WaPost: US at Odds w/Allies on Mideast Conflict

[autorank]

Mission Accomplished for the Messengers of Death:

“More than 500,000 people -- about one in eight in a country smaller than Connecticut -- have been displaced, according to the Lebanese government.”

U.S. at Odds With Allies on Mideast Conflict
Citing Civilian Casualties, European Nations and U.N. Eager for Cease-Fire

By Robin Wright and Colum Lynch

http://tinyurl.com/emny9
Thursday, July 20, 2006; Page A17

The United States faces growing tensions with allies over its support of Israel's military campaign to cripple Hezbollah, amid calls for a cease-fire to help with the mounting humanitarian crisis.

European allies are particularly alarmed about the disproportionately high civilian death toll in Lebanon. They are also concerned that the U.S. position will increase tensions between the Islamic world and the West by fueling militants, playing into the rhetoric of Osama bin Laden and adding to the problems of the U.S.-led coalition force in Iraq.

"What there needs to be now is a cessation of hostilities," U.N. Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown told reporters yesterday. "The Middle East is littered with the results of people believing there are military solutions to political problems in the region." He said civilians are "very unfairly bearing the greatest brunt of the conflict."

The fragile Lebanese government has pleaded for a cease-fire, and France has urged the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution calling for an end to hostilities, proposing political and security measures. France also has called for "humanitarian corridors" to guarantee safety for civilians fleeing areas under fire.

How much more “neocons nation building” can they take?

[OKNancy]

1. autorank

Please change your subject line to read:

U.S. at Odds With Allies on Mideast Conflict

LBN rules state that the subject line must match exactly. You can make explanatory comments in parentheses if you wish, but no editorial comments.

Thanks in advance
OKNancy
LBN Moderator

[autorank]

2. You're welcome in retrospect;)

[OKNancy]

3. back at you

:thumbsup:

[cliss]

4. Lol

Again, this shows the lack of caring by the Bush administration. Europe is much closer to the conflict in the Middle East. Right now, I believe there are still some 2,000 Swedes and other nationalities in Lebanon. They are struggling to get out.

The US is just - clueless.

[autorank]

5. WH, dumb as a sack of hammers.

They take stupidity to a new level, but I think I'm onto something with this

George Bush is the "Messenger of Death" or referring to all of them as "Messengers of Death"

Thats what they are fundamentally, they just kill kill kill, whether it's on a grand scale
like Iraq or through causing millions suffering and death by denying (for six years) stem
cell research or it's just the retail murder of people dying form lack of medicine, medical
care, or safety in the workplace.

They're coming at us, bold and proud...oh, I forgot, they're indifferent, actually cheer leading,
the demise of the entire human species by speeding up catastrophic climate change, the basis
of which, as Al Gore says, is beyond debate.

That hate everybody and they show it.

[katinmn]

6. We really need to establish the Department of Peace

The longer the Bush Administration and all neocons get away with violence against innocent civilians (100-140/day now in Iraq) the more they put us at risk for future violence.

We need to change the way people approach conflict. Our nation is losing its soul. What are we teaching OUR children?



Above: Israeli girls write messages on a shell at a heavy artillery position near Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, next to the Lebanese border, Monday, July 17, 2006.(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

[Nihil]

13. That is just so sad.

> What are we teaching OUR children?

Those pictures just go to show that the "Hitler Youth" mindset
is happy to take hold anywhere that bigots can brainwash the
young ... the particular politics or causes don't matter, it is
the mindless hatred that is the evil here.

[katinmn]

15. Yes. Our UN ambassador (Bolton) just called the proposed

cease-fire a "simplistic" response.

I pray for justice and that he and everyone responsib;e for all the deaths end up in a war crimes tribunal. It could include many of our senators and congressmembers as well since they vote for these policies against the will of the people.

[leftchick]

7. this is such bullshit

<snip>

The United States is increasingly out of sync with key allies, however, because it remains content to allow Israel to pound Hezbollah, both to remove it as a threat and to undermine the region's extremist movements and hard-line regimes.

