More than an oxymoron

The phrase "Lebanese army" must be more than an oxymoron for Lebanon to pull out of its political nose-dive. Lebanese troops need to be able to exercise the sovereign power of the Lebanese government to police its own borders. Anything else means that there is no Lebanese state, and we continue on the dark road to the Lebanon of the 1980s.

Of course, the Lebanese army might do a poor job. The Washington Post article about the ongoing operation against Palestinian government starts with a troubling phrase:

Lebanese troops pounded a Palestinian refugee camp with artillery and tank fire for a second day Monday, raising huge columns of smoke as they battled a militant group suspected of ties to al-Qaida in the worst violence since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

Here's another paragraph that makes one concerned about political backlash:

Hundreds of Lebanese troops, backed by tanks and armored carriers, surrounded the refugee camp Monday. M-48 battle tanks unleashed their cannon fire on the camp, home to 30,000 Palestinian refugees. The militants fired mortars toward the troops at daybreak.

Cross your fingers, and hope that the Lebanese army is fighting these battles in the right way--and that its getting the support and advice it needs.

Comments

[redrob64]

The Lebanese "pounded a Palestinian refugee camp with artillery and tank fire for a second day...raising huge columns of smoke", did they? Any accusations of genocide or war crimes coming out of the UN offices? Photos from Reuters of the horrific results?

I thought not.

[Mojo]

redrob64; No. Surprisingly enough, with a current total of between 4 and 9 dead civilians, nobody is screaming genocide. I wonder what could possibly explain that. Could it be that calling such a thing genocide would be incredibly stupid?

[RedRob]

As I recall, the total dead at "Jeningrad" came to about 60, of whom 26 or so were Israeli soldiers. The low total didn't stop the UN Rep in the West Bank from screaming genocide and war crimes at the top of his lungs while that operation was going on. Just thought the restraint in this case was notable.

How does "pounding" a crowded refugee camp with artillery fire for two days produce nine dead civilians? Maybe they have really smart bombs.

[anon]

1: RedRob, might I suggest some bondo to fill that chip on your shoulder?

2: A very large problem for the Lebanese army is that Israel does not tolerate effective non-Jewish military forces within its vicinity. Just ask the sailors of the USS Liberty, or various foreign peacekeeping troops who are regularly attacked by rampaging Israeli forces.

A suddenly competent Lebanese army might just find itself the sudden victim of yet another Israeli attempt to 'fight Hezbollah' by bombing every militarily significant target throughout Lebanon.

There's not a lot of incentive to develop competence when the very development of competence could be used as an excuse for third party attack.