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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E who wrote (8705)	11/2/2001 9:50:16 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

A small example of differing points of view: From The Guardian: "Mr Blair did give strong, emotional performances at press conferences in Jerusalem with Mr Sharon, and in Gaza City with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, portraying himself as a friend to both. But he must have left the region frustrated. The prime minister, who visited Gaza in 1998 and who has met Mr Arafat 13 times since taking office, had never visited the region at such a highly-charged time. Israeli soldiers killed two more Palestinians yesterday. Normally, the Israelis are careful to avoid that kind of bloodshed when there are visiting dignitaries." From The Jerusalem Post: "TEL AVIV (November 2) - A would-be suicide bomber and his Hamas handler, whom the army said were on their way to commit a massive attack in the Sharon area, were killed yesterday by rockets and machine gun fire from an IAF helicopter tracking their taxi...The ambush on the road came amid urgent intelligence warnings of an imminent suicide bombing in central Israel. After the killing of the suicide bomber, Israel Police and security services canceled the high alert in effect for the past few days in the Sharon region. Security forces had been hunting the terrorists for three days. Yesterday morning, would-be suicide bomber Yasser Azida and his handler, Hamas operative Fahmi Abu Aisha, were spotted in a taxi east of Tulkarm and an Apache helicopter fired a number of Hellfire missiles at it. The initial explosion killed Aisha." Can we say 'Sorry, Mr. Blair, this one couldn't wait?' But then The Guardian almost gives the you the impression that the Israelis are shooting Palestinians for sport. No motive is usually given. Sympathy for motives or casualties is almost wholly reserved for Palestinians, including suicide bombers. Blair ponders diplomatic failure guardian.co.uk Suicide bomber, handler killed in missile attack jpost.com

To: E who wrote (8705)	11/3/2001 1:08:26 AM
From: SirRealist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Well, Iraq, one-time center of the Arab-Islamic world, has already proven itself unable to defend against allied military forces. It seems to me that Afghanistan is viewed as the unshakeable stronghold, where 20th century infidels have consistently been repelled. This is why, despite it being a beaten-down country whose civilians deserve relief, it seems important to defeat the most extreme of extremists. It must be demonstrated that the impregnable caves and hiding places are vulnerable and that the shrewdest cult heroes are mortal. The psychological impact of losing there will be immense to extremists, except for the young & dispossessed, who are vulnerable to the appeals of vultures in every non-neutral nation in the world. A negotiated non-peace will be viewed with derision, imo. So far, though, our bombing campaign displays a clear lack of strategic innovation, and our propaganda campaign appears to be equally clueless. Surely, there must be a US military planner capable of being this war's Marshall, Patton, or Sherman... if so, his hand in this is not yet evident.