In 1983, I wrote an article for Foreign Affairs magazine with the comically naive title, “How to Rebuild Lebanon.” The task seemed obvious: The United States needed to help this fragile little country reclaim its sovereignty and become a nation again, rather than a punching bag for the region’s warring powers.
That’s still the right mission four decades later, but we know now that it’s a nightmarishly difficult one. Israel demands a perpetual right to attack Iran’s proxy Hezbollah, which can still lob enough rockets to be a convincing menace. The Lebanese government wants to control Hezbollah, but its army is too weak. And America stands on the sidelines trying ineffectually to stop the mayhem.
In 1983, I wrote an article for Foreign Affairs magazine with the comically naive title, “How to Rebuild Lebanon.” The task seemed obvious: The United States needed to help this fragile little country reclaim its sovereignty and become a nation again, rather than a punching bag for the region’s warring powers.
That’s still the right mission four decades later, but we know now that it’s a nightmarishly difficult one. Israel demands a perpetual right to attack Iran’s proxy Hezbollah, which can still lob enough rockets to be a convincing menace. The Lebanese government wants to control Hezbollah, but its army is too weak. And America stands on the sidelines trying ineffectually to stop the mayhem.
