U.S. officials demand IAF cease overflights in Lebanese airspace

Read the whole thing, a couple other interesting bits.

Two Bush administration officials demanded that Israel Air Force overflights of Lebanon be halted, saying that such flights undermine the standing of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

The two U.S. diplomats, David Welch and Elliott Abrams, held short meetings Thursday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

The meeting with Olmert was dedicated to preparations for his visit to the United States and his meeting with President George W. Bush in 10 days' time.

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Olmert also met Thursday with visiting U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, who is in Israel as the guest of Mossad chief Meir Dagan. Negroponte's talks with Israeli intelligence officials are focusing on Iran and its nuclear program, a subject that will also preoccupy Bush and Olmert during their meeting in Washington.

Haaretz

:grr:

But in order:

1.) The business with the overflights is causing some problems. There is further evidence here of disaffection between the Bushites and the current Israeli government. There have been stories in the past about Bushite dissatisfaction with the IDF's performance in the Second Lebanon War. Mr. Welch and Mr. Abrams are not nice people, and if they are publicly chastising the Israelis over the overflights, there is a reason.

2.) Olmert's meeting with Negroponte (a truly vile example of the worst in US "diplomacy") under the aegis of Mossad is also notable, but I have no idea what stupidity they may have been up to.

3.) It's nice that they are publicly taking note of the pernicious effect of their deliberate weakening of Abbas, although I think it is much too late.

4.) One may infer from this sudden bustle that it is becoming impossible to ignore the failure of the policies to ostracize Hamas since it's election, which have only strengthened it further, as the war strengthened Hizbullah in Lebanon.

5.) The gratuitous pissing-off of the Turks speaks for itself.

International affairs is liked a convention for used car salesmen.

There's no doubt at all who's side America is on.

For them to "demand" anything of Israel now is laughable. The US sat by idly and watched Israel destroy Lebanon.

BEIRUT: Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah sharply criticized Israel's violations of Lebanese airspace Thursday, calling on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to provide the Lebanese Army with defensive weapons. "Israel is still violating our skies without taking UNIFIL's role into consideration," the country's senior Shiite cleric said during a meeting with Spanish Ambassador Miguel Benzo Perea. "UNIFIL should provide the army with surface-to-air missiles so it will be able to prevent any Israeli violation of Lebanon's airspace."

Perea, in turn, said Spanish troops serving with UNIFIL "are unbiased and have a peacekeeping role."

"Spanish soldiers work on preserving the country's security while cooperating with the Lebanese people and army," Perea said.

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In his latest report, UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen mentioned that a Lebanese government official told him that weapons were being smuggled into Lebanon. A few days later, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denied the report.

Daily Star(Beirut)

<snip>

"In recent days, Israel Air Force aircraft have repeatedly flown over Beirut to signal Israel's dissatisfaction with the diplomatic situation that emerged following the war and with the nonimplementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought an end to the fighting after it was accepted by all sides. The assumption that a provocation of this sort over Lebanon's airspace will somehow further Israel's interests has been part of Israel's security policy for years. Using supersonic booms as a menacing harassment has become part of the Israeli government's operational arsenal: a sort of forceful message that is supposed to hint that Israel is capable of much more, but for now is making do with the minimum.

Having destroyed the Dahiya quarter in Beirut, it is doubtful that the air force needs to send Lebanon any further signals about its capabilities. The message has apparently been fully understood, but it is doubtful that it had brought about the desired results. It may have even achieved the opposite effect: strengthening Hezbollah as a political actor in Lebanon.

There is nothing like overflights of Beirut, especially the kind that terrorize the residents, to help Hezbollah justify its continued arming against Israel. Creating a constant atmosphere of war, instead of a permanent cease-fire, makes things easier for those interested in such fighting. The assassination of Hassan Nasrallah might also bolster Hezbollah's standing instead of weakening it."

<snip>

"The flights over Beirut are currently helping Hezbollah rather than hurting it. There are enough diplomatic ways for Israel to express its protest. The violation of Lebanese sovereignty should not be considered the first resort, nor should it be seen as a trivial matter."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/783390.html

Too many Americans have the idea that anything Israel does is OK. I attempted to point this out to some of the right wingers and only succeeded in getting banned from their site (Free Republic). At least I am in good company, a neighbor of mine (retired military, winner of nation's highest decoration for valour) was banned for the same reason a few months ago.

There have been rights and wrongs on both sides, blindly supporting one side is wrong, a point that is beyond some.

:thumbsup:

Slave Republic is not much for free speech.