Condoleezza Rice: The Umbrella Woman

Writing over at Willisms, regular WizBanger JayTea digs up an incident that occurred in Israel six years ago, perpetrated by Hezbollah and overseen by the UN:

As Meryl Yourish brought to my attention, nearly six years ago a group of Hezbollah terrorists invaded Israel under false guise as UN Peacekeepers, attacked an Israeli military patrol, and kidnapped three Israeli soldiers. They then fled back to Lebanon, where the soldiers were killed and their bodies traded for live Hezbollah prisoners.

Virtually the whole incident was observed and recorded by United Nations Peacekeeping forces, who had been bribed to allow the attack to take place. And the United Nations, on direct orders from Secretary General Kofi Annan, did everything humanly possible to cover up their involvement. They denied everything, destroyed evidence, refused to turn over that which they did not destroy, and eventually censored that which the did give to Israel to make it worthless.

And while they stonewalled, those three Israeli soldiers died brutal deaths.

Surprisingly, I'm not going to write about the utter incompetence, corruption, and lack of responsibility routinely exhibited by the UN.  Instead I want to focus on this observation:

On a far more profound level, though, by brokering an agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations would be drawing an equivalency between a free, democratic, independent nation and a terrorist group. (The cynic in me points out that it would merely be not overly significant; the UN routinely denounces Israel as "criminal" and "terrorist," to this would simply formalize the position.) This would grant Hezbollah the standing and status of a modern nation, with none of the attendant responsibilities and obligations and duties inherent therein. This would be an unprecedented victory for terrorists.

This is the exact same error that is made when authorities insist that we treat terrorists according to guidelines outlined in the Geneva Conventions, even though terrorists cannot claim to be represented by a sovereign government and never follow conventional rules of just or legal warfare.

JayTea then goes on to outline a solution similar to the solution being proposed by the Bush Administration:

There is a very simple solution to this problem. It arose because Lebanon failed to fulfill its obligations as a sovereign nation and assert control of its southern territories. It needs to wrest those areas from Hezbollah, rigorously patrol its lands, and enforce the peace -- the basic obligations of any nation-state.

With luck, Israel's ongoing destruction of Hezbollah personnel and ordnance will weaken that terrorist organization to the point where Lebanon can achieve that. Then -- and only then -- should a ceasefire be arranged, and between Lebanon and Israel only. Hezbollah should not be a party to those talks.

I whole-heartedly agree.  The Bush administration has just sent Secretary of State Rice to the Middle East in order to meet with leaders of other Arab/Muslim nations and try to organize an "umbrella" of nations that will be willing to stand up to terrorists and tell them to "get lost."  This certainly seems to be a much more realistic approach to solving terrorism problems, as opposed to previous attempts at sitting down with the terrorists themselves and trying to negotiate "cease fires" and "settlements."

We should pray that (hopefully non-violent) coercion on the part of other Muslims will soften the Islamist terrorists and, at the very least, lessen the current bloodshed.

(By the way, Neville Chamberlain was known by the humorous moniker "The Umbrella Man."  We can only hope that Secretary of State Rice is more successful at securing peace with her "umbrella.")

Comments

[cjd]

Hezbollah is an Arabic, Shiite organization that arose after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The Hezbollah has often been accused of terrorism and radicalism. But in that part of the Earth, every entity has been accused of terrorism and radicalism. Almost all of them live up to it.

Hezbollah appears to be a nation. It is a tightly-knit group of people which share a common culture or ideology.

Hezbollah is not a State, (1) that is to say a self-governing political entity. Its hierarchy and self-determination is not clear. (2) It has no space or territory which has internationally recognized boundaries. In fact the headquarters of Hezbollah may not be in Lebanon at all. (3) Hezbollah does not have people who live in any particular country on an ongoing basis, nor does it make the claim. (4) Hezbollah does not have an economic activity or an organized economy. A country would regulate foreign and domestic trade and most likely issue money.

Hezbollah is not a nation-state, as it does not have the same borders as a State, that is to say that Hezbollah is not confined within the boundaries of Lebanon.

No nation could ever become a nation-state if outside forces (1) prohibit it from achieving self-governance, (2) prohibit it from occupying space or territory which has internationally recognized boundaries, or forcing it to move its headquarters out of the space or territory of its choice, (3) make it impossible for people to live in any particular country on an ongoing basis, or (4) make it impossible to have an economic activity or an organized economy.

If Hezbollah fit the bill for a nation-state, our government would have to deal with it in the same way it deals with Israel.

Outside forces cannot prohibit a tightly-knit group of people from sharing a common culture or ideology, short of total analyzation. If Israel and G. W. Bush have their way, this may happen.

I wish the U.S. would quit telling people in the Middle East what to think and do. Strangely, the Hezbollah and capitol of the state of Missouri may have a common link. The capitol of the state of Missouri was moved to Marshall, Texas during the Civil War. At the end of the war it moved back to Missouri. I suppose the Hezbollah would be happy to move completely into Lebanon if the war would ever end, but judging from the hell-raising over the last half century or so after the U.S. got involved I do not expect that to happen for at least another 50 years.

Condoleezza Rice, President G. W. Bush’s puppet, refuses to address WHY Hezbollah exist in the first place; the occupation of Lebanon by Israel, prisoners held by Israel, and bombs and missiles dropped on Lebanon by Israel. Change the technology and it might sound like American Revolution.

[Mike]

"Change the technology and it might sound like American Revolution."

Unless of course you have your head on straight and you remember that the Founding Fathers of the United States simply wished to be left alone by Britain, not to completely annihilate England and the Anglo-Saxon race.

"The Hezbollah has often been accused of terrorism and radicalism."

I would say that blowing up a US Marine barracks with a car bomb and killing 241 men in their sleep would constitute terrorism, wouldn't you? Or how about launching missiles into residential neighborhoods where there are no legitimate military targets, just civilians?

"No nation could ever become a nation-state if outside forces ... make it impossible to have an economic activity or an organized economy."

If you scroll up a few posts, you'll find an enlighting article by Amir Taheri, who notes, "According to Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s number two, the party has an annual budget of £279m, much of which comes from businesses set up by the movement. These include a bank, a mortgage co-operative, an insurance company, a travel agency specialising in pilgrimages to Muslim holy places, several hotels, a chain of supermarkets and a number of urban bus and taxi companies." Whoever is preventing Hezbollah from participating in economic activity is doing a very poor job of it.

Long story short: no one would care much about Hezbollah if they did not reguarly kill Israeli civilians and call for the total destruction of the nation of Israel. No one would tolerate a neighbor who threw rocks through their windows, poured diesel fuel on their lawn, and poisoned their pets. Yet people expect Israel to do that with respect to Hezbollah and Hamas. That is insanity.