Our English Cousins

From the British press, on-line:

"It seems we and Uncle Sam think that shooting people is a good idea. I think it is quite monstrous and I think many of my [former] colleagues share that view. The idea you can't have a ceasefire until you have a full agreement is the tearing up of the way in which conflicts have been resolved since the Old Testament. It is a coded way of saying we hope that Israel will win."

-- Oliver Miles, former U.K. ambassador to Greece and Libya

“The press conference just added insult to injury. Blair and Bush are now alone in their own theatre of the absurd. It is like a plan to offer counselling after a hanging — the corpse is not too interested in what they have to offer.”

-- Alan Simpson, Member of Parliament (Nottingham South)

"If we have influence, we should be using it to help Israel from falling into a pit of its own making. If we have no influence, what are we all doing?"

-- Robin Kealy, former British ambassador to Tunisia
and former consul-general to Jerusalem

"There have been times on trade issues when the PM should have told Bush to get his tanks off our lawn. * * * . There are still times when ... we should speak up about the irresponsibility of the White House."

-- Sir Sir Stephen Wall, advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair

"What is it with the Americans and Prestwick airport? It was the only bit of UK territory that Elvis Presley blessed with his sainted feet and, as if that act somehow marked the Tarmac as American territory, Washington now seems to treat the place as home turf.

"First there were those rendition flights. Now it emerges that Prestwick is being used to transport "bunker-buster" bombs to Israel."

-- David Fickling, columnist for the UK Guardian

"It was a cock-up. It goes to the heart of the idea that the Prime Minister is Bush's poodle."

-- Anonymous source, commenting on the U.S. Defense
Department's unauthorized use of a British airport
to transfer bombs to Israel

"It seems as if No 10 consistently ignores the advice and trenchant criticism from the Foreign Office. * * * I don't think the British government approach to this has been helpful or encouraging. * * * It is clear that action is not working. It is a deeply flawed approach by the British."

-- Robert Lowe, Chatham House Middle East expert

"One way of ensuring restraint on the part of Israel would be to cut off the supply of arms and equipment."

-- Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett

"We should not be an accessory to the escalation of violence in the Middle East. Instead of being a client state of a US administration who are failing to live up to their global responsibilities, the UK should be joining the rest of the world in bringing about such a ceasefire."

-- Alex Salmond, M.P. (Scottish National Party)

"What I do want is to tell Israel, 'Your tactics are wrong' and tell America, 'Don't ever use us as a bargaining chip'."

-- David Hamilton, M.O. (also SNP)

"What [the UK] means by proportionality is a similar response. What the US and Israel mean is that you can use the minimum force required to achieve your war objectives."

-- Jonathan Eyal, director of studies at the
Royal United Services Institute

"If they're chasing Hizbollah, then go for Hizbollah. You don't go for the entire Lebanese nation."

-- Kim Howells, Minister of State, U.K. Foreign Office