"When the only tool you have is a hammer...

...everything starts to look like a nail."

So writes Joseph A. Palermo in this excellent post at HuffPo, lambasting the U.S.' "disingenuous stance of refusing to negotiate a ceasefire because we cannot 'return to the status quo ante'." Excerpts:

The key question for American citizens is this: How many corpses on both sides are we willing to accept for the Bush Administration to obtain its objectives in the Middle East? Blocking an immediate cease-fire and refusing to engage the parties of the current conflict in peace talks is just another neo-con wet dream like pursuing "democracy" in Iraq. As the violence intensifies, Condi should realize, as the rest of the civilized world seems to understand, that this war is different than previous Arab-Israeli conflicts, and it is fraught with danger given the current bloodshed in Iraq and in the Palestinian territories, and the emboldening of Iran in the region. The longer this war goes on with escalations on both sides, the more unstable and out of control the situation becomes...

Right-wing ideologues make poor diplomats. They are blind to the social, cultural, political, and religious nuances of the Middle East, and they are far too dedicated to the use of force. (William Kristol and other nut-bags are openly advocating US military action against Iran.) When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. Bush and Condi's "transformational diplomacy," and the glorification of war to solve complex human problems, can only lead to more bloodshed, as it has in Iraq.

As I've written many times at this site, it is horrifying that at the very moment America and the world need leaders of vision, intelligence, and nuance, we instead have only George Bush and his cowboy cronies at the helm. God help us all.