Fwd: No, this is not our war

[Guest guest]

No, this is not " our war "

 

 

Here's someone I normally can't stand, but I damn sure agree with, in this

case...peace from Ward

 

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Patrick Buchanan

 

No, this is not 'our war'

Posted: July 20, 2006

8:36 p.m. Eastern

 

© 2006

 

My country has been " torn to shreds, " said Fouad Siniora, the prime minister

of Lebanon, as the death toll among his people passed 300 civilian dead,

1,000 wounded, with half a million homeless.

 

Israel must pay for the " barbaric destruction, " said Siniora.

 

To the contrary, says columnist Lawrence Kudlow, " Israel is doing the Lord's

work. "

 

On American TV, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says the

ruination of Lebanon is Hezbollah's doing. But is it Hezbollah that is using

U.S.-built F-16s, with precision-guided bombs and 155-mm artillery pieces to

wreak death and devastation on Lebanon?

 

No, Israel is doing this, with the blessing and without a peep of protest

from President Bush. And we wonder why they hate us.

 

" Today, we are all Israelis! " brayed Ken Mehlman of the Republican National

Committee to a gathering of Christians United for Israel.

 

One wonders if these Christians care about what is happening to our

Christian brethren in Lebanon and Gaza, who have had all power cut off by

Israeli airstrikes, an outlawed form of collective punishment, that has left

them with no sanitation, rotting food, impure water and days without light

or electricity in the horrible heat of July.

 

When summer power outrages occur in America, it means a rising rate of death

among our sick and elderly, and women and infants. One can only imagine what

a hell it must be today in Gaza City and Beirut.

 

But all this carnage and destruction has only piqued the blood lust of the

hairy-chested warriors at the Weekly Standard. In a signed editorial, " It's

Our War, " William Kristol calls for America to play her rightful role in

this war by " countering this act of aggression by Iran with a military

strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Why wait? "

 

" Why wait? " Well, one reason is that the United States has not been

attacked. A second is a small thing called the Constitution. Where does

George W. Bush get the authority to launch a war on Iran? When did Congress

declare war or authorize a war on Iran?

 

Answer: It never did. But these neoconservatives care no more about the

Constitution than they cared about the truth when they lied into war in

Iraq.

 

" Why wait? " How about thinking of the fate of those 25,000 Americans in

Lebanon if we launch an unprovoked war on Iran. How many would wind up dead

or hostages of Hezbollah if Iran gave the order to retaliate for the

slaughter of their citizens by U.S. bombs? What would happen to the 130,000

U.S. troops in Iraq, if Shiites and Iranian " volunteers " joined forces to

exact revenge on our soldiers?

 

What about America? Richard Armitage, who did four tours in Nam and knows a

bit about war, says that, in its ability to attack Western targets, al-Qaida

is the B Team, Hezbollah the A Team. If Bush bombs Iran, what prevents

Hezbollah from launching retaliatory attacks inside the United States?

 

None of this is written in defense of Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran.

 

But none of them has attacked our country, nor has Syria, whom Bush I made

an ally in the Gulf War and to whom the most decorated soldier in Israeli

history, Ehud Barak, offered 99 percent of the Golan Heights. If Nixon, Bush

I and Clinton could deal with Hafez al-Assad, a tougher customer than son

Bashar, what is the matter with George W. Bush?

 

The last superpower is impotent in this war because we have allowed Israel

to dictate to whom we may and may not talk. Thus, Bush winds up cussing in

frustration in St. Petersburg that somebody should tell the Syrians to stop

it. Why not pick up the phone, Mr. President?

 

What is Kristol's moral and legal ground for a war on Iran? It is the

" Iranian act of aggression " against Israel and that Iran is on the road to

nuclear weapons – and we can't have that.

 

But there is no evidence Iran has any tighter control over Hezbollah than we

have over Israel, whose response to the capture of two soldiers had all the

spontaneity of the Schlieffen Plan. And, again, Hezbollah attacked Israel,

not us. And there is no solid proof Iran is in violation of the nuclear

Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it has signed, but Israel refuses to sign.

 

If Iran's nuclear program justifies war, why cannot the neocons make that

case in the constitutional way, instead of prodding Bush to launch a Pearl

Harbor attack? Do they fear they have no credibility left after pushing Bush

into this bloody quagmire in Iraq that has cost almost 2,600 dead and 18,000

wounded Americans?

 

No, Kenny boy, we are not " all Israelis. " Some of us still think of

ourselves as Americans, first, last and always.

 

And, no, Mr. Kristol, this is not " our war. " It's your war.