Thursday, January 26, 2006

Hamas

President Bush has been trying to bring democracy to the Middle East. Well, yesterday it happened but not quite the way he wanted it too happen. Hamas won a stunning victory over Fatah and surprised everybody by the victory, including themselves. Today President Bush seemed to dodge the questions about the victory and reiterated that the U.S. will not deal with a terrorist organization until it renounced terrorism.

So, what will Hamas do now? If they do not renounce terrorism and the destruction of Israel then they stand to loose millions of desperately needed aid from the U.S. and the European Union. The loss of the aid will only worsen the situation for Palestine. Maybe, just maybe they will need to make internal changes so that they can deal with Israel in a constructive dialog. But what it they refuse to drop their call for the destruction of Israel?

I do not think that anybody in the White House nor the State Department has thought this far ahead and I am sure the midnight oil will be burning late tonight.

Jim

2 comments:

Ralph said...

Is not one person's terrorist another's revolutionary? I mean, who are we in the United States to criticize terrorism against colonial powers. Sam Adams was one of history's great terrorists. You don't think the British considered his activities, which led to the Revolution, to be terroristic? What's up with that? We once fought the Man, now we've come full circle and become the Man. What's next?

Ralph said...

Jim:

Yes, a thoughtful reply. I guess we should support any revolutionaries that are against taxation without representation. As for the level of violence they use, I guess we should take that into consideration as well. You're right, there is a certain level of civilization we have to stand for.