Re: Syria Trouble Spreads to Lebanon

[Guest guest]

Syria has long considered Lebanon much as the Chinese consider Taiwan: as a part of the country that was taken away from the home country. Syrian (and Iranian) interference turned Lebanon from a "jewel on the coast" as it was sometimes referred to in the first part of the 1900's, to a violence plagued sewer. Mostly this happened when Islamic terrorist groups started fighting in the country. Fighting Christians, Druze, Jews, Israel and each other. They managed to shatter cities, wipe out the economy and infrastructure and kill untold numbers of those with whom they disagreed.

Syria played a key role in this. They offered sanctuaries and training bases, particularly in the Bekka Valley. Israel invaded after much provocation and nearly pacified the country except that the leaders of the terror groups had either fled to Syria or, like Yasser Arafat, were hiding in densely populated slums, using the residents as human shields to prevent the Israelis from coming to get them.

The US then sent troops to secure a peace. This worked only to protect and encourage the terrorists since the US did not really stop the terrorists, particularly not from fighting each other, but we did stop the Israelis from crushing them when they were weak. I once talked with a Marine officer who was stationed in Lebanon during that time. He said that all they really controlled was the airport and the rest of the city was constant gun and artillery fire day and night. Shells often "accidentally" hit the US embassy and its grounds or in the airport and the Marines frequently came under sniper and machine gun fire. The Marines were also highly restricted in shooting back and it was not uncommon for the terrorists to fire right in the open, from behind a group of wildly cheering children. You see, not even snipers were allowed to fire because if they did and hit a child, the media would claim US troops were killing Lebanese children and never mention the terrorists using them as human shields.

The silly rules also resulted directly in the bombing of the Marine barracks and an embassy. You see, the State Department weenies didn't want the troops to present an aggressive image, so they had to have their weapons unloaded and in non-threatening positions, which was terribly silly since most Lebanese adult males had guns so the sight of gun wasn't likely to bother them much. In addition, the weenies also refused to allow defensive barriers around the embassy or barracks because "the US should always present itself as open and welcoming" and that barriers might be intimidating. Well, that allowed a bomb to be driven right up to both the embassy and barracks with heavy loss of life. Then the troops were pulled out, much to the delight of the terrorists. To this day it is one of the signs of weakness they parade about the softness of the West. If instead the US had gone in with more force right into the Bekka Valley, much later misery might have been avoided.

My point is that Syria is a prime actor along with Iran in Lebanon, so any spread of violence there is inevitable.

In a message dated 6/18/2011 3:57:33 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Syria Trouble Spreads to Lebanon

[Guest guest]

" My point is that Syria is a prime actor along with Iran in Lebanon, so any

spread of violence there is inevitable. "

It isn't just the leaders of these countries who are responsible for what is

happening in the Middle East. I often wonder how whole populations of countries

can behave like a bunch of murderous thugs. Israel is trying to turn its little

carpet of land into something greater, but all the surrounding countries remain

the same. It must be that some types of people are just thugs.

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