Welcome
to Gaza, President Bush …
Journal du
Dimanche au Quotidien, France
Bush Tours for Nothing
“When
he flies off to Israel and Palestine on Tuesday, his Arab and
Israeli counterparts will be glued to their television sets watching the New Hampshire primaries.”
The Chronicle of Gilles Delafon
Translated By Pascaline Jay
January 6, 2008
France
- Le Journal du Dimanche au Quotidien - Original Article (French)
It
seems so long ago that George W. Bush and his neoconservative friends promised,
with great confidence, to redraw the Middle East along more democratic
lines. The final tour of the region that the American president will begin this
week will highlight above all the extent that his foreign policy has failed.
The
proof of this is that when he flies off to Israel and Palestine on Tuesday, his Arab
and Israeli counterparts will be glued to their television sets watching the New Hampshire primaries to find out
how the United States intends to turn the
page. Will it be by electing a woman or a Black person; a Baptist pastor or a
Mormon governor?
Even
the White House admits that nothing much is to be expected from this visit. No
major announcements. No trilateral meeting with the Israelis and Palestinians.
Yet, being true to himself, George W. Bush asserted Friday that the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be resolved in 2008 – obviously without
saying how.
This
is all window dressing. The American president will verbally stumble through a
few pious wishes about peace and security, will undoubtedly make a sermon about
Syria and warn us about Iran. A polite round of
applause will follow. His hosts will then politely agree and await the next
president.
Doubtless,
never before has an outgoing American leader been asked in such clear terms to
do nothing. Weighted down by his mistakes, the Republicans have begged him not
to take up any new diplomatic initiatives. Better still, Baptist pastor Mike
Huckabee - the surprise winner of this week’s Republican primary in Iowa [actually, it was a
caucus] - denounced Bush’s “arrogant” foreign policy. Admittedly, outgoing
presidents have traditionally been condemned to stagnation. But until his last
minute in office, Bill Clinton managed an effort to help Israelis and
Palestinians to reach an agreement, whereas George W. Bush has been asked not
even to try.
Fair
ransom for his past failures.
Click
here for French Version
