Posted on 04/06/2002 6:06:44 AM PST by Clive
'What do you make of Bush's speech? Cave-in? Or prelude to something bigger?"
This was the question flashed at me by an American blogger within seconds of the President concluding his address on Thursday. The speed of modern thought is astonishing, impressive. I took a minute to make up my mind, almost fearing someone else might hit the buzzer first. But having now slept on it, I'm sure the answer is: "Continuation of something bigger."
On the face of it, you would expect a speech that once again told Israel to pull back from its present military operation to destroy as much as possible of the terrorist infrastucture in the West Bank would demoralize U.S. allies, Israel in particular. Nothing but happy noises from there, so deep as I am able to plumb Israeli officialdom. Qualified approval from the Arab world. Whether more or less "moderate," every Arab government agreed that the part about Israel pulling back was "encouraging." They then ignored or mildly rebuked the long and rather feisty sections about aiding and abetting terrorism. In other words, the parts addressed to them.
The timing was notable, as an example of diplomatic craft, for the speech was made the day before Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, set out for Mr. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas -- in the awkward position of trying to support Mr. Bush while being obliged to tell him about opposition to his policies from many European colleagues. And the day after Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, had publicly told the U.S. to step out of the "peace process," and let the European and "moderate" Arab states step in, to the task of grinding concessions out of Israel. I rather think Mr. Bush relished driving his truck over Mr. Prodi's foot.
Europe is in pain, the more excruciating because it cannot be discussed in the candour with which I will now discuss it. In France especially, but also right across Europe, there has been an extraordinary series of attacks on Jewish synagogues, schools, businesses, community centres and individuals. These appear to be still escalating, a new Kristallnacht in which Jews across Europe are now beginning to seek cover, and once again finding little sympathy from their non-Jewish neighbours.
The reality is that Europeans are increasingly afraid of their Muslim immigrants. They see what is happening now in the West Bank and Gaza, and they genuinely fear it may explode in Europe's face -- that the suicide bombers will soon be crashing into their coffee shops, their discos, their pizzerias. It is the fear that these attacks on Jews, by youth gangs from Europe's impoverished Muslim ghettoes and slums, are the dreaded precursor of a far worse "clash of civilizations" to come.
So it is not anti-Semitism, though some of the old "aristocratic" distaste for Jews certainly adds to the flavouring. Rather it is the old European instinct to appeasement.
If the existence of Israel so antagonizes the Arabs, then why must we think about this "shitty little country"? Why won't Israel just go away? If the existence of the Jews antagonizes the Muslims, then why won't the Jews go away? ("Surely there are wide open spaces for them in Wyoming," as one correspondent unselfconsciously explained.)
That the great majority of Arab and other Muslims came to Europe to escape the oppression of their own societies, and that they share in the dread of the Islamist agitators, should go without saying. They are the first to realize that the fire has begun, that it will take tremendous will now to douse it. And yet they are themselves easy to intimidate within their own ghettoized communities; and they watch their children carried away in the Islamist breeze.
One of the ways we have had in North America of coming to terms with racial and cultural tensions, is to talk about them openly within our "melting pot." If a single synagogue were firebombed here, it would be on the front pages. But if you look through the European press, you find little desire even to report on such distasteful occurrences. News of the new Kristallnacht is played down, as if, when no one notices, it will go away.
It is not just the desire to capture the large and growing potential Muslim vote. It is a real fear that anything done on behalf of the Jews may further inflame the radical Muslim constituency. The mood is: "Leave us out of this."
Instead, the effort is invested in trying to bring Israel to heel, through a more comprehensive "peace process"; in demanding that the Israelis tame their inflammatory habit of trying to defend themselves against the terrorist onslaught.
President Bush's speech Thursday, more than any made before, was addressed to the Europeans and Arabs. He knows already that the Arabs will be deaf to anything he says on the subject of terrorism; he is hoping the Europeans will listen. He has the unenviable task of trying to wake old Europe, of saying: "Look, we cannot stand for this."
He is saying (and I paraphrase): "Look, let's put all our cards on the table. Let us confirm one last time in clear public view whether Mr. Arafat will stop inciting suicide bombers, whether the moderate Arab states will acknowledge Israel's right to be, whether they will unambiguously condemn the massacres of Israeli civilians in their state-controlled media, whether in fact we have anything to talk about. We need perfect clarity on all these points, and then we'll take it from there."
This is not a new departure from established American policy. It is a development of the policy heralded a fortnight ago when the vice president, Dick Cheney, invited Yasser Arafat to meet him in Cairo -- on the condition he first publicly condemn, in Arabic, all terrorist strikes on Israel -- an invitation that Mr. Arafat then nervily declined. Mr. Bush is in effect repeating the question, and concentrating everyone's attention on Mr. Arafat's reply. I should think that Mr. Bush, by now, is already convinced that he will give the wrong answer; but he does want everyone to hear, before he proceeds.
