See post 127.
Posted on 04/04/2002 7:52:27 PM PST by Sabertooth
ON reviewing President Bush's outstanding speech today on the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, I was struck by the following passage...
"I call on the Palestinian people, the Palestinian Authority, and our friends in the Arab world to join us in delivering a clear message to terrorists. Blowing yourself up does not help the Palestinian cause. To the contrary, suicide bombing missions could well blow up the best and only hope for a Palestinian state."
Let's look at that last line again...
"To the contrary, suicide bombing missions could well blow up the best and only hope for a Palestinian state."
For the first time since the Oslo folly, we see the possibility that there might not necessarily be a second "palestinian" state in the Middle East. Jordan of course, is the first.
This is a very hopeful sign.
Let Israel be Israel.
What a tragedy...Yankel Rosenbaum...and those savages were egged on by Sharpton who still garners national attention....I wonder why Morris Dees hasn't pursued him for egging on racist murderers?....Your sister is a self hating Jew,...did I get that correctly. Sad ...very sad.
Yes I agree that some Jewish lefties are starting to see the light....on Israel...Thank God.....I just wish the Powell wing of our administration would as well.
You are correct...European "Christians"...mainly apostate in my view are I hate to admit it....arguably plain anti-Jewish...and hence anti-Israel....plus they seem to love percieved underdogs....even savage one like the Pali terrs....not unlike American liberals in that sense.
ZOG...is neo-Nazi codespeak for Zionist Occupied Government....LOL....well if there was a ZOG...they are doing a piss poor job taking care of Israel aren't they. Some of them call themselves Christians...don't be fooled....they are really mythology driven nutcases cloaking with Christianity...some are even Odinists..LOL
My ex-father in law is a former lifelong Phalangist living in exile in Brasil. He loves Israel...mainly because he loathes the Palis and Shiites so much.
Regards...the story about your sister is troubling. We have ...for lack of a better word...traitors...down here as well. They too will sacrifice the heritage of their ancestors on the altar of political correctness simply in order to sate their misguided appetite for a sense of self virtue.
Good Night!
Sounds like Serpenthead James Carville, hands down.
You do realize that the terrorists WANT to turn this into a global war between Islam and everything else, don't you?
You might stop to consider that the diplomatic efforts which are visible all revolve around structuring every Western response such that a full-scale religious war does not ensue.
Because that way, we get to pick them off one by one at a schedule of our choosing, rather than having to fight them all at once...
See post 127.
Truth is, the musli don't want the pallie state, unless it takes enough strategic land from Israel that they can defeat her in wave after wave of suicide nail bombers. they don't want land for peace. They want Israel exterminated.
I wonder, if all of Islam is this nuts, WHY and HOW Turkey stands with Israel and HOW they make that jibe with their muslim faith??? Ever seen a turk explain that???
Sharon wanted 10 days to kill people and break things - Bush gave him cover for that much time before calling in Powell.
In one simple sentence you've exposed the true motive behind the complaints. You are both anti-black and anti-semitic. How do you keep those bloodlines, and your sheets, so white?
You might stop to consider that the diplomatic efforts which are visible all revolve around structuring every Western response such that a full-scale religious war does not ensue.
Because that way, we get to pick them off one by one at a schedule of our choosing, rather than having to fight them all at once...
Your analysis hits the nail on the head. Bush has laid down very clearly the criteria for dealing with the pali-arab-islamist factions. Each nation-state can clean up the extremist messes, or in time the US will have no choice, but to do so. But at the time, place and with tactics of our chosing.
Bush Makes the Right Move
The president seeks peace without abandoning principle.
Friday, April 5, 2002 12:01 a.m.
Well that was one big, broad, bold statement from our president on the Mideast yesterday. His Rose Garden speech seemed to come late in the drama, but it may turn out that George W. Bush spoke at the right moment--when the action had reached its peak, with the Church of the Nativity surrounded, the tanks rolling through Nablus and on to Hebron, the watching world exhausted, and the rush of adrenaline that had sustained both sides the past week wearing off, leaving some combatants shaky and wondering no doubt if there wasn't a way back from the brink. Mr. Bush's speech said there was. And he demonstrated it by seeming to take a step back himself from his own previous statements. Although his people will soon be calling it not a step back but an elaboration or extension of his previous position.
His announcement that he would send Secretary of State Colin Powell to Israel next week appears to be risky--certainly all the foreign-affairs professionals are calling it a big gamble--but it isn't, really. Things are so bad in the Mideast that if Mr. Powell makes any progress at all, sending him will seem a brilliant move. If Mr. Powell fails, who wouldn't have failed? It's the Mideast. And what would failure look like, anyway? Just more of the same.
As for how Mr. Powell's presence will be perceived, the Arab world, which understands him to be one Bush cabinet member who is not reflexively pro-Israeli, will not complain; the Israelis understand him to be representing a president with a history of commitments to Israel; the Europeans see him as an American who has a detached view of the Mideast.
And Mr. Powell is a national and international hero. He has the power of the unhated man. His presence has force because his persona is dense with meaning: hero, leader, minority member who struggled to triumph in white institutions, a dove by nature who knows how to fight. He knows how to say tough things in a boring way, a great talent in diplomacy. He radiates warmth but is a reactor cool at the core. He can lower the temperature just by walking in. And the world press both admires and enjoys celebrating him.
So he's a good man to send at a time such as this. And just as Mr. Powell needs Mr. Bush in order to continue as secretary of state, Mr. Bush needs Mr. Powell for the signals his presence sends, and for the stature he lends. They need each other, know it, negotiate around it without acknowledging it, and work well together.
