On September 30, 2004, a series of simultaneous car bombs adjacent to a ceremony marking the re-opening of a water treatment plant killed about one hundred people, including 34 children who had rushed forward to receive treats from US troops. The bombing, planned by Zarqawi and his minions, was condemned (rightly) by the Bush Administration as barbaric terrorism.

On July 30, 2006, multiple rockets launched by the nation that has the best missile directing capabilities outside of, well, us, struck a residential building in Qana, Lebanon, killing over 60 people, including 34 children. President Bush, after expressing awkward and inarticulate regret at the loss of innocent life, today reiterated his insistence that he would not call for an immediate cease fire instead supporting a negotiated cease fire. There was no, and will be no, condemnation of Israel’s actions by our nation.

The 48 hour cessation of Israel’s bombing to allow investigation of this unspeakable tragedy is a window of opportunity that we may not see again…a chance to actually stop the killing, a chance to call for an immediate cease fire by all parties while those parties discuss all issues, including the dismantling of the Hezbollah military apparatus that seems to be successfully evading Israeli bombs and the creation of what will clearly be the worst military assignment in the world—the multinational force to serve as a buffer.

The world is watching.

In nations around the world, people of all faiths are appalled.
In nations around the world, our Islamic brothers and sisters are marching, praying, and yes, in some cases rioting.

Right now, regardless of the political complexities, it appears to the world that we, the United States, are funding and condoning an insanely excessive exercise in vengeance. (Does anyone else remember that this started with the kidnapping of 2 Israeli soldiers?)

Hundreds of people have died and a million have become homeless refugees.

Hear me clearly. Nothing Israel has done justifies the bombings of Israeli towns and by Hezbollah—it is not self-defense to randomly bomb the citizens of another country….EVER.

There are no simple answers.

But…

If we do not act now, if we do not exercise our influence with Israel to stop the insanity…our tenuous, deeply-damaged-by-our-illfated-misadventures-in-Iraq-and-Afghanistan global moral authority as a nation will be in tatters and the enemy will indeed be….

us.