.zentralratdjuden.de).

YOUNG MUSLIMS BLAMED

A statement on the EUMC Web site said the study, drawn up by the respected Center for Research on Anti-Semitism at Berlin's Technical University, was withheld because it was substandard and would be reworked before being issued early next year.

The Berlin center has denied its work was flawed.

In the report as posted on the Internet, the Berlin center said a rise in anti-Semitic violence in the first half of 2002 was committed primarily by right-wing extremists, radical Islamists and young Muslims, mainly of Arab descent.

"Physical attacks on Jews and the desecration and destruction of synagogues were acts often committed by young Muslim perpetrators in the monitoring period," the report said.

"Many of these attacks occurred either during or after pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which were also used by radical Islamists for hurling verbal abuse," it said.

The report noted anti-Semitic remarks heard at pro- Palestinian and anti-globalization rallies and added: "Often this generated a combination of anti-Zionist and anti-American views that formed an important element in the emergence of an anti-Semitic mood in Europe."

It said Europe's Jews were "closely associated with the state of Israel and its politics. It can be said that the native Jews have been made 'hostages' of Israeli politics."

News of the EUMC report came after the EU executive published a poll in early November showing 59 percent of those Europeans polled saw Israel as the main threat to world peace -- a finding Israel took as proof of anti-Semitism in Europe.

__________________________________________________ _________

[kinein]

The War for Independence

On May 15, one day after the creation of the State of Israel, the Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon invaded the new Jewish state. The Arab forces were significantly larger than Israel's and were better equipped. Yet, coordination and organization were lacking and the Arab armies were often at odds with each other, seeking to incorporate territory from Palestine into their own states. Despite their small numbers, the Jews were well-organized, well-disciplined and well-trained.

The war was marked by long periods of fighting and temporary cease-fires. Finally, fighting officially ended in January 1949, at which time Israel held the 5,600 square miles allotted to it by the UN partition plan plus an addition 2,500 square miles. Transjordan held the eastern sector of Jerusalem and the West Bank and Egypt held the Gaza Strip.

From January to July 1949, armistice agreements were signed with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria based on the frontlines as they were at the end of the fighting. These lines created the borders of the new state and as a result, Israel gained control of the areas which would have been part of the Arab state envisioned by the UN had the Arab world not gone to war with Israel. At the time, Israel hoped that the armistice agreements would lead to official Arab-Israeli peace treaties.

The Arab states, however, refused to recognize Israel's existence and negotiate peace and remained in a state of war with the Jewish state. They continued their economic, political, social and cultural boycott of the Jewish state which was instituted by the Arab League in 1945. The Arab economic boycott of Israel prohibited Arab peoples, companies and states from conducting business both with Israel and with other companies who do business with Israel. They also embarked on a campaign to isolate the Jewish state in the international community.

Some Arab leaders attempted secret negotiations with Israel. Tragically, some of them were murdered, including King Abdullah of Jordan who was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1951.

The Arab states provided little help to Palestinians who became refugees after the war. Only Jordan offered Palestinian Arabs citizenship. Refugee camps were set up and maintained primarily by the United Nations and other international relief organizations.


** Anti-Semitism is real and continues to be real **

:: Furthermore like I said earlier, if the Middle East ( outside of Iran and Syria ) didn't agree with the Israeli action against Hezbollah. Don't you think they'd have deployed against Israel already? It has been reported numerous times and at the ARAB LEAGUE meeting that the whole current conflict is at fault with Hezbollah. The application of common sense is critical when examining this situation. The fact that finally another country is tackling terrorists in the globe headon is a relief as I don't think the burden should rest entirely on the shoulders of the U.S, UK, and Australia.

[kinein]

Where did Hezbollah get 15,000 katushya rockets let alone all their other rockets? Where did they get the military training and backing? Where did they get the anti-shipping missle?

We all know Iran and Syria have actively supported and aided Hezbollah. You have to recall that this is the same Hezbollah that killed over 200 marines in Beirut.

But yah I know where your coming from Todd :) I'm not saying that those that don't support Israel are AntiJew. Those type of people are either like the UN and would accomplish nothing in actually fixing the situation. Or they are the type that don't actually put themselves in the shoes of those whom they judge. I have plenty of friends that would never serve in the military and/or dislike the Republicans. But if the States were attacked we would all sign up to defend home and we wouldn't stop til our friends and family were safe again.

