[Dean's World] Ron Coleman: The White House's non-policy

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Ron Coleman:
The White House's non-policy
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1154705444.shtml


   [1]Cobb launches on the Administration for their flat-footed lack of
   preparation, policy or plan for dealing with just about any aspect of
   the Israel / Lebanon situation -- which, he argues (riffing off
   comments by Christopher Hitchens on Hugh Hewitt), could have been a
   masterstroke of coordinated policymaking with just a little thought:

     The Israeli Lebanese border should have been held sacrosanct by the
     US, and now we are allowing the UN to define what's enforceable. In
     the end, for not having been definitive, Bush has put the US and
     Israel in the same stewpot and not credible to actually enforce
     what the UN said should have been enforced before....

   I am also disappointed by the lack of a strong message here. For a
   while, I argued that it was a present to Israel. She is [2]sticking to
   that part of the script:

     Rice said there was an urgent need for a cease-fire in southern
     Lebanon but conditions had to be right.

     Speaking to reporters Sunday as she flew to the region, Rice said
     her focus would also be to ease the humanitarian crisis after
     nearly two weeks of fighting between Hezbollah guerrillas in
     Lebanon and Israel Defense Forces troops.

     "It is very important to establish conditions under which a
     ceasefire can take place. We believe that a ceasefire is urgent. It
     is important to have conditions that will make it also
     sustainable," said Rice before a refueling stop in Shannon,
     Ireland.

   But the US had, and still has, done nothing to affect or even define
   the reality on the ground. It is reacting, not acting, and that is not
   leadership. Considering how the Administration's entire Mideast policy
   is at stake, it's inexcusable. And Israel? As Cobb argues:

     And that means today until the gavel falls in the UN General
     Assembly, the IDF are going to be on a mad dash to capture as much
     territory as possible in Lebanon. If anybody thinks they're going
     to stop at the Litani River, you're smokin'. More casualties are
     coming because America didn't hold up a big enough threat.

References

   1. http://cobb.typepad.com/cobb/2006/08/hitch_finds_the.html
   2. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742116.html