[Peace] Call Congress about Israeli assault

[C. G. Estabrook]

As the article below (not from an American paper, of course) points out, 
the US has allowed and sponsored the Israeli assault on Lebanon.  A call 
to our unrepresentative representatives would seem to be in order:

	Rep. Johnson 202.225.2371
	Sen. Durbin 202.224.2152
	Sen. Obama 202.224.2854

In calls earlier today, Durbin's office couldn't be bothered to take my 
name; Obama's didn't even answer the phone -- a recording said that they 
were too busy to do so.  I think we should see that they remain busy...

--CGE

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   Bush 'gave green light' for limited attack, say Israeli and UK sources
   Ewen MacAskill, Simon Tisdall and Patrick Wintour
   Wednesday July 19, 2006
   The Guardian

The US is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict maximum damage on
Hizbullah before weighing in behind international calls for a ceasefire in
Lebanon, according to British, European and Israeli sources.

The Bush administration, backed by Britain, has blocked efforts for an
immediate halt to the fighting initiated at the UN security council, the G8
summit in St Petersburg and the European foreign ministers' meeting in
Brussels.

"It's clear the Americans have given the Israelis the green light. They [the
Israeli attacks] will be allowed to go on longer, perhaps for another week,"
a senior European official said yesterday. Diplomatic sources said there was
a clear time limit, partly dictated by fears that a prolonged conflict could
spin out of control.

US strategy in allowing Israel this freedom for a limited period has several
objectives, one of which is delivering a slap to Iran and Syria, who
Washington claims are directing Hizbullah and Hamas militants from behind
the scenes.

George Bush last night said that he suspected Syria was trying to reassert
its influence in Lebanon. Speaking in Washington, he said: "It's in our
interest for Syria to stay out of Lebanon and for this government in Lebanon
to succeed and survive. The root cause of the problem is Hizbullah and that
problem needs to be addressed."

Tony Blair yesterday swung behind the US position that Israel need not end
the bombing until Hizbullah hands over captured prisoners and ends its
rocket attacks. During a Commons statement, he resisted backbench demands
that he call for a ceasefire.

Echoing the US position, he told MPs: "Of course we all want violence to
stop and stop immediately, but we recognise the only realistic way to
achieve such a ceasefire is to address the underlying reasons why this
violence has broken out."

He also indicated it might take many months to agree the terms of a UN
stabilisation force on the Lebanese border.

After Mr Blair spoke, British officials privately acknowledged the US had
given Israel a green light to continue bombing Lebanon until it believes
Hizbullah's infrastructure has been destroyed.

Washington's hands-off approach was underlined yesterday when it was
confirmed that Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, is delaying a
visit to the region until she has met a special UN team. She is expected in
the region on Friday, according to Dan Gillerman, Israel's ambassador to the
UN.

The US is publicly denying any role in setting a timeframe for Israeli
strikes. When asked whether the US was holding back diplomatically, Tony
Snow, the White House's press spokesman, said yesterday: "No, no; the
insinuation there is that there is active military planning, collaboration
or collusion, between the United States and Israel - and there isn't ... the
US has been in the lead of the diplomatic efforts, issuing repeated calls
for restrain,t but at the same time putting together an international
consensus. You've got to remember who was responsible for this: Hizbullah
... It would be misleading to say the United States hasn't been engaged.
We've been deeply engaged."

Steven Cook, a specialist in US-Middle East policy at the Washington-based
Council on Foreign Relations, said: "It's abundantly clear [that US policy
is] to give the Israelis the opportunity to strike a blow at Hizbullah ...

"They have global reach, and prior to 9/11 they killed more Americans than
any other group. But the Israelis are overplaying their hand."

Israel is already laying the ground for negotiations. "We are beginning a
diplomatic process alongside the military operation that will continue,"
said Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, yesterday. "The diplomatic
process is not meant to shorten the window of time of the army's operation,
but rather is meant to be an extension of it and to prevent a need for
future military operations," she added.

Moshe Kaplinsky, Israel's deputy army chief, said the offensive could end
within a few weeks, adding that Israel needed time to complete "clear
goals". Israeli officials said fighting could begin to wind down after the
weekend, if Hizbullah stops firing rockets.

A peace formula is also beginning to emerge: it includes an understanding on
a future prisoner exchange, a deployment of the Lebanese army up to the
Israeli border, a Hizbullah pullback, and the beefing up of an international
monitoring force. For the first time, Ms Livni suggested Israel might accept
such a force on a temporary basis.

There were signs of differences of emphasis between the Foreign Office and
Downing Street over the conflict.

Kim Howells, a Foreign Office minister, explicitly called for the US to rein
in Israel. "I very much hope the Americans will be putting pressure on the
Israelis to stop as quickly as possible." he told the BBC. "We understand
the pressure the Israeli government is under, but we call on them to look
very carefully at the pressure ordinary people are under in southern Lebanon
and other parts of Lebanon too ... We want to stop this as quickly as
possible".

Israeli airstrikes killed 31 yesterday, including a family of nine in
Aitaroun. More than 230 civilians in Lebanon have been killed in the past
week.

An Israeli man was killed by a Hizbullah rocket in Nahariya in northern
Israel, bringing the total of Israeli civilian deaths to 13. The army said
50 missiles were fired yesterday at northern Israel, injuring at least 14
people.

Flashpoints

31 Lebanese killed in Israeli air raids. Nine members of one family were
killed and four wounded in a strike on their house in the village of
Aitaroun. Five were killed in other strikes in the south and two in the
Bekaa Valley. An attack on a Lebanese army barracks east of Beirut 
killed 11 soldiers and wounded 30. A truck carrying medical supplies was 
hit and its driver killed on the Beirut-Damascus highway. Hizbullah says 
one of its fighters was killed.

One man killed as he was walking to a bomb shelter in Nahariya, northern
Israel. The army said Hizbullah fired 50 missiles, hitting the port and
railway depot at Haifa, as well as the towns of Safed, Acre and Kiryat
Shmona.

Hundreds evacuated from Beirut in helicopters and boats. HMS Gloucester
arrives to start evacuation of Britons. The Orient Queen, a cruise ship
capable of carrying 750, sets out from Cyprus, escorted by a US destroyer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1823817,00.html