Fred Kaplan hits the nail on the head so often and so well he must be a part time carpenter. The most notable thing about Bush's speech is that he hauled his Mideast "peace" initiative up on stage and shot it in the head for the entertainment of the Knesset. I doubt anyone on either side took him seriously before, but they were going through the motions the way a polite host would endure the antics of a guest's slow-witted child. The charade will continue, but Bush missed a great opportunity to press the issue by reminding the Israelis that their time of celebration was a time of remembering grief and loss for their neighbors. Bush, McCain, and those like them such as bin Laden and the Iranian president, constantly strive to paint the other side in the starkest terms. They promote conflict, not peace, because that is their heart's desire, as well as their bread and butter. If Nixon could talk to Mao, the U.S. president should feel able to talk to any government leader, especially those we have disagreements with. We should not deal with terrorists, like the Reagan administration did, trading arms for hostages even as more hostages were taken for more arms, but one day some of today's terrorists may be government leaders. Men who were labeled as terrorists went on to be the leaders of their peoples, like Begin, Arafat and Mandela. Being willing to discuss our differences with the peoples of other countries can help to convince them we are not necessarily their implacable foes, the way their manipulative leaders would have them believe. Attitudes like Bush's and McCain's are attempts to set up the next conflict. As is often said of our military, they are always looking to the next war, because, the way we conduct foreign policy (or rather don't have a foreign policy) means there will always be another war. The great injustice in this is that the costs of these unnecessary wars are born by those innocent of starting them. While the loud-mouthed belligerent leaders will profit. The attitudes of Bush and McCain are cowardly. A politician who dares to meet with an enemy risks much of his or her own. A politician who preaches fear and hate risks only what is dear to others, their fortunes and their children.

out loud when he makes one of those speeches, is they know that's the same stuff he uses to wring money out of Americans for Israel's annual handout.

And without the handout, those same Israeli "leaders", the policy elite of a dysfunctional socialist state, would soon be toast.

Well, american militarism is well known all over the world, the don't talk they kill.

Telemachus,

I think you hit a point that makes me especially sad. The people who are hurt in these wars are the innocent who just want to live their lives.

The leaders (so-called) only benefit. If you think about it, Bush, the israeli leaders, the leaders in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Amadinijad and even Osama bin Laden all benefit from these wars. They are above the frey. They only get richer and more powerful. That is why they don't mind hostilities or skirmishes or terrorist attacks or, as in the case of Iraq and Afghanistan, constant, chronic, low level violence.

It keeps people scared and cowed and makes them easily
controlled.

The truth is that I have more in common with the average working or professional person in the Middle East than I have with the President and his associates.