At least now we know who authorised this

Lenin's Tomb

The Bush administration has given Israel a week to inflict maximum carnage on Lebanon, "say diplomatic sources": The Bush administration, backed by Britain, has blocked efforts for an immediate halt to the fighting initiated at the UN security council, the G8 summit in St Petersburg and the European foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. "It's clear the Americans have given the Israelis the green light. They [the Israeli attacks] will be allowed to go on longer, perhaps for another week," a senior European official said yesterday. Diplomatic sources said there was a clear time limit, partly dictated by fears that a prolonged conflict could spin out of control (...) It is not at all clear that it will be over in a week: Israeli commanders say that it will be several weeks. If they're serious about breaking Hezbollah, rather than simply terrorising Lebanese society and its fragile government, then they would be likely to take months if not years...

continua / continued