Leaving things unfinished

Ten years ago, on April 18, 1996 Israel attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon. The 16-day operation called "Grapes of Wrath" drew international criticism. As other nations of the world condemned Israel for defending itself against an enemy which exists for the stated purpose of destroying Israel, President Clinton did nothing to support Israel. Instead, he said "I think that it is important that we do everything we can to bring an end to the violence." Clinton proceeded to force a cease-fire on Israel before it had fully eradicated Hezbollah. Israel is fighting this war today because Clinton didn't let them fight it ten years ago.

President Bush, on the other hand, recognizes that it is in the interest of Israeli security, American national interest, and the security of the world for Israel to proceed until the terrorist group is neutralized. This is a perfect opportunity to clean out terror cells before a terrorist state can be established on Israel's northern border. A cease-fire only delays the necessity of dealing with this threat and allows Hezbollah to amass more weapons of terror, making the threat more dire.

The distinction between Clinton and Bush highlights their differing definition of peace. To the left, peace is a cessation of fighting. But the only real and lasting definition is that peace is the prominence of justice. We could end the fighting by forcing Israel into another cease-fire. We could end the fighting in Iraq by pulling out. We could wait until Iran has the nuclear ability to carry out their threats against Israel and America. But if we are to learn from history, we must recognize that ignoring a threat will not make it go away, and putting off a conflict until a latter day only makes it worse.