Katrina, a year later & Nasrallah admits mistakes
- 28 Aug 06, 01:57 PM
Katrina, One Year On
As Pete mentioned, it's a holiday here, but in New Orleans and the rest of America's Gulf Coast, they're preparing to mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. President Bush is visiting the region today. In his weekly radio address he said the disaster has exposed deep-seated poverty and a lack of readiness to deal with the crisis.
The papers are full of stories about lessons learned, or not. Read what blogger 'bark bark woof woof' in south Florida has to say. And join our debate here. Depending on you, we might continue this discussion on tomorrow's programme.
Nasrallah
"Had we known that the kidnapping of the soldiers would have led to this, we would definitely not have done it."
Is Hezbollah's leader admitting he was wrong? With Kofi Annan visiting Beirut today, and preparations nearly complete for an international peacekeeping force, what lessons has Lebanon and learned vis Hezbollah, Israel and war? Read what Firas is writing at thermo-police.net:
"I wish someone can tell me what the (clear verifiable) objectives of Hizbollah are in the context of an all-out military confrontation with Israel like the one we just witnessed this past month. Not dying? Having one building left standing? Two buildings? A thousand? Repelling an unprovoked attack? Repelling a provoked attack? Provoking an attack and holding your breath for a month? What??"
That's what we've decided to go with on today's programme. Let us know if you agree or disagree. Suggest a topic or contribute to the ones above. It's always your agenda here on World Have Your Say.
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Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah expressed his regret about triggering a war with Israel. In other words, he confessed his political immaturity. His political short-sightedness led him to think that he would changed the course of history in the Middle East probably as it had been revealed to him in a dream from a messenger.
Many upstart politicians depend on stirring the public emotions to achieve popularity. Hassan Nasrallah had his heydays for more than a month in which he was portrayed as the new hero or the new superman of the Middle East. After the ceasefire, he was bold enough to declare victory despite the devastating damages.
His regret is an implicit recognition that he has given more than he has taken. To free a score of Lebanese in Israeli jails, he caused the death of at least 1000 people and the injury of thousands others. To free Shabaa Farms, he caused the destruction of considerable areas in Lebanon.
His expression of regret is an admission of defeat. He has never expressed sorrow for the damages Israel suffered because of his rockets. But his declaration can be seen an “olive branch” to Israel or simply an order he received from his masters in Syria and Iran. Basshar Al Assad of Syria retracted his derogatory statements about the conduct of some Arab political leaders during the war.
If Nasrallah has learnt his lessons and means his words, politically he will have to make it easy for the UN peacekeeping force to succeed in its mission by not envisaging any other foolish act that will stir Israeli retaliation. The good news can be for the UN to send the agreed number of forces at least to test Nasrallah on his public expression of regret and desire for peace.
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