As I wrote before, even two weeks ago Mr. Cheney and the U.S., were thus stepping between Mr. Sharon and Mr. Arafat, "taking the next dance" as it were. Even yesterday, the U.S. envoy, Anthony Zinni, was reminding Mr. Arafat of the new context in which he is viewed -- that his known alliances with international terrorists, and with regimes such as those of Iran, Syria, and Iraq, were making him into a direct enemy, not just of Israel, but of the United States.
With his speech Thursday, Mr. Bush began to make the case at large, and very publicly. One of its subtexts, addressed to the "moderate" Arab states, and by extension Europeans, was, "How can I take seriously your demands that I restrain the Israelis, when you either won't or can't restrain the Palestinians, and Mr. Arafat can't even stop inciting suicide bombers?"
The speech would certainly have been a cave-in, if there had been any indication that the U.S. was actually twisting Israel's arm. The most intrusive demand on Israel, that it stop extending settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, had already been accepted by the Sharon government.
The hourglass was set on the present "Operation Defensive Wall," which may now have only several days to run before the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, arrives in theatre. But this operation has already achieved most of its objectives, in a surprisingly short time, thanks largely to the preparatory work of "Operation Root Treatment" before it. There have been huge intelligence hauls in Ramallah and elsewhere, weapons collecting on an unprecedented scale, and a breakthrough round-up of wanted terrorists. The feverish Palestinian executions of "collaborators" are among several indications that they, too, give the Israelis high marks.
At the time of writing, the operation still had not extended into the Gaza strip. I believe the reason is that the whole thing was aimed at Mr. Arafat's own terrorist infrastructure. With the isolation of Arafat in Ramallah, Gaza has increasingly become Hamas territory, to be dealt with separately, and less urgently, since Hamas is clearly on the U.S. State Department's list of international terror organizations, and will raise fewer objections in future.
The vexing question, "What to do with Arafat?" will, thanks to Mr. Bush's present posture, become more and more a public one. Earlier this week, according to my information, both the Israelis and the Americans were negotiating with Morocco's King Mohammed about his future digs.
Mr. Bush is now putting this question before the world: "We have to do something. Don't pretend we can look away."
And then there's this turd, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Prez Jimmah's Natl. Sec. Advisor who's been spewing all over cnn how President Bush's policy is incoherent.
Where do these cretins get the nerve? I can picture Zbiggie in front of his mirror in the morning saying,
"I AM NOT IRRELEVANT, I AM NOT IRRELEVANT, I AM NOT IRRELEVANT!
After the speach, which I watched live, I could not believe that the pundits saw the same one I did. I will keep an eye out for more by David Warren, he gets it.
How true and aren't we all?
Are the gas/petrol stations in Europe run by the Muslims, like they are in my area?
Imagine all the Muslim-run gas stations being blown up by their managers at a synchronized time.
Sorry, but I'm not comfortable having to probe my President's words for hidden meanings. Not long ago we had a President, a few years before the cloud of Clinton, who said what he meant and meant what he said. I long for those days.
ML/NJ
If you haven't done so, I urge everyone to read the 3-5 page section in Paul Johnson's book, "Modern Times," about France in Algeria. This is exactly the strategy the Algerian terrorists used against France---alienate the "moderates" and force people to choose sides. There is no faction in Palestine that wants "peace" in terms of any negotiated settlement. The purpose of the bombings is to MAKE Israel retaliate, then hope that the retaliation cuts Isreal off from Europe and, especially, the U.S. So far, it has done the opposite, if only slowly.
This is a joke, right?
Please post any data that suggests the result of a "massive" Arab offensive would be any different than the massive Arab offensives in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973.
They are cowards and terrible fighters. Killing little old ladies at seder is about their maximum offensive capability.
Please, now, tell us it was a joke?
Freerepublic, DU, Yahoo chatlogs... all are classified as weblogs... conversations and information that are collected and stored on web servers in such a way as they can be read, by members or publicly... the term for these has been (by slang creationists) reduced to "blogs" by webmasters... and the folks who attend, contribute, read faithfully and post responses to and from the web logs are termed "bloggers" short for "web loggers".
YOU and I are bloggers. This place is a blogsite.
We are at war with "evil doers" ... but then again that depends on who is the do-eee.
Ridiculous... arafat has NOT been humiliated... he humiliates HIMSELF. Israel pointing out he is a liar, killer and brutal oppressor of his own people... may SEEM like they are rubbing our faces in it... but ONLY IN a nutty arab nation, could telling the truth be considered a "Humiliation".
There is far more power in just one aircraft carrier, than there is in the entire ARAB STREET put together. Our firepower, should we choose to go "all the way" is absolutely irresistable. Period.
Should we choose to to, there would be NO ARAB STREET, per se, fifteen minutes from now. NONE.
Yes the outcry would be mournful, NO the land would NOT be useable for a long time, and YES we would be wrong to go that far... the issue is WE COULD, WE CAN and if it comes down to us facing another 9-11 or killing them all, along with the innocents, like we did in our war with Japan... don't think for ONE second we would NOT do whatever it takes. WE will take any action, go anywhere and pay ANY PRICE to see that freedom will be upheld.
