Ralph Peters

Here's your 'Inconvenient Truth.'

ISRAEL'S rep for toughness in tatters. Hezbollah triumphant. Iran cockier than ever. Syria untouched. Lebanon's government crippled. An orgy of anti-Semitism in the global media. Anti-Americanism exploding among Iraqi Shi'as inspired by Hezbollah. Ralph Peters' new book is "Never Quit the Fight."  That's a message we need to hear more.  His column in today's New York Post,  HEZBOLLAH 3, ISRAEL 0  agrees with my own gut feeling about the matter, Israel was trounced. * Despite the physical damage the Israeli Defense Forces inflicted, Hezbollah's terror-troops were still standing (and firing rockets) when the bell rang. * At the strategic level, Hezbollah's masterful manipulation of the seduce-me-please media convinced the region's Shi'a and Sunni spectators alike that Hassan Nasrallah is the new Great Arab Hope. He's got a powerful Persian cheering section, too. * While Israel couldn't plan or execute a winning campaign, it also failed to think beyond the inevitable cease-fire. But Hezbollah did. The terrorists had mapped out precisely what they had to do the moment the shooting stopped: Hand out Iranian money, promise they'll rebuild what Israel destroyed - and simply refuse to honor the terms of the U.N. resolution. Let me say again - I have no problem with liberals, per se. I disagree with their tendency to shove every little problem onto gummint's shoulders, but that's opinion.  What's not opinion is they are now pathological about defending a corrupt, and clueless, democratic party.  And, they don't like to fight.  Liberals are the Amish, but without the moral compass.  It's why several democrat leaders say that their party cannot be trusted to run the country while we're at war. And that's what's tragic: Israel's politicians turned out to be even more profoundly out of touch with their people than the pols in Washington. Israelis were willing to fight. They wanted to win. The rank and file of the IDF would have done what needed to be done. And their leaders failed them. There will be consequences. Iran's convinced it's on a winning course. Syria got away with murder (literally). And Hezbollah will come back more determined than ever. Oh, I almost forgot those two IDF soldiers whose kidnapping triggered all this. But I can be forgiven, since Israel's leaders forgot about them long before I did: The U.N. resolution Olmert welcomed makes no binding and immediate demand for their return. And the world is going to let Iran build nuclear weapons. My guess is that Israeli voters will bounce these guys out of office, just about the same time  our own voters throw their lot - our lot - to the same people.  Ay Carumba.