Bush Fiddles While Beirut Burns 
"After a day in which aides stressed they had achieved international unity here on the Middle East violence, Mr. Bush complained about Mr. (Kofi) Annan's approach to the crisis and for holding a view of many leaders here that Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah should cease fire and hash out their differences. The Americans have said that Israel will probably stand down only if Hamas and Hezbollah return the soldiers they have captured and cease the shelling of small Israeli towns.
"'I don't like the sequence of it,' Mr. Bush said. `His attitude is basically cease fire and everything else happens.'"
Bush apparently does not mind the bloodshed just as long as the blood isn't his own. Just think back a few years in what now seems like an eternity to what life was like in the United States before Bush.
Many Jewish individuals in the World Trade Center had left. It was reported that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence network, had warned the United States in advance of the anticipated attacks.
Other warnings from the FBI and other intelligence sources were tragically ignored. The burning question that remains is why? The official response of the Bush Administration has been, "We didn't know a thing about that!"
Now we have war raging in Afghanistan and civil war raging in Iraq after the launching of the Iraq War on the basis of lies and forged documents. Once Bush had bequeathed nuclear club membership, a train in Bombay killed scores of Indians.
Now, after the U.S. supplied Israel with billion dollar subsidies, we watch as the weapons systems go to work, with laser-driven missiles, unmanned airplanes, the whole weapons of mass destruction syndrome, demolishing Lebanon, killing hundreds.
Ignoring the refugees' plight in Lebanon, we only could think of calling any organization they represented "evil," ignoring any diplomatic efforts.
While other nations of the world insist on a cease-fire and diplomacy to stop the killing, Bush does nothing but mouth vulgarities caught on a microphone he did not know was operating, and declaring that the root of the problem lies with Syria and Iran in supplying weapons.
As for the democratic vote in Palestine, when Hamas won the majority of seats in the Palestinian Parliament, the Bush Administration does not complain about many members of the cabinet of this democratically elected government being kidnapped. He does not protest the bombing of the home of a Hezbollah leader.
Hezbollah has bombed Israel, killing Israelis. All sides must stop killing innocent civilians.
The Shiites in Iraq, observing the Shiites of southern Lebanon being bombed by Israel, who claim some residences are rocket sites, has deepened the hatred for the United States in Iraq, where the killing continues unabated.
This is an instance of history repeating itself. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Bush fiddles while Beirut burns.
KEYWORDS: George W. Bush, Lebanon Bombings, Kofi Anan, Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah
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