CNN is repeating the comment, attributed to “Lebanese government officials,” that the massive fighting that has broken out in Tripoli is the fault of “Al Qaeda”*. By eerie coincidence our friend Juan Cole has some very profound observations just today, about this “organization” we call Al Qaeda:

Another important impetus to al-Qaeda’s survival is that it has taken the place of the Communist Party as radical response to the status quo. Al-Qaeda’s top leadership is rich, not poor, and it is a movement of the Right, not the Left. But it is a radical, populist Right that can attract the dispossessed.

This cannot be too often repeated, because it is one of those say-whaaa?? sort of things that takes many repetitions and a good deal of thought to soak in. But look at the longer version of Cole’s post on the subject and it’s really been there in front of us all along:  Read more 

Didn’t hear about it? I guess our SCLM was too busy deciding if Clinton was “angry” or “unhinged.” A report from someone who was there. Go read the whole thing, it’s very good.  Read more 

This makes sense to me.

Israel is leaving the battlefield in Lebanon. It has already begun to withdraw troops from north of the border, and plans to withdraw all of its forces when relieved by UNIFIL+ and the Lebanese Army. When that relief might take place is unclear.
What is clear is that Hizbullah’s forces remain in place all over the disputed zone and that its command and control of its forces remains effective. How can you know that? Easy. The day before the cease fire Hizbullah fired 250 rockets into Israel and since the cease fire has fired none. This represents unmistakable evidence of effective command.  Read more 

When will the Israeli invasion of Lebanon end?

“This week is entirely possible. Certainly we are talking about days not weeks,” said Condi to Ray “Cuddly Bear” Suarez of PBS Newshour today.

But at the same time Shimon Peres tells reporters “In my judgment, it is not far away. You can count it in a matter of weeks, not months.”

Via Haaretz.

No respect for the Almighty US of A’s emissary. Does Shimon know that Condi isn’t backed by the Beltway Neocons that are really running things?  Read more 

Qata, Lebanon: Image courtesy of AFP & the BBC, Israel, the Bush administration, and to some extent, Hizbollah

Amazing!

It’s taking a shorter and shorter time for the Bush/Cheney/Kristol foreign policy to crash and burn.

George Stephanoupolos and friends spent the morning spelling out the administration’s greatest failure thus far, excepting Iraq, of course, although North Korea is certainly a close third, then again, there’s Syria, and ohmygosh, Iran, but hey, those last two are part of the Lebanon disaster…

Hard to keep track, isn’t it?  Read more 

Because this woman isn’t.

Harsh?

Yes.

Unfair?

Perhaps. I could have featured other smiling men:

This one, for instance.

Or this one.

Or other smiling women.

Let me tell you about the woman in the picture first, and then you be the judge.  Read more 

This Sunday in Tyre Lebanon
Image courtesy of Tyler Hicks, NYTimes
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No, not the Bolton with the big, bushy mustache.

Josh Bolton is George Bush’s clean-shaven, intelligent, softly-spoken chief-of-staff, but like all members of this administration, however intelligent, however conversant with facts, he is all talking points, all the time, which makes him boring to listen to, of course, but far worse, dangerously deficient in the area of reality-testing.

Thus, quite a perfect spokesperson for this administration. BTW, this was Bolton’s first network interview since taking over for Andrew Card, an exclusive for Timmeh.

Nothing exclusive about the topics up for discussion, and God knows, nothing exclusive about what the Bush administration has to say on any of them - damn those talking points.  Read more 

Just asking.

And doesn’t that question remind you of another question?  Read more 

Disaters Of War

Condi Rice was everywhere this morning. And everwhere that Condi went, her devotion to George Bush was never far behind.

Speaking from the G-8 conference, Condi was robotic, repetitious, unspontaneous, and unconvincing, perhaps because her discussion and explanations were studded with talking points.

She didn’t sound like a Secretary of State, she sounded like a low-level spokesperson spouting propoganda.

I found her performance appalling and embarrassing  Read more 

Can Israel Survive?
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Russert sets the context - Crises in the Middle East, what should the US do about the Axis of Evil, (gee, I thought we were doing the Axis of Evil since 9/11, that would make it about five years of doing, Tim)…

Before Biden and Gingrich, (author of yet another new book, “Winning the Future”), are allowed to go at it and each other, we are informed via Richard Engel, from Beirut, and Martin Fletcher, from Haifa, of what happened overnight; suffice to say it’s all bad news, except if you are William Kristol, or, as it turns out, Newt Gingrich.  Read more