Like with everything else that has happened in the world since he took office on January 20, 2001, the state of emergency in Gaza is George Bush's fault.
At least that's the way The Washington Post sees it.
Five years ago this month, President Bush stood in the Rose Garden and laid out a vision for the Middle East that included Israel and a state called Palestine living together in peace. "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror," the president declared.
The takeover this week of the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group dedicated to the elimination of Israel demonstrates how much that vision has failed to materialize, in part because of actions taken by the administration. The United States championed Israel's departure from the Gaza Strip as a first step toward peace and then pressed both Israelis and Palestinians to schedule legislative elections, which Hamas unexpectedly won. Now Hamas is the unchallenged power in Gaza.
After his reelection in 2004, Bush said he would use his "political capital" to help create a Palestinian state by the end of his second term. In his final 18 months as president, he faces the prospect of a shattered Palestinian Authority, a radical Islamic state on Israel's border and increasingly dwindling options to turn the tide against Hamas and create a functioning Palestinian state.
"The two-state vision is dead. It really is," said Edward G. Abington Jr., a former State Department official who was once an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas, whose bouts of vacillation have irritated U.S. officials, yesterday dissolved the Palestinian government in response to Hamas's takeover of Gaza. U.S. officials signaled that they will move quickly to persuade an international peace monitoring group -- known as the Quartet -- to lift aid restrictions on the Palestinian government, allowing direct aid to flow to the West Bank-based emergency government that Abbas will lead.
"There is no more Hamas-led government. It is gone," said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the administration must still consult with other members of the Quartet. He said that humanitarian aid will continue to Gaza, but that the dissolution of the Palestinian government is a singular moment that will allow the United States and its allies to create a "new model of engagement."
The glee that The Post takes in the chaos in the Middle East is disgusting.
The lib rag delights in saying Bush was wrong. He failed. Things didn't work out. No peace for the Palestinians. Ha, ha!
Here's a newsflash: There hasn't been peace in the region since Israel was created. All efforts by all U.S. presidents to establish peace have failed. All past visions of peace in the region have been shattered.
Israel, for its part, made compromises, abandoning its settlements in the Gaza Strip. Those compromises weren't enough.
The Post mocks that, stating, "After his reelection in 2004, Bush said he would use his "political capital" to help create a Palestinian state by the end of his second term. In his final 18 months as president, he faces the prospect of a shattered Palestinian Authority, a radical Islamic state on Israel's border and increasingly dwindling options to turn the tide against Hamas and create a functioning Palestinian state."
In other words: Yippee! No peace in the Middle East.
Are you happy, libs?
What a bunch of sickos!
Why would any decent human being rooting for the failure of peace to take hold?
Why doesn't The Post point out that Jimmy Carter wrote an op-ed PIECE THAT APPEARED IN THE POST, calling for the Hamas government to be respected and given a chance?
Nooo. This is all the result of Bush's flawed vision. It's another Bush screw-up.
Instead of blaming Bush, why not blame the Palestinian people for electing Hamas, a terrorist regime?
Blame the people for being unwilling to live in peace. Blame them for embracing terrorists.
The Associated Press reports:
In Gaza, it was a day of major victories for Hamas and its backers in Iran and Syria — and of devastating setbacks for the Western-backed Fatah. In one particularly humiliating scene, masked Hamas fighters marched agents of the once-feared Preventive Security Service out of their headquarters, arms raised in the air, stripped to the waist and ducking at the sound of a gunshot.
"The era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived," Hamas spokesman Islam Shahawan said.
The violence has killed at least 90 people in the past five days, including 33 on Thursday alone. Witnesses, Fatah officials and a doctor reported executions by Hamas militants of defeated Fatah fighters Thursday; Fatah said seven of its men were shot in the head gangland-style. Hamas denied any such killings.
If gangland-style executions mark the beginning of "the era of justice and Islamic rule," then I would say Islamic rule is barbaric and Islamic justice is no justice at all.
What's happening in Gaza can't be blamed on Bush's policies. It can't be blamed on the failed efforts of previous U.S. administrations.
Blame the people of the region.
...Fatah officials, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said Hamas shot dead seven Fatah fighters after they had surrendered. A doctor at Shifa Hospital said he examined two bodies that had been shot in the head at close range.
A witness named Amjad who lives in a high-rise building that overlooks the Preventive Security complex said men were killed in front of their wives and children.
"They are executing them one by one," Amjad said in a telephone interview, declining to give his full name for fear of reprisals. "They are carrying one of them on their shoulders, putting him on a sand dune, turning him around and shooting."
The killers, he said, ignored appeals from neighborhood residents to spare the men's lives.
...Hamas TV showed smoke billowing from the top two floors of the mortar-pocked, five-story intelligence building. Five masked gunmen posed inside for the TV camera, including one who raised two assault rifles in triumph.
Another gunman, wearing a Hamas headband around his helmet, stood in a pose of prayer, a hand to each side of his head, screaming "Allah is Great" at the top of his voice.
"Allah is Great."
Very nice.
Does Allah look kindly on execution-style killings?
Is killing men in front of their wives and children something to celebrate? Is that done for the glory of God?
No, don't blame Bush's vision for the fighting and bloodshed in Gaza.
Blame the supporters of an ideology that's rooted in hatred and a twisted notion of justice.
Libs should find no joy in the violence.
This isn't the time for Dems to be exploiting the Gaza upheaval and spinning it for their personal political gain.
This isn't the time for lib media outlets to be trumpeting Bush's failure.
If anything, the "Allah is Great" Hamas crowd have shown just how peace-loving and good they really are.
I can see it now: Hamas leaders win Nobel Peace Prize.
5 comments:
on the one hand, we get blamed for meddling in other countries' affairs; and on the other, we get blamed for not solving the problems they face.
It's one thing when other countries criticize the U.S. for taking action or not taking action.
What really bugs me is when Dems and libs put scoring political points against Bush ahead of standing up for their country, our country.
Honestly, I think you are overreacting to this report on Washington Post.
Yes, Bush has failed like all other Presidents who tried hard to end this conflict. Yes, he said he would use his ‘Political Capital’ to end this crisis, but things have only gone from bad to worse. What’s wrong in reporting it?
By the way, slandering happens from both sides of political spectrum. I have seen enough knee-jerk republicans blaming Clinton for 9/11 as much as those morons on the left blaming Bush for an ‘insider job’!! They are best ignored.
We have to be honest and objective here. In my opinion, Bush tried his best to resolve the Middle East conflict. Also, he did a mistake. The mistake was to undermine a democratically elected party – Hamas!! You can’t facilitate free elections and then walk away from elected party because you didn’t like the results!! It only undermines our sincere efforts and image.
I disagree, Vittal.
I think The Post's headline is very telling.
It fits the "blame Bush" template.
What's happening in Gaza is not Bush's fault.
The U.S. has been engaged in spite of the Palestinian people choosing to embrace a group bent on destroying Israel.
I think it's wrong of The Post to report on the story from the "blame Bush" angle.
The Bush administration didn't start the fire.
History didn't begin on January 20, 2001.
Who is going to miss Fatah? I certainly won't
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