About Face

What a difference a day makes.
Bush sends Rice back to Middle East for new talks

BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will return to the Middle East on Saturday to discuss a United Nations resolution to end the 17-day-old war between Israel and Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.

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Rice had said she would return to the Middle East only when the time was right for a lasting solution to end the crisis.

Bush apologizes to Blair over bombs sent to Israel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush apologized on Friday to British Prime Minister Tony Blair after Britain complained Washington had not followed correct procedures for sending bombs to Israel via a British airport, a British official said.

So what changed? Why does a ceasefire look more attractive than it did yesterday? It's certainly not because anyone in he White House had their moral compass realigned, it's because they suddenly realized that the Israelis might actually be losing this war.
Hizbollah fires new long-range rocket into Israel

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hizbollah fired scores of rockets into Israel on Friday, including at least one that the Lebanese guerrilla group said was a new long-range missile, wounding at least 13 people, police and the army said.

The longer-range rocket landed in an open area near the town of Afula, about 50 km (30 miles) from the Lebanese border. It matched the furthest distance that Hizbollah rockets had landed inside Israel since the conflict began on July 12.