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Информация о материале
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Автор: Caroline Glick
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Категория: english
Jewish World Review Oct.
10, 2006 / 18 Tishrei, 5767
It would seem that Karl Marx got things backwards. History does not
repeat itself first as tragedy and then as farce. Rather, it repeats itself
first as farce and second as tragedy. This, perhaps more than anything
else is the conclusion one should reach from North Korea's nuclear test
on Columbus Day.
It was the Clinton administration, which back in the Roaring '90s began
the policy of appeasing North Korea. Throughout the decade the US wined
and dined the North Korean Stalinists who always responded by pocketing
US concessions and escalating their nuclear and ballistic missile activities
and threats against the US and its Asian allies.
The farce was then US secretary of state Madeleine Albright's visit
to Pyongyang in late October 2000, two weeks before the US presidential
elections. There, after the North Koreans tested the Taepo-Dong 1 ballistic
missile off the coast of Japan in 1998 and refused to end either their
missile programs or missile exports to Iran, Albright tripped the night
fantastic with Kim Jong-Il. Her buffoonery was a perfect capstone to eight
years of the Clinton administration's addiction to ceremony over substance.
While America's tone towards North Korea chilled under the Bush administration,
there was little substantive change in its policies.
Secretary of state Colin Powell met with his North Korean counterpart
Pak Nam Sun and to this day US attempts to strike a deal with Pyongyang
have not ended. And now, Pyongyang, with its medium- and long-range ballistic
missiles, has tested a nuclear bomb.
THERE IS of course also North Korea's ally Iran. Toward Iran, too,
the substance of the Bush administration policies is little different from
that of his predecessor. Like North Korea, the Iranians respond to US attempts
at appeasement by escalating their rhetoric and redoubling their offensive
military build-ups of missiles and nuclear capabilities.
The great shift, then which occurred under the Bush administration,
a shift for which President George W. Bush has been pilloried by his political
rivals, has been rhetorical.
While hypocritical, the division between rhetoric and substance has
something to recommend it. The benefit of the current US position toward
North Korea and Iran is that the rhetoric has left open the possibility
that the policy itself will finally be suited to reality. Today, unlike
the situation in the 1990s, the American public is at least aware that
these states are a threat to US national security interests.
In the aftermath of North Korea's nuclear bomb test, the US can support
military actions by Japan and South Korea against North Korea; build up
its missile shield; and perhaps end its 14 year self-imposed moratorium
on nuclear testing and so revamp its nuclear arsenal.
Were the Bush administration to change its policy tomorrow regarding
Iran — begin shaming Europe into ending its appeasement, and threatening
Russia with trade sanctions if Moscow continues supporting Iran, Syria
and Hizbullah, while building up its military options to strike at Iran's
nuclear installations — the American public would understand why the policy
change was necessary. Indeed, such a move could even help the Republican
Party in the upcoming elections.
DISTURBINGLY, WHILE Bush has paved the way rhetorically for a shift
in policy toward North Korea and Iran, he has done no such thing in the
US's relations with the terror-ruled Palestinian Authority. And as is the
case with Iran and North Korea, the stubborn and ill-considered continuation
of the Clinton administration's appeasement policy toward the PA during
the Bush years has only exacerbated and escalated the threat posed by the
PA to US national security interests and to the national security of US
allies — first and foremost, of Israel.
In the 1990s, the father of modern terrorism, Yasser Arafat, was the
most frequent foreign visitor at the White House. The head of the PLO was
the object of adoration by the Clintonites. It didn't matter to them that
Arafat never revoked the PLO Charter calling for Israel's destruction.
It didn't matter that he indoctrinated a generation of Palestinian children
to become suicide bombers in jihad against the Jews. It didn't matter that
he used billions of dollars of American and European taxpayer money to
build the largest terror army in the world. Arafat showed up at signing
ceremonies. He was the poster child of appeasement.
