"We want an end to violence and we do not want escalations,"
Posted on 08/10/2006 1:24:03 AM PDT by Basel2005
The IDF General Staff postponed the expansion of ground operations in south Lebanon late Wednesday night, after the security cabinet earlier in the day approved a plan for a widened offensive that would take the army to the Litani River, over 20 kilometers from the border, and beyond, in an effort to prevent the incessant Katyusha rocket attacks on northern Israel.
The troops were already rolling late Wednesday when they were ordered to halt. It appears heavy US pressure delayed the offensive to allow diplomacy to run its course. A senior minister said Wednesday that Israel might delay the expansion for 2-3 days for that purpose.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is ready to wait with the offensive until the weekend, said a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the issue with reporters. The offensive could begin earlier if Hizbullah launches a major attack on Israel, the official said.
Cabinet minister Rafi Eitan confirmed the govenment's decision to wait. "There are diplomatic considerations," he told Israel Radio. "There is still a chance that an international force will arrive in he area. We have no interest in being in south Lebanon. We have an interest in peace on our borders."
"We want an end to violence and we do not want escalations," White House press secretary Tony Snow said Wednesday hours after the Israeli Cabinet approved an expansion of the ground offensive in southern Lebanon.
unfortunately, this whole war on terror is gonna need a serious escalation... if some of those "moderate arab" countries would stand up against their propogation of jihadists, it would be a good thing, but then again, they'd be kinda scared to be honest about the radicals, wouldn't they?
Escalate till the Katyushas are gone... seems a no brainer to me
That reminds me of an ancient cartoon dating back to the early years of the last century in which a British "lift" boy is explaining to two Americans why elevators are called lifts in Britain. "I can lift you up and I can lift you down again," the boy says before he continues, "And I can elevate you up, but I cannot elevate you down again."
The problem lies with the word escalator and not the word escalate.
Witty and informative. What more can one want from a post. thanks!
It's like "Frigidaire" ... It keeps the milk cold too!
:~)
It reminds me of Thatcher's great line to Bush I at the time of the Gulf War..."No time to go wobbly on me, George."
Eh tu, Bush II?
If the Islamofascists are braying for a ceasefire, then no quarter given.
"We want an end to violence and we do not want escalations,"
You're welcome. :-)
I do not get this pressure from the White House. I will take the reports of it with a grain of salt, but it looks like Israel stopped mid-stride, so there must have been some kind of pressure being exherted.
Look folks, when the Katushas stop raining on Israel and when Israel has beaten back all resistance on the way to the Litani River, then this effort can end.
If it ends before that, the Hezbollah will return to southern Lebanon and this will have to be done all over agian.
Why would we pressure Israel to stop, then remain in Iraq? If we're consistant, we stop Israel and bring our troops home in the middle of the effort. Either that or we remain in Iraq until the job is done, and let Israel remain in Lebanon until their work is done.
If the White House is pressuring Israel, it angers me to no end. Damnit, let Israel do what needs to be done. We've spent the last decade telling Israel to show restraint. That's bulls--t.
Would we allow Mexico or Canada to fire thousands of rockets at us, and listen to anyone at all tell us not to respond? The answer is undeniably NO. And that's HELL NO.
It seems likely to me that this massive build up was mostly for show in the first place.
Perhaps to push the Lebanon government into accepting an international force to be deployed with their pathetic army to assure that it was not just providing cover for Hez to re-assume the positions the IDF kicked them out of.
The key things I saw were the tanks and armored vehicles being unloaded near the front lines on all the networks. These were not battle ready in any sense of the word, covered in rust, no stores, no spares, and no Tank Crews anywhere in site. Just raw hulls as best as I could tell.
All a show to divert the news media while the "real units" were probably unloaded elsewhere.
I have no doubt that if this "waving of the sword" (a trick borrowed from the arabs) does not work, there will be a push into Lebanon in a big way. Next weekend is my guess.
Perfect analogy. Thanks.
Its all part of the dance, being choreographed in high places. Worry not...
Don't know about that, but the word 'escalation' is very similar to the word escalator. Funny story behind that 'escalator' word. The Otis Elevator company invented the word as the name of a new product. You can probably guess the product, no doubt. Unfortunately they lost the trademark for the word escalator. It became a common usage term. Otis Elevator became famous when they themselves incorrectly used the word as an adjective in one of their own print adds. Big trademark mistake. They are now a historic example of how not to handle a trademarked name. And yes escalators can take you up and they can also take you down.
At any rate, unfortunately it appears that the same great American Foreign Policy Team that brought you 'Downtown Baghdad' and 'The US/Mexican Border' is now trying to 'solve' the middle east crisis, he said sarcastically.
I was thinking/hoping the same thing!
NO!
This is the same song and dance that cost us so many in Vietnam. We would kick the enemies butt, then Congress would ride Nixon like a ten year old donkey, demanding he institute a ceasefire. When he would, the NVC would regroup, severely limiting the effects of the beating they had taken.
Here Israel has Hezbollah on the run. Now they are being asked to hold off... and as they do Hezbollah is regrouping to kill off as many of the Israelis as they can in the next few days.
This is no way to win. Those at the highest positions know this very well.
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