So what good, then, is the ceasefire? None at all, of course. Peace In Our Time Update from the UN, with thanks to IMRA:
Unofficial transcript of press encounter with Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown at UN Headquarters18 August 2006 - Deputy Secretary-General: I just want to say a few remarks first, and then open to take any questions you have....
Deputy Secretary-General:... The core thing that capitals have to get over the hump on, is the character and purpose of the force which is consistent with the resolution, which is that it is not an offensive force, it's not going to go in there and attempt large scale disarmament. Rather it is going to police the political agreement which triggers disarmament, called for under the resolution and therefore it will make a prudent use of force. It calls very clearly in the rules of engagement, as it did in the resolution itself, that where combatants forcefully resist a demand from UNIFIL or from the Lebanese army to disarm, UNIFIL will then exercise use of force, if it has to, to force that disarmament. I think we have been very clear on that, this is not going to be a force which can be characterized as a force of occupation, or a force of offensive effort to disarm Hezbullah, but is going to provide Israel with that security guarantee that this political agreement which will ultimately call for disarmament, [it] does already in the resolution, will be enforceable....
How's that again? This force will not affect disarmament of Hizballah, but will call for the disarmament of Hizballah? Great. But you don't need a UN force for that. I can save you billions of dollars: I'll call for the disarmament of Hizballah for you right now, from right here in my offices on the 113th floor of the Jihad Watch Towers in Secure Undisclosed Locationville. No, don't thank me. I know what I have just done is completely ineffective -- just like this UN force.
Seriously, this is just not strong enough. They'll use force if Hizballah resists, and yet they will not make an offensive effort to disarm Hizballah. It's very easy to see how this will become a recipe for inaction and impotence.
Evil is now given credence and good is regarded as evil. Just look at the UN. Values which should be set in concrete are sadly, no longer.
Robert,
We need to tell all the peace loving people of Lebanon to take a 6 week vacation - say,in the South of France! "It's lovely this time of Year"
UN, you have 48 hours to start Dismantling hizballah - or Israel will do it for you!
It’s time to have the UN either Put-Up, or Shut-Up.
Israel has the right to declare them to be an Anti-Islam Zone, with the exception of the small "International Zone" in Jerusalem area.
KnightHawk
They will not attempt to enforce it because there is no way they can enforce it, especially since the majority of UN "peacekeepers" will be from muslim nations. Even if they could enforce such a ban, Iran and Syria would rearm hezbulluh as fast as they were disarmed, so it would be an exercise in futility.
They have no desire to enforce because the majority of the UN would be fine with seeing Israel wiped off the map. I don't know why the United States continues to be a party to this wh*re infested entity (the UN) it is corrupt,useless, anti-US, anti-Israel..yet we continue in this charade and give tax payer dollars to fund this atrocity. They let millions die in Rwanda and thousands in the Sudan yet when a few die in Lebanon they want to get all excited and angry, only because the "Jews" did it. But let machete and hatchet wielding Rwandans go at it and kill millions and they look the other way. Why ? Because they were black and poor or deemed "uncivilized" by the sherry drinking, cigar smoking, prositute buying fat cat, socially elite in thier suits in the UN ? There really is nothing united about the Nations so what is the point?
The UN deliberately tied its own hands with the language of the resolution (pdf, html).For example:
The lack of a minimum of troops, and a description of their mandate, along with the language of paragraph 11, effectively "defangs" Paragraph 8, which includes:
It is easy for everyone but Israel -- including the UN -- to duck the responsibilities of the cease-fire agreement.
But one other avenue to pursue with this resolution does exist in Paragraph 8, where it is written that "there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state."
The argument has been made by the pro-Hizballah camp that Hizballah, via its political activities and elected officials, is part of the Lebanese state. And, the LAF (the appropriately abbreviated Lebanese Armed Forces) and Hizballah are now working cooperatively in South Lebanon.
These facts should force the Lebanese government either to sever ties with Hizballah if it does not disarm and submit to the authority of the LAF, or face the consequence of being labeled a state sponsor of terror (something it has dodged so far), if Hizballah is to be considered a part of the state.
But who will take that up? Just possibly, the UN will decide to request that steps be taken to make an inquiry and monitor the situation.
One sided peace alert from CNN, Kofi Annan has declared that Israels incursion into Lebanon to stop to Iranian arms transfer this morning is a violation of the ceasefire.
And with news that the mighty French are moving in to stop Israel from killing off Hezbollah just when they had them in their sights. We hear that France wants to lead the effort but not supply many men.
This is not new for France though. I could imagine this conversation taking place in 1944:
Corporal Jones and Lieutenant Smyth are travelling along the country lanes of France atop a Sherman tank on the lookout for Germans.
