Those Who Oppose The War In Iraq Should Oppose The Peace Summit Too

You would think that it would be natural for opponents of the Iraq war to be on board with President Bush for the Middle East peace negotiations between Israel and the PA. After all, one is all about conducting a war, while the other is all about negotiating peace. But the declared reasons for the opposition to Iraq should to apply to opposition to the Annapolis summit as well.

David Frum writes

Many of those who opposed the Iraq war on principle will favor these negotiations on principle. Yet the central error of the Iraq war - launching a huge venturing without adequate preparation or proper appreciation of the risks of failure - is the same error stalking these new negotiations.

Negotiating a final peace between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs does seem easy as compared to victory in Iraq, but then again attaining peace between Israel and the Palestinians has always appeared deceptively easy and attainable. This is because Israel has always been the 'reasonable' one that can be cajoled and manipulated into making concessions that are not necessarily in her best interests, all in the name of turning that last corner to get the Arabs--and now the Palestinians--to agree to a settlement.

There are no parties in Iraq that are in the back pocket of the US anywhere near the degree that Israel is perceived to be--And that is Israel's weakness.

It does seem odd that Bush's opponents--both on Capitol Hill and in the media--complain about the weakness of Prime Minister Maliki, but are silent about Abbas. They will complain about the loyalties of various Iraqi parties, yet have no problem with Fatah terrorists under Abbas. Much is made of the Iraqi constitution, but no one talks about how the Fatah Charter still declares its goal to destroy Israel. The murder of Iraqi leaders gets media attention, but the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Olmer is merely noted in passing.

Much could be made of all this by critics--at the expense of President Bush, who is behind Condoleezza Rice's current efforts. But negotiations and diplomacy get a free pass; in war, the body count is plastered all over the TV.

Of course, if the Arab world--and the Arab Palestinians--had to deal with the consequences of the wars they started without being allowed retries, there might already be peace in the Middle East.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Iraq and President Bush and Palestinians.