Confirmed: Rice Went Out Of Her Way To Screw Israel On Lebanon II
Classic State Department anti-Israel bait-and-switch:
The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, accused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of giving in to French and Lebanese demands over the terms of the cease-fire that halted the 2006 Second Lebanon War... Carmon emphasized that Rice had agreed that the draft cease-fire resolution would stipulate that the international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon would operate under Chapter VI of the UN charter, which would give it observer status only. She also agreed that the disputed Shaba Farms, the border area claimed by Hezbollah as Lebanese territory but internationally recognized as Syrian, would be mentioned in the resolution. Israel opposed both clauses... "Bolton said tonight in a conversation with Gillerman that the secretary of state took the task of negotiations [over the resolution] upon herself, and she is personally involved in all of its details. Rice is the one who agreed to the last two changes that were discussed in talks tonight between [former undersecretary of state Nick] Burns and Jerusalem - Chapter VI and Shaba Farms... Bolton described with sorrow a situation in which the French surrendered to all of the Arab demands and the United States isn't prepared to give up on the 'holy alliance' with the Europeans."
The chapter VII controversy was obviously a total screwjob even at the time. But don't miss how elegantly this disadvantaged Israel. There are two moves here. The first is getting Israel to agree to a ceasefire in exchange for a more robust UNIFIL force. The second is getting Israel to agree to 15,000 new UNIFIL troops because they would be more robust. Rice got Olmert to agree to a ceasefire by promising that the new UNIFIL force would be able to militarily operate against Hezbollah. Once he halted Israeli military operations - and that's not the kind of thing that you can take back - she pulled the rug out and put 15,000 new de facto human shields in Lebanon. And Israel couldn't object to new human shields being put on the ground, because it had been worked out that more troops was what they were getting in exchange for the ceasefire.
There's only one way that UNIFIL's expansion could have worked out worse for Israel. And wouldn't you know it...
It's one thing to have been baited into accepting 15,000 new human shields. Worse: having 15,000 new potential enemies on the ground. And wouldn't you know it, Rice had originally promised Olmert that the new soldiers wouldn't come from countries dedicated to destroying Israel. There had been a little problem with overly-sympathetic UNIFIL soldiers going native, calling Lebanon a "second homeland", and somehow letting UN license plates slip away and get used in the Hezbollah attack that started the war. Screwed again. Israel ended up with a larger UN force that was stacked with soldiers from Israel's enemies and put in places where they couldn't cut off Hezbollah's weapons. But the new troops were certainly more than willing to sabre-rattle at the IAF. Shocking, that.
References:
* Israeli official: Bolton said Rice caved on truce terms to end 2006 Lebanon war [Ha'aretz]
* How Badly Does the UN Draft Screw Israel? Part IV: UNIFIL Will Not Get a Chapter 7 Mandate [MR]
* How Badly Does the UN Draft Screw Israel? Part I: Expanded UNIFIL Presence [MR]
* UNIFIL Involvement in 2000 Kidnapping Not News. Involvement of UNIFIL Soldier Who Thought of Lebanon as "Second Homeland", However, Is. [MR]
* Israel Sets Standards for Peacekeeping: Only Countries that Can Hide All or Some of Their Anti-Semitism Can Be Trusted to Protect the Jewish State [MR]
* Israel Politely Requests That UN Allow UNIFIL Soldiers To Do Their Damn Jobs [MR]
* France Identifies the Real Threat To the Lebanon Ceasefire: Israel. [MR]
* Again With the Idiotic French Self-Congratulation On How Their Soldiers Haven't Disobeyed Basic Instructions [MR]
Previously:
* How Badly Does the UN Draft Screw Israel? Part II: Hezbollah Not Really So Much Included
* How Badly Does the UN Draft Screw Israel? Part V: Iran
* How Badly Does the UN Draft Screw Israel? Part III: It's Not a Total Ceasefire, But Everyone Will Condemn Israel As If It Is
