Why is Condi's deputy, Adam Ereli, announicing Israel's the 48-hour ceasefire on Lebanon?
Taken aback by the carnage from the Israeli bombing of Qana, Lebanon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrung the first significant concession from Israel late on Sunday in its nearly three-week-old war against the Hezbollah militia: an immediate 48-hour suspension of aerial strikes.
Especially notable about the suspension was that Ms. Rice’s deputy, Adam Ereli, and not the Israelis, announced it after she held intensive talks with both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni.
The American decision to break the news on what was essentially an Israeli tactical change reflected the increased concern in the Bush administration about the rising civilian death toll in Lebanon and the havoc it is wreaking with America’s already shaky relations with the Arab world.
And why isn't Israel announcing this 48-hour ceasefire?
Indeed, while Mr. Ereli took pains to assure reporters that American officials had confirmation of the temporary suspension directly from Mr. Olmert’s office, Israeli officials had said nothing publicly about the suspension as of early Monday.
And why has the US still not called for a ceasefire?
Even so, one fact is unchanged: the United States is still not calling for an immediate cease-fire.
And now the US, Condi, Bush, Cheney, et al, are equated as child killers.
But that left the impression that Ms. Rice and the Bush administration were willing to stomach the killing of innocent children to reach their larger aims.
"Left the impression"? Seems to me they made a pretty damn clear statement, and now they're paying the price, politically and in public relations, which have been thoroughly damaged by the scene of dead children. If Condi, and by extension, Bush and Cheney, are so damned concerned with the "loss of innocent lives" they would have demanded an immediate ceasefire. Which they didn't, and they haven't. Meanwhile, Olmert wants 10-14 days more to continue their decimation of the Lebanese.
[...]Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who met with Ms. Rice on Saturday night and again on Sunday, released a statement saying he told Ms. Rice that Israel needed 10 to 14 more days to complete its war aims.
“Do you think that, with the close relationship he has with Bush and Condi, he would go and say something like that without their consent?” one senior Israeli official asked.
The official, who asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said he believed that American diplomats accepted that Israel’s armed forces needed more time to clear out a buffer zone in southern Lebanon before an international peacekeeping force could enter.
Personally, I believe that our administration and Israeli government being called to child killers, worldwide, has done more to make them move towards a ceasefire, even a 48-hour ceasefire, than anything else.
In short this 48-hour ceasefire is nothing more than a PR-stunt to stop the child-killer association to Israel and the US. Which means it's a perfect time to do something. Hop on over to Ceasefire Campaing, and sign their petition. They'd like to get one million signatures by Friday.
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