THE BUCK STOPS WHERE?

'The Buck Stops Over There' notes Opinion Journal's James Taranto. He points us to an article in The New York Times U.S. and NATO Balk on Troops for Lebanon Force where it is reported that "Support is building quickly for an international military force to be placed in southern Lebanon." The NY Times further reports,

"But there remains a small problem: where will the troops come from?

The United States has ruled out its soldiers' participating, NATO says it is overstretched, Britain feels its troops are overcommitted and Germany says it is willing to participate only if Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that it would police, agrees to it, a highly unlikely development.

"All the politicians are saying, 'Great, great' to the idea of a force, but no one is saying whose soldiers will be on the ground," said one senior European official. "Everyone will volunteer to be in charge of the logistics in Cyprus."

Taranto's take: "So let's see if we have this straight. The U.N. passes a resolution calling on Hezbollah to disarm. Then nothing much happens until Hezbollah enters Israeli territory to kill and kidnap Israeli soldiers, whereupon Jerusalem takes it upon itself to enforce that resolution.

Now the 'international community' is calling on Israel to exercise 'restraint' as rockets rain on Israeli cities and urging an 'international military force' to impose a 'cease-fire' without thinking though where that force would come from.

Oh well, at least they have 'moral authority.' "