Levantine morass
It was Bismarck who declared that the whole of the Balkans were not worth 'the bones of one Pomeranian grenadier.' Now Enoch Powell has reached a similar concu- sion about the value of the Lebanon when weighed against the lives of 97 Queen's Dragoon Guards. His reservations have to some extent been echoed by Lieutenant- Colonel David Roberts who earlier this week was abruptly recalled from his posi- tion as commander of the British peace- keeping force in Beirut officially 'for health reasons' but — according to rumour — on- ly after he had written a letter demanding that his men be either reinforced or withdrawn. Are Mr Powell and the Colonel right? Are the men of the present token British force in the Lebanon risking their lives for any sensible purpose?
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At the centre of it all, Presidbt F as 1 as President Cemayers
a potentially explosive mixture of peoples it was until recent years the most prosperous, stable and industrious community in the Near East. The present situation, whereby it hag been turned into a killing ground, is the direct result of the Israeli decision to in- vade the country in 1978. That invasion was originally justified as an operation to safeguard life on Israel's northern borders from Palestinian rocket attacks. Then it was declared to be an operation to assist the hard-pressed Maronite Christians of the south. Then it was declared to be no less than an intervention to rid Lebanon of all Palestinian guerrillas for ever and to impose a Christian government on that country which would the better represent Israeli in- terests. In all these objectives except the original one, the Israeli intervention has failed. But merely by occupying the southern Lebanon Israel will no doubt find sufficient comfort for the appalling chaos which its withdrawing army has left in its track. The Syrian presence is, from the Western viewpoint, the least acceptable component of this chaos.
President Reagan's administration regards Syria as a Russian client-state whose influence must be restricted at every
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