Author: JulesJules Date: Jul 19, 2006 13:28
By Lou Dobbs
CNN
NEW YORK (CNN) -- We Americans like to think we're a pretty smart people,
even when evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. And nowhere is that
evidence more overwhelming than in the Middle East. History in the Middle
East is everything, and we Americans seem to learn nothing from it.
President Harry Truman took about 20 minutes to recognize the state of
Israel when it declared independence in 1948. Since then, more than 58 years
of war, terrorism and blood-letting have led to the events of the past week.
Even now, as Katyusha rockets rain down on northern Israel and Israeli
fighter jets blast Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, we simultaneously
decry radical Islamist terrorism and Israel's lack of restraint in defending
itself.
And the U.S. government, which wants no part of a cease-fire until Israel is
given every opportunity to rescue its kidnapped soldiers and destroy as many
Hezbollah and Hezbollah armaments as possible, urges caution in the interest
of preserving a nascent and fragile democratic government in Lebanon. Could
we be more conflicted?
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