I know this sounds heartless and uncaring but, how is it the American taxpayer's responsibility to rebuild Lebanon, when it was Iran-financed Hezbollah who caused it to be destroyed? Iran funnels something like 300million annually to the Hezbos, plus whatever the get from Syria and certainly from the Saudis. If those countries care as much about the Lebanese as they pretend to, why are they not financing the rebuilding? Because they couldn't care less about the Lebanese people, they are just using Lebanon as a platform from which to attack Israel.Politicians always think they can buy good will like they buy votes. I am not in favor of this scheme by Bush to get the terrorists to like us...
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday announced $230 million in humanitarian aid for Lebanon and called for quick deployment of an international force to help uphold the fragile cease-fire there.
“The need is urgent,” Bush said.
“The international community must now designate the leadership of this new international force, give it robust rules of engagement and deploy it as quickly as possible to secure the peace,” the president told a news conference.
“The United States will do our part,” Bush said. While the U.S. does not plan to contribute troops, it will help logistical support, command and control help and intelligence.
He said it was “the most effective contribution we can make at this time.”
Bush also said the United States would work on another U.N. resolution making the rules of engagement clear for an international peacekeeping force.
“There will be another resolution coming into the United Nations giving further instructions to the international force. First things first will be to get the rules of engagement clear,” Bush said.
Bush also said his administration was pledging an additional $230 million to help the Lebanese rebuild their homes and return to their towns and communities.
The Lebanese government has estimated that the damage from the war will cost $3.6 billion to repair. A donors conference on humanitarian aid is set for Aug. 31 in Stockholm and a second meeting may be held to address LebanonÂ’s shattered infrastructure.
The idiotic cease-fire has already been broken...and by Hezbollah. No country wants to send troops, under the incompetent command of corrupt UN officials, to an active war zone. Iran and Syria are already re-arming Hezbollah and Bush wants to rebuild the roads and bridges as soon as possible, making it far easier to get arms into south Lebanon to be used against Israel. Just because the infrastructure rebuilding gets underway, doesn't mean that the war is over. Hezbollah still stands(with the support of the Lebanese government I might add), Iran still is this close to having nuke capability right next door, and the fighting continues as Israel retreats. What in the world is Bush thinking? This isn't over by a long shot.
"But Ed", you whine, "the suffering and destitution in Lebanon is unimaginable. Surely we (the U.S.) should be providing aid and comfort to the Lebanese people. We have so much, and they have so little, and if we can win the hearts and minds of the Arab street by giving them money, then the tide will turn in our favor and they will see that we are not the Great Satan."
Are you nuts? As long as we are not a Muslim country, we will always, always be the Great Satan to radical Muslims. Their kindness cannot be purchased. That is the stupidest notion I've ever heard. Besides, you don't rebuild a city in the middle of a war. What makes you think this war is over, because the idiot Kofi Annon called for 15,000 corrupt "peace-keepers"? The only "peace-keepers" willing to go there are from countries who don't recognize Israel's right to exist. And why is it the responsibility of the American taxpayer to rebuild Lebanon? Sure, send some food and medicine, but pouring money into Lebanon will not, as George Bush naively thinks, make the Islamo-fascists like us. They will take our money, buy weapons with it, and then attack Israel again in a few months or years...that is if they don't attack us...and with weapons our money bought. When are our politicians going to learn that you cannot buy loyalty, gratitude or pleasantness from terrorists? It's like paying the school-yard bully not to beat you up every day. We cannot simply be nice to the Arab world and hope it causes them to like us, and stop being mean to us.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; it's going to take at least one more 9/11, maybe more than that depending on who's in the White House, to convince Washington that we are under attack by a relentless enemy who cannot be reasoned with, and that partisan bickering and the politicization of the war on Islamic terrorists serves only to divide us and make us more vulnerable.
