Crisis In Lebanon

Not having any Cable TV has made this crisis seem quite remote to me: I have to judge it based strictly on newspaper and Internet reports. Nevertheless, it seems obscene for Condoleeza Rice to talk about the virtues of a new Middle East, when the good things of the old Middle East (children playing in the streets of Sidon, etc.) are being erased in favor of something far, far uglier. Where is this new, grand Middle East supposed to come from, if not from the civilians who live there? If you chase out the civilians and make a moonscape of southern Lebanon, the terrorists win. A cease-fire, as disagreeable as it might seem to Bush Administration radicals, is the only way to preserve what is best about the area.

Juan Cole details the negotiations:

The meeting was reportedly tense. Rice proffered "support" to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, but not a ceasefire, which is what he really needs to keep his government from collapsing--and he testily told her so. She said she regretted the humanitarian situation (caused by America's ally with billions in American-supplied armaments), but the US is offering only $30 million in aid (billions of dollars of damage have been done to Lebanon by Israel, most of it unrelated to Hizbullah). She delivered her ultimatum to Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese parliament and a leading secular Shiite politician who has an alliance of convenience with Hizbullah. Berri angrily rejected her terms and riposted that no negotiations would happen without there first being a ceasefire. He was relaying to her Hizbullah's position.

Rice's visit showed how low American stock has fallen in the Middle East, since she came virtually empty-handed, merely as a go-fer on behalf of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, with little positive to offer. Berri thunderously rejected her ultimatums, or rather those of her political bosses. She came with nice words but Israeli bombs hit Beirut before and after her visit, according to my sources. Her professions of sympathy rang hollow, since her government was encouraging the bombing raids and blocking any UN or European move toward a cease-fire. She played no more exalted a role than Mafia enforcer, lifting her suit coat at the corner to display the loaded pistol as she discussed just how much the owner of the Lebanese restaurant would be paying per month for "protection" from certain of her "friends," or else, you know, something bad could happen to this nice restaurant of yours.