[TopQuark]

An important difference between the Israeli fight against terror and America's (not mentioned in the open letter to Bush) is that the Israel has negotiable issues with the Palestinians while the US has none with Osama Bin Laden. You have confounded two disparate issues in the last sentence. To make a parallel, one could say either

Israel has negotiable issues with the Palestinians while the US has none with the Afghan people.

or

Israel has no negotiable issues with the known terrorists just like the US has none with Osama bin Laden.

THat is, put people and people in both places, or persons and persons.

I know you did not have such intentions at all, but this confounding is precisely what the Palestinian propaganda tries to sell. By making the ever so slight substitutions of entities involved and criteria for comparison, to make our war look different from that of the Israelis. Again, this coincidence appears to be coincidental; I do not mean to say that such was your intention.

I liked also your point about blurred lines between civilians and terrorists. Not only the nature of terrorism makes the line blurred, but specific actions of the Palestinians. Specifically, we hear a lot about Israelis blocking ambulances and hindering their immediate access to the wounded. What we do not hear from the press is that the Palestinians have used, several times, ambulances for ambush. If this happened in New Yourk, our National GUard would be doing the same thing at checkpoints as the Israelis do.

Similarly, some suicide --- homicide is indeed better --- bombers have dresseed themselves as Orthodox Jews. I heard (but could not verify) of the cases where they have used attire of Christian clergy for their own means. Now, when Israelis are suspicios, it looks (and reported) as disrespect to the clergy. Unfortunately it is this deliberate "blurring" of lines by Palestinians that cases much of it as well. Rgards, TQ.

[luvbach1]

Agree with all of your points re Pallie tactics, blurred identity of terrorists, et al. My distinction between our war on terror and the Israelis was intentional. I don't think we have to negotiate, nor should we negotiate with OBL (not that he would want to), for obvious reasons. His so-called grievances are not to be negotiated so as to avoid further attacks. Any negotiation would only legitimize Bin Laden. He is only the head of a terrorist organization, not a state. The US-led war on terror is to prevent further attacks. We don't have a dispute of long standing that parallels the Israeli/Palestinian situation. The Israelis must negotiate with the leaders of Palestine if they are ever to peaceably settle that dispute, and the leaders of the Palestinians are largely terrorists. Too close a linkage, such as the Israelis are trying to establish to their advantage, is not in our best interest. US self-interest is what dictates my stance. While sympathetic to Israel, I am an American first.