And American's war on terror is not an Arab-American conflict. A war with some, even many, Arabs? Yes. A war with all Arabs? No. That is the problem Bush faces. How do we support Israel without turning an Arab-Israeli war into a Arab-American/Israeli war?
maybe it should.
As the British would say, "Spot on".
W. has some very fine lines to walk, and they don't even have the courtesy to be straight, and they sometimes have the audacity to move.
Agreed (surprisingly enough). However, it may not be a problem that Bush can, ultimately, resolve. What, for instance, do you suppose will happen if (when?) we attack Iraq sometime in the next year. I would bet dollars to donuts that Saddam will launch chemical-laden Scuds at Israel, with the express purpose of drawing them into an attack upon Iraq, and thereby transforming the American-Iraqi conflict into an Arab/Israeli/American action. This is (sans the chemicals) exactly what he tried to do in 1991, so it is hardly a far-fetched idea (in fact, it is IMHO closer to metaphysical certainty).
Due to the actions of those (namely Saddam) who want a wider conflict in order to take some of the heat off of themselves, the situation may blow out of anyone's control in short order, much as World War I started. I hope that I'm wrong, but that's how I see events unfolding.
YOu've got to be at least honest, Larry who Lied: yo do not want any support of Israel whatever, even if --- especially if --- they are all dead tomorrow.
If Israel didn't exist, we'd still have a presence there for one simple reason: oil. And they would still have a beef with the U.S., and the Saudis would still exploit their people, and support terrorism, and this war would still be in danger of spiraling out of control.
This is a war against anyone that attacks our nation. Muslim, Arab, Persian, Communist, Fascist, Foreign or Domestic. In this case it happens to be elements that are Islamic and led by Arabs. So, it already is an Arab versus American war. It doesn't matter if it is all, or most, or part, or some Arabs. 15 of 19 attackers came from Saudi Arabia, the holy land of Islam. Like it or not, Arab nations have made themselves our enemy.
Israel is fighting the same enemy. So even from a strictly practical sense, we must support our ally against a common enemy. That is what the President is doing. Diplomatically, he is trying to keep our enemies from uniting if possible.