She’s being celebrated by the residents of her hometown, but the Hezbollah militia that controls it isn’t thrilled about Rima Fakih becoming Miss USA:

Newly-crowned Miss USA Rima Fakih may be the pride and joy of her native Lebanese village, but the 24-year-old beauty contestant is far less popular among some leaders in the Middle East.

In an interview Tuesday with Lebanese television, Hezbollah official Hassan Fadlallah reportedly had few glowing words to describe Fakih, who became the first Muslim American on Sunday to secure the crown.

“The criteria through which we evaluate women are different from those of the west,” Fadlallah told the television station, AFP reported.

Because it typically involves the ability to strap on an explosive vest an walk into a crowded cafe.

But, the rest of the town has other feelings:

[R]esidents have reportedly hailed Fakih as an “honor” to the region.

“She is an honor to us, a honor to all of southern Lebanon,” her aunt Afifa Fakih told AFP.

“We are so often described as terrorists and killers, but we Shiites love life and beauty — and mainly the beauty of the soul, which is what is so special about Rima,” the aunt reportedly said.

Good for them.

H/T: Melissa Clouthier

• Muslim-American Wins Miss USA Pageant, Conservative Bloggers Freak Out
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• Federal Stimulus Dollars Going For Beauty School Tuition Assistance
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• Can’t We All Just Get Along ?

BEIRUT, Dec. 3 — Sunni residents and Shiite protesters clashed in the capital Sunday, leaving one man dead and raising tension across Lebanon on a third day of demonstrations aimed at toppling the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

The shooting death of the Shiite protester was the first reported since Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim movement, and its allies launched their anti-government campaign Friday, sending hundreds of thousands of followers to downtown Beirut, where armor, barricades and troops guarded the government headquarters where the prime minister has taken up residence. Thousands have camped there since, housed in canvas tents spread across downtown; tens of thousands more joined them Sunday.

Does anyone still think that this was a good idea now ?

Previous Posts:

The Other Shoe Drops In Lebanon
Gingrich On The Lebanese Cease Fire
Peace In Our Time?Not So Much
Why Israel Lost
Quote Of The Day II
Quote Of The Day
Israel Accepts UN Cease Fire Deal

• The Other Shoe Drops In Lebanon
• The Other Shoe Drops In Lebanon
• Peace In Our Time…..Not So Much
• Peace In Our Time…..Not So Much
• Israel Widens The War

BEIRUT, Nov. 21 — Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, a vocal opponent of Syrian involvement in the country and a leader of the country’s Maronite Christian minority, was assassinated in Beirut Tuesday, intensifying an already volatile situation and pushing the country’s government a step closer to collapse.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora later told the nation in a televised address that the killing “will not intimidate us” but will increase the government’s determination to go ahead with an international tribunal to try those responsible for last year’s assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

Gemayel, 34, was gunned down Tuesday morning as his car drove through a Christian suburb, his sedan riddled with bullet holes. He was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital shortly after 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. EST), and a distraught crowd quickly gathered to wait for information of his condition.

No official announcement was made in the crowded lobby, but word soon spread that the young Cabinet minister was dead.

“There’s nothing left to live for,” one woman cried out, as sobs and wails rose around her.

Yet another tragic chapter in the tragic history of Lebanon, and the Gemayel family:

Gemayel was descended from one of Lebanon’s most prominent Maronite Christian families and was the grandson and namesake of the founder of the Phalangist Party, the lead Maronite political group and sponsor of one of the largest militias during the civil war.

The elder Pierre Gemayel survived an assassination attempt in April 1975 that left four other Phalangist Party members dead and helped spark that conflict.

The younger Gemayel’s uncle, Bashir, was elected president of Lebanon in 1982, but was assassinated before his inauguration. Bashir’s brother Amin, Pierre’s father, was elected to replace him.

One can only conclude that this is a sign that Syria is again cementing its control over its neighbors affairs.

