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Apparantly a disproportionate response has some deterent value.

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah:

"We did not think, even one percent, that the
capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude. You ask
me, if I had known on July 11… that the operation would lead to such
a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not."

That must mean if Israel had responded only proportionately, as it was urged to by many experts, he would do it.

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It turns out a freelance photographer for Reuters has been blowing smoke on his pictures.  Adnan Hajj was fired for using Photoshop to doctor Beirut bombing photos.  Reuters removed all 920 of Hajj's pictures from its database.

Like the smoke in my cartoon?  Photoshop.

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American politicians call it the expectations game.  You set low expectations and when you exceed them people think you won.  It works for our president.

The expectations bar for Hezbollah was set at simple survival.

The President of Iran praises Hezbollah's victory.

The President of Syria praises Hezbollah's victory.  "Bashir al-Assad said that the once invincible Israeli
army had been humiliated and that the Jewish state would do well to
seek peace and hand back occupied Arab land -"

Hezbollah praises Heszbollah's victory.  "HEZBOLLAH leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has declared that his
guerillas achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel…"We came out victorious in a war in which big Arab armies were
defeated (before),"

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Kofi Annan accused Israel of targeting a U.N. observation post when four observers were killed in an air strike.  Arab support for Hezbollah grew after Israel accidentally killed women and children with a missile strike in Qana.

The killings weren't in Israel's interest (or Lebanon's) but they weren't bad for Hezbollah.

I was thinking of Fearless Fosdick, the Al Capp, character when I drew this.  Fosdick blasted away at bad guys on crowded  streets leaving the good and the evil full of perfect cookie cutter holes.

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World leaders met in Rome to decide what to do about the war in Lebanon.  Europeans wanted an immediate cease-fire.

It was agreed a multi-national peace force would be a good idea but no one volunteered to send troops.

I'm not the first cartoonist to draw politicians in a circle pointing fingers at each other (Bush isn't trying to give Merkel a back rub here).  Thomas Nast may have been first with this cartoon.

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The Israelis have been warning the enemy before they attack by dropping leaflets telling civilians to leave the area.  Still there has been "collateral damage" and Israel has been criticized for killing babies and U.N. observers.

Hezbollah has killed innocent civilians too.  But not as "collateral damage". In Hezbollah's case civilians are the targets as well as the shields.

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Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and Gaza hasn't gone well for the Lebanese and Palestinians.  Israel moved out and Iranian funded terror groups, Hezbollah and Hamas, moved in.  In the words of Mark Steyn, …"These territories are now in effect Iran's land borders with the Zionist Entity.  They're "occupied territories" but it's not the Jews doing the occupying".