Even before she begins her Middle East talks today aimed at ending the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had already lowered expectations of a speedy end to the fighting, ruling out a quick cease-fire as a “false promise.” If anything, Rice apparently, and shockingly, remains opposed to an immediate cease-fire. The dampening of expectations is one thing. The extraordinary US sentiment, that the Israeli bombardment is not enough, is quite another — and worrying to the extreme. For the US to not oppose, but rather condone this blatant aggression on Lebanon is a shameful indictment on the blind, total and unconditional US support Israel enjoys, never more than when an Arab party is on the other side of the conflict.
Either because the US itself is directly engaged in its own war on terrorism — but cannot make the distinction — or because Israel’s pullout from southern Lebanon and Gaza gave Americans the impression Israel is a do-good country whose concessions are replied to only by violence from its neighbors, Israel is being allowed by its biggest benefactor to get away, literally with murder, during its current savagery. The House vote on Thursday, passed by a 410-8 margin resolution staunchly supporting Israel in Lebanon, attests to the support Israel has in the US. Reports that the US is rushing a delivery of satellite and laser-guided bombs to Israel to further its wanton destruction of Lebanon is still more compelling evidence. There is so little public outcry in the US to compel Israel to pull back that President Bush and his secretary of state are being given a considerably freer hand in responding. And the US is taking all the time in the world. In the absence of such little US pressure for a quick cease-fire, Israel is being granted as much time as it can realistically be given to push relentlessly into Arab territories before a stoppage is finally affected.
Perhaps because of the half-million Lebanese refugees created, humanitarian aid problems, and Israel now on the ground in Lebanon, Washington has finally sensed that the time is approaching when Israel should be reined in. However, the fact that it has taken the US 13 days before entering the fray — all the while stating that Israel has the right to wreak the havoc it has — speaks volumes on how little Washington has cared to end the bombardment of Lebanon, or for that matter Gaza. On the contrary, Washington and Tel Aviv are in perfect unison. In the two cases, Israeli recklessness is being green-lighted by Washington because their interests coincide. This was never about the capture of a couple of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and Gaza. This was all about the intended erasure of Hezbollah and Hamas. The collateral damage being incurred by Lebanon and PA is also intended by Israel to warn the supporters of these groups that it does not pay to sympathize with either of them, that to back them means a fate similar to theirs. Washington stands alongside Israel in smiling, tandem agreement. Most agree the violence will probably stop soon. Most agree Rice will probably achieve something. The big question is whether Israel will be allowed by the US the time to complete its destruction or will it be told to stop now?
