The American-Israeli tinderbox that Hezbollah lit up

Surely, this cannot be true

This reads like a conspiratorial plot out of a Tom Clancy novel and if there is any truth in this, I would have to find my voice to condemn this without reservation.

The man who exposed the embarrassing Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the Vietnam My Lai massacre has a new scoop that would rock the diplomatic world to its foundations. Thank you – Seymour Hersh.

I have only had to listen to Mr Bush’s slant about the suffering of Lebanese being brought on by Hezbollah, Syria and Iran – well I have another view, it was Israel attacks with American bombs that wrecked Lebanon over the last month.

Prearranged and executed as planned

Now, it transpires that Israel had been planning the attack Lebanon with American knowledge and support long before the June 12^th kidnap by Hezbollah presented coincidental opportunity for Israel to carry forward and carry out their pre-conceived plans.

It might also explain why there was an urgency to deliver bombs from America as the war began because there should be no need for those kinds of sophisticated weapons if there was no plan to use them somewhere.

The more sinister twist to this tale is that America thought they could do the following:

· Turn the Lebanese against Hezbollah using the loss of Lebanese life and property to create a backlash against that movement. – Failed.

· Get to completely disarm Hezbollah such that when America attacks the nuclear infrastructure of Iran; Hezbollah would not be able to retaliate against Israel. – Failed.

· Strengthen the democratic forces in Lebanon, especially giving the government the ability to control the South of Lebanon. – Failed.

Probably some truth to this

It may be that Seymour Hersh is reading too much into this contact between Israel and America where they sought the support of Dick Cheney and gained the support of the US President and UN Secretary of State.

However, with what has transpired, I am wont to see more to what Mr Hersh has to say because it all seems to add up in trying to understand why Israel had such unstinting support from America in that bombing campaign.

The losers in this battle are mainly Lebanon in terms of the sacrifices, Amir Peretz, the Israeli Defence Minister in underestimating the possible resistance and United States for their conniving, colluding and conspiring gamble – Hezbollah has in some ways won and the Israeli soldiers are still bargaining chips in what would be become a diplomatic situation where America has no clout.

America has lost authority and respect

If there is anyone who can command the respect and authority to see progress on the Middle-East issues I raised in my last blog, it is probably Bill Clinton, failing him, Nelson Mandela.

I do not think it is in the power of the people in today’s American government to sufficiently redeem themselves enough to earn the epithet of arbiter to the Middle-East crisis.

Mr Blair unfortunately has eliminated the United Kingdom from a role where we could have really shown ourselves as power worthy of the status we hold on the UN Security Council and it in the world at large.

Destabilising legitimate governments

The quest to continue to support dissident and liberal groups in governments that are not friendly to the United States in order to foment civil unrest to destabilise legitimate governments is patently unacceptable if Iran and Cuba get special funding but similar authoritarian governments in Egypt and Saudi Arabia get no mention.

Like it or not, despite the theocratic organisation of the Iranian government, it has a better working democracy than that of either Afghanistan or Iraq, they are hardly the kind of examples of freedom we are told they are with all the bloodshed and insecurity that underpins their terrible lives.

Like I said in my introduction, if there is any truth in this allegation, the forked tongues I talked about over a month ago belong to slithering deceitful snakes that are up to one thing but proclaiming something else.

Seymour Hersh is in some ways a security risk if people in government have been up to no good.

References

Steppingstone to War - House passes 'Iran Freedom Support Act'

Israel, Defeated - Round one: Lebanon, 1 – Israel, 0

Bush blames Hezbollah for Lebanon fighting

Israel, U.S. are biggest losers in this war