Posted on 08/11/2006 7:19:20 PM PDT by Blackyce
CRAWFORD, Texas - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert thanked President Bush on Friday for his work on a resolution to stop violence between Israel and Hezbollah, the White House said. It was the first direct talks between the two leaders since the fighting began.
The eight-minute phone call with Bush at his ranch in Texas was initiated by Olmert, said Frederick Jones, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House.
Olmert endorsed a Mideast cease-fire plan that the United States and France proposed Friday at the United Nations.
"Prime Minister Olmert thanked President Bush for the work he had done on the draft U.N. resolution on the Lebanon crisis," Jones said. "The president expressed his view that the crisis was provoked by Hezbollah with the support of Iran and Syria and that we need to ensure that the reach of the Lebanese government extends throughout the country."
The agreement, which was unanimously adopted by the U.N. Security Council, calls for putting 30,000 Lebanese and U.N. troops along the Israel-Lebanon border, where Hezbollah militants have been fighting against Israel. It falls short of some of Israel's demands, including a strong mandate for the U.N. forces to take on Hezbollah guerrillas.
But Israel has been unable to defeat Hezbollah and was concerned about growing Israeli casualties, as well as international condemnation, if the war continued. The fighting has killed more than 800 people, destroyed Lebanon's infrastructure and inflamed tensions across the Middle East.
Bush has staunchly backed Israel in the fighting and the U.S. has been arguing Israel's interests during the U.N. negotiations. Olmert spoke repeatedly to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the last four weeks but never directly to Bush until Friday.
Rice predicted that both governments would accept the agreement.
"We have heard from the government of Lebanon that they also believe that this is a resolution that can serve their interests," Rice said in an interview with CNN. "In fact, the interests of both the Israelis and the Lebanese now is to end the large-scale violence and to begin to lay a foundation for peace."
The White House had predicted that a previous draft it was pushing would come to a vote earlier in the week, but negotiators were forced to make changes to address objections from Lebanon and other Arab states.
"A lot of times diplomacy is a bit like a taffy pull, in that you think you may have something that seems to be right on the verge of being completed, and it just gets extended a bit," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. "As the president has pointed out, diplomacy can be a little bit messy and unpredictable."
ON THE NET
The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov
And Olmert has sent a large, new force into southern Lebanon to show Israeli appreciation for the UN resolution. [g]
I hope you are right. There's been a lot of hot air about what a dithering dilettante Olmert is. Hope that dispiriting noise is as accurate as al-Reuters.
Israel will be sorry that they did not finish the Hesbozs off when they had the chance. That is only my opinion. Whether it is rifht or wrong, Israel will find out for themselves soon enough.
No it won't, it'll be Israel's fault. It's not our responsiblity to take care of Israel, we can't lead them by the noses to victory. We'll continue to support their actions when they're actually bothering to act, but if Olmert and crew don't have the testicles for any of that there's little we can do. They could have gone in and gone after Hezbollah a month go, and we could have done this whole month long international song and dance while they were actually accomplishing something. They could still choose to go full force after Hezbollah for that matter. But Olmert is no fighter, he's a politician with absolutely no idea what he's doing. It's not politically feasible for the US to sit around indefinitely while Olmert's ignoring history and learning how {NOT} to fight a war through trial and error. We could delay and deflect the UN talking clique for the rest of eternity but what's the point if Israel's really not intersting in anything more than playing politics. And that's what Olmert was doing, he was using the tools of war to play politics and expecting a political solution, he wasn't truly waging war as he had no consistent war objectives. A political solution is what he he wanted and that's what he got.
If I as that policeman I would still be washing my hand.
it is in the agreement that they are to get them back, but somehow when all is said and done I bet they won't.
Don't bet on it.
How many times has a "cease fire" been agreed to in the past? Cease fire only means "Reload" to the terrorists. When they attack again, the U.S. and the UselessN will go through the same motions, again, and again.
Ehud Olmert needs to be retired ASAP; he's incapable of making a firm decision, he has no backbone or intestinal fortitude, and beyond that appears wishy washy, he looks and acts like a worm. And we are all the worse for it. Especially Israel...
And yet, there sits Bibi...patiently waiting...well studied, well versed, well armed, and very capable..I don't understand why he sits in the background. The one person who could, would, and should take control before it gets uncontrollable.
Iran is going to have to be dealt with. The only question is when. Do you deal with them now or wait until they get their nuclear program where they want it?
History has shown us that just wishing that the problem will go away will not work.
That's bullcrap. Take your Bush hating somewhere else.
"GO BIBI!"
YESSSSS!!!
So, do I understand this right, Olmert accepted a deal which doesn't guarantee the return of the kidnapped soldiers? And what's the purpose of the 30,000 Lebanese soldiers on the border, to protect the Hezbollah?
Oh, puhleeeeese. Your histrionics are silly.
This was the time to destroy Syria and Iran and we let it slip away.
We? You out there on the front lines with the Israeli troops? You ready to go marching off to Syria and/or Iran?
So easy to be an armchair general, with a cool one always at the ready, and hot fingers and a keyboard with which to do your fighting.
This one will have the same results, my friend. It is just a matter of time.
The United States has the power to destroy both Iran and Syria right now. GW Bush has let the oppotune moment pass. The muslim terrorists have won big time.
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