"Those who fire into such a densely populated area will pay a heavy price."

Beirut airport after Israeli airstrike

I am sick at heart about what Israel is doing in Lebanon as I write. The BBC says 50 Lebanese civilians have died so far. A regional superpower playing the bully -- bombing and blockading a neighboring country because it can -- is disgusting, despicable arrogance. The pinpricks that the likes of Hizbollah can inflict on the tough Israeli defense are no excuse for massive attacks on civilian infrastructure. A U.S. friend writes:

This is like fascist retaliation. You take one of our guys -- we'll stomp your whole country and teach you a lesson.

Our friend in Beirut writes:

"I have filled up my pails with water. [I] asked [my friend] to prepare his important papers in case they start bombing the city. The area where I am is much safer than it used to be [in the civil war days.] There are two stories above my head.

I am not worried but am back to the war mind. They will probably bomb either the water plant or the electrical plant ... a hot end of the week."

She has learned to live with war.

Meanwhile the Associated Press provides this quote about the Hizbollah rocket fired at Haifa:

"Those who fire into such a densely populated area will pay a heavy price," said David Baker, an official in the Israeli prime minister's office.

When is that supposed to be?

Some smart observers think the U.S. administration is egging the Israelis on, encouraging regional war to create the pretext for an attack on Iran which might otherwise cost them something in domestic politics.

Having just been in Lebanon last month, I take this personally. We passed through the Beirut airport, now bombed out of action. We rode in a car driving the main north-south highway, its bridges now blown to pieces; we also traveled the main Beirut-Damascus road, now under Israeli attack.

This is simply wrong. Israel, and the U.S. which at best allows and probably encourages Israel as part of the failed NeoCon project to remake the Middle East, stand condemned before the world. How many more deaths will it take before the peoples of the world bring the dogs of war to heel?