Israeli Deception

Although Israel declared at the start of the bombing of Lebanon that it would not seek to occupy parts of Lebanon, its actions have changed.  On the day when Israel "accidentally" bombed the U.N. monitors (accidentally like the U.S. accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade because of 'bad maps'), they also announced that they would occupy parts of Lebanon, although according to the NY Times, less than they occupied for 22 years until 2000.  While Israel claimed to occupy it "until an international force could take its place," it is unclear whether the U.S. will allow an internation force to step in.  The U.N. has had monitors in southern Lebanon for decades, but these forces have not had the power to enforce a ceasefire and the Bush administration doesn't seem willing to step in and support one.  While they officially, according to their vague statements, support a ceasefire, in actuality, they do not support an unconditional ceasefire, but rather one that justifies the Israeli human rights violations (e.g. retribution on civilian populations).  Until the Bush administration grows morals and cojones enough to force an immediate, unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah, the Bush administration is morally responsible for every civilian death on both sides of the current war.  Furthermore, while the Bush administration supported the Lebanese government in expelling the Syrians after the assassination of Rafik Hariri (the right move), they are unwilling to be a neutral broker when Israel has invaded Lebanon.  This is callous and unjust and makes the U.S. hypocrites.  The Lebanese Army is not fighting Israel and in fact, the Lebanese government that the Bush administration loved so few months ago has become destabilized by Hizbollah's actions.  If nothing else, the administration should show some consistency by pushing for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah in order to preserve the Lebanese government and then work for a negotiated settlement demilitarizing Hizbollah, expelling Israel from the territory they are occupying and settling the long-standing differences between Israel and Lebanon (primarily over the Israeli-occupied and Lebanese-claimed Sheba Farms area.