Time: You Know Whose Fault Gaza Is, Right?

It would be nice to see the media, including Time, get together and agree on a date certain when it will no longer be justifiable to blame the world's ills on Bush X number of days, or even years after Obama is sworn in.

What might be more difficult to find post-Bush is a simple, single source for so much trouble in the world, some of it forty or so years old. God help these lazy-assed pundits if they ever have to actually address some of the root causes of trouble in the world. Obviously they won't have a prayer of actually figuring anything out on their own. I blame Gaza today on Clinton I and Albright for their failed Shuttle Diplomacy. I'll wait until February to blame Obama aka Clinton II. He's looking like just a "shuffle" of Clinton I more than anything else at this point on foreign affairs.

But the more tragic wreckage Bush leaves behind is in Israel-Palestine, as evidenced by the latest spasm of violence including the latest and ultimately futile Israeli blitz on Gaza against Hamas with the inevitable victims of "collateral damage." After too many Israeli invasions and incursions and bombing raids to count over the last six decades, somehow it's hard to be optimistic that the latest one will finally silence the Palestinian bombers and rocketers so Israelis can live in peace. The Bush administration's inexcusable neglect is partly responsible for the carnage we're seeing in Gaza today-- Katrina-like botch-ups are the legacy of this administration in the Middle East, too. Bringing peace to the Middle East is no easy task but it's a pathetic testimony if you don't even try.

Comments

[justoneman]

Gee...I thought Jimmy Carter solved the whole mideast problem years ago!

[IslamoLlama]

"-- Gee...I thought Jimmy Carter solved the whole mideast problem years ago! --"

Yes, it was right before Reagen single-handedly defeated the Soviet Union.

People will stop blaming fuck-ups in the Middle East on Bush after Bush's fuck-ups stop reverberating throughout the Middle East. As it stands, it was the Bush Admin's brilliance that pushed for immediate elections in Palestine during Hamas political ascendancy and casually sat on its hands while Israel bombed the crap out of Lebanon in a proxy fight with Syria. So Israel's "bomb first, ask questions later" policy and Hamas's political clout in the region can - in fact - find some space at Bush's feet.

And yet, amazingly, he's not even out of office yet and conservatives are eagerly working the pass the buck back to Clinton or on to Obama. If tensions in Israel go up after January, I'll be confident that it will be Obama's fault. If tensions drop after January 20th, I'm sure we'll see Condi and Laura out on the cable news circuits trumpeting Bush's undercurrent of success. In reality, the Middle East can safely blame itself for most of its ups and downs, no matter how actively any given foreign patron positions himself (Bush didn't invent Hamas, Israel has never been trigger-shy).

:-p But please try not to act shocked that partisans are blaming everything on the guy on the other side of the aisle. We are entering classic Pot-Kettle-Black territory.

[justoneman]

Like I said I thought Jimmy Carter solved the whole mideast problem years ago!

[SteveIL]

"As it stands, it was the Bush Admin's brilliance that pushed for immediate elections in Palestine during Hamas political ascendancy and casually sat on its hands while Israel bombed the crap out of Lebanon in a proxy fight with Syria. So Israel's "bomb first, ask questions later" policy and Hamas's political clout in the region can - in fact - find some space at Bush's feet."

Nice attempt at rewriting history. You do remember why Israel bombed the crap out of Lebanon, correct? It was because Hezbollah illegally crossed the border into Israel from Lebanon to commit murder and kidnapping. Then Israel responded. It wasn't necessary to ask questions; Israel knew who did this, and where they were (the answers are "Hezbollah" and "Lebanon"). Israel was defending itself.

[Totally Heterosexual Conservative]

"Israel was defending itself."

By bombing civilian positions in Lebanon. Which it eventually admitted. Resulting in a stronger Hezbollah and a weaker Lebanon.

Like Llama said: good work.

[armchairpunter]

If the U.S. Marines set up barracks in my back yard, my home ceases to be a "civilian position". One cannot demand respect for civilian positions within one's territory if one fails to respect those positions oneself.

[IslamoLlama]

"-- If the U.S. Marines set up barracks in my back yard, my home ceases to be a "civilian position". --"

Wow, that sounds like the same sort of wisdom a certain 9/11 mastermind espoused when he ordered his fellow ideologues to smash planes into a certain pair of large buildings in New York City.

I mean, when you are in a nation in which the most popular political party has been declared a terrorist organization, is there any corner of the state NOT considered a military barracks? Certainly not the universities as they are virtual warehouses of militancy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7802515.stm

"-- Israeli air raids have pounded the Gaza Strip for a third day, hitting key sites linked to militant group Hamas. --"

And nothing says "We're defending ourselves" like conducting a massacre in response to what was originally a single casualty.

"-- Gaza's interior ministry and Islamic University were the latest targets.

Hamas says 312 Palestinians have died since Saturday, of which the UN says 57 were civilians. In Israel, a second person was killed by a militant rocket.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel was not fighting the people of Gaza but was in "a war to the bitter end" with Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007. --"

I only hope that - should the US Military set up a barrack in your back yard and a foreign national government then proceed to bomb the ever-living crap out of your swimming pool, shot your dog, beat your wife, and imprison your kids - you will continue to maintain such a charitable world view.

[Lala]

Even Egypt doesn't want them

"'According to earlier reports, hundreds of Palestinians breached the Egyptian-Gaza border fence in several places to flee the Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave during which at least 285 Gazans have so far been killed and some 900 others wounded.

