Posted on 08/13/2006 2:44:35 PM PDT by familyop
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George Bush said the United Nations resolution to halt the fighting between Israel and Lebanon will stop Hezbollah from acting as a "state within a state" and deal a severe blow to the efforts of Syria and Iran to exert influence in the Middle East.
In a statement released by the White House Saturday, Bush urged the international community to support the resolution, which could lead to a likely ceasefire on Monday, "and make every effort to bring lasting peace to the region."
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Saturday that his group will abide by the UN resolution so long as Israeli troops leave southern Lebanon.
"When the Israeli aggression stops then the reactions by the resistance will stop," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also signaled his country's intention to comply with the wishes of the international community in a telephone call with Bush on Friday, though that did not slow the pace of fighting.
The Lebanese cabinet, however, did meet and agree to support the resolution Saturday, something that the Israeli cabinet was expected to do on Sunday.
The resolution, passed by the UN Security Council on Friday night, will see Israel and Hezbollah pull out of southern Lebanon at the same time as Lebanese and UN troops move in to patrol the area and enforce the ceasefire.
"I would hope that within no more than a day or so that there would be a cessation of the hostilities on the ground," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said in an interview with Israeli television Saturday.
Bush said the resolution "aims to end Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and bring a halt to Israel's offensive military operations. It also calls for an embargo on the supply of arms to militias in Lebanon ... and for the disarming of Hezbollah and all other militia groups operating in Lebanon."
He added that the resolution is designed to stop Hezbollah from acting outside the reach of the Lebanese government "and put an end to Iran and Syria's efforts to hold the Lebanese people hostage to their own extremist agenda."
The president said "millions have suffered" as a result of this month-long "unwanted war."
The U.S. has been one of Israel's most strident backers throughout the month-long conflict in the Middle East. The Bush administration has been severely criticized for, among other things, shipping weapons to Israel during the fighting, but the president has defended the actions as a means of supporting the right of a democratic country to defend itself from terrorists.
He also linked Israel's fight against Hezbollah to the global war on terror in his weekly radio address, which focused on the arrest of two dozen people in and around London.
"The terrorists attempt to bring down airplanes full of innocent men, women and children. They kill civilians and American servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they deliberately hide behind civilians in Lebanon," Bush said. "They are seeking to spread their totalitarian ideology."
But that line of thinking has also earned the U.S. president new and additional critics, coming after his response to the London terror arrests.
Bush referred to "Islamic fascists" when talking about fundamentalist Muslims intent on attacking the U.S., and the comments have provoked anger and concern.
"Imagine calling people Muslim fascists?" asked Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. Attorney General under former president Lyndon Johnson, and a controversial political figure in America. "That's telling a million, a billion, a billion-and-a-half people around the world that you're a fascist. We insult all the other people around the world and we expect them to succumb to what we demand? They won't."
Speaking at a pro-Lebanon rally a stone's throw from the White House Saturday, attended by thousands, Khalid Chahhou, from North Carolina, said Bush's comments do not promote the U.S. government's fight against terrorism.
"All those people here are against terrorism and we are against fascism also, so to classify Muslims and fascists, that's unfair and unjust, and it doesn't make America in the eyes of many Muslims respectful," he said. "If Mr. Bush means by 'fascists' terrorism, then we are all against terrorism."
Is this man a fool? Muslims that strap bombs on themselves, dogs, children, hide chemicals in baby bottles, ARE ISLAMOFACIST-NAZI'S!!
And also ANY MUSLIMS that supports them. Those Muslims (which the world is still waiting to hear from) that don't support terrorists are fine.
Or like calling the people at this rally American scum sucking traitorous cowardly POS. It doesn't imply that all Americans are that way.
President Bush didn't ask for a truce. Get your facts straight.
He set the Hizb'allah (and Iran, and Syria) up like a row of dominoes, and Israel is about to knock it all down.
The President never expected them to honor the 'conditional cease-fire'. In fact, he depended on them not doing so.
He just explained the plan to the public, and yet many just don't 'get it'.
Many here on FR were criticizing Condoleeza Rice, but she doesn't do anything without it being directed by the President.
Remember, he fooled the Dems, the MSM, everyone that has tried to play him for a fool, and he just gave Iran, Syria, and the Hizb'allah some rope with which to hang themselves.
Never play poker with a Texan.
"I can't believe Bush is this clueless."
Kerry thought Bush was clueless.
The MSM thought Bush was clueless.
The Gov. of Louisiana thought Bush was clueless.
Mary Mapes and Dan Rather thought Bush was clueless.
When will they ever learn?
Neither Hizbollah nor the Shiites will take control of Lebanon. The Lebanese Sunni, the Christian and the Druze hate the Shiites. They also hate the Iranian Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guard) that in 1982 created the Hizbollah and has funded it ever since. If the miserable Hizb could be crushed the Lebanese people could be about their business -- the business of making money.
But he is correct (unintentionally, of course), Democrats don't learn from experience.
Democrats consider a loss a "moral victory"!
;^)
So Ramsey Clark has jumped on the bandwagon by claiming that the phrase 'Islamic Fascist' means that all Islamics are fascists. So, I guess when the phrase 'strawberry ice cream' is used, it means that all ice cream is strawberry flavored. You'd think that someone as learned as he would have a better command of the English language.
'Good. Then Israel can take the wraps off and flatten Hezbollistan once and for all"
Not with William Jefferson Olmert leading the charge.
"This time, if Nasrallah blows off the UN, Israel will have the implied approval of the UN. (They will choke on it, hah hah.)"
Israel had 30 days to clean out those vipers and hesitated.
I hope for Israel sake they finish the job, but not with William Jefferson Olmert leading the charge.
Sorry Mr. Bush but you do need to get back from vacation. The world is about to blow up!
>I can't believe Bush is this clueless.<
Bush does as Bush is told to do. Just one crisis after the other!
There is no such thing as a vacation when one is president of the USA. The president's location is meaningless, he can do everything he needs from any location, including Air Force One. He is on call at all times, and the Doomsday button is always in reach within seconds.
"Doomsday button is always in reach within seconds."
Guess he better practice pushing it.
What have Iran and Syria lost?
Part of the resolution includes banning the supply of arms to Hezbollah, which gives the US and Israel the excuse they need to attack Iran and Syria in the future.
That's a good point.
Syria still transferring supply of rockets, missiles to Hezbollah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1683108/posts
What history of what the Lebanese Sunni, Druze and Christians say for publication and what they actually do are two entirely differenct things. (An example of that fact can be found in "Pity the Nation", the pro-Islam work on Lebanon by Robert Fisk.) The quote you use from a member of the intellectually challenged Gamayel family is par for the course: I repeat, there is nothing more the three groups could want than the destruction of Hizbullah.
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