Damn USA! HA! "Syria wants talks with US over Lebanon crisis"

[Edan]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn USA! HA! "Syria wants talks with US over Lebanon crisis"

Originally posted by chegitz guevara

Originally posted by The diplomat
If by "talking", you mean "launching rockets on Israeli women and children" then yeah, Hezbollah just wanted to talk.

Israel started bombing first. Hezbollah launched rockets in retaliation.

False.

Hezbollah fighters began their attack Wednesday by firing a barrage of rockets at communities in northwestern Israel. The guerrillas then crossed the border and launched a surprise attack on two Israeli Humvees, killing three soldiers, wounding two and capturing the two others, the Israeli army said.

link

[SlowwHand]

Well, well.

Saudis ask Bush to intervene in Mideast

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 20 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Saudi Arabia asked
President Bush on Sunday to intervene in
Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon to stop the mounting deaths, but administration officials said they remain convinced that an immediate cease-fire is not the answer.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that during an Oval Office meeting with Bush, he gave the president a letter from Saudi King Abdullah asking that Bush help seek an immediate cease-fire in the Middle East conflict. The meeting came on the 12th day of fighting in which Israel has bombed south Beirut and other targets while Hezbollah has rained hundreds of rockets on northern Israel.

"We requested a cease-fire to allow for a cessation of hostilities," Saud told reporters after the meeting.

"I have brought a letter from the Saudi King to stop the bleeding in Lebanon, and there has been an agreement to save Lebanese lives, Lebanese properties and what the Lebanese have built, and to save this country from the ordeal it is facing," Saud said. Saud's comment reflected Bush's past statements that all want the violence to stop, although he has refused to press for an immediate cease-fire.

Saud and four other Saudi officials met with Bush for more than an hour Sunday.

Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice also participated in the meeting before departing for Israel in the first U.S. diplomatic effort on the ground since Israel began bombing Lebanon on July 12. The fighting has killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel.

Officials from the U.N., Europe and other Arab countries have already urged an end to the fighting. Rice and Bush have rejected calls for an immediate cease-fire, saying it does not make sense if the terrorist threat from Hezbollah is not addressed. They have said Israel has a right to defend itself from terrorism and that Hezbollah must return two captured Israeli soldiers and stop firing missiles and rockets into Israel if they want the fighting to stop.

"Our position on an immediate cease-fire is well known and has not changed," White House national security spokesman Frederick Jones said after the meeting with Saudi officials.

Nail al-Jubeir, a Saudi embassy spokesman, said the Saudis would not release the letter or get into other details of the proposal because it was a private communication between Abdullah and Bush. Asked whether the Saudis requested that Bush directly pressure Israeli leaders for a cease-fire, al-Jubeir said they cannot tell the president who to call. But he noted Bush has a unique influence to negotiate with Israel.

"The U.S. has the authority, it has the clout with Israel," he said. "For us to go and talk to the Israelis isn't going to do anything."

Saud said in their meeting, Bush expressed his desire for the violence to stop. But Saudi officials would not say how he responded to their request for an immediate halt to Israel's bombing campaign.

"I am not speaking on (behalf of) the president," Saud added. "I am saying that we have agreed on the necessity to stop the fighting, so that the Lebanese government will be able to impose its authority upon its lands.

"Now the task is to hold negotiations with the Lebanese government to lay down the details of these issues, and as you know Rice is heading to the region to work on that," Saud said. "All the details will be left to the Lebanese government."

Saud spoke to reporters mostly in Arabic. His comments were translated by Arabic-speaking staff of The Associated Press.

A White House spokeswoman, Eryn Witcher, would not comment on the Saudi proposal. She read a three-sentence statement listing the participants and saying only that they have "shared goals of helping the people of Lebanon and restoring sovereignty of the government of Lebanon and building stronger Lebanese armed forces."

"They discussed the humanitarian situation and reconstruction and putting conditions in place for an end to violence," Witcher said.

Witcher said participants in the meeting including Saud; Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the secretary general of the national security council; Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States; Adil al-Jubayr, the counselor to Abdullah; and Rihab Massoud, the deputy secretary general of the Saudi national security council.

For years, the Saudis have been among the United States' closest allies in the Arab world, despite strains from U.S. pressures aimed at increasing democracy in the conservative kingdom.

The Saudis are among several moderate Arab countries that have worried about expanding influence in the Middle East by
Iran, which create Hezbollah and has helped train and finance the organization. On the other hand, they cannot afford to appear too supportive of American or Israeli interests for fear of alienating their own citizens.

