Israel Tries To Be A Bush

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Israel Tries To Be A Bush
By Larry C Johnson
Friday, 28 July 2006 at 07:20

You may remember Campaign George Bush. You know, the "uniter not a divider". Well, it appears Israel, under the leadership of Ehud Olmert, has opted to try to be like George. How else to explain their ability to unite the Arab and Muslim world behind Hezbollah. Way to go guys!

Check out the full story in the New York Times: (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/w...

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 27 - At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight.

Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements.

The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.

An outpouring of newspaper columns, cartoons, blogs and public poetry readings have showered praise on Hezbollah while attacking the United States and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for trumpeting American plans for a “new Middle East” that they say has led only to violence and repression.

And with the enormous disparity between the number of Lebanese civilians killed by Israel vice the number of Israelis killed by Hezbollah launched rockets, the anger and unity among disparate Muslims will continue to grow. Israel has forgotten the first rule of crisis management—If you are in a hole, stop digging.