“Sir I think I’ve found one of the blighters!”
“Stop driver! Jones has found us a Kraut by God!”
The tank lurches to a halt.
“No he doesn’t look like a German soldier to me much Sir. He’s swinging from the branch of that tree over there with a white sheet and a basket Sir. I’m sure I can see cheese in it.”
Lieutenant Smyth trains his field glasses on the tree in the distance. “No problem in that tree Jones, that is one of those famous French Surrender Monkeys. I remember seeing millions of them when the war started. Who would have thought Europe had primates capable of running away and enjoying a picnic with wine at the same time hey?”
“I heard they eat frogs too Sir, is that right?”
“Yes Jones, and one day they will want assurances that nobody shoots at them too!”
Hey all, is Jihad Watch still down? Had to go to Michelle Maulkin at Drudge to log on.
This is called ROPE A DOPE People.....For 5 years we have blamed Wahhabi Sunni Islam and Bin Laden...I think Bin Laden and Iran came up with that plan to take the worlds eyes off Iran and its Nukes.....Whats in it for Bin Laden...Mecca...When Iran helps him overthrow the Royal family.....Iran has made deals with China,Russia,Cuba,North Korea and Hugo....We...Meaning the West......have been out smarted.....ROPE A DOPE......I see the Mahdi Army being called to service....Very Soon.
Condelesa Rice is in over her head.
It is time for Isreal to end the charade once and for all. The ceasefire is a joke and it is great the Isreal kicked the UN in the butt today.
The U.N.'s and Lebanon's refusal to disarm Hizballah (resolution 1559) tells us most of what we need to know about them.
Mark "double talk" Brown, he is.
I worry the mostly muslim un troops are really hizballah reinforcements.
U.N. and media pundits are ruining any chance for peace in the Middle East. Starting with the unilateral blaming of Israel for enforcing the embargo of Hezbolla re-arming. This is exactly why the USA was correct in not rushing into a cease fire in the first place. Why isn't France there? Duh the details were not worked out yet and will never be worked out, because the imputes to work it out unfortunately seems to be tied to violence. This is also why Israel was correct when they didn't accept arbitrary calls for a cease fire. Who is going to patrol the Syrian border? The resolution calls for an embargo, but no ruling to enforce such a policy, Hezbollah by mandate also must to disarm, but again no ruling to enforce the policy. Just more empty rhetoric and appeasement. Israel will do the U.N. a favor by patrolling the border if the U.N. will not enforce its own policies. Lebanon and Hezbollah will try to stop Israel from enforcing the embargo and the war will start all over again shortly. Israel will be blamed for U.N. incompetence yet again.
The only reason we are talking about a UN force is because the Israelis dropped the ball. They had one month to do what was necessary, but Olmert got cold feet and dedicated 4-6 brigades to do the job of a couple of divisions. Does anyone believe that if they had another month, they would have fared better? Even the IDF officers are criticizing their government. The moral of this story is that you cannot rely on air power to do the job of infantry.
Mert/
Of course, you are probably aware of the old joke:
Corporal Jones: "I say, Sir, how many Frenchies does it take to defend Paris?"
Lt. Smythe: "I really couldn't say, Corporal Jones. It's never been tried. They generally leave it to us."
Dominic.
Which brings us back to the dog-biting-on-your-leg concept: is he going to stop attacking you if a.) you tell him to b.) all the neighbors tell him to or c.) you crack him in the skull with a baseball bat?
Only one of the answers is going to get results. There is no difference with Islam, which declares us all infidels and whose "holy" book tells them to kill us all.
We are best served by getting out the Louisville Sluggers and forget the neighbors (United Nations) and start swinging for the fence.
The Peacekeeping Force at best will serve as human shields for the terrorists, impeding the ability of the Israelis to respond to future provocations. At worst, they will be actual reinforcements for Hezbollah and surrogates for the Iranians and Syrians.
Probably, it will turn out that they will be both. The European contingent will become hapless human shields, the Muslim contingent will proactively assist the frontline Hezbollah fighters with rear echelon logistics and intelligence.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."
Winston Churchill
We are at war with savages who would put explosives in baby bottles with their own babies in order to slip them onto an civilian airliner.
The most merciful course of action with them is to win quickly by any means available, not fool around with having a "fair fight," or a proportionate response, or any other considerations of nuanced etiquette. Pulling our punches doesn't communicate to our adversaries that resisting our Will is hopeless, which is the objective of War. The takfeeris and kharijites just don't appreciate our self-restraint as an expression of moral superiority in accordance with some feminist literary-psychological theory they haven't read.
