World War Three, Preemptively

As Israel simultaneously bombards Lebanon and Gaza, the Bush Administration has a declared the United States' support for the two-pronged assault and essentially green-lighted a major escalation of war in the Middle East. The vetoing by John Bolton of a UN resolution condemning Israel's assault on Gaza, coupled with Bush's statement about the attack on Lebanon saying "Israel has a right to defend herself", follows closely the policy that allowed the US to be currently digging into Iraq: engaging in a major war by choice, as long as it benefits Israel. Israel's defending herself is actually a response to a border clash and what is being called the "kidnapping" of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza. First of all, soldiers in a conflict get captured, not kidnapped. During Israel's occupations of Gaza, West Bank and Southern Lebanon, Israel has captured tens of thousands of Hamas and Hezbollah fighters who were, in their minds, defending their land from a foreign invader. If these were kidnappings, then all the milk cartons in the occupied territories wouldn't be sufficient to report the missing. The capture of Israeli soldiers is actually a very rare occurrence, and in the past has resulted in prisoner exchanges, which was Hezbollah's and Hamas' plan this month. However, the Israeli response has not been a swap, but rather a full scale war on two fronts resulting in the death of over eighty Lebanese civilians as well as Palestinian civilians including children. While collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza is a typical Israeli tactic, Lebanon, with a pro-US, mostly-Christian and Democratic government, is new to "shock and awe" bombings by the US's favorite ally. The crime that Lebanon committed is not doing enough to disarm the pro-Syria Hezbollah forces who formed in 1982 to fight the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. But how soon Israel forgets the Cedar Revolution of 2005, when hundreds of thousands of Lebanese rose to the streets and demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops, despite opposition by Hezbollah. Israel is now forcing Beirut back into a bloody civil war between pro and anti-Hezbollah factions like we saw in the 1980s. And the US and Israel are clearly not afraid of an escalation of the conflict to include Iran and Syria. The US National Security Council's official statement sounds as if its coming directly from the Israeli government: "We condemn in the strongest terms Hezbollah's unprovoked attack on Israel and the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers. We also hold Syria and Iran - which directly support Hezbollah - responsible for this attack and for the ensuing violence". The bombing of Lebanon is an unnecessary and disproportionate retaliation for the actions of a group that Lebanon can't control. This provocation is aimed at drawing pro-Hezbollah Syria and Iran into a conflict with Israel and the United States, which happens to be building long-term bases in Iraq right now. With Saddam Hussein out of the way, Iran and Syria remain the last two outposts of opposition to Israeli domination of the Middle East. However, as the invasion of Iraq has been wrought with lives lost, billions of dollars wasted and now an insurgency threatening to keep US troops trapped for decades, following the Israeli road again is a mistake. I think the neocons used to say about the Mid-East peace process that "the road to Jerusalem goes through Baghdad". Yet here we are three years into the occupation of Baghdad and any chance of peace between Palestinians and Israelis is all but gone. I guess maybe they had the wrong map. I'm sure now they'll say the road actually goes through Damascus and Tehran. In any event, Israeli Defense Forces just blew up the actual road the Damascus. So let's not go that way.