Egypt is now scorning Israel’s humanitarian gestures to the Palestinians as "insignificant". The Egyptians are accusing Israel of failing to uphold their end of the US-sponsored "road map" to a Palestinian state.
Israel is clearly not being considered as a full partner in the peace process by the Arab world. It is becoming all too evident that much of the Arab world see the "peace" process as little more than one step towards the destruction of the Israeli state. The commitment of the Arab world towards "peace" has mainly constituted support of groups such as Hamas and Hizb’Allah while condemning Israel for "terrorism."
No peace can exist when one side wishes the utter destruction of the other. Before the al-Aqsa intifada there was a strong groundswell of support in Israel for Palestinian independence. There was widespread support for peaceful coexistence. Barak won on a campaign of moving forwards with the peace process.
After nearly three years of Palestinian violence and Israeli recrimination, the chances of peace grow ever more slim.
Until the Palestinian’s hatred of Israel ends, there can be no peace. As long as there are people within Palestinian territory willing to slaughter Israeli civilans Israel has a right to defend itself from them. These suicide bombers do not die for the cause of a free and independent Palestinian state that lives peacefully with Israel, they kill themselves and slaughter innocent Israelis in order to forever destroy the state of Israel.
That level of bad faith makes negotiations impossible. Even if Abu Mazen is the man of peace that he claims to be, he cannot bring a lasting peace until this hatred is ended. Unfortunately, with the indoctrination of hatred that blankets Palestinian territory, undoing that hate could take generations.
The United States is trying its damndest to solve the problem of Palestinians hating Israel…by making ourselves out to be even bigger bad guys in the region. The more we seek to “liberate them with bombs”, the less likely they’ll be to perceive Israel as a bigger threat to their livelihood than America. It appears the only way America will be able to help negotiate a peace treaty between the Israelis and Palestinians is to paint a bullseye on our foreheads and standing in the crosshairs, which in this administration, we’re all too willing to do.
The problem with that analysis is that we’re already in the crosshairs of extremist groups, and doing nothing only invites more terror. Al-Qaeda used a clear pattern of escalation before September 11, committing more and more atrocious acts whild safe in the knowledge that the US would give only a token cruise missile attack as a response. Such weak acts only invite more terrorism.
Furthermore, the people of Iraq don’t seem very bothered by the US invasion (other than the Iranian-backed protestors the news loves to show). Most of them are glad to be rid of Saddam and hopeful that the US will restore order and sane rule. As with Afghanistan, the supposed waves of terrorist backlash never emerged. If anything, strong action has led to fewer acts of terrorism than in any of the past 30 years.
The very worst thing one can do when facing the specter of terrorism is back down, and that’s why the US must remain resolute against terrorist groups and the nations that sponsor them.
I supported the war against the Taliban and al-Qaida for the reasons you stated, but opposed the war on Iraq because it was completely unconnected to real-world terrorist threats. Only on planet Republican could the US occupation of Baghdad be perceived as welcomed by the Iraqi people. Six weeks after the war’s conclusion, the anti-American demonstrations grow larger and more venomous by the day and the looters continue to burn and pillage the city.
And today, Bush’s hand-picked head-of-transition government was pulled for being embarrassingly ineffective (which I noticed was conveniently left out of your appallingly micro-censored interpretation of the news). Whatever way you spin it, things are not going well and for all the disproven theories many on the left made about the combat element of the war, they appear to be far closer to right than your side on what the post-war climate in Iraq would be. Further military conflict in the region will only inflame the smoldering situation more.
I have said that rebuilding will be difficult, but it is simply too soon to judge the success of that effort. It will take more than six weeks to restore order to Iraq, especially if the sanctions are not lifted.
As for the issue with Gen. Garner, I haven’t had time to formulate an opinion on that. I’m not sure why he is being replaced or what the ramifications will be. I will probably touch more on that issue as more information is made available. (As always, if anyone has any good leads on that story, feel free to bring them in.)