European nations and U.N. officials are eager for a cease-fire or "pause" to allow Lebanese civilians to move to safer areas and investigate diplomatic avenues, as well as prevent other Middle East hot spots from becoming inflamed, European envoys said.

"The one thing that is guaranteed to send the Arab world and the Persian world over the edge is for the U.S. to be seen ultimately to be doing what they always believed -- to be fully in cahoots with Israel," said a European official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic relations. "The danger of allowing it to continue is that the United States is more and more despised. It's not like the U.S. had a good reputation within the region to start with."


:grr: .... they are not fucking pounding Hezbollh! They are destroying a nation! After Iraq it should be obvious to the world that the US does not give a fuck about civilians. The increase in terrorism is just what the neofreaks want for their forever war.

:argh:

[katinmn]

8. America is proving to be a nation of extremists at odds with

the world. I am ashamed.

In November we have our last chance to drive out the neocons peacefully.

[leftchick]

10. at this point

I truly have zero hope of that happening. The repukes in congress, supreme court and the WH would not be concentrating all of that power for the little king if they ever expected a democrat to win again.

[meganmonkey]

12. And this is why I do have a nagging fear

that calling this World War III is NOT an exaggeration. The more we alienate every ally we have, the more likely this will become huge - the more likely Europe will ACT against us, unlike of the years of verbal reprimads we've been getting for the Iraq mess...

:scared:

[autorank]

16. Hezbollah attacks; in response, Israel destroys Lebanon. Bush Smiles.

The rationale for middle east violence is almost unnecessary now. You simply load up and know the crap out of your opponent one way or the other. The bombing of weddings by Muslim suicide bombers was particularly insane. But this! The Israeli government has reached a new, all time low. Destroy a country which is largely defenseless because you've got problems with the other group that victimizes the country; oh and be sure to attack Tyre where there is minimal Hezbollah, maybe none, activity. Why? Golly, just to show how tough you are. No more aid, no more support. They're all on their own, And develop our own energy sources. Lets stop listening to the lies and whining about this and that. We can have a gas alternative in 1-2 years and I now little to nothing about it, other than science is sufficiently robust now to do things like that. No more aid, no more support, domestic self reliance on energy.

[rodeodance]

9. only about one third of Americans say Israel is wrong. So, it seems that

the WH has the support of the people (some survey here on DU)

[MrTriumph]

11. Make that 50 million refuges by Gingrich math

Do the math to equate population % to the US population, then use that number.

I heard Newt on TV doig the same for the Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah.

[MrPrax]

14. Replay...

Idiotic editorial...

I can't think of a single geo-political issue that the world isn't at odds with the US foreign policy --this is typical of the propaganda of ommission.

In the last chapter of this sorry assed fascism, it was Europe that was at 'odds' with the last US invasion of Iraq...of course the editorialist can't run down the list, because it turned out that the Europeans and everyone else were absolutely right in being at 'odds'. No, to mention that bit of 'disagreement', then the editorialist would have to explain about how there were NO WMDs and no pretext for the invasion and how the Bush administraion was so utterly wrong and so at 'odds' with REALITY that it should be impeached.

But still we all have to suspend recent history, clear the mind, erase past failed diplomatic deals (roadmap, cedar revolution), so that editorialists can still present US foreign policy and the Bush administration as some coherent 'position' that at odds with Europeans, international law, American domestic polls, allies, past stated policies, etc..

[Supersedeas]

17. Winning the hearts and minds

[autorank]

18. What a way to make sure we're hated. People have no idea what

it's like to have a family member killed by an enemy. It's stunning. The perpetrators of violent foreign policy, either Israels or the stupidity of terror, are ultimately fools. They turn off the world and they cause those against whom the violence is committed to hate them. Mission accomplished.
Oh, but they feel "tough," and as though they are "defending" something, which is ultimately the right to act irrationally and sadistically with the cover of national defense. The perpetrators should all just join a club where they can take turn beating up each other and let the rest of us craft a world based on mutual respect and assistance.