- "My dear Colette, don't worry," said Tom Lantos,
the California congressman, as he tried to calm MK Colette Avital of the
Labor Party, who was visiting Capitol Hill last week as part of a delegation
of the Peace Coalition. "You won't have any problem with Saddam,"
the Jewish congressman continued. "We'll be rid of the bastard soon
enough. And in his place we'll install a pro-Western dictator, who will
be good for us and for you."
-
- Lantos explained to his guest from Israel that there's
no lack of Iraqi opposition figures in exile, but until they learn how
to run a state, "we'll be there." According to Lantos that interim
period, with an American-sponsored dictator in power, should last between
five to six years.
-
- Avital says she asked how one can talk about a dictator
in Iraq and at the same time demand "democratic reforms" in the
territories as a precondition for renewing the peace process. Lantos said
that democratization in the territories is just a general "road map."
He reminded her that "the U.S. didn't turn into a democracy overnight."
In any case, he promised her that after America gets rid of all the regimes
of evil, it will go straight to Syria, "and tell young Assad that's
what will happen to him if he doesn't stop supporting terrorism."
-
- It's important to emphasize that Lantos is not a Bush
administration spokesman, and not even part of the Republican leadership.
The 11-term congressman is the leader of the Democratic Party caucus in
the House of Representatives' International Affairs Committee. His approach,
which says an agreement with the Palestinians can wait, like his party's
support for semi-lunatic anti-Palestinian legislation, eases the work of
the Middle East experts in the State Department.
-
- The expectation that as soon as Bush gets rid of Saddam
Hussein he'll show the same determination to advance a peace agreement
between Israel and the Palestinians - as his people are constantly whispering
to Bush's Arab friends - has as much chance of fulfillment as the hope
that Sharon will withdraw from the territories after getting rid of Arafat.
As Lantos says, in the best case, which means the war ends with a "new
order" in Iraq, there's a long line of terrorists after Saddam. In
the worst case, meaning the war destabilizes Iraq, and perhaps the entire
region, the U.S. will be bogged down for the coming years in a Vietnam-like
morass.
-
- Unfortunately, Palestinian suicide bombers will presumably
continue to keep Israelis atop the list of terror victims around the world,
thereby keeping the issue of the occupation and the settlements, let alone
tens of thousands of hungry Palestinian children, off the international
agenda. All those issues will have to wait at least until Bush finishes
his "war on terror."
-
- Then, sometime in the first part of the second half of
his first term in office, like all presidents, he'll begin thinking about
the coming elections and Jewish donors. Bush has memories from his father's
experience, about how a conflict between the president and a right-wing
government in Israel can affect an American president's career.
-
- Apparently, the administration doesn't have a clue what
will happen the morning after Saddam is gone. Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, asked over the weekend if he can guarantee the next government
in Iraq will be preferable to Saddam's said frankly, "there aren't
many guarantees in life." In other words, the deluge is ahead of us
and we're jumping in head first. That's precisely how Sharon behaves, as
well. First we'll get rid of Arafat and break up the Palestinian Authority
and then, well, God is great.
-
- There's nothing new with Sharon, other than the fact
that while as housing minster he greeted every American peace envoy visiting
the region with new settlements, and now he greets every Palestinian initiative
for a cease-fire with an attack on the heart of Gaza, and puts a siege
on the Muqata just as the closest thing to a coup d'etat starts against
Arafat. As far as he's concerned, and for that matter, Chief of Staff Moshe
Ya'alon is concerned, "the democratic reforms" are just a euphemism
for erasing any trace of Oslo and getting rid of all those who represent
it.
-
- It is very difficult to understand how Oslo architect
Shimon Peres, and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who formally adopted the Saudi
peace plan, lend their support to this policy. Now the leaders of Colette
Avital's party, she of the the Peace Coalition, will pat themselves on
the back and explain that because they stayed in the government, a crisis
in relations with the U.S. was avoided. It's hard to believe they aren't
aware of the fear that keeps some of the highest ranking security officers
awake at night: that on the morning after the last remnants of the central
authority in the territories has been erased - and they are active participants
in its erasure - we can expect a flood of terrorism. And we won't even
have anyone left to besiege.
-
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- http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=214159
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