Mojo_PeiPei

Saying Israel's reaction was unwarranted or even illegal is really ridiculous. As a basis of operation the governments' sole purpose is to provide for the common defense of its people. It acts as the sovereign, the leviathan, its power deferred from the people it represents.

When you have Hezbollah a known terrorist organization, representative of a states government (that is holding parliament and cabinent seats), and acting within a sovereign boundaries, you better damn well believe you are culpable for any aggressive actions taken by them. A government is in no way shape or form allowed to act, or in the case of Lebanon not act, in such an indifferent manner, it is surmountable to an act of war. In this instance the actions of a few extremists becomes an action of the state as a whole because the state is facilitating the act of war. Not to mention that on top of everything, Israel and Lebanon were still at a "state of war", they were not nations at peace.

If a country cannot enforce its own laws effectively, and it leads to conflict across sovereign borders, the second sovereign actor has every right to occupy said country to provide for the defense of its people. The only legal obligation a state has is to its people, there is no higher order then the state, no international authority that makes "occupation" illegal or any other sovereign action as such.

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As far as whats been accomplished, nothing has been. Israel caved to international pressure before it was able to get what it needed done. Lebanon got its own people screwed as a result of their actions in the handling of Hezbollah. The worst part for them though is that Hezbollah was not destroyed by this conflict, it was only strengthed and emboldened. I could forsee this as being the biggest problem resulting from the war as any future action that Hezbollah takes will probably welcome an equal or greater result from Israel next time.

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To win a war you must serve no master but your ambition.