Saudis Give Bush a Talking to on Wisdom of a Ceasefire

According to this editorial from Saudi Arabia's government-run Saudi Gazette, it was Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal that persuaded President Bush that 'a ceasefire is urgent' and that 'the fuse is short and the powder is mighty in this region of the world.'

EDITORIAL

July 25, 2006
Saudi Arabia - The Saudi Gazzette - Home Page (English)    

AMERICA'S realization that there is an urgent need for a Mideast ceasefire comes after a high-level Saudi delegation met President George Bush to seek his intervention in halting the Israeli carnage in Lebanon. "We believe that a ceasefire is urgent," said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she flew to the Mideast late on Sunday on a mission to avert a full-scale war in the region.

The statement of Rice, who also made an unannounced visit to Beirut on Monday, marks a change in America's stance and reflects Saudi concerns conveyed to the Bush Administration the previous day. The United States has so far resisted calls for an immediate ceasefire, saying any cessation of hostilities must address the root causes of the conflict, which Washington blames on Hezbullah and its allies.

Repeated American refusal to call for a ceasefire and its staunch support for Israel's wanton overreactions were sowing seeds of more militancy. It also exposes America as the villain of peace in the region.

"I found the president very conscious of the destruction and the bloodshed that the Lebanese are suffering," Prince Saud Al-Faisal said after meeting President Bush. "His anxiety (is) to see the cessation of hostilities. I have heard that from him personally, and that is why he is sending Ms. Rice to work out the details."

The focus of and urgency behind Rice's trip also shows an awareness on the part of American officials that the fuse is short and the powder is mighty in this region of the world, and that because of its location, trouble there could ignite a wider war. Civilians have taken the brunt of the 12-day-old conflict that has cost 370 lives in Lebanon. This has prompted U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland to demand a halt to the violence to allow aid to reach the hardest-hit areas of Lebanon, which are now suffering a major humanitarian crisis.

The civilian victims should not be made to go on paying for the rash retaliation of Israel's decision-makers. Regional and world leaders have an obligation to stop arguing about the cause of the current warfare and start working on ways to end it.

VIDEO FROM IRAN: AHMADINEJAD ATTACKS MUSLIM

NATIONS FOR SUPPORTING ISRAELI ATTACK ON LEBANON

IRINN TV, IRAN: Excerpts from an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, July 4, 00:19:07, Via MEMRI

"It is inconceivable for anyone who calls himself a Muslim and who heads an Islamic state to maintain relations under the table with the regime that occupied Jerusalem. He cannot take pleasure in the [Israeli] killing of Muslims, yet present himself as a Muslim. This is inconceivable, and must be exposed."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad