Aftermath of a Cease Fire

Bryan Alexander at Right Thinking had a great post Tuesday on the results of the cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah. In it he quoted some of the players on Hezbollah's side, who claimed victory. He concluded this way:

I sincerely hope I'm wrong; however, I can't help but feeling that because Hezbollah was not destroyed, Ahmadinejad, Assad, and Nasrallah are right. While Israelis died in vain, Hezbollah terrorists and their backers have been emboldened and will attack again.

He's absolutely right. As I scroll down the headlines on WorldNetDaily today, here's what I see:

Syria to form its own Hezbollah: Baath party official: Lebanon war proves 'resistance' against Israel works

Lebanese troops will not disarm Hizbollah

Carter: Hezbollah kidnap no excuse for Israel violence

Lebanese general held over Israeli video: Commander filmed drinking tea with IDF after barracks occupied

Iran military to launch war-games: 'We must show the enemies the Islamic Republic's military capability'

The headlines say it clearly enough. You can't negotiate with terrorists. You can't win when you agree to a cease fire with terrorists. If you leave the terrorists alive, their like-minded compatriots will be emboldened to emulate the terrorists' tactics, and your overt, active enemies will multiply.

Malott's Blog has a wonderful post on Jimmy Carter's latest anti-American diatribe.

The article on the Lebanese general being arrested told me something I hadn't realized before.

Lebanon is in a state of war with Israel, although it signed an armistice in 1949. To this day, Lebanon does not recognize the State of Israel.

Lebanese law forbids any dealings with Israel. A Lebanese citizen faces arrest and prosecution for having such dealings. In 2000, after Israel withdrew its army from southern Lebanon, those who worked for the Israelis were arrested tried and given jail terms ranging from a few months to several years. Those civilians who fled to Israel and later returned were also arrested and given prison terms.

To this day, Lebanon refuses entry to any foreigner who has an Israeli entry or exit stamp on his passport.

No wonder Lebanon won't disarm Hezbollah. And how long will it be before the UN tries to do something about Lebanon's refusal to disarm Hezbollah the way they agreed to in the cease fire? Forever is my guess.

Forget drafting Condi to run for President. Her efforts in pushing the cease fire shows that she's been body-snatched by the State Department and is no longer good for much on the global scene.

I'm so fed up with the Europeasement coming out of the UN, the State Department, and so many "leaders" in foreign policy circles. It will get Israel destroyed. And after that, it will get us destroyed too.

Israel might still have a chance if they throw Olmert out and get a Prime Minister who understands the stakes and who doesn't cave in to world pressure, which will always be against Israel's best interest. Short of that, I don't have a lot of hope right now.

Update:

Thomas Sowell's column today in TownHall has an excellent assessment of what the cease fire means. A brief excerpt:

Why do these phony cease-fire scenarios keep getting repeated? Because there are too many people, including many in the media, who take the corrupt windbags at the U.N. seriously -- so our political leaders have to act as if they take the U.N. seriously as well.

This is a costly charade. Among its costs are human lives. U.N. cease-fires are the ultimate in feel-good decisions made by people who pay no price for the repercussions.