The Clinton administration tied itself to a policy toward the Palestinians
which, like its policies toward North Korea and Iran, opened it to ever
escalating blackmail. As the terror threat emanating from the PA-ruled
areas rose, empowering Arafat became the obsession of the Clinton White
House. He was showered with money, guns and love. No Israeli security consideration
could hold a candle to the need to strengthen Arafat.
From bombing to bombing, Arafat was enriched and empowered. Israel's
security became the main obstacle to the signing ceremonies.
After seven years, the myth of Arafat the peacemaker exploded in the
faces of more than a thousand Israelis who would be killed over the next
six years of the Palestinian jihad. But the myth of the PA endured.
For the past six years, each bombing, every clear indication that the
PA itself is a terrorist entity is met by more breathless US protestations
of support for Palestinian empowerment and statehood. The fact that the
last six years have left the State Department unfazed was made absolutely
clear during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit last week.
Since Arafat appointed Mahmoud Abbas, his deputy of 40 years, PA prime
minister in 2003, the US has upheld Abbas as a man of peace, a moderate
and a respectable leader that the Bush administration wishes to strengthen.
To this end, the Bush administration has overlooked Abbas's clear support
for terrorism. It has excused his constant appeals to merge his Fatah terror
group with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It has ignored the fact that his Fatah
terror group has committed more acts of terror than Hamas and that Fatah's
involvement in terror and the sophistication of its attacks has only increased
since Abbas replaced Arafat after the latter's death in November 2004.
During her visit last week, at Abbas's request, Rice was scheduled
to meet with Fatah commander Hussein a-Sheikh in the American Consulate-General
in Jerusalem. The meeting was cancelled at the last minute when Israeli
activists demanded that Sheikh, who was directly responsible for the murder
of dozens of Israelis and several American nationals, be arrested by Israel
police upon arrival at the consulate. Yet, Rice still met with other Fatah
leaders, like Muhammad Dahlan who has been directly implicated in the murder
of Israelis in terror attacks perpetrated by men under his command.
EVEN MORE disturbingly, Rice has officially sanctioned a policy put
together by US Army Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton to expand by up to 70 percent
Abbas's presidential guard and personal army, Force 17. The administration
wishes to raise some $20 million to fund the training and arming and expansion
of Abbas's army from 3,500 to 6,000 soldiers. This move comes after the
US transferred 3,000 rifles and 1 million bullets to Force 17 in June.
Yet Force 17 is a terrorist army led by terrorists.
Right after he received the weapons shipment, Abbas appointed Mahmoud
Damra commander of the force. Damra, who like many of the Force 17 officers
and soldiers, doubles as a Fatah terrorist, was wanted by Israel due to
his direct involvement in the terrorist murder of at least 15 Israelis.
One of his deputies claimed that the US rifles were immediately used to
attack a bus carrying Israeli school girls in Judea.
Israel arrested Damra at a checkpoint shortly after he received Abbas's
appointment. The US immediately began pressuring Israel to release him.
In addition to Damra's direct involvement in Fatah terror, he also
has close ties with Iran and Hizbullah. In 2002, Arafat reportedly appointed
him Force 17's liaison officer to Iran and Hizbullah forces. The fact that
Abbas appointed Damra Force 17's overall commander just weeks before Fatah
and Hamas began Iran's proxy war against Israel by attacking the IDF position
at Kerem Shalom and kidnapping Cpl. Gilad Shalit, should say something
about Abbas's intentions. Yet, last week, Rice couldn't praise Abbas enough.
North Korea's nuclear test and Iran's nuclear intimidation show us
what happens when failed policies are not abandoned. Due in part to its
continued US-backed legitimacy, the PA is used by Pakistan as an excuse
for terror sponsorship and nuclear proliferation and by jihadists throughout
the world as justification for attacks on Western and Jewish targets.
No doubt the North Korean nuclear test is a turning point in this world
war.
The question is whether it will force the US to finally part with appeasement,
or whether Rice will convince President Bush to take his chances by repeating
history a third and fourth time.
© 2006, Caroline B. Glick
Russian version