And Speaking Of a Possible Lead-Up to a Much BIGGER War...

Joseph A. Palermo writes at Huffington Post:

“The Longer The US Allows This War To Continue To Escalate, The Greater Likelihood Of It Sparking An Even Bigger War”…

Meanwhile, al Qaeda declares a Holy War (ah, their silly jihads) against Israel (and they don't like us much either) for its bombing of both Hezbollah and civilian targets in Lebanon.

And exactly how is this conflict sitting in the Arab world? Not well, according to most sources except Condi Rice and Georgie Porgie Bush. Arab leaders not only called for an immediate cease fire themselves nearly two weeks ago, they appealed directly to Bush to involve himself enough to demand a cease fire. Apparently since Bush no longer needed them to help buy votes for himself, Bush ignored them.

Elsewhere, Kevin Drum at The Washington Monthly's Political Animal blog points us to this:

Marc Lynch, who has been watching lots of Arab TV, says the mood in the Middle East has changed considerably over the past two weeks:

America is totally alone on this. And more than most Americans might realize, America is being blamed for Israel's actions. The shift in Arab public discourse over the last week has been palpable. For the first few days, [there was a] split between the Saudi media and the "al-Jazeera public" which I wrote about at the time. Then for a few days, horror at the humanitarian situation, fury with the Arab states for their impotence, speculation about the endgame, and full-throated condemnation of Israeli aggression. But for the last few days, the main trend has been unmistakable: an increasing focus on the United States as the villain of the piece. (That the Israeli bombing of Beirut stopped just long enough for Condoleezza Rice's photo op certainly didn't help.)