Juan Cole Accuses Israel Of "Ethnic Cleansing," "Shaken" By Bush's Use of S-Word

Safe-for-clicking link to TigerHawk:

If the reports coming out of Lebanon can be believed, the Israelis are only sometimes striking known Hizbullah safe houses or facilities or missile emplacements. A lot of their bombardment appears aimed at punishing civilian populations and forcing them north to Beirut. Such an approach would help explain the high number of civilian casualties. That is, there may be an element of ethnic cleansing in Israeli tactics.

After quoting a bit of the Blair-Bush exchange containing the s-word (and also Bush's "unnuanced" observation that these crises break out when Muslims murder and kidnap Israelis, not the other way around), Juan Cole goes into full Excitable Andi mode.

Via Tushar, a no-click link to the terrorist-apologist turtle:

So, the whole blow-up is Syria's fault, for putting Hizbullah up to making mischief. No reference to Israeli actions in Gaza. No reference to, like, the wholesale destruction of Lebanon by the Israeli air force. And no blame for the Lebanese government of Fouad Siniora. And Bush thinks that Nasrullah of Hizbullah takes direct orders from Damascus. And he thinks that if Bashar al-Asad orders Hizbullah to stop firing its little katyushas and give back the two Israeli soldiers, everything will suddenly settle down.

It is an astonishingly simple-minded view of the situation, painted in black and white and making assumptions about who is who's puppet and what the Israeli motivations are. Israel doesn't appear as a protagonist. It is purely reactive. Stop provoking it, and it suddenly stops its war.

Since Israel is just being provoked and has no ambitions of its own, in this reading, it is useless to begin with a ceasefire. That treats the two sides as both provoking one another. Here, only Hizbullah matters, so you lean on Syria to lean on it, and, presto, peace breaks out.

It is a little window into the superficial, one-sided mind of the man, who has for six years been way out of his depth.

I come away from it shaken and trembling.

I've never been prouder of my vote.

Professor Juan "Shakes" Cole

A brave seeker of the truth, much in the mold of courageous and undauntable Shaggy Rogers of Mystery, Inc.

It's a spooky Jew-Ghost, Scoob! Zoinks!

posted by Ace at 10:51 AM

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