Israel in Lebanon.

I like to read Amanda’s blog. It’s very informative and thought-provoking, even though I may not always see eye-to-eye on everything she posts.

In terms of the Iranian/Syrian problem of backing Hamas and Hezbollah, I read an interesting commentary in the New York Times by Ted Koppel. In it, he relays the comments of an anonymous senior Jordanian intelligence official:

He reserved his greatest contempt for the policy of encouraging democratic reform. “For the Islamic fundamentalists, democratic reform is like toilet paper,” he said. “You use it once and then you throw it away.

I read this and it reinforced the arrogance of this administration. Obviously, they don’t now, nor did they ever, understand what they were dealing with over there. At the onset of the Iraq invasion, Bush, that infamous Yale graduate, wasn’t even familiar with the varying religious factions of Islam, the significance of the Sunnis and Shiites, and the risk of a civil war if the situation wasn’t handled with a culturally-sensitive strategy.

So anyway, I realize that Israel is not perfect in their handling of this situation, but the rest of the Arab world can’t be completely blameless; there is history of Israel trying to negotiate with the Palestinians and them refusing. I don’t want to be narrow-minded and perceived as pro-Israeli just because I’m American, but there are always two sides to every story. I need to read more, I think, from foreign sources. Maybe I’ll find a good Lebanese journal online….