Demagogue

From the Associated Press:

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a TV interview aired Sunday that he would not have ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to such a war.

Guerrillas from the Islamic militant group killed three Israeli soldiers and seized two more in a cross-border raid July 12, which sparked 34 days of fighting that ended with a cease-fire on Aug. 14.

"We did not think, even 1 percent, that the capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude. You ask me, if I had known on July 11 … that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not," he said in an interview with Lebanon's New TV station.

Nasrallah must have completed the same “Earnest Dishonesty 101” course that so many Bush administration officials have taken.

It never occurred to him that firing rockets into Israel and crossing the border to kill three soldiers and seize two others might provoke a strong military response? Either he's lying or he's an idiot.

Also strange is Nasrallah’s claim that he didn’t expect a war “of this magnitude.” In the annals of war, a 34-day-long conflict is pretty damn short. Yes, there were many lives lost and many homes destroyed, but, again, in the context of war, this was not a high-magnitude conflict.

Yet the most instructive three words of Nasrallah’s quote are probably “at this time.” He seems to be suggesting that he didn’t think a war would start this summer — but not that he necessarily laments a war breaking out. After all, this is the same Nasrallah who, six years ago, declared:

“Anyone who reads the Koran and the holy writings of the monotheistic religions sees what they did to the prophets, and what acts of madness and slaughter the Jews carried out throughout history …. Anyone who reads these texts cannot think of co-existence with them, of peace with them, or about accepting their presence …"

And, like Iran’s prez, Nasrallah has also scoffed at “the legend of the Nazi atrocities.” Yep, Nasrallah is a real charmer.