Violence in the Middle East

"Here we have a Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who gazes at the rubble of Lebanon, 300,000 refugees being strafed with Israel's cluster bombs, and squeaks happily that we are 'witnessing the birth pangs of a new Middle East," Alexander Cockburn wrote July 31, 2006, in CounterPunch.

"Here we have a president, G. Bush, who urges Vladimir Putin to commence in Russia the same 'institutional change' that is making Iraq a beacon of freedom and free expression. Not long after Bush extended this ludicrous invitation the UN relayed from Iraq's Ministry of Health Iraq's real casualty rate, which was running at least 100 a day, now probably twice that number.

"Iraq's morgues reported receipts of 3,149 dead bodies in June [2006]; over 14,000 since the beginning of the year. Senior Iraqis in the government confide that break-up of Iraq into Sunni, Shia and Kurdish enclaves, each protected by its own militias, is now inevitable. Iraq as a viable country has been utterly destroyed, with even vaster carnage coming up over the horizon, and here's the numbskull President touting it as an advertisement for American nation-building at its best, and inviting its prime minister to Washington to proclaim Iraq's approaching renaissance, all in sync with the U.S. 2006 election campaigns," Cockburn wrote.

Mapping the Violence

 * Mapping the Violence, BBC News, begins with May 2003.
 * "Iraq violence, in figures," BBC News (last updated April 24, 2007).

Ending the Violence: "Dealing with the Devil"
"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on the brink of handing President Bush the worst diplomatic disaster of his presidency," Anne Bayefsky, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, wrote August 7, 2006, in the National Review Online. "She is poised to agree to two United Nations resolutions that will tie the hands of both Israel and the United States in the war on terror and, in particular, inhibit future action on its number one state sponsor&mdash;Iran."

"The catastrophe," Bayefsky said, "is the brainchild of Secretary General Kofi Annan, who has effectively turned the United Nations into the political wing of Hezbollah. Rice and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns are working furiously," she wrote, "to satisfy a timetable dictated by Annan, not by the interests of the United States."

"There will be only one sure result of this move," Bayefsky concludes, "the empowerment of terrorists whose ultimate target is the United States and all democratic values. Secretary Rice’s belief that there is a serious convergence between the United Nations agenda and American foreign-policy needs in the age of terrorism is a profound error in judgment for which democratic societies everywhere will be forced to pay a heavy price."

Lebanon: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
"Once again Lebanon is paying the price for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Raja Kamal wrote July 19, 2006, in the Chicago Tribune.

"For the last 40 years, Lebanon has been the battleground for numerous regional power brokers. Syria, Israel, Iran, the Palestinians and their proxies have used Lebanon to score political points and send messages. Meanwhile, Lebanon continues to bleed. The latest sad escalation is yet another blow to fragile Lebanon that has only recently started to recover from a lengthy civil war and the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the popular former prime minister.

"The current dispute, triggered by Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, illustrates the explosive nature in the region. The response of Israel, as the record would indicate, was swift and disproportionately forceful," Kamal wrote.

Profiles

 * "Middle East Crisis: In Depth", BBC.
 * "Lebanon News" and "Turmoil in Mideast," New York Times.
 * The Daily Star, Lebanon.

Weblogs

 * Beirut Notes Blogspot.
 * Beirut Spring Blogspot.
 * Blogging the Middle East.
 * Cold Desert Blogspot.
 * Lebanese Blogger Forum.
 * Lebanese Political Journal Blogspot.
 * Manamania / Cedar Seed LiveJournal from Beirut, Lebanon.
 * Thawrah's Den Blogspot.

Timelines

 * Victoria Kent, "Crisis in the Middle East, day by day," Toronto Star (Canada) (with Reuters), July 22, 2006. Timeline begins June 9, 2006.
 * "Timeline of events in Lebanon," Al Jazeera, July 22, 2006. Reverse timeline.

