U.S. OFFICIALS, AFTER INTERFERING IN LEBANESE ELECTIONS, SEE HEZBOLLAH LOSE

Juan Cole in his blog Informed Comment has an incisive analysis of the results of the Lebanese election in which the March 14 Movement won 69 out of 70 seats in the Lebanese parliament. Cole says this shows good luck for Obama. I agree. A victory for Hezbollah, in my opinion, would have handed the hawks in Israel, such as Avigdor Lieberman and Benjamin Netanyahu, a reason to start another war in Lebanon.

Cole, however, points out that there were many U.S. officials visiting Lebanon in advance of the elections and warning that the U.S. would cut off all aid if Hezbollah won. How must this appear to the ordinary man in the street in Lebanon? The U.S. grossly interfering in the elections of another country, something that would be illegal if a foreign national tried to influence elections in the U.S.

STOP MINDLESS CONDEMNATION OF RUSSIA IN PROTECTING CITIZENS OF SOUTH OSSETIA

I see that almost all of the U.S. foreign policy establishment including the main street media favors censuring Russia and Vladimir Putin for crossing over into Georgia and sticking around to destroy Georgia's military arsenals.

How come these Bushies don't outright condemn Georgia for starting a war against civilians in South Ossetia the night of August 7th. It was not Russia which attacked first, precipitating the conflict. It was Georgia which shot missiles and that hot head Saakashvili who decided that if the citizens of South Ossetia refused to accept Georgia's sovereignty, he would attack them with guns and tanks.

Imagine if the citizens of Texas wished to belong to Mexico instead of to the United States. At which point, George Bush orders the army and air force to bomb Dalles, Austin and other Texas centers of population. This is what Saakashvili, the darling of the Republican social circuit in D.C., has done with South Ossetia.

If Georgia and Saakashvili are such strong examples of democracy in action, why didn't they propose a referendum for the Ossetian citizens to see what they wanted. Then if they voted to belong to Russia, let them go. But don't bomb them!

Bush, Cheney and Rice are quick to condemn Russia for sending in troops and tanks to defend the Russian-leaning occupants of South Ossetia. Yet they did not condemn Israel when Israel and Olmert attacked Lebanon with cluster bombs and tanks two years ago in the July War of 2006. In fact, they opposed a cease fire for a full 30 days to allow Israel to destroy much of Lebanon's infrastructure.

So stop the wholesale mindless condemnation of Russia in this conflict.

U.S. SUPPLIES ARMS TO LEBANON TO SHELL PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMP

The BBC reported today that the United States was sending plane-loads full of armaments for the Lebanese government to continue its attack against Fatal al Islam at the Palestinian refugee camp outside of Tripoli.

What I object to is indiscriminate shelling and shooting at buildings within the camp. This amounts to a war crime and is clearly against the Laws of War. There is no justification for shelling buildings that house innocent civilians. Furthermore, while it has been reported that some 10,000 Palestinians have fled the camp, that implies that there are still 30,000 still within.

Who in his right mind would give orders to shell the camp, notwithstanding that the Lebanese army is pursuing members of Fatah al Islam? Perhaps George Bush. But the president of Lebanon, Siniora?

Similarly why should the United States supply arms, weapons, bombs for such an illegal and immoral undertaking?

The bottom line is that the Bush foreign policy is immoral and unjustified. I guess we will all suffer with this pro-war ant anti-Islam bias till George Bush goes back to Texas in January 2009.

BUSH APPROVES SHELLING OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMP IN TRIPOLI

Right after I wrote my post on May 21, 2007, on the failure of the Bush foreign policy around the world, I heard on the news that Bush unconditionally gave his approval to the assault by the Lebanese Army on the Palestinian refugee camp outside of Tripoli.

Bush's approbation justifies my view that Bush has no foreign policy other than the use of military force against those whom he perceives to be "enemies" or "forces of evil." Bush views all Islamists the same, makes no distinction between Hezbollah or Al Qaeda, and considers them all to be "terrorists." Therefore, for Bush, "everything is on the table," meaning air strikes, cluster bombs, civilian shelling. Bush has said the Fatah Al Islam group within the refugee camp must be "confronted," so he puts his blessing on shelling the camp. No concern for civilians, no concern for destroying houses, no concern for loss of life.

LEBANESE CONFLICT A GOOD EXAMPLE OF GEORGE BUSH'S FAILED FOREIGN POLICY

The current bloody conflict outside Tripoli where the Lebanese Army is shelling a Palestinian refugee camp with over 40,000 inhabitants is just one more instance of the bankrupt and catastrophic foreign policy of George W. Bush. By siding with Israel in the last Israel Lebanon War and allowing Israel to bomb apartment buildings, homes and even the Beirut International Airport, the Bush regime showed once again that the United States government fails to take seriously the complaints of the Palestinian people.

Furthermore, the U.S. under Bush makes the simplistic mistake of bunching Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban and Al Qaeda into one bundle, as if they were all terrorists of the same stripe with the same aims and goals. Talk about amateur foreign policy!

Wherever one looks at the work of the United States - Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, Lebanon, Somalia - we see the same religious and social and economic upheaval. We see bloody conflicts, civil wars, killing of civilians, destruction of infrastructure, hatred of Americans. And all of this is due to George W. Bush and his off-the-cuff foreign policy.

LEBANESE ARMY SHELLING KILLING CIVILIANS IN REFUGEE CAMP

Hassan M. Fattah and Graham Bowley write on The New York Times web page today that residents of the Palestinian refugee camp outside of Tripoli report dozens of civilian casualties as a result of the shelling by the Lebanese Army.

"Lebanese troops shelled locations within the Nahr al Bared camp on the northern outskirts of this city, which houses about 40,000 Palestinian refugees. Militants belonging to the Islamist group Fatah al-Islam shot back with heavy machine-gun fire.

"Thick smoke rose above the city, and the taller buildings in the camp were visibly pockmarked by bullet holes."

This is madness. As I wrote earlier today, it is like the Allied Forces bombing German cities during WWII. It is indiscriminate shelling, and there are sure to be many more casualties. Nothing will be accomplished by Lebanon by these barbaric tacts which certainly violate the laws of war and the Geneva Convention.

The BBC web page has recent photos.

The New York Times story adds this comment:

"Residents of Tripoli expressed support for the army’s efforts. “This should have happened from the start,” said one man, who stood in a crowd of onlookers as the tanks fired into the camp. The crowd shouted, “God is great, and God protect the army,” with each shell fired.
“We wish the government would destroy the whole camp and the rest of the camps,” said another in the crowd, Ahmad al-Marooq. “Nothing good comes out of the Palestinians.”

"But military experts said a direct assault on the camps would be a grave mistake. “We cannot afford to have that here,” said Elias Hanna, a retired army general, who warned against such a move. “This is not a question of the army’s capabilities or its professionalism. You simply can’t send the army into the camps to arrest 200 people without paying a heavy price in civilian casualties.”"

LEBANON - STOP INDISCRIMINATE SHELLING OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMP

Why is it necessary for the Lebanese Army to shell a Palestinian refugee camp? This is akin to the carpet bombings of German cities during WWII by the British and American war planes, or to the Israel carpet bombing of southern Lebanon by the Israelis with cluster bombs in the conflict with Hezbollah last year.

It is nothing more than state-initiated terrorism. It is bombing and shelling civilians only as a terroristic tool to force the Palestinians in the camp into submission.