Novelist and polemicist (and one of my favorite writers), Mark Helprin, writing for the Claremont Institute, says in a lucid, cogent and cleverly-posited analysis of the fighting between Israel, Hizbullah, and Iran in Lebanon War:
Imagine an Israeli guerrilla organization based in the Galilee, a power unto itself, with seats in the cabinet, a generous welfare apparatus, and the oft-stated goal of Lebanon's destruction and replacement with a Jewish state governed by Jewish religious law. Upon instructions from its foreign patron and supplier of arms, it crosses the border to capture and kill some Lebanese soldiers. Lebanon, however, is in no mood to tolerate such a provocation, especially in light of the guerrillas' arsenal of 10,000 or so short-range missiles targeted at Lebanese civilians.
For a month, the Lebanese air force ranges freely over all of Israel, and, without losing a single plane, cuts every major bridge and road link in the country, destroys its power plants, bombs ports, airports, military facilities associated with the guerrillas, and the guerrillas themselves, obliterating all but their buried infrastructure. Significant portions of Tel Aviv and Haifa, and many of the small towns of Israel's north, are reduced to rubble.
Who won?
Helprin's answers cut to the quick and may surprise you.
Front of home in Israeli town of Ma'alot, destroyed in
Katyusha rocket strike. Sign (pre-existing): "For Sale."
(Photo: Dave Bender)
