The United Nations adopted a resolution on an "immediate" cessation of hostilities in Lebanon on Friday night. "Since the conflict began, we have sought an immediate end to the fighting," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice announced.
Hours after announcement of the UN resolution passage, Israeli forces advanced deeper into Lebanon against fierce Hezbollah resistance.
The UN and Condi must be taking their definition of "immediate" from Karl Rove's Brave New World Dictionary.
On July 22, only three weeks ago, Rice was rejecting the "false promise" of an immediate cease-fire.
Lebanon's cabinet is expected to accept the UN resolution later today. Israel won't vote on it until Sunday. Word on the street is that the resolution will pass in Israel as well, but that probably depends on how well the IDF's offensive progresses between now and then.
The Israel-Hezbollah situation has been handled badly and cynically by all parties involved. America, masquerading in the role of "honest broker," plainly entered the faux peace process with the goal of blocking a cease-fire until Israel had achieved its stated war aim of eliminating Hezbollah militants from southern Lebanon. After the Qana incident, somebody in the Rovewellian cadre figured "oops, we're going to look bad in this," and that's about the time Condi got the call to change her tune--publicly, at least.
At the end of the day, Israel will agree to a cease-fire when it achieves what it set out to achieve, which is perfectly understandable from their perspective. When a country launches a war with a specific purpose, it's likely to want to keep going until the job is finished. (As opposed to countries that launch wars with vague purposes in mind and never get the job finished.)
But no matter how the Israel-Hezbollah conflict turns out now, America's diplomatic credibility has been damaged even further. The U.S. false about face on the cease-fire isn't going to fool anybody--except maybe Americans who still think young Mister Bush is keeping them safe.
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Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Read his commentaries at ePluribus Media and Pen and Sword.
"stated war aim of eliminating Hezbollah militants from southern Lebanon"
ReplyDeleteYup, all the way to the Litani river. Hmmmmm.
ps--
ReplyDelete"hurrying up the offensive to grab a little more yardage before the UN blows the final whistle is a time-honored tradition for the Israelis."...
Olmert Goes For It
Yep, that about says it all.
ReplyDeleteHey Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI love your stuff and would love to see a dairy from an experienced military person on this topic:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/12/131630/724
I particularly ask you because the original article was written in the Armed Forces Journal with the current and new map of the middle east. Judging by the comments section, it looks like the US/CIA/UK has already begun the unrest needed, particularly in Iran, to achieve the desired bounderies.
I'll tell you, I need to mull all this over for a while and take a good look at Peters' original article (he retired from the military at the same pay grade I did, I believe).
ReplyDeleteJust now, my view is that trying to fix the old borders by making new borders would be like trying to treat athlete's foot with a shotgun. But I'll have to study the idea a bit more.
Best,
Jeff
Greetings from the other side of the pond.
ReplyDeleteRe: Qana. This link has some interesting stuff about those infamous human shields.
http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/
Keep up the good work.
T.
T,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, and thanks for checking in from Europa. Things in Oceania are much as you left them, only moreso.
ah ha! found it here --
ReplyDeleteWho killed the Cedar Revolution
But, Ball insists, Israel’s “first objective” was accompanied by its second:
“the installation of a minority Maronite Christian government to rule over a Lebanese protectorate which would conclude a separate peace with Israel” (PA, p.120).
Ball calls this second objective the “grand design” that dates at least as far back as David Ben-Gurion’s 1948 diary entry cited by Ball:
“the weak link in the Arab coalition is Lebanon… A Christian state must be established whose southern border will be the Litani. We shall sign a treaty with it” (PA, p.120).
that reminds me of Clinton who had to ask what the definition of sex was.. I suppose it's all this legal-ese that makes you second guess what is what.
ReplyDeleteAnd now, I'll get ready for bed. 'getting ready' meaning staying up a bit to watch tv and then another somethin' somethin' and THEN I'll go to sleep! See how easy it is? Two can play that game..
never mind, it's late lol
Ingrid
I just had another thought; I wonder how Lewis Black would rant over this 'immediate ceasefire' thing..
ReplyDeleteIngrid
"Immediately effective tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that..."
ReplyDeleteIs concatenating the words "American," "diplomatic," "credibility" and "Middle East" not an act of hubris or perhaps lunacy?
ReplyDelete