The Daily Background

THE MIDDLE EAST
Yesterday I wrote that the UN resolution, which was at that time widely expected to pass after Amb Bolton publicly said that it would, was a sham of an agreement. The draft of the resolution (which even Secretary Rice admits won’t bring peace) was not supported, I noted, by either Israel or Lebanon, Well, which makes it mind-boggling that the US would actually expect it to be successful after it passed through the UN (indeed some, like myself, said it was doomed before it began).

The resolution however failed to garner support on the UN Security Council, and both sides are fighting more fiercely than ever. They’re meeting again today to continue discussions, and we’ll see what becomes of it. In the meantime, here are some updates…

For as long as the Israel-Hezbollah war has been going on (nearly a month now), I have strongly criticized the Israeli military’s targeting of civilian areas that has resulted in an estimated 900+ civilian deaths (750 confirmed), thousands wounded, and an estimated 900,000 to 1 million refugees– and only 50 Hezbollah fighters killed.

The Israeli military says that this ratio of civilians to Hezbollah fighters killed (roughly 18:1) is acceptable to them, but now some of their own soldiers may are doubting the value of the intelligence their commanders are giving them. The British Observer (a subset of The Guardian) reports that Israeli pilots sent on bombing missions are now aborting their bombing missions after they realize that they’re being ordered to target civilians.

–Iraq
Half of all Americans still think that Iraq had WMDs.

Half of all Iraqi Christians have fled Iraq since the war began in 2003. Apparently the invasion made it safe for Al Qaeda to be in Iraq (it wasn’t before; Saddam hated the terrorist group), but not safe for Christians.

I wrote yesterday that Republican Senator Chuck Hagel (Nebraska, up for re-election this year) called for withdrawal from Iraq. ThinkProgress now has the video of him up on CBS’ Face the Nation.

I’ve been writing a little bit about the topic of civil war in Iraq, and now Newsweek has learned that the Administration plans to pull American troops out of Iraq should a “full-blown all-out” civil war begin in their opinion.

Iraqi insurgents are now killing people at funerals for people killed by Iraqi insurgents.

And Finally…
President Bush is back on vacation, so Cindy Sheehan is back protesting at his ranch. You can read about the time I did something President Bush is afraid to do– when I met Cindy herself here (photos included).

P.S.-
Expect a special briefing on the CT primary to be published at 12:30EST. There’s one hell of a lot going on in the last few hours of this race.

Filed under: Middle East Crisis, Z-TDB Blog