Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Hezbollah’s Phony Victory





It is not in the best interests of any government to offer its citizens the Freedom of the Press. However, the idealism of Western civilization has led us to value self-government as the only legitimate form of representation. Therefore, the Freedom of the Press and Speech are highly regarded in our society.

On the other hand, the world’s worst fascist totalitarians would agree that information is power. Goebbels, Stalin and Bin Laden would be enthusiastic about this point. Yet our governments have refrained from exercising control over such an important tool that our enemies still jealously cling to. They fail to see how they de-legitimize themselves by such reactionary measures. Since they rely heavily on misinformation they don’t even care. In their eyes the Freedom of the Press is one of our greatest weaknesses.

The Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, realized that by giving the media the most sensational headlines as possible he could gain a substantial edge over Israel in their recent conflict. This strategy just about allowed him to secure the services of the international media as an unpaid public relations consultant.

After the conflict, Hezbollah’s boasts of victory were warmly received by the unquestioning media. While it is far from certain whether or not either side has won, this “victory” was achieved despite the fact that Hezbollah has failed to offer any significant resistance to the Israeli military. Israel was able to bomb Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon with complete impunity, not one Israeli jet was shot down during the conflict.

Israeli troops quickly reached their objective of the Litani River and Hezbollah was unable to stop them. They made it to the river 24 hours after the Israeli government announced the objective, even though the government had originally announced that it would take them a week to get there.

The symbolic fact that Israel retook most of the security zone that was the source of Hezbollah’s claim of victory over Israel in 2000 was completely lost on the media and the general public.

Israel’s enemies triumphantly proclaimed that Israel failed because they didn’t succeed in freeing the two Israeli soldiers that were kidnapped by Hezbollah (and was the reason for the war). …But hold on... It is very likely that this conflict will still produce those results because Israeli commandos were sent on several daring missions to seize Hezbollah guerillas, netting 13 prisoners. Although Israel has stated that the release of the Israeli soldiers must be unconditional, one official said that they may be willing to exchange the prisoners and the remains of many others for their kidnapped soldiers. This would be a favorable outcome because the aim of Hezbollah’s kidnapping attack was to swap the victims for Arab prisoners that were already in Israeli jails beforehand.

It is important for Israel to change the way they deal with these issues because this isn’t the first time they have gone down this road...

1. - In 1985 Israel freed 1,150 Palestinians in exchange for three soldiers held in Lebanon.

2. - In 2004 Hezbollah gleefully exchanged a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the remains of three Israeli soldiers for the release of 436 terrorists from Israeli prisons.

Now Israel has sent a clear message. Every time Hezbollah kidnaps an Israeli soldier, Israel will seize six times as many Hezbollah guerillas.

THIS IS A BATTLE THAT HEZBOLLAH CANNOT WIN.

Some supporters of Israel have astonishingly pronounced Hezbollah as the victor as well. They despaired because they had unrealistic expectations and were demoralized by Hezbollah propaganda. Others wished to use the conflict to oust Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, the same way the Democrats want to use the Iraq war to defeat the Republican Party in the US.

Meanwhile Hezbollah continues to dismantle its outposts on the Israeli border and retreat northward. The normally complacent Lebanese army has even deployed troops along the Syrian border to block routes used by weapons smugglers. Israel announced that it is ready to terminate its blockade of Lebanon as soon as international forces replace them in Lebanese seaports and airports. UN troops have been moving in for the past week and when fully deployed they will have 15,000 heavily armed peacekeepers to deter any Hezbollah attacks.

When these efforts are completed Israel will have a security buffer zone to prevent any reoccurrence of the kidnapping attack that sparked this conflict. Most importantly Hezbollah will lose most of the land that it gained from the Israeli withdrawal of 2000. This will be very embarrassing in the long-term.

It appears that the only resistance Hezbollah proved to be effective at was to conquer the media. This conflict was a theatrical performance that starred dead children who danced on their puppeteer’s strings. WHY IS IT THAT WHEN ISRAELI CHILDREN ARE KILLED IN TERRORIST ATTACKS THEIR LIFELESS BODIES ARE NOT DISPLAYED LIKE TROPHIES FOR THE CAMERA? In Lebanon the man nicknamed as “Green Helmet” would load dead children on to ambulances, then unload them and continue the process until he got the right camera shot. It is no small wonder why Hezbollah uses civilians as shields.

