Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Newt Gringich was on t.v. today saying the Middle East conflict may lead to World War III. What irresponsible hyperbole! Even if we are to attack Iran and Syria the conflict will only be Middle East in nature. Is North Korea going to join in? Will Russia and China help Iran? Don't politicians have any understanding of the world?

Of course this does not mean the situation in the Middle East isn't dangerous. The Israel -Arab conflict should have been the first thing we addressed after invading Afghanistan. Our effort in this area is much more important than Iraq, Iran and North Korea. The so-called Axis of Evil have nothing to do with 9/11 but the Israel-Arab conflict has great impact. As our best ally in the area, Israel deserves our support. But not unconditional support. It is our unconditional support that makes it easy for the bad guys to recruit terrorists. There will always be evil people. But the most evil people who want to disrupt the world for their own gain do not want to sacrifice themselves. The Israel-Arab conflict, with the U.S. painted as anti-Arab, provides a perfect opportunity for the evil-doers to recruit for them.

Israel had made a meaningful step in moving out of Gaza. It is understandable for the Israelis to be frustrated by Hamas' attacks on Israel after the withdrawl. Most of us would want strong retaliation in response to the attacks. It is also no surprise, however, that Hamas and Hezbollah would attack. They don't want any peace plan to succeed. If the aftermath of withdrawl by Israel is peaceful then moderate Arab may proceed to peace agreement with Israel. So Hamas and Hezbollah have to act and then wait for Israel to react. The overwhelming reaction by Israel will sure upset more Arabs, particularly the young, and hope for peace will be destroyed. Terrorism against the west will increase.

So what do we do? Certainly by saying things like "all countries have the right to defend itself" is of no use. It actually give countries like North Korea an excuse to pursue missles and nuclear weapons to "defend itself". Israel must show restrain. Anger is understandable and in reality an eye for an eye is understandable also. But gouging the eyes of innocent civilians will not bring security to Israel. Instead of standing on the sideline, the U.S. must use diplomacy to bring about a cease fire. What good is it for Israel to keep bombing the infrastructures of Lebanon? And forget about sending troops into Lebanon, Israel just left there not long ago after a disastrous occupation. Stop the fighting now, send in UN peackeepers with humanitarian aid. Over the long haul if Israel and the U.S. can provide more social service to the Palestinians and Lebanese than Hamas and Hezbollah, then eventually the influence of these evil groups will diminish and peace will have a chance.

As you can see I offer no quick solutions. Nobody has quick solutions. Certainly military might will not do it otherwise Israel and we would have won a long time ago. Ariel Sharon's plan of withdrawl from the settlements is still the right decision. It is easy to predict that evildoers will try to derail the plan. It takes men of courage to continue a peace process despite obstacles and sometimes threats on their lives. Sadat and Rabin paid for peace with their lives. It will take courageous men in Palestine to challenge Hamas and courageous men in Israel to continue the plan started by Sharon. The U.S. must go between the two sides and encourage moderates from both sides to emerge. That should have been priority #1 after invading Afghanistan. It maybe an impossible task but if we were ever successful then Iran, Syria, al Qaeda and others will diminish drastically. But we continue stand on the sidelines on the Israel-Arab conflict then we will never defeat terrorism. If won't be World War III but we would not feel secure.