Month: July 2006

E&P: lack of war critique “a disgrace”

Editor & Publisher, the leading trade magazine on the US newspaper industry:

(July 18, 2006) — While it’s not surprising that nearly every editorial page in the U.S. has offered support for Israel’s right to retaliate against Hamas and Hezbollah, it’s a disgrace that few have expressed outrage, or at least condemnation, over the extent of death and destruction in and around Beirut — and the attacks on the country’s infrastructure, which harms most citizens of that country.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in Lebanon, dozens of bridges and part of Beirut’s airport destroyed, power stations and ports short-circuited. Latest reports put the number of refugees at half a million, with thousands of Americans waiting for evacuation.

Amazingly, criticism of the extent of Israel’s bombing — and its policy of collective punishment — has actually decreased as the carnage has mounted.

I’m surprised he’s seen any editorial against the bombing. I know I haven’t.

Helen Thomas, pro-Hizbullah?

From the White House press briefing with veteran correspondent Helen Thomas (a descendant of Lebanese immigrants to the US):

Helen.

Q The United States is not that helpless. It could have stopped the bombardment of Lebanon. We have that much control with the Israelis.

MR. SNOW: I don’t think so, Helen.

Q We have gone for collective punishment against all of Lebanon and Palestine.

MR. SNOW: What’s interesting, Helen —

Q And this is what’s happening, and that’s the perception of the United States.

MR. SNOW: Well, thank you for the Hezbollah view, but I would encourage you —

So not only does White House spokesman Tony Snow (a former fake journalist for Fox News) describe one of the greatest journalists in America (she’s met every president since Truman, has tons of awards, etc.) as a Hezbullah supporter, but he also thinks the US is powerless to stop Israel. Interesting.

Via ThinkProgress.

As-Safir pictures by region

The pictures I previously put up were sent by email from As-Safir journalist Hanady Salman. As-Safir now has a section of its site with pictures by region. Hanady writes:

The attached pictures are hideously gruesome, but you have to look at them . Help me find out what kind of weapons cause this kind of dismemberment and mutation.
What kind of weapons cause this kind of damage? Do you know? Could you find out?

Memory for forgetfulness

In 1982 the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote a long stream-of-consciousness poem about that Israeli attack:

Three o’clock. Daybreak riding on fire. A nightmare coming from the sea. Roosters made of metal. Smoke. Metal preparing a feast for metal the master, and a dawn that flares up in all the senses before it breaks. A roaring that chases me out of bed and throws me into this narrow hallway. I want nothing, and I hope for nothing. I can’t direct my limbs in this pandemonium. No time for caution, and no time for time. If I only knew—if I knew how to organize the crush of this death that keeps pouring forth. If only I knew how to liberate the screams held back in a body that no longer feels like mine from the sheer effort spent to save itself in this uninterrupted chaos of shells. “Enough!” “Enough!” I whisper, to find out if I can still do anything that will guide me to myself and point to the abyss opening in six directions. I can’t surrender to this fate, and I can’t resist it. Steel that howls, only to have other steel bark back. The fever of metal is the song of this dawn.

The whole poem, Memory for Forgetfulness, is here.

Thanks to E.H. for reminding me.

“Subcontracting US policy to Tel Aviv”

I don’t like this man, but Pat Buchanan is one of the few American commentators who cuts through the bullshit:

Now, Israel’s rampage against a defenseless Lebanon – smashing airport runways, fuel tanks, power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges, roads and the occasional refugee convoy – has exposed Bush’s folly in subcontracting U.S. policy out to Tel Aviv, thus making Israel the custodian of our reputation and interests in the Middle East.

The Lebanon that Israel, with Bush’s blessing, is smashing up has a pro-American government, heretofore considered a shining example of his democracy crusade. Yet, asked in St. Petersburg if he would urge Israel to use restraint in its airstrikes, Bush sounded less like the leader of the Free World than some bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights.

He’s right — Israeli (or more accurately, pro-Israeli American) control of US Middle East policy has to stop.

Siniora appeals to dips

Josh Landis has Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s address to the Diplomatic Corps in Beirut. An excerpt:

Is the value of human life in Lebanon less than that of the citizens of other countries?

Can the international community stand by while such callous retribution by the State of Israel is inflicted on us?

Will you allow innocent civilians, churches, mosques, orphanages, medical supplies escorted by the Red Cross, people seeking shelter or fleeing their homes and villages to be the casualties of this ugly war?

Is this what the international community calls self defense? Is this the price we pay for aspiring to build our democratic institutions? Is this the message to send to the country of diversity, freedom and tolerance?