These days Hezbollah has been downplaying an interview which featured a statement from Nasrallah that he wouldn’t have ordered the capture of the two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to such a war. There is one thing that he doesn’t regret. The use of civilians as shields has turned out to be very profitable and this conflict ensures that such tactics will only increase in the years ahead.



Hezbollah launches rockets from a heavily populated area in the suburbs of the city of Tyre.

Zombietime has done a great job summarizing the many frauds perpetrated in the media during this conflict. See here and here.

26 comments:

Freedomnow said...

Kev,

I try to be fair so I'd like to point out that there are more factors involved.

The media is addicted to sensationalism. This increases their readership, which in turns brings in advertising.

They also give non-Western dictators and terrorists uncritical coverage in an attempt to be unbiased. However, Western governments are typically subjected to intense scrutiny. Its an attempt at fair play that actually tips the balance in the other direction.

I'm not saying that the media isnt biased, I'm just pointing out that there is much more involved.

Although, some media sources like Great Britain's Guardian displays so much biased propaganda that it is hard to justify calling them a news source.

It should also be pointed out that Fox News has comparable coverage of news events to its competitors like CNN and USA Today. Only in the Editorial section is there an overwhelmingly Conservative bias.

Freedomnow said...

It is likely that UNIFIL will fail to disarm Hezbollah, but a foreign power like Israel wouldn’t be able to do the same either.

Now Lebanese troops are moving south and mixing things up. While they dont have Israel's best interests in hand either, Hezbollah has a lot of enemies in the government and military. It’s unnerving for them. And this time UNIFIL will have artillery and other heavy weaponry.

Israel is pulling out and ending the blockade as promised. Hezbollah is being forced to cooperate as well because they have invested in their public image. They need the Western media and that is going to be a weakness. Hezbollah has values that are much opposed to theirs so this is going to get very interesting.

Since Israel is not interested in negotiating a prisoner swap, Hezbollah has no options left other than to restart the fighting. That is not a smart choice so in the long run they really don’t have any options available to them and have lost the initiative. To restart the fighting Hezbollah will fact the prospect of fighting Israel, UNIFIL and Lebanon!!!!!!

And on top of that they would lose the goodwill that they stole by defaming Israel as “fighting a war exclusively on children and civilians”. Since they would have to provoke Israel they will have to launch an aggressive attack which will be easy for UNIFIL and the Lebanese armed forces to verify that they are the aggressor. The UN may have made a stink about Israeli overflights/sonic booms and disproportional response, but they never denied that Hezbollah started the conflict. Being the aggressor one more time is going to lose a lot of positive media coverage and this time there will be more skepticism thanks to the bloggers who ripped Reuters a new one. They will lose much UN support. Don’t forget that early in the conflict Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan condemned the Hezbollah kidnapping. Militant Shiites are not loved in that part of the world and many local Sunni dictators wouldn’t be sad to see Hezbollah lose either.

You see Hezbollah has shown their hand and got caught bluffing. The pressure is on Hezbollah now. They must trade their prisoners for Arabs who were imprisoned before the conflict or they will be humiliated. Israel has their poker face on so Hezbollah has two prisoners that are more of a liability than an asset.

That means they are going to be on the outs with the UN this time. The UN may talk the talk about Hezbollah disarming and never achieve their goal without blinking, but if Hezbollah doesnt cough up the kidnapping victims, they will have a PR disaster and lose the political support that they typically enjoy.

They are so screwed and everyone knows this mess was their own making!

…Anyways, when fighting terrorists you have to set realistic goals...

The smartest thing to do is to snatch some bargaining chips (prisoners), humiliate Hezbollah by seizing just the right amount of their territory and pounding the hell out of them. That’s exactly what Israel did.

This is not the weak-kneed Israel that Hezbollah did business with in 2004 and 1985. They are taking a methodical approach and it wasnt what Hezbollah expected.

Hezbollah just received a major ass kicking. They are reeling and thats why they are moving their heavy equipment out of the buffer zone. Hezbollah territory looks like the moon while their Christian, Druze and Sunni neighbors are relatively untouched. No matter how much boasting they do, the Lebanese know firsthand who got an ass kicking.

They made a big mistake…

Freedomnow said...

Sorry about the long comment. At least I didnt go off subject this time...

The Merry Widow said...

