Monthly Archives: May 2005

"Everything about President Bush's repeated statements regarding the Israeli-Palestinian issue appears to be calculated to hold out the possibility that this will happen, but without committing the president. Some would say his caution is understandable: the US is mired in an ugly and seemingly intractable conflict in Iraq; it has no solution thus far for Iran's nuclear ambitions; Abbas could fail; Hamas could gain a portion of power and refuse to disarm or negotiate; disengagement could go horribly wrong; and Sharon will almost certainly be intractable about moving ahead quickly to exploit the momentum of disengagement. "

"Desecrating the Quran or glorifying dogcatchers is counterproductive. Washington should restrain its newspapers. By publishing cartoons of Pakistan's military junta as faithful dogs the Americans are merely damaging their cause. Dogcatchers need American protection. Remember the fate of the Shah of Iran and Anwar Saadat two good dogcatchers."

"Does all of this extra-legal philosophy and activity actually benefit America in the War on Terror? Absolutely not! It causes more and more benign people to become enraged terrorists, and thus increases the threat to American forces overseas. But all of this torture and illegal detention and denial of human rights does serve a real purpose -- it scares the hell out of the American citizenry and makes Americans understand that if they are ever declared to be "terrorists" they will be treated likewise."

"Some people think that Pakistan’s inability to stand up to America is due to its weakness. Nothing could be further from the truth. America’s reliance on Pakistani assets such as its intelligence, army, security forces, air bases, airspace and nuclear weapons clearly highlights America’s weakness and demonstrates Pakistan’s strength."

"Only the US can ensure that all these needs and requirements, short- and long-term, are carried out. Only American encouragement and support enabled Israel to maintain practices that were responsible for this deterioration, and, by the same token, only a clear American position to encourage Israel in a positive direction, based on adherence to the roadmap, can improve chances of peace."