Busy Times

The middle east situation gets worse and worse and Blair and Bush still seem to do nothing but get their own citizens safely out the way. I have one Lebanese friend and one married to a lebanese man. Thankfully neither had gone for their summer break when this all kicked off and they and their immediate families are safe in the UK, but both have families in danger, one in Beruit one in Nabatieh, in the South. Caroline's blog is here and brings home for me just how close this is to all of us.
While Kofi Annan condemned Hezbollah he also critises Israel for it's excessive use of force. Israel dropped leaflets on South Lebanon advising citizens to move away from the border areas, but at the same time bombs bridges making it impossible for innocent civilians to go anywhere. How does that work? Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said in an interview on CNN that Israeli forces had also targeted ambulances and medical convoys. WTF! Yet still the Lebanese are suffering with little or no international support.

Hezbollah have been a thorn in Israel's side for a long time, but does it justify this sort of response? Israel have now killed far more more innocent children and civilians than Hezbollah in this conflict, they have bombed bridges preventing the escape of civilians from approaching war and destroyed a countries infrastructure. Can you imagine the international outcry particularly from the Americans if we'd done this to Ireland to defeat the IRA?!! Blair is just a lapdog to George Bush and can't seem to say anything without his agreement. At least the EU and the French are condemning to disproportionate use of force. Some 230 Lebanese are dead, most of them civilians, to 25 Israeli dead, 13 of them civilians (as of 19th July according to New York Times). One can only conclude that the US wishes to pull Iran and Syria into the conflict to justify further US intervention in the middle east and justify it's 'axis of evil' policy. I just pray the UN can intervene while there is still some of Lebanon still standing or there is a full scale war in the middle east pulling in many more countries, a frightening prospect for the whole world.