Civilian Shields

The World Has Just Rewarded Civilian Shields

By

GS Don Morris, Ph.D.

August 11, 2006

It is Friday evening here in Israel. Families here, as I am sure is the same in Lebanon, are anxious, worried and confused. It appears that the United Nations has finally put together a resolution designed to stop the death and destruction in both countries. Interesting that the world is in a rush to stop the war and THE answer suddenly appears-it is called a ceasefire resolution. Perhaps this rush to judgment is the result of photos, video, story lines that focus upon primarily the action among the Lebanese people. Perhaps the PR campaign of doctored photos, staged scenes of destruction, and “forced” story lines have lead otherwise intelligent, caring people to fall for the oldest trick in the terrorist book. Emotion nearly always over rides analysis based upon facts. Hezzbllah’s PR campaign has overwhelmed the world. People actually believe the only way out of this situation is with a ceasefire, buffer troop resolution-you bought this hook, line and sinker. The situation I am talking about is the alleged death rate of civilians. The entire motivation for this resolution is based upon a false assumption. You have now rushed to judgment-there are multiple other possibilities for resolving this situation-no one seems to want to discuss them and Israel is displaying its inept public relations.

A great deal of diligent work and effort was expended by hundreds of people in order to finally arrive at this resolution. Many people in the international community will rejoice this evening-I am not one of them.

If this resolution is enacted, Israel and the free West will have been dealt a catastrophic blow for freedom. There are many questions left either asked or unanswered by governments, media types and citizens of the world.

Why a new resolution when the UN had one already in place-UN 1559? As written, if enforced, this war would never have begun; therefore there would be no need for another resolution to stop it.

If you can’t enforce UN 1559, what makes anyone think this “cease-fire” resolution can be successfully implemented? The recent history of UN resolutions being implemented successfully has been comparable the number of times the Red Sox have won the World Series.

“The essence of this new resolution is it would give UN forces in south Lebanon a mandate under Chapter 6 of the UN Charter - which Israel has previously opposed.

The mandate would be modified to make the force stronger than it has been in the 28 years it has been in south Lebanon. The UN force, known by its acronym UNIFIL, would help coordinate the deployment of Lebanese forces to the south, which has been under de facto control of Hizbullah for years. IDF troops that have been operating in the area in more than four weeks of war would then withdraw. “

If I understand this correctly, the UNIFIL troop base will be expanded while assisting the Lebanese army to deploy on the border. Isn’t this the same UNIFIL who has failed repeatedly when a peacekeeping action was needed on the border? Isn’t this the same Lebanese army that has been described as weak and unable to deter in any manner Hezzbollah as reported by the Lebanese PM himself? Isn’t this the same army whose members have been assisting Hezzbollah on the battlefield? What has changed with either to make any of us believe they can produce a ceasefire? The data is that UNIFIL and the Lebanese army are weak, poorly armed and without proper training relative to the Iranian army wing we call Hezzbollah. Both were so ineffective that they allowed the weapons of mass death to be imported into Lebanon, they allowed for over 5 years the country side to be radically change by permitting deep, enforced bunkers to be built. These bunkers were built for munitions, missiles and terrorists-none were built for the Lebanese people.

What country when attacked is told it may not respond in any manner it deems necessary and is then told you have a timeline to complete whatever military action you are going to take? As far as I know this has applied to only Israel. A stopwatch has literally been placed upon a sovereign country-do you not see the injustice of this? You have just rewarded Hezzbollah and Iran. You have also rewarded all other countries and/or terrorist groups who will next engage in battle with countries other than Israel.

Do you realize that you have immediately provided a reward for battles accruing civilian deaths? Do you look the other way when challenged by those of us who realize you have given Hezzbollah, Iran and fascist Islam a new winning strategy? You reward them by not holding Hezzbollah accountable for its actions. You reward Hezzbollah and Iran when you allow them to violate most of the Geneva Convention rules when it comes to combatant rules of war. Hamas has already said it will use these same tactics. Imagine what has occurred and will take place with munitions, nuclear plants and missile launchers in Iran. You have made it profitable to have civilians killed-you have rewarded one of the most despicable human behaviors known to humankind!

Have you given consideration that this resolution has established a precedent when it comes to across border fighting? Was this also your intention? Israel, correctly so I might suggest, has had a policy of not allowing such an action to occur. The 15,000 person group will serve as shields for Hezzbollah. Can you imagine Israel responding to fire from Hezzbollah and returning fire over the heads of this force? What happens when Hezzbollah deliberately fires into this group, kills and maims soldiers and then blames Israel? How will you deal with this and the media jumping on the action to once again denigrate Israel?

What are the rules of engagement for this resolution? How long will these troops be deployed on our border? What is the exit strategy? What are the performance markers used to determine if the group is effective? Without answers to all of these and other questions, this resolution should never see the light of day.

Do you not see that you have given our enemies a new strategy to limit us while strengthening them? One of the outcomes of this kind of resolution is any aggressor can operate freely with the knowledge that in less than 31 days, the international community will step in and rescue it while punishing the victim country. It is precisely this unspoken outcome that begins the death nil for the West. Once again we failed to honor our beliefs and our way of life. We have capitulated to the enemy.

Clear defined beliefs lead to the establishment of precise goals. The goals enable us to make decisions about what we know we have to do as well as dictate what we need to do. It is time to once again state with clarity of vision and precision of thought what we stand for as well as what we believe our way of life should look like. We need to be resolute in our convictions and then develop the goals leading us into action-a nation’s soul depends upon this. We need to have congruity between what we say and what we do. I call this acting within integrity-perhaps we have lost some along the way. We can regain our lost souls as a country and as a nation-let us begin now. By requesting that the UN demonstrate its ability by asking the international community for implementation of 1559 before we attempt another new resolution.