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The Battles of Armchair Warriors PDF Print E-mail
Written by Giles Weaver   

The powers of accurate observation are called cynicism by those who do not have it.

   --- George Bernard Shaw

If there is one thing we can count on during these days of uncertainty, it is that the right wing blog sphere reveals an absolute truth of the human race – we are without question the most ignorant and foolish species on the planet. As Israel collectively punishes Lebanese civilians for a military attack on Israel by Hezbollah (which I do not support in any way), the right-wingers are, as always, foaming at the mouth and revealing themselves to be the torchbearers of stupidity. I’ve always been a “cynical” person, according to Mr. Shaw’s definition.  But even I would never have believed the depths of shallow idiocy of which my fellow Americans are capable – and I’m from the South where idiocy is a virtue.

The current “meme” going around the right wing blogs goes something like this:  Israel has the right to defend itself, but Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and North Korea do not. If Lebanese civilians didn’t want Israel to bomb them back to 1980, they should have disarmed Hezbollah. Therefore, the innocent Lebanese who are being killed, and whose civilian infrastructure is being destroyed, are complicit in their fate for not disarming the Hezbollah militia.

Let’s examine this remarkable stupidity for a moment.  First, the “Cedar Revolution.”  This is the only, and now former, bright spot the insane right-wingers trumpeted as Bush’s Middle East foreign policy success.  The goal was to reduce Syrian influence in Lebanon, and my extension Hezbollah, both of which came about because of Israel’s 1982 invasion to expel the PLO. For all the armchair warriors who are giddy about this latest round of mutually assured destruction, let us recall that Israel ingloriously withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 without accomplishing any of its goals. If they had, we wouldn’t be here now would we?  So, as Israel, and the United States, sadly repeat history and pursue actions that are proven not to work, we are demanding that Syria “reign in Hezbollah” even through our policy over the last two years was to reduce their influence in that region. We cut the legs out from underneath them and now expect them to win a 4o yard dash against Carl Lewis. That is point #1.  Syria leaving Lebanon was a very good step in the right direction, but it is patently absurd to believe that after two years of pushing for a Lebanon independent of Damascus that Syria still has the amount of influence over the region they did before the “Cedar Revolution.”  I’m not saying they don’t have influence, I’m saying it’s not nearly what it was and that’s by our own hand.

Here is the second point.  Given the complexity of the Middle East, it’s history, and it’s various rival religions and ethnicities, it is extremely naïve to say, “The Lebanese should have disarmed Hezbollah in the one year they have had a new government.” This reveals how uneducated people are about the region.  The government there is still trying to get its footing, and now they are powerless in the eyes of the Arab world and their own citizens.  Any good will built up be reducing Syrian influence is now gone. If the Lebanese army moved into the south to disarm Hezbollah in the last year and a half like these people are suggesting, then most likely another civil war would have broken out.  I hardly thing it is intelligent to suggest that the Lebanese should have entered into another civil war in order to protect themselves from punishing Israeli reprisals for a Hezbollah attack. Boy it sure is easy to say that the Lebanese had it coming because they didn’t disarm Hezbollah.  As we all know through our personal experience with disarming Islamic militias around the United States, it only takes a couple of lazy Saturday afternoons.  It’s just like garbage pick-ups.  Just send a truck around, everyone puts his or her weapons in the back, and presto Hezbollah is disarmed. See, easy as apple pie.

Now the kicker.  The right-wingers are notorious for the love and defense of an armed populace.  Even suggest that there should be some kind of gun regulation and they all go apoplectic about the 2nd amendment. The reasoning goes like this – the second amendment give us the right to bear arms.  This is necessary to keep the government – our government – from going haywire and enslaving us all.  Forget, for a moment, that if the U.S. government wants your guns they’re going to get them.   Period. End of story. Second amendment or not. Now I have a deep unsettling distrust of all governments no matter where they reside, so perhaps some of you will be surprised that I support an armed populace.  There is no reason to believe that the U.S. government is any different than, say, the Chinese when they invaded Tibet in 1950.  I don’t think hunters need Uzis but that is a different argument. Here is my point.  These right wing fools are whipping the Lebanese for not doing what they would never allow to happen in our country – the taking away of their guns.  It’s just another example of the vacuous hypocrisy and ideological fraud the right engages in all the time. In the U.S. they will fight tooth and nail to keep their guns to protect themselves from their own government, as well as foreign enemies and all those black people I imagine, BUT the Lebanese are at fault for not disarming a deadly militia, not to mention the one that fought of a foreign invading army for years. It defies logic, reason, and sanity. It’s just par for the course for these idiots.

Everybody is pointing fingers at the other.  Who is to blame?  Who started it? The propaganda machines are in full swing. Does it really matter? Here is another shock for you – I agree with Newt Gingrich.  World War III has begun, but I think it began March 20, 2003.  There are no winners here.  Nobody is innocent. Hamas is guilty. Israel is guilty.  Hezbollah is guilty. Syria is guilty. Iran is guilty.  The United States is guilty.  This isn’t a football game. This is our world and our lives. It’s time we start taking it a bit more seriously – it may already be too late.

 

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