The Daily Background

The Middle East
Lebanon– 9-14 Israeli soldiers, “dozens” of Hezbollah militants, and 23 Palestinian civilians were killed yesterday. This raises the Israeli death toll to around 30-35 (about half of whom are civilians). Roughly 140 Palestinian civilians have been killed by the Israeli military since the fighting began on June 25th. A family of Eight Canadian civilians were also killed by the Israeli military last week.

After Secretary Rice left Beirut, the bombing began again. 422 civilians have been killed by the illegal Israeli bombings of the country. Secretary Rice’s half hearted efforts towards peace, but not immediate peace failed as talks broke down. It is reported that Iran and Syria may be included in a next-round of talks. This photo buzzed around newswires as largely representing the talks.

Israel says it will wage ‘several more weeks‘ of war against Hezbollah (read: Lebanon), although reports suggest that the White House has only approved two weeks in secret.

From the same article, the UN observing post that was hit yesterday by Israeli airstrikes was fired upon 21 times, for a sustained period of roughly 8 hours, and took direct hits. While Israel claims it was a mistake, it is becoming more and more doubtful that the base, which had been in the same location and was clearly marked was not deliberately targeted. The Israeli military was warned repeatedly about the location of the observing post, and UN officials were in contact with the Israelis asking them to stop the bombing as it occurred. Juan Cole writes of the incident “The Israelis denied that they hit the base deliberately, but Kofi would know. Why do it? When you have in mind war crimes, it is better not to have neutral observers in the region.”

Some right-wingers are openly celebrating the UN observer deaths.

President Bush is said to be considering sending American troops to Lebanon as part of a large international force. Israel has said that it does not want a United Nations force (punctuated by their recent bombing of a UN outpost and killing four unarmed military observers),but instead favors a US-led NATO force. The American public would support a UN force by about 60%.

Several key NATO countries have already said they are not interested in sending troops to the area however (and Israel may have had this in mind when they made their decision to call for a NATO force). President Bush initially said he was not interested in sending American troops into the area, agreeing with all but about 30% of the American public. The Pentagon is said to be balking at the idea.

Iraq– Gee it sure is easy to confuse Iraqi policemen these days with hostage takers.

Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki wants more money and more American troops in Iraq. Maliki, much to the criticism of many Democrats (though not many Republicans), has failed to condemn Hezbollah’s attacks on Israeli civilians. See related video (YouTube) of MSNBC Hardball discussing this topic.

Bits and Pieces
According to a new poll, about 60% of Americans do not think foreign leaders respect President Bush. A separate poll suggests that Americans are growing more pessimistic in general.

So… about those tax cuts…

AP has an article about the Dems plans for the last 100 days before the November midterm elections.

Democratic Congressman William Jefferson (La- almost certainly corrupt) has stalled for a little bit more time before the FBI can begin examining the evidence collected from his office in the first such raid a congressman has ever been the subject of.

The World According to Ann Coulter
Bill Clinton cheated on his wife with another woman. That makes him gay. YouTube video of Annie the “Ice Queen” Coulter struggling to justify and explain her statement.

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