Bolton admits Lebanon truce block

[Che -Guevara]

A former top American diplomat says the US deliberately resisted calls for a immediate ceasefire during the conflict in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

Former ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that before any ceasefire Washington wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah's military capability.

 

Mr Bolton said an early ceasefire would have been "dangerous and misguided".

 

He said the US decided to join efforts to end the conflict only when it was clear Israel's campaign wasn't working.

 

 

The former envoy, who stepped down in December 2006, was interviewed for a BBC radio documentary, The Summer War in Lebanon, to be broadcast in April.

 

Mr Bolton said the US was deeply disappointed at Israel's failure to remove the threat from Hezbollah and the subsequent lack of any attempt to disarm its forces.

 

Britain joined the US in refusing to call for an immediate ceasefire.

 

'Damn proud'

 

The war began when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers, but it quickly escalated into a full-scale conflict.

 

BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall says the US-UK refusal to join calls for a ceasefire was one of the most controversial aspects of the diplomacy.

 

 

The UK, US and Israeli were alone in resisting an early ceasefire

At the time US officials argued a ceasefire was insufficient and agreement was needed to address the underlying tensions and balance of power in the region.

 

Mr Bolton now describes it as "perfectly legitimate... and good politics" for the Israelis to seek to defeat their enemy militarily, especially as Hezbollah had attacked Israel first and it was acting "in its own self-defence".

 

Mr Bolton, a controversial and blunt-speaking figure, said he was "damned proud of what we did" to prevent an early ceasefire.

 

Also in the BBC programme, several key players claim that, privately, there were Arab leaders who also wanted Israel to destroy Hezbollah.

 

"There were many not - how should I put it - resistant to the thought that the Israelis should thoroughly defeat Hezbollah, who... increasingly by Arab states were seen as an Iranian proxy," said UN special envoy Terje Roed Larsen.

 

More than 1,000 Lebanese civilians and an unknown number of Hezbollah fighters were killed in the conflict.

 

Israel lost 116 soldiers in the fighting, while 43 of its civilians were killed in Hezbollah rocket attacks.

[xiinfaniin]

^^That was an embarrassing result from a flawed arithmetic of war.

[Che -Guevara]

The proxy war has proved disastrous for both Washington and Tel Aviv. The Ethios in Somalia are also doing America's bidding in the horn, and it looks that will prove to be more disastrous for the nations involved.

[Faarax-Brawn]

Have yall seen Bolton on the Daily Show two nights ago?

 

He,to put it mildly,was a complete jacka$$

[-Lily-]

And we are expected to be suprised? That man makes me sick, I'm glad he was removed, even if the same policy is still in practice. Good Hizbollah 'showed them', even if I don't agree with their methods.

[Dhubad.]

The guy is arrogant, he was on the news night on BBC 2 last night accusing the Iraqis to be responsible of what is happening/happened in Iraq as if he is washing his hands off the whole thing.

[N.O.R.F]

"There were many not - how should I put it - resistant to the thought that the Israelis should thoroughly defeat Hezbollah, who... increasingly by Arab states were seen as an Iranian proxy,"

Interesting,,,,,,

[S.O.S]

Olmert 'planned Lebanon war before soldiers' kidnap'

 

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

 

Published: 09 March 2007

 

Ehud Olmert's decision to go to war in Lebanon in response to abductions of soldiers was taken as early as March 2006, according to a leak of his evidence to the commission investigating the war.

 

The report means that the military strategy was decided more than three months before it was triggered by Hizbollah's abductions of two soldiers on Israel's northern border in July. Israeli officials said this was broadly in line with what the Prime Minister has already told the cabinet.

 

Mr Olmert partly used his appearance two weeks ago before the Winograd Commission to defend himself against charges that the government stumbled unprepared into the five-week war.

 

But the report will fuel claims by some international critics of the operation that Israel, and perhaps the US, had for some time decided in favour of a military confrontation with the Lebanese group.

 

The report, in Haaretz, also suggests that Mr Olmert was told in May that Lebanon was ready to enforce UN resolution 1559, which prescribed the disarming of Hizbollah in return for withdrawal from Shaba Farms, the border zone occupied by Israel which is projected as a casus belli by Hizbollah, but which is also claimed by Syria. It says he passed the message to President Bush, Tony Blair and President Jacques Chirac.

 

According to the paper, Mr Olmert told the commission that he had held a series of meetings after becoming Prime Minister and had decided that in the event of abductions there should be air attacks, accompanied by a limited ground operation. He told the military that he wanted to decide ahead of any such event rather than make a snap decision at the time.

 

He also defended the much criticised expansion of the ground invasion in the last 48 hours of the war after the UN had agreed on a ceasefire-an operation, which cost the lives of 33 Israeli soldiers. He said the objective had been to influence the draft UN resolution, which he regarded as too unfavourable to Israel.

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2341366.ece

[Taliban]

Originally posted by Dhubad:

The guy is arrogant, he was on the news night on BBC 2 last night accusing the Iraqis to be responsible of what is happening/happened in Iraq as if he is washing his hands off the whole thing.

You're right; Bolton and the administration he used to represent are arrogant.

[S.O.S]

I had to dig for this Emad Hajjaj's cartoon from a year ago. Normally I don't like his cartoons, but sometimes they illustrate the reality of world politics brilliantly. For those who're not familiar with Emad Hajjaj, he's a Palestinian cartoonist residing in Jordan.

 

This one is titled lion king.

 

[Taliban]

Originally posted by S.O.S:

This one is titled

lion king

.

Indeed, it pretty much sums up the reality of world politics. Even with the support of the US, EU & UN, Israel has become irrelevant.