Reuters: US open to NATO-led force in Lebanon: Bolton

[Eugene]

US open to NATO-led force in Lebanon: Bolton

By Jeremy Pelofsky
Reuters
Sunday, July 23, 2006; 10:00 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is open to a NATO-led force keeping
the peace on Lebanon's southern border with Israel, although using U.S. forces
has not been discussed, a senior Bush administration official said on Sunday.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said his country could accept a NATO
peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon to ensure Hizbollah is removed from the
border. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had earlier said calls for an
international force were premature.

"It's a new idea, we'll certainly take it seriously," John Bolton, the U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations, said in a taped interview with CNN's "Late
Edition."

"We have been looking carefully at a multinational force perhaps authorized
by the Security Council, but not a U.N.-helmeted force," he said.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300157.html

Also this from Josh Bolten via the Associated Press...

Posted on Sun, Jul. 23, 2006

U.S. unlikely to send troops to Lebanon

HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush's chief of staff said Sunday international peacekeepers
might be needed in Lebanon to help end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah
militants, but that U.S. troop involvement was unlikely.

Josh Bolten reaffirmed comments by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday,
ahead of her trip to the Middle East this week, that she did not think "it anticipated
that U.S. ground forces are expected" for a potential peacekeeping contingent.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15105954.htm

[madrchsod]

1. nato is not going to send troops

because they are not legally able to do so,only the un can and bush knows this. he`s burning every bridge he can possibly find and i wonder if he will be invited to any world conference in the next two years?