Newshounds analyzes General Clark's appearance on O'Reilly last night and contrasts it with follow-on guest, Lt.-Col Ralph Peters.

Calls for diplomacy, negotiation in Middle East promptly rebutted and dismissed on The O'Reilly Factor

On The Factor tonight 7/17/06, consecutive guests General Wes Clark and Lt. Col. Ralph Peters had different takes on what to do about the escalation of violence in the Middle East. Peters followed Clark and had the opportunity to dismiss Clark's more measured calls for less violent options.

Clark says that we must link Israel's military action, measured by it's effectiveness in dismantling Hezbollah, with sufficient diplomatic pressure and support to the government of Lebanon to force Hezbollah out of south Lebanon and discredit the organization.

What Israel needs to do is better targeting - fill the sky with unmanned surveillance vehicles, put special forces scouts on the ground, and relay the information to the pilots. O'Reilly protests that there will be civilian deaths, and Clark acknowledges there will be some but not too many. Sunni Arabs are not generally supporters of Hezbollah because they know that Hezbollah is a proxy for Iran and Syria. Israel has a good window of opportunity if they can deliver the military goods. Meanwhile the US should be working behind the scenes to draw the international community together to support the Lebanese government in any way they can. Lebanon needs to demonstrate political resolve by calling on Hezbollah to evacuate; they need to call for an investigation and hold the leaders of Hezbollah accountable; then have Lebanese troops go in to enforce the evacuation.

O'Reilly finds fault with all of it - Syria will authorize Hezbollah terrorists to turn on the Lebanese government. The UN won't enforce resolutions. France and Russia won't help. The world still tolerates Saddam, Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah... (he ticks them off on his fingers, those designated enemies of the Bush administration.)

Clark replies that we've got to take the openings that are offered, and ths is an opportunity to deepen democracy in Lebanon if we (the US) does it right. Working behind the scenes we can strengthen Israel's security and deal a blow to Iran and Syria without ever putting a US soldier, airman, or Marine in danger.

Comment: I hope we are smart enough to follow his advice and not the loons who cry for more war, more death. Speaking of loons, the next guest is Peters, who shares O'Reilly's negative view of diplomacy and world co-operation. O'Reilly lauds Peters' new book, "Never Quit the Fight," (there's a clue) calling it "one of the best books you can get if you want to know about the terror fight." (Another Peters title yields another clue: "New Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremacy.")

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