we all know who escalated this from a few kids throwing rocks into a full scale war. unfortunately, the propaganda game has been played very well by the israelis and their washington toadies. what was once a support for israel and the benefit of the doubt has become a mad dash to twist facts, parse words, and spin 360 degrees from the truth. having heard senator lieberman's views on the subject, i wonder how many troops we would have giving support to the israeli invasion if he were vice president. the fact is, israel is capable of doing whatever it likes, and has complete (almost) control of information coming out of the region. the united states will do nothing to stop them.
so now what?
now is the time for the arab states to step in, not militarily but diplomatically. they must force arafat to step down, help a more stable leadership take root, stop the bombings (i don't believe arafat could if he wanted to), and form a large part of the international force that must oversee any peace process.
if only we could find W's moral compass, we might get him to play a similar role with the israelis.