Editorial: All talk, no action

Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006 | 7:46 a.m.

President Bush has been urging the United Nations to follow through on its commitment to lead a peacekeeping force in Lebanon, but France and other European nations have not taken the kind of initiative that the United States had in mind.

The United Nations has been soliciting help from member countries for its effort to bring stability to Lebanon by putting some space between Hezbollah and Israel. The United Nations has a 2,000-member force on duty there, and U.N. officials have vowed to send at least 3,500 additional troops, perhaps as many as 15,000, in the coming days.

U.N. officials had hoped European nations would rush their support to the region. But France has only 200 or so personnel in the U.N. force and has offered to contribute just 200 more - an engineering regiment specializing in transportation and building projects. That will hardly do much to make sure Hezbollah doesn't rearm itself in southern Lebanon and launch yet another attack against Israel.

The lack of action by France is disappointing and troubling. As Bush noted Monday, France has long-standing ties to Lebanon, a former French colony. It is incumbent upon France and other European nations, which pushed hard for Israel to agree to a cease-fire and stop its military offensive against Hezbollah, to honor their commitment and deploy enough troops to stabilize southern Lebanon.

France's response has had a domino effect, as some other European nations are now reluctant to commit troops, too. Italy, perhaps realizing what is at stake, has offered more troops than any other nation - as many as 3,000 - and may lead the U.N. force.

Officials from France and other European countries have said they are reluctant to do much more until the mission is clarified and the rules of engagement that dictate the use of force are better defined. If that is what it takes, then the rules should be defined quickly, and if that takes another U.N. resolution introduced by the United States, then Ambassador John Bolton should move fast.

In the meantime, European officials are scheduled to meet today to discuss troop contributions. We hope that they will emerge from the talks with a plan that will swiftly bring security to Lebanon. Without a strong military force to uphold the cease-fire, Hezbollah could more easily re-establish and rearm itself in preparation for another war against Israel - a situation that the United Nations cannot permit to happen.