US says G8 believes up to Israel when to halt attacks

[allemand]

By Steve Holland

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - The government said on Sunday world leaders would not dictate to Israel conditions for ending its campaign in Lebanon because it is Israel's "sovereign decision on when to end this."

Nicholas Burns, no 3 in the State Department, who briefed reporters on the American view of a Group of Eight statement on the Middle East, said Israeli military operations in Lebanon could stop if Hizbollah releases abducted Israeli soldiers and stops shelling Israel.

"The leaders here didn't presume to set up some kind of test where Israel would have to stop if certain conditions were met," he told reporters at a summit in Russia of the world's leading industrialized nations.

Instead, "it was simply the expectation," said Burns, that the Israelis would end the operation if Islamic militant group Hizbollah stopped deadly cross-border rocket attacks and returned soldiers it captured in a frontier raid last week.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-16T193254Z_01_L148230_RTRUKOC_0_US-GROUP.xml&archived=False

[Cha]

1. bush wants to be

"war president" on another front..Iran and Syria?

How are those oil prices goin'?

[HuffleClaw]

2. translation: how dare they fight back!!

this spin is becoming a joke, a tragic joke.

[President Kerry]

3. Is it really?

it is Israel's "sovereign decision on when to end this." I don't believe it falls under the "sovereign rights" column to destroy a neighboring country's infrastructure. It's one thing to use carefully targeted campaigns against a terrorist group. What's happening in Southern Lebanon is looking like indiscriminate destruction.

[struggle4progress]

4. Bush, Chirac differ on call for Lebanon truce

Reuters

St Petersburg, July 16: The United States President, Mr George W Bush today repeated that Israel had the right to defend itself in West Asia but the French leader, Mr Jacques Chirac appealed for a cease-fire...

Mr Chirac, in Russia with Mr Bush and other world leaders for a Group of Eight summit, said that a cease-fire was needed to protect civilians in Lebanon. Israel has launched an offensive on Lebanon to punish Hizbollah guerrilla attacks across its border...

The Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, the G8 host, has condemned the hostage-taking by the Hizbollah but accused Israel of having ulterior motives in its military action.

http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=071763

[struggle4progress]

5. What's happening apparently depends on who you ask

G8 unanimously calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and blames extremists for Middle East violence
July 16, 2006, 11:42 PM (GMT+02:00)

Eight world leaders at a summit in St. Petersburg called Sunday, July 16, for an end to attacks on Israel, followed by the Jewish state pulling its troops out of Gaza and ending military operations in Lebanon. Captured Israeli soldiers must be released and also Palestinian politicians. The statement endorsed Israel’s right to self-defense and placed primary blame for the upsurge in fight on the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hizballah, but also called or Israel to exercise “utmost restraint.” ... http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=2900

G8 Urges End of Israel Mideast Offensive

SAINT PETERSBURG/BEIRUT — With the Israeli military juggernaut claiming more civilian lives in both Palestine and Lebanon, the leaders of the G8 group of world powers on Sunday, July 16, pressed for a cessation of Israeli military offensives.

"The most urgent priority is to create conditions for a cessation of violence that will be sustainable," said the text agreed by the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US after emergency talks on the crisis, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

They identified a list of conditions required for this to happen, including "an end to Israeli military operations and the early withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza" as well as a halt to attacks on Israel.

The G8 leaders urged the United Nations to consider deployment of an "international security/monitoring presence" in Lebanon... http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2006-07/16/06.shtml

UN fails to agree Lebanon truce
Agencies

United Nations, July 16: The UN Security Council has failed to agree on a statement calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon, despite pleas from the Lebanese prime minister.

Lebanese diplomats blamed the US for blocking the ceasefire move...
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060717/1707191.htm

G8 leaders urge Mideast restraint, split on ceasefire
Sunday, July 16th, 2006

St Petersburg (Russia), July 16 (DPA) Leaders of the G8 industrial nations Sunday urged Mideast restraint amid spiralling violence in Lebanon and Israel but remained split on whether to seek an immediate ceasefire ... But half way through their three-day summit, leaders appeared unable to agree on little more than a call for restraint ...
http://indiaenews.com/2006-07/15061-g8-leaders-urge-mideast-restraint-split-ceasefire.htm

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[Laotra]

6. This is beyond pale

How idiotic can they be in their spin, shooting their own leg by stating in expressis verbis FUCK LEBANON AND ITS PRO-WEST PRIME MINISTER?

I don't think the Lebanese governement will last long, I wouldn't be surprised if Siniora threatened to resign in favour of a pro-Syria and pro-Hezbollah PM, if UN does not act according to its Charter (fuck G8).


And pox on the other G8 powers for seeking "unanimous" declaration where "compromising" with US position made it not only ineffective but counterproductive.

[LynnTheDem]

7. US believes up to Afghanistan when to halt attacks...

it is Afghanistan's "sovereign decision on when to end this."

-Oh wait...Afghanistan never attacked us. Whew! So it's ok bush attacked them.

US believes up to Iraq when to halt attacks...it is Iraq's "sovereign decision on when to end this."

-Oh wait...Iraq never attacked us. Whew! So it's ok bush attacked them.

US believes up to Hitler when to halt attacks...it is Germany's "sovereign decision on when to end this."

American rightwingnut hypocrisy won't end til it gets us all killed.