Bush or Kerry, it's all the same to Sharon

[Violet_Crumble]

The Israeli PM is calling the shots when it comes to US policy in
the Middle East, writes Simon Tisdall.

In the Middle East maelstrom, all parties acknowledge one fixed point: forceful US diplomatic engagement is essential if the central Israel-Palestine conflict is ever to be resolved.

But far from taking the lead over the past four years, the Bush Administration has been mostly led by the nose. The man responsible for this extraordinary feat is Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon.

Sharon was running a "war on terror" when George Bush was still running a baseball team in Texas. So not surprisingly, perhaps, it is Bush who, since September 11, has followed Sharon's example, rather than the other way round.

In his many visits to the Bush White House, Sharon has exerted telling influence on America's post-September 11 agenda. Knowing Bush was bent on war in Iraq, Sharon helpfully highlighted Saddam Hussein's links to terrorist groups and financial aid to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Now Sharon eggs on the US in its confrontations with Israel's enemies, Iran and Syria.

It was Israel that, as far back as 1967, perfected the concept of pre-emptive war. It is Sharon, not Bush, who is the present master of the targeted assassination and mass detention without trial. It is Israeli military tactics that the US now apes in places such as Fallujah and Najaf.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/20/1097951764541.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Jim Sagle]

2. Simple Simon sucks.