Anything besides the application of maximum force in war gives one's adversaries the hope that if they suffer and endure, somehow they will eventually prevail. Permitting them that illusion is pure sadism, and much more evil than any dirty trick or brutality, since it creates completely gratuitous and militarily unnecessary suffering by prolonging the enemy's Will to Fight.
Moral clarity comes from deciding whether you really intend to win or to lose in the end. If we don't intend to win, then negotiate terms of surrender and save our own soldiers from being maimed and killed in vain. If we intend to win, let's impress that on the terrorists by behaving as relentlessly determined opponents, not as morally sensitive and self-restrained ones. We will ultimately have to kill and maim far fewer of theirs, if we can impress upon them that they can expect no self-restraint in our actions or limit to our Will to Win.
War is Hell, not a psychotherapy session. We need to win this thing before there is a nuclear 9/11.
The biggest disappointment about George W. is that he appears to be less another Abraham Lincoln than another LBJ. Lincoln had the Will to Win. He suspended habeas corpus so he could arrest and detain Northern Confederate sympathizers. LBJ wanted to remain popular. He forced our military to constrain themselves in prosecuting the Vietnam War in vain attempts to appease Blame America First leftists and their Media running dogs. As we all know from history, Lincoln's efforts failed to catch all the traitors: he was assassinated by a cabal of them. LBJ's pollster-appeasing, limp political Will cost us the War when it was already won militarily. Both were absolutely loathed by the public and by opinion makers. George W's popularity probably still has not fallen to the low's of Lincoln's during the Winter of 1863 and Spring of 1864. Despite the tragedy of his personal fate, Lincoln gets the far higher mark from History compared to LBJ, because of his willingness to do what was necessary to preserve the Union.
Come on, Mr. President, we are deeply hated for what we are by a ruthless and determined enemy who is determined to make the entire world submit to a God of Death. This is not a War Against Terror, it is a War Against Islamist Terrorists.
An Indian-Israeli-American alliance is a natural.
No more pulled punches. Let our miitary fight to win!
Dear Daryl,
The alliance you have suggested might happen. The situation is that the Western ideology has been lost upon the Arabs and Muslims. Thus, as the following article NYT Article: And Now, Islamism Trumps Arabism suggests, in the badlands of Islam (meaning which are Islamic countries), there is a growing anti-West/anti-secular sentiment after the recently-concluded Hezbollah-Israel war. I believe that the Arab street has realized that it is possible (like Hezbollah & Al-Qaeeda) to stand up against the USA and its infidel allies. So, more Islamic blowback shall happen due to the rising tide in favor of politicakl Islam.
Soo, that will lead to the Huntington predicted Clash of Civilizations
Mohammed bin Kafir Abu Jahal
CNN just reported on the bloggers, namely Charles Johnson from LGF who discovered the Adnan Hajj Foto-fraud.
After reporting reasonably well what went down, they concluded with "so the blogosphere has claimed another victim..."
Since when is the perpetrator a 'victim..?'
Then there is the hysterical Brent Sadler and another Turkey who discusses objections to calling Hezzbollah 'terrorists' or 'freedom fighters' or 'guerillas'..The PC-BS and the moral equivalence has become unbearable...
But this is good:
Seems that some Brits start voting with their feet!
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=22183_British_Air_Passengers_Mutiny&only
ah, forgot to mention:
The second tart is an ex-journo a Laurence Pintac from the American University in Cairo.. obviously in bed with the Arabs!
Is Senator John Kerry now working at the UN?
The language appears to be similiar...
Israel is accused of breaking a ceasefire, when Hezbollah have fired guns and rockets at Israelis...hello!
The French apparently don't want to go to Lebanon because they're not allowed to shoot anyone-so why don't they send the Wives Fellowship?
UN to hezbolah: "Disarm!"
hezbolah to UN: "No." with no threat of force shown. "Now, go away you silly UN pig-dogs before I taunt you a second time."
UN to hezbolah: "Right away, Sir!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Seems like UN lackey Brown is full of . . . brown.
This cease fire "agreement" is amazingly Alice in Wonderland. Please wake me up from this nightmare.
I guess the 49 French peacekeepers and the impotent Lebaneses army and the Punchless UN are afraid of Hezbollah.
Israel will continue to deal with Hezbollah accordingly.
When you have third-world people running the U.N. you'll have third world results.
When you allow tyrannies to run human rights committees, you'll have the human rights standards of tyrannies in place.
It is not surprising - it is simply another proof that voting and representation alone don't make something we in the free world would recognize as 'good' or 'just'.
