"So This Is Our Victory"
Michael J. Totten
BINT JBAIL, SOUTH LEBANON – I drove to Hezbollah’s stronghold in South Lebanon to survey the devastation from the war in July, to check in on the United Nations peacekeeping force, and to talk to civilians who were used as human shields in the battle with Israel. My American journalist friend Noah Pollak from Azure Magazine in Jerusalem went with me. We went under the escort of two professional enemies of Hezbollah who work for the Lebanese Committee for UNSCR 1559, an NGO which closely advises the Lebanese government and the international community on the disarmament of illegal militias in Lebanon.
The two men picked us up at our hotel first thing in the morning.
Said (pronounced Sah-EED) rode up to the front door on his motorcycle. Henry arrived in his car.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Said said as he shook our hands. “Shall we go in your car?”
“If you prefer,” I said.
It was probably better that way. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah hysterically accuses Toni Nissi, the man Henry and Said work for, of heading up “the Beirut branch of the Israeli Mossad.” Best, I thought, to show up in Hezbollah’s bombed-out southern “capital” of Bint Jbail in a rental car rather than one that might be recognized.
It’s not worth taking Hezbollah’s “Mossad” accusation seriously. Nasrallah also says Prime Minister Fouad Seniora is a “Zionist hand” because he is pushing for Hezbollah’s disarmament.
“Let me drive,” Said said. “It is better. We know the best roads to take.”
Toni insisted these guys were the best. Not only do they know their way around the back roads of South Lebanon, they are battle-hardened infantry veterans of Lebanon’s civil war. I seriously doubted we would need their services as trained killers, but it was nice to have that skill set in our back pockets while venturing into the heartland of an illegal warmongering militia.
I wonder how many MSM types have been in a position to think this, much less write it. And three cheers for a correspondent who actually writes what any sensible human would think - if they had the huevos to venture there...
Moreover, the talk making the rounds now is that Israel is likely to use low-yield nuclear weapons along with deep-penetration non-nuclear bunker-busters to finish off Iran's underground nuclear weapons research and productiion facilities.
Nothing will please me more than to see that Israel has stopped fighting with arm tied behind their collective national back when they go to war with what passes for "armies" in the arab world and against the hitlerite poseur who now runs the iranian state.
I sincerely hope this means serious attacks of unparalleled ferocity and destructiveness. That is precisely what ends such cycles of wars for a long time to come.
Either that, or fiddle around endlessly in wars that never stop. And I don't like that one bit.
It probably comes as no surprise to you to know that I grew up during the time of the utter destruction of urban Germany and Japan in World War II. It was one of the most merciless and ruthless campaigns ever mounted, and that is the kind of power of the United States of America that I pledged allegiance to as a child and that I was prepared to take part in as a soldier of this country late in the Korea war.
And no, I have no sympathy whatsoever for the innocent civilians, whether they be Germans, Japanese, Arabs or even the american Indians of the 19th century. My message to all of them simply is "surrender, get out of our way, or get killed".
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.