George Bush missed Int'l Relations 101

[stopitalready]

The man continues to contradict himself. First saying that he understands Israel's right to defend herself. Now he demands they pull out. When he came to office, his foreign policy was entirely isolationist especially in the Middle East. It was meant to slight Clinton's efforts, but it backfired.

After sitting it out, now he has no choice. Afghanastan was an easy one. Go in. We have a right. Take care of things. This one is not as easy. And I don't think Bush even knows the history of the conflict. Today he was talking about settlements. Hello, but that is not the issue du jour. It is very scary that the leader of the most powerful country in the world is asleep at the wheel.

And how will Powell negotiate with Arafat? He has been branded as a terrorist for the past week by the US and Israel. Too little, too late.

[Flame]

http://www.aipac.com/newthisweek.html

American Israel Public realtions website. A good but short article about what IDF has accomplished... they are not after innocent civilians as every news source continues to insinuate.

[stopitalready]

i do not object to the fact that the IDF is in the west bank. i just wonder what the end game strategy is.

what i do object to is the american government (who are supposed to be israel's one true friend) letting this whole situation get to this point by sitting back as it simmered over. all because bush did not want to offend his friends in the oil business and foolishly thought it would make clinton look like a failure.

[Flame]

The short answer is America got into bed with too many devils and we are paying for the fruits of their union.

My take on what is going on is that the arab nations are very wealthy and very smart and who else but the US would be best to have in their pocket? Over the past 20 years arabs have flocked to this country and lobbied for many many many laws that help their people (in particular... ie... racial profiling at the airport which is why 9-11 was able to happen) . The things they accomplish here extends to the arab nations.

That saudi prince owns gazzillions of stocks in american companies... aol time warner... apple : ^( sacks 5th ave and the list goes on... you can see that article if you go to the link in my signature.

The arab world has the goal of replacing america as the global super power and it looks like this just might happen if terrorism isn't diffused over the next few years... and still I think if we have to kiss their ass... it seems they already achieved that goal. The USSR had the same goal but they were more rational. Life was more important than ideology... whereas the arabs don't mind giving up their lives and the lives of others for their ideologies.

[stmdk]

I leader must make a decision and then acccept the consequences. He must gather as much information and advice as possible and then make a fair and educted choice. This is not what Bush did. He avoided a decision and now he can't stick with one. On top of that I don't think he made a decision based on all the facts. He has been biased and now he's trying to save his reputation. This is incompetence!

You lead, follow, or get out of the way.

I'm glad I'm not a soldier anymore, I couldn't have this man as my commander.

[ibrodsky]

Bush did a great job at the start of the War Against Terrorism. He clearly defined the problem, the goal, and the means. One statement, "You are either with us or the terrorists," neatly encapsulated his philosophy. And the U.S.'s absolute refusal to negotiate anything with the Taliban sent a loud and clear message.

Now I am afraid that President Bush has strayed from his own position. He is losing his moral compass.

The reasons he gave for (still) negotiating with Arafat are illogical. He says we must negotiate with Arafat simply because Arafat claimed to engage in a peace process. Isn't the real question whether Arafat sincerely engaged in a peace process, or merely used that process to strengthen his position as the leader of a terrorist effort?

The US can't win the War Against Terrorism until it:

a). recognizes that Yasir Arafat is the Father of All Terrorists and must be treated accordingly; and

b). stops trying to win "support" from "moderate" Arab states like Saudi Arabia. It would be more accurate to say Saudi Arabia is a duplicitous Arab state -- willing to tell us one thing and (covertly) do another.

The fear that the Arab world will "explode" if Arafat is killed is simply not true. The Arabs are big on making threats. Both during the Persian Gulf War and now we have heard about secret "weapons" the Arabs would unleash. Nothing happened. We were told the Arab/Islamic world would explode if we bombed Afghanistan. But the demonstrations actually dissipated as it became clear the Taliban/Al Qaeda were losing.

