Thursday 30 August 2007

Coming our way


The US has delivered 130 armored vehicles to the Lebanese army to "fight terrorists in the north" just as these "terrorists" are the verge of defeat.

It is not explained what strategic value is provided by a Humvee in house-to-house fighting.

The US military shipped in its most senior officer, Admiral William Fallon (head of the U.S. Central Command) to pat Lebanese ministers on the back for a "job well done" in bombarding Palestinian homes into dust.

The last time the US inspected the army (January 2006) they expressed confidence in the Lebanese soldiers. A few months later the Israelis launched their war on Hizbollah. It seems the Americans were hoping the army's tea-making capabilities would put to good use once the Israelis did the business. Alas for the US, Hizbollah refused to be crushed.

So here comes the second attempt. What the Israelis failed to do with their first world weapons the Lebanese army is expected to do with US cast offs. All this of course comes as the Lebanese state is more and more entrenched in two opposing camps with the west throwing all their support behind the March 14 cabal.

There is a dangerous misconception at play in both the US and the March 14 that the army will hold together in any attack on Hizbollah or the Palestinian resistance. There is a belief that because the mass of ordinary people supported the army attack on Fateh el-Islam they would continue to support them if they turned their guns on the rest of the country.

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