Our Feckless Leaders Fecked Us !

Long Range Forethought ain't the strongest quality in our "Elite", true enough. Even in the short range "Promethean" is not an adjective that comes to our minds in describing their minds. We are Fecked, so never mind.


The below from "Lastonga", who posts on DP.

"Lebanon has become a clear-cut model for how the third threat operates. The withdrawal of Syria’s army was trumpeted as a breakthrough on the path toward democracy, but now that the West is finished congratulating itself it’s time to notice that it did nothing to prevent Hezbollah from subverting and paralyzing Lebanon’s government.

As Walid Phares outlined the process in Lebanon:


Between 2000 and 2005, Hezbollah increased its influence in Lebanese politics, becoming the dominant force, and remaining the principal ally of Syrian occupation. In this half decade, Tehran supplied the organization with weapons capable of reaching remote areas inside Israel. In those years as well, Hezbollah extended and grew its cells around the world including in South America, North America, West Africa and Western Europe. But the surge to high power, both in Lebanon and worldwide began to face challenges as of September 11, 2001.

…In a few months (after the Cedar Revolution,) a number of leading politicians and journalists were savagely murdered by the pro-Syrian camp: Syrian intelligence, Hezbollah and other groups were suspected as being behind the assassination campaign. In parallel, Hezbollah and its allies outmaneuvered the parliamentary majority, which was supposed to form an anti-Baathist Government, bring down the pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and remove the pro-Syrian speaker of the House, Nabih Berri. A magic hand convinced the so-called politicians of the March 14 movement, that none of these measures is feasible. Hence Syria maintained its power in Lebanon, while U.S and French Presidents were singing the praise of the liberation of Lebanon. Furthermore, and in a suicidal move the Lebanese cabinet, headed by Fouad Seniora invited Hezbollah to join the Government, before the latter disarm. By the summer of last year, the Cedars Revolution was bleeding seriously.

By early July 2006, Hezbollah’s preparations for the bloody return to the top were fulfilled. The organization had already accomplished its Lebanese tasks:

1) Elimination (direct or in conjunction with Syrian intelligence or Syrian Social Nationalists) of visible symbols of anti-Syrian leadership: Tueni, Qassir and Hawi, and attempts against others such as May Chidiac, as an intimidation lesson to all others.

2) Paralysis of PM Seniora’s cabinet from the inside and in cooperation with President Lahoud networks on the outside.

3) Paralysis of the parliament in collaboration with speaker Berri and the Aoun bloc.

4) Dragging the political forces in the country in the so-called national dialogue on the weapons of Hezbollah, a major waste of time and marginalization of the 1559 stipulation.

3) Intimidation of the Lebanese army command.

4) Attempts to divide the Lebanese Diaspora by implanting agents linked to the axis.

5) Reactivation of the pro-Syrian and Jihadist networks in Lebanon and within the Palestinian camps.

6) Distribution of weapons among allied militias.

7) Finally and most importantly, completing the final steps in the deployment of a system of rockets and long range artillery batteries aimed at Israel.

Iran’s effort to establish a Hezbollah-style army in Gaza/West Bank shows how Iran’s refined terror apparatus, power-projection infrastructure and oil money can make Iran a dangerous player in any Mideast area Iran chooses. Yehudit Barsky captured the basics in this January 2006 article:
Since 2000, Iran has invested increasing amounts of funds, training, and logistical support that is dispensed via Hezbollah to Fatah affiliates in the West Bank and Gaza, effectively opening a new front for Iran and Hezbollah's war against Israel.

An indication of the extent to which the Palestinian Authority became a client of Iran was the January 2002 attempted delivery of arms purchased by the Palestinian Authority from Iran with the assistance of Hezbollah.

The Iranian effort to infiltrate the Palestinian areas has only increased. Hezbollah serves as a conduit for the distribution of Iranian funds to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Tanzim, both affiliated with Fatah, for terror attacks against Israelis.

Thus, there are an ever-increasing number of terror operatives from these factions that now work for Iran. As of October 2004, 80% of the terror attacks that took place in or originating from the West Bank against Israelis were coordinated by Hezbollah. Nearly all of the terror activities carried out by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were reportedly directed and financed by Hezbollah and Iran. Hezbollah reportedly awards bounties of $5,000 for each Israeli killed by Fatah terrorist cells. As a result, these operatives remain agents of the Fatah factions in name only.

A major reason why Iran poses such a regional threat is that Iran works patiently and strategically to build its capabilities. Americans have become accustomed to the fecklessness of our own White House, State Department and intelligence services, and may find it difficult to believe that not every global power is unfocused and dilatory. Here’s how a fine Washington Institute piece from December 2004 sums up Iran’s methods:
The activities of Hizballah and Iran in the Arab-Israeli arena are noteworthy for both their duration (spanning more than two decades) and their scope (involving activities on all fronts of the conflict and in several regions and countries—including Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran).

Their activities bespeak a rare combination of seriousness, constancy of purpose, technical competence, and strategic acumen. It is hard not to conclude that for Hizballah and Iran, the ability to disrupt Arab-Israeli negotiations, undermine and demoralize Israeli society, and threaten Israel's major population centers are strategic objectives of vital importance to be actively pursued.

That helps clarify why the Arab states fear Iran, and that Iran's capabilities and victories have put the Arabs between a rock and a hard place. The Arabs would like to join a common front against Iran, but so far no such bloc exists. The Bush administration has spent the past five years scrupulously avoiding efforts to topple the mullahs, and last year endorsed Europe’s transparently fraudulent negotiations regarding Iran’s program to develop nuclear weapons. The Arabs saw an Iranian proxy conquer southern Iraq under the nose of a massive, American-led military force, and other Iran-backed groups kil hundreds of US troops in Iraq without the slightest repercussions for Iran itself.

Since the Arab regimes are (and always were) the most immediate targets for imperialist Iran and the global Islamist movement, the Arabs know the long-term existence of their governments -- and indeed their national identities -- depends on stopping Iran. As matters now stand, they have no compelling reason to believe that will happen and every reason to believe it won’t.

The Arab states therefore can only conclude that, though they must confront Iran, it is suicidal for them to actual do so. If they join in America’s denunciations, America will abandon them later as part of its own efforts to co-exist and accommodate Iran. There will be no more Kuwait-style rescues, because Kuwait and other Arab states will fall not to Iran’s troops but to internal subversion by Iranian elements. Even an American military presence in an Arab state will not prevent this, and might accelerate it or even support it. The best the Arabs can do is buy time for themselves and hope something changes in their favor.

So, if the Arabs do not rally against Iran, a major part of the reason is the absolute absence of US leadership. We cannot justly blame the Arabs unless we also discover the larger fault to be our own and take forceful, timely action to correct our blunders."