The Coalition of the Swilling

Abbas shot himself in the foot, with the collective aid of Fatah. I don't think there was anything that Bush could have to done to "strengthen" Abbas' position, including sending in a Marine division. Palestine was/is that close to civil war.

As for this "faith"....methinks Obaid glosses over the facts a tad here.

I really do agree to a great extent with the "oblivious" part of the sentence, though.

I don't think "oblivious" is the right word for Bush. Frankly, one can only do so much in promoting a democracy. The Palestinians pretty much set themselves on the path of non-democracy a long time ago. If anyone is "oblivious", it's the rest of the Arab world for encouraging the Palestinians while barely supporting them, because Palestine vows the destruction of Israel.

Remember also, Jimmuh Cahtah started the process with the Camp David Peace Accords. Arrafat, under the PA, manipulated it. Regan and Bush Senior, I don't recall, but I think they were ambivalent. Clinton pretty much let Arrafat run free and wild. Bush at least tried to at least get the process back into the groove with that "Road Map to Peace".

No, I don't see Bush as being oblivious. Acceptance of the situation, as desired by the Palestinians, might be a better description.

Bush 43 certainly had a hand in the matter, but mostly in trying to get control of the situation. He failed, though, so I suppose that means he gets all of the blame in the history books.

A pity that, when Jimmy Carter ought to be recorded in history as the Greatest Terrorism Apologist Ever.

Nah, I don't know Jeff. There have been things that this administration's done that makes one wonder if they have blinders on. (Going into Iraq on the cheap is my favorite, as if it were Sicily and Patton all over again.)

And as I said in my previous post, the Palestinians continually make the sh*ttiest choices ever ~ either they have terrorist/embezzlers (Fatah) for their government, terrorist/criminals (How many newly elected Hamas officials are still in Israeli prisons?) or one of the boneheads themselves starts flinging bombs at the very cusp of peace breaking out, with it's promise of a chance for Palestinians to 'be somebody'. Just like they did this weekend ~ storm the President's office, shoot the place up and rumble in the streets. But those are the choices they've given themselves and Hamas has cannily worked hard to be seen as a constructive presence, while building this heroic image of freedom fighters. (I mean, they elected a woman who's sent 3 sons to be suicide bombers, for God's sake! She should be in jail, not government.) On the face of it, to your average Palestinian, there probably wasn't much of a choice. Arafat and his gang of thieves have had how many years to turn the thing around? They could have, too. Worthless scum. The only other choice on the ballot was the Devil and they went for it. But shocking? No. And that's what I mean by agreeing with the 'oblivious' ~ it seems as if this administration convinced themselves of an outcome, completely ignoring the murderers happily building away clinics and schools, giving out medicine and food, making inroads with the populace by RESULTS. Ahmad in the strip could give a rat's a$$ that Abbas is the president when Hamas is feeding his children.

How blind can they be? And how on earth do they undo the damage that's been done?

Possibly, THS. I don't necessarily disagree with you. I just don't point the finger at Bush.

Yep, Dubya could have done more, but I'm not convinced that this would have helped any; ignoring what was happening in Palestine might have been simple recognition that American influence in that country is nil. Sending money to those ghouls may have been a cheaper way of railroading Fatah/Hamas to hell by letting them drive the train. I certainly wouldn't send US troops into that cesspit.

Perhaps this was a consideration in his strategy, perhaps not. It could be simple blind luck, of which our successes in Iraq contain in some measure.

But "oblvious", as I said, may be too strong. Especially since I don't think that Bush looks all that much surprised.

Really, what matters is not sending any more aid or money to Palestine. The people will suffer, but that is not our problem. The "Palestinian Authority" is supposed to handle that issue, that's why they were formed. I sympathize with the true innocents there, but the stage has been set for a long time. It's time for the curtain to rise.

Saudi's don't understand democracy. They tend to think an election should have a predictable, state-approved outcome.

It's why they've never really tried it. They like the pseudo-version better.

Abba Eban got it right: the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.