Nasrallah told Lebanese Parliament of Kidnapping on 29 Jun 06.

The Washington Post, has an interesting chronology leading up to the start of the Israeli-Hezbollah war. Why the angle of the story taken has much to be desired, the chronology is interesting to say the least.

02 Mar 06: National Dialogue started between Druze Jumblatt, Hezbollah Nasrallah, Christian Aoun, and Saad Hariri, son of the slain Lebanese leader. The discussed relations with Syria, the presence of armed Palestinians, the future of the isolated pro-Syrian president, and Hezbollah's weapons. The most contested issue was obviously Hezbollhah's disarmanent required by UNSC Resolution 1559.

08 Jun 06: Nasrallah speaks to Parliment to defend Hezbollah's weapons offering the following points:

• It provided a cover to the Lebanese state; in any battle with Israel, Hezbollah would suffer the consequences of Israeli reprisals, not the rest of the country.
• Hezbollah had created a deterrent -- in the words of one participant, "a balance of fear and terror."
• The Lebanese army alone was not enough to protect a border that Israeli routinely violates by air and sometimes by sea.

29 Jun 06: Nasrallah again defends Hezbollah weapon's saying it was a "balance of fear and terror" and stated that Lebanon needed to capture Israeli Soldiers "as leverage to win the release of three Lebanese prisoners."

25 Jul 06: This was supposed to be the date of the last session of the National Dialogue where Nasrallah was supposed to bring "proof that the deterrence philosophy would work".

Well, we all know what happened on 12 Jul 06, Hezbollah invaded Israel and captured two Israeli Soldiers. It is now apparent that this was going to be the proof that the Lebanese government asked for during the National Dialogue. A couple of hours after the kidnapping, Hassan, sitting in a meeting of the Committee of Public Works received a phone call to which he stated to the committee, "Congratulations, our hostages will be coming home soon." Around the same time, another Hezbollah member of Parliament broke the same news to another committee. Parliamentary members all knew Hezbollah was going to try something and were not shocked by this message.

In addition, Goksel, the former spokesman for the U.N. force, watched Hezbollah build bunkers in Southern Lebanon since 2001 in and around UN positions. They were obviously building an integrated defense for an eventual Israeli attack even though the UN force was responsible for the border. His statement is unbelievable in that he said, "Looking back, they really fooled us on that one."

So, what we have here is the Lebanese government engaging in a National Dialogue, mainly centered on the disarmanent of Hezbollah since many members of the Lebanese Parliament did not see Israel as a threat as the UN was patrolling/securing the Blue Line. Nasrallah tells the Parliament that he wants to capture Israeli Soldiers to win the release of three Hezbollah prisoners. Parliament members shrug this statement off, but insist that Nasrallah bring proof of Hezbollah's deterrence. Nasrallah, for his part, kidnaps two Israeli Soldiers and starts the Israeli-Hezbollah War.

One point I will concide to the Lebanese Parliament and Nasrallah. Both did not believe Israel would respond with such viracity. But, that does not forgive a nation for starting a deadly conflict trying to prove its deterrence. That would be akin to the US during the height of the Cold War saying, "Hey, lets disprove Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) by launching a nuclear bomb over Moscow. I mean come on, what were these people thinking?

Israel had withdrawn from Lebanon in 2000. The withdraw south of Blue Line had been confirmed by the UN, and UN forces were on the ground to prevent an Israeli move north of the Blue Line. Lebanon was finally rid of direct Syrian influence since the Hariri murder. Lebanon was on its way back to economic prosperity and this was supposed to be a great summer for tourism after several years of no hostility with its Southern neighbor.

Yet Nasrallah stated on 29 Jun 06, three days after Hamas kidnapped Cpl Shalit, that Hezbollah was going to kidnap Israeli Soldiers to win release of three Lebanese prisoners. Nobody thought that Israel would respond violently when they were still responding violently in Gaza after Cpl Shalit was kidnapped just three days before?

Again, what were these Parliamentary members thinking?