It is all about the money, maudmac (I have no other way of referring to you). For the US, any time we are presented with a genocide or a conflict (especially in the Middle East) we weigh the costs and benefits. Even domestically. Why do you think Bush sided with Israel in the first place? To be in American Jews' favor (not to say that all American Jews support what Israel is doing. So no offense.). American Jews who have a lot of money and influence especially in metropolitan areas. It's not a Bush administration policy like you said maudmac, it's an American policy. We are not a moral country in terms of foreign policy, we are a greedy one.
And so it seems that Condoleezza Rice is making progress on the terms for the cease-fire package between Israel and Lebanon. Negotiations for these terms were supposed to take place during a 48-hour halt in Israel's bombings. I guess halt to them means "continue bombing not even Hezbollah targets but civilians too." I can see how they were confused. We cannot continue accepting Israel's "oopsies" for all of the civilian deaths.
This is what America said about these unneeded deaths:
Quote:
“We’re not back to square one,’’ said J. Adam Ereli, deputy spokesman for the State Department. “On the contrary, we believe we have advanced the ball considerably.’’ Earlier Monday, in Jerusalem, Mr. Ereli had said the suspension of bombing came with an exclusion to allow attacks on militants who might be preparing to fire rockets at Israel.
Yes we should allow Israel to continue attacks on militants during a halt because we know how good Israel's intelligence and aim has been throughout this entire conflict. Let's look at an example shall we?
About 1,900 rockets have fallen on Israel. Nineteen civilians have been killed and over 400 wounded. Thirty-three soldiers have been killed and 88 wounded. I'm going to squeeze by the facts and say Israel dropped around the same number on Lebanon. Nearly 550 Lebanese have been killed in airstrikes, with as many as 200 missing, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Almost 2,000 have been wounded.
Call me crazy but I can see a large gaping hole in those two facts. It's the gaping hole where the Lebanese people lived.
But oh ho, it's okay because this is an important fight. Means to an end we say.
Quote:
“The current crisis,’’ Mr. Bush said, “is part of a larger struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror in the Middle East.’’
Get over yourself Bush. This isn't about freedom or terror. This is about land. Israel wants more land. "Oops, we've accidentally destroyed apartment buildings where civilians lived. We swear we thought there were Hezbollah militants there. Oh shucks. But really it's the Hezbollah's fault. We warned them several days in advance so they could leave their homes so we could demolish every thing they have ever owned. Well, I guess we can use the extra space to move in tanks so we can reinforce our land troops, you know, so we can kill the Hezbollah evil people."
My question is where are all the Israeli refugees. We hear so much about the Lebanese civilians escaping the airstrikes. So if those two countries are in a clash, why is it that only the Lebanese are hauling ass? And also, in terms of the airstrike in Qana which was gross, inhumane, and not a mistake (get over yourself Israel), why does the US say Israel should "further investigate" if there were Hezbollah munitions in the apartment people that THEY blew up. If we're saying Hezbollah and Lebanese civilians are separate entities because we DON'T want Israel to hit the wrong targets (God forbid), shouldn't the Lebanese be investigating? If we trust Lebanese troops enough to encourage them to disarm the Hezbollah shouldn't the LEBANESE be investigating the airstrikes done on LEBANESE land to LEBANESE people? Maybe.
This is why genocides and "terrorists" pop up. They see the impunity US gives to other countries like Israel which are obviously doing very wrong things and think that this impunity will extend to them. "Nothing will happen as long as we don't touch US oil and money."
And hey look! They're right.
(Oh and yes my sig is from the cake song. I love cake. And your avatar reminds me of something. I can't put my finger on it though.)