Crying \"wolf\" again
 

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Why would you find MMMMMM's view on the threat Hezbollah poses to the US so ridiculous?

[/ QUOTE ] Because Hezbollah and al Qaeda are vastly different!

We have to go on the basis of what we know :

- Hezbollah enjoys the open support of hundreds of thousands of people. Al Qaeda is a clandestine organisation.

- Hezbollah is a strictly local, Lebanese organisation that is for all practical purposes operating above ground. Al Qaeda is an international network, operating clandestinely.

- Hezbollah has never attacked Americans outside of Lebanon. Its targets have been almost exclusively Israeli. Al Qaeda's priorities are American. They have hit the U.S. directly to the heart and are threatening to do it again.

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... zippo's mostly correct statements on warfare ...

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Oh, then you saw some of the howlers too? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Tell me which ones, so's I can fill you in on the rest. (Hint : Zipo's got practically everything wrong| Quite an achievement.)

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All your views basically amount to is saying that a wolf is not a threat until he is at your door
and preventive defense policy and threat analysis serves no purpose.

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A wolf that is now atacking is posing a different kind of threat than a wolf that could decide in the future to attack. Threat analysis (or the whole SWOT rigmarole) is not this administration's forte -- and that goes for its supporters from the looks of it!

Re: Crying \"wolf\" again
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why would you find MMMMMM's view on the threat Hezbollah poses to the US so ridiculous?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because Hezbollah and al Qaeda are vastly different!

We have to go on the basis of what we know :

- Hezbollah enjoys the open support of hundreds of thousands of people. Al Qaeda is a clandestine organisation.

- Hezbollah is a strictly local, Lebanese organisation that is for all practical purposes operating above ground. Al Qaeda is an international network, operating clandestinely.

- Hezbollah has never attacked Americans outside of Lebanon. Its targets have been almost exclusively Israeli. Al Qaeda's priorities are American. They have hit the U.S. directly to the heart and are threatening to do it again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Firstly, my view is that Hezbollah has the *potential* to pose a greater threat than al-Qaeda; not that they currently do.

Secondly, all of the above stated reasons by Cyrus are irrelevant, because Hezbollah has in recent years openly contemplated declaring full terroristic war against the USA--but decided not to at the current juncture.

Hezbollah's motto is "Death to America!" (and "Death To Israel!"), but that motto does not imply that they are willing to undertake full hostilities at present. That, however, could be subject to change in the future.