If any of you are interested in a good, fast read on Lebanon during an Israeli invasion, and US/Israeli interactions during such an event, I recomend John Boykin's Cursed is the Peacemaker. It's primarily the tale of Phil Habib, when Habib was serving as President Reagan's envoy during the war in 1982, but it goes into a variety of other matters such as Lebanon's internal politics, internal White House politics, and, importantly, the degree to which conflicts in the region are very much international conflicts (true, this book's topic was during the Cold War, but the broader point still holds). It doesn't deal with Hezbollah much, as Hezbollah didn't really exist until the war. But a lot of what we see now, we saw then- a weak state (Lebanon), a powerful non-state actor (the PLO), regional states that don't like the non-state actor (to put it mildly), and crushing Israeli military force. Of course back then the US (or many if not all of its officials) was trying to stop the carnage, and the non-state actor wasn't indigenous, but I still thought it was an interesting and insightful read.
Oh, and it should be enlightening to all those who think US and Israeli interests naturally coincide - it's a clear reminder that the Israelis don't always see it that way, and are willing to endanger American lives to get that point across.
Posted by armand at July 23, 2006 01:16 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Books | International Affairs