And Israel agrees to a 48 hour cease fire. This is effective immediately, to allow an investigation into the bombing of Qana that left about 57 Lebanese cililians dead.
History repeats itself; in 1992, Israel launched a similar attack on Qana, leaving 100 civilians dead. International outcry was strong enough then to stop Israel's operation at that time. Will it be strong enough now? Hezbollah promises vengence.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon said he will not hold talks on the crisis until there is an immediate and permanent cease-fire. Condi packed her bags and went home without calling for an immediate cease fire.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
Thank God... maybe this can get things started towards a peaceful resolution. But if Hezbollah comes thru on their vow to retaliate, that of course, all flies out the window.
Last night we went to a hot air balloon race (part of the Pro-Football Hall of Fame activities)and on the way home, on 1 major street, we drove past the Jewish Community Center and Temple which had a sign lit up that said: Please, let's all pray for peace. We passed a Romanian Orthodox church that had a sign lit up that said: Pray for peace in the Middle East. We passed a Unitarian church that had a sign that said: Pray for peace for all of God's children in the Middle East. And we passed a Catholic Church that said: Please pray for peace in the Middle East and ask Jesus to protect the innocent children.
... maybe all of those prayers worked a bit? Now let's hope the leaders in charge listen to what the people want and stop this insanity...... oh and Condi: Thanks for nothing. This just proves how useless and insignifcant you really are.
Tina, this is Bush's proxy war. Or, really Dick Cheney's war. Cheney's puppets include Bush, Tony Blair, Ehud Olmert - I don't know if you saw Frank Rich's editorial in todays NY Times; Robin Andrea emailed it to me. Rich says: CNN will surely remind us today that it is Day 19 of the Israel-Hezbollah war — now branded as Crisis in the Middle East — but you won’t catch anyone saying it’s Day 1,229 of the war in Iraq. On the Big Three
networks’ evening newscasts, the time devoted to Iraq has fallen 60 percent between 2003 and this spring, as clocked by the television monitor, the Tyndall Report.
Casualties in Iraq are over 100 per day, which is far and away greater than Lebanon, Gaza, and Israel combined. But focusing on the war in Iraq is depressing. Rich quotes Bill O'Reilly: “It is depressing to pay attention to this war on terror,” said Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly on July 18.
“I mean, it’s summertime.”
But focusing on the US's proxy war keeps us from paying attention to how we've devastated Iraq. We've devastated US morale too, as we've known for a while that all of the reasons we'd been told for going into Iraq were lies, lies and damn lies. To quote Frank Rich again: The new war is a grueling daily
object lesson in just how much the American blunders in Iraq have undermined the one robust democracy that already existed in the region, Israel, while emboldening terrorists and strengthening the hand of Iran.
Meanwhile, Iraq has its own home-grown terrorist leader, with no ties to Al-Qaida, no ties to Saddam Hussein: radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is allied with Hezbollah and Iran. He's part of the death squads that have slaughtered Iraqis and Americans since April 2004, including Cindy Sheehan's son.
So a 48 hour stoppage in air raids into Lebanon isn't a lot of time. Hezbollah is strong, and gaining strength. Will Hezbollah stop short of revenge? Will Hezbollah put down weapons and negotiate peace?
I hope so.
you know what makes me mad? that bushco used the israelis to start this war and that the israelis allowed themselves to be used. left to their own counsel- they would have done what they needed to do to stop hamas and hezbollah and there wouldn't have been the carnage. i certainly don't fault the israeli people- i think that we in america can relate to a government that is not for the people. israel's government is not in the right on this one and i hope it ends soon for the lebanese and the israelis.
divajood
I agree with you that Hezbollah-Israel War is a convenient distraction from what appears to be an alarming collapse of the US Iraq plans.
The highly advertised, new Iraqi government is unable to improve the situation in the country. Al Zarquawi's death has not slowed the the rate of killing. Shiite militiamen in Iraq appear to be doing most of the killings and the fate of their Hezbollah brothers is radicalising them further.
So I agree its a sad region and incoherent foreign policy.
Pete
It's all such a downer...we don't have to like it...but those in the areas that are war torn don't have that choice...and it must be dispicable for them. Water food and shelter mostly not available. I wish man was not inhumane, but this just proves it...and it doesn't matter which side...because the blood runs red just the same.
Betmo, I sometimes wonder if Sharon's stroke was induced, since he'd had a change of heart that wasn't in Bushco's interests.
Pete, the Civil War that's raging in Iraq is courtesy the US Government. Oh, and Osama bin WHO? Did the cowboy forget?
Sumo, how did these neocons actually wind up in positions of power?
I have read reports that the Israelis have already breeched the 48 hour cease fire.
BZ, Ha'aretz has a report about that, as well as information about the IDF soldier who refused to deploy to Lebanon. He's been jailed for 28 days. I applaud him for refusing to go; I believe there are other soldiers refusing to deploy but haven't tracked that down.
apparently, condi got the crap scared out of her as she started to leave because the bombing started as soon as she left meeting with the israelis. perhaps her new found reality check will serve her well. perhaps now that she has been in a war zone- she won't be so quick to advocate for more war.
Betmo, what, did she break one of her Ferragamo heels? She's without soul.
Post a Comment