[A-List] US Imperialism: Ariel Sharon

["Annewilliamson" <Annewilliamson@xxxxxxx>]

When an obedient and ambitious member of the CFR, which Chuck Hagel is,
gives a speech to the membership
casting doubt on the administration's war policy, I suppose it's news of
some sort.  I'm astonished that only
now is the administration's obvious and long-term embrace of Ariel Sharon's
agenda a cause for concern to the
elitists. -A.


townhall.com

Robert Novak

December 26, 2002

Sharon's war?

WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, having just returned
from a week-long fact-finding trip to the Middle East, addressed the Chicago
Council of Foreign Relations Dec. 16 and said out loud what is whispered on
Capitol Hill: "The road to Arab-Israeli peace will not likely go through
Baghdad, as some may claim."

The "some" are led by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. In private
conversation with Hagel and many other members of Congress, the former
general leaves no doubt that the greatest U.S. assistance to Israel would be
to overthrow Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime. That view is widely shared
inside the Bush administration, and is a major reason why U.S. forces today
are assembling for war.

"Military force alone," Hagel told his Chicago audience, "will neither
assure a democratic transition in Iraq, bring peace to Israelis and
Palestinians, nor assure stability in the Middle East." Indeed, the senator
returned from the Mideast more concerned than his prepared speech indicates.
As the U.S. gets ready for war, its standing in Islam -- even among longtime
allies -- stands low.

Yet, the Bush administration has tied itself firmly to Gen. Sharon and his
policies. Gen. Amran Mitzna, the new Labor Party leader challenging the
heavily favored Sharon in the Jan. 28 election, is denied access to senior
U.S. officials.

In private conversation, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has
insisted that Hezbollah -- not al Qaeda -- is the world's most dangerous
terrorist organization. How could that be, considering al Qaeda's global
record of mass carnage?

In truth, Hezbollah is the world's most dangerous terrorist organization
from Israel's standpoint. While viciously anti-American in rhetoric, the
Lebanon-based Hezbollah is focused on the destruction of Israel. "Outside
this fight (against Israel), we have done nothing," Sheik Hassan Nasrallah,
the organization's secretary general, said in a recent New York Times
interview. Thus, Rice's comments suggest that the U.S. war against
terrorism, accused of being Iraq-centric, actually is Israel-centric.

That ties George W. Bush to Arik Sharon. The prime minister says astonishing
things to U.S. visitors. He once rejected hope for negotiations, contending
that Arabs and Jews will kill each other for a hundred years. More recently,
he promised to put a Jewish settlement on top of any high ground.

What is widely perceived as an indissoluble Bush-Sharon bond creates tension
throughout Islam -- including Turkey, long a faithful U.S. ally and even
longer a secularized state. A poll of Turks by Pew Global Attitudes released
Dec. 4 shows 83 percent opposition to permission for U.S. use of bases in
their country. Furthermore, a 53 percent Turkish majority asserted that the
U.S. wants to oust Saddam Hussein as part of an anti-Muslim crusade rather
than because he is a threat to peace.

Turkish cooperation in the war must be approved by Turkey's newly elected
parliament, consisting of about 90 percent new members with an Islamic party
in a heavy majority. The parliament's mood did not improve when the European
Union on Dec. 12 rebuffed both the Turkish and the U.S. governments by
rejecting Turkey's application for membership. Abdullah Gul, the new prime
minister, accused European leaders of "discrimination" and "prejudice" --
reflecting Islam's current view of the West.

That is the background for an attack on Iraq by a coalition of
English-speaking countries. "We should refrain from a rush to declare a
'material breach' because of the gaps in Iraq's 12,000-page document," Hagel
advised in Chicago, calling on the U.S. to "marshal our own evidence."
Nevertheless, Hagel's close associate, Secretary of State Colin Powell,
declared a material breach three days after the senator's advice.

Powell's uncharacteristic bellicosity may have been necessary for him to
stay in the complicated game played within the Bush administration. Without
Powell, President Bush may not have gone to Congress and the United Nations
or delivered his masterful speech to the U.N. General Assembly. Day to day,
only the secretary of state stands up to the forceful Vice President Dick
Cheney.

On balance, war with Iraq may not be inevitable but is highly probable. That
it looks like Sharon's war disturbs Americans such as Chuck Hagel, who have
no use for Saddam Hussein but worry about the background of an attack
against him.