Children die in convoy attack as Israel widens Lebanon assault
The United States are insistent. The carnage must continue. With most of the world ready to step in and insist that this madness must end, the US was the sole member of the Security Council to oppose any Council action at this time.
When Americans wonder why anti-Americanism is sweeping the globe, and possibly comforting themselves with the thought that perhaps jealousy is what drives it, they would do well to examine actions like this. When the US, backing a partner that is acting outrageously and illegally, goes against all common sense and rejects the widely held world opinion that Israel is acting in a way that is hugely disproportionate to the ills she has suffered.
But no, at George Bush's insistence - and make no mistake, he is the only person in the world who could stop this with a single phone call - more Lebanese civilians must die.
And dying they are. Yesterday another 35 innocents were killed in an Israeli attack. In a single incident, an Israeli missile strike killed 20 people as they attempted to flee the area, most of those killed being children.
According to witnesses and photographs from the scene of the worst incident, an Israeli missile incinerated a car and a small truck full of families leaving their Lebanese border village of Marwaheen near Tyre after the Israeli army used loudhailers to tell residents they had just hours to go. Pictures showed charred bodies of children strewn across the road.
UN peacekeepers recovered the bodies. Half the passengers were children or teenagers, according to medical sources. It was the deadliest single strike since Israel started an air campaign against Lebanon after two of its soldiers were captured by Hizbollah on Wednesday.
Last night the Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, declared the country in a 'state of catastrophe'. But no, George Bush insists, the killing must go on.
Israel's campaign has so far killed at least 100 people, all but three of them civilians, and choked off Lebanon's economy, including its growing tourism industry.
On a separate front, Israeli troops also yesterday fired several missiles at targets in Gaza, killing at least two.
Hizbollah fired dozens of rockets into Israel, some reaching Tiberias, 22 miles inside the border, the furthest Hizbollah missiles have so far reached. They killed two Israeli civilians and injured several.
One Katyusha rocket hit the roof of a seven-floor apartment building in the Shmuel neighbourhood of Tiberias, a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, damaging several homes.
The Israelis have made accusations that Iran must have supplied the Hizbullah with the rockets capable of travelling such distances, and one would have to concede that this is a distinct possibility. I've never heard of any terrorist group with such capabilities, which certainly begs the question of who is helping them.
Of course, when we hear of a "growing chasm" in the international community we must be realistic, that actually means Israel and the US against the rest of the world with Tony Blair sitting firmly on the fence.There is a growing chasm in the international community. President George Bush yesterday angrily rounded on Hizbollah for starting the violence and demanded Syria intervene.
At a joint press conference with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, at the G8 summit in St Petersburg, he said: 'In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place.' Bush, visibly angry, added: 'And that's because Hizbollah has been launching rocket attacks out of Lebanon into Israel and because Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. The best way to stop the violence is for Hizbollah to lay down its arms and to stop attacking. And therefore, I call on Syria to exert influence over Hizbollah.'
But in keeping with Russia's traditional role as a counterweight to the US in the Middle East, President Putin added: 'We believe that the use of force must be balanced. But in any case the bloodshed must be stopped as soon as possible.'
But no, George Bush insists, the violence must go on. I suppose, as an ally of Israel, his position would be understandable were Israel to possess a military objective. But she doesn't. Other than the express wish to destroy Hizbullah, and she didn't achieve that after occupying Lebanon for two decades so we have to concede that there's no possibility of that objective being achieved now.
Which makes me worry about what, perhaps, is actually going on here. I reported yesterday on the stories in Arab newspapers saying that Israel has given Syria 72 hours to intervene. I don't know how true those reports were as no-one seems to be following through on the story this morning, however, Iran have promised that it will respond ferociously if there is any incursion into Syrian territory.
The danger is that this conflict will escalate, engulfing the entire Middle East in flames. Given the language of Bush and Olmert, not only over the last few days but over the last few months, one begins to suspect that this is what they are seeking.
It is no secret that Bush has military plans already drawn to invade Iran. Likewise, the aggressive noises towards Syria have been going on for over a year now.
Are they that insane? If I try to imagine conversations on this subject between Cheney and Rumsfeld I would have to sadly conclude that yes, they are that insane.
No matter what happens next, we must never forget how this situation began. Hizbullah launched an audacious and illegal swoop killing three Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two more.
However, Bush and Olmert would have us believe that Israel had no choice other than to take the steps she consequently took. That's bullshit.
The Israeli response was a chosen response. She need not have gone down this path. And Bush still has the power to make her turn back. But he doesn't want to.
The are leading us to Hell. And, rather than being swept along by events or matters out with their control, they are actually leading us there because that's exactly where they want all this to go.
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2 comments:
What I love is how Condi et al say stuff to the effect of, "We won't bomb your civilians as long as your governments submit to our impossible demands." The governments just laugh and say, "Like we give a shit about our civilians! Ha!" They all know exactly what they're doing. They love death, they love watching people die, and it doesn't matter what country the dying people are from. As long as someone is suffering, the power elite are happy. That's because it subjugates the whole world in this global economy, it keeps people working at slave wages, it keeps people down and without hope, it makes people worship powerful people like demigods.
It is appalling how politicians in general are lacking in the feelings of empathy that overwhelm the rest of the population. Most of us instinctively react on an emotional plane, whilst they seem incapable of doing so.
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