Today, a camera and microphone caught President Bush and Prime Minister Blair in a candid moment at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. The intelligible part of the conversation — since I’m not sure if the link in the title will work or not — goes something like this. Let me set the mood for you.
Bush is sitting down, eating a buttered roll. (Well, the man’s got to eat something, some time.) Blair is standing behind him and leaning in to speak. They are discussing Secretary-General Kofi Anon’s proposal that there be an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hezbollah war. The subject is, initially, what the Secretary of State’s involvement will be, and Bush and Blair are ironing out the subtle differences between their two countries’ positions on the pending posposals for achieving an end to the violence.
Bush: She’s going. I think Condi’s going to go pretty soon.
Blair: Right. Well, that’s all that matters, you see, it will take some time to get out of there. But at least it gives people…
Bush: It’s a process, I agree. Oh, I told her your offer, too.
Blair: Well, it’s only… Or if she’s gonna, or if she needs the ground prepared, as it were. Obviously, if she goes out she’s got to succeed, as it were, whereas I can just go out and talk.
Bush: See, the irony is, what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it’s over.
Blair: [Initial reply inaudible, takes seat]. Cause I think this is all part of the same thing… What does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if he gets a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way, he’s done it. That’s what this whole thing’s about. It’s the same with Iran.
Bush: I feel like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen. We’re not blaming Israel, and w’ere not blaming the Lebanese government.
Now, there’s a lot of agitation about Bush’s use of profanity. There are lines that people can cross in diplomatic and public life, and things you can say and not say. Bush thought his microphone was turned off, and it wasn’t. But he didn’t cross the line.
And the thing of it, he’s dead-on right although perhaps not as graceful with his language as he could have been. (Stuttering Tony is not in a position to throw a lot of stones himself on that note, but again, it was a candid moment, not a press conference.)
It’s not about getting Israel to stop attacking Lebanon. The government of Lebanon has been a proxy of Syria and Hezbollah for years. The Lebanese themselves got sick of this not too long ago. The Lebanese, long among the most cultured and cosmopolitan of the various Arab nations, have no inherent desire to make war with Israel or anyone else; they would rather be an agricultural exporter and tourist destination. But Hezbollah, thanks to generous financial and military subsidies at the hands of its Syrian and Iranian puppetmasters, is actually stronger, richer, better-organized and better-armed than the Lebanese government itself. Without collaborating with and earning the support of Hezbollah, it is a real possibility that another civil war could break out in Lebanon, resulting in its ultimate annexation by Syria. It is this calamatous result that Israel seeks to prevent.
Israel is not the party who decided to gain leverage by kidnapping citizens of its enemies; Israel is the party that is trying to prevent terrorism and violence. Israel has negotiated and tried diplomacy and concessions and everything else suggested to it. Israel and her leaders and military are not lily-white and totally without blame in all things, but she is not the aggressor here, nor is she the aggressor in the medium- or long-range historical perspective. The day after Israel went out from under the protection of the international community, she was attacked. She was attacked on the Jewish high holiday. She was attacked for taking land; she was attacked for giving it back. Every time Israel gives a little, it is rewarded with more violence and more aggression against it. It is perfectly obvious to everyone who is ultimately behind it — Syria and Iran. Is is perfectly obvious that conciliatory language and concessions will not bring Israel the peace it so desparately deserves. It is perfectly obvious that Israel simply cannot afford to play nice any more. It is perfectly obvious that Hezbollah is well-armed and very, very dangerous; it has amply demonstrated its willingness to destroy buildings, attack and kill civilians, bankroll and supply suicide bombers, kipnap hostages and blackmail the Israelis, and otherwise generally undermine if not attack outright the sovereign nation of Israel, which has never in its brief history engaged in a war of aggression. At this point, Hezbollah’s continued existence is incompatible with Israeli national security, and Israel is right to defend itself.
So seeing the Secretary General wring his hands at Israel and beg for an immediate cease-fire is disgraceful, and Bush is right to say so. Being told that Israel is at a moral equivalency with Hezbollah is intellectually and morally insulting, and Bush is right to say so. And turning a blind eye to the patently obvious fact that Syria and Iran are underwriting Hezbollah’s aggression and terrorism, and that they could make this stop in a day if they chose to, is to engage in willful ignorance for no apparent purpose. And Bush is right when he says that if people really want peace, Syria needs to yank its support and really make Hezbollah “stop pulling all this shit.” And until and unless that happens, Israel needs to continue to make the equation very simple for its enemies to understand: Don’t screw around with the big dog.
