Reuters: **Rice calls for "urgent" ceasefire but Lebanon war rages on**

[chill_wind]

Rice urges ceasefire but Lebanon war rages on
Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:36pm ET171

By Alaa Shahine

BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for an urgent ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah but the guerrilla group's leader on Monday vowed no let-up in missile attacks against the Jewish state.

Israeli warplanes pounded south Lebanon early on Monday after Hizbollah missiles hit northern Israel over the weekend.

Hizbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in remarks published on Monday that Israeli attacks would not halt the guerrilla group's rocket fire.

On a mission to avert full-scale war in the Middle East, Rice said there was an "urgent" need for a ceasefire in southern Lebanon but conditions had to be right.

more: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-24T033553Z_01_L21898716_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-2

[Rex]

1. Conditional ceasefires don't work.

Both sides have big scary countries backing them. Conditions won't work.

[chill_wind]

2. CNN poll on ceasefire

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1714623

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. Hold on! She said no ceasefire...only something that would

bring "lasting peace"! She was firm about "no ceasefire".

How is is they do a 180 and the media doesn't even blink? :banghead:

[blonndee]

4. The "urgency" she purports to be expressing

is belied by her actions and her allegiances. What else is new. What a worthless POS.

[Kagemusha]

5. Media got played, plain and simple.

She's not calling for an urgent ceasefire. She's saying a ceasefire is urgent but conditions which are not right, have to be right. In other words, Hezbollah's full and complete surrender and disarmament.

(crickets chirping)

[chill_wind]

6. Rice on July 21

(...)

"We do seek an end to the current violence and we seek it urgently," said Ms Rice, who is leaving for the Middle East after the weekend for a round of diplomacy that will include visits to Israel and Italy.

"More than that, we seek an end to the root cause of the violence so that an enduring peace can be established.

"But if we look for a ceasefire that simply freezes the status quo ante, then we will be back here again in another six months, or nine months, or a year, looking for another ceasefire as Hezbollah uses southern Lebanon as a base to launch rockets against Israel."

Several hours earlier, Britain and the United States proposed a UN statement vowing to prepare conditions for a ceasefire, in the face of growing pressure to halt the fighting.

Criticism has mounted that the two countries are blocking the 15-nation Security Council from endorsing the UN secretary-general’s call for an immediate suspension of fighting.

(...)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2280081,00.html

"Urgent" is just a sprinkled-in double-speak sound-byte.

(and why I put it in quotes)

edit to add: there appears to be missing pages 2 & 3 of Reuters story, I noticed on returning. If anyone finds another source, please post a link. I did a quick google and found nothing else so far.