JINSA Report #585 Paradigm Shift?

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July 18, 2006

JINSA Report #585

Paradigm Shift?

This may be no ordinary paradigm shift. Today we may have a screaming
red-letter, poster-sized, bells and whistles, mega-super-duper paradigm
shift.

Regular readers know all about the symbiotic relationship between
terrorists and their state sponsors, but the media has tended to focus
on the terrorist side of the equation - the damage, the retaliation, the
damage of the retaliation become the beloved "cycle of violence." There
has been little if any public discussion about the cycle of outside
forces providing the terrorists with training, money, refuge, and
political support, until now.

Because of Syrian and Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq, the
American government has been better than most at understanding the
problem. Faced with Israel's determination not only to attack Hezbollah,
but also to hold the Lebanese Government responsible for Hezbollah's
rise in the south by not fulfilling the conditions of the relevant
Security Council Resolutions, the Administration has been strongly
supportive. Better yet, caught unawares on an open microphone, the
President went even farther in his denunciation of Syria and the UN's
call for an immediate cease-fire, which would save Hezbollah.

The other members of the G-8 understand less than the U.S. government,
but under the clear influence of the President, blamed Hezbollah and
Hamas for the violence and said, "those that support them cannot be
allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos and provoke a wider
conflict."

But the most important change may be in the Arab world. We often
complain that the Arabs say one thing to the world and another to their
own people, but Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain and others have
incontrovertibly woken up to the problem. The (Saudi) Arab Times editor
wrote, "The angry response from Saudi Arabia has politically isolated
Hezbollah and Hamas besides holding them responsible for their actions …
Unfortunately we must admit that in such a war the only way to get rid
of ‘these irregular phenomena' is what Israel is doing. The operations
of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon are in the interest of people of Arab
countries and the international community."

Wadi Batti, an Iraqi columnist, wrote, "The Lebanese example confirms
the fears of Arabs about the presence of armed militias that threaten
our stability and security," he wrote. "By initiating the confrontation
with Israel, Hizbullah has made a mockery of the Lebanese government and
leaders, who are now seen as pawns in the hands of Nasrallah. How long
will the Arabs continue to fight on behalf of Iran?"

It is a long way from acknowledging that sponsorship of terrorist
organizations can come back to haunt the sponsors to halting one's own
support for terrorist organizations (the U.S. military finds that
Egyptians and Saudis, not Iraqis, comprise nearly all of the suicide
bombers in Iraq), but without such acknowledgement, change is impossible.

Any day we find the media, the American government, the Russians, the
Europeans and the most influential members of the Arab world on the same
page regarding actions taken by Israel, either Israel is in big, big
trouble or we may be watching the paradigm shift.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3462

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