A U.S.-backed diplomatic pact to end more than a month of war between Israel and Islamic militants in Lebanon may stop the worst of the killing and retire the daily television images of burning buildings and suffocated children.It will not do much to improve the image of America in the Arab world.
This war is widely viewed as a joint U.S.-Israeli venture that slaughtered innocents and wrecked homes, roads and businesses in a fragile democracy the Bush administration has said it supports.
President Bush on Saturday urged world leaders to turn the words of a U.N. cease-fire deal into action, even as Israel staged wide-ranging airstrikes across Lebanon and sent commandos into the Hezbollah heartland.
Airstrikes killed at least 19 people in Lebanon, including 15 in one village, while Hezbollah rockets wounded at least five people in Israel in the hours after the unanimous U.N. vote. Israel says it may fight another week despite the cease-fire deal.