Someone has to have the courage to crush Hamas, Islamic Jihad, et al. Let's hope Sharon ignores Bush's call to withdraw to finish the task.

[raven]

For the most part, the President does NOT make Foreign Policy, the State Department does. The State Dept. has been antiSEMETIC since its inception. When you vote for a Candidate on a specific issue involving, you need to understand how the Government works.

Once in a while, you have a President and his advisors that at least demand actual facts, not cooked information, from the State Department. Then this type of Administration will at least try to counter the pressure from this very powerful and entrenched group, the State Dept., who thinks of itself as the ONLY people that understand and the ONLY people that should be in charge.

Unfortunately, the Bush Administration IS essentially the State Department. Most of the people advising Bush (who has no idea beyond his personal feelings) come from the State Department/Defense Department/Security Agencies. These people are mostly what is called "Arabists". These are people that are and have been for generations involved with the Arab World in matters of Government, business, social life. Many of them go from Goverment right to non registered and REGISTERED Lobbyiests for Arab Countries and Arab Causes. It PAYS BIG to be Pro Arab. Its a great life,especially when you hate the other side in your heart.

This complete flip flop was bound to come. The week before was just for show, so as Jews could NOT claim that this is a country that rewards Terrorism. Watch and see and the Arabists get their way and use this as a starting point for a wedge issue between Israel and the US. This is a golden opportunity for them.

Few months ago, the status of Israel was quietly changed. A low level Bush operative announced that Israel was and WASNT an Allie of the US. In case you dont know, this was a momentous shift and what happened yesterday is the first action taken to match the new status of Israel.

All Presidents and Admistrations have Arabists within them. This particular set of people is more than top heavy with Arabits. And they are extending the hand to Arabists from other Administrations both Reb. and Democrat. You all have seen Zabignu Brasinski( spelling) crawl out of the mire to get into this big time. What you DONT hear from James Baker is dangerous. He is advising as we speak.

Would it have been different with the other Candidate? Maybe and maybe not. At least there would have been a couple of people physically around the President with some kind of moderating influence. All there is around Bush is Wolfowitz who at some point cannot be seen to be favoring HIS OWN.

[raven]

The second I heard that Israel was comming upon documents thats the second I knew that the US would demand that the "incursion" stop.

You all know, that if you pay taxes in the US--YOU have been paying for PR instructions to Yassar Arafat. You have been paying for the guns and so called "training of police" that are murdering Jews in Israel. You have been paying him vast sums for ? reasons for at least 20 years. You MAY have been paying for instructions to him right now on how to handle this situation. What happens if those stupids...LEFT these instructions OUT IN THE OPEN? Which they probably did.

Israel most definately has their hands on this kind of evidence by this time and SOME in the US are very upset that their complicity just might come out in the open.

You all DO remember the Liberty dont you. The same people in our Govnt. that were involved in THAT are still involved and doing the same thing. Count on it...UNFORTUNATELY.

This isnt the Govnt of the US. But this is a significant portion of the Foreign Policy Community at work in opposition to what most of the American Citizens want.

[Flame]

That any nation have the nerve to tell Israel how to deal with this terrorist situation is beyond disguting. Who the are they? It's not their lives in danger. NOt their countries in danger.

I hope they have all the documented proof and present it to the world!!!!!!!

I am amazed right now after listening to all these antisemites on the radio... an old black man is actually trying to explain Israel's prediciment... after her just saying 10 minutes ago... that the theory is that Israel is behind all this just to make the pals look bad.

God bless this old guy. I didn't know anyone in the black community here was open to reality about Israel.

[raven]

Flame:You are about to start hearing what Ive been hearing in my area for 25 years. Take a break when you can, cause it is truely upsetting. As I told you, this totally closed down our Talk Radio here. Just this one issue. They noticed that it was wall to wall --24/7 Antisemetic Talk (they found out that there were paid and volunteer phone banks and not real callers) and they stopped all local talk except for Sports and Financial.