The seven (or eight) fronts of jihad

Among the must-read pieces in this morning’s New York Sun is Youssef Ibrahim’s “The 7 fronts of the war on terror.” Eli Lake’s Sun article may denote an eighth front not reflected in Ibrahim’s analysis: “Iran rewards Palestinian Arabs for violence against Israelis.” Bill Bennett’s just-posted NRO column addresses one of the seven or eight fronts:

Israel’s war is our war. About this, our mutual enemies have no doubt. The same cannot be said of the international community. Now is the time for Israel to clean Hezbollah out of the Middle East, just as we are trying to clean al Qaeda out of everywhere else they have planted their soldiers. This is a long haul, and a dangerous war, but it will be longer and made more dangerous with appeasement and ceasefires being urged upon Israel and, for that matter, the United States.

Let Kofi Annan condemn Israel. Let ex-State Department officials wring their hands. Let the Security Council issue its condemnations if it must. But at the end of the diplomatic doublespeak and the denunciations of editorial writers here and abroad, let the countries on the frontlines, fighting for their existence, act like any normal country would under attack and save themselves. In so doing, they will save those who also strive to be normal, democratic, and free. For if Iran’s “frontline” succeeds, Israel and the U.S. will cease to exist on the globe below which Hezbollah’s rifle is held. And al Qaeda will cheer the outcome for its newfound ally.

The failures of Israeli leadership in the war have complicated the administration’s desire to let Israel defend itself while leaving a viable civilian government intact in Lebanon. One wonders whether American diplomacy will compound Israel’s failures with a diplomatic resolution that further weakens both Israel and America; I continue to hope not. In the meantime, Israel’s losses have enormous.

yallo.jpg

Today’s Jerusalem Post carries news of several of the Israeli soldiers killed in the fighting in Lebanon yesterday. Above is the IDF photo of one of them, Staff-Sergeant Yesmao Yallao.

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