July

 * Robert Parry, "The Abyss Beckons," consortiumnews.com, July 18, 2006.
 * Nicholas D. Kristof, "Feeding the Enemy," New York Times (The Progressive American), July 18, 2006.
 * Raja Kamal, "In whose best interest? Lebanon: Its saga just keeps on going," Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2006.
 * Mark Sandalow, Analysis: "Bush's vision, and the region, appear to be near collapse," San Francisco Chronicle, July 19, 2006.
 * Jon Ponder, "Katrina II: Bush’s Faltering Response to Middle East War Is a Disaster in the Making," Pensito Review, July 19, 2006.
 * Joe Conason, "Our coarse president can't fix the Middle East. Incompetence hindering progress in the region," WorkingForChange, July 19, 2006.
 * Robert Parry, "A New War Frenzy," consortiumnews.com, July 20, 2006.
 * "Israel troops clash with Hezbollah fighters," Agence France Presse (News.com.au), July 20, 2006.
 * Jad Mouawad and Steven Erlanger, "Fighting rages on in southern Lebanon," New York Times/International Herald Tribune, July 20, 2006.
 * Hassein Dakroub, "Israel Won't Rule Out Full-Scale Invasion," Associated Press (Forbes), July 20, 2006.
 * "Have a Happy World War III," PRWatch, July 20, 2006. Source: Inter Press Service.
 * "Hezbollah defies Israeli pressure," BBC, July 21, 2006.
 * Lee Keath, "Israel Preparing Lebanon Ground Offensive," Associated Press (ABC News), July 21, 2006.
 * "Israeli air force pounds Beirut," BBC, July 21, 2006.
 * "Israel continues to pound Lebanon; 500,000 displaced," People's Daily Online (China), July 21, 2006.
 * Barney Porter, "Lebanon warns army could join Hezbollah fighters," ABC News (Australia), July 21, 2006.
 * "Muslims in Asia protest Israeli attacks on Lebanon," Associated Press (The Hindu), July 21, 2006.
 * Matt Moore, "Israeli Army Calls Up More Reserve Troops," Associated Press (Washington Post), July 21, 2006.
 * Sam Ghattas, "Battles rage in Lebanon amid signs Israel moving to carve out new buffer zone," Canadian Press, July 21, 2006.
 * Robert Fisk, "Once again, truth is the first casualty of war. The exchange rate for Lebanese vs Israeli deaths now stands at 10 to one," The Independent (UK), July 22, 2006.
 * Andrew Burgin, "Reaction: 'If Israel is behaving like a psychotic bullying child, Britain and the US are like its mad tattooed parents'," The Independent (UK), July 22, 2006.
 * "The race to destroy Hezbollah before the world calls for peace," Times Online (UK), July 22, 2006: "The Lebanese bodies are piling up and Israeli civilians are cowering in their bunkers, but the two enemies will stop at nothing."
 * Benjamin Harvey, "Israeli tanks, troops point to invasion," Chicago Sun-Times, July 22, 2006.
 * Borzou Daragahi, "Radical Shiites in Baghdad Rally for Hezbollah. Leaders condemn Israel and the U.S., and demand action by the U.N. or Arab League," Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2006.
 * Anatol Lieven, "Bush's Middle East Democracy Flop. The U.S. has alienated potential allies and undermined its own stated goals," Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2006.
 * "In Middle East conflict, other crises, conservative media find signs of Biblical prophecy of Armageddon," Media Matters for America, July 25, 2006.
 * Xiotes, "Was 9/11 Worse Than This?" June Revolution! Blogspot, July 25, 2006.
 * Jonathan Cook, "The lies Israel tells itself (and that we tell on its behalf). When journalists use the word 'apparently', or another favourite 'reportedly'...," Global Research (Canada), July 28, 2006.
 * Nate, "Star Wars In Iraq - High Energy Weapons," Get In Their Face Blogspot, July 29, 2006.
 * Sarah Meyer, "Index on US Illegal Weapons in Lebanon," Index Research Blogspot, July 30, 2006.
 * Greg Mitchell, "Endorsing More Death in Lebanon," Editor & Publisher, July 30, 2006.
 * Glenn Greenwald[ [http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/07/terrorist-trick.html "The 'terrorist' trick," Unclaimed Territory Blogspot, July 30, 2006.
 * "Matthews: War in Iraq United 'the Disparate Pieces of Shia Radicalism into a Frankenstein Monster'," Think Progress, July 30, 2006. See WMP and QT video links at Crooks and Liars.
 * "US middle east policy: '...a blood soaked failure'!" The Existentialist Cowboy Blogspot, July 30, 2006.
 * Nicholas Blanford, "Qana relives 1996 massacre as air strike kills at least 60 civilians," The Daily Star (Lebanon), July 31, 2006.
 * Peter Baker, "Crisis Could Undercut Bush's Long-Term Goals," Washington Post, July 31, 2006.
 * Alexander Cockburn, "The Triumph of Crackpot Realism. Bush, Rice and Israel's Hack Legions," CounterPunch, July 31, 2006.
 * "Key Republican breaks with Bush on Mideast. Nebraska's Sen. Hagel calls for immediate cease-fire," CNN, July 31, 2006.