Saud spoke to reporters outside the West Wing as he left the White House.

"There is only one problem in this crisis: It is Lebanon, and the inability of Lebanon to exercise its sovereignty over its territory," Saud said. "Everybody who needs to help, who must help, should help."

Bush's chief of staff, Josh Bolten, said before the meeting that the U.S. will stand firmly behind Israel, noting that an attack on an ally is considered an attack on the U.S.

"We are allies, and we will support Israel in its right to self-defense," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "At the same time, we will do everything possible to make sure the crisis has a minimal impact on civilians.

"The purpose is to maintain a sustainable cease-fire," Bolten said. "It's sustainable only if we get to the root problem, which is Hezbollah, a terrorist organization."

Bolten said international peacekeepers might be needed in Lebanon to help end the fighting, but that U.S. troop involvement was unlikely.

Rice plans meetings in Jerusalem and the
West Bank with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In addition, she will go to Rome for sessions with representatives of European and moderate Arab governments that are meant to shore up the weak democratic government in Lebanon.

"She'll be talking to friends and allies as to whether and when force is appropriate and how it should be constructed," Bolten said.

Bush said he has directed Rice to discuss with Mideast leaders how best to end the fighting in Lebanon. The chief U.S. diplomat will not meet with Hezbollah leaders or their Syrian backers.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Israel doesn't want to talk. It never wants to talk. But it claims it has no one to talk to. The only language Israel understands is violence.

Which is why they're always raiding Egypt and Jordan, right?

[Spiffor]

Funny that, there was a time where Egypt and Jordan were crazy madmonsters, who were frothing at the mouth and wanted only to destroy Israel. How come Israel had accepted to talk with them?

[SlowwHand]

Because they talked in good faith, not just to hear their teeth clicking?

[chequita guevara]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn USA! HA! "Syria wants talks with US over Lebanon crisis"

Originally posted by Edan
False.

link

Like American media is reliable.

Okay, Israel started bombing civilians first. Yes, Hexbollah launched rockets in their raid . . . at a military base.

BTW, Israel bombed the UN today.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Which is why they're always raiding Egypt and Jordan, right?

Both countries wanted to negotiate with Israel long before Israel deigned to talk to them. The 1973 war was in part an attempt to force Israel to the negotiating table. Sadat asked for negotiations immediately after taking office.

And in case you've forgotton, Israel raided both countries for decades, including one where they massacred the better part of a Jordanian village.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Right. Israel could have legitimized kidnapping once again by emptying its prisons for two -- no wait, three -- soldiers.

So, killing hundreds of civilians for three soldiers is a better alternative?

[Edan]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn USA! HA! "Syria wants talks with US over Lebanon crisis"

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Like American media is reliable.

Okay, Israel started bombing civilians first. Yes, Hexbollah launched rockets in their raid . . . at a military base.

Again, false.

Hezbollah fired at a number of northern Israeli towns. Here's another link you'll probably dismiss and ignore, this time from the New York Times:

The fighting Wednesday erupted around 9 a.m., when Hezbollah attacked several northwestern Israeli towns with rocket fire, wounding several civilians, the Israeli military said.

link

[SlowwHand]

Che likes to sidestep facts a LOT.

[Gatekeeper]

Responsibility. Where is it to be found in today's world? The more I think about it, the more I believe that humanity's ills come about due to someone, somewhere, refusing to take responsibility for their actions, thus precipitating a "ripple effect" of sorts that brings nothing but ruin and damnation.

That's my philosophical musing for the day. Enjoy!

Gatekeeper

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Which is why they're always raiding Egypt and Jordan, right?

Both countries wanted to negotiate with Israel long before Israel deigned to talk to them. The 1973 war was in part an attempt to force Israel to the negotiating table. Sadat asked for negotiations immediately after taking office.

And in case you've forgotton, Israel raided both countries for decades, including one where they massacred the better part of a Jordanian village.

Let's take that at face value.

What you're saying is that the only way Israel can get a lasting peace with their neighbors is to be much more cruel and ruthless than their neighbors, right?

[chequita guevara]

No, I'm saying the only way they can get it is by finally stoping their cruelty and treating their neighbors as sovreign states.

[chequita guevara]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Damn USA! HA! "Syria wants talks with US over Lebanon cri

Originally posted by Edan
link

What I've read disagrees.

"Hezbollah fired at a number of northern Israeli towns," the Israeli military said.

Shame on you Edan. You didn't attribute your quote.

[Berzerker]

I thought the war with Hezbollah erupted after something happened in Gaza and Israel attacked there in response to killed/kidnapped soldiers.