Qualifications - On April 5th, I wrote an Op-Ed about the situation with the Poland drawdown of their 500 man contingent from Lebanon and the recent arrest of a Polish UNIFIL Captain by Hezbollah, linking the two events [ http://www.redcounty.com/hezbollah-bullies-poland ]. When I first reviewed the information at hand, I considered the two events a coincidence; however, as the conflicting reports of the situation rolled across the wire, the likelihood of a link between the events slowly began to surface. Since I had not yet had time to research the facts in full, I wrote my initial reactions to the facts at hand, with plans to put together an article that brought source information into a journalistic light.
Perception is a powerful thing in the eyes of Militant Jihadists as well as in the eyes of the easily swayed; and, if Freedom is to remain a virtue, it is important to reject Islamic Supremacism in all of its guises and forms and to do so with a quickness the moment it creeps in to the picture. The key to endeavoring to reject Shariah in all of its manifestations is to realize that situational facts will change or surface, but to have the courage to stand up and reject the concrete ideological facts of supremacist power-lust and to question totalitarianism in principle is and always will be the best way forward in the defense of reason.
In my Red County op-ed contribution ”Hezbollah Bullies Poland, shows UNIFIL’s impotence” the facts of the situation reported were virtually correct…the questions the facts forced were accurate and cutting to the heart of the reality…yet I wanted to get to the heart of the problem before placing to print my final thoughts on the matter of Poland’s quick exit.
Upon futher research, it is impossible, at present, without direct interviews, to conclude that the Hezbollah arrest of the Polish Captain and the quick exit of the entire contingent and Maritime Task Force of Poland from Lebanon are directly related events. But the question still remains.
As early as January 31st, the Polish Foreign Ministers were remarking about the possibility of ending their 15 year peacekeeping operational support in Lebanon. In February of 2009, the announcement that March would find Poland’s UNIFIL division leaving the territory. March 28th found the arrest taking place, and then on April 2nd, Kuwait’s News Agency, Daily Star and others noted the meeting between the Polish Ambassador to Lebanon and (the deputy General or in other stories…) the acting Secretary General of Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry in which the withdrawal was made official. However, to complicate the reality, a UNIFIL spokeswoman denied the reality of the Polish drawdown. Information also surfaced about the increase in funding for UNIFIL forces through the ratification of Southern Lebanon’s budget, which seemed to cancel out the claim that the draw down of Polish Forces was spurred by economic reasons. However, forces from the Golan Heights and Chad were also drawn down, which adds credence to the reality of a Polish state in economic trouble, but then demands answers on what the purpose of the Budget increases to the UNIFIL forces of the Southern Lebanon pays for… Suddenly the nature of this funding is suspect.
Also, none of the articles mentioned the fact that the soldier was on the Northern side of the Litani River during his capture, or the value of the Blue line in terms of regulations or UNIFIL’s mandate and purpose. The realization that Arnoun and Yohmor, where the arrest took place, were North of the Litani River, places the story in a different light, considering the operational territory of the UNIFIL forces are South of the Litani. Graziano is now placed into a dilemma over whether to send the wayward Captain home or not; however, if the end of the rope was guaranteed, why did not Graziano dismiss this possibility in print for the record? If the drawdown was indeed in the works for two months, it was Graziano’s responsibility to remove all appearance of impropriety so that Poland might draw down in honor rather than under a cloud of suspicion and questions of espionage. This map-based reality changes the nature of whether or not a violation occurred toward 1701 South of the Blue Line or not, but it does not change the fact that Hezbollah is still operating with weaponry North of the Litani River.
The immediate reaction of being startled caused the Polish Soldier to gun the gas pedal and hit a soldier, but for some reason the stealthy appearance of this impromptu Hezbollah security net did not yield a bullet riddled vehicle and the event takes on the role of what looks like either a last minute tourist circuit or an undercover recon operation. The value of Fortress Skheif is questionable and the value of the roads leading from the villages to the Litani is not something that would normally cause someone to snap a photo.
More or less, all of the questions of the case are up in the air; however, in situations like this, the learning curve tends to generate the right questions. The fact that the story remains nameless, with no mention of the names of the UNIFIL Captain, the Hezbollah Security or Hezbollah authority names, indicates that all sides of the coin want the story to remain faceless. A cover up has occurred to meet the aims of all parties involved. I know at least that much. So, in retrospect, with growing knowledge of the scenario, it would be better served if the Red County piece had been titled “Did Hezbollah Bully Poland?”
In terms of international ramifications, on March 23rd, the AFP report that Poland was upset over the possibility of the US removing its missile defense shields in Europe; so, in the end, the decision of the Polish Defense and Foreign Ministers may have resulted from anger over Obama’s decision to wager the defense of Europe for support from Medvedev in Russia in the engagement process with Iran. In that sense, the story grows…as do the questions.
Gary H. Johnson, Jr. (4/8/09, 6:11amEST; updated 3:24pmEST)
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=99125
Belgium to assume control of UNIFIL’s naval wing
Poland confirms departure from international peacekeeping force ‘because of budget cuts’
By Nicholas Kimbrell
Daily Star staff
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Belgium will assume command of the UN’s Maritime Task Force (MTF) in Lebanon beginning March 1, the Belgian Embassy’s military attaché told the Daily Star Wednesday. News of the change came as Poland’s defense minister said his country would end its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
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