Team 'w' batting '3 strikes' and your out!.......so far........
Strike 1. Creating an 'Afghan democracy'.....that is now 3 votes short of replacing the Taliban govt that was deposed by the USA in the first place with another neo-Taliban regime!
Strike 2. Creating an 'Iraqi democracy' that appears on the verge of becoming another Iran with only US troop presence there forestalling an upcoming Civil War their!
Strike 3. Hamas wins in Palestinian by a landslide!
Is this the 'fruits', fruition and results of Dubya's much vaunted 'Roadmap to Peace'?
This example of Dubya 'spreading freedom & democracy' in the ME must certainly inspire and cause paranoia in other ME countries/monachies/US allies, like Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, etc., as they all nervously wonder if these convulsions will spread on to them!
Bush agenda is the big loser in the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections.
By GLENN KESSLER
Washington Post
1/28/2006
WASHINGTON - Standing in a sunny Rose Garden on June 24, 2002, surrounded by his top foreign policy advisers, President Bush issued a forceful call for resolving the deadly Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror."
This week, Palestinians gave their answer, handing a landslide victory in national legislative elections to Hamas, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings and which desires the elimination of Israel.
Bush's statement calling for new leaders was aimed at the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, but in the same speech he also said it was necessary to thwart Hamas - formally the Islamic Resistance Movement - and other militant groups.
The election outcome signals a dramatic failure in the administration's strategy for Middle East peace, according to analysts and some U.S. officials.
Since the United States cannot deal with an organization labeled a terrorist organization by the State Department, Hamas' victory is likely to curtail U.S. aid, limit official U.S. contacts with the Palestinian government and stall efforts to create an independent Palestinian state.
More broadly, Hamas' victory is seen as a setback in the administration's campaign for greater democracy in the Middle East. Elections in Iran, Iraq, Egypt and now the Palestinian territories have resulted in the defeat of secular and moderate parties and the rise of Islamic parties hostile to U.S. interests.
The administration has long been criticized for being reluctant to get involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; even after Bush's 2002 speech, the policy drifted except for occasional high-profile speeches and events.
But after Arafat's death in late 2004 and the beginning of Bush's second term, the president vowed that things would be different, saying he would invest "political capital" in ensuring a Palestinian state before he leaves office in 2009.
The effort went wrong on three fronts, according to interviews inside and outside the administration:
• The administration put its hopes on the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and poured hundreds of millions of dollars to fund public works projects. But it failed to back him when he asked for concrete help, especially in his dealings with the Israelis.
• The administration was highly attuned to the shifts in Israeli politics but deaf to the upheaval in Palestinian society. It was so focused on facilitating Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip that it did not press Israel to end settlement expansion in the West Bank, release additional prisoners or take other measures that might have reduced Palestinian indignation.
• Despite deep Israeli misgivings, the administration late last year shifted policy and decided Hamas could participate in the elections even though it had not disarmed its militias, in contrast to rules set for elections in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned in September that he would try to block Hamas' participation unless it disbanded its militia and accepted Israel's right to exist, the administration forced the Israelis to back off.
"Elections are fundamental to the continued evolution and development of the Palestinian process," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060128/1037076.asp
Dubya....one hell of a
Nation(s) Builder...ehhh!!!
Strike 1. Creating an 'Afghan democracy'.....that is now 3 votes short of replacing the Taliban govt that was deposed by the USA in the first place with another neo-Taliban regime!
Strike 2. Creating an 'Iraqi democracy' that appears on the verge of becoming another Iran with only US troop presence there forestalling an upcoming Civil War their!
Strike 3. Hamas wins in Palestinian by a landslide!
Is this the 'fruits', fruition and results of Dubya's much vaunted 'Roadmap to Peace'?
This example of Dubya 'spreading freedom & democracy' in the ME must certainly inspire and cause paranoia in other ME countries/monachies/US allies, like Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, etc., as they all nervously wonder if these convulsions will spread on to them!
Bush agenda is the big loser in the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections.
By GLENN KESSLER
Washington Post
1/28/2006
WASHINGTON - Standing in a sunny Rose Garden on June 24, 2002, surrounded by his top foreign policy advisers, President Bush issued a forceful call for resolving the deadly Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror."
This week, Palestinians gave their answer, handing a landslide victory in national legislative elections to Hamas, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings and which desires the elimination of Israel.
Bush's statement calling for new leaders was aimed at the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, but in the same speech he also said it was necessary to thwart Hamas - formally the Islamic Resistance Movement - and other militant groups.
The election outcome signals a dramatic failure in the administration's strategy for Middle East peace, according to analysts and some U.S. officials.
Since the United States cannot deal with an organization labeled a terrorist organization by the State Department, Hamas' victory is likely to curtail U.S. aid, limit official U.S. contacts with the Palestinian government and stall efforts to create an independent Palestinian state.
More broadly, Hamas' victory is seen as a setback in the administration's campaign for greater democracy in the Middle East. Elections in Iran, Iraq, Egypt and now the Palestinian territories have resulted in the defeat of secular and moderate parties and the rise of Islamic parties hostile to U.S. interests.
The administration has long been criticized for being reluctant to get involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; even after Bush's 2002 speech, the policy drifted except for occasional high-profile speeches and events.
But after Arafat's death in late 2004 and the beginning of Bush's second term, the president vowed that things would be different, saying he would invest "political capital" in ensuring a Palestinian state before he leaves office in 2009.
The effort went wrong on three fronts, according to interviews inside and outside the administration:
• The administration put its hopes on the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and poured hundreds of millions of dollars to fund public works projects. But it failed to back him when he asked for concrete help, especially in his dealings with the Israelis.
• The administration was highly attuned to the shifts in Israeli politics but deaf to the upheaval in Palestinian society. It was so focused on facilitating Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip that it did not press Israel to end settlement expansion in the West Bank, release additional prisoners or take other measures that might have reduced Palestinian indignation.
• Despite deep Israeli misgivings, the administration late last year shifted policy and decided Hamas could participate in the elections even though it had not disarmed its militias, in contrast to rules set for elections in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned in September that he would try to block Hamas' participation unless it disbanded its militia and accepted Israel's right to exist, the administration forced the Israelis to back off.
"Elections are fundamental to the continued evolution and development of the Palestinian process," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060128/1037076.asp
Dubya....one hell of a
Nation(s) Builder...ehhh!!!
