Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

–updated–

But not to worry. The arms we're shipping to Israel are not to be compared with
the “emergency resupply” of 1973. Holy mother of God, but this has
got to be the most fly by night foreign policy strategy in U.S. history, coupled with hints of a longer war.

The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday. The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah. The munitions that the United States is sending to Israel are part of a multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel is able to draw on as needed, the officials said. But Israel’s request for expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike. (snip) The decision to stay away from Arab countries for now is a markedly different strategy from the shuttle diplomacy that previous administrations used to mediate in the Middle East. (snip) Before Ms. Rice heads to Israel on Sunday, she will join President Bush at the White House for discussions on the Middle East crisis with two Saudi envoys, Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the secretary general of the National Security Council. … U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis

Ah, yes, please do talk with the Saudis about all this.

The good news: Germany and Russia will contribute to the international peace
keeping forces, which are inevitable after this insanity stops. What choice
does everyone have at this point?

I'll have to find out the rest a little late today, because I'm sleeping in. God bless my perfect bed, the quiet and the American peace we enjoy “over
here.”

UPDATE (12:25 p.m.): Devastingly accurate editorial by neocon and veteran Ralph Peters today. To say that Israel has blown this gives me no pleasure, however, they have; from the moment they started bombarding Lebanon's civilian infrastructure. CNN just showed a mass grave of civilians being buried, which drives the point home. With George W. Bush's feckless foreign policy aiding and abetting the slaughter of Lebanese, as well as Israeli soldiers, let me add, America has never come across more biased, weaker and less a world leader in our entire history.

As Christiane Amanpour just said, quoting an Israeli soldier: “Israel going back into Lebanon is like America going back into Vietnam.”

ISRAEL is losing this war. For a lifelong Israel supporter, that's a painful thing to write. But it's true. And the situation's worsening each day. A U.S. government official put it to me this way: “Israel's got the clock, but Hezbollah's got the time.” The sands of the hourglass favor the terrorists – every day they hold out and drop more rockets on Israel, Hezbollah scores a propaganda win. All Hezbollah has to do to achieve victory is not to lose completely. But for Israel to emerge the acknowledged winner, it has to shatter Hezbollah. Yet Israeli miscalculations have left Hezbollah alive and kicking. … CAN ISRAEL WIN? NOT THE WAY IT'S FIGHTING (emphasis added)