The "doubt" that arabs have regarding our willingness or capacity to do whatever it takes, and wipe them out, will be their undoing. They fail to realize that between where we are in our war effort and total annihilation, are hundreds of steps, degrees, and levels of EFFECTIVE and VERY SAFE methods we have of wiping out their ability to defend themselves at all, even against an army of depends-wearing, little old blue-haired ladies.
Ultimately EVERY city of the ARAB world is nothing to our military commanders, in an all out war, than a set of geo coordinates on a map. Push a button... 900 thousand cease to exist. Push another button, THREE specific people are taken, while the ones right next to them, are left... more or less.
We don't because of our CHRISTIAN morality of as a nation, demands that we protect life as much as we can whilst defending our selves and our allies. Arabs who count on this as a weakness to be exploited, in the face of their increased levels of terrorist activity, are in the process of humiliating themselves. WE WILL DESTROY THE THEM. Period.
Easy or hard, nice or not nice... or anything in between, they will be hunted down, smoked out, and destroyed, utterly. We will do it in our own way, and consistent with our own convenience. Israel has helped us immensely by taking out much of the threat internally, so as not to impede our killing of the hydra in Iraq and OTHER PLACES not yet known to be "on the list".
Iraq may just be, the new autonomous palestinian nation, or not. Don't be afraid of the arabs. They are only as much of a problem as our logistics situations allow them to be, on a case by case basis. Obstacles will be overcome. WE will assert ourselves. They will humiliate themselves. It is the nature of inferior cultures to do stupid things. Arabic culture is stupid. Only Turkey so far has seen this and repressed it islamic hordes... and brought some level of hope to its people. Other islamic/arab nations will have to follow the wise choices of the turks, if they are to enjoy existence in the next millenia.
So what is left for them to use?
Answer...Missiles.
Syria has calculated that she cannot defeat the IDF via the mechanized route or via Airpower.
For 2 decades plus Syria has divereted her spending to missile programs..and protected launch facilities.
Russia,China,North Korea and Iran have been busy like bee's in Syria.
Lessons were learned during the Gulf war...in most cases Saddams underground facilities were easily accessible to U.S. munitions..but there were some foreign built structures..very deep..and with layered..concrete/dirt /concrete sub levels.
The U.S. munitions at that time where stretched to fully penetrate and destroy..in some cases..they did'nt.
This model..now finds its reproduction in Syria.
Syria now hosts a multitude of deep layered facilties for the building..storage and launch of their missiles.
Warhead yeilds are not of great value..but the strategy is Russian/Chinese...numbers.
The U.S. and Israel have been working closely on this facility issue..several achievements have occured in the form of deep penetrating nuclear ordinance.
The Syrian strategy hypothesized is to hit Israel with a combination of Bio chem weapons...and runway busting missiles, and of course Israels Nuclear sites.
Removing Israels ability to stage the IAF in the first minutes is critical doctrine to them.
Syrias vulnerability comes via chain of command..and inability to ramp up things without the Intel knowing it.
Intel being America and Israel.
Flanked by the Mediterranean..they are vulnerable.
Critical doctrine reveals that Israel will infact pre-empt them..she has too.
Syria's sites are all known..satillite has them mapped.
Israel has several options..they would be multi-layered to gaurantee success.
Israel would most likely drop squads with demolition expertise to close the openings to these facilites...these troops would litterly be sacrificed as they might not be able to be extridited.
Air drop deep penetrating nukes for facilites the IDF feels thay cannot get near to via the ground would occur.
In the same window of time..following on after the first wave engages would come multi-phasing EMP to shatter Syrias com /grid.
Satillite passes would reveal what is operational and what isn't.
After the EMP had dispersed..Israels Airforce could mop up what remains.
Israel will have to catch them off guard..and nail the most critical sites in the first hour...nuetronic ordinance will be used aswell.
The missile command and com link are Israels first targets..air facilites and ground to air sites would only factor in if they jeopordized the assult.
This has to be pulled off within 1 hour..or it will not work.
Unless has secretly converted to aircraft such as the Harrier her Air assets are vulnerable..and this is Her greatest tactical asset.
Back to Islam:
Eventually..Syria will be manipulted to Engage Israel with her missile command.
To Islam..it is an asset..it must be used.
Russia..China..Iran..will all be pulling strings to bring this about.
The Palestinians..Hizbullah..they are the earlier chess peices moved...expendable.
Islam allready possess nuclear warheads..afew..more will be given them as the confidence levels grow.
On final:
Prophetic scripture reveals a consistant theme..litterly names the cites and areas where Syrias missiles and command centres are...the message..they are destroyed in one hour!
This is the next threshold the mid-east will cross..it is certain to happen.
That is confusing as hell... can I quote you... < / verywidegrin >
It is somewhat like being hit by a 300 car freight train, which was convincingly disquised as a fifth avenue, hooker.
The arab street is foaming at the mouth. europe is pissing itself... the israelis are counting cou and collecting a few scalps. the suicide nail bombers have been SEVERELY halted. Most of the "volunteer" palestinian nail salesman are dead or in jail. Tony and Bush are putting the finesse on the move into the NEXT theatre of action. Iran. or is it Iraq... kinda of a kool week.
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