Who's in Charge Here?
To hear our political leaders -- here and there -- it is the generals who are running things. But the truth of the matter is obviously that no one is guiding or reigning them in.
Last night I tuned in to Larry King Live (CNN) because little was coming through with our limited U.S. TV news coverage and a round up of coverage of Lebanon/Israel was promised. Some of the commentators did make informative points and one did get the spectrum of views thereupon. Somewhere along the line it was reported that Israel is now bombing a power plant south of Beirut.
The nadir, however, among those featured was the Republican senator, member of the Senate foreign relations committee, who had trouble distinguishing Iraq from Israel and who at one point attributed to Hezbollah the "terror bombings in Thailand and Singapore." Later in the program he corrected (without formal notice of his previous error) to places that had actually been bombed by terrorists in the Far East -- but presumably not by Hezbollah, as he kept insisting.
It was instructive as to the make-it-up-as-they-go-along approach to serious matters that our Republicans are now taking. Presumably all that we shall be hearing from them now will be targeted for the November elections about which they are panicked. We should not be surprised to hear from Bush and Bolton that Israel has a right to defend itself -- another constituency of voters to be protected. I imagine that few would disagree with that as a general principle. But those of us who give a damn fear that Israel is destroying itself in the eyes of the world. It obviously has had no help coming from Washington -- no one is in charge here.
Last night I tuned in to Larry King Live (CNN) because little was coming through with our limited U.S. TV news coverage and a round up of coverage of Lebanon/Israel was promised. Some of the commentators did make informative points and one did get the spectrum of views thereupon. Somewhere along the line it was reported that Israel is now bombing a power plant south of Beirut.
The nadir, however, among those featured was the Republican senator, member of the Senate foreign relations committee, who had trouble distinguishing Iraq from Israel and who at one point attributed to Hezbollah the "terror bombings in Thailand and Singapore." Later in the program he corrected (without formal notice of his previous error) to places that had actually been bombed by terrorists in the Far East -- but presumably not by Hezbollah, as he kept insisting.
It was instructive as to the make-it-up-as-they-go-along approach to serious matters that our Republicans are now taking. Presumably all that we shall be hearing from them now will be targeted for the November elections about which they are panicked. We should not be surprised to hear from Bush and Bolton that Israel has a right to defend itself -- another constituency of voters to be protected. I imagine that few would disagree with that as a general principle. But those of us who give a damn fear that Israel is destroying itself in the eyes of the world. It obviously has had no help coming from Washington -- no one is in charge here.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli) -- Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli) -- Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 9:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home