"The resolution calling for a truce was passed by a vote of 14-0, but the US abstention will weaken its impact in Israel, where signals sent from Washington are taken very seriously and where an election is approaching. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, issued a statement this morning saying that the security council resolution was "not practical" and that the Gaza offensive would continue.

"The US change of mind came at the last moment, as a result of White House intervention following a call from Olmert. Rice was overridden and in the final vote, the US abstained. In her remarks afterwards, Rice made clear she backed the resolution, saying the US "fully supports" its goals, text and objectives. She said the US had abstained because Washington "thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation … in order to see what this resolution might have been supporting." However, that was an argument the US had made when the text was drafted.

"The incident marks the latest in a long line of issues on which the White House has overruled the state department, both under Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell. The hard line taken in support of Israel by George Bush and his vice-president, Dick Cheney, has been maintained until the last days of the administration."

The worst administration ever.  It is final days, the GOP-Bush regime is determined to preserve its failed and destructive foreign policy record.