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

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (101553)	6/14/2003 7:31:34 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

MARK STEYN: INSTAPUNDIT The one guy to get the Iraqi Museum story right from the get-go turns out to be not a professional journalist, but our old friend, the philistine warmonger Donald Rumsfeld. Rummy observed at the time that the networks kept showing "the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase". But it was the same vase "over and over and over". The same vase, 170,000 times. Rummy was right. You want a heritage catastrophe? At the very moment the Baghdad Museum was being non-sacked, workers at the University of Toronto threw out 280 boxes of colonial and Indian artefacts dating back to the 15th century. What's left of them is now deep in a landfill in Michigan. I'm a Torontonian, so that's my heritage in there. Any takers? I thought not. Harder to pin on Bush and Blair. Interestingly, Toronto is not only more culturally desecrated than Iraq; it's also more diseased. There have been 238 cases of Sars in Toronto, with 32 deaths. There have been 66 cases of cholera in Basra, with three deaths. Basra public health officials, assuming there are any, are doing a much better job of controlling cholera than Toronto public health officials are of controlling Sars. The Ontario health guys, who sound more like a gung-ho Chamber of Commerce, keep announcing they've got Sars licked and then it goes and infects a big bunch of new hospital patients. And meanwhile the Canadian media keep raving about what a great job the Toronto healthcare folks are doing, and then return to ululating about the massive humanitarian catastrophe about to engulf Iraq. Heh. You don't see that many ululating Canadians these days. instapundit.com

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (101553)	6/15/2003 12:00:16 AM
From: frankw1900	Respond to of 281500

Do I "think the whole 'road map' was really cover for allowing Israeli to destroy Hamas (and then we get back to 'peace processing' afterwards)?" Cover? No. I was not sure that Sharon's cabinet would react the way it has and I've no idea what the US administration's reaction might be over the next while. I've got some ideas but no certainty. What I do know is that Hamas has declared war against a party to a peace agreement, or at least an arrangement, in which another participant is the superpower. Myself, I'd duck antagonizing the 800 pound gorilla when it's already on a roll, but Hamas has chosen otherwise, apparently. Things might play out the way you outline in your question but it seems awfully straightforward in light of the area's history. But then, actually wiping out the capability of an organization like Hamas hasn't actually been done in this context, has it? Bush's administration is notable for its doggedness in sticking to its objectives so "getting back to peace processinig afterwards" is possible, I suppose. It depends on things we can't see yet, for instance, conditions in Palestinian territory after the "wipe out", if it happens, and who is there to speak on behalf of the Palestinians, then. Blue skies stuff: If the Haaretz story Carl posted is true in its quotation of Bush telling the Israeli Minister he "will [must] help" Abbas, then that can be taken a number of ways, can't it? It may be wiping out Hamas's capability would be a help to him, if he can stay alive while it happens.