Israel and the Hezbollah Headache

The Israelis are getting set to learn the lesson about military superiority that the Bush administration refuses to learn in Iraq.

It's a big headache.

That's because the Israelis are beginning to run out of options in their campaign against Hezbollah.

The Israelis wanted to force the Lebanese government into disarming Hezbollah. The Lebanese government hasn't budged.

The Israelis wanted to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure through the air, "pinpoint attacks" on Hezbollah tunnels and mines, and occupying a sliver of Lebanese territory. But Hezbollah keeps on firing rockets into Israel while Hezbollah leaders brag about how few casualties they're suffering.

Along with Condoleeze Rice, the Israelis are sending up trial balloons for a large UN occupation force to come in and disarm Hezbollah on Israel's behalf. But they shouldn't kid themselves. Peacekeeping forces only work when both sides want peace. Do the Israelis really think that the Shiite population of Southern Lebanon is going to be eager for peace. Someone noted that al-Qaeda is probably running out of application forms from all the young Arab men signing up right now. The same is doubtlessly true for Hezbollah and it's pretty likely that new resistance groups are forming as a result of current Israeli operations.

The Israelis thought they would be able to relieve their Hezbollah headache through their current attacks on Lebanon. But like the Bush administration in Iraq, the Israelis are finding that military superiority just makes the headache bigger.