JINSA Report #592 The Past as Prologue

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August 7, 2006

JINSA Report #592

The Past as Prologue

Charles Krauthammer wrote last week:

America's green light for Israel to defend itself is seen as a
favor to Israel. But that is a tendentious, misleadingly partial
analysis. The green light - indeed, the encouragement - is also
an act of clear self-interest. America wants, America needs, a
decisive Hezbollah defeat. Unlike many of the other terrorist
groups in the Middle East, Hezbollah is a serious enemy of the
United States. In 1983 it massacred 241 American servicemen.
Except for al-Qaeda, it has killed more Americans than any other
terror organization.

He is, of course, correct - but started from Step 2. A quick review
reminds us that Israel's problem with Hizballah is a direct result of
American (and French) failure to act against Hizballah when it was our
problem. The U.S., France and Italy were the backbone of the
multinational force in Lebanon in 1982, overseeing the withdrawal of
Arafat's army from Lebanon following Israel's destruction of his "state
within a state" in the south. In April 1983, Hizballah blew up the
American Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people. In October 1983,
Hizballah blew up the Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 American
service personnel and a second bomb killed 56 French paratroopers.

France, understanding that Hizballah was an arm of Iran, conducted a
raid on Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG) positions in the Bekka Valley.
With the same understanding, the U.S. planned an attack on the Sheik
Abdullah IRG barracks in Baalbek. The U.S. raid was aborted, however,
for fear that Arab states would object. By February 1984, American
forces were withdrawn from Lebanon and Hizballah replaced the PLO as the
operators of a "state within a state" in southern Lebanon.

Seeing our weakness, Hizballah kidnapped CIA Beirut Station Chief
William Buckley in 1984, tortured and later killed him; killed Navy
Diver Robert Stethem in June 1985; and kidnapped and killed LTC Rich
Higgins, USMC - serving with UN forces in Lebanon - in 1988. Tweaking
us, but not provoking a response from us.

Israel was too close to Hizballah to ignore it and responded to
provocations in 1993 with Operation Accountability and again in 1996
with Operation Grapes of Wrath (remember Qana? Makes you wonder.) In
1993, the US negotiated an "oral understanding" with Israel and
Hizballah. In April 1996, a written agreement brokered by the U.S.
barred cross-border attacks on civilian targets, as well as using
civilian villages to launch attacks. The U.S., France, Israel, Lebanon
and Syria comprised the monitoring group.

So now it is 2006 and the US position has finally matured. President
Bush has been admirably clear on both the nature of the provocations
against Israel and the United States and the requirement to finally
defang Hizballah and assert Lebanese sovereignty in the south - without
trying to "negotiate" yet another "cease fire" with a terrorist
organization. We are enormously impressed by the firmness of his stance,
but can't help wondering why it took the American government 23 years
from the first attack to get to this point, and still await action on
the sure knowledge that Iran and Syria are ultimately the culprits and
no victory in Lebanon alone will suffice.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3488
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