Bush's Weak MidEast Peace Effort
The American President Seeks a Favourable Place in History
Jan 13, 2008
President George W. Bush is actively seeking a solution to the “Middle East question” in his final months in office. But many political observers say he’s also seeking a footnote in history; he wants to be the man to bring peace to a region that has defied every American president before him.
A Hawkish President
President Bush already has several footnotes in history, the direct result of his hawkish term in office. First, there is the war on terror which reached full flight following 9-11. That led to ongoing military operations in Afghanistan, a conflict that now includes the other NATO countries.
Then came the invasion of and on-going war in Iraq which has claimed nearly 4 thousand American soldiers and added further fuel to the fires burning in the bellies of Islamist terrorists everywhere. That invasion was meant to unseat Saddam Hussein and uncover Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. The former happened; the latter, as the world has learned, never happened because the weapons never existed. Now Iraq struggles to avoid imploding and the country has been split along tribal lines.
Finally, there is the ratcheting up of tensions between the United States and Iran over the White House view that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
First Visit
And now, Bush is in the Mideast to broker a peace deal and bring calm to the region. What bodes against him, on top of his record for starting more conflicts than ending them is that this is his first visit to the region during his entire time in office.
In 8 years, George Bush has not gone to Israel or the Palestinian territories even once before his current visit.
Bush believes he can broker a deal to end the violence and killing. The truth is much gloomier. There remains tremendous mistrust of Bush, Washington and all things American in the hearts and minds of most Palestinians.
Certainly, Hamas has rejected all that Bush has said regarding the president’s current trip. And frankly, the hawks within the Israeli power structure likely reject it, too. There is far too much anger, hatred and fear between Israelis and Palestinians, between government leaders from both camps, for Bush to pull off anything other than more rhetoric about peace summits and road maps.
In fact, the president managed to lash out yet again at Iran in a speech on Sunday, calling it the “world’s leading state sponsor of terror”. That's what many in the Arab world have come to expect from Bush.
Continuing Conflict
He has tried to play the fair-minded world leader in his talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. For example, Bush has stated that ongoing construction of Israeli dwellings on Palestinian territory must stop and that the Palestinians must embrace democracy in more than just name, but, like much of his foreign policy towards the region, it’s perceived as too little, too late.
This U.S. president will be resigned to the history books as one who contributed very little to Middle East peace. In fact, he will be regarded as the man who contributed greatly to continuing conflict in a volatile part of the globe.
That will be his only footnote when it comes to the Middle East.
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