This cartoon is from April 2002. At the time President Bush had painted himself into a corner. The Bush Doctrine had made it clear that the U.S. would consider any regime that harbored or sponsored terrorists to be hostile. But Bush also backed the creation of a state for Palestinian Arabs, who are led by the godfather of terrorism, Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority (aka, Palestinian Liberation Organization).
Bush's first solution was Clintonian: He refused to label Arafat a terrorist (because Arafat was involved in the "peace process"). Later Bush backtracked and proclaimed, in a profound understatement, that Arafat was "tainted by terrorism," which lead to the farce of negotiating with an Arafat puppet, Mahmoud Abbas.
So what does the Bush Administration really think of terrorist Arafat and the PLO? Last week there was this news: Bush Waives Sanction on PLO Office in U.S.
President Bush on Thursday allowed the Palestinian Authority to maintain an office in Washington by waiving for another six months a law that would require it to be closed.The law, which mandates the "downgrade in status of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) office in the United States," has been waived every six months since its passage. "I hereby determine that it is in the national security interest of the United States to waive that sanction," Bush said in a written memorandum released in Crawford, Texas where he is spending a month-long working vacation.
This week, there were two horrible terrorists attacks, one in Baghdad, one in Jerusalem. Bush gave a speech condemning the Baghdad bombing but has said nothing comparable (that I can find) about the Jerusalem bombing, which claimed the lives of five Americans.
(Via Little Green Footballs)
Yesterday the situation reached a new low when Secretary of State Powell requested help from none other than "tainted by terrorism" Yasser Arafat: Powell Warns of Mideast Cliff, Seeks Arafat Help.
Powell's appeal to Arafat, whom Washington has tried for months to marginalize, was an implicit acknowledgment that he retains influence and that Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas may not have the muscle to stop attacks on Israel."I call on Chairman Arafat to work with Prime Minister Abbas and to make available to Prime Minister Abbas those security elements that are under his control so that they can allow progress to be made on the road map -- end terror, end this violence that just results in the further repetition of the cycle that we've seen so often," Powell said.
Worse still, Powell went on to equate those who are against a Palestinian state with the terrorists:
"The alternative is what? Just more death and destruction, let the terrorists win, let those who have no interest in a Palestinian state win, let those who have no interest but killing innocent people win? No. That is not an acceptable outcome," he said.
Bush announced the backing of a Palestinian state less than a month after the 9/11 attacks. It was the death knell for the Bush Doctrine and we're seeing the consequences today. It it will also be the death knell for Israel if Israel doesn't stop listening to what America preaches and start practicing what America practices, as Israel did yesterday: killing terrorists.
Larry Benson of the Ayn Rand Institute put it this way:
Tuesday's mass murders in Israel and Iraq prove for the thousandth time that words are useless against bloodthirsty killers. The United States must end all support for a Palestinian state, cease-fires and peace agreements, and instead encourage Israel to destroy all Palestinian terrorists. We are not attempting to negotiate peace with the terrorists in Iraq and should not insist that Israel continue to negotiate peace with the terrorists in Palestine. If we want to prevent the next September 11, we must send a new message to the Arafats, bin Ladens and Husseins of the world -- by showing explicit, uncompromising moral support for Israel's right to eliminate all Palestinian terrorists from existence.
(Via Capitalism Magazine)
At a Hamas funeral/demostration yesterday involving tens of thousand of Palestinians, they made their purpose clear:
"We love martyrdom and we seek martyrdom," [Hamas leader] Rantissi said. "Our leaders and followers will continue to fight until we achieve martyrdom."
This cartoon is in our book, Black & White World.
UPDATE: Later on the day of this post, President Bush finally spoke about the bus bombing and acted by freezing the assets of six Hamas leaders. This is good news, but we have to ask: What took so long? This would be a nice start to a new, aggressive strategy against Palestinian terrorists, but judging by past Administration behavior, we doubt it will be.
Hamas later responded by calling Bush 'Islam's biggest enemy'. Though not true, that's a compliment coming from a Muslim group that targets and slaughters Jewish babies.
Posted by Forkum at August 22, 2003 08:15 AM
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