Fern-Why not?
Leftistas just can't wrap their minds(?) around the fact that some people, ideologies and movements are EVIL! To them Evil does not exist, it's somebody elses fault, it goes along with the idea that children are born pure and their parents, schools or societies are to blame for the "bad" things they do. Well, after raising 2, I can tell you, all children can and will lie, steal and destroy without anyone teaching them! You have to teach them to tell the truth, share and earn. The media doesn't get it!
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!

tmw

nanc said...

i've been staying away for fear i'd go off topic...

nanc said...

oh, what the hell!

i miss aow party at longrange!

Freedomnow said...

TMW,

That was a great example.

Are you saying that I should accept the responsibility for my own actions insteading of blaming my parents or someone else?

No wonder that theory isnt very popular.

I thought that only Republicans should be responsible for their own actions and everyone else could blame them for their problems.

You have destroyed my progressive worldview. Its all your fault.

Freedomnow said...

At least Nanc is partying on a Friday night and not a work night...

nanc said...

stop trying to blame everything on tmw!

Freedomnow said...

You are absolutely right, but I should point out that TMW encouraged you to go off topic.

I wont blame her because she was brought up that way by this illegal capitalist police state.

Are you gals going to the protest this weekend? We are having a "Breasts Not Bombs" event and Cindy Sheehan will be the shirtless guest speaker! Yipppeeee!!!!!!!!!

nanc said...

no, not me - i wouldn't want all you men throwing rocks at your wives and girlfriends when i was done! laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

nanc said...

is that top photo supposed to say "reuteroids"? if so, it is misspelled.

Freedomnow said...

ahhh you are right!!! I will change that this weekend after the protest.

Thanks...

Hows your puppy?

nanc said...

fine - burp - great - burp - too big for one bun!

he thinks he's in charge - all one pound of him!

nanc said...

his name is "machiavelli" if that's any clue...

The Merry Widow said...

I did not go off topic! I was using the example of children to show the total lack of sense about reality that leftistas exhibit! Fern- You are not a leftista, you can actually think and have an original thought, on occasion!
"Why's everbody always pickin' on me?"
Good night, G*D bless and Maranatha!

tmw

nanc said...

fern - i wasn't scolding about the spelling - i honestly cannot see that well and must go get new glasses...dratz...

beakerkin said...

If one ever needed proof the far left was antisemitic read the proHezbollah posts on far left blogs.

Beamish in 08

Freedomnow said...

For all of the hot air I was blowing I can’t believe that I missed the main reason why Hezbollah won’t restart hostilities (at least for a while).

Israel gave them a major beating. In this conflict Hezbollah intentionally put civilians in harms way in order to utilize the anger of their people against Israel.

Now that about four weeks have passed since the ceasefire took effect - Hezbollah's civilian supporters have gotten down to the daunting task of rebuilding. Hezbollah is also investing a lot of time and money in this process as well.

Anger is a very irrational emotion and it is very hard to control. Since Shiite civilians are absorbed in the task of rebuilding their lives, they could turn their anger on Hezbollah if fighting breaks out again. Hezbollah has pushed the envelope as far as they can and can’t go any further.

Would Hezbollah chance the possibility of fighting Israel, UNIFIL and Lebanon, while also facing the possibility of internal dissent? Not only that, but they face losing international support and the goodwill of the media.

They aren’t that stupid.

Freedomnow said...

"...you can actually think and have an original thought, on occasion!"

TMW always gets in a good shot at my expense. Yet I keep coming back for more.

I'm such a sucker!!!

Freedomnow said...

Machiavelli!!!!!!!!

Haa haaaa haaaaaa

I hope you are making lots of extra trips to the butcher to get him some cow toothpicks.

nanc said...

he's vicious i tell you...

The Merry Widow said...

Fern- I only pick on the people with at least a half brain, the others are to stupid to get it! Also, I don't pick on people who mean little to me, so consider yourself among the "elite"! Of course, I have been known to slide one in on jobro or uppity, just so my friends can get a chuckle, but that is still for my friends amusement!
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!

tmw

Freedomnow said...

Somehow you make it seem beneficial to be the object of ridicule by you.

Why do I keep coming back for more?

I am seeking professional help...sigh...

The Merry Widow said...

It's a form of love! Men! :rolling eyes upward: Take it as a compliment, before I change the rock salt to birdshot and give you both barrels. In the fanny!
Joker!

tmw

Freedomnow said...

What a Woman!!!!!!!!!!

Be still my heart...