• I Hate To Say I Told You So…..
• I Hate To Say I Told You So…..
• Peace In Our Time…..Not So Much
• Peace In Our Time…..Not So Much
• Imam Robertson Speaks Again

Now, it appears that Hezbollah is making a bid to become to control Lebanon itself:

BEIRUT, Nov. 19 — In a deepening crisis that has paralyzed Lebanese politics, the leader of Hezbollah urged his well-organized followers to prepare for mass protests aimed at toppling the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

The order by Hassan Nasrallah, issued in a speech Saturday that was broadcast Sunday, was the latest in a test of wills between Hezbollah and a government that Nasrallah dismissed as more representative of the U.S. ambassador than Siniora.

More than a simple political standoff in an always fractious country, many see the escalating struggle as perhaps the most decisive in Lebanon in a generation. It may determine which forces guide the country for years ahead: the coalition around Siniora that draws its strength from the country’s Sunni Muslims, Druze and some Christians and has aligned itself with the United States and Europe, or Hezbollah’s Shiite Muslim constituency, backed by Iran and Syria, and its Christian allies represented by a former general.

(…)

In the speech, Nasrallah said the government faced two choices: either resign in favor of what he called a national unity government that would give a far greater voice to Hezbollah and its allies or hold early parliamentary elections. If neither demand is met, he said, the movement would resort to demonstrations until “the illegitimate, unconstitutional government” fell.

Nasrallah stressed that the protests, perhaps lasting days or even weeks, would remain peaceful.

“We will not allow any clash,” he said.

At least not until we’re ready for it.

Remind me again why this cease fire was a good idea ?

Previous Posts:

Gingrich On The Lebanese Cease Fire
Peace In Our Time?Not So Much
Why Israel Lost
Quote Of The Day II
Quote Of The Day
Israel Accepts UN Cease Fire Deal

• I Hate To Say I Told You So…..
• I Hate To Say I Told You So…..
• Peace In Our Time…..Not So Much
• Peace In Our Time…..Not So Much
• Israel Widens The War

O’REILLY: Continuing now with FOX News analyst Newt Gingrich. Nobody I know thinks that the United Nations force and the Lebanese army is going to restrain Hezbollah’s military machine, going to disarm it, going to cause any disruption to it. Why then, if that’s true, did Israel stop fighting?

GINGRICH: I frankly don’t know. I think that this is a very bad defeat for the democracies. I think the United Nations’ resolution is a disaster. I think it will not be implemented effectively.

We’ve seen the United Nations force in South Lebanon for over 20 years totally fail to do their job. There’s no reason to believe they’re going to do it now. And I think everybody should notice that Assad of Syria and Ahmadinejad of Iran both publicly, in an orchestrated way, claimed credit in the last 24 hours for having defeated the United States and defeated Israel. I think this is a very significant defeat for the United States and for the democracies.

O’REILLY: See now, we had the Israeli ambassador in the United Nations, Dan Gillerman on earlier this week. And he’s a smart guy. And he basically said look, world opinion matters to Israel in the way we conduct ourselves. And we wanted to give the world a signal that we are for peace and that we are reasonable people in this way.

But if they do it again, and he said on this ? I don’t know whether you saw it, but he said on this program that’ll be the end of Lebanon. That will be it. One more time, Lebanon’s done. And by implication, Syria as well. Is that what you think will happen if Hezbollah starts up again?

GINGRICH: I don’t know. I mean, you know, I would have thought this time that the Israelis would have gone into Lebanon hard enough to destroy Hezbollah.

If you look at the total number of missiles fired at northern Israel, if you look at the almost a million Israeli refugees, you know, the news media almost never covered the Israeli refugees, the Israeli children hiding in bomb shelters, the fear in northern Israel. It’s a very one- sided news coverage.

So my question for Ambassador Gillerman would be, what makes him think the news media will be any more fair next time?

And next time, remember, Hezbollah will be hiding behind a United Nations force, which will announce promptly they’re going to investigate.

I think it is a substantial failure. I think it’s very revealing that Hezbollah is already passing out Iranian money to help rebuild South Lebanon. I predict Hezbollah will come out of this stronger than they were before the war started. And that is really a very bad defeat for the United States and the democracies.

