UPDATED AND BUMPED: CONSENSUS GROWING: HIZBALLAH LOST

I was one of the few bloggers - along with the brilliant Captain's Quarters - who argued from the time the "cease-fire" began that Israel had won and Hizballah had lost. Hizballah propaganda - lovingly spoon fed to their comrades in the MSM (and happily regurgitated by the anti-Bush/ant-Israel MSM) - was a major cause of the misconception that Hizballah won. The more we learn about the real war the more it becomes clear that Israel won:

UPDATED AND BUMPED - 8/25:

Via Pajamas Media:

Hezbollah Didn't Win: Arab writers are beginning to lift the veil on what really happened in Lebanon, by AMIR TAHERI

RTWT!

NOTE: I think that as it becomes more clear just how incredibly devastated Hizballah really is, that more nations will send more troops as "peace-keepers."

***UPDATE - 8/24: MICHAEL YOUNG, Lebanese columnist in Lebanon, (Via Instapundit):

So perhaps a victory it is, but in that case Hezbollah's victory is no different than most other Arab victories in recent decades:

the "victory" of October 1973, where Egypt and Syria managed to cross into Israeli-held land, their land, only to be later saved from a thrashing by timely United Nations intervention; the "victory" of 1982, where Palestinian groups were ultimately expelled from West Beirut, but were proud to have stayed in the fight for three months; the Iraqi "victory" of 1991, where Saddam Hussein brought disaster on his country but still held on to power. Now we have the Hezbollah "victory" of 2006: the Israelis bumbled and blundered, but still managed to create a million refugees, to kill over 1,000 people, and to kick Lebanon's economy back several years.

One dreads to imagine what Hezbollah would recognize as a military loss.

That's something I wouldn't dread at all!

(Earlier): BOTW/WSJ:

BY JAMES TARANTO
Thursday, August 24, 2006 4:11 p.m. EDT

Did Hezbollah Win?

The conventional answer is yes... Yet not everyone agrees. One who apparently does not is Fuad Siniora, Lebanon's prime minister. YnetNews reports on an interview Siniora gave to La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper:

The Lebanese PM also told the newspaper he does not expect Hizbullah to drag Lebanon into a war again.

"I don't believe it can happen again," he said. "I don't think Hizbullah is in the same position where it was before the war, and won't be able to repeat what it did. It learned the lesson from what happened."

Er um... this means that Hizballah LOST.

Don't get me wrong: it was a huge mistake for the USA to allow the UNSC to push for a "time-out" because it ONLY benefits the bad guys.

And it's true that the IDF did not do as good as they should have. But still, these two mistakes don't transform the shellacking the Israelis dished out on the jihadomaniancs into a win for Hizballah or even a draw. THE ENEMY LOST. Period.

I think, that if it wasn't for the anti-Semitic propaganda of the MSM that everyone would've seen things differently, and the USA might've never pushed for a cease-fire at all. I think the lies and fauxtographs ("extremist sects, lies and videotapes") succeeded in putting so much pressure on Bush and Condi - it made them BLINK.

BTW: I think that's exactly what the MSM've been trying to do to the USA in Iraq, too: portray it as an unwinnable quagmire in which we're committing atrocity after atrocity.

I wish Bush and Condi and Olmert had shown a much resolve in the Hizballah War as Bush has in the Iraq War.