At Least 40 Already Dead in Today's Attacks in Lebanon

That's what the BBC reports at this time, with a number of new Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza from Israeli strikes in the ever-broadening Israel-Lebanon-Hezbollah-Gaza mess.

Meanwhile, The Times reports that the Bush strategy (uh huh) is to let Israel hammer at Hezbollah (but really at Lebanon as a whole) for a week or two (I'm sure the civilians killed won't mind) to break the back of Hezbollah before the U.S. takes any action.

What action, you ask? Well, apparently the plan is to send Secretary of State is to make mean faces at Hezbollah! No, I am NOT kidding. This is what Rice does since she can't even say diplomacy, let alone practice it.

Also from The Times:

The strategy carries risk, partly because it remains unclear just how long the rest of the world, particularly America’s Arab allies, will continue to stay silent as the toll on Lebanese civilians rises.

I was fascinated to hear that Israel cites a UN resolution against Hezbollah as the rationale for its actions considering the UN has frequently drafted resolutions against Israel for their extreme warfare but the U.S. continuously blocks any attempt by the UN to actually punish Israel for its behavior.