Cease-Fire in Lebanon - withdrawal from all occupied territories

There must be an immediate unconditional cease-fire in South Lebanon. Innocent civilians on both sides bear the overwhelming brunt of this tragic, senseless war while the militaries of both antagonists suffer miniscule casualties in comparison.

Lebanese civilian casualties exceed innocent Israeli civilians by a ratio of 10 to 1 and will soon exceed 1000 dead. We're not in the sandbox here with a bunch of 5 year olds, although it may seem like it. Regardless who started the latest round of the "50 Years War," we all know it’s Israel's occupation of the West Bank and (re) occupation of Gaza that fuels the fires of the Middle East.

Who is the mature nation-state here? The Israeli Army (courtesy of the American taxpayer) is exceedingly more powerful than Hezbollah and yet stoops to the level of the terrorists by ruthlessly attacking innocents every day. Israel has been responding to attacks and killing by attacking and killing for over 50 years. What has it achieved? It will never end until they withdraw. As Ghandi said, “An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.”

The eyes of the world see Israel bombing aid convoys, attacking funeral processions and firing on refugees who are just following the instructions of the Israeli Army to leave the area. This is far beyond self-defense. If Israel did not occupy the West Bank and Gaza, Hezbollah, Hamas and Al-Qaeda, like the Red Brigades and Bader-Meinhof gang, would be mere footnotes of history. American made bombs bought with our tax dollars kill Lebanese babies. I don’t want that on my conscience.

Remember; Nixon’s illegal bombing of Cambodia in the 1970's popularized the Khmer Rouge and led to them taking over the country. Is our goal for Hezbollah to do the same in Lebanon? Every dead Lebanese mother or child hands Hezbollah 100 converts just as we hand the insurgents more converts every day we stay in Iraq and handed converts to the Khmer Rouge with every stick of napalm dropped from the B-52s. It’s not that far fetched. Hezbollah could establish an Iranian style theocracy in Lebanon before this is over. They gain power daily. If we really want to help the democratically elected government of Lebanon we need to stop this now before it’s too late. Handing Israel one-sided cease-fire resolutions from the UN will not do it either. Any plan must include an Israeli pullback first and then Hezbollah must stop their missile attacks. This is all that will work. The rest can be worked out after the terror and killing stops.

It may be too late though as I firmly believe, and know I am not alone, that the USA is losing if not already lost our status as an honest broker. Our unfair and unbalanced support for Israel is the cause of much of the hatred directed at us, hatred that reached a crescendo with 9/11 and continued in Bali, Madrid and London and possibly Mumbai. Add the ill advised and incompetently managed Iraq war and we have a recipe for utter disaster.

We must use our influence with Israel and induce them to cease-fire in Lebanon and withdraw unconditionally from all occupied territories. Israel, dependent on our aid, professing to be our friend will surely listen to us, comply with international law and many UN resolutions, and withdraw. This after all is the stated policy of the Israeli Government, is it not? The settlements must be dismantled and the wall must come down. They are illegal under all international laws and just contribute to more hate and as defensive measures are utter failures.

I believe with all my heart and mind that if this happens 90% of the wind will fall off from the sails of Hezbollah, Hamas and Al-Qaeda. The extremists will have nothing to build their so-called movements on. Then we may return to a modicum of national security and the USA will no longer be the target of the terrorists as we are today. This is how we drain the swamp, George. We can’t bomb our way to security, not in today’s world. Killing just makes it worse.

It's very simple really - to paraphrase Bill Clinton "It's the Occupation Stupid."