And I think that, in the end, Gingrich will be proven right. This was a bad deal. The Israeli people are beginning to recognize it as well:

From the failure to get food and water to the troops, to complaints of an uncertain war plan and overconfident generals, the Lebanon war is fast being viewed within Israel as a major stumble. Military and political leaders already are trading blame; some are expected to lose their posts. Officers say the mistakes show weakness in the military, the Israel Defense Forces, known as the IDF. Many Israelis worry that the failure of the military to squash the Hezbollah militia will make their country more vulnerable to other enemies.

“For four weeks we failed to defend ourselves against daily bombardments against our cities. This is a failure that never happened before,” said Yuval Steinitz, a Likud Party member and former chairman of parliament’s defense committee. “This is going to send a bad message.”

And there will likely be political consequences for all of this.

JERUSALEM — With the conflict in Lebanon quieted, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert now moves on to his next task: the growing dissent at home.

Five weeks ago, before two of its soldiers were kidnapped from a border post and Israel responded with air strikes and a massive ground invasion, Mr. Olmert was laying the groundwork for an eventual consolidation of settlements in the West Bank.

Now, with the Israeli public in quiet revolt over a military operation that they see as not quite effective enough, his young government has found itself on an entirely different path that is likely to lead away from the Prime Minister’s West Bank plan.

“We’re only 24 hours in [after the ceasefire] and already the knives are out,” said Rafi Smith, of the Smith Research Institute polling agency. “People are waking up to what they think is a very grim result and I think many questions will be asked.”

Two weeks ago, Mr. Smith’s polling data showed Mr. Olmert with an approval rating as high as 70 per cent, and Defence Minister Amir Peretz enjoying support of 60 per cent. This week, after the ceasefire, those numbers dropped dramatically: Just 31 per cent of respondents said they were satisfied with Mr. Peretz’s performance, while 62 per cent said Mr. Olmert did not handle the war well.

As I’ve said before, this cease fire did not solve the problem, it merely delayed the final outcome, which is likely to be more deadly now.

Previous Posts:

Peace In Our Time…Not So Much
Why Israel Lost
Quote Of The Day II
Quote Of The Day
Israel Accepts UN Cease Fire Deal

• Israel Widens The War
• Israel Widens The War
• Israel Accepts UN Cease Fire Deal
• Israel Accepts UN Cease Fire Deal
• The Only Way Out

WASHINGTON ? The United States blocked an Iranian cargo plane’s flight to Syria last month after intelligence analysts concluded it was carrying sophisticated missiles and launchers to resupply Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, two U.S. intelligence officials say.

Eight days after Hezbollah’s war with Israel began, U.S. diplomats persuaded Turkey and Iraq to deny the plane permission to cross their territory to Damascus, a transfer point for arms to Hezbollah, the officials said.

Here’s how the whole thing unfolded:

?July 15: Three days after the war began, a source tipped off U.S. intelligence about an imminent shipment of missiles from Iran to Hezbollah.

?July 19: A spy satellite photographed Iranian crews loading three missile launchers and eight crates, each normally used to carry a Chinese-designed C-802 Noor missile, aboard a transport plane at Mehrabad air base near Tehran. Israel says Hezbollah fired a C-802, a precision-guided anti-ship cruise missile, at an Israeli warship off Lebanon’s coast on July 14.

?July 20: The Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane left for Damascus, but Iraqi air-traffic controllers denied it permission to enter Iraq’s airspace. The Iranian flight crew then requested permission to fly over Turkey. Turkish controllers granted permission ? but only if the plane would land for an inspection. The plane returned to Tehran, where the military cargo was unloaded.

?July 22: The plane flew humanitarian aid to Damascus after stopping for inspection in Turkey.

As Frank Martin points out, this operation would not have been possible if Saddam Hussein were still in power. In that case, Hezbollah would have likely gotten the missiles and the ability to kill more innocent Israelis.

None Found

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 17 — France has rebuffed U.N. pleas to make a major contribution to a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, setting back international efforts to send a credible military force to the region to police a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, according to U.N. and French officials.

