Posted on 04/13/2002 11:20:46 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:52:34 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
I would not vote for Bush if the primary election were held today
What - does he have a gas mask on?
If arafat has been able to control hamas, and despite his previous "oaths" has not done so, he cannot be trusted, SO WHY talk to him.
on the other hand, if arafat has been unable to control the minions of evil in his territory of responsible, then talking to him now about stopping the terror, is akin to asking my three year old, how to rebuild my cylinder heads on the car.... If arafat is NOT the man, why negotiate with him, instead of the mail man or the dog catcher? If he is the man, he is such a liar, he cannot be trusted to keep his word and thus negotiations are still meaningless.
This is the CATCH 22 of his lifetime. This has to mean powell's visit has an alternative purpose...
WHAT COULD THAT BE? More tactical delay???
Or, the vacation offer arafat cannot refuse??? or both?
Who on fox said that?
I don't think this is about giving arafat aid. Perhaps we are giving him his ticket to punch, or a punched ticket?
Richard Cook, West Bank field director for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, said dead bodies were piling up.Following his meeting with five officials of U.N. and Red Cross aid groups, Powell announced the United States will contribute an additional $30 million for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency on top of the $80 million already contributed annually.
Through the U.S. Agency for International Development, the administration is providing $62 million in assistance for health care, water system repairs and emergency food aid, Powell said.
"We call upon the international community to do all it can to help at this time of exceptional Palestinian need," he said.
He did it with the EP3 plane, he did it with the taxes, he did it with CFR, he did it with the N. Korea nuclear plant, and he's done it with his "war" on terrorism. That's why he seems to waffle.
His position statements are merely bids in negotiations rather than statements of principle.
To hear the critics tell it, the Bush administration hasn't merely gone soft on terrorism, it's virtually surrendered to terrorism. The war on the bad guys is over. The battle for civilization -- like the Bush Doctrine itself -- is no more. Neville Chamberlain has taken the reigns.Somewhere along the way, Team Bush -- the object of nearly unanimous praise for its conduct of the War on Terror -- suddenly, inexplicably, went ga-ga for Jihadists. War-hawks, overnight, morph into pusillanimous doves -- patriots transmute into cowards. Plans for war on Iraq are scrapped, as flower-power White House staffers, prinked in sandals and beads, adorn the halls with pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama.
In the Oval Office, hippie vibes charge the air as thick as Marijuana fog over Woodstock, as Condi, Rummy and Cheney join Bush in soothing chants of 'give peace a chance'.
Down the hallway, Karl Rove and Andy Card bang the bongos, bellowing Edward Starr's lyrics, "War-Huh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"
At the White House press room, a harried Ari Fleischer scrambles to brief reporters on Bush's new 'Read-my-lips, no-more-war!' agenda.
Flower Children, move over -- let Team Dubya take over!
Kidding aside, despite cries of 'sell-out' and 'betrayal' from critics, Sec. Powell's face-to-face with Arafat is anything but. What some blithely dismiss as dalliance with terror is, below the surface, elaborately choreographed diplomatic razzle-dazzle -- a piece of shrewd strategy aimed at addling the 'Arab street' in preparation for war on Iraq.
As Bush sees it, his consummate mandate isn't Mideast peace, but adverting a nuclear 9-11. Everything else is ancillary to the paramount goal of toppling Saddam Hussein. The Bush people realize the threat to U.S. vital interests posed by a nuclear-armed Saddam makes Arafat et al pale by comparison.
As vile and evil as Arafat is, Saddam Hussein remains the world's preeminent terrorist -- his regime, the unchallenged 'mother-of-all-terrorist' organizations. The Sword of Democles is in Baghdad, not Ramallah.
But turmoil in the Mideast is Husseins's trump card against the Bush administration goal of toppling him. The Bush people know this. Crisis in the Holy Land means diversion of U.S. attention and resources, and riled-up Arab masses.
Both splendidly serve Saddam Hussein. Small wonder why he pays lucrative sums to families of homicide-bombers.
To charges that Bush muddles his message by having Powell meet with Arafat, again I quote the sage writings of one ancient Chinese warrior, Sun Tzu: "All warfare is based on deception".
Here's the bottom line: Saddam Hussein is in a race for time. Iraq is in the wrap-up phase of its nuclear weapons development program. Saddam knows that, with nuclear weapons, all bets are off. The atomic bomb is Iraq's ace-in-the-hole -- long-range insurance to ward off a U.S. attack. But Saddam needs time -- just a little more time.
Enter the roiling Israeli-Arab crisis.
But Hussein is living in a fool's paradise. Iraq remains numero uno on Bush's checklist of 'to-do(s)'.
And DO, he will, mark my words.
Anyway, that's...
My two cents....
"JohnHuang2"
But is that goal worth letting some jews die? Thats the real question.
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