Missed opportunities

I'm just thinking about the opportunity presented at the death of Yasser Arafat. And then I think about the people in place to act on this opportunity. It's depressing.

The folks in power don't seem to understand that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the tap root of the Islamic Terrorism problem. I am certain a Democrat would have had a contingency in place to take advantage of this wondrous development. But with Bush & Co. so cozy with Sharon and his 'Neocons', enabling them to operate in the Occupied Territories with impunity, the diplomatic door that has opened will close without any change in the status of the conflict.

The Israelis will pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank soon, which I view as a good thing, but they are doing it with Sharon's usual disregard for Palestinian issues. The wall around the West Bank cuts communities in half and isolates others; a strong American President could have pressured the Israelis to build the wall on the Green Line instead of the drunken, meandering route it takes through Palestinian territory to protect Israeli resources. Not with a Bush Administration.

Now, I'm not anti-Israel, my wife is Jewish and I understand the problems there, but those problems are beginning to affect the world in ever-expanding ways. It is the heart of what has become a Cold War between the U.S. and Israel on one side and Islam on the other. Fortunately, the Western-Soviet conflict was waged with relatively level heads (with regard to the use of WMDs). Do not expect that Mutually Assured Destruction mindset in this regard. Not in Israel, not in Washington, and certainly not in the caves of Afghanistan or the streets of Peshawar.

We know that if Osama and his ilk get possession of a nuke or chemical agent, they'll use it against us, or Israel. Should that horrible scenario play out, do you think Bush or Sharon would hesitate to respond in kind? I wouldn't be surprised to see mushroom clouds over several 'Axis of Evil' cities.

Where level-headed folks see the death of Yasser Arafat as an opportunity for peace, Bush and Sharon see it as a 'mandate' to kick the shit out of the Palestinians a little more. I'm praying the Israeli 'disengagement' proceeds smoothly, but I feel it will be just another excuse for the Palestinian bomb-throwers to renew the Intifadah and another excuse for the Israelis to go back in and beat them into submission once more.

Peace, or something close to it could have been a real possibility with Arafat out of the picture, but those in a position to act in the name of peace are bereft of objective thought on the issue. There will be no leadership from Washington and the Holy Land will continue to be the festering boil, infecting the world with the agents of terror.