How Do You Spell "Success"?

Israel says it wants to end the dominance of Hizbullah in Lebanon. So far what they've done is the exact opposite. Only Hizbullah remains. Beirut has been largely abandoned by its civillian population.

Lessons Learned by Israel in Lebanon:

1) When you take the lives and homes away from the ordinary citizens, only the terrorists have lives and homes.

2) Which means you can kill or displace them all without having to make such pesky distinctions.

3) You can bomb national capitals to rubble and STILL have the US support you.

"Nobody has been more active than we have," said White House press secretary Tony Snow, defending administration policy amid continuing U.S. opposition to a quick cease-fire without built-in steps for longer-term stability in both Israel and Lebanon.

Making the rounds of the morning network news shows a day after Rice went to the U.N., Snow said most of the peacemaking efforts have been behind the scenes.

--Yahoo! News

Well they'd have had to be, wouldn't they?

Meantime, Israel has called up its reserves and is apparently warning Lebanese (those it hasn't already displaced) to run away.

This is preparation for a full-scale invasion. That is, a hostile crossing of national borders by another nation. I'm pretty sure that's wrong.

Keep safe, Ahmad.

In other news, Condi Rice is apparently preparing to schlep a "peace plan" (and I think schlep is a most appropriate word) around next week. By then there just may still be a Lebanese government to sign it.