This is one of those crazy "make our own reality" wars that may go on for awhile. When I started this diary three weeks ago, like many I thought it would have limited & rational goals and be over fairly quickly. Instead, the politicians continue to bicker, and Israel plops itself down into a substantial swathe of Lebanese territory, where the Hezbollah guerrilla force is most effective (see BBC article below for more).
Who will talk sense to neo-cons Olmert and Peretz? Who will talk sense to neo-cons Cheney and Bush? Not Russ, not Ned Lamont... But I suggest continuing to pressure the fragile left edge of the Israel Lobby coalition. Simply ask your rep to co-sponsor Dennis Kucinich's resolution calling for an immediate "cessation of violence" (see http://www.kucinich.us/).
"Press Coverage of Civilian Casualties" is below the fold. The poll question is related to today's 'remarkable' CNN reporting.
Please donate to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, at www.ifrc.org, to assist the Lebanese.
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Press Coverage of Civilian Casualties
AP/Yahoo/FoxNews
As of Friday an Associated Press count showed at least 567 Lebanese had been killed, including 489 civilians confirmed dead by the Health Ministry, 28 Lebanese soldiers and at least 50 Hezbollah guerrillas. The Lebanese government's Higher Relief Council put the death toll at 907.
In Israel, 75 Israelis have been killed since the fighting erupted July 22 -- 45 soldiers and 30 civilians. More than 300,000 Israelis have fled their homes in the north, Israeli officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
CNN
Remarkably unbalanced as always, CNN decides in its main story not to say anything about how many Lebanese Israel has killed. But you do get the details on how many Israelis Hezbollah has killed.
Israel Defense Forces say at least 78 Israelis have been killed during the conflict, including 45 soldiers, and more than 600 wounded.
http://www.cnn.com/...
Reuters
[U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David] Welch, who was in Beirut to discuss a draft U.N. resolution that world powers hope will halt a conflict that killed at least 734 people in Lebanon and 75 Israelis, said after talks with [Prime Minister Fouad] Siniora that Lebanon needed a lasting peace. ...
He earlier held talks with Nabih Berri, the Shi'ite speaker of parliament who has acted as the main contact between the government and Hizbollah since the violence began. ...
Lebanese political sources said Berri insisted on the Beirut government's seven-point plan, which starts with a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the south ahead of any deployment of the Lebanese army backed by U.N. peacekeepers. ...
Differences between the United States and France remain over the contents of a draft U.N. resolution.
Paris wants existing U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanon's army to monitor a truce, while Washington wants the Israeli army to stay in south Lebanon until an international force arrives.
http://today.reuters.com/...
BBC
Obscure as has been their trademark these past three weeks, BBC does not provide any casualty figures in its three articles on the Lebanon conflict on its homepage. The third of those articles provides some interesting background on Hezbollah's fighting forces. One analyst doesn't believe the group's "professional troops" have yet been committed to the fight.
Timor Goksel witnessed the birth of Hezbollah in the early 1980s when he was political adviser to the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
"What we are seeing so far are what they call 'village reserves' - that's a very interesting thing. Hezbollah have not committed their troops yet," he says.
"What is in store for the Israelis if they go deeper, and then hold on to territory for a while, is that they are going to see the real combat in south Lebanon - a very classic insurgency and it will be a very costly one because then I think Hezbollah will commit its professional troops."
Hezbollah is not only a military group, and not only a political party; it also has social services that it provides for its supporters, Lebanon's Shia Muslims.
At one Beirut school, 1,500 people are living in a refugee centre run by Hezbollah.
"The group has engineers, it has workers," says Hussein, one of the Hezbollah members running the centre.
"Hezbollah has a full infrastructure that gives these people every possible means to keep standing."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
AFP
The UN chief voiced frustration with the slowness of the world body to call a halt to a conflict that has now seen well over 900 Lebanese killed in the Israeli offensive and 2.5 billion dollars in damage to infrastructure, according to Lebanese government figures.
"The bombing continues and the infrastructure is being destroyed -- this cannot continue any longer," Annan said. "Once again I have called for hostilities to stop."
The Lebanese government says at least 880 civilians have been killed so far in addition to 27 police or government troops. Four UN observers and a peacekeeper have also been killed.
Israel has lost 45 soldiers and 30 civilians, Hezbollah says it has lost 48 of its fighters and an allied Shiite group -- Amal -- says it has lost another seven.
http://www.afp.com/...
UK Guardian
The Guardian doesn't provide casualty figures in any of its three Lebanon conflict articles either. But, as with the BBC, there is the compensation of an interesting article about how the mainstream Arab world has rallied and in what direction.
Whatever qualms Arabs once had about Hizbullah they have since been dissipated by Israel's attacks, the hundreds of deaths, the sight of up to a quarter of the Lebanese population fleeing their homes, and especially the bombing of UN observers and the massacre at Qana.
The Shia organisation and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, have become symbols of resistance even in such unlikely places as the Gulf countries where Sunnis and Shias have been spotted waving the yellow-and-green flag. Christians are joining in as well. In Damascus yesterday, a Catholic church held a special mass. "Pray for the resistance, pray for Hassan Nasrallah. He is defending justice," Father Elias Zahlawi urged his congregation.
Unlike al-Qaida, admiration for Hizbullah stretches beyond disaffected militants to take in teachers, writers, broadcasters, and doctors many of whom, under other circumstances, would be pressing for democracy and reform.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...