This is incredibly disappointing:

Rice resists immediate ceasefire at summit

Crisis talks on Lebanon yesterday ended with public divisions over the need for an immediate ceasefire and without agreement on who could lead an international military force for the region, or what its mandate should be.

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, resisted pressure to demand an instant end to Israel's military offensive, insisting that any ceasefire must be "sustainable" and that there could be no return to the previous status quo.

Underlining the differences at the conference in Rome, the Italian Foreign Minister, Massimo D'Alema, said many participants appealed for an immediate and unconditional truce "to reach, with utmost urgency, a ceasefire that puts an end to the current violence and hostilities". Ms Rice won backing from Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, who said: "Even if you could get a ceasefire half an hour ago, you would probably be back in hostilities in a few days." When asked about the timescale for ending the fighting, Ms Beckett said: "We are looking at days, not weeks."

In Israel, meanwhile, the full impact of what was easily the worst day for its military since its offensive in Lebanon began 15 days ago was proving hard to absorb. Yesterday saw one of the worst death tolls of soldiers in a single day since the Operation Defensive Shield incursion into Jenin, in the West Bank, four years ago.

It comes at a time when sections of the media have started to question the validity of the strategy - but not the goals - pursued by the Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. The loss of soldiers in war is one thing; losses without tangible results in security might be another.

A ceasefire is a freakin' ceasefire.  It stops things like wanton death and destruction.  It ends potential international and domestic losses of life, limb and property that are irreplaceable.  It helps ensure a tenuous tranquility so that negotiations can be initiated without the duress of worrying about whether the next big "boom" will signify a catastrophe that can neither be broached nor forgotten due to the horror it inflicts.  A cease-freakin'-fire prevents more bloodshed, Condi, you pig-ignorant incompentent NeoLackey.  Isn't that the freakin' goal of someone claiming to belong to the culture of freakin' life?

It's the GOAL and OBJECTIVE of DIPLOMACY to actuate the sustainability of it, to shift the quiescent "status quo" to a more "pro-peace" status.

Resisting a ceasefire for wont of a "sustainability" guarantee is a failure of diplomacy and leadership on a massive scale: it's incompetence in action through incompetent inaction, and an insult to a nation founded upon the tenets of "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

The world will hopefully mourn the passing of the spirit of America and join us in solemn dedication toward the resurrection and restoral of same, now and through the final hours of the coming November elections.

We'll need all the support we can get.  Our ship of state just sailed off the edge of the flat earth, and has begun to free-fall into the great abyss of insignificance.  :(

UPDATE: Please check out Yoss's excellent and well-reseached diary United States Middle East Policy: The IRAQ Effect (War=Peace) for more detailed info on this mess.