07
24
06

Cross-Purposes: US Sends Bombs to Israel, Aid to Lebanon

America’s stance on the situation in Israel and Lebanon has now entered the realm of the truly bizarre. Three days ago, on July 21, the New York Times reported that the Bush administration was rushing a shipment of bombs to Israel so it could continue its air assault against Lebanon:

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.

Today, Forbes reports that the Bush administration is also rushing humanitarian aid to Lebanon:

President Bush has ordered helicopters and ships to Lebanon to provide humanitarian aid, but he still opposes an immediate cease-fire that could give relief from a 13-day-old Israeli bombing campaign.

[…]

“At the order of the president, humanitarian supplies will start arriving in Lebanon tomorrow by helicopter and by ship,” [White House press secretary Tony] Snow announced at the White House. “We are working with Israel and Lebanon to open up humanitarian corridors.”

Yep, that’s right: the US is sending more bombs to Israel so Israel can continue its bombing campaign in Lebanon, and then the US will hand out aid supplies to the Lebanese who are lucky enough to merely be injured, starving, or homeless – instead of dead – as a result of the Israeli bombing campaign.

[tags]Israel, Lebanon, USA, Bush[/tags]

6 Responses to “Cross-Purposes: US Sends Bombs to Israel, Aid to Lebanon”
  1. Tim:

    July 24th, 2006 at 5:45 pm

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060724/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_fighting_tough_foe_1

    Hezbollah isn’t going down anytime soon. If the US does call for a ceasefire, I’ll be surprised if Israel agrees, bombs or no bombs. Backing off now would give Hezbollah the victory in Arab eyes, and there’s no way Israel is going to let that happen.

  2. Ade:

    July 24th, 2006 at 6:27 pm

    Ambulances fired on by Israel, says Red Cross

  3. Ade:

    July 25th, 2006 at 8:24 pm

    Israeli bomb kills UN observers, including one Canadian.

  4. Ryan:

    July 26th, 2006 at 1:21 pm

    Great. Another Canadian victim of war for Stephen Harper to dismiss as collateral damage in Israel’s “proportionate response”. Bleagh.

  5. Ade:

    July 27th, 2006 at 7:35 am

    From the Scotsman:

    Israel faced international condemnation yesterday for an air strike on a UN post in southern Lebanon that left four peacekeepers dead, as talks on the Middle East crisis broke up with no headway towards a ceasefire.

    But Jerusalem attempted to fend off the rebukes following the deaths of the four UN observers, who came from Austria, Canada, Finland and China.

    Beijing summoned the Israeli ambassador to demand an apology. “The Chinese side is deeply shocked and strongly condemns this,” Liu Jianchao, a foreign ministry spokesman, said.

    The Irish government summoned the Israeli ambassador to protest after its most senior soldier serving with the UN mission in Lebanon said he had called the Israeli military six times to warn of the proximity of their bombardment to the UN compound.

    UN officials in New York and Lebanon also repeatedly protested to Israel that the patrol base was coming under fire in the hours before an Israeli bomb levelled it, Jane Lute, assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, told the UN Security Council.

    After contact with the base was lost, the UN force then won safe passage for two armoured personnel carriers to evacuate the position, Ms Lute said. They arrived at 9:30pm “and found the shelter collapsed and major damage to the rest of the position”.

    Despite negotiating safe passage, those vehicles also came under Israeli attack, she said.

  6. Ade:

    July 31st, 2006 at 9:07 am

    Ten years after Israel shelled a UN base in Qana, Lebanon, killing 106 Lebanese civilians who were sheltering there, the Israelis have struck the same city again. This time, they bombed a home where 60 civilians, mostly women and children, were sheltering from the air assault. They killed 54 people, 37 of whom were children.

    Leb grief over slain children


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