Sharon was given a free hand for two months, Why did he not take Arafat out? How many hints did Sharon need? I am about to wash my hands of Israel and its supporters on this site. If you people represent the State of Israel then a pox on both your houses.
If they played chess they wouldn't think passed the first move. For each and every action the US takes on anything there is also a price. We pay people billions to way these for our Gov't and then they have to move the chess pieces the way they will cause the least damage to the country. I know because I've been doing it for the Gov't for the past 20 years ! You lay out all the options and all the possible results and most of the time the final decision is pretty much a slam dunk becasue the overriding question for the Gov't is "what's in our best interest" for state and "what's best for national security" for the military.
It's not always a conservative or liberal issue but this is how some think !
He was threatened not to by the Arabs and we concured. Sharon had no choice.
Peace will only come when Israel occupies enough 'buffer' to defend itself and the Palistinians are absorbed by Jordan, Syria, Saudia etc.
IMO, we have a common enemy. By 'we' I mean Israel, Russia and Serbia to name a few. If not full efford now, when we can, then when?
Oh man, you did it now.