Bint Jbail is Southern Lebanon's newly dubbed "Terror Capital", and previous to today my feeling was that, as Israel's flailing military machine defined victory downwards, its bottom line, the point at which it could declare success and go home, could be no lower than the capture of this town. However, it appears that the IDF is just going to fuck off out of Bint Jbail with Hezbollah still in charge of the place:
Jerusalem, July. 29 (AP): Israel pulled its troops out of the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbail on Saturday, saying it had accomplished its objectives there and dealt a heavy blow to the militant group, but paid a price with the lives of Israeli soldiers.
Israel said its ground troops moved out of the town, but the air force would continue to pound it and ground forces could return at any time.
The army did not say whether Hezbollah fighters remained holed up in Bint Jbail, which sits not far from the Israeli border. The army previously said it had taken control of the nearby village of Maroun al-Ras, but fierce fighting continued there several days afterward.
I can only hope that those Tories and yes even Progressive Bloggers who were cheering on Israel as she carpet-bombed Lebanon back to the stone-age, will take proper heed of what has happened here. Israel has engaged in a reckless war that has taken Canadian lives and threatened to suck our good name down the toilet; it has undermined the notion that Democracies act in an inherently more moral fashion than less representative forms of government; and it has failed utterly to solve its military problems (an enemy that can lob missiles over its Northern border).
And I hope it should also be clear by now that those of us who have been criticizing Israel's behavior have not done so from latent anti-Semiticism. It is rather that we felt (and have been confirmed in our suspicions) that its actions were not only immoral but, from a pragmatic point of view, stupid. Israel could not but lose this kind of confrontation. And it is those who have cheered it along in its disastrous course of action who could be rightfully accused of endangering the country.
So nyahh nyahh fucking nyahh!
You have to take it a step farther. So the IDF pulls back. The Hez continue to fire rockets and demand Shaba Farms to stop. The French army will not appear in the buffer zone under those conditions. All commerce ends in N. Israel, Haifa port is closed, dual citizens start leaving in droves, tourists fail to appear in droves.... you see where this is leading I trust. Dunkirk.
ReplyDeleteSo you're looking for Tories and 'Progressive Bloggers' to take note of what's going on here...but I wonder, should Liberals being doing the same?
ReplyDeleteWhat, again, is the Liberal position exactly? The pro-Israel stance of Volpe? The anti-Israel stance of Rae? The pansy-ass Martin-esque non-stance of Graham?
Oh, and where is "noted intellectual" Ignatieff on this big issue? I thought he'd always "tell us what he thought"?
Could it be that his years in the US and generally hawkish military views have him thinking exactly the same as Harper and he's too scared to tell us?
Iggy is on retreat in the land of the free and home of the brave. He will return to Canuckstan when he is good and ready.
ReplyDeleteIggy's silence has been bizarre. No doubt of that.
ReplyDeleteIs Iggy's silence any worse than the pansy-assed platitudes uttered by foodbankguy:"I agree with the G8 call for "utmost restraint" on the part of Israel as it exercises its right of self-defense and I deplore the fact that extremists from Hezbollah and Hamas have once again hijacked the agenda in the Middle East."
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