inside the glass house

NEW YORK-- The average American cannot figure out the distinction between Sunnis and Shias except in cowboy ideology: the black-hatted bad guys and white-hatted good guys. The Sunnis, who currently lead the brutal insurgency against the US-occupation in Iraq, are considered the bad guys. The Shiites, who dominate the US-installed rogue puppet government in Iraq, are the good guys. And according to Garry Trudeau's bitingly realistic cartoons on contemporary American politics, even the country's president is abysmally ignorant of the shifting political trends in the Middle East or doesn't care to know for one simple reason: today's American friends can be tomorrow's enemies. So why bother? Just paint them both with the same tar brush.

In a cartoon published nation-wide last week, Bush is being given a crash course on the Islamic religious ideologies in the Middle East, as he tells one of his aides: "Learning all the players (in the Middle East war) is boring. In other words, I am bored."

The aide tells the president: "Sir, there's a new report saying that just before the war, you didn't know who the Sunnis and Shiites were. We're trying to avoid that this time".

Bush: "That's ridiculous!. I know who they are. The Sunnis are the terrorist guys who want the U.S. out"

Aide: "They used to. Now it's the Shiites.

Bush: "See? Why should I bother to learn?"

Aide: "Okay, We'll keep track for you?"

And so, the Bush administration now finds that not only has the Israeli bombing of Lebanon turned the Shiites against the US but more importantly the Sunnis and the Shiites have now closed ranks to fight what they call their common enemies: the US and Israel. The biggest disappointment for the US last week was the dramatic turnaround by three American allies, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, who initially criticized Hezbollah for triggering the current conflict. But as public opinion in all three countries overwhelmingly swayed against Israel — ignited by stark images of the destruction of Lebanon brought into Arab living rooms by the Al-Jazeera television network — the leaders of all three countries backed out of their support for the US.

Egypt apparently refused to permit Sharm al-Sheik as a venue for last week's international gathering — a complete fiasco — which took place in Rome. The Saudis have warned that its 2002 peace plan — offering Israel full recognition by all Arab states in exchange for returning occupied territories — is in jeopardy. Jordan, which along with Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel, openly criticised "Israeli aggression" in Lebanon. The headline on the lead story in the front page of Friday's New York Times conveyed the political mood in the Middle East: "Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah."

Since Israel's powerful military machine has failed to destroy Hezbollah after more than two week's of destruction, the ongoing conflict in Lebanon has given new meaning to the longstanding Arab-Israeli conflict. A single well-armed Arab militia has proved it can hold the Israel army for two weeks: a rare achievement against one of the world's mighty US-armed military machines. As Bernard Haykel, an associate professor of Islamic Studies in New York University, said last week: "... only Hezbollah has effectively defeated Israel (in Lebanon in 2000) and is now taking it on again, hitting Haifa and other places with large numbers of rockets — a feat that no Arab or Muslim power has accomplished since Israel's founding in 1948." By doing so, he argued, Hezbollah has taken the lead on the most incendiary issue for jihadis of all stripes: the fight against Israel.

At the Rome conference, the US stood alone in vetoing an overwhelming demand for an immediate ceasefire in the fighting in Lebanon. The US House of Representatives is living in a world of its own. Last week it passed a resolution (410 for and eight against) to offer support for Israel against Hezbollah. Pat Buchanan, a former presidential candidate and a right wing conservative, best described the US Congress as "Israeli-occupied territory." The voices from the Arab world and Europe apparently do not matter against a powerful pro-Israeli lobby that funds the election campaigns of most US legislators.

As the Israeli bombing continues, even the political hypocrisy is clearly evident. The Bush administration has been bending over backwards to offer food and humanitarian aid to the hapless civilians tormented by the continuous Israeli destruction of Lebanon for a third week running. The humanitarian assistance is to a country whose government is deemed an American ally. At the same time, the Bush administration has also been expediting the delivery of laser-guided bombs to Israel to kill the very Lebanese the Americans are feeding.

Asked if there is a contradiction between the two, President Bush displayed his naivety when he told reporters last week: "No. I don't see a contradiction in us honouring commitments made prior to Hezbollah attacks into Israeli territory." The answer was pure hogwash. Bush also made an obvious Freudian slip when he said: "I am concerned about loss of innocent life, and we will do everything we can to help move equipment....I mean, food and medicines, to help the people who have been displaced and the people who suffer."

Meanwhile, the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Israelis of using artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon. "Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians," Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW warned. "They should never be used in populated areas." And Amnesty International has called for an arms embargo on both Israel and Hezbollah in an attempt to stop the killings of civilians by both warring parties. The London-based human rights group has also said it is "gravely concerned" that a cargo plane carrying US military equipment to Israel used an airport close to Glasgow for refuelling.

"The pattern of attacks and the extent of civilian casualties show a blatant disregard of international humanitarian law by Israel and Hezbullah," said Irene Khan, Amnesty International Secretary General. She also said that "direct targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and launching indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks amount to war crimes." A charge that is expected to stick to Israel more than Hezbollah. "It is ridiculous to talk about providing humanitarian aid on the one hand, and to provide arms on the other. In the face of such human suffering in Lebanon and Israel, it is imperative that all governments stop the supply of arms and weapons to both sides immediately," she added.