The security council was a good idea until it got diluted and compromised by regimes not fully keeping with the universal declaration of human rights. In fact, all member countries not objectively meeting a standard of that document should have their membership revoked.
Talking about bad behavior without any follow-up or negative consequences doesn't work with children nor does it work with tryannies and dictators.
Do we really stand by the Declaration of Human Rights or not? This is not an abstraction, an intellectual excercise - a goal to strive for in the distant future.
Our future is found in the daily habits and actions of the present. We need to have an accounting of all the members of the U.N. to reconcile who is meeting the standards and who is not. Why should party crashers be allowed to stay?
Electing and promoting inept, third world people to positions of world authority does nothing for the world. It may make some people feel good about their thoughts and attititudes and would be worn like some Politically Correct badge of honor, but putting people like Kofi Annan into power positions dilutes any strength and claim to legitimacy for the whole of the U.N.
Third world leaders create a third world U.N. Look at the condition of the nations they come from. Why would we expect anything different when they work at the U.N.?
Cara Marisol,
don't you think you are being too logical about the UN? Don't you know the unwritten but universally accepted rule that the proper attitude towards the UN is one of enthusiastic adoration? Why, you know, if you're too logical, other people might start thinking.
The farce of last week's "cease-fire" resolution at the Security Council --for which Condi's State Dept also bears responsibility-- was praised by our moronic, catatonic or semi-comatose foreign minister, Little Miss Tsipi who sat on a tuffet, eating her cotton candy. There is a lot of anger in Israel now, especially about the unspeakable olmert. I hope he is forced to resign soon. And I hope he takes Tsipi with him. Maybe he can buy her an entry ticket to an amusement park where she can ride a roller coaster and shake up her brains. That might improve her thinking capacity.
Cara Marisol,
don't you think you are being too logical about the UN? Don't you know the unwritten but universally accepted rule that the proper attitude towards the UN is one of enthusiastic adoration? Why, you know, if you're too logical, other people might start thinking.
The farce of last week's "cease-fire" resolution at the Security Council --for which Condi's State Dept also bears responsibility-- was praised by our moronic, catatonic or semi-comatose foreign minister, Little Miss Tsipi who sat on a tuffet, eating her cotton candy. There is a lot of anger in Israel now, especially about the unspeakable olmert. I hope he is forced to resign soon. And I hope he takes Tsipi with him. Maybe he can buy her an entry ticket to an amusement park where she can ride a roller coaster and shake up her brains. That might improve her thinking capacity.
Cara Marisol,
don't you think you are being too logical about the UN? Don't you know the unwritten but universally accepted rule that the proper attitude towards the UN is one of enthusiastic adoration? Why, you know, if you're too logical, other people might start thinking.
The farce of last week's "cease-fire" resolution at the Security Council --for which Condi's State Dept also bears responsibility-- was praised by our moronic, catatonic or semi-comatose foreign minister, Little Miss Tsipi who sat on a tuffet, eating her cotton candy. There is a lot of anger in Israel now, especially about the unspeakable olmert. I hope he is forced to resign soon. And I hope he takes Tsipi with him. Maybe he can buy her an entry ticket to an amusement park where she can ride a roller coaster and shake up her brains. That might improve her thinking capacity.
Cara Marisol,
don't you think you are being too logical about the UN? Don't you know the unwritten but universally accepted rule that the proper attitude towards the UN is one of enthusiastic adoration? Why, you know, if you're too logical, other people might start thinking.
The farce of last week's "cease-fire" resolution at the Security Council --for which Condi's State Dept also bears responsibility-- was praised by our moronic, catatonic or semi-comatose foreign minister, Little Miss Tsipi who sat on a tuffet, eating her cotton candy. There is a lot of anger in Israel now, especially about the unspeakable olmert. I hope he is forced to resign soon. And I hope he takes Tsipi with him. Maybe he can buy her an entry ticket to an amusement park where she can ride a roller coaster and shake up her brains. That might improve her thinking capacity.
Cara Marisol,
don't you think you are being too logical about the UN? Don't you know the unwritten but universally accepted rule that the proper attitude towards the UN is one of enthusiastic adoration? Why, you know, if you're too logical, other people might start thinking.
The farce of last week's "cease-fire" resolution at the Security Council --for which Condi's State Dept also bears responsibility-- was praised by our moronic, catatonic or semi-comatose foreign minister, Little Miss Tsipi who sat on a tuffet, eating her cotton candy. There is a lot of anger in Israel now, especially about the unspeakable olmert. I hope he is forced to resign soon. And I hope he takes Tsipi with him. Maybe he can buy her an entry ticket to an amusement park where she can ride a roller coaster and shake up her brains. That might improve her thinking capacity.