Did Bush Give Israel the Green Light?

I noted in my most recent Israel/Lebanon War Updates post that Ehud Barak told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday that the current 'mission' would take one or two more weeks and pondered if that was the reason for the Bush administration's stalling tactics when it became widely known that, reportedly, he still hasn't phoned Olmert and there has been no rush to send anyone from his government into the region for talks.

The Guardian reports that, not only did Bush and Blair block attempts at the G8 to call for an immediate ceasefire, one European source echos the words of Barak about the estimated length of the military campaign and Bush's role in its determination.

"It's clear the Americans have given the Israelis the green light. They [the Israeli attacks] will be allowed to go on longer, perhaps for another week," a senior European official said yesterday. Diplomatic sources said there was a clear time limit, partly dictated by fears that a prolonged conflict could spin out of control.

With Bush increasing his rhetoric about Syria on Tuesday by accusing the Syrian government of wanting to get back into Lebanon and the ever increasing tension building between Israel, the US and Iran, one is really left wondering if this new war with Lebanon actually has anything to do with freeing the kidnapped Israeli soldiers. It seems that setting an arbitrary period of attack flies in the face of such an effort.

Complicating the situation, Blair said it might take 'months' to get a stabilization force into Lebanon, which the UN called for over the weekend.

Then 'British officials' gave the press a bombshell:

After Mr Blair spoke, British officials privately acknowledged the US had given Israel a green light to continue bombing Lebanon until it believes Hizbullah's infrastructure has been destroyed.

White House press secretary Tony Snow denied this, of course:

The US is publicly denying any role in setting a timeframe for Israeli strikes. When asked whether the US was holding back diplomatically, Tony Snow, the White House's press spokesman, said yesterday: "No, no; the insinuation there is that there is active military planning, collaboration or collusion, between the United States and Israel - and there isn't ... the US has been in the lead of the diplomatic efforts, issuing repeated calls for restrain,t[sic] but at the same time putting together an international consensus. You've got to remember who was responsible for this: Hizbullah ... It would be misleading to say the United States hasn't been engaged. We've been deeply engaged."

That defies current reality. The US is definitely not leading diplomatic efforts with its current wait and see approach. In fact, on Monday, France's Prime Minister was in Beirut to speak to the Lebanese government and the UN has a team in Lebanon assessing the situation. There has been no diplomatic effort on the part of the Bush administration which fully supports Israel and only warned that the Lebanese government not be made to fall - a very likely situation considering the continued strain caused by this war.