Crossposted at
The Next Agenda For Progressive Canadian Politics
On Friday, Israel declared its attack on the UN outpost in which four observers, including 1 Canadian died, was "deliberate but accidental".
Meaning, the coordinates for the post were entered accidentally by some grunt at the bottom and then passed up the chain of command without being noticed until after the order to fire.
So while ten phonecalls screamed "Stop bombing us!" the IDF never connected the complaints with anything they were actually doing.
In a National Post article on Friday, Israel's government declared that enough time had passed for all "innocent" civilians to leave the southern regions.
By their reckoning only Hezbollah fighters and their supporters were left. In other words, one can only conclude they felt anyone left was fair game.
On Sunday, they hit Qana. Thirty seven children were among the 54 civilians who died.
Huddled in a basement, they were crushed when the building collapsed.
According to Reuters
U.N. Security Council members reached agreement on Sunday on a statement expressing the 15-nation body's "extreme shock and distress" at the deadly Israeli shelling of the Lebanese village of Qana.
The statement, to be brought to a vote soon, "strongly deplores this loss of innocent lives" in Qana but does not call for an immediate truce, as requested by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan but opposed by the United States.
That would be Bolton, the US's UN Ambassador. The guy who thought you could blow up the top ten floors of the UN and not miss it. The guy who is up for reconfirmation.
And Chuck Schumer thinks he's okay.
"There's a good part of Bolton. He's been a staunch and very good defender of Israel," Mr. Schumer said on CNN's "Late Edition."
The US supports Israel's plan to keep fighting for a few more weeks, until they could eradicate Hezbollah.
On Sunday, Israel decided that perhaps it would take more than dropping some leaflets to ensure the civilian populace were able to get out. They announced they would stop firing for 48 hours to allow them to leave.
Remind me again of that old saw about with greater power comes greater responsibility.
Who's calling the shots here?
Who are the generals who are running this war?
I understand that they're trying to stop Hezbollah from firing its rockets into Israel, but whose job is it to weigh the pros versus the cons?
So far, Israel has killed UN observers, created a major oil spill and killed hundreds of civilians and Hezbollah is still standing.
Israel has made millions of new enemies in the Muslim world. They've put allies into difficult, if not impossible positions.
In terms of winning this war?
Israel's doing a heckuva job.
UPDATE Israel started firing missiles again.
Israeli air strikes resumed in southern Lebanon on Monday, less than 12 hours after Israel announced a two-day suspension in the wake of dozens of civilian deaths.
Israeli missiles struck the south Lebanese village of Kila during an exchange of fire with Hezbollah guerrillas on Monday. (David Guttenfelder/Associated Press) A Lebanese soldier was killed in one of the air attacks around the port city of Tyre. The Israeli army said several soldiers were inside a car that was believed to be carrying a senior Hezbollah official.
"An investigation later revealed that an officer and soldiers from the Lebanese army were hit, and they were not the target of the attack. Therefore the army expresses regret about the event," an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
Emphasis mine. Geez, I am getting pretty tired of this macabre Emily Latellaesque schtick.
Meanwhile Condi went back to George.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed back to Washington from Jerusalem on Monday, saying she was working toward a ceasefire that would be supported by a lasting settlement.
"I am convinced we can achieve both this week," Rice said
.
So she's convinced is she? After all they've only been trying for what, the last almost 60 years? Yeah, I am sure they'll get it hammered out in time for George to start his vacation.