Day: July 20, 2006

Condi will head to the Middle East next week.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intends to travel to the Middle East as early as next week to press for a political solution to reduce fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, her spokesman said on Thursday.

The aim of the trip was “to address the tactical situation but also to try to address the root causes and bring about a strategic change,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

Trying not to be too cynical here, but hasn’t there already been a multitude of attempts from previous administrations to “address the root causes and bring about a strategic change” in the region? Yeah, I know it’s just a scripted statement from a spokesman, but I can’t help but wonder what Rice expects to accomplish. Cease fire? I wrote about the ramifications of that yesterday. Full-on peace? Unlikely if not impossible.

But, let’s look at the glass as half full and hope that Condi’s mission results in something more than just a set of colorful photos of people sitting at conference tables.

General criticism levelled against Israel is nothing new. For far too many reasons to mention here, many in the world dislike its people and the principals they defend. One needs only to look to the last week to see clear evidence of this. Yet it isn’t just Israel’s enemies who are voicing their opposition to their acts of self defense. Various world leaders, the United Nations, and the world media have joined with one voice in recent calls for Israel to exercise restraint in their response to the shelling of its cities by Hezbollah.

Hugh Hewitt writes for Townhall.com today, and examines the comments of those who claim Israel’s response to the murder of eight of its soldiers, the kidnapping of two others, and the non-stop bombing of its homeland is somehow “disproportionate.”

UPDATE: The House overwhelmingly backs Israel in a vote today and a new poll shows a majority of Americans blame Hezbollah for the current strife.