the fine art of hypocrisy

Apparently the "birth pangs" of the new Lebanon include wading through a sea of thousands of unexploded cluster bombs, most of which were manufactured in the United States, in the agricultural fields and war-torn rubble in the South. The Washington Post reports:

"Early on, officials estimated that cluster munitions littered 400 sites, anywhere from a house to an entire village. The number now stands at 590, and U.N. officials said they are dumbfounded by the intensity of the firing in the war's last days, when it was clear a cease-fire was approaching.

'It's impossible for me to work out what the logic was," said David Shearer, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon. "To me, it just seems outrageous that it would happen as it did.'"

Well, one person certainly doesn't seem outraged. What did President Bush have to say in recent days? (See: "Bush encourages U.S. investment in Lebanon, Washington Post, 9/25/06):

"Our goal, and our mission, is to help Lebanese citizens and Lebanese businesses not only recover, but to flourish, because we believe strongly in the concept of a democracy in Lebanon."

That prioritization was not clear when it was exactly one month after Fouad Siniora pleaded with Bush to accelerate the implementation of a cease-fire (at which point Bush pledged he was doing everything he could to press Israel to "contain the damage" and limit civilian casualties) that the cessation of hostilities finally took effect. That is why in the last 72 hours of the conflict, as we all watched the New Year's Eve-style countdown until the cease-fire on CNN, Israel pounded the South with cluster munitions with methodical, insane repitition - in a manner "tantamount to shooting a dead body 20 times," according to Chris Clark, the program manager for the U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center, as quoted in the Post.

So...the State Deparment is still "investigating" Israel's use of these weapons and whether they violated previous agreements - don't expect any harsh condemnations soon. These probes apparently don't make it very far:

"During President Bush's first term, the State Department investigated whether Israel misused U.S.-made Apache helicopters in its assassinations of Palestinian leaders. State Department officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose internal debates, said that lower-level officials had determined that Israel had violated its agreements with the United States, but, the officials said, the finding was quashed at a more senior level,"
("State Dept. Probes Use of Bombs," Washington Post, 8/26/06).

In the meantime, keep investing! Let's be honest: with 8 percent of Lebanese believing that the U.S. supported their country when polled in the end of July, the situation can really only stand to improve. At least we are on the right track - yesterday, President Bush thanked the delegation he sent to Lebanon to address the country's reconstruction:

"I appreciate you all taking time to go over to Lebanon and show the face of America," he said, "we're a compassionate people, we care when people suffer."

things to read

i wrote a piece upon returning from syria that you can read here.

other good blogs/sites on syria:
syriacomment (joshua landis)
amarji - a heretic's blog (ammar abdulhamid)
creative syria

for a good news roundup of the middle east and elsewhere:
war in context
international crisis group
openDemocracy

ken burns

Ken Burns gave the keynote address at my commencement at Georgetown, which is worth reading in its entirety here. Here is a particularly inspirational excerpt:

"Serve your country. Insist that we fight the right wars. Convince your government that the real threat comes from within this favored land as Lincoln knew. Governments always forget that. Do not let your government outsource honesty, transparency, or candor. Do not let your government outsource democracy. Steel yourselves. Your generation will have to repair this damage. And it will not be easy.

Insist that we support science and the arts, especially the arts. They have nothing to do with the actual defense of our country -- they just make our country worth defending."

(the photo is from a masbah I visited on a farm outside Damascus)

five years ago...

...I was beginning my senior year in high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sitting in Ms. Hamilton's Shakespeare class, when I found out that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. Shortly after the second plane hit, we were ushered into the auditorium for an all-school assembly. When I learned that the planes had taken off from Logan airport, I immediately thought of my dad, who had flown into the airport that morning. His flight had arrived just moments before the airport was shut down. My classmates and I tried repeatedly to use our cell phones to contact relatives who were in New York, or on planes that day, or just to contact our parents at home. TVs were set up around the school so we could watch the news between classes, or during them. My calculus teacher taught class that afternoon as if nothing had happened, with air force jets occassionally rumbling over our campus and our city as we struggled to concentrate on derivatives.

Only five years ago, and yet I can only vaguely remember how I felt in the weeks following 9/11, wasting away in front of the evening news after school every day. Learning, for the first time, really, about terrorism and national tragedies. Supporting my president. Learning about what starts wars, but not yet about what prolongs them.

Four years ago, on September 11th, we were at war, and President Bush stood on Ellis Island and said: "There is a line in our time, and in every time, between those who believe all men are created equal, and those who believe that some men and women and children are expendable in the pursuit of power."

Three years ago, on September 11th, we had overthrown a dictator in Iraq and, four months prior to the memorial, Bush had proclaimed an end to major combat operations in the country.

Two years ago, on September 11th, the 9/11 Commission report had been released, new waves of explosive terror attacks had shaken trains in Madrid and an embassy in Indonesia, pictures from Abu Ghraib had shocked our sensibilities, two years ago, on September 11th, 2004, we were about to re-elect our president. I saw magazine headlines on newsstands in Morocco that year - where I was living at the time of the election - asking with disbelief: "Encore 4 ans?"

And one year ago, on September 11th, 2005, I guess nothing in particular happened except that the President and the American people observed yet another moment of silence.

Now I have graduated college, and the war drones on. I guess all that I have gathered from this is that, while so much can change in five years, it seems that most things stay the same.