To the Financial Times:

Jacob Weisberg's defense of Bush administration policy leading up to the current Arab-Israeli crisis seems ill-timed ("One bout for which Bush is not to blame," July 20). Whether the US could have done something differently to prevent the conflict seems far less important than what it might do now to stop it: for example, supporting a ceasefire instead of obstructing it. Pressuring Israel to end its campaign in southern Lebanon might save hundreds of innocent lives; by the FT's own numbers ("Lebanon has worst day as 58 die in raids", July 20) this remains true regardless of how Hizbollah responds. In defense of the most vulnerable, all sides must be called upon to stop; but this will not realistically happen while the US and Israel stand in the way.