France and Jimmy Carter: Tweedledee and Tweedledum

I can honestly state I have no idea who irritates me more,the French or Jimmy Carter.The duplicitous nature of the French is once again on full display as efforts are being made to provide troops in southern Lebanon.The French, who are credited with getting Arab nations on board to a cease fire and negotiated vigorously with the United States are now renegging on their commitments that formed the crux of the agreement.
The French informed us that they were prepared to provide up to 3,000 troops to safeguard the Lebanon-Israeli border and have now committed to no more than 400 troops,all of them engineers.In the negotiations, the French insisted they would take the lead in the region,as long as they determined the rules of engagement.The French now justify minimal participation on the grounds that the rules of engagement are not tough enough.The fact that they created those rules has been willfully overlooked.
Jimmy Carter, in an interview with Der Spiegel, a German magazine, condemned Israel's bombing attack as disproportionate.He suggested that the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers was nothing more than a predetermined pretext to invade.He also invoked Hezbollah's talking points when he referred to ten thousand Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.He neglected to mention the eight soldiers Hezbollah killed in the kidnapping of the two soldiers.He overlooked the fact that the ten thousand are "prisoners" having committed crimes.He has no problem with equating the murder of soldiers with the release of hardened criminals.He overlooked the fact that Hezbollah used civilians as shields,which is defined as a war crime.
The French clearly engaged in these negotiations in bad faith.Jimmy Carter,failing to find even partisan domestic support for his views now relies on an image in Europe as a statesmanlike figure to express himself.The French merely undermine at every turn and Jimmy Carter voices ill informed objections that give justification to their behavior. The greater tragedy is that such duplicity shall prove a greater harm to us all. The French, whose President Jacques Chirac embraced Yasser Arafat clearly view Israel and the United States on an equal footing with terrorists like Hasnan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah, guided by Iran through Syria seek the destruction not only of Israel,but all Jews worldwide and the United States as well.France, surely knows of this objective.Why, then behave so dishonestly? There are two possibilities.First, they see Hezbollah as a counterweight to United States interests in the region and are unwilling to believe the more extreme comments of their new diplomatic allies.Secondly, they are complicit in the greater objective.The latter would be consistent with Jacques Chirac's politics' as he embraced a hateful figure like Yasser Arafat,who for all his words to the contrary acted out his desire for destruction to the very end.
The greater danger of France's behavior and Jimmy Carter's "convictions" is that it demonstrates that terror can find willing allies in the west of seeming importance.The result, as is increasingly clear is a war of far greater calamity.When looking at such commentary and such actions one in tempted to invoke the memory of Neville Chamberlain.As we all know he piously declared "Peace in our time" as he returned from Munich after settling the Czech issue with Adolph Hitler.Truthfully, a word must be said in Mr. Chamberlain's defense.His acclaiming peace was noble and worthy of the effort, but more importantly, Neville Chamberlain, upon the Nazi invasion of Poland did not repeat his error in seeking peace at all costs.Here's hoping that Jacques Chirac and Jimmy Carter learn this lesson before we all pay a terrible price.

Muslim Moderation and Confronting Radicalism

In recent days we have come to be reminded of the tenacity that drives the will of men when possessed,driven by hate to reap death and destruction upon civilization.Undying credit must be placed to British authorities for thwarting this latest attempt to spread fear and panic.In the wake of their success,both Prime Minister Blair and President Bush,however have been met with criticism.Blair has been criticized because many have insisted such a plot is concocted due to our policy in Iraq.Bush has been criticized because it has been said our priorities are misplaced,and not enough has been done here at home.It is unprecedented it seems in my eyes that one can be criticized because nothing went wrong.
The criticism of Tony Blair in large measure is from "moderate" Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom.It has been repeatedly suggested that the Palestinian question and Iraq are to blame for the radicalization of Muslim youth.Whatever one may think of the present conditions in Iraq, no one can objectively assert with any empirical documentation that it serves either as a deterrent or as an inflammatory agent.
The present relationship between the west and terrorism is due to the preaching of hatred in certain radical segments of Islam throughout the world.They have used Iraq and the Palestinians as the means to exploit vulnerable minds.Hatemongers,however are never at a loss to find an issue to radicalize individuals or communities.Radical (not all) Muslims do not limit their objectives to Israel and the Palestinian issue,no matter how hard more moderate leaders suggest.Iran,Hezbollah,Al Qaeda and many more have a visceral hatred of everything the west represents.It hates elections,equality for woman and it views our prosperity as undeserved in the eyes of god.
The more moderate Muslim leaders in Western nations are either naive or ignoring the reality that hatred,not foreign policy is driving terrorism.Radicals merely exploit issues as a means of converting willing vessels to their hateful ways.
I have a few questions for the moderate leadership in Muslim communities.What have you done to confront this radical trend in the community? Have you confronted these zealots that drive youth to murder/suicide? Have you challenged their authority and engaged in a vigorous debate to win the minds of those they target for suicide?I don't know the answer, but it certainly is not on public display if such a debate has been engaged.A change in foreign policy will not end terrorism.If Iraq is abandoned and we resolve the Palestinian question,hate will find a new issue to drive its machine.It just never ends.It can only be combatted by confronting those who define life by acts of murder.
In order to avoid a clash of east and west, moderate muslims must concede the threat that radicalization presents and its destructive infleunce.It is destructive,not only as a portent of future conflict,but also as it tarnishes a great faith whose positive history has been all too willingly overlooked in the shadow of our present state of affairs.At stake is not only peace and prosperity,but for muslims it means avoiding the stigma that has plagued Germans since World War II. If all of us,but especially peace loving moderate Muslims stand up for life we can avoid an epic conflict,unparalelled in human history.In order to do this muslims of good faith must fight the good fight and challenge this radical hijacking.