Political Commentary, War Commentary

What George Bush Understood About The Middle East

14 Comments

…that Barack Obama does not. And probably never will.

[Mid-afternoon update]

Remaking the map in the Middle East:

So, with one fell swoop, Obama has redrawn the strategic map of the Middle East. Iran will have unfettered access from its own territory, across Iraq and Syria, all the way to Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon. The leaders in Iran could never have imagined such a comprehensive reversal.

The administration doesn’t seem to realize that we are war, or with whom. And you can’t “end” a war unless both sides want an end to it. But the other side wants to win.

[Bumped]

14 thoughts on “What George Bush Understood About The Middle East”

  1. The article is SO wrong. I want to keep this brief, but I’ll expand at length upon request.

    Regarding Egypt: Name one thing President Bush would have done differently than President Obama regarding Mubarak and/or Egypt’s revolution, and explain why this would have advanced the interests or the ideals of the United States.

    Regarding Israel:
    a) Name even one significant policy difference between Obama and Israel’s defense minister.
    b) Name one policy difference (even an insignificant one) between Obama and Tzipi Livini, the former Mossad agent who is the leader of the largest opposition party, the centrist Kadima party.
    c) I assume the following article is reported accurately. Reconcile the claims in the blog post Rand linked to with this article:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/world/us-quietly-supplies-israel-with-bunker-busting-bombs.html?_r=1

    1. I see Bob wants someone to name something so he can attack, with gusto, an idea about which he has no idea whether Bush would do it or not.

      c) How about the carrot and the stick? You act like you’re plugged in to the State dept. policy group. you tell us.

      b) The difference between ’67 borders and some defensible ones.

      1. Bill, regarding the 67 Borders, here’s Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Fox News being asked about that very issue. He explains why people who believe as you do are completely wrong about Obama:
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXHt7Ns0PsQ

        Regarding Egypt: I think President Bush would have done what President Obama did. What do you think he would have done? Or, if you prefer, what do you think the US president should have done?

        1. My overall point is this: Rand, you and Bill Maron have been suckered by Netanyahu’s Romney-like domestic political game. The truth is revealed by Netanyahu’s acceptance of former labor leader and PM Ehud Barak, an old comrade in arms, as his defense minister, and by Netanyahu’s own actions (“I will never negotiate with Hamas, or at least, right up until I negotiate the release of 1,000 terrrorists”). You can also know that Obama is on Israel’s side if you note the complete lack of daylight between Obama and an Israeli patriot like Livini.

  3. If the United States vetoes Palestine’s bid for UN membership, as pretty much everyone expects, that will about do it for the claim that Obama gives no support to Israel but sides with the Palestinians at every opportunity.

    Really, a bit of search-and-replace, e.g. Iraq for Libya, and this could just as easily be an article about George W. Bush. Or just about any other American president the past thirty or forty years. Not trusted in the Middle East, check. Impose his own vision upon the region, oh hell yes that’s Dubya. Military intervention conducted with the best of intentions but with rapidly-diminishing public support, we’ve heard that before. Bringing down one dubious regime only to see it replaced by another, standing impotently by while local populists do their thing, all of this seems quite familiar.

    And, yes, pronouncing a grand Mid-East Peace Plan that only encompases Israel and her immediate neighbors, making grand speeches about how this time Israel needs to Get With the Program, then actually supporting whatever Israel actually does, that’s something pretty much every American president does.

    There really isn’t a whole lot of political latitude for American presidents in this arena.

    1. Kadaffi behaved himself with regard to international relations after Reagan hit him with a cluebat, with a refresher seeing Iraq getting hit by a cluebat.

      The palestinian arabs have consistently made a threat of themselves against Israel.

      Iraq invaded a neighbor, then for many years blatantly violated the terms of cease fire.

      One of these is not like the others.

    2. If the United States vetoes Palestine’s bid for UN membership, as pretty much everyone expects, that will about do it for the claim that Obama gives no support to Israel but sides with the Palestinians at every opportunity.

      Until after the election.

  4. During the run up to the invasion of Iraq, there was one argument that was very true despite some obvious flaws. The argument: Perhaps Iraq needed a strong hand like Saddam Hussein to keep its population in control.

    Saddam was removed from power, and for a time, Iraq decended into tribal violence. However, US troops were on the ground to try and maintain order. Eventually, peace was restored and an orderly government was established.

    Same is happening in Egypt now and will likely occur in Libya. Except, I’ve heard very little of the concerns about to loss of Mubarak and Khaddafi as I did Hussein. And I see no forces to keep the tribal factions from turning Egypt or Libya into the next Sudan or Uganda.

  6. Leland,
    are you saying that so long as these countries are busy with internal squabblings, that Israel is off their agenda? I accept that to a certain extent. But on the flip side is the hungry children scenario.

    If those squabbling tribes ever think that Israel has food, and Achmed and Ahmed stop to think that if they stop fighting each other they can feed their hungry children, Israel is screwed.

    “The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend”, probably translates into Arabic and Farsi too.

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