[WCUSP] Nader to Bush: "Don't be weak on Lebanon Crisis!"

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

_http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0718-33.htm_ 
(http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0718-33.htm)  
     
     
Published  on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 by CommonDreams.org    
Please,  President Bush: Don't Continue to Be Weak on Lebanon Crisis     
by  Ralph Nader    
Dear President Bush:   
You have been a weak  president, despite your strutting and barking, when it 
comes to  doing the right things for the American people within the  
Constitution and its rule of law. This trait is now in bold relief  over the Israeli 
government's escalating war crimes pulverizing the  defenseless people and 
country of Lebanon.   
With systematic  efficiency, the Israeli government has already destroyed 
innocent  homes and basic public facilities-- ports, airports, highways,  
bridges, power stations-- which are critical to delivery of food,  medicines, health 
care, ambulances, water, and other essentials for  a civilian population. This 
bombardment, by U.S. made bombers,  military vehicles, ships, and missiles 
with American taxpayer  subsidies, places an inescapable responsibility upon 
your shoulders  which does not mix with your usual vacuous messianic rigidity.   
As the leading player in  official Washington's puppet show, it is time for 
you to assert the  interests of the American people and those of the broad 
Israeli and  Palestinian peace movements, by standing up to the puppeteers. For  
without this conflict, Hezbollah would not be in today's news.   
The time has come for  you to return to Texas for a private meeting with  
your father, his former national security advisor, Brent Scowcroft,  and his 
former Secretary of State, James Baker. You need to say to  them 'I can't trust my 
advisors anymore; there have been so many  tragic blunders. What do you 
advise me to do about the destruction  of a friendly nation by the world's fifth 
most powerful military?'   
Here is what I think  they should say to you:  
1. Take personal command  of an immediate rescue effort for the tens of 
thousands of Americans  trapped in Lebanon by Israel's calculated  blocking of air, 
land and sea escape routes. You've said the safety  of Americans is your top 
priority. Prove it by using the U.S. Air  Force and the U.S. Navy facilities 
to immediately evacuate all our  people desperate to escape the terrorization 
of Lebanon.   
2. You have been so  docile and permissive to Israeli demands that any modest 
deviation  from this posture will make your next move credible. Announce that 
 you are sending two prominent negotiators-perhaps James Baker  (Republican) 
and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell  (Democrat) to Israel and 
Lebanon to arrange for a  cease fire between the combatants.  
Announced at a televised  White House news conference with your two envoys, 
you can punctuate  your seriousness by raising the questions of violations of 
the Arms  Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act. Using U.S. 
supplied weapon  systems to commit civilian atrocities on homes and fleeing vehicles  
with children and to inflict collective punishment on mass civilian  
populations are not using these weapons for legitimate self-defense  and internal 
policing, as our federal law requires. Israeli planes  have even fire-bombed wheat 
silos and gasoline stations in  Lebanon. More mayhem is  on the way.  
3. Stop acting like an  impulsive, out-of-control West Texas Sheriff and 
start reading,  thinking and listening for a change. When Israel, Britain and 
France violated international  treaties against aggression in 1956, and invaded 
the Suez Canal,  President Dwight Eisenhower used his influence to make them 
withdraw  from Egypt.   
In 1982, following a  year without any PLO skirmishes over the 
Lebanese-Israeli border,  Israeli armed forces invaded Lebanon anyway. They  created a path 
of destruction all the way to Beirut and militarily occupied south Lebanon for 
18 years  before they withdrew, except for retaining Shebaa Farms. In 1982,  
the New York Times  reported "indiscriminate bombing" of Beirut by Israeli 
planes. At least  20,000 Lebanese civilians lost their lives in that invasion and 
many  more were injured. From that conflict Hezbollah was born, composed  of 
many people whose relatives were casualties in that illegal  invasion.  
History, George, does  not start two weeks or two months ago. You must read 
about past  U.S. Presidents who, at  least, sent high-level emissaries to quell 
similar border fighting.  It worked and prisoners were often exchanged.   
You are doing and saying  nothing about what the rest of the world believes 
is a hugely  disproportionate attack against innocent adults and children in  
violation of the Geneva Conventions, the UN Charter and other  treaties and 
federal statutes. You've sworn to uphold these laws. Do  so. Because of the 
Israeli government's overwhelming military power,  the imbalance of terror against 
civilians and their property has  always been to its advantage. As has its 
occupation of Palestine and  confiscation of land and water sources.   
4. You can't take sides  and be an honest broker. Just about all our 
knowledgeable retired  military, diplomatic and intelligence officials believe 
resolving  the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the key to deflating other  agitations 
in the region. Freedom and justice for the Palestinian  state and security 
and stability for the Israeli state must both be  achieved.  
You have turned your  back on the courageous and prominent Israeli peace 
movement which  normally reflects the positions of half of the Israeli population. 
 You've never met with any of its leaders - even those in the Knesset  or 
former officials in the military, intelligence and Justice  Ministries. Hundreds 
of reserve combat officers and soldiers of the  IDF have refused, in their 
words, "to fight beyond the 1967 borders  to dominate, expel, starve and 
humiliate an entire population." They  pledged only to fight for Israel's legitimate  
defense. (_www.seruv.org.il/defaulteng.asp_ 
(http://www.seruv.org.il/defaulteng.asp) )   
5. Once in a while, ask  your aides for a sample of Israeli opinion that 
rejects the notion  that there can be a military solution to this conflict, 
despite the  military imbalance. For example, reports and editorials in Haaretz,  
arguably the most respected newspaper in Israel, would educate  your judgment. 
In a recent editorial, Haaretz argued that the  present Israeli government has 
"lost its reason" through the brutal  incarceration, devastation and 
deprivation of innocent people in  Gaza.  
In another Haaretz  commentary dated July 16th, Gideon Levy writes:   
In Gaza, a soldier  is abducted from the army of a state that frequently 
abducts  civilians from their homes and locks them up for years without a  trial - 
but only we're allowed to do that. And only we're allowed to  bomb civilian 
population centers.  
6. One final bit of  advice could come from Papa Bush's circle. If the 
Israeli army  decides to invade Lebanon with troops, your  support of the aggression 
can possibly unleash a domino of warring  actions and reactions over there. 
As is it, Americans are  increasingly fed up with the Iraq quagmire.   
Moreover, we know they  don't like many of your domestic policies favoring 
the wealthy, the  post-Katrina debacle, exporting jobs, and among our 
conservative  base, your enormous deficits. So our Republican Party's control of  
government is at stake in November. Don't you have your hands full  with Iraq whose 
invasion we  all urged you to avoid in 2003?  
_http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0718-33.htm_ 
(http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0718-33.htm)  

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