[a_witness]

Let's not kid ourselves. Bush has caved in to Powell and Rice who choose the House of Saud and Esau over the House of Jacob. We are witnessing a betrayal of biblical proportions.

A man of deceit and fierce countenance will betray Israel.

[RnMomof7]

Let's not kid ourselves. Bush has caved in to Powell and Rice who choose the House of Saud and Esau over the House of Jacob. We are witnessing a betrayal of biblical proportions.

I fear you are correct

[Texasforever]

A man of deceit and fierce countenance will betray Israel.

You are an idiot. Let's get something straight right now, It is not the United States obligation to fight Israel's battles for them, especially one this insignificant. They have Arafat in the net, if they don't reel him in then maybe Israel should just disband because they have shown themselves to be incapable of the will survive. Don't spout Biblical prophesy because God helps those that helps themselves.

[Sabertooth]

Let's not kid ourselves. Bush has caved in to Powell and Rice who choose the House of Saud and Esau over the House of Jacob. We are witnessing a betrayal of biblical proportions.

I believe you're forgetting our approaching war with Iraq, who has WMDs.

We're in the situation Churchill was in WWII, when he posessed the German "Enigma Code." In order to win the war, it was necessary to sacrifice cities.

The reason Bush and Sharon "tolerate" the suicide bombers is because we need to avoid unifying the Arabs before we take out Saddam...

Not because Bush is involved in a "betrayal of biblical proportions."

[Jorge]

Let's not kid ourselves. Bush has caved in to Powell and Rice who choose the House of Saud and Esau over the House of Jacob. We are witnessing a betrayal of biblical proportions.

A man of deceit and fierce countenance will betray Israel.

Sound the alarm! The anti-christ is in the White House! (let's not kid ourselves..right) LOL.

[rwfromkansas]

lol

[StoptheDonkey]

A man of deceit and fierce countenance will betray Israel.

An amazing description of Ariel Sharon !

[brat]

"Let's not kid ourselves. Bush has caved in to Powell and Rice who choose the House of Saud and Esau over the House of Jacob. We are witnessing a betrayal of biblical proportions."......That was also my take. I felt a betrayal, a bending of the spine due to influence. I don't think its Rice and Powell though. I think he's bending to world pressure, because they are virtually all proPalestinian. We need to contact the WhiteHouse and support Bush...let him know that we stand by him if he supports Israel.

[i are a cowboy]

The idea that President Bush is betraying Israel is myopic. If you believe that President Bush has not discussed his statement with the Israelis prior to it's announcement, you are living in a cave. I have listened to the Israeli counsel and in each case he has done nothing but praise the president for his actions. So I believe if they are not upset by the president when it is their future at stake what makes you think you have a better grasp on the situation. There is a great deal at stake with every decision the president makes. While we do not need Arab support for any future campaigns against the "axis of evil" we do need bases to operate from and alienating those countries that would have to host such bases would seriously restrict if not eliminate our ability to carry out those campaigns. Not every decision President Bush makes will be understood in their full context but IMOH I trust his judgement and that of his team

[My2Cents]

Here's my take: 1) Bush laid out the futility of the current Palestinian course of action. He asserted, in strong terms, Israel's right to defend itself, and it's right to exist as a nation. 2) Bush urged the Israeli's to pull back from the West Bank. This was so he could lay down an ultimatum to the Arab world: "As Israel steps back, the Arab nations need to step forward, and show they are for peace..." (I'm paraphrasing, but that's what he said). 3) He's sending Colin Powell, which I think represents the best, last hope of putting any kind of peace process back on track. He's also, for the moment, deferring to Powell and Condi Rice on the issue of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, rather than the more hawkish members of his administration. 4) He's showing the EU and the rest of the world that he's going way out of his way to give the Oslo process one last, sincere chance.

What all of this adds up to, in my view, is that he's giving his "doves" in the Administration one last opportunity to prove their correct to trust Arafat. He's giving Arafat one last opportunity to deal sincerely with Israel and work for a final peace. And he's giving the Arab nations one last opportunity to exert their influence on Arafat and the outlaw groups like Hamas and Hezbullah to cease and desist from violence, to recognize and normalize relations with Israel, and to usher in peace. The old paradigm is being given one last opportunity to produce a real peace.

I suspect that Bush realizes that, in all likelihood, this effort will fail. But then he can tell the world that it failed after every effort was made by the US to broker a lasting peace between the pertanent parties, but the pertanent parties don't want peace. And when the effort fails, Powell will have to abandon Arafat; the US can stop playing the game that the Arab world is a sincere partner for peace; we can stop pretending that Arafat is a partner for peace; we can condemn the Palestinians as murderous thugs; we can get 100% behind Israel, who is really our only friend in the region; we can move on to eliminate Saddam, and perhaps have Israel assist us openly in our war on terror. In short, Bush is giving the old way of doing things one last major chance. When that effort fails, we can stop being accommodating to Arab disingenuiousness, and we can get real in our war on terror.