A Rich Vein

Always plenty one can get from the ABC coverage of anything to do with Israel.

Their online article Lebanon army deploys on border, warns Israel opens with:

The Lebanese army has warned it will confront any new Israeli "aggressions", as it deploys along the southern borders for the first time in almost 40 years.

Army Commander Brigadier General Michel Sleiman has addressed conscripts during a ceremony in which the Lebanese flag was hoisted on a hilltop in the border village of Labbouneh for the first time since 1970.

"I call on you to confront any Israeli aggressions and violations," he said.

I wonder if they can multitask - confront Israeli aggressions and disarm Hizballah.

Continuing:

The army deployment comes a day after Israel's near-complete withdrawal of several hundred soldiers who had remained in southern Lebanon after the August 14 cease-fire.

ABC are surprisingly on the mark for once: near-complete because at least two soldiers are not part of the withdrawal: hostages Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Next:

The cease-fire, brokered by the United Nations, put an end to a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Before anyone celebrates the inaugural action taken by the United Nations to avert conflict, it's worth remembering that credit should go to Condi Rice for brokering the ceasefire. The UN was the stenographer.

Moving on, the article ends:

Hezbollah has agreed to abide by the August 14 cease-fire, but it has resolutely refused to lay down its arms until it is satisfied Israel has ended its occupation of Lebanese territory.

Err, isn't that sentence cut'n'paste from an article covering the Israeli withdrawal in 2000?