‘Pity’ Bush, Who Has Come to Review His ‘Foreign Policy Carcass’
May 15th, 2008 by WILLIAM KERN
With Lebanon in a state of siege and the pro-West government in control on paper only, how is President Bush’s visit to the region being viewed?
Here’s a paragraph from Wednesday’s editorial in Beirut’s The Daily Star:
“Bush is the delinquent foreign-policy maestro of an otherwise great country. He has failed to deal honestly and rationally with the realities of the region, preferring wishful thinking and simplistic black-and-white threats to the hard work and nuanced sensibilities that are needed to grapple with the problems, challenges and opportunities of the Arab-Asian region. His desperate, last minute, pull-the-rabbit-out-of-the-hat attempt to achieve Palestinian-Israeli peace at Annapolis was clearly insincere - because he didn’t invest the required political capital to get it done, and lacks the intellectual clarity and moral gumption to make it happen. He hoped to ride a runaway horse to the finish line and ended up in a horror house of mirrors. His peace partners have proved illusory, his necessary impartiality is nonexistent, and his sense of how Palestine and Israel fit into the wider picture in the Middle East is totally absent. ”
EDITORIAL
May 14, 2008
Lebanon - The Daily Star - Original Article (English)
When U.S. President George W. Bush’s plane lands in Israel at the start of his visit to the Middle East, perhaps it should do one of those corkscrew dive-descent landings, because that would probably be the only thrill he gets during this visit to the Jewish state and several Arab countries. If Bush were an honest man, he would sense the circus-like element of his foreign policy in the Middle East - lots of ups and downs, plenty of drama, noise and thunder and fire and explosions. But when you go home there is nothing of substance left behind, just a momentary feel-good legacy of entertainment, illusion and make-believe. Pity George Bush this week, for he comes to review the desolate landscape of his failed policies in the Middle East. But pray, also, that his successor takes the time to study the causes of this cumulative failure and avoids them in the years ahead.
Bush is the delinquent foreign-policy maestro of an otherwise great country. He has failed to deal honestly and rationally with the realities of the region, preferring wishful thinking and simplistic black-and-white threats to the hard work and nuanced sensibilities that are needed to grapple with the problems, challenges and opportunities of the Arab-Asian region. His desperate, last minute, pull-the-rabbit-out-of-the-hat attempt to achieve Palestinian-Israeli peace at Annapolis was clearly insincere - because he didn’t invest the required political capital to get it done, and lacks the intellectual clarity and moral gumption to make it happen. He hoped to ride a runaway horse to the finish line and ended up in a horror house of mirrors. His peace partners have proved illusory, his necessary impartiality is nonexistent, and his sense of how Palestine and Israel fit into the wider picture in the Middle East is totally absent.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing foreign press coverage of George W. Bush’s final visit to the Middle East as President.
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 9:18 am and is filed under Democracy, Neoconservatives, Muslims, Foreign Politics, Lebanon, Cartoons, Neocons, Newspapers, Mideast, West Bank, Terrorism, Palestine, Iraq, Military, Middle East, Foreign Affairs, War On Terror, Sunnis, Israel, Cartoon Commentary, George W. Bush, History. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
