The term "French leadership" is an oxymoron. Once again our so called "friends" in France have backstabbed us. After relentlessly pushing for a cease fire between Israel and Lebanon under the pretext that the French would "lead" the UN force, the French President, that icon of integrity Jacques Chirac, has now reneged on sending a significant force to Lebanon. They are sending a paltry 200 combat engineers, not troops, yet they expect to lead a 15,000 man force. When will we ever learn? One of these days our Francophile State Department will realize that France cannot be trusted. They screwed Colin Powell and now Condi got her turn. This is treachery at the level of the XYZ Affair.
UN resolution 1701 was a farce, or as Alexandra at All Things Beautiful put it, A Staged Chicanery.
All that has been accomplished is a UN force is now in place not to protect Israel from Hizb'allah, but to protect Hizb'allah from Israel. The stakes have been raised for Israel to attack again because in addition to using the Lebanese people as human shields, Hizb'allah now has even more UN troops under UNIFIL to hide behind and use as part of their propaganda machine if Israeli military actions cause casualties among the UNIFIL force. Olmert and company need to wise up and declare 1701 null and void due to the refusal of the Lebanese government to disarm Hizb'allah and also lay part of the blame at the door of France and they need to do it before a significant force is sent there.
So much for the Rope a Dope strategy....
I strongly recommend reading the book, Our Oldest Enemy, America's Disastrous Relationship with France, by John J. Miller and Mark Molesky. The title speaks for itself.....
I understand the cause for pessimism amongst my favorite pundits about the "cease-fire", but please put away the razor blades and hemlock, for now. Stop to consider that We, the US and Israel, are playing a version of "rope a dope" with Nasrallah and his benefactors. For those uninitiated to this boxing term, it describes how Muhammad Ali (ironic, eh?) fooled his opponent, George Foreman, into thinking he was tired and worn out and kept dancing away, allowing Foreman to become tired and overly optimistic, setting him up for the kill by Ali. I seriously doubt that Nasrallah or his thugs in Hizb'allah will keep the peace. This will give Israel the political cover to say " We told you so" as they go all the way to the Bekaa Valley, while telling the world, "We tried, once again". The trick is to ensure Hizb'allah is not resupplied by Syria or Iran during this time.
Bush and Olmert may just be playing the game and waiting for the proper cover, possibly even waiting until after the November US elections, but I don't think it will take that long for the deal to fall apart on the Hizb'allah side.
To bolster this argument, consider the fact that it is being reported over at Captain's Quarters, that the Lebanese Cabinet has postponed, indefinitely, a meeting that was to approve the implementation of the cease fire terms, specifically the insertion of the Lebanese Army. Nasrallah must be having second thoughts, since protection of the southern border is Hizb'allahs primary reason for maintaining a militia. Now, as Captain Ed says, Olmert called Nasrallah's bluff. He is never going to let the Lebanese Army disarm his private little army. The dance is just beginning.....
To quote Margaret Thatcher, "Now is not the time to go wobbly". Give Nasrallah a chance to screw this up and thereby open the door for Israel to go in and drain the swamp.