LONDON, March 22 (UPI) -- The United States resisted calls for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon last summer, former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said.
Washington first wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah's military might, Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told BBC in an interview for a documentary next month.
The war began when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and the fighting quickly escalated into a full-blown conflict causing widespread destruction in southern Lebanon and numerous rocket attacks from Lebanon into Israel.
U.S. officials decided to join efforts to end the conflict when it became evident Israel's military campaign was not working, he said.
Bolton calls it "perfectly legitimate and good politics" for the Israelis to try to defeat their enemy militarily as it was acting in its own self-defense. He said he was "damned proud of what we did" in preventing an early cease-fire.
