TexasTiger 12,961 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Where are the Christians?Patrick J. Buchanan When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unleashed his navy and air force on Lebanon, accusing that tiny nation of an "act of war," the last pillar of Bush's Middle East policy collapsed. First came capitulation on the Bush Doctrine, as Pyongyang and Tehran defied Bush's dictum: The world's worst regimes will not be allowed to acquire the world's worst weapons. Then came suspension of the democracy crusade as Islamic militants exploited free elections to advance to power and office in Egypt, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Iraq and Iran. Now, Israel's rampage against a defenseless Lebanon – smashing airport runways, fuel tanks, power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges, roads and the occasional refugee convoy – has exposed Bush's folly in subcontracting U.S. policy out to Tel Aviv, thus making Israel the custodian of our reputation and interests in the Middle East. The Lebanon that Israel, with Bush's blessing, is smashing up has a pro-American government, heretofore considered a shining example of his democracy crusade. Yet, asked in St. Petersburg if he would urge Israel to use restraint in its airstrikes, Bush sounded less like the leader of the Free World than some bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights. What Israel is up to was described by its army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, when he threatened to "turn back the clock in Lebanon 20 years." Olmert seized upon Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers to unleash the IDF in a pre-planned attack to make the Lebanese people suffer until the Lebanese government disarms Hezbollah, a task the Israeli army could not accomplish in 18 years of occupation. Israel is doing the same to the Palestinians. To punish these people for the crime of electing Hamas, Olmert imposed an economic blockade of Gaza and the West Bank and withheld the $50 million in monthly tax and customs receipts due the Palestinians. Then, Israel instructed the United States to terminate all aid to the Palestinian Authority, though Bush himself had called for the elections and for the participation of Hamas. Our Crawford cowboy meekly complied. The predictable result: Fatah and Hamas fell to fratricidal fighting, and Hamas militants began launching Qassam rockets over the fence from Gaza into Israel. Hamas then tunneled into Israel, killed two soldiers, captured one, took him back into Gaza and demanded a prisoner exchange. Israel's response was to abduct half of the Palestinian cabinet and parliament and blow up a $50 million U.S.-insured power plant. That cut off electricity for half a million Palestinians. Their food spoiled, their water could not be purified, and their families sweltered in the summer heat of the Gaza desert. One family of seven was wiped out on a beach by what the IDF assures us was an errant artillery shell. Let it be said: Israel has a right to defend herself, a right to counter-attack against Hezbollah and Hamas, a right to clean out bases from which Katyusha or Qassam rockets are being fired and a right to occupy land from which attacks are mounted on her people. But what Israel is doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians, collective punishment on innocent people, to force them to do something they are powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them. Such a policy violates international law and comports neither with our values nor our interests. It is un-American and un-Christian. But where are the Christians? Why is Pope Benedict virtually alone among Christian leaders to have spoken out against what is being done to Lebanese Christians and Muslims? When al-Qaida captured two U.S. soldiers and barbarically butchered them, the U.S. Army did not smash power plants across the Sunni Triangle. Why then is Bush not only silent but openly supportive when Israelis do this? Democrats attack Bush for crimes of which he is not guilty, including Haditha and Abu Ghraib. Why are they, too, silent when Israel pursues a conscious policy of collective punishment of innocent peoples? Britain's diplomatic goal in two world wars was to bring the naive cousins in, to "pull their chestnuts out of the fire." Israel and her paid and pro-bono agents here appear determined to expand the Iraq war into Syria and Iran, and have America fight and finish all of Israel's enemies. That Tel Aviv is maneuvering us to fight its wars is understandable. That Americans are ignorant of, or complicit in this, is deplorable. Already, Bush is ranting about Syria being behind the Hezbollah capture of the Israeli soldiers. But where is the proof? Who is whispering in his ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a "cakewalk," that he would be Churchill, that U.S. troops would be greeted with candy and flowers, that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace? How much must America pay for the education of this man? http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51116 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger12 46 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Right here is one. Why? You need somebody to pray for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger in Spain 0 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Why is this conflict Israel's fault, Tex? Hezbollah started it and the Israelis are taking care of their problem. If the Lebanese would do something about the terrorists that have control of their country, they wouldn't be in the situation they are in today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM4AU 332 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Sign that the Apocalypse is upon us: Tex quotes Pat Buchanan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger in Spain 0 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Sign that the Apocalypse is upon us:Tex quotes Pat Buchanan 250125[/snapback] Only because Buchanan is critical of Bush. If it were the other way around, ol' Pat would be just another "right wing nut". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCTAU 3,333 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Sounds like Pat is having on of those days where his elevator is one floor shy of the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auburn910 0 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Sounds like Pat is having on of those days where his elevator is one floor shy of the top. 250257[/snapback] Lebonan is 40% christian, the muslims run the country, nothing you can do. Like saying why do the people of china not vote out communist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKW 86 7,431 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Sign that the Apocalypse is upon us:Tex quotes Pat Buchanan  250125[/snapback] Only because Buchanan is critical of Bush. If it were the other way around, ol' Pat would be just another "right wing nut". 250127[/snapback] File this under "Signs of the Apocalypse." Cutting to the chase however. If Buchanan has bad karma with him, it is his fathers well known hatred of all things Jewish. I am not say Buchanan does, but I know his father is widely quoted as an Anti-Semitic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AURaptor 1,125 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Number of rockets fired into Israel by Hezbollah in Lebanon? 1200 + ......and counting. Number of rockets fired into Lebanon by Israel ? 0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigermike 3,039 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Number of rockets fired into Israel by Hezbollah in Lebanon? 1200 + ......and counting. Number of rockets fired into Lebanon by Israel ? 0 250390[/snapback] They all conveniently overlook that fact don't they Raptor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AURaptor 1,125 Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 Number of rockets fired into Israel by Hezbollah in Lebanon? 1200 + ......and counting. Number of rockets fired into Lebanon by Israel ? 0 250390[/snapback] They all conveniently overlook that fact don't they Raptor? 250392[/snapback] Israel was attacked, its borders breeched, its soldiers killed and taken, and its citizens targeted by massive rocket attacks. And yet the 'world community' is telling Israel that it needs to show restraint . Just what the h3LL did Israel show when Saddam was tossing Scuds into Israel back in the 1st Gulf war ? I swear, I must have gotten sucked up into some temporal worm hole and sent to an alternate universe. No way is does this make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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