Hmmm… Harold Meyerson writes that Europe should “put up or shut up” and deploy peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to secure the borders and stop the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Okay, but is this realistic? Would a European force actually be able to stop Hezbollah from firing missiles into Europe? He doesn’t say.
What if Hezbollah defies this much-heralded international force, or what if they start waging a guerrilla war against the peacekeepers to try to drive them out? Should Europe stay? Should Europe fight? Should they try to wage a counterinsurgency battle against Hezbollah? Is that realistic? If European countries are really just refusing to deploy troops to Lebanon out of sheer cowardice, that’s one thing, but if they have serious objections to deploying troops there, because they’re afraid of getting caught in a situation similar to what the United States faces in Iraq, well, that deserves a hearing, no?