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Supporting
Israel's brutal actions goes against American interests
Home News Tribune Online
09/4/06
HASSAN
MAHMOUD
"An
estimated 20,000 people died and more than a million were made homeless.
Over 80 percent of the casualties were civilians, Lebanese and
Palestinians, and at least 6,000 children were orphaned, and damage to
buildings and installations amounted to billions of dollars." That was the
conclusion of an international commission of lawyers, chaired by Sean
McBride, the former Irish minister for external affairs, about the results
of Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Subsequently, Israel occupied
Southern Lebanon for 18 years. At that time, Hezbollah was not in
existence. It was born out of that calamity and it fought the occupiers
and drove them out in 2000, with the exception of some areas, which Israel
is still occupying. Israel never stopped its incursions into Lebanon by
land, air and sea. In so doing, it has been killing Lebanese people and
destroying their properties. Hezbollah, occasionally, retaliated by
capturing some of those raiders and swapped them for abducted Lebanese in
Israeli prisons.
On July 12, Hezbollah fighters engaged an Israeli patrol and captured two
soldiers in the hope of swapping them with prisoners.
This
time, hell broke loose and the wrath of the third mightiest army in the
world came down on defenseless Lebanon. The entire country's
infrastructure — airports, highways, bridges, fuel depots, ports, power
stations, hospitals, schools, mosques and churches — were obliterated.
Bombed buildings collapsed, crushing occupants who were retrieved lifeless
from under the rubble. In Qana, 29 people, mostly children, were crushed
to death when Israeli planes flattened the building where they took
refuge. The same happened in many villages and in Beirut. Out of 1,300
Lebanese dead, 90 percent were civilians; out of 156 Israeli dead, 117
soldiers were killed inside Lebanon. The Aug. 21 issue of Time reported
that Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, a former fighter pilot, was asked
how it felt to drop a bomb on people. He replied, "I feel a light bump to
the plane as a result of the bomb's release. A second later it's gone, and
that's all. That is what I feel."
According to Seymour Hersh in the Aug. 21 New Yorker, Israel had devised a
plan for attacking Hezbollah — and shared it with the Bush Administration
— well before the July 12 kidnapping as a prelude to a potential American
preemptive attack to destroy Iran's nuclear installations. He added that
earlier this summer, before the Hezbollah kidnappings, several Israeli
officials visited Washington "to get a green light for the bombing
operation. Israel began with (Vice President) Cheney to be sure of his
support and the support of his office." After that, "persuading Bush was
never a problem." Cheney's office supported the Israeli plan, as did
Elliot Abrams, a deputy national security adviser (convicted in 1991 for
his role in the Iran-Contra affair). Abrams has emerged as a key
policymaker on Iran and on the current Hezbollah-Israeli crisis.
Lebanon
was touted by President Bush as an example of democracy for the Arab
world. But this example was easily sacrificed to please the pro-Israel
lobby. It is appalling to watch the U.S. president acting as a spokesman
and a cheerleader for Israeli operations, justifying the destruction
inflicted on Lebanon. He adamantly refused to call for a cease-fire
despite the ghoulish images of dead children under the rubble of bombed
homes. He exaltingly declared that Hezbollah was the loser. Few in the
world and in Israel agree. He should be directing all his attention to our
nation's affairs and to extracting our forces from the Iraqi morass he
stuck them in. The cynics in America call Israel the 51st state, and the
Israeli cynics call America the second state. A N.Y. Times editorial of
Aug. 19 said Bush was acting like a "mindless echo chamber," stating:
"Bush still has not learned the difference between supporting Israel and
uncritically endorsing the policies of fallible Israeli leaders."
The
Israel lobby has hijacked U.S. Mideast policy, inflamed Arab and Islamic
opinion, and jeopardized U.S. security. With friends like Israel, who
needs enemies?
Hassan
Mahmoud is a resident of Westfield. The opinions of "Be Counted"
columnists do not represent those of the Home News Tribune. |
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