by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright August 15, 2006
All Rights Reserved.

ith the ink still drying on the U.N. ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah thumped his chest, declaring a “historic” victory against the Jewish State, something no other Arab country has achieved. To the ever-narcissistic Nasrallah, content, like Osama bin Laden, to hide under rocks and live underground, he took Israel's best shot and somehow survived. Forget about the billions of dollars in property damage, 790 “civilian” deaths and 1-million refugees whose homes and lifestyles were destroyed by Israel. Trumpeting “a strategic, historic victory,” Nasrallah proved himself a tough foe, whose missiles, small arms' fire, and sophisticated anti-tank weapons killed 155 Israelis. “Hezbollah attacked Israel. Hezbollah started the crisis, and Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis,” President George W. Bush told colleagues at the Pentagon.

      Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert endured stinging criticism for not achieving his goal of disarming Hezbollah, a formidable guerrilla army attributed with the 1983 Beirut bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks, killing 263 U.S. soldiers. Supported and armed by Iran and Syria, Hezbollah has been arming and fortifying itself since Israel pulled out of Lebanon in 2000. Deeply entrenched and inhabiting inside Lebanon's population centers, Hezbollah was like an inoperable tumor to the Israeli army. No matter where they bombed and targeted guerrillas, the 24-year-old guerrilla militia receded into the landscape. Hiding rocket launchers, missiles and arms in civilian areas, Israel had a tough time chasing down a slippery enemy, supported by Lebanon's government and local inhabitants. Israel had an impossible task of fighting and rooting out an invisible enemy.

      Israel crossed without opposition into Lebanon, meeting pockets of resistance in key villages. Nowhere did Hezbollah stop the Israeli army from taking strategic positions, even in the most fortified Hezbollah strongholds. Hezbollah, like most guerrilla armies, preferred to booby trap, ambush and fight from the rear. Shooting missiles was Hezbollah's only real power play, scoring little damage considering the thousands of rockets fired. Nasrallah kept the propaganda flowing, threatening deeper missile strikes inside Israel that never happened. After crossing into Israel and abducting two soldiers July 12, Nasrallah promised he wouldn't stop his senseless war, no matter what the damage to Lebanon, until he got his way demanding a prisoner swap. Nasrallah declared victory causing untold damage to Lebanon's infrastructure and civilian population.

      Fighting Hezbollah was bad enough but Olmert never anticipated he'd be battling Israel's own propaganda machine: Former Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and disgruntled members from the Likud party were hell-bent on using the war to eject Olmert from power. “There were many failures—failures identifying the threat, failures in preparing to meet the threat, failures in the management of the war, failures in the management of the home front,” said Bibi, hitting Olmert below the belt. Since leaving the prime minister's office in 1999 at age 50, Netanyahu has scrambled, scratched and scrounged to regain power. When Prime Minister Ehud Barak took over in 1999 and eventually handed power to Ariel Sharon in 2001, Netanyahu drove the Likud Party so far to the right that Sharon eventually bolted, creating the moderate Kadima Party to pursue Bush's “road map ” to peace.

      Nasrallah boasts of victory at the expense of Lebanon. Hatred for Israel runs so deep that rank-and-file Lebanese tolerate Hezbollah's self-destructive acts, setting the country back 20 years. It's beyond ironic that both Nasrallah and Netanyahu, for different reasons, agree that Olmert incompetently managed the latest war. Nasrallah must save face for dragging Lebanon through a knothole while he blackmailed Israel into making concessions on a prisoner swap. Netanyahu despises and discredits Olmert, a protégé of Sharon, because of sibling rivalry and unbridled envy, cutting Bibi out of the loop. Nasrallah called Israel “a confused, cowardly and defeated” enemy, though most of Hezbollah infrastructure is in ruins, prompting Nasrallah to accept a U.N.-brokered peace deal. Nasrallah proved he could live on the lam and fire potshots while Israel decimated the French-influenced Mediterranean state.

      When the dust settles, the Lebanese government must take a hard look at how Nasrallah's hatred for Israel wound up sacrificing the rest of Lebanon. There's no victory watching Lebanon pummeled into the Stone Age. Moderate Arabs must try to corral Nasrallah's narcissistic and self-destructive propensities before he's given license to take the country down for a second time. While the U.N. debates troop deployments in south Lebanon, the sovereign government must decide whether it supports guerrilla movements that have no regard for its country or citizens. Nasrallah must be held accountable for his suicidal rampage into northern Israel. U.N. troops may find it difficult disarming a militia that sees its single mission as galvanizing hatred and destroying the Jewish state. Before Lebanon rebuilds, it must deal with a toxic force that thrives on destruction and chaos.

About the Author

John M. Curtis write politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's author of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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