Time for us to Weigh In?
The Situation
Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers. First one was taken inside Israel, and demands were made that Arab prisoners be released. This was met with attack and a large scale search. Just recently two more Israeli soldiers were captured inside of Lebanon. This has triggered airstrikes and naval bombardment by Israel into Lebanon to disable airports at least one TV station, and there have been strikes or missile launches to which I have not heard any targets or damage reports. During this time Hezbollah has shot approximately 70 rockets into Israel, including Haifa, at the last report I heard.
This is a very quick and dirty summation of the situation, but in all it could very well spell war. So what do we do?
US Responsibilities, Rights?
What are the responsibilities of our nation as a super power? It is a broad question - one that is probably rhetorical - that defines the new and evolving situation in the Middle East. To what extent is it our responsibility to intervene and to what extent is it our right to?
The Syrian ambassador to the US put it very clearly, it is the responsibility of the US to step in and moderate the violence and bring the parties from both sides to the table. Being that Israel is our chief ally in the region and that we support the new Lebanese democracy, if not the Hezbollah minority government in the south, it does seem that we have cause to become involved. In this sense I honestly agree that we have the responsibility to do something, and quickly.
But do we have the right to? It may seem arbitrary to divide rights and responsibilities like this, but I feel it is important to do so. We may have the responsibility to quash violence between one staunch ally and a nation we are trying to make inroads to. However, do we have the right to interfere in a military dispute of this nature?
We did not, or very rarely, coordinated or interfered in Germany during airline hijackings, of course, we also never tried to stop the onset of World War II. With the threat that Israeli prisoners may be moved to Iran there is the real possibility of full scale war erupting in the Middle East. Once again, we have the responsibility to step in before things get seriously out of hand. We also have an economic right to stop a war that would destabilize a region we depend on for, yes, oil.
But the question that I will leave open is: Do we have the right to regulate any military dispute that occurs with any ally?
I will follow up in this issue as more information becomes available.
