This week’s review was particularly difficult, what with hearing different people read from the same centuries old cue cards. Make an effort to read the show-by-show review, linked at the bottom of this intro piece:
Sunday, July 30, 2006
The deaths at Qana were a big part of this morning’s shows, but the most important concept to the hosts seemed to be that Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to go away, she was not welcome in Beirut.
On MTP, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman said that Hezbollah had probably planned to sucker Israel into striking civilians in Qana to thwart any chance of peace. Russert’s next guest on MTP, Lebanese special envoy Nouhad Mahmoud, glibly told Russert that he respects Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah; while the two disagree on whether or not Israel should exist, he said, this was unimportant as it was not an issue in this conflict.
Special advisor to Siniora, Mohamad Chatah, basically told George Stephanopoulos on TW that human shields were a legitimate means of warding off attacks on military installations, as there can be no reason whatsoever for killing women and children. Undersecretary of State Nick Burns told Brit Hume on FNS that the battle between Israel and Hezbollah is about Iran. On TW, he told Steph that the DMZ in the south of Lebanon would be from the Israeli border to the Litani River. No setback entered his tone.
Responding to a new anti-Bushie novel by a WashPost reporter, Paul Bremer again explained debathification and the dissolution of the Iraqi army.
On FTN, Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora said that the Israeli strike on Qana ten years ago was called, by the Israelis, “The Grapes of Wrath.” His name for this incident is: “The Grapes of Hatred.” On the same show, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres asked of Hezbollah: “What do they want?” The question was rhetorical, no doubt.
On LE, Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk posited that the Israelis had struck Qana because they did not want Secretary Rice to negotiate a cease fire. Nick Burns explained to Blitzer that Secretary Rice had told Siniora that she didn’t think now was a good time for her to go to Lebanon, rather than him telling her to get lost.
(But remember that if John Kerry were President… yadda, yadda, yadda.)
Read the show-by-show review at Redstate.com.
