Israel - Lebanon

No thoughtful person can not have thought about what's happening in the Middle East (it seemed fitting to use a double negative because what's happening is so negative). Lashing out is understandable because the parties feel wronged but that doesn't make it effective or right. Surely we realize that the reason we (I saw 'we' because I think that we're all in this together) are having so much trouble (lack of success) with our policies is because they are bad policies. It's not that the U.S. didn't start a war and invade and occupy a country well -- it's that it did it at all. It's not that Israel is doing a bad job of bombing Lebanon -- it's that doing so is not a effective way to accomplish anything positive. How many times must we employ these failed policies before we realize that it's the policy not the implementation that is broken?

Commenting on those who argue that Israel is too nice to win*, Gregory Djerejian writes:

I'm just honestly baffled and stunned that people are writing this kind of stuff, and seriously debating it as if it's even within the outer reaches of the rule-book. It's not, it's bat-shit crazy, it's absurd, it's insane.

[...]

Hannah Arendt once wrote:

No civilization would ever have been possible without a framework of stability, to provide the wherein for the flux of change. Foremost among the stabilizing factors, more enduring than customs, manners and traditions, are the legal systems that regulate our life in the world and our daily affairs with each other.

The cornerstone of our polity and civilization, that what distinguishes us from our fanatical, nihilistic foes, is our respect of law, including the laws of war enshrined in the post-WWII, post-Holocaust era. To throw these by the way-side, in favor of the law of the jungle, is to defeat ourselves.

* From Fontana Labs: "On a lighter note, do check out the Podhoretz piece, which is remarkable because it contains not a single declarative sentence."

UPDATE: Digby says it better:

I'm not sure I really get why the US and Israel haven't yet come to terms with the fact that this fourth generation war cannot be won with classic military action. I suspect it is the neocon influence which, throughout many decades, never gave a passing thought to terrorism or assymetrical warfare. They have been stuck in a cold war mindset (a mindset that was wrong about the cold war too) and have consistently seen the world through the prism of rogue totalitarian states. This is why, in spite of the fact that everything is going to hell in a handbasket in a hundred different ways, they persist in focusing on Iran (formerly Iraq) and ignoring all the moving parts that make their aggressive plans to "confront" these regimes simpleminded and doomed to failure.

For Israel and the US it couldn't be worse. They have systematically chipped away at any moral authority they had while demonstrating that their military, diplomatic and economic power are paper tigers. What an excellent strategy for all concerned. Oh, and too bad about all the dead bodies that have been produced to create that sad outcome.