August

 * Anne Bayefsky, "Dealing with the Devil. A diplomatic disaster in the making," National Review Online, August 7, 2006.
 * "Text of comments by Bush, Rice," Associated Press (Boston Herald), August 7, 2006.
 * "Lebanon and Hezbollah Reject UN Resolution," Zaman Daily Newspaper (Lebanon), August 7, 2006.
 * Transcript: Larry King Live, CNN, August 9, 2006. Scroll down for segment with Randi Rhodes and Neal Boortz. YouTube clip posted on Hoffmania, August 10, 2006.
 * As referenced by Randi Rhodes on Larry King Live: "Predicting Media Matters would flag his Cindy Sheehan attacks, Boortz also declared Islam a religion of 'violent, bloodthirsty cretins' and called Prophet Muhammad a 'phony rag-picker'," Media Matters for America, July 20, 2006.


 * Noel Sheppard, "Wednesday Night Fights: Neal Boortz Takes on Randi Rhodes," NewsBusters, August 10, 2006. Includes transcript.
 * Billmon, "A Close Relationship," Whiskey Bar, August 21, 2006.
 * H.D.S. Greenway, Editorial: "Wars of great miscalculation," Boston Globe, August 22, 2006.
 * Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Op-Ed: "The 'New Middle East' Bush Is Resisting," Washington Post, August 23, 2006.

October

 * Jane Arraf, "Calling Bob in Baghdad," Blogging Baghdad/MSNBC, October 10, 2006: "I'm more puzzled by comments that the violence isn't any worse than any American city. Really? In which American city do 60 bullet-riddled bodies turn up on a given day? In which city do the headless bodies of ordinary citizens turn up every single day? In which city would it not be news if neighborhood school children were blown up? In which neighborhood would you look the other way if gunmen came into restaurants and shot dead the customers?"
 * "110 Bodies Found in Baghdad in 24 Hours," Reuters (Washington Post), October 11, 2006.
 * Gretchen Peters, "Pakistani Truce Already Falling Apart," The Blotter Blog/ABC News, October 24, 2006: "U.S. military officials tell ABC News cross-border attacks by the Taliban are up '300 percent' since President Musharraf declared a 'truce' with tribal leaders in the troubled Northern Waziristan region that borders Afghanistan." re Pakistan and The Other War: Afghanistan

November

 * "Kroll pulls security team out of Iraq. Kroll withdrew its bodyguard teams from Iraq and Afghanistan after four workers died in Iraq," Associate Press (NewYorkBusiness.com), November 1, 2006. re Kroll, Inc.
 * David R. Baker, "Bechtel pulling out after 3 rough years of rebuilding work," San Francisco Chronicle, November 1, 2006. re Bechtel
 * Julian Borger, "Vice-president faces isolation over Iran and Syria after key ally leaves Pentagon," The Guardian (UK), November 10, 2006. re Robert M. Gates

December

 * "North and south," Haaretz, December 2, 2006. re new war in mid 2007.

2007

 * Lisa Myers and Robert Windrem, "NBC: CIA warned of risks of war in the Mideast. Pre-war reports say agency predicted dangers of toppling Saddam's regime," MSNBC, May 25, 2007.
 * Spencer Ackerman, "Exclusive: Petraeus' Sectarian Death Count Methodology," TPMmuckraker, September 21, 2007. Also see "MNF-I Ethno-sectarian Violence Methodology," ''Talking Points Memo Document Collection, September 21, 2007.

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