Hezbollah is not military match for the Israeli army. There is no doubt as to who the winner will be. However, the losers will be Lebanon and the United States.
Hezbollah broke the imperfect calm along the Lebanese-Israeli border when its members captured two Israeli soldiers in an effort to force Israel to return Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.
Western leaders denounced Hezbollah’s violation of international law and said Israel has the right to defend itself.
Israel “defended itself” by unleashing a round- the-clock onslaught on Lebanon from the land, sea and air. In the last three weeks, Israel executed well over 5,000 sorties hitting more than 2,500 targets in a country that is similar in size to Las Animas County in southern Colorado.
Israeli targeting is particularly lamentable because it went far beyond plausible military targets, and beyond the border region where Hezbollah fighters are concentrated.
Israel bombed the offices of Hezbollah and homes of its leaders, but also the country’s only international airport, all of its seaports, power stations, water treatment plants, highways, food processing plants and other facilities.
The Israeli air force achieved a virtual aerial occupation of all of Lebanon almost instantly.
The Israeli naval blockade meant that the waves of refugees could only flee to the welcoming hands of Syria. Her warm reception boosted her standing among the Lebanese who, with America’s assistance, evicted Syrian troops from Lebanon 15 months ago.
Most world leaders, except America’s, criticized Israel for using disproportionate firepower, and called for immediate an cease-fire.
Images of destruction and of widespread suffering of hundreds of thousands are being beamed round the clock to Arabs and Muslims around the world.
America’s almost solitary position against a cease-fire has made it an overt partner in this war. Condoleezza Rice, our Secretary of State, said that “we can’t return to the status quo ante” between Lebanon and Israel. Her use of “we” reveals that she views this as an American war.
America’s hard-line position is widely seen as causing countless civilian deaths.
All this is causing immense damage to America’s standing and interests in the Middle East.
Secular and religious Muslims in many Arab states have protested the war on Lebanon, expressed support for Hezbollah and, where permissible, denounced the United States. These developments are significant because they occur in tightly controlled political atmospheres that do not tolerate much or any protest or political dissent.
The popular demonstrations are in stark contrast to the official position of the governments of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which criticized Hezbollah for its cross-border operation.
Hezbollah is seen by Arabs and Muslims as a resistance movement that liberated Lebanese lands from decades of Israeli military occupation.
It is now politically harder for America to pressure its allied authoritarian Arab states towards democracy.
America is putting her political eggs in the basket of the leaders of the old Middle East, undemocratic Arab allies whose survival depends on Washington, not on their own people. Rice is relying on them to ease the “birth pangs” of her New Middle East.
No wonder that so many Arabs now find it harder to take America’s democracy project in the Middle East seriously. Democratically elected leaders whose vision for their people is different than America’s are shunned.
Karen Hughes, the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, said last month that the U.S. faces “a big gulf of misunderstanding” in the Middle East.
Her efforts at bridging that gulf and winning hearts and minds of Arabs has become immensely harder. In siding squarely with Israel, America is now seen as encouraging the destruction of Lebanon, similar to engagements in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim adventures in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan.
While some Arabs and Muslims blame Hezbollah for miscalculating, their overwhelming anger is aimed at Israel’s occupation and excessive use of force – and by extension, at America.
America’s stand against an immediate cease fire in Lebanon is creating an even bigger gulf between it and ordinary Arabs and Muslims and is boosting radicalism. This is not the way to fight the war on terrorism.
Hussein A. Amery is an associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines.
