"..... but the US making such an accusation is the pot calling the kettle black."
Posted by: ModNewt at July 18, 2006 14:15

What's the accusation??

And, What evidence do you have for this: "As Will says far better than I ever can, the uprising of Hamas and Hezbollah are awful, but nonetheless a direct result of our aggressions in Iraq."??

A DIRECT RESULT ?? I believe C. Austin is right!
"Post hoc ergo propter hoc."!!
Logic??

If peace and democracy were breaking out all over the middle east, guaranteed that Cheney/Rumsfeld et al. would be crediting the Iraq invasion and occupation (would you be aping them?). Cheney predicted as much in '03 and the opposite has happened. The war has clearly intensified Islamic fundamentalism in the region; just look at the Hamas and Hezbollah electoral victories. Us having 10 divisions in Iraq makes it all but impossible for us to intervene in another world crisis such as this. Soon we'll be begging the UN to intervene. How freaking ironic is that?

So, as I said our involvement in Iraq, along with other missteps, has led directly to this and other problems in the Middle East.

Partially because we have so much of our military tied up in Iraq that we have no real way of stopping them from doing anything.

I've got no problem with Israel going after Hezbollah, but if you think that blowing up Lebanon's infrastructure and killing loads of civilians is going to "enable the Lebanese government to replace Hezbollah in the south," you are living in a fantasy land.

As Will says far better than I ever can, the uprising of Hamas and Hezbollah are awful, but nonetheless a direct result of our aggressions in Iraq. Europe/Russia/China sitting on their asses isn't helping any either but who can blame them for sitting back and laughing at us? Sure, it is shortsighted and immature, but the US making such an accusation is the pot calling the kettle black.

Your criticism of Israelâ??s actions is spoken like someone who has never lived in a town with municipal bomb shelters. The Government of Israelâ??s first responsibility is the well-being and safety of its people. While disproportionate to the proximate cause of the current conflict, Israelâ??s actions have exposed the threat Hezbollah poses: a well-financed and heavily armed militia, unanswerable to any government, with missiles that can reach well into heavily populated areas of Israel, with a patron that is developing nuclear weapons, and with the stated and demonstrated intent of attacking indiscriminately.

Damaging Hezbollah sufficiently could at best enable the Lebanese government to replace Hezbollah in the south, but Hezbollah will be back, because all the pieces are still present: Iranian funding and arms, a divided and weak central government, heavy Syrian influence, and a fragment of the population eager to fight Israel. If you donâ??t change the equation, the outcome is the same.