[Dan_etal]

Hey

I wonder why I’m back here and in another one sided thread.
Same characters, same arguments and the same gang prevails or bans those with differing opinions.
The schlepery continues again in the here and now over and over again never mind history, karma or the fear of God.
So an occupied army in Isreal with American backed weaponry is over doing it and it’s not working against David’s descendants (the Lebanese.) So David can have F-16’s and the Lebanese have to have rocks. I think it was a bad idea to give David those planes etc from a country with flawed democracy (trillions of dollars of debt with ghettos and no state run healthcare etc.) Remember that ratio? So three soldiers (that enlisted or were conscripted) who the Isrealees have probably killed now, that have been kidnapped by God knows are who claiming responsibility in a state that it’s impossible to control everyone… Nutbars keeping the cause going or really want Genesis to take place?
Bombing bottle factories, the UN (a Canadian,) or a civilian bomb shelter with women and children?!? Yahweh would not be pleased… The WORLD wants a ceasefire.

Whatever,

Dan

[kinein]

Lebanon received much of its modern equipment at a discount from the United States and continues to purchase new systems from the U.S. as well.

Lebanese Army

The Lebanese Army is made up of:

* 5 Regional Commands
* 11 Mechanized brigades
* 1 Republican Guard brigade
* 1 Commando regiment
* 5 Special Forces regiments
* 1 Airborne regiment
* 1 Navy Commando regiment
* 2 Artillery regiments

The Republican Guard Brigade is responsible for protecting the president and travels with him wherever he goes.

The army's equipment includes:

* approximately 700 US-made Ford Motor Company M-113 armored personnel carriers
* 100 US-made M-48 A1/A5 medium tanks
* 200 Soviet-made T-54/T-55 medium tanks
* 40 French-made AMX-13 light tanks

The army also has a variety of artillery equipment and ground-based missile systems. The air force currently lacks any operational fixed wing aircraft. Active aircraft include ex-US Army helicopters, which are used throughout the country on a variety of missions:

* 30 Bell UH-1H - approximate
* 4 Robinson R44 Raven II

The air force recently acquired 4 brand new Robinson helicopters, which are used for training purposes. They are based at Rayak Air Base in the eastern part of the country.

**** Dan it appears you are confused ****

The conflict is between ISRAEL and HEZBOLLAH.

The Lebanese do not use rocks to fight and I'm surprised you would make that statement when the US regularly sells military hardware to Lebanon's 70,000 strong army ( that is not actively participating in this conflict ).

Besides the fact that the United States of America regularly aids in training of Lebanon's standard military units along with their special forces.

__________________________________________________ _____________

Your attempt to label Avault as biased is wrong. Trying to insinuate that Avault bans posters whom their disagree with is also wrong. Also your attempt to appear smart and cryptically riddle your way thru this thread has also failed. If your going to to discuss this issue at least have the decency to not confuse Lebanon and Israel. The whole David and rock thing didn't work from the beginning.

The only part you got right was this is a repeat of history. Tho you of course aren't a student of history based on your statements. Please take the time to do at least some brief homework before you go on your poetic rampages.

[kinein]

Understand that the fight is between ISRAEL and HEZBOLLAH.

Lebanon is not actively involved in the fighting. Unless you somehow can explain how 10,000 Israeli soldiers could invade Lebanon without their 70,000 strong army doing anything about it. If the world want's a ceasefire the world will actually send their troops instead of "TALK" about it day in and day out as people die.

See DARFUR , SUDAN, Africa last 30 years for more info. Try Somalia.

If that is not enough try searching the last 5 years with North Korea and Iran.

Better yet go look up the DMZ ( NKOREA, SKOREA ) they are still at war you know. The WORLD hasn't fixed that situation since. All the WORLD is doing is being blackmailed for billions. See ::: FRANCE ::: Withdrawing from peace force talks because FRANCE doesn't want to even talk about commiting troops until their is a cease-fire.

While your at it SEE (BEIRUT)
October 23, 1983 at 6:22 a.m., a large delivery truck drove to the Beirut International Airport where the Marine Barracks carrying 12,000 pound of TNT.

__________________________________________________ _____

On a personal note, as an American I think we should unleash our dogs of war on Hezbollah. If the world is so damned set on forcing the US to go in and do their dirty work we should go in and help the Israelis. They may be the scrappiest army in the Middle East but the US has lots of experience with PRECISION bombing and Urban warfare ^_^

In closing I'm amazed that you would attempt to say Hezbollah = Lebanese rockthrowers. They are not one and the same.