As for Mr. Bush's speech, it was impressive and, I suspect, clever. What was needed was a definitive statement of America's understanding of, and views on, what is happening in the Mideast, but a statement that didn't make things hotter or more passionate or encourage action that would not be helpful. Mr. Bush needed to give the world a sense of the context as he sees it. What was not needed was rhetorical flight, and he didn't take one. He needed words that weren't each of them little hand grenades but words that had a simple and definite meaning that became sentences that, strung together, built a suspension bridge of thought and well-meaning. That's what he did. Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis hold the immediate guilt; a fanaticism which "induces" an 18-year-old Palestinian girl to strap a bomb on her back and blow herself up, killing a 17-year-old Israeli girl, is the evildoer. "Suicide bombers are not martyrs," Mr. Bush said, "they're murderers, and they undermine the cause" for which they stand.
He said, essentially, that both sides in the struggle have a case, a plea that can be made to the world's conscience. He made it clear he remains a supporter of Israel's right to defend itself and to assert its right to nationhood and freedom. "I speak as a committed friend to Israel." But Israeli settlement activity must stop, and Israel should "lay the foundations of future peace" by halting its incursions into Palestinian areas, and in fact withdrawing from them. He asked Israel to show "a respect" for those who feel humiliated by the actions of its soldiers.
This was a step back from Mr. Bush's previous statements that Israel had a right to defend herself, period.
At the same time Mr. Bush made no bows to Yasser Arafat, saying he had "betrayed the hopes of his people" by failing to strongly or steadily oppose terrorism. Mr. Bush warned that terrorism could "blow up" the best chance for a Palestinian homeland. He challenged the leaders of Arab countries to play a constructive role, and warned Syria and Iran that they must "stay out" of the conflict.
At the end of remarks some bravado: He expects better leadership in the Mideast, and "I expect results."
The most surprising aspect of Mr. Bush's remarks was that they were so specific. They were not bland and vague as one might have expected from a diplomatic statement by a president to a world that fears a widening war. His remarks were highly specific and informational, full of citations on United Nations resolutions and support of past peace plans that could become a blueprint for progress. Which means his remarks gave everyone--the Palestinians, the Israelis, the Europeans, the foreign-policy community, the media, the Arab street, the Israeli street--something to think about, chew over. As most people can't think, chew and shoot at the same time, his specificity may turn out to have been a contribution.
But in general, at times like this, an American president simply has to speak. He must come forward with a voice that reflects the thinking of a great nation that is trying to be fair. It is good he finally spoke, good that he was comprehensive, good that he launched a new mission. To use the word good three times in a piece about the Mideast after the past six months feels . . . pretty good.
Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal. Her new book, "When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan," is just out from Viking Penguin. You can buy it here at the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Fridays.
Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
On another note, I am very curious to see how the meeting with Arafart and Zinni go today.
You mean you guys are both physicians?
Or maybe both a place to park boats?
Great point, although the myth of Midddle Eastern unity is overblown.
Iran: Not Arabic, Persian, and keeping with your theme, ripe for the plucking. Over 50% of population under age 25 and really chafing under Islamic theocracy. They want modernity NOW. Tick Tock.
Syria: yesterday reports the government sentenced a political reformist to 5 years. Pretty bold move for the reformist, in a country that used to have no dissent. Tick Tock
I don't mention Iraq; foregone conclusion. Saudi Arabia: 11% of our imports and declining. See below.
Only remaining wild card worth serious concern is Egypt. They won't stand alone after the dominos start to fall.
Libya: effectively neutered by Reagan. All others: see domino principle above. IMHO
Just as revealing was the reaction from the European media. In the American press, you read things like: "An observer to the bomb-blast scene described a dead young girl, perhaps 10 or 12, lying on the ground with her eyes open, looking as if she was surprised." For Europe, on the other hand, the main significance of this development was that it was "unhelpful" to the "peace process". Before I'm accused of being more upset about dead Jewish than dead Muslim kids, let me say that I take people at their own estimation: in the Palestinian Authority schools, they teach their children about the glories of martyrdom; indeed, the careers guidance counsellor appears to have little information on alternative employment prospects; at social events, the moppets are dressed up as junior jihadi, with toy detonators and play bombs. It's not that I place less value on Palestinian lives, but that Chairman Arafat and his chums in Hamas do. So does Saddam Hussein, whose government (the subject of an admiring article in this week's Spectator) gives $25,000 to the family of each Palestinian suicide bomber. So does the Arab League, which at last year's summit passed a resolution hailing the "spirit of sacrifice" of the Palestinian "martyrs" and thus licensed Wednesday's massacre. As for the "peace process", those Europeans who, just a few months ago, were urging the Americans to cease operations for Ramadan evidently feel no compunction to demand from Chairman Arafat and his dark subsidiaries any similar "bombing pause" for Passover.
In the days after September 11, we were told that Muslims had great respect for their fellow "people of the book" - ie, Jews and Christians. This ought to be so: after all, the dramatis personae of the Koran include Abraham, Moses, David, John the Baptist, Jesus and the Virgin Mary. It's one thing to believe that the Israelis are occupiers and oppressors and that the Zionist state should not exist. But no Muslim with any understanding of his shared heritage could in good conscience blow up a Passover Seder. It marks a new low in the Palestinians' descent into nihilism - though, as usual, the silence of the imams is deafening. As for the nonchalance of the Europeans, that too should not surprise us: in my experience, the Continent's Christians, practising and nominal, find the ceremonies of Jewish life faintly creepy, notwithstanding that these were also the rituals by which their own Saviour lived.
But this year, when the Christians' solar calendar and the Jews' lunar calendar have coincided and Easter and Passover fall together, it's a safe bet that George W Bush will make the connection. The first time I ever heard him speak, he spoke openly about his faith and about Christ in a way that would be unimaginable for a British politician. He will know all the details - "the baby tried to crawl away, but it died, too".......................
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