Bush Says "Israel Defeated Hezbollah"; Even Neocons Aren't Buying It

Israel won the war! Bush proclaims.

President Bush said Monday that Hezbollah guerillas suffered a defeat at the hands of Israel in their monthlong Mideast war.

"There's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon," Bush said.

The president also said the war was part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror and "we can only imagine how much more dangerous this conflict would be if Iran had the nuclear weapon it seeks."

Hey, Bush could convince himself that Elvis is alive and invited him to breakfast at Graceland with Jesus Christ if he put his mind to it, but that doesn't make it so.

Even the likes of John at Powerline isn't drinking this glass of Kool-Aid:

At the end of a close bout, boxers are trained to raise their arms into the air and act as if they won, in hopes of influencing the judges' scorecards. That's pretty much what's going on in the aftermath of the Lebanese cease-fire.
[...]
The bottom line is, Hezbollah went the distance and was still standing--firing rockets--at the end. It emerges with its stature enhanced.

Oh, and those 900-plus Lebanese civilians who were killed by Israeli bombers in little more than a month? Hezbollah's fault:

Bush said Iran and Syria were the primary sponsors of Hezbollah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers, igniting the battle with Israel. More than 900 people were killed in the fighting, and there was massive destruction in southern Lebanon.

Bush said the "responsibility for this suffering lies with Hezbollah."

Well, that's a relief. No need for Georgie to experience a moment of grief or pain for all those dead mommies and babies, then. And it has to be that way, of course. Because if it turned out that the responsibility for dead people lies with those who killed them, then that would just make it so much stickier to deal with the thousands of civilians who will die in Iran when Georgie gives the okay to bomb them. (Just so you know, that suffering will be Iran's fault.)

Life is sweet when you can kill and maim others at will, knowing it's always the fault of the people you're killing and maiming for not doing what you tell them to do.



And you can see that Bush is fine with the 900 dead Lebanese women, children, and men. Just look at him. Doesn't that smiling face look just the picture of contentment?