Ask anyone who knows anything about the Middle East and what you're going to
get is a reaction that goes to the bottom line. The Israeli – Palestinian “road
map” that is now obliterated, if taken seriously from the start, could
have prevented the slaughter we just saw unfold in Lebanon and Israel.
Hezbollah war crimes… Israeli war crimes… everyone is guilty, but the dead
civilians lying between the living enemies can't get justice, only their relatives
can. And the wheel goes 'round and 'round.
Bush's ineffectual Middle East policy is not getting us anywhere, which is not a news flash. This reactive
strategy jerks us all from crisis to crisis, while letting the bad guys get
the upper hand because our options are limited. Blair's feeling the heat over
it, while Bush blissfully saunters on, except now he's in danger of losing the only international
friend he ever had. Except that Blair can't walk away. He's left to cajole the cowboy.
The source said: “We all feel badly let down by Bush. We thought we
had persuaded him to take the Israel-Palestine situation seriously, but we
were wrong. How can anyone have faith in a man of such low intellect?”The disclosure comes ahead of a mini recall of Parliament to allow MPs to
vent their fury over Mr Blair's handling of Israel's war with Hezbollah and
whether the recent terror plot in Britain was affected by his role in the
Iraq war.Foreign Affairs Minister Kim Howells, who has criticised Israeli attacks
on women and children, is to be summoned before an emergency meeting next
month of the Labour-dominated Commons foreign affairs select committee.(snip)
The rift between No10 and the White House stems from British anger that Mr
Bush failed to do enough to pursue the 'road map' to peace between the Israelis
and Palestinians, which he approved, at Mr Blair's instigation, on the eve
of the Iraq war.“We have been banging on at them for three years about the need to address
the Palestinian problem but they just won't engage,” said a senior Government
insider. “That is one of the reasons there is such a mess now.”
…
Others have been less delicate lately, one British MP calling President Bush's Middle East policy “crap”. He's right, as far as Bush has a policy, that is.
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