Rice rejects end to killing

Lebanon not destroyed enough

According to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, too many people are still alive and too many essential facilities are still standing. The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is not yet dire enough.

Secretary Rice says there are no ``quick fixes'' that could ``create conditions that can lead to a lasting and sustainable end to the violence''.

What Rice and the US administration and the Israelis evidently want to continue is described in a summary of remarks by Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at Friday's special UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East crisis:

As a result of targeting of fuel facilities, Beirut had only days of fuel remaining, he said. It was believed that there were sufficient food supplies, including wheat stocks, to cover national consumption for one to three months. The primary concern was the destruction to food-supply chains. Hospitals were functioning, but were overwhelmed and suffering from power outages. Too many ill could not reach hospitals on time, as the roads were blocked. With the number of people in shelters increasing, access to safe drinking water was also a concern. The Lebanese Government had requested international humanitarian assistance and had appealed for medical supplies and other equipment. While the figures remained only indicative, the current planning figures suggested more than half a million conflict-affected people, of which more than one third were children. There might be some 115,000 third-country nationals in Lebanon. More than 100,000 Lebanese were believed to be in Syria, and required assistance.

Yes, ``a rain of rockets'' is terrorizing civilians in a band of northern Israel, doubtless a war crime. But the humanitarian crisis is caused by the vastly larger war crimes committed by Israel in ``Southern Lebanon, Beirut and the Bekaa Valley.''

Please, Mr. Israeli, show restraint
That Rice is emitting a load of crap is belied by the clear fact, barely hidden, that the United States is directing the Israeli attack on Lebanon. The US is supplying the bombs, supporting the operation, and giving diplomatic cover--transparently bogus as it is. In a Wednesday NY Times story under the heading ``Violence'', we learned that the ``U.S. Appears to Be Waiting to Act on Israeli Airstrikes''. The fact of US control is hardly disguised:

an American-Israeli consensus began to emerge on Tuesday in which Israel would continue to bombard Lebanon for about another week to degrade the capabilities of the Hezbollah militia, officials of the two countries said.

Meanwhile, Rice seems to understand there is civilian death. But just like any terrorist, she explains how the ends justify the means. The Nazis certainly would have approved:

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, aren't you concerned that the delay in halting the fighting and the loss of many civilian lives in Lebanon will hamper your efforts to win the heart and minds of the Arab world?

SECRETARY RICE: I'm concerned about civilian casualties because I'm concerned about civilian casualties. Nobody wants to see innocent civilians caught up in this kind of fighting. And it's why we are very determined to do more about the humanitarian situation. It's why we have talked so determinedly and so frequently with the Israelis about restraint in their operations. It's why we've worked to get the humanitarian corridors opened. This is a terrible thing for the Lebanese people. The unfortunate fact is that if we don't do this right, if we don't create political conditions that allow an end to the violence to also deal with the root cause, deal with the circumstances that produced this violence, then we're going to be back here in several months more.

Because what is different now than when Robin was there in 1982 is that you have a circumstance in which a young, democratic government, free now of Syrian forces, is trying to assert its authority over Lebanese territory and trying to be there for a good neighbor and a good contributor to international peace and stability. And those extremists want to strangle it in its crib. They are frightened by the prospect of a Lebanon that is no longer a source of instability, no longer so weak that people use its territory in this way, much as these extremists want to strangle other new governments, new democratic governments in the region.

So this is a different Middle East and it's a new Middle East and it's hard and we're going through a very violent time. I want the violence against civilians to stop because the violence against civilians needs to stop, but I know that unless the circumstances are dealt with, it's not going to last, any end to the violence isn't going to last. [emphasis added]

Surely the US-Israeli destruction of Lebanon would have been justified by Hitler in a manner parallel to the reasons Ms. Rice offered. Was not the same logic at work in the June 22, 1941 Proclamation justifying the invasion of the Soviet Union? Judge for yourself:

Only the victory of the Axis powers in the Balkans frustrated the plan of involving Germany in battle in the southeast for months, allowing the Soviet Russian armies to complete their march and increase their readiness for action. Together with England, and with the hoped for American supplies, they would have been ready to strangle and defeat the German Reich and Italy. [emphasis added]