Ralph Peters on Lebanon

Normally I can't stand the New York Post's Ralph Peters, but his Sunday column, "A Tragedy of Errors", seems in line with my own view of the matter:

...Hezbollah got this one wrong. Whoever green- lighted the raid on Israel didn't anticipate the ferocity or scale of the Israeli reaction.

Then the Israelis began to miscalculate - reacting impulsively and emotionally themselves. Attacking Hezbollah was fully justified and necessary, but Israel's frustration with the Lebanese government's toleration of terrorists boiled over into folly. Israeli aircraft attacked Beirut's international airport and other targets around the city, doing both Israel and Lebanon's fragile democracy far more harm than good.

Israel hopes to pressure the Lebanese government into taking action against Hezbollah. But Lebanon's leaders can't do that. If they ordered their work-in-progress military to attack and disarm Hezbollah, some Lebanese Armed Forces units would mutiny, others would disintegrate - and any outfits that attempted to take on Hezbollah would be badly and swiftly defeated. And the action would reignite the country's dormant civil war

Quite so. Israel wants the Lebanese government and military to do what the Israeli military failed to do in nearly two decades of occupation: Quash Hezbollah. But this is a recipe for Lebanese national suicide, and therefore a non-starter.

So you have to ask, why is Israel demanding that the Lebanese government do the impossible? Is this just stupid politics, "an emotional over-reaction", or a calculated attempt to politically humiliate the Lebanese people, which as politics is both stupid and immoral?

Either way, plenty to condemn.