Bush & Lebanon: The gang that couldn't shoot straight . . . again.

An American family pays $3,200 for a taxi to get out of Lebanon. It's like Katrina east; I'm just waiting for the bogus and hysterical reports of minorities going on a rampage and pictures of President Bush strumming a guitar.

A follow-up from Tuesday's post: looks like nobody will take proactive steps to resolve the situation. The U.S. has reportedly given Israel the green light to bomb for another week or so, and Lebanon isn't moving its troops (some of whom Israel inexplicably bombed; I wonder if it was an accident or a warning or something, as Israel hasn't extensively targeted Lebanon's army) to the south. So Israel will try to do in two weeks of bombing what it couldn't do in 20 years of occupation (um, good luck!), the U.S. will sit it out until Israel is done, and Lebanon is reduced to rubble and loyalty to Hezbollah (and other Islamist militants) increases in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East.

According to Israel's chief of staff, they're "turn[ing] back Lebanon's clock 20 years." Meanwhile U.S. foreign policy is being set back 30: if this keeps up, I think the President is going to have to start wearing sweater-vests and checking the Misery Index.