Mediterranean oil spill prompts crisis meeting

[tocqueville]

21 minutes ago

ATHENS (AFP) - Officials from the United Nations, European Union and a maritime organization are set to meet in Greece Thursday to map out a strategy for containing a massive Mediterranean oil spill caused by the conflict in Lebanon.

Nearly 15,000 tons of leaked oil from the Jiyyeh electric plant, bombed by Israel last month, has polluted some 140 kilometers (87 miles) of the Lebanese coast and spread north into Syrian waters, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

If all the oil from the damaged facility, 30 miles south of Beruit, were to seep into the sea, officials said, the environmental fallout could rival the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill that devastated Alaska's Prince William Sound.

"The objective of the meeting is to coordinate a common strategy to confront the pollution and to devise actions to prevent the possible expansion of the oil spill," said a communique released by the UNEP and the International Maritime Organization, which are jointly hosting the meeting in Piraeus.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060815/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictlebanonenvironmentoilun

[Missy M]

1. Perhaps the cost to clean up this disaster should be left ...

to Israel. They should have thought of the consequences before they bombed that facility.

[mom cat]

2. My sentiments exactly. Perhaps the cost would cut into what they

spend on arms.

[eccles12]

3. That would be reasonable. But I doubt that Israel will do that.

Israeli government will cut off its nose to spite its face in every situation.
Just heard on CNN that Olmert promises that there will be more fighting in the future. This says to me that Israel does not and will not honor any cease fire resolution and is arrogant enough to advertise its intentions, including assassinating Narsrullah. Such pronouncements by Hizbollah would be regarded as proof that Hizbollah is a terrorist organization that needs to be destroyed or at least disarmed. So what is the US media response to these pronouncements by Olmert? OK, I needn't ask.

While Lebanon and other nations under pleas from the US and the UN are trying to get agreements on sending in peacekeepers, Israel is posturing for more war and destruction, supported by, if not encouraged by the US media and US government.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Israel must have known

the current would take the slick north away from their own shores. A decent storm is needed to carry the whole lot back south all the way down to Tel Aviv. The Lenanese could float bottles down with the slick with the message "there ya go - sort that fucking mess out"