French President Jacques Chirac instead committed Thursday to send a relatively small military engineering company of 200 soldiers to serve in a reinforced U.N. peacekeeping mission that is expected to grow to 15,000 strong and that will help Lebanon police a demilitarized zone in southern Lebanon. He also said that a force of 1,700 French troops and crew stationed in ships off the coast of Lebanon could be sent in to help the U.N. force during a crisis.

The French decision, which was first reported today in the Paris daily Le Monde, has thrown U.N. military planning into disarray on the eve of a major international meeting this afternoon of potential contributors to a U.N. force. It also seriously complicates U.N. efforts to get a vanguard force of peacekeepers from powerful European countries within the next two weeks.

And why would they do this ? One possibility is that they’re cowards:

A French military source told Le Monde that the decision was also prompted by the government’s anxiety over serving under U.N. command, citing the loss of some 84 French troops in the U.N. mission in the early 1990s in Bosnia and the seizure of French peacekeepers of hostages. The source also cited “fears of reprisals from Syria or Iran.

Napoleon Bonaparte must be turning over in his grave.

James Joyner has the best post title on this one: France Pre-Surrenders in Lebanon

And McQ offers this thought:

France. If they didn?t exist, you?d have to make them up … if for no other reason than comic relief. Jimmy Carter ought to run for President there … they?d love him.

Heh. They just might.

And, finally, from Kevin Drum:

Let’s summarize: Chirac personally rammed through the ceasefire resolution; insisted that it call for a UN force; did everything he could to imply that France would contribute several thousand combat troops; but in the end is only willing to stand up a 200-man military engineering company. Because Hezbollah might shoot back. And yet he still wants France to command the overall force.

Ignore the fact that the French have lost pretty much every war they’ve fought since 1870 and it actually makes sense in a twisted way.

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BEIRUT, Aug. 15 — Hezbollah refused to disarm and withdraw its fighters from the battle-scarred hills along the border with Israel on Tuesday, threatening to delay deployment of the Lebanese army and endangering a fragile cease-fire.

The makings of a compromise emerged from all-day meetings in Beirut, according to senior officials involved in the negotiations, and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora scheduled a cabinet session Wednesday for what he hoped would be formal approval of the deal. Hezbollah indicated it would be willing to pull back its fighters and weapons in exchange for a promise from the army not to probe too carefully for underground bunkers and weapons caches, the officials said.

In other words, Hezbollah will pretend to disarm and the Lebanese Army will pretend not to see its hidden weapons cache’s. Neville Chamberlin would be proud.

Previous Posts:

Why Israel Lost
Quote Of The Day II
Quote Of The Day
Israel Accepts UN Cease Fire Deal

• I Hate To Say I Told You So…..
• I Hate To Say I Told You So…..
• The Other Shoe Drops In Lebanon
• The Other Shoe Drops In Lebanon
• Israel Widens The War

Money quote:

Israel has accepted a truce that falls far short of its original war aims, failing to establish control over their border with Lebanon, let alone deliver a crushing blow to Hezbollah. As many of us have argued from the moment Israel launched this campaign, there was no way a modern state, constrained by a Western moral code and the pressures of a democratic society, would achieve these incredibly ambitious goals. Failure to achieve one’s political objectives in a war, by definition, constitutes defeat.

This is much the situation the United States faces in Iraq and, in a broader sense, in the fight against al Qaeda and Islamofascism. We could defeat them easily. We certainly have the military might to do it. Right now, though, we are constrained from using the full force of our military might because of contemporary Western values that place a high value on innocent civilian life. Ironically, then, it is the very values of Western civilization that the Islamic radicals are fighting against that are keeping them from being utterly destroyed.

Joyner has a sobering thought for what the future of this war might look like:

Short of turning their enemies into radioactive parking lots, well within the military capabilities of the United States and Israel, there is no defeating an entrenched, motivated guerrilla force through the application of strategic bombing or massive armored assaults.

Someday, I fear, we may face an attack so severe that the gloves will finally come off. If that day ever comes, we may actually see a final battle between Islam and the West.

Previous Posts:

Quote Of The Day II
Quote Of The Day
Israel Accepts UN Cease Fire Deal

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