President Bush's Palestinian Bombshell

April 4th, 2002 | Sabertooth

[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.

[Sabertooth]

I particularly liked the fact that arafat's name was NOT used in this speech.

Oh, you BushBasher!

Hey... Waitaminnit...!

[I still care]

What I got out of this phrase was, that if they don't stop the suicide bombings, they can kiss their state goodbye. When you think about it, that is a great CYA statement. You know they aren't going to stop. That gives Bush the option to do whatever he wants.

[MissAmericanPie]

Back before the election people asked me about what Bush was like and I said he has a very fatherly way about him, and this speech of his is a good example of it.

In a stern but quiet way, he leaves no wiggle room for his target to refuse to use reason instead of hysteria, and he demands, without demanding, that deeds are expected to follow reason. He leads his target like a child from logical step one to logical step two.

If one agrees that terrorism, violence against innocents is a bad thing, then there is no excuse or wiggle room to condone, excuse, or support it. This is why the Arab world is dancing around the definition of terrorism, this is why they will not call Arafat a terrorist, because they see the trap of logic and reason that has been set for them, the more they try to avoid the trap of truth, the more like brutal, morally void, animals they look like to the rest of the civilized world.

Bush is giving them quiet a lesson in camel trading.

[browardchad]

Too bad we can't just slap all these royal pretenders and unholy men around, take their oilwells and tell them to go back to riding camels. It's degrading to spend so much time and mental energy dealing with these sleazy characters with delusions of grandeur, while they wildly wave around their dirty weapons and use their people as canon fodder.

The British treated them as wayward, dangerous children, and now they've got the potential to destroy half the world, and the stupidity to get it done. Arghhhh.

[Lion's Cub]

am I the only one concerned about Bush's elevation of the UN?

No, you are not. People want to believe so badly that Bush will save our soveriegnty, that they are trying desperately to rationalize everything he does, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

[Sabertooth]

Bush is giving them quiet a lesson in camel trading.

What's this... another BushBasher gone soft?

[MissAmericanPie]

Heck no, I'm ready to eat his lunch on the borders and immigration. I question his integrity on alot of matters, but I also recognize the area's he is talented in and I support him in this war.

[The Great Satan]

I've been hoping, the last week, that Bush's silence was an effort to buy time.

Bush is very good at doing nothing, when that is the right thing to do. He really has the mentality of a businessman more than a pol. Set the long-term goal, move steadily towards it, no muss, no fuss, no histrionics, no grandstanding. He really is the Anti-Bubba.

[Dave S]

It is clear that we insisted that Arafat would not be exiled let alone killed

I believe you are wrong to blame that on us, alone. This was the position of the Israeli cabinet, especially those in the Israeli intelligence organizations that believed that exiling or killing Arafat would have led to more, not less violence.

[Sabertooth]

No, you are not. People want to believe so badly that Bush will save our soveriegnty, that they are trying desperately to rationalize everything he does, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

C'mon, look at some of the names agreeing with Bush on this thread.

Not exactly his regular cheering section.

[Dave S]

If Powell Goes to meet Arafag hes signing his DEATH WARRANT PEOPLE!!!!!! There is a VERY real possibility that Arafag will grab Powell and hold him as a HOSTAGE!!!!!he has now LITERRALLY nothing to lose by staging such an incident!!!!!. The dream of a Palestinian state is now KAPUT and HE KNOWS IT!!!!!

Take two pills and you will feel better in the morning.

[Valin]

Do you know how these sort of things (high level meeting) work?

[over3Owithabrain]

Here's what it looks like from my admittedly limited perspective:

Israel gets fed up with terrorists killing their citizens, particularly following the Passover massacre;
Israel clamps down on the networks, isolates Arafat, and shows brute force;
Bush throws his hands up and says he cannot blame Israel for defending themselves, tells them just be careful;
The world goes nuts in rage against Israel - the Arabs, the UN, the EU, the Pope, the international and American media, the US State Dept;
All these folks cry out to Bush to intervene and stop the Israel "invasion";
Bush within days tells Israel to pull back, using the very language of the UN, the EU, the Pope, and the media.

I'm really trying to see this as Bush being strong against known terrorists and firm in support of our true friend Israel, but I can't. Is there some secret deal worked out with Sharon and Bush, as some Bush supporters claim without evidence, as to excuse what is being seen and heard? I don't know - if not, we're all screwed.

[MissAmericanPie]

When Israel kicked the Arabs into Europe, the U.N. and the United States made them give back the Egyptian and Jordanian oil fields. The Arab world had not been sold the weapons that they have now. Egypt has been doing nothing with the foreign aid we have poured into them over the years but build up their military machine.

Israel cannot be sure that it can overcome all these surrounding nations with their upgraded armies like it did in the past.

[mrustow]

I watched Falwell go it alone on CNN fighting the liberals and Novak over the fact that Israel must be allowed to prevail over this even if it destroys the PA and exiles many many Palis to Jordan. Why is a typically despised by the left Christian fundie one of Israel's biggest cheerleaders?

Israel's most loyal friends in America are evangelical Christians. If only American Jews would follow the Evangelicals' example! (Bob Novak, on the other hand, while usually a very honest and reliable writer, is taken over by his anti-Semitic alter ego, whenever he writes about Israel.)

[Lion's Cub]

Come on, yourself :) We were talking about his elevating the UN...

[PleaseNoMore]

You know, I thought the same thing of his speech. It was a fatherly reprimand.

[Texasforever]

Israel cannot be sure that it can overcome all these surrounding nations with their upgraded armies like it did in the past.

I agree but any attack on Israel from the outside will bring the fires of hell down on them from us. I am talking about the internal problems that Israel can solve if the have they will to do so.