LETTER FROM LEBANON: Reconstruction Wars

As Lebanon's army gets back in the game, a new battle beginsto win the peace

It's either heartening or slightly worrisome -- or both -- that the most dramatic thing the Lebanese Army did last week was cross a bridge. The Qasmiya Bridge lies 30 miles south of Beirut, at the main crossing point over the Litani River on the coastal road from Sidon. The bridge was destroyed by an Israeli air strike on July 12, the first day of the war in Lebanon. Working furiously for 48 hours, army engineers finished rebuilding the bridge just a few hours before the first tractor trailer carrying armored vehicles rumbled over. The bridge bowed but held, and Lebanon's army...

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