DEFENSE

President Bush is still on the road.

On Tuesday, Milwaukee and Port Washington were on his itinerary.

Yesterday, Bush was in Germany. Today, he's in Russia.

Although the President is not in Washington, he's been actively monitoring the Middle East and what has become all-out war between Israel and Lebanon. The President has been involved in telephone diplomacy while traveling.

(Note: Being away from the Oval Office does not mean that the President isn't engaged. Keep that in mind when he vacations in Crawford.)

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- President Bush rejected Lebanon's calls for a cease-fire in escalating Mideast violence on Friday, saying only that Israel should try to limit civilian casualties as it steps up attacks on its neighbor.

"The president is not going to make military decisions for Israel," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

Lebanon's prime minister asked Bush, during a phone call Friday, to pressure Israel for a cease-fire. But Bush told Prime Minister Fuad Saniora that Israelis have a right to protect themselves.

...Saniora's office issued a statement saying Bush "affirmed his readiness to put pressure on Israel to limit the damage to Lebanon as a result of the current military action, and to spare civilians and innocent people from harm."

Snow said that wasn't so. Bush merely "reiterated his position" that Israel should limit the impact on civilians, he said.

"It is unlikely that either or both parties are going to agree to" a cease-fire at this point, Snow said.

Bush's conversation with Saniora as he flew from Germany to Russia was part of a round of telephone diplomacy aimed at quelling the flare-up in violence. The president also spoke with allies Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II and thanked them for helping to try to ease the violence in their neighborhood, Snow said.

Bush was pleased that a number of major Muslim nations such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia "do not look on Hezbollah as being a legitimate government entity," Snow said.

I think it would be utterly hypocritical for Bush to pressure Israel to sit back and not defend itself while we are in the midst of fighting a war ourselves.

It's right for him to stress the importance of limiting civilian casualties, but it would be wrong to call for Israel to accept the aggression of its neighbors.

Not surprisingly, many world leaders are condemning Israel for its military operations.

From AFP:

Major US allies condemned the ferocity of Israel's military attack on Lebanon, revealing a clear split with Washington's moderate call for restraint.

Cries of alarm mounted worldwide after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered armed forces to intensify the offensive in response to rockets hitting towns in northern Israel, killing two and wounding 50.

As the civilian death toll in Lebanon mounted above 60 and Israeli warplanes hit buildings, roads and Beirut airport, French President Jacques Chirac questioned whether Israel was seeking Lebanon's destruction.

"One may well ask if there isn't today a kind of wish to destroy Lebanon -- its infrastructure, its roads, its communications, its energy, its airport. And for what?

"I find honestly -- as all Europeans do -- that the current reactions are totally disproportionate," he said in a live television interview on France's national Bastille Day.

With all due respect, Chirac is being a jerk.

How can he criticize Israel and charge that it's seeking Lebanon's destruction when it's the official policy of Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas to destroy Israel?

I don't recall Chirac condemning that.

Chirac's comments, echoed across most of Europe and in much of the rest of the world, conflicted with US President George W. Bush's dogged defence of Israel's right to defend itself.

Read more.

As usual, AFP's news account has an editorial ring to it.

Bush = Bad

Same old, same old.

It should be noted that some world leaders agree with Bush and not Chirac.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said that Israel's reaction to Hezbollah raids was justified.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper agrees with Bush, too.

According to Reuters, Harper believes that Israel's strikes on Lebanon and Gaza are "measured self-defense."

Harper said, "I think it's tremendously disappointing that these attacks are coming from areas (Lebanon and Gaza) that Israel voluntarily evacuated, and so I think the onus to end this escalation is on the other side."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also supports Israel's right to defend itself, declaring that "it's most important for the Israeli government to be strengthened, but it is also clearly shown that these incursions, such as the kidnaping of soldiers, is not acceptable."

True, Israel is being chastised by most nations for simply defending itself against terrorists.

I think they're wrong.



"You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror."

--George W. Bush, November 6, 2001