Blogging for Freedom

Yes. Israel has the right to exist.  Yes. Israel has the right to defend itself.  Yes. Israel has the right to defend its citizens from attack.  But, Israel DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to destroy the nation of Lebanon and put millions of civilians in grave danger.  All the jingoistic rhetoric in the world can not excuse the fact that we are betraying and abandoning a weak and struggling democratic government in Beirut and that we are standing by while an overwhelming military power assaults inncocent civilians, civilian infrastructure, hospitals, dairy farms. The Bush administration actually opposed a United Nations cease-fire resolution. The rest of the world sees this as an American green-light to Israel to go ahead and do whatever it wants to in Lebanon because "Israel is fighting the good fight in the War on Terrorism."

It's almost painful to listen to American politicians and media talking heads continually try to spin events in the real world to comply with this vision.  Tucker Carlson, yesterday, showed amazing lack of historical knowledge and cultural understanding as he broadcast from northern Israel for MSNBC.

Standing on a hill overlooking the Israel-Lebanon border, he said, "It's easy to see where the border between the two countries are.  Whatever is green is Israel, whatever is brown is Lebanon. I don't know why."  Then, he turned to the Lebanese Prime Minister (via telephone) and before he could say anything, Siniora said "I'll tell you why Israel is green and Lebanon is brown. During the Israeli occupation, they diverted the water supply from southern Lebanon into Israel making it imposssible for the Lebanese to farm or cultivate their land."