Cedar Revolution trashed by Israel

Whatever happened to the gleeful cheerleading that accompanied the Lebanese Cedar Revolution among conservatives in the blogosphere? It was touted as evidence that Bush's preemptive war in Iraq was a brilliant strategic move sure to result in that wonderful elixer of humanity - democracy.

There are some very interesting commentaries on the situation around the blogosphere. The Red Corner points out three main consequences that this incursion will have:

• It burns Israel's bridge with Lebanon. Which incidently is Israel's only neighbor who has not only never attacked it but which also flatly refused to join any of the other Arab states in attacking Israel in the past.


• It trashes Lebanon's economic lifeline - Tourism. Notice the repeated bombings of any airport of any size in Lebanon, particularly of the large international airport in Tripoli which is the main artery by which tourists arrive and depart Lebanon.


• It distracts everyone's attention from the brewing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where thousands upon thousands of Palestinian civilians are quickly running out of food.

Glenn Reynolds spins the war in Lebanon as actually being a boon to the Cedar Revolution.

As I noted below, if Israel can chase the Syrians out of Lebanon it will be acting in consonance with the goals of the Cedar Revolution.

Um... Glenn? There are still Syrians in Lebanon? Where?

This blog at myspace.com offers a lovely example of how a fine upstanding conservative Christian guy can both refer to Lebanese as "sand niggers" and make a theological assertion about "ISRAEL IS A NATION UNDER THE CARE AND WITH THE PERSONAL BLESSINGS OF JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF." Such a heartwarming display of crude hatred, no?

Kevin W. at The Liberal Wrong has one of the most reasoned commentaries that I've seen. But I'm troubled by his apparent suggestion that democracy in Lebanon ought to be curtailed. And here I thought that spreading democracy was supposed to be Bush's great gift to the Middle East.

What are your thoughts? Is democracy among Muslims a bad thing? Or perhaps some form of modified democracy would be best, where Israel or America get a veto over who gets to participate in said "democracy" and who doesn't?