Monday, July 31, 2006
Cease Fire? Nope.
When Israel announced its suspension of bombing after the Qana attack I wondered why they were bothering. They have never shown much concern for civilian casualties or the ensuing international condemnation before, even after the Marwaheen Massacre. My intuition raised a small red flag. Hezbollah halted its bombardment of Israel after the cessation went into effect.
Apparently my intuition was correct (if I can say that without sounding too pompous). Israel resumed bombing hours after the incident. So much for the suspension of bombing.
Hezbollah has retaliated by firing 157 really ineffective rockets at Israel, resulting in 0 fatalities, one “moderate” injury, and 12 “slight” injuries.
The international isolation of the US and Israel is becoming painfully obvious to commentators in the US, even the conservative ones. It is dismissed as unimportant, of course, but it can’t be ignored. I overheard Laura Ingraham awkwardly acknowledging it even as she mischaracterized it (only Arab countries are angry at the US) and dismissed it (“these were the same people who protested us when Reagan was president and he was building up our military”). Way to knock down the straw man, Attention Deficit. You are the master of your own little fantasy world.
Kofi Annan expressed irritation when he reminded his audience at the UN that his earlier proposal for a cease-fire was rejected (by a US veto). Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said that “nothing can justify” the Qana strike. Jacques Chirac issued a statement saying that “France condemns this unjustified action.” Britain’s foreign secretary described the strikes as “absolutely dreadful” and “quite appalling,” saying that “we have repeatedly urged Israel to act proportionately.”
Arab countries, as you might expect, were even more direct. Syria’s president labeled the Israeli strikes “state terrorism.” King Abdullah of Jordan called the attack “criminal aggression.” Iran and Egypt condemned the attack. The United Arab Emirates called the attack an “ugly massacre.” All of the aforementioned European and Arab countries have called for an immediate cease-fire, against the wishes of the US and Israel. Human Rights Watch labeled the attack a “war crime.”
More ominously, the armed wing of Abbas’s Fatah faction in Palestine said it would target the United States and other Western countries in retaliation. "From now on we consider the United States and certain other Western countries our target," said a statement from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.
So this foreign policy strategy President Bush has is making us safer? I beg to differ.
Tony Blair is taking some heat for his decision to allow US planes loaded with bombs bound for Israel to refuel on British soil. He is also attracting criticism for his decision to side with President Drinky and not support an immediate cease-fire, which the majority of Britains and Europeans in general support.
Meanwhile, all is not quiet on the southern front. 30 Palestinians have been killed over the past three days in an Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. A few Israelis have been injured by retaliatory rocket fire from Palestinian militants.
The oil spill in Lebanon caused by an Israeli strike is the worst environmental disaster in the history of the Mediterranean. The beaches of six nations, including Israel and Lebanon, are threatened.
Correction: The Marwaheen Massacre may have been the result of a fighter aircraft strike instead of a helicopter strike.
# posted by BitterHarvest @ 10:34 AM 
