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SecState Rice Visits Middle East

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was set to visit the Middle East on Monday, as the war between Israel and Hizballah, with the consequences being felt in northern Israel and throughout Lebanon, continued. But it wasn?t apparent what exactly Ms. Rice sought to create in the aftermath of her visit, with her having stated that while a cease-fire was urgently needed in the region, the conditions for a cease-fire needed to be in place first. And the world hasn?t needed any detective work to see what this means: Israel has not yet been forced into a cease-fire.

Why? Because the Bush Administration would like the terror group to receive a long overdue black eye, courtesy of the Jewish state. White House officials have noted that as Israel is an ally, an attack by Hizballah on Israel is a de facto attack on the United States. When you add in the death toll ? 241 or so Marines ? in 1983 in a bombing of a barracks carried out by Hizballah, the case for allowing Israel to fight the group gets stronger. Furthermore, as Hizballah is an Iranian-Syrian proxy in Lebanon, any damage to an Axis of Evil beneficiary is okay by Washington.

The civilian death toll in Lebanon has continued to rise, but many forget that Israel is suffering as well. For decades Israel lived with the threat of thousands of rockets aimed at Israel, as well as thousands of terrorists seeking to carry out attacks against innocent civilians. The sort of cease-fire that the U.S. Secretary of State seeks, but not quite yet, is one that effectively disarms the Hizballah terror group and will hopefully one day allow the people of Israel, Lebanon, and maybe even Syria and Iran, to enjoy the benefits of peace, democracy, and economic cooperation.