Bolton admits Lebanon truce block

[eppur_se_muova]

Source: BBC

A former top American diplomat says the US deliberately resisted calls for a immediate ceasefire during the conflict in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

Former ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that before any ceasefire Washington wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah's military capability.

Mr Bolton said an early ceasefire would have been "dangerous and misguided".

He said the US decided to join efforts to end the conflict only when it was clear Israel's campaign wasn't working.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6479377.stm

[AzDar]

1. ..And Bolton KNOWS 'dangerous and misguided', doesn't he?

What drove this reptile to surface so visibly in the last week?

[jobycom]

2. Because he's one of those idiots who thinks he's actually superior to all

He's not confessing here, he's bragging about how smart he is, and believes that once he informs the world of BushCo's cleverness, they will all be impressed.

[Javaman]

13. either that or he's going to come out with a book. nt

[elehhhhna]

3. Upis down, black is whilte, cease-fires are dangerous.

[Tom Joad]

4. Bolton has also admitted to hoping Iran would kick out weapons inspectors...

http://www.stopaipac.org/boltontape.htm

Conversation with aipac supporters, Bolton says this. It should be noted that aipac and the adl have been key supporters of Bolton, but his views were so extreme that he could not even muster necessary votes in the Republican Senate. He was appointed by Bush without Senate confirmation.

Former Ambassador Bolton: Let me turn now to the question of Iran and what I think the situation is there. The Security Council just passed a resolution. The resolution that the Security Council passed at the end of last month imposing certain limited sanctions on Iran, obviously the product of a long effort based on Iran’s refusal to comply with the earlier Security Council resolution that gave them until August 31st to cease their uranium enrichment activities. I’d have to say because I’m a private citizen and therefore a free man again, and these are my personal views, now, that this sanctions resolution is very disappointing. It is not as tough as I would have liked to have seen it. In many respects the Russians did an outstanding job from their point of view in protecting Iran, in narrowing the scope of the sanctions, in limiting the effectiveness, I think, of many of the things that we wanted to try and do to prevent the Iranians from continuing to make progress on their nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

I think the Iranian reaction to the sanctions resolution has been very telling in that respect, although they’ve passed a resolution in parliament to re-evaluate their relation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, they have not rejected the sanctions resolution, they have not done anything more dramatic, such as withdrawing from the nonproliferation treaty, or throwing out inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which I actually hoped they would do – that that kind of reaction would produce a counter-reaction that actually would be more beneficial to us.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. "Peace is War."

Big Brother lives.

[gratuitous]

6. More death and destruction

Gee, I can't imagine why anyone anywhere in the world would resent the cynical manipulation of international affairs by the United States. Sure, a bunch of people in Lebanon and Israel died unnecessarily, a lot of buildings and roads were destroyed, and the fuzzy objective (to eliminate Hezbollah's military capability) wasn't going to be achieved anyway,* but so what? It all contributed to the neocon articles of faith that the international community can't police these conflicts, diplomacy is for sissies, and the lives of brown-skinned people in the Middle East aren't worth another tax cut for Paris Hilton.

*The reason, of course, would be the Bush administration fealty to proliferation of guns all over the world, and profiteering off of the international arms trade. Hezbollah would have been back in the killing business in six months, even if Israel had succeeded beyond the wildest neocon dreams.

[Tom Joad]

7. See AIPAC claiming responsibility for preventing peace....

http://www.stopaipac.org/aipaclebanon.htm

god knows they had friends in high places, though...

[Tom Joad]

8. Only the US and Britain voted against imposing a quick cease-fire...

[Tom Joad]

9. Israeli Commander: "What we did was insane and monstrous...

"What we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster bombs," the head of an IDF rocket unit in Lebanon said regarding the use of cluster bombs and phosphorous shells during the war.

Quoting his battalion commander, the rocket unit head stated that the IDF fired around 1,800 cluster bombs, containing over 1.2 million cluster bomblets.

In addition, soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the army used phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by international law. According to their claims, the vast majority of said explosive ordinance was fired in the final 10 days of the war.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=761781
___________________________

US Cluster bombs were provided to Israel by US taxpayers.
Don't let them committ war crimes in our name!

[donkeyotay]

10. The headline should read, "Bolton admits US blocked Lebanon truce.

Mr Bolton, a controversial and blunt-speaking figure, said he was "damned proud of what we did" to prevent an early ceasefire.

Let's own it for George. This is what the US is all about now. Killing enough people for neocon ideology to be right and victorious. Who cares how many people had their lives destroyed? Thanks George for completely screwing our country over. Everywhere you look, disaster.

[yardwork]

11. We knew that at the time.

It was clear that the U.S. was encouraging the attacks at the time. A lot of people in the Bush administration are drenched in the blood of innocents. I wonder how they sleep at night.

[wallwriter]

12. Prosecute them for war crimes...

[DixieBlue]

14. Just when you thought they couldn't get any more vile...

I don't know if I can wait two years for these sickos to get kicked out of DC.