President today: issue of Israel, Lebanon, and Hezbollah

[MODU]

Congrats.  As of today, you are the President, and your issue is the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict.  What would you do?

With the current battle between Israel and Hezbollah, there is only one thing I can think to do . . . and that is support Lebanon as we have Israel.  While the two countries have shared decades of battle, usually resulting with Israeli troops roaming freely in the Southern half of Lebanon, the two states have suffered more from terrorist groups occupying Lebanon that from true inter-government strife.  Being a very diverse country (outside of all the Palestinian refugees that keep flooding it), Lebanon has shown in the past to be more of a Western nation than a Middle Eastern.  They have been the hub for international business, free trade, banking, and tourism during many periods in their history, only to lose these during civil war and occupation by neighboring countries.

By announcing that the US will be backing the recently sovereign Lebanese government and increasing international aid to the nation in exchange for removing Hezbollah from their nation (in accordance to UN resolution 1559), the Lebanese government should gain a fresh spark of relevance and strength.  Within a weeks time, US forces would join with Lebanese and other coalition forces, pushing South, sandwiching the bulk of Hezbollah forces between them and Israeli forces coming North.  With the death/detaining of the terrorists, the coalition forces could begin cleaning out the caches of rockets hidden across the small country while rooting out the remaining terrorist members.  This will take a few years, but during this time, the Lebanese troops will gain in number and strength along with the government.

As stability begins to take hold in Lebanon, and the infrastructure modernized/repaired, the next step is to normalize relations between Israel and Lebanon permanently.  A foundation of mutual protection and commerce would be a good foundation for the two sister states.  As Lebanon begins to flourish, their standard of living will increase, the possibly of future footholds by terrorist groups like Hezbollah should be deterred, possibly spreading increase stability into their neighboring states.  At that point, the need for future aid from the US to the two countries could begin to be cut, as the two nations become more self-reliant.

Ok . . . that's my quick policy/goal.  What's yours?

[MODU]

So Bush is 4 weeks late...

Just announced (and waiting for a web article on it), the US will be increasing their aid to Lebanon to $230 Million, up from the $50 Million reported a week ago.

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Edit:  Actually, it is an additional $230 Million.

"Bush: Send Lebanon Peacekeepers Quickly"

(Skipping...)

Bush also said his administration was pledging an additional $230 million to help the Lebanese rebuild their homes and return to their towns and communities.

(Cont...)