 A GROUP of US anti-war activists on Saturday said they will head to Lebanon to denounce their government's failure to call for an immediate ceasefire between key ally Israel and the Hezbollah. The group made the announcement after two days of talks in Jordan with Iraqi parliamentarians on ways to gain US Congress backing for a swift end to US troop deployment in Iraq and US funds to rebuild Iraq. "We are leaving tomorrow (Sunday) for Syria and hope to go the next day to Lebanon," said Medea Benjamin, founding director of the US human rights organisation Global Exchange and member of several other anti-war groups.
| “We are appalled by our government's refusal to call for that ceasefire, appalled that the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, stopped the Security Council from calling for an immediate ceasefire.” |
"We feel that the US government, by not calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, is also responsible for a lot of the deaths and destruction that is going on today," she told a news conference. "We are appalled by our government's refusal to call for that ceasefire, appalled that the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, stopped the Security Council from calling for an immediate ceasefire. That puts a great weight on us as US citizens."
Ann Wright, a retired US army colonel and veteran diplomat, said the group wants "to bear witness to what is happening" in Lebanon and hook up with civil rights groups to assess the humanitarian crisis and help provide aid.
| “'I don't really understand Hezbollah's motives and I don't understand how the Israelis mobilised so quickly,' he said...” |
Celebrated US anti-war campaigner Tom Hayden meanwhile questioned the motives behind Israel's onslaught. "Is this a desperate effort by the Israeli and US neo-conservatives to escalate their way out of deceit in Iraq before the November (congressional) American election?" Hayden asked. "Are they trying to scramble and sub-divide the whole Middle East? Do they hope this escalates into a conflict with Syria and Iran?" asked Hayden who was most famous for his involvement in the anti-war of the 1960s. "I don't really understand Hezbollah's motives and I don't understand how the Israelis mobilised so quickly," he said, adding that an investigation was essential to determine if Israel had notified Washington of its actions. Hayden will not be going to Lebanon but he joined Benjamin, Wright and 12 other US activists in meetings Friday and Saturday with Iraqi MPs to discuss a US troop pullout from Iraq. |