Bush and Blair Risk Repeating the 1982 Fiasco

Shredded by Cluster Bombs
Bush and Blair: "Keep It Up!"

By ROBERT FISK

Beirut.

I dropped by the hospital in Marjayoun this week to find a young girl lying in a hospital bed, swathed in bandages, her beauty scarred for ever by some familiar wounds; the telltale dark-red holes in her skin made by cluster bombs, the weapon we used in Iraq to such lethal effect and which the Israelis are now using to punish the civilians of southern Lebanon.

And, of course, it occurred to me at once that if George Bush and Condoleezza Rice and our own sad and diminished Prime Minister had demanded a ceasefire when the Lebanese first pleaded for it, this young woman would not have to spend the rest of her life pitted with these vile scars.

And having seen the cadavers of so many more men and women, I have to say--from my eyrie only three miles from the Israeli border--that the compliant, gutless, shameful refusal of Bush, Rice and Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara to bring this bloodbath to an end sentenced many hundreds of innocent Lebanese to death. As I write this near the village of Blat, which has its own little list of civilian dead, it's quite clear that many more innocent Lebanese are being prepared for the slaughter--and will indeed die in the coming days.

What was it Condoleezza Rice said? That "a hasty ceasefire would not be a good thing"? What was Blair's pathetic excuse at the G8 summit? That it was much better to have a ceasefire that would last than one which might break down? Yes, I entirely understand. Blair and his masters--we shall give Rice a generic title to avoid the obvious--regard ceasefires not as a humanitarian step to alleviate and prevent suffering but as a weapon, as a means to a political end.

Let the war last longer and the suffering grow greater--let compassion be postponed--and the Lebanese (and, most laughably, the Hizbollah) will eventually sink to their knees and accept the West's ridiculous demands. And one of those famous American "opportunities" for change--ie for humbling Iran--will have been created.

Hence, in the revolting words of Lord Blair's flunky yesterday, Blair will "increase the urgency" of diplomacy. Think about that for a moment. Diplomacy wasn't urgent at the beginning. Then I suppose it became fairly urgent and now this mendacious man is going to "increase" the urgency of diplomacy; after which, I suppose, it can become super-urgent or of "absolutely" paramount importance, the time decided--no doubt--by Israel's belief that it has won the war against Hizbollah or, more likely, because Israel realizes that it is an unwinnable war and wants us to take the casualties.

Yet from the border of Pakistan to the Mediterranean--with the sole exception of the much-hated Syria and Iran, which might be smothered in blood later--we have turned a 2,500-mile swath of the Muslim world into a hell-disaster of unparalleled suffering and hatred. Our British "peacekeepers" in Afghanistan are fighting for their lives -- and apparently bombing the innocent, Israeli-style -- against an Islamist enemy which grows by the week. In Iraq, our soldiers--and those of the United States--hide in their concrete crusader fortresses while the people they so generously liberated and introduced to the benefits of western-style democracy slash each other to death. And now the US and UK--following Israeli policy to the letter--are allowing Israel to destroy Lebanon and call it peace.

More
http://counterpunch.com/fisk07292006.html

CAIRO – The summit between US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday proved "hot air" and more "hand-wringing" as they stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon to stop more civilians killings by the indiscriminate Israeli assault, activists and politicians said on Saturday, July29 .

"It is simply hot air. Despite the previous spin we have heard in recent days, their position is exactly the same; they are still endorsing continuing Israeli aggression against Lebanon. There is a huge amount of anger around the country about that," Andrew Murray, chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, told Britain's The Independent newspaper.

Bush and Blair defied the growing anger across the world by seeking a UN resolution that fell far short of a ceasefire to end the killing of Lebanese civilians.

Speaking after talks at the White House, Bush said the US would be tabling a UN Security Council resolution this week to seek an end to hostilities "as soon as possible" but it failed to meet the demands for a ceasefire.

Bush further announced that on Monday, August1 , the UN Security Council will discuss the creation of a multinational force to patrol a buffer zone on the southern Lebanon border.

The international aid charity dismissed the summit's outcome as more "hand-wringing" in the face of rising death toll.

"The prime minister's use of the language of urgency masks delay," Phil Bloomer, Oxfam's director of campaigns and policy, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Saturday.

"The UK Government must now unequivocally back the international community's call for an immediate ceasefire to stop the killing and human suffering. The more the hand-wringing continues, the more lives are lost and the greater the difficulty will be to bring about a sustainable peace."

At least 600 Lebanese people, mostly children and civilians, have been killed and thousands wounded since Israel launched its17 -day onslaught after Hizbullah had taken prisoner two of its soldiers.

The hard-won infrastructure of the Arab country has been left in ruins, with Israel knocking out Beirut international airport, bombing ports, destroying bridges, setting power stations ablaze and reducing houses to rubble.

Very Damaging

UK cabinet ministers warned that Blair's refusal to stand up to Bush again would hasten his own exit from power.

"This whole episode is very damaging for Tony," one cabinet source told The Independent.

"They can cobble together a resolution but it won't be a solution to the violence. Tony thinks there is an arc of Islamic extremists like the Fascists in the Second World War. But this war is acting as a recruitment sergeant for the extremists."

The source was dismissive about Blair's attempts to influence the President.

"The only special relationship the US has is with Israel. This is all driven by internal US politics. I don't know why Tony hasn't told Bush we have internal political pressures too."

Bush seemed a bit subdued during the news conference, although he opened the session with a playful gesture, tapping on his microphone and telling Blair, "You share with me your perspective -- and you let me know when the microphone is on."

That was a reference to their last meeting at the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, when an open mike captured banter between the two that rekindled criticism in Britain that Blair is too deferential to Bush.

A Guardian/ICM poll showed last week that the the large majority of Britons opposed the Blair-Bush political marriage and wanted a divorce and independence from the United States.

At the news conference that followed the summit, Bush said he is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice back to the Middle East this weekend to negotiate the details of the proposed US resolution that he said could help achieve "lasting peace and stability" for Israel and Lebanon.

"This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East," Bush said "Yet our aim is to turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for a broader change in the region."

US officials and foreign diplomats described Bush's plan as saying that the halt in fighting would be conditioned on a broader political settlement in which the international force would help the Lebanese government police the south and maintain a buffer zone separating Hizbullah from Israel, if not disarm the resistance group, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Analysts said Bush's proposals are wishful thinking as he cannot dictate his terms on Hizbullah.

"Hezbollah can accept a cease-fire, but I don't think it can accept those conditions," said Martin S. Indyk, a Clinton administration official who now heads the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, told the Post.

http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-07/29/01.shtml