Israel is fighting a war here, in which there can be no winner. It's amazing, the similarities between what's going on in the Middle East today, and what happened forty years ago in Viet Nam, with Hezbollah fighting with impeccable guerilla tactics, and Israeli forces unsure of who's the enemy, and who's merely a civilian.
Reports are coming in that while the attacks from Lebanon continue to affect northern Israeli towns and setlements, the counter-attack is haphazard at best, for the enemy wears no uniform, and blends in completely with those around. The best Israeli forces can do is return fire close to the source of a rocket attack, and that leads to civilian deaths.. collateral damage one might say.
But, this cannot be blamed on Israel alone.
Lebanese civilians, either through suasion or active support, are sheilding this terrorist group. It is established that there is not one Middle Eastern State that would want Israel to feel comfortable, to be left in peace to continue with it's own internal struggles and daily life.
Funding for the arsenal Hezbollah has amassed had to have come from somewhere, and all the traditional enemies of the State of Israel are suspect.. Egypt.. Sudan.. Saudi Arabia.. are all to some extent in support of those the US has branded 'terrorist', from the Taliban, al Q'aida, Hezbollah..
And yet the West continually increases the economic might of these countries, of this region, with it's 'addiction' to oil.
It might be said with some assurance, that 'we have seen the enemy, and it is us..' in this case.
The hard line would be to throw all support behind Israel, and cut all economic ties with the rest of the OPEC nations. Develop a working relationship with Vlad for Russian oil and gas, and cut the Middle East completely out of the equation. Allow Russia membership in the WTO, while working towards restricting the Wild West attitude in the former Soviet States, and align China towards the same resources.. those in the Baltic.
A concerted effort towards exclusion would perhaps move the Muslim States towards policing their own, and make no mistake, this is not a religious measure, but an economic one.
Muslims are not, on the whole, any more violent than any other faith. They simply have more belief in the afterlife for those who martyr themselves than we do, and thus place a lesser value on this life, or on the lives of any others.
Work on their purses, and their ideology will be pulled into some semblance of compliance.
Work on the destruction of their ideology, and we do no more than to incite more and more to give themselves into the hands of Allah (blessed be His name)..
We must remember, that we are a complacent society, spurred into action only by the worst scenario's.
They are far more volatile, and are dedicated to such an extreme as boggles our imaginations.