What was the impetus for the current incursion into Lebanon by Israel, and/or the rocket attacks on Israel by Hezbollah?
Like many of us, I recall reading and hearing about the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas, and the resulting reaction by the IDF. Then, it was reported that two Israeli soldiers were "taken hostage" or "captured" by Hezbollah, in a daring cross border raid. When one reads the first accounts (that are archived) from much of the MSM, "cross border raid" is used, but w/o saying by whom.
And it is this that is important.
What if Israel sent in a commando unit, the mission of which is not known (which is actually unimportant)? Suppose that there were many other such missions, designed to elicit a response from Hezbollah; an act of attrition that would enable Israel to escalate her actions in a grand way.
Israel's own Gulf of Tonkin.
We know that our own government will not stop at lying to convince us of an imminent threat to our safety. Cheney continues to lie about the supposed link between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks, and a large portion of our nation thinks those links exist. Why should it surprise us that Israel would generate an excuse to escalate tension along her border, and perhaps ensnare Syria in a miscalculation that leads to a broadening of the conflict?
There are many initial accounts that the troops Israel initially lost to Hezbollah, six killed and two taken prisoner of war, resulted from an Israeli action. Israeli warplanes routinely violate Lebanese and Syrian airspace - why is it such a stretch that they would send troops over the border?
No one wants to talk about this lest they be labeled an anti-Semite. While I am not one, I am also not necessarily a Zionist. It is my opinion that until the right of the 1948 refugees to return to their homes is addressed and resolved in some fashion, nothing will change in the Mid East. I want a lasting peace, but one different than that envisioned by Cheney, Bush and Rice. I want a fair peace.