Remember all the warnings we've had over the years from the wise heads in the punditocracy, how if we supported Israel, or removed the Taliban, or removed Saddam, or dissed Arafat, or promoted democracy in the Middle East, that the "Arab Street" would rise up in anger?

Well, I guess they were finally, after all those years of false predictions, proven right.

I think that Syria is finding itself in a quagmire. So is the MSM.

[Update at 1:48 PM EST]

Rick Savage emails:

I'm waiting for Ted Kennedy to proclaim that Lebanon is Syria's Vietnam, and demand an immediate pull out!

I'm waiting, but I'm not holding my breath.

Probably a good plan...

I thought that the Arabs weren't ready for democracy yet? Surely the protests and things are meaningless, since they have no history of democracy---instead, we need to keep their dictatorships around, in order to ensure stability?

And we know that stability is important, don't we? I mean, in a powder keg like the MidEast, surely it's better to keep the Lebanese in thrall to the Syrians, rather than have them rule themselves? Especially since their multi-ethnic, multi-religious society might not turn out perfectly, if they have their own say? Civil war, end of secularism, etc.?

Lebanon is sort of special. They had a representative government for a long time. That is, before neighbouring nations started messing the place up. The PLO retreated to Lebanon and continued to launch attacks at Israel. Then Israel invaded the place, followed by Syria. Civil war broke out. Not a pretty picture.

Rand,

This is great news. Lebanon is an amazing place!
Kicking out two tyrannical and illegal occupations
in the space of only five years! This is great.
One wonders if this will lead to the ending of the
rest of the illegal military occupations in the
Middle East. Who knows, today Lebanon, tomorrow
Gaza? West Bank? Iraq?

;-)

~Jon

You're a little behind the times, Jon. Not that the occupation was "illegal," but Israel has already essentially pulled out of Gaza, and is in the process of doing it for most of the West Bank. And there is no illegal occupation in Iraq, either. US forces will leave whenever they are requested to do so by the government there. So far, no such request has been forthcoming, and is unlikely to be until they get the foreign invasion from Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia under control. That may require new (legitimate) governments in all three countries.