My email for today..
This article, op-ed from the Ny times. nytimes.com
Article bold and my comments normal size text.
Diplomatic Bonfires
Everything seems to be going wrong in the Middle East, and President Bush has himself to
blame in part.
This is not what the White House wanted as President
Bush starts pointing toward next year's election campaign. Iraq is in a
state of near anarchy. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians
is escalating again, and Islamic terrorists are on the attack in the
Middle East. Just at the moment when Mr. Bush would like the nation to
think of him as a statesman, everything seems to be going the wrong way
in one of the world's most combustible regions. Mr. Bush has himself
to blame in part.
The world is going to hell in a hand basket. Let's blame the president because.
Iraq is a mess
because the Bush administration failed to plan adequately for the postwar
period. The Pentagon has proved itself great at fighting wars but not
very good at dealing with their aftermath. Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and his aides seemed to think that Iraq would emerge from the
war as a functioning country that could then be led toward democracy by
American officials. Now, more than a month after the fighting subsided,
Iraq remains a lawless land without basic services like electricity,
fresh water and decent medical care. Instead of serving as a model
for enlightened American rule, Iraq is turning into a symbol of
American maladministration. It is not too late to turn Iraq around, but
Mr. Bush will have to be prepared to throw far more resources into the
situation, for a much longer time than he originally intended.
The ability of the times talking heads in the administration of one reporter makes me wonder about
their skill in judging the state of complexity of rebuilding Iraq and their ability to know what is really going on
is very questionable to me.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has its own destructive dynamic, which
Washington is belatedly trying to break. If Mr. Bush had not neglected the
Middle East crisis in his first year in office, he might not be facing
such a seemingly intractable deadlock today. Suspending the cycle of
violence may be impossible at this point, but the best chance depends on
strong, sustained pressure from Washington
In view of the fact that the President has clearly demonstrated a desire to bring about peace and
his considerable recent efforts to advance the cause of reasonable people that has as the times below says
made violence erupt to stop that process seems to make the observation in the paragraph above suggesting
neglect as idiotic. It demonstrates that the talking head don't have a clue about what causes the violence.
Yesterday's suicide
bombing at a shopping mall in northern Israel was the fifth Palestinian
attack in less than 48 hours. All have been claimed by extremist Islamic
groups, which are aiming not only at Israel but also at the new government
of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister. Mr. Abbas says he wants
to confront such groups but cannot do so as long as Israel continues
its tough military policies. Israelis say they are being blown up,
so do not talk of easing conditions. Only a concerted American effort,
led by Mr. Bush himself, can bring Mr. Abbas and Ariel Sharon, the
Israeli prime minister, to take the steps that are needed to quell
the violence and rekindle peace talks.
I bet that whatever the President does will be wrong and to much or to little or poorly timed
Most disturbing to
many Americans may be the recent terrorist bombings in Saudi Arabia
and Morocco, which have demonstrated that the war against terrorism is
far from over. Much of Al Qaeda's leadership may by arrested or dead,
as President Bush has asserted, but the organization and its affiliates
are far from finished off.
Based upon the fact that the activities have been restricted to places far away that have no real punch in comparison to
9-11 seems to suggest that complex operations capability is greatly reduced.
The United States must pursue the
international teamwork against terrorism that President Bush initiated
after Sept. 11. Unfortunately, the American decision to go to war in
Iraq decreased the desire of other nations to cooperate. Those damaged
relations now urgently need to be rebuilt. Saluting cheering troops and
campaigning for tax cuts may be good politics for Mr. Bush as he runs
for a second term, but the president has a lot of work ahead in the
Middle East before he can lay claim to the title of statesman.
I saw the President saluting the troops and it made me proud to be an American . I understand the logic behind the tax cut.
But I have not seen any fact or report or even hint or nuance that cooperation from foreign nations has changed at all.
That seems an opinion sans facts from those same folks who new where Jason Blair was coming from.
What I learned from the war is that several countries that I though were allies seem to have an agenda that was and is not
about full support of the War on Terrorism. The War was educational about who folks really are and where their
hearts and souls call home. How many don't call America home is a sad surprise. |
