Bolton Defends Israel's War On Lebanon

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton on Thursday defended Israel's war on Lebanon last summer describing it as "perfectly legitimate... and good politics" for the Israelis to seek to defeat their enemy militarily, and that Israel was acting "in its own self-defence".
"We did not try and shape Israel's strategic objective, but we would not have opposed Israel's decision to eliminate Hezbollah," Bolton told The Associated Press.
"We thought Israel was exercising its legitimate right of self-determination," he said. "We did not have a full idea what Israel's objectives might be and how it might play out."
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Bolton told the BBC that before any ceasefire Washington wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah's military capability, claiming that an early ceasefire would have been "dangerous and misguided". He said the US decided to join efforts to end the conflict only when it was clear Israel's campaign wasn't working. He said the US was deeply disappointed at Israel's failure to remove the threat from Hezbollah and the subsequent lack of any attempt to disarm its forces.
Bolton, also said he was "damned proud of what we did" to prevent an early ceasefire.
Also in the BBC programme, several key players claim that, privately, there were Arab leaders who also wanted Israel to destroy Hezbollah.
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** The Lebanese-American Alliance held a ceremony in Washington in 2006 to celebrate the first anniversary of Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon. Bolton was presented with the Cedar Shield during the ceremony for his role in securing the withdrawal.
The lunch was attended by representatives from the March 14 Forces, including MP Antoine Zahra representing Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, MP Ghazi Youssef representing Future bloc leader MP Saad Hariri, former MP Fares Soueid, Sharif Fayad representing Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Junblatt, and head of the National Liberal Party Dory Chamoun, as well as officials from the White House and the U.S. State Department.