[Dean's World] Dave Price: Deal or Delusion?

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dave Price:
Deal or Delusion?
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1155324905.shtml


   Reuters says UN key members [1]have approved a ceasefire resolution.
   The main issue being argued has course been the nature of the
   international force to secure South Lebanon postbellum.

     The deal calls for an immediate "cessation of hostilities" followed
     by a phased withdrawal of Israeli units as the Lebanese army and an
     expanded U.N. force move into southern Lebanon.
     Up to 15,000 French and other troops are expected to strengthen the
     U.N. peacekeeping force. As part of the deal, Hizbollah would pull
     out from south of the Litani River, 20 km (13 miles) from the
     Israeli border.
     The timing of Israel's withdrawal and the nature of the
     international force sent into the area had been the main points of
     contention that held up a deal this week.

   As I've repeatedly pointed out, Iran is who Israel is actually at war
   with here, and they're going to promptly start resupplying Hizbollah
   (assuming they don't just decide eternal war in Israel and Lebanon is
   a better deal). At that point, the success of the agreement in
   securing a lasting peace rests on: the determination of the French to
   shoot at them rather than just look the other way.
   God help us.
   Of course, if that does happen it could go a long way toward isolating
   Iran's leaders, and fully delegitimizing Hizbollah. I'll cross my
   fingers and hope that Condi has somehow found a way to negotiate some
   spine into this peacekeeping force, but at this point I'm not
   optimistic.

References

   1. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20060811/pl_nm/mideast_dc_118