Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Don't blame Bush for the war in Lebanon. By Jacob Weisberg

Don't blame Bush for the war in Lebanon. By Jacob Weisberg: "We don't really know why Hezbollah chose the moment it did to end this fragile truce by launching a raid that killed three Israeli soldiers and resulted in the kidnapping of two others. Was it acting out of rivalry or solidarity with Hamas' preceding attack from Gaza? Did Iran, which is Hezbollah's chief sponsor, order the attack or merely enable and encourage it? We don't know whether Syria, which is the chief backer of Hamas, was a planner or merely a conduit for Hezbollah's Iranian weapons. Nor can we say with much assurance whether the Lebanese government, which includes significant Hezbollah representation, allowed terrorists to rule the south because of weakness or sympathy.

We do know enough, however, to divide responsibility for the current war among these players: Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. This has not stopped many analysts in Europe and the United States from laying blame for the violence squarely at a less obvious doorstep—that of the Bush administration. "
It's so confusing when Slate makes sense.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I do not remember a time in my life when I was not hearing about this conflict, obvkously it is not the fault of any American president.

As for whether bush should have supported democracy in the region, what do people want him to support? Dictators? We are Americans, we should always support the princliples of freedom. That does not make us responsible for what other people do.

Elections codify, they make it impossible for people to evade responsibility.