Breaking news: Cole to Lebanon
The United States has ordered a warship into position off the coast of Lebanon.
The USS Cole was sent there amid growing concern about
the political impasse in the country, which has not had a president for
four months.The Western-backed governing coalition and the Syrian and Iranian-backed opposition are at loggerheads.
A US official quoted by news agencies said the
destroyer's deployment off the coast was designed as a "show of
support… for regional stability".The official told Reuters news agency that the US was
concerned about the political deadlock in Lebanon, which Washington
blames on Syrian interference.
How many uncomfortable historical parallels can Team Bush create at once here? A U.S. warship off the coast of Lebanon? (For "regional stability," of course… It wouldn't dream of taking sides in a festering civil conflict.) And the Cole, for crying out loud?
Could be a trigger for that full-on oil war we've been talking about…
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