Relative to the comment about the relationship between KLA and American military. It is good due to the U.S. Supporting the KLA and its' offspring organizations either directly or turning a blind eye. I know this because I had American Lt's, Capt's and Major's come into my Office, shutting the door and making comments that we supported the wrong side. Also, they were very distraught that their hands were tied to do anything about it. They also didn't trust the Former KLA members as they had targeted innocent Serbs since 1999 to at least 2004 and beyond.
The European press has condemned Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hizbullah as an over-the-top response to the capture and killing of its soldiers and invasion of its territory, but remains divided over what must be done to resolve the crisis.
"As always," Le Monde wrote at the start of the crisis, Israel had responded "by making disproportionate use of military force, in violation of international law." On Wednesday, the paper applauded French President Jacques Chirac's call for Israel to exercise restraint as "without a doubt the most legitimate policy."
The French president's plan, Le Monde wrote, was the "only way to preserve a common line with the United States and a kernel of international consensus." It warned Israel that in implementing its "optimistic" plan "to do away with Hizbullah, it must not destroy Lebanon's efforts to reconstruct its country."
The Paris daily Liberation condemned the world's "relative indifference" to the crisis, which it blamed on US President George W. Bush's "policy of going along" with Israel's decisions. "We can deplore, but we cannot be surprised by the general helplessness," it wrote Wednesday.
Le Figaro of also found fault with the United States Monday for not responding more quickly to the crisis and criticized Bush's attempts to bring "something positive out of this double war against 'extremists,' out of this wreckage of weapons and blood, at least that of civilians."
Italy's Corriere della Sera wrote on Wednesday that while some consider Israel's response to the kidnapping of three conscripts "disproportionate," the offensives against Hizbulllah and Hamas must be seen in the context of Israel's fight for survival.
On Monday, The Guardian condemned as shortsighted Israel's "collective punishment of Lebanon's fragile economy," but said the "time for calling for restraint has passed, since too many on both sides show no signs of exercising any."
On Wednesday, the paper called Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz "military novices" and suggested "both have something to prove." Former prime minister Ariel Sharon "could negotiate a prisoner exchange with Hizbullah in 2004, rather than bombing them from the sky, because he had no fear of being branded weak," the Guardian wrote.
"Those who witnessed [the fighting] will not forget it, and they will carry a bitterness towards Israel for the rest of their lives, passing it on to their children" the Guardian said, as "both sides have ensured this dreadful conflict spreads, not just across borders - but down the generations."
The S ddeutsche Zeitung also called Israel's response "disproportionate," but said it did have a right to defend itself. This "war was declared by Hizbullah and Palestinian terror groups, not by Israel," it wrote.
On Wednesday, the German paper argued that the offensive against Hizbullah was a diplomatic blunder that had "trapped" Olmert. Striking at Hizbullah would "aggravate hatred of Israel across the world," it said. "The longer this war waged for the purpose of deterrence lasts and the more civilian casualties it causes in Lebanon, the more the images of destruction will push the party responsible for the war, Hizbullah, into the background."
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday dismissed the proposal for a UN-administered buffer zone in southern Lebanon as "an illusion." It called for Hizbullah to be "disarmed and the regular Lebanese army to occupy the border region with Israel in order to prevent terrorist raids.".......
This is an uncut unedited excerpt from the begining of the article