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This from Reuters today:
[Former Senator George] Mitchell, who helped to resolve the Northern Ireland conflict, was named by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week to lead U.S. efforts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Mitchell’s tour will also take him to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, France and Britain. He said he would later report his findings directly to Obama and Clinton.
“I look forward to returning to the region in the very near future to continue this effort,” Mitchell said. Western and regional diplomats said that while Mitchell was expected to meet Palestinian officials, he would not have direct contacts with Hamas.
Obama has made clear the Middle East conflict will be a high priority as he tries to repair a U.S. image battered by the war in Iraq.
First—What’s this nonsense about the U.S. image being battered since the Iraq war? I’ll bet that al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Saddam Hussein and every government of consequence in the Greater Middle East (including Israel, Iran and Syria) all think much more highly of the United States now than they did on 9/10/01. They had little to no respect for our capacity to effectively retaliate to aggression on that date. Since then? Let’s dig up Saddam’s bones and ask him how he feels now.
So again, who thinks that our image has been battered since Iraq? Europe? Maybe. If so, so what? How does repairing our image to Europe benefit the US at all? Will it make us safer? Will it make us more secure? Will it do anything to conquer the jihad that’s been unleashed against the West? Not bloody likely.
The only people who think a) that our image has been battered since Iraq; and b) that it makes a shred of difference to anything are the American Left. These are image fetishists, for whom it is more important to appear friendly and respectful to Europeans than it is to be safe.
Second—how is Mitchell’s experience in Northern Ireland relevant to solving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? Fundamentally, the Irish “Troubles” were an isolated and local conflict between 2 factions of Christian Europeans battling for the political status of Northern Ireland. The predominately Catholic “nationalists” (the minority, guerrilla group) believed that Northern Ireland was part of the Republic of Ireland and the predominately Protestant “unionists” believed that it was part of the United Kingdom. Watch “In the Name of the Father’.
The Palestinian “trouble” if you will, is a veritable global conflict between Israel and the United states and the governments of Syria, Iran and the rest of the Muslim Middle East. Seeking to destroy the nation of Israel and push the Jews that live there into the sea, Iran and Syria have infiltrated Palestine, installed Hamas and Hezbollah as their military proxies, and ordered them to terrorize Israel on their behalf—lobbing rockets into playgrounds, kidnapping soldiers and drawing Israel into retaliation which is chastised by Europeans.
Whether the IRA convinced England to surrender Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland was relevant to a whole bunch of Irish, but not a lick to the rest of the world. England would still be England. Ireland would still be Ireland, and we’d all go on our merry way. If Israel surrenders ITSELF to IRAN and SYRIA…it ceases to exist. It’s population would likely be crucified. Literally. Before being set on fire and dumped into the sea.
Not only that, but what nobody seems to understand is that Hamas and Hezbollah do not represent PALESTINIAN interests. They represent Iranian and Syrian interests and are agents in the continuing war (since 1948) to overthrow Israel and claim the land for Islam. This isn’t about whether the PALESTINIANS can have a homeland. They HAD a homeland after the UN Partition Plan of 1948. They LOST that homeland when the Muslim world invaded Israel and LOST.
The fact that Mitchell is meeting with “Palestinian officials” not including Hamas is troubling. Not that he should meet with Hamas, but that he pretends that the Palestinian people have anything relevant to add to the conversation or any authority to do anything anyway.
We settle the Palestinian conflict by engaging Iran and Syria militarily. Israel is doing that by slapping Hamas and Hezbollah down every year or so, but they won’t “win” that way. They’ll only succeed in bringing Israelis and Palestinians peace when Iran and Syria assume room temperature. Until then, it’s all image fetishists preening for Europe.
Filed under: Israel, Terrorism, obama | Tagged: antisemitism, bias, Gaza, global war on terror, Hamas, Iraq, Islam, Israel, legacy media, MSM, obama, old media, Reuters, terror, Terrorism, terrorists, war on terror
Isn’t most of this about “saving face”? I mean, the only reason for Obama to make our image look better to the Europeans is becasue we “flat left” them (remember that old school yard phrase?). So now, in order to not seem the big bully, we make nice with our friends on the other side of the Atlantic. There’s nothing wrong with speaking softly and carrying a big stick. It doesn’t make you appear weak. (I know you really don’t care that we are the big bully, but bullies only get what they want because they make the other person do it. And the other person never thanks the bully..”oh gee, I really did want to give you all my lunch money today” ) So Iran needs to save face with its people. When Obama goes on Arab TV and says to them in effect, hey, you have to be more responsible about taking care of these extremists becasue we’re not out to get the muslim people. He’s talking directly to Iran and Syria. He’s telling them what they have to do in order for us to talk to them. (That’s what I’ve been saying all along. that none of these conflicts will ever be solved without the Arab leaders actively putting an end to these terrorists.) What does the US have to gain from all this? If Europe “likes” again, they will be more likely to be our allies against what is ultimately inevitable: military conflct and engagement with Iran and Syria. We can’t continue to do this on our own anymore. You have to mend the fences sometimes before you can build new ones.
To your point about us not being able to do this on our own anymore….I ask…why not? Europe will never be our allies against radical Islam. Too much of their own populations ARE radical Islam. See what’s happening in England and France and the Netherlands and Germany now? Their native populations are decreasing while their Muslim populations are growing by leaps and bounds.
I know what Obama is trying to do…but it doesn’t make any sense from a realistic point of view…which is basically the same criticism the world has had of Liberal ideas for the last 75 years. Nice idea…but the world doesn’t work that way.