Our response to the next terrorists attack on the U.S. must be ruthless and extreme bordering on barbaric, for it to be anything but a sign of weakness and an invitation to attack again. Israel's mistake was listening to peace-at-any-cost globalists like Bush and Jimmy Carter, and stopping the demolishing of Hezbollah before it was totally destroyed. If that had meant incurring the wrath of the UN anti-semites by going into Syria and expanding the theater of war....who cares?
2 comments:
Ed,
This post is a work-in-progress and is part vent part desire to see myself "published".
Now I lay me down to sleep…
Finally, President Bush has named our enemy by attaching the term “Islamic Fascists” to those who seek to eliminate us. We cannot defeat an enemy we are unwilling to name and up until now we have allowed political correctness to coerce us into calling WWIII the Global War on Terror and our enemies were heretofore referred to as terrorists or some other generic and misleading appellation. Because we will not name or admit who we are fighting or what’s at stake, it is impossible to unite Americans much less ask them to contribute dollars whether through taxes or bonds. Ask yourself: Where are the sacrifices of the American public to win this war? Is there rationing of anything? Where are the war bond posters? The politicians are unwilling to ask for support and the general population is satisfied with the magnetic, feel-good “ribbons” stating “Support our troops” affixed to their automobile. It’s ironic that those who “support our troops” are the same ones who think nothing of the gasoline they are burning while doing so. We must come together as a nation to defeat this common enemy. Failure to do so will place us in the history books along side Spain, France, and the rest of the shameful scourges. It remains to be seen if the President’s latest epiphany is too little too late. Can he rally this country back to greatness or will we wallow in our own self-inflicted destruction?
The situation does not look promising. Today President Bush was in the news promising manpower and dollars to rebuild Lebanon. Say what? First, we didn’t destroy Lebanon and should not feel obligated in any way to help rebuild and certainly not for free. Second, Lebanon is still overrun with Hezbollah so Israel has accomplished nothing in the Global War on Terrorism. They are being painted as the bad guys and the United States has reined them in just when progress was forthcoming. The recent clash between Israel (the West) and terrorism (Hezbollah) is just a continuation of hostilities. It’s not new nor is it a “crisis” as the media portrays it. It’s only a single battle in the World War being waged by Muslims on Christians.
For once I feel like we’re on the losing side. Not because we don’t have the ability to win but because we simply don’t have the will. Most Americans are unaware or indifferent to the fact we are at war. The war hasn’t affected them directly save a spike in energy prices. Meanwhile we continue to lose momentum against the Muslims and we are silently and frightening being overrun by Mexicans (and others). If and when we wake up America will be far different than the one we remember or thought we were living in. Maybe Americans will sit and take notice when pages of People magazine show nothing but Hispanics and the text (for those that can still read) will be in a bewildering, indecipherable language.
I think the next time I see one of those “Support our Troops” magnets I’ll ask the driver exactly how they are supporting the troops. Or what do they recommend to others do to show support. I’m betting most will not be able to venture much farther than to provide directions to the convenience store where they purchased their magnet. Sadly if these magnets had existed in 1941-1945 we would have probably lost WWII. Convinced by the magnet on their car they were supporting the troops, the presses for the Rosie the Riveter posters would have screeched to a halt, war bonds would have gone unsold, and sacrifices such as rationing lifted.
The impending residue of the United States – the greatest nation in the world – creates a maddening, helpless feeling as this country slips from greatness and begins its decent into the history books. It was great at the top and history told us it wouldn’t last forever. But to watch the disintegration of a once great nation is unbearable. As a parent you strive to prepare your children for a better world or at least a future where they might be able to make a contribution. Instead my biggest challenge is what night while I’m tucking my children into bed, as we say our prayers and I look into their hopeful eyes, what night do I attempt to brace them for their future? I think we’ll change our prayers first.
One more thing: I own an SUV so don't think I'm a tree-hugging environmentalist. No, I just have a distaste for the magnet-sporting, cell phone-talking idiots we know as Americans. I'm sure some are genuine but most are not. Don't get me started on People magazine!
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