No Way Out

AP photo of bombing in Lebanon

Does anyone else feel like a horribly critical line has been crossed with the recent Israeli-Palestinian-Lebanese conflicts crashing onto the world stage? I thought so. Round and round it goes and where it stops, nobody knows. Are we already at a point of no return?

As with many things Middle Eastern over the past 6 years, I blame the Bush administration and its neocon nightmare makers for a large part of the chaos, miscalculation and brutality that's exploding there. Bush and his cronies have quite a track record of making bad situations worse. Since Ariel Sharon was incapacitated by a stroke, BushCo has completely abandoned diplomacy and paid little attention to the growing tensions in the area. Now that his Iraq occupation has effectively pinned down our military forces and sparked innumerable new fires of reaction and revenge, Bush stands back and watches. He does nothing. He sends no-one to the region. He refuses even to pretend to be an honest broker bent on peacemaking. He seems, instead, to actually relish the increasing violence as another front in his militaristic "war on terror."

Unlike past presidents, he's refusing to pressure the Israelis to show some restraint in their responses or use diplomacy to pressure and persuade the parties to step back from the abyss. Given his attitude, you have to wonder if this is playing out exactly as the neocons planned all along. Anything is possible with this bunch.

Onward to Syria and Iran? I wouldn't be surprised if Rove et al. see that possibility as a useful way to scare people and force them back into the arms of The Decider War President as the '06 election nears. Added bonus? High oil prices benefit George's oil biz friends, especially those who operate domestically, including in his home state of Texas, and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, where expanded drilling will soon be allowed.

As usual, billmon is well worth a read on this situation. Bottom line: just as in Iraq, there seems to be no good way out of the violence, economic dangers and deaths boiling up in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon, at least with Bush in power and Republicans running the entire Congress. If nothing changes, the consequences will impact us all, in a myriad of ways. The price of oil may well continue to skyrocket, the world's financial markets may well continue to deteriorate and the chaotic death and destruction may well spread to the entire region. America and Americans will be viewed by more and more people around the globe as part of the problem, not part of the solution. Terrorism will increase, especially here. The future of our nation, the world community and the planet itself will be in even more jeopardy than it is now.

Thanks George. Thanks Rummy. Thanks Cheney. Thanks Rice. Thanks neocons. You fed the fires and now you can watch them all burn and spread.

What a high price to pay for all those Christian right voters who supported BushCo in '04 because their reverends convinced them that gay marriage and a woman's right to choose are ruining America's morals. Well, I'm sure many of them are actually pleased as punch about the developments in the Middle East. YaaaaaaHoooooooo! The end days are a comin' ! Armageddon's on the way! The Rapture's up next! Victory!