Norman Finkelstein sent me this: "Just read Elliott
Abrams new "memoir," TESTED BY ZION: The Bush administration and the
Israeli-Palstinian Conflict (Cambridge University Press: January 2013).
Here's what he
has to say about the 2006 Lebanon War:
p.
180/ “Given that Hizballah was a Shia group armed by and allied with Iran, it
elicited no sympathy from the Arabs, who looked forward to seeing Israel thrash
it—and told us so.”
p. 181 recalls sacrifices of Abrams et al. during Lebanon
war: “we flew first to Beirut to see Siniora; the war was now in its third
week. It was not safe to use the airport in Beirut, so Rice’s
plane landed in Cyprus and we jumped over to Beirut in a helicopter. The ancient
military craft was deafeningly loud and leaked oil all over us, ruining suits,
dresses, and hairdos as we flew the 125 miles. We rigged up
plastic sheeting over Rice to protect her from the steady dripping.”
(Pity no one lit a match.)
p.
182/ "[Siniora] denounced in propaganda terms that Israel''s actual conduct of
the war belied. The Beirut International Airport was closed, but
Israel was careful not to damage it beyond making a runway temporarily unstable;
it reopened within a week of the passage of Security Council Resolution
1701. Same for the port. Same for downtown
Beirut. Driving near the port, we had seen a lighthouse whose
beacon was shot out by an Israeli missile. But the
missile had been guided to hit only the beacon, leaving he entire structure
intact and obviously capable of quick restoration. Only the Dahiye
neighborhood of Beirut, a southern suburb that is Hizbollah headquarters, was
badly damaged.”
p.
182/ "[Siniora] himself gave a tearful presentation about how Lebanon was being
completely destroyed, which was false but moving”".