Beirut Burning

This is what Mr. Bush - and the House of Reprehensibles who gave a pat on the back to Israel today - wants to continue for a few more weeks? Ah, but American life is precious, isn't it?

Lebanese hospitals are way past overwhelmed. People are scared shitless.

Here's some grim news published in today's International Herald Tribune (and remember, these casualty figures are before the 23-ton "gift" basket delivered by Israel late Wednesday US time):

The Israeli air force and navy shelled targets in and around Beirut, including a residential neighborhood in the Lebanese capital, and bombed civilian infrastructure through the country. In southern Lebanon, 21 people from a single village were killed during an airstrike.
Since the Israeli assault began last week, according to the Lebanese government, more than 310 Lebanese, mostly civilians, died in Israel's attempt to crush Hezbollah's military capacity in Lebanon and gain the release of two kidnapped soldiers.

The Lebanese government once again called for an immediate cease-fire and said it was facing a humanitarian crisis. A government representative said that Lebanese had two months' worth of essential supplies, but that some regions were essentially cut off from the rest of the country.

In Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had "serious questions" about Israel's assault, citing the large numbers of Lebanese civilians killed and the extensive damage to the country's infrastructure.

Think humanitarian crisis.