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UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon? Be Careful What You Wish For

[Wall Street Journal] Jonathan D. Tepperman - Since 1948, the UN has stepped into the Arab-Israeli maelstrom five times. But few of these efforts have paid off. Unless it takes a radically different shape, a new intervention could well make matters worse, not just for the parties on the ground, but for the UN itself. If it is to have any chance of disarming Hizballah, persuading Israel to withdraw, and keeping southern Lebanon quiet, a new UN mission will have to be big. This means several divisions of battle-tested troops (some experts put the number at 25,000). Realistically, only NATO soldiers would have the capacity for such a job. Unless those Western states now blithely calling for the UN to act are also willing to contribute troops (and so far, very few of them have), any mission is virtually doomed to fail. If recent history teaches anything, it is that half-hearted efforts - which give a false sense that something is being done but only end up costing peacekeepers' lives - can be worse than none at all. The writer is deputy managing editor of Foreign Affairs.
2006-08-04 01:00:00
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