Here in the hot summer of 2006, with every flat screen in town showing dayside images of screaming children and bombed-out buildings - as understaffed American television news crews move from Baghdad to Lebanon and Haifa by way of Cyprus - it is almost inconceivable to remember how worried supporters of Israel were over the impending Bush II presidency a mere six years ago. Back then, the hardliners recalled all too well the tough stance taken by the President's father his and his attack-terrier Secretary of State James Baker with the Israeli government. As this piece in a 2000 issue of New York magazine by Craig Horowitz worried aloud: "a lot of Jews are very worried about a Bush victory. Their most urgent and conspicuous concern is what U.S. policy toward Israel will look like if Bush becomes president. To put it plainly, they want to know if George Bush is good for the Jews."
Uh, that'd be a "no."
The images of destruction in southern Lebanon - the destruction of a fledgling Middle East democracy, for that matter - are horrific in almost direct proportion to the level of engagament of this President in the fortunes of our greatest friend in the region. As bad as his father was "for the Jews" by some measures (at least for those who equate Israel with Judaism, viewed as a united monolithic culture) his son has been worse. The simple fact is this: both Jim Baker's tough love act and Bill Clinton's frenzied personal diplomacy were both preferable to the sad, lamentable, tragic and mistaken military campaign undertaken by a weak and ill-prepared Israeli regime.
Fact is also, that our own sad, lamentable, tragic and mistaken military campaign undertaken by a weak and ill-prepared American regime in Iraq has emboldened any angry man with a gun in any religious faction throughout the Middle East, where these battles have raged for a thousand years. We were a better friend of Israel under Poppy and Bubba.
The Policy of Detachment (Except in Iraq) simply hasn't worked. And Israel's invasion and bombing campaign have done it a generation's worth of harm, alarming those (like myself) who would like to see its prosperty and security guaranteed. A wiser Presidential Friend of Israel would have lent a helping hand, shown something of an interest, been a big brother to the tiny Jewish state. Instead, we either ignored the larger problems, or rubber-stamped Israeli policy. As James Wolcott notes: "We did Israel no favors with such fraternal submissiveness ... Israel has been given so much slack, it may have hanged itself, at least as far as world opinion is concerned."
But why be an engaged super-power when it's time to hit the bike, grab a PB&J sandwich, and sneak upstairs to the residence for SportsNight? That stuff's for micro-managing twits like Daddy and his big, red-nosed buddy. Eugene Robinson, writing in the Post, pretty much nailed the fatal detachment while lamenting his choice of vacation weeks, newswise:
Just my luck. I go away on vacation and it happens to be the week when George W. Bush's strategic view of the current world situation is revealed: Russia big. China big, too. World leaders boring. Lady world leaders need neck rub. Terrorism bad. Elections good (when the right people get elected). Israel good. Time to go home yet?
Tags: Israel Bush Lebanon James+Baker