Posted on 04/09/2002 1:56:05 PM PDT by RCW2001
Bush pullout demands make him target of Israeli ire | |
By Matt Spetalnick ELON MOREH, West Bank, April 9 (Reuters) - Members of an Israeli tank brigade waging an offensive in the West Bank found a unique way to show how they felt about the U.S. president -- they adopted a stray dog and named it "George W. Bush". "He's a cowboy," one soldier said as the brown pit-bull terrier prowled an Israeli hilltop encampment overlooking the city of Nablus. "He barks a lot," said a second. "But he's useless," another chimed in. Bush's ever more strident demands for an end to Israel's 12-day-old military campaign in Palestinian areas has struck a sour note among army commanders and their troops -- a reflection of growing resentment among the Israeli public as a whole. "If the U.S. had this problem of terrorism, they wouldn't ask for permission. They would finish the job like they did in Afghanistan," said Commander Oran Ben Goya, head of Israeli forces in the eastern part of Nablus, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the past few days. Opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Israelis support the operation, which the army has depicted as an effort to crush a "terror infrastructure" behind a recent spate of suicide attacks in a Palestinian uprising against occupation. Many Israelis believe Bush has turned against the Israeli campaign because he wants to mollify Arab states to shore up his global anti-terror alliance ahead of possible military action against Iraq. Since the Jewish state can ill afford to alienate its chief ally and provider of $3 billion in annual aid, most commentators believe a pull-out will be well under way by the time U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives at the end of the week. RUNNING OUT OF TIME Israeli commanders expressed deep frustration that they were running out of time to complete their mission. "I don't think we will be able to do all we wanted to do," Ben Goya said. "That means we may have to come back again." Israeli forces have fought fierce battles, house by house and alley by alley, in Nablus's ancient casbah market area and in a refugee camp in the nearby city of Jenin. Both have been subjected to heavy bombardment by tanks and helicopter gunships. Army officers say soldiers stationed at Elon Moreh, a Jewish settlement overlooking Nablus, peer down with high-powered telescopes on neighbouring refugee camps and see Palestinian gunmen roaming freely. But officers say they have yet to strike key militant strongholds in the camps and are increasingly doubtful they will be allowed to undertake such operations before they are ordered to end their offensive. The army's mood was further darkened on Tuesday by the killing of 13 Israeli soldiers in an ambush in a refugee camp in Jenin, the worst single blow to the Middle East's best-equiped armed forces in 18 months of conflict. Ben Goya said that while the Israelis hold the advantage of advanced weaponry, Palestinian fighters are more familiar with the terrain and have employed an array of deadly booby-traps and trip wires that have forced soldiers to tread carefully. CAUGHT OFF GUARD The Israeli offensive was launched after 27 people were killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber who blew himself up in an Israeli seaside hotel during a Passover holiday celebration. International protests against the military operations that ensued have shocked Israelis, who see the campaign as a legitimate drive to root out terror. The army says it has killed at least 200 Palestinians, many of them wanted militants, though Palestinian officials say civilians have borne the brunt of the onslaught. Israelis, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, seem to have been caught off guard by the Texas-raised president's uncompromising demands for a withdrawal from all Palestinian-ruled cities and towns. "The Texans, as any American knows, are a breed of their own," political commentator Hemi Shalev wrote in the Israeli daily Maariv. "Sharon apparently did not take into account President George Bush's short Texan fuse when he decided to ignore him for many days." ((Jerusalem newsroom, +972 2 537 0502, jerusalem.newsroom@reuters.com))
09 APR 2002 20:20:07 Bush pullout demands make him target of Israeli ire
Unless you are GW Bush himself, you cannot rule my theory out.
I hear you.
Yours is just another opinion. However, I disagree completely.
You sound like a leftist. Good job.
Okay, Mr. Armchair General... What would YOU do? (As if it matters.)
He called it 'Resolution Fatigue.' Funny.
That is easily the most ridiculous and unsubstantiated allegation I've read since coming back online.
"Bush is a wuss and he doesn't have any ideas about what to do or when to do it."
Refer my reply to the first item.
"What happened in Afghanistan?"
We whacked the Taliban.
"Are we done there,"
No.
"...do we have an exit plan?"
Yes.
"What's next?"
We'll find out as soon as the psyche warfare stage is over who is the real target.
"He hasn't got the faintest idea."
In truth, YOU'RE the one who seems not to have the faintest idea, because you have far more questions than answers.
Now General, list all the repercussions of you decision. As you know any Good General can tell the commander in chief all the repercussions for all the actions he/she recommends !
I bet after you get done with your list you will rethink your recommendation ?
During a war, people have to make sacrifices, people die. Been there done that. If necessary we go to a wartime economy, so be it. If nothing else it will help the american people to develope a backbone and an understanding that they have to stand up and take care of themselves.
I have faith in the american people and I believe that we will survive as a nation far stronger than we are today.
You talk of repercussions, what repercussions, maybe the EU countries will not like us, hell they don't like us now. Maybe that we will have to fight china, that's going to happen anyway. What bad things will befall us in your opinion.
Eyes wide open: the West cannot afford to abandon Israel. The president knows that. It is therefore highly unlikely that the US will abandon Israel. In a perfect world, no statesman would pay lip service enemy states in the name of diplomacy. Of course, in a perfect world, there wouldn't be terrorists.
I don't know what polls you're talking about that take Israel's side. Certainly not Zogby. Perhaps it's the Palestinian grenaders who're changing public opinion against themselves.
Are you referring to these events or my take on them?
Your optimism regarding Bush and Powell's motives is unwarranted.
What exactly has Bush done to earn such optimism?
Regarding Powell's motives - I could care less. He takes orders from Bush.
Regarding Bush, I freely admit that you could be right. Maybe everything is exactly as it appears, that Bush is little better than Clinton or his father in appeasing the Arabs and terrorists. I pray that I'm wrong, or we are in big trouble.
However, things are rarely as they appear in public, particularly with regard to politicians or military strategy. Something is missing - Bush can't be that bad, not after what he ordered in Afghanistan. He has some pretty smart people around him that happen to be hardliners in favor of action by Israel, namely Cheney and Rumsfeld. The fact is that taking the stand he has publicly has, and will continue to, undermine our efforts against terrorists. I find it hard to believe that Bush doesn't know this, that he would allow his ace in the hole vs. the Dems to just disappear by acting like Clinton. He's too intelligent, contrary to the claims of the presstitutes. You don't get to be President if you are a dunce. It does, however, help to have your enemies underestimate you.
This is just too obvious, too easy for the bad guys to have the US really pressuring Israel as we have been. There is something going on that we don't know about yet.
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