Discombobulated Thoughts on THE Issue

One great thing, and perhaps now the only great thing about America is her isolation, geographically speaking, from the rest of the world. It is most unfortunate that this has not transated to self-sufficiency in economic terms or a sensible, which is to say non-interventionist, foreign policy. What it has done is render Americans almost wholly ignorant of the affairs of other nations. And while we should not be butting into said affairs, it would do us good to pay attention.

War rages in the Middle East, specifically, near as I can follow, between Israel and Lebanon. My understanding of the situation is abysmal, though, I fear, from atypical. I do not know which country is in the right, but I do, idyllically hope to a peaceful end to a tumultuous situation.

Meanwhile...

"It's clear the Americans have given the Israelis the green light. They [the Israeli attacks] will be allowed to go on longer, perhaps for another week," a senior European official said yesterday. Diplomatic sources said there was a clear time limit, partly dictated by fears that a prolonged conflict could spin out of control.

Lest the conflict spin out of control, we will control it. Can anyone, save God, control war? Would it be wise to trust a man who could? Just who do we think we are? Goodness.

George Bush last night said that he suspected Syria was trying to reassert its influence in Lebanon. Speaking in Washington, he said: "It's in our interest for Syria to stay out of Lebanon and for this government in Lebanon to succeed and survive. The root cause of the problem is Hizbullah and that problem needs to be addressed."

I no longer trust a word our president says. I used to give him the benefit of the doubt, nice guy that I am. But I don't think he has a clue what the devil is going on, his advisors have demonstrated their ignorance of world affairs, and I can no longer gratuitously offer him the metaphorical olive branch when he attempts to explain a situation. Says Mencken, "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." We got Bush, and Syria got Hizbullah...? I'm missing something.

Maybe Buchanan has it figured out. All the rest of the folks over at WorldNetDaily want to go to war. Of course, they don't want to go war all by themselves, but they do want to bomb the living tar--can tar live?--out of every Middle Eastern country. Because, you see, they are the terrorists.

And all of a sudden I'm taking Noam Chomsky seriously. I've traded Bush and Rush for an oddball at M.I.T. What the deuce?

Let it be said: Israel has a right to defend herself, a right to counter-attack against Hezbollah and Hamas, a right to clean out bases from which Katyusha or Qassam rockets are being fired and a right to occupy land from which attacks are mounted on her people.

But what Israel is doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians, collective punishment on innocent people, to force them to do something they are powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them. Such a policy violates international law and comports neither with our values nor our interests. It is un-American and un-Christian.

But where are the Christians? Why is Pope Benedict virtually alone among Christian leaders to have spoken out against what is being done to Lebanese Christians and Muslims?

I guess the Pope wins a prize, too. Yay for sane people.

Already, Bush is ranting about Syria being behind the Hezbollah capture of the Israeli soldiers. But where is the proof?

Who is whispering in his ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a "cakewalk," that he would be Churchill, that U.S. troops would be greeted with candy and flowers, that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace? How much must America pay for the education of this man?

How much, indeed. I think I'll go lie down. The world seems remiss. Again.