Reality Check

The Decider, decidin’ who won the Lebanese conflict back in 2006:

Bush: Israel won

President Bush said Monday that Israel defeated Hezbollah’s guerrillas in the monthlong Mideast war and that the Islamic militants were to blame for the deaths of hundreds of Lebanese civilians.

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“Hezbollah attacked Israel. Hezbollah started the crisis, and Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis,” the president said at the State Department after a day of meetings with his top defense, diplomatic and national security advisers.

Followed by the ever present optimism bordering on miasma:

“There’s going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon, and that’s going to be a Lebanese force with a robust international force to help them seize control of the country — that part of the country,” Bush said.

A more sober, Reality-based assessment from an Israeli panel reviewing the conflict, released today:

The head of the panel investigating Israel’s 2006 Lebanon conflict said Wednesday that the war ended without victory and the army did not provide an effective response to Hezbollah rocket fire.

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“We found serious failures and shortcomings in the highest level of the military command, especially in the ground forces, the quality of deployment, preparedness, launching and implementation of decisions and orders,” Winograd said.

Based on Iraq, Bush must think failures and shortcomings in the highest level of military command is a sure recipe for victory.