Is Iraq America's Lebanon?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Originally Posted by Abcdxxxx

The article doesn't mention that Lebanon was already embroiled in a 40 year civil war before Israel got involved. There was no option to align themselves with Shiites in those days. It wasn't like Israel snubbed one side of the feud, there was no diplomacy to be had within the Shiite community in 1982.

Why not? It does in fact state that "In Lebanon the Israelis, like the Americans in Iraq, plunged into a vacuum — or more precisely into a maelstrom of political and religious rivalries." It doesn't ignore the civil conflict entirely, and you need to explain the relevance of that argument, anyway. That only begs for more comparisons to Vietnam, in my opinion.

Why did an on-going civil war negate negotiating capabilities with the Shia, whereas it didn't effect negotiations with what the article refers to as "Christian elites"?

7) The article doesn't mention that Israel didn't pull out of Southern Lebanon for another 18 years, and that the land still remains occupied by Syria. If we're to learn anything, it's to take the threat of Syria, or even Iran, seriously.

"The continuing Hezbollah fire claimed, on average, fewer than 31 soldiers' lives annually. But Israel could not vanquish the group, and as political pressure grew at home it finally left southern Lebanon after 18 years."

I think the article clearly states that Iran and Syria were instigating the problem. And as for the Syrian occupation, where's the relevance to the analogy? Does Iraq need to be occupied by Syria for the comparison to work? What exactly is your point here, that people let Syria off the hook? You're right, they do....and?

8) The only real comparison is we're on terrain we can't master, we can't secure the borders, it's in the same region, and you have the same religious dynamics. You could probably make the same comparisons to El Salvador and so on and so on.

Except that you couldn't, because the crux of the article was to draw away from the Vietnam comparisons, which are more of a political statement than a genuine, comparative analysis, and to look at a more relevant comparison, which I think you described as viable above. The terrain is the same, the regional dynamic is the same, the religious vigor is the same, and so on and so on.