__________________________________________________ _______

Oh and I noticed you have a history of attempting to pick fights with everyone. Even my buddy Autocratic! I think the main problem is Dan you don't bother to elaborate or put into detail your poetic acts of dialogue. Unless you can communicate more effectively you might as well just clip at random a sentence from a 50 page magazine every 3-5 pages and put it together and it would look exactly like all your other posts. If you want to discuss, then discuss. You don't have to "rebel" against society in general with your refusal to spell or to organize your thoughts. Start out with simple words and sentences. Try seperating your paragraphs every 3-8 sentences. Also do a little homework on whatever issue you so desire to participate in. Which means as little as paying attention to the news and/or taking the time to review what other posters have said and pausing for a moment to digest!

[kyleh]

Alright, I'm out of this conversation. It was fun until Danno came back with his silly accusation again. I wouldn't want to have to ban everybody since nobody here ever agrees with me.

[kinein]

aww..

[kinein]

Hey
So David can have F-16’s and the Lebanese have to have rocks.

Whatever,

Dan

Hezbollah has fired Russian-made Metis-M anti-tank missiles and owns European-made Milan missiles.

Russian Anti-Tank Missles and EU Milan Missles are NOT """ ROCKS """.

[kinein]

a rare picture showing Hezbollah rockets heading into the sky enroute to Israel.

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20060806/capt.9c7f3977c4564540ae8b0387baeef319.aptopix_mide ast_lebanon_israel_fighting_akcf104.jpg?x=380&y=241&sig=LD_THlmG34Yuu1g0uID38w--

[kinein]

another pic

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20060807/capt.sge.chn55.070806032403.photo00.photo.default-512x341.jpg

* outskirts of Tyre

[Fenriswolf]

I note: Dan won't be replying to this topic or any again by the way.

[Wyrmlord]

It's not just Lebanon. People have always sided against Israel out of political correctness, failing to understand the nature of the people they have to deal with. Even I did. Once.

[Autocratic]

How is it PC to oppose Israel? Also, judging Israel based on their enemies provides a pretty limited perspective, don't you think?

[Autocratic]

I note: Dan won't be replying to this topic or any again by the way.

Just wondering, aside from being gibberish, how is what Dan said a bannable offense?

[kyleh]

There is more to what he said than is in this thread. That's all that really needs to be said. It wasn't the content of the message RE: the subject of the thread though.

[kinein]

Re-Hijacking this thread ::: TITLE - LEBANON AND THE MEDIA :::

Discuss at your leisure.

[Wyrmlord]

How is it PC to oppose Israel? Also, judging Israel based on their enemies provides a pretty limited perspective, don't you think?
Do you think there is an equally logical side to both sides of every issue?

[Autocratic]

Not particularly, how is that relevant?

[Wyrmlord]

I'm saying that the side of Israel's enemies is not equally logical.

[Autocratic]

Your mindset seems to be that you have to "pick a side" when that is not really the case at all. I would agree that in general, Israel's opponents are not as logical as them. However, this doesn't excuse the wrongdoings of Israel by any stretch of the imagination. Also, no one answered my question of how it is at all PC to oppose Israel, especially when large majorities of the American public support them.

[kinein]

Hmmm.. whats "PC"? Welcome to the conversation Autocratic.

[kinein]

More interested to see if the UN is going to pass a resolution to do something concerning Iran, Nkorea, and Lebanon.

At no point has anyone currently serving in any government stated that in Lebanon - the UN and the Lebanese military will have to fight Hezbollah. Also not one country has commited any troops to expand the current UNIFIL operation. Also another issue is UNIFIL has been in Lebanon for decades and has never once opposed Hezbollah and stopped it from firing at Israel or at UN soldiers. Finally the resolution that has been drafted saying " we are going to expand the UNIFIL force is not going to actively pick more professional soldiers to handle the issue.

If it ends up a war/civil war where we and Israel watch the UN actively fight Hezbollah I believe the the UN will take a lot of casualties. Also I am unsure as to wether or not all these countries will have the moral courage when their populations complain that the UN is fighting against a Muslim army. The repercussions have begun by the way.

As it is right now, can anyone recall when the UN has successfully defeated a muslim extremist group? I hope the US isn't asked or forced to shoulder the burden again as it always has had to due to the weakness of the EU and the lack of support by Russia and China.

What would be great would be a UNIFIL force composed of Syrians and Iranians! CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT?! If not - WHY?