Israel may well attack Iran soon
- Thread starter blackchip
- Start date
I'd argue Lebanon is the most pro-western mid-east country.
It's a mixed Christian/Muslim nation, with both religions sharing certain aspects of government, but the Christians have typically wielded the real power.
The fact that Hezbollah is gaining support is a real cause for concern amongst American and Israeli politicians and military strategists, who fear that Lebanon will be used as a proxy state by Iran, because of its strategic location, if the pro-west government is overthrown by Hezbollah and/or Syria.
The U.S. needs to spend some serious assets in Lebanon to ensure that doesn't happen, and so far, they've done a terrible job of it. Israel hasn't managed Lebanon policy with much intelligence, either.
The use of blunt military force in response to fairly routine border incidents last year, with the true aspiration of driving Hezbollah from the south of Lebanon, and defanging them of their rockets, failed miserably. The U.S. should have intervened as soon as it became clear Israeli policy goals were not likely to succeed, but we did not, and that only allowed Iran and Syria to point to the large civilian casualties (mainly caused by Israeli air power) amongst Lebanese civilians, and use that to foment anti-Israel and anti-American sentiment, as it was perceived as a 'U.S. blessed' military operation.
We need to seriously revamp our middle eastern policy if we really want to help achieve a lasting stability in the mid-east; one that would benefit all countries in the region, and thwart Iran's growing influence in the Persian Gulf.
Israel would be the biggest benefactor of a more balanced approach, IMO.
By the way, you guys should chill out a little. You can disagree in a civil manner.
Quote from blackchip:
When name calling fails then start the interweb fisticuffs. LOL.
Yeah, I can tell you're a real tough guy like Clint Eastwood.
Bet you kicked some Marine ass in your day, huh? Tell us your made up stories. Please.
Clown. LOL.
*yawn*
Marines are cool dudes in my book. I worked with way, way more FMF than USN.
Back to theories, wikipedia and google for you now.
P.S. My apologies for the distrubance, ByLo.
