Israel Blitzkrieg: Day 21

• "Iraq's vice president on Monday accused Israel of carrying out 'massacres' in Lebanon, the strongest criticism yet of the Jewish state by a top official of the U.S-backed Iraqi government....On Sunday, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, demanded an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, warning that 'Islamic nations will not forgive the entities that hinder a cease-fire,' al-Sistani said, in a clear reference to the United States."
• "Tens of thousands of exhausted residents of south Lebanon have heaped their possessions into cars and streamed northward, taking advantage of a pause in Israeli bombardments after being trapped in villages for almost three weeks. Israel had agreed overnight to suspend air raids for 48 hours following global outrage over the killing of 52 civilians in strikes on the village of Qana, giving civilians the chance Monday to flee to safer havens and giving urgently needed aid supplies an opportunity to enter the devastated regions....But despite the promised halt, the air force carried out fresh air attacks in a border region in support of troops carrying out a ground incursion."
• U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy: "But for Israel’s sake, for ours and especially – especially -- for the sake of innocent lives on both sides of these battle lines, it is vitally important to ask whether destroying Lebanon – not Hezbollah, but destroying Lebanon -- will make Israel more secure or instead rally Muslims behind Hezbollah and give rise to further hatred and insecurity. I believe that continued bombing of civilian areas in Lebanon will not destroy Hezbollah, but in a perverse way, it may strengthen it."
• Former President, Jimmy Carter: "It is inarguable that Israel has a right to defend itself against attacks on its citizens, but it is inhumane and counterproductive to punish civilian populations in the illogical hope that somehow they will blame Hamas and Hezbollah for provoking the devastating response. The result instead has been that broad Arab and worldwide support has been rallied for these groups, while condemnation of both Israel and the United States has intensified."
• Ze-ev Maoz, Haaretz: "This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah's side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah 'started it' when it kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin to tilt the scales of justice toward our side."