Witnesses said the Egyptian border guards fired tear gas to keep the Palestinians away from the broken border wall.

On Saturday, Israel started launching air strikes against Gaza from 11:30 a.m. local time (0930 GMT), hitting more than 30 targets, most of them security compounds run by the Islamic Hamas movement.

The coastal strip was under intensive Israeli air strikes for the second successive day on Sunday, which Israel said was aimed at halting nearly daily cross-border rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

According to Hamas security sources, Israel carried out more than 50 airstrikes through Sunday, leaving several security buildings, including Gaza central prison, destroyed.

Last week, Egypt boosted its security measures along its border with Gaza in anticipation of an Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave, which has been under control of Hamas since June 2007.

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/6563673.html

[Lala]

Death to all Juice -

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/32311_Death_to_All_Juice/comments/

[Vaultenblogger]

"After too many Israeli invasions and incursions and bombing raids to count over the last six decades, somehow it's hard to be optimistic that the latest one will finally silence the Palestinian bombers and rocketers so Israelis can live in peace."

Well, so far almost three hundred bombers and rocketers have been silenced. Go with what works, I always say.

Also, I do so love how Time blames all the violence over the past six decades on Israel. As if the Arabs were just sitting around picking daises and reciting poetry and the Eeeee-vil Jews just bombed the crap out of them for no reason at all. Nice goin' there, Time.

[irongrampa]

What a senseless, bloody charade this is.

At what point will the world realize that this has NEVER been about statehood, or self governance? It's ALWAYS been about the total elimination of Israel and it's people. Statehood is the cover for the ultimate agenda.
Until and inless the terror groups-Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, et,al are eliminated to the last individual, this sorry scenario will play out.
Israel will be compelled to settle the thing finally, at a horrible cost-something long overdue, that could have been accomplished much earlier, at vastly less human loss.
Now, I guess, is as good a time as any.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"I only hope that - should the US Military set up a barrack in your back yard and a foreign national government then proceed to bomb the ever-living crap out of your swimming pool, shot your dog, beat your wife, and imprison your kids - you will continue to maintain such a charitable world view."

Pity that the Gaza civilians are not only supporting, but actually encouraging, Hamas military members who are shooting missiles and mortars at Israel to set up in their backyards.

Meanwhile, what we have here is the classic example of Democrat Party liberals trying to justify their support and endorsement of both Hamas and Hizbollah, as exemplified by the glowing review that both received at Obama's church by Obama's Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Obama's supporter Louis Farrakhan.

Tell us, Democrats; how do you square your protection and endorsement of Hamas and Hizbollah, both of which are openly committed to and practice genocide, with your whining about "human rights"?

[Fred Beloit]

Good common sense from irongrampa:
"Until and inless the terror groups-Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, et,al are eliminated to the last individual, this sorry scenario will play out.
Israel will be compelled to settle the thing finally, at a horrible cost-something long overdue, that could have been accomplished much earlier, at vastly less human loss.
Now, I guess, is as good a time as any."

I am cheering Israel on, well those in Israel who want to defend themselves at all costs anyway. Keep on blasting away at the savages; it is the only language they understand, one is sorry to say.

If we had rockets and mortars daily coming from Nuevo Laredo into Laredo, even if they were badly aimed and "only" killed one or two Americans, what would be Obama's response? Judging from information coming from the Office of..., he would retaliate militarily. Does even one of these rabid radicals here think that he wouldn't?

[templar knight]

As usual, the idiots on the Left side with the savages.

[seekeronos]

I've long admired the patience, if not the the sluggishness, of Israel in not having finally up and pushed the so-called "palestinians" into the sea, and into Eygpt, Syria, and back over the Jordan, and rightfully taking full possession of the land the Good Lord granted to Israel some 3500 years ago.

[eaglewingz08]

"After too many Israeli invasions and incursions and bombing raids to count over the last six decades, somehow it's hard to be optimistic that the latest one will finally silence the Palestinian bombers and rocketers so Israelis can live in peace."
Too many ISRAELI invasions? Funny but for the first twenty years it was the ARABS doing their best to invade and exterminate Jews and Israel (something they are still trying their best to do). Then Israel fought back and succeeded in 1967 to obtain more defensible borders. In 1964, three years before the 67 war, when Israel was still within its green zone, the Pfakistinian Liberation Organization was concocted by Egyptian Yassir Arafat nephew to the nazi loving anti semitic WWII Grand Mullah of Jerusalem.
So I wish the author would tell us which invasions he felt was too many? Perhaps when Israel survived the onslaught of five arab armies in 1948, no doubt. Or perhaps he felt Israel's invasion of Egypt in the Yom Kippur War in 1973 was too much because it helped break the Egyptian occupation of Sinai? Perhaps it was the annexation of the Golan, so that Syrian gunners and missiles no longer have a clear opportunity to destroy northern Israel? Damn those Jews/Israelis, why don't they just roll over and die, so that we don't have to deal with that country anymore? (one can read the author's mind). Once again the problem is not Israel but muslim imperialism and muslim supremacy and muslim anti semitism that is at the heart of this conflict. Ignore that at your own risk but don't blame it on Israel.

[WBestPresidentEver]

Long live Israel. May they do whatever it takes to rid the area of the scum that lives there.

[Storm]

Why doesn't the USA (Bush) support Israels in its attempt to bomb Iran? Can we hope for a new deal with Obama.

Why should you stop Israel for starting WWIII?