Opinion
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Greenberg's View
SOWER
Editorial
2005
Rockets' Red Glare
I
srael's massive intervention
in Lebanon is far more than
Hezbollah — and its Syrian
and Iranian patrons — have
bargained for. Possibly these ter-
rorist dictatorships have forgot-
ten the price Israel will exact for
even one kidnapped or murdered
soldier or civilian. Possibly their
Hezbollah surrogates stepped
beyond their standing orders
and decided to use all that
pretty Iranian-supplied ordnance
smuggled into south Lebanon Via
a complicit Syria.
The Syrians, after all, have had
plenty of practice in the smug-
gling business. Just ask the U.S.
military in Iraq where those for-
eign insurgents came from.
But, more likely, we have
returned to the roots of the •
Arab-Israeli impasse: the terror-
ist Islamist goal to use whatever
means necessary in a holy war to
obliterate the Jewish infidels.
How interesting that the so-
called moderate Arab states,
led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt,
condemned Hezbollah last week
for its cross-border raid on Israel
and the subsequent escalation of
rocket attacks on Israeli civilians
and the destruction of southern
Lebanon. That move leaves the
radical fundamentalists — Syria
and Iran — squarely in Israel's
gun sights.
And, unfortunately, gun sights
are all Israel has left. Just as
Hamas and Hezbollah have been
unwilling to negotiate with Israel,
so too have Syria and Iran been
intransigent, implacable foes.
There will be no peace negotia-
tions here. Remember how close
Israel and Syria were to final-
izing a settlement over the Golan
Heights. And it all fell apart over
a strip of beach? Who are the
Syrians kidding?
As for the United Nations,
Israel has a long memory when
it comes to U.N. resolutions and
the exploits of United Nations
Interim Force In Lebanon troops
in southern Lebanon during the
1980s and 1990s. Hiding weap-
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ar power plant at Osirak. In 2006,
it could be a similar raid on Iran.
Would the Americans be happy?
Certainly. Would the Israelis be
infinitely safer after such an
event? Certainly.
When Country A does every-
thing in its power, both publicly
and surreptitiously, to destroy
Country B, it should be no sur-
prise when Country B fights
back. There is no question what
the United States would do if
someone kidnapped our soldiers
or civilians from American soil
and fired rockets at our home-
land. E
So they stayed
could very well be per-
home on election
suaded that there is a
day. That threw the
better way of fighting it.
presidency into
That was the great
the lap of Richard
lesson of the 1968
Nixon, who ran
election; although I
against the conduct
doubt that the bloggers,
of the war. What the
unschooled as they
left wound up with
are in anything that
Geor ge Cantor
was an expanded
happened before last
Co lumnist
war and a crippled
month, are aware of it.
party that has not
This was the water-
fully regained traction ever since.
shed election of our times. In
Dwight Eisenhower's cam-
the 36 years before that election,
paign of 1952 was based on the
Democrats were in the White
same strategy, running against
House for 28. But in the 38 years
the conduct of the Korean War.
that have passed since then,
But he brought that conflict to
Dems were in for just 12. That is
a close.
a rather historic turnaround.
The other election to learn
It happened because the
from was 1994, when Democrats
party's left wing deserted the
lost control of Congress. It was a
candidacy of Hubert Humphrey,
rebuke to Bill Clinton, who ran
a great champion of the liberal
for president as a centrist and
cause, when he refused to run
then tried to govern from the
against the Vietnam War.
left. He never made that mistake
again, but he never had a major- -
ity in Congress again, either.
General elections are races
towards the center, no matter
what the outer wings of both
parties choose to believe. The
Democratic left seems deter-
mined to make itself feel good
with moral posturing and prom-
ises to bring George W. Bush
to reckoning. It seems to value
these qualities much more than
winning.
When they go down in flames
again I hope they won't blame
the voters and accuse them of
being duped by yet another
"conservative conspiracy." The
greater conspiracy is of their
OWIl making. 7
ons in schools and hospitals for
Hezbollah doesn't sound very
neutral, does it?
No wonder U.S. President
George W. Bush is not-so-silently
applauding Israel. Over the years,
the Jewish state has fought a
number of dirty little battles on
behalf of itself and its American
ally. In 1981, it was the lightning
air raid on Iraq's fledgling nude-
E-mail letters of no more than
150 words to: letters@thejewish-
news.com .
Reality Check
Lessons In Losing
B
y any measure, Joe
Lieberman is a
thoughtful and effec-
tive Democrat. His record in the
U.S. Senate on social and fiscal
issues is exemplary.
But he also supports the war
in Iraq, and for that reason he is
under assault from the left wing
of his party, with bloggers lead-
ing the charge. There is a good
chance he could lose the party
primary in Connecticut next
month.
So Lieberman has taken the
unusual move of registering
as a write-in candidate for the
general election in the fall. And
there is an equally good chance
he could win that one. That's how
absurd party politics in America
has become.
Lieberman's place on the
national presidential ticket in
2000 was a signal moment for
38
July 20 2006
most American Jews, even those
who did not vote for him. He was
a good man and a strong cam-
paigner who took his religion
seriously. Lieberman made an
excellent showing and had no
culpability in the bizarre out-
come of that election.
But what is going on now in
Connecticut has implications
beyond that. His opponent, who
has never before won elective
office, is running as an outspo-
ken opponent of the war. Most
of his support is coming from
young voters who demand that
the troops leave Iraq yesterday.
That is one reason why I am
not terribly optimistic that the
Dems can retake control of
Congress this fall, even though
the opportunity is clearly there.
BecaUse that strategy is a loser.
Voters won't go against a war
that is still being fought, but they
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614Paoi.com .