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So the point of the last three weeks' violence is to get .... this?
So some sort of international force goes into south Lebanon and most likely does everything it can to avoid gettting its troops killed by rattling Hezbollah's cage and hangs around til the Lebanese army arrives. Update: A sense of bewilderment voiced by Ha'aretz at what has been achieved.There were indications of a new flexibility regarding on the characteristics of the multinational force that the Bush administration and its allies want to deploy in Lebanon. U.S. officials have in the past argued for a robust force willing to take on Hezbollah if necessary to remove the Shiite militia's threat to Israel.
But a U.S. official said the Bush administration has not rejected the idea of a force that is both endorsed and directed by United Nations. Such forces generally avoid direct combat roles, and some U.S. officials have in the past opposed that approach for this mission. A 2,000-member U.N. force already in southern Lebanon is regarded by many as a failure.
The U.S. official, who declined to be identified at this delicate stage of negotiations, said: "Our view is that whatever is decided should be guided by [the goal that such a force] should be deployed quickly." He said that the mission of the international force would not be to disarm Hezbollah, but to give the Lebanese army, which is smaller than the Hezbollah militia, "the spine" to do such a job.
This view would put the U.S. closer to European governments, which have said they would not want to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force if it took on a high-risk combat role. U.S. officials, who have ruled out participation by U.S. forces, previously said that they don't expect the peacekeepers to "shoot their way" into Lebanon.