Some Observations on Bush and Hamas

by soccerdad

Bush, as we are all too familar, confuses elections with democracy. He is is a big fan of elections, except when they don't produce the desired results. Much rhetoric has been streaming from the WH regarding the victory of Hamas and how the US and the EU will not negoiate with terrorists.

Helena Cobban, a veteran observer of politics and the ME, made the following comment today:

If Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador to Iraq, is-- with the full backing of President Bush and apparently the US Congress-- engaging in negotiations with leaders of the Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq, who have been targeting (and killing) US troops continuously for the past three years and in many places continue to do so, who have engaged in some extremely inhumane acts against noncombatants, and whose rhetoric is often extremely anti-US... Then on what basis does the Bush administration, with apparently the full backing of the US Congress, call for "no negotiations with Hamas", an organization that has never in its history targeted US troops or other assets and that with one exception has maintained a ceasefire in its own theater of operations (Palestine/Israel) for the past ten months?

So as usual, the administration is once again unaware of its own blatant hypocrisy. It is well known that they don't listen to outside sources, I guess they don't pay attention to themselves or more likely feel we are all too stupid to notice.

In a second post, derived from her CSM article, she discusses why there may actually be reason for hope given the results of the Palestinian elections.

She notes:

The strong internal discipline within Hamas, as opposed to the indiscipline and factionalism within Fatah, indicates that a strong Hamas leadership can be a more effective participant in peace diplomacy than the Fatah leadership has ever been. (Interestingly, this view has been expressed even by some Israelis.)

I strongly suggest reading the whole of her articles as they they appear, as usual, very well informed and balanced.

Another good piece on Hamas and the fallout of the elections has been put out by Newsweek. Unfortuanetly, here we learn that Hamas has been learning to massage its message to change its tone. The interesting note is that they have been learning from the masters of spin and disinformation, the Bush adminstration. As an example:

He says he learned one of his most valuable lessons from watching Bush's spin doctors: replace hot-button words with polite equivalents. "We don't need to 'kill people'," he says. "We need to 'remove occupation.' Both are the same, but the meaning is totally different." And aim your pitch to attract swing voters. "People tackling social issues get higher votes," he says. "When you kill, don't say you're going to do it. Just do it. And then say you're sorry."

Overall some good information, well worth reading.

I think it is more than clear that the Bush administration does not do policy. They do politics and will say what ever sounds good. In essence, their actions consist of careening from one diaster to another, trying anything and simply praying that something works.