Consequences for Gazans and Iraqis

It seems that President Bush may be right on one thing about the Middle East: Palestinians and Iraqis may have something in common.

Oh, it's not the cause-and-effect that he thinks an Israeli-Palestinian peace will have on Iraq. There won't be any real effect except to take away one excuse from the so-called moderate Arab states for not solving their sectarian disputes.

What they have in common is the lack of reality, the lack of sense and most of all the lack of insight that actions have consequences.

Tom Friedman, the Pulitzer-prize winning reporter and columnist of the New York Times, has finally had enough. The man who earlier in his career had been an apoligist for Arabs, now is struck by the stupidity of the Iraqi parliament. These are the guys we put into power and the guys our troops are dying every day to protect.

Remember the 300 Spartans? I don't mean the dumb movies, but the actual rear-guard action by the bodyguard of King Leonidas of Sparta, which bottled up the mountain pass at Thermopylae in 480 BCE. That allowed the Spartan-Athenian armies and navy time to mount a defense and beat the Persians under Xerxes I in the Battle of Salamis.

Now imagine this: A messenger makes his way back to Athens to tell the Athenian parliament about the battle. He mounts the Acropolis, and with his last bit of strength gets to the door, only to find a "Gone Fishin'" sign.

That's what our troops are doing in Iraq. While our soldiers and Marines are dying in their twos and threes and dozens, the Iraqi parliament has decided to go on vacation for the month of August.

And what does Bush, that incredible idiot, say to that? Well, you know, it's really hot in Baghdad in August.

As Friedman said in his column today (July 18, 2007), maybe its time to buy these American soldiers a ticket home.

Actions have consequences. If Iraqis want to take a vacation from their air-conditioned parliament building while American troops are dying in their streets to protect them and give them a chance to build a state in which to live, maybe it's time they did some of the heavy lifting.

At the same time, some fool at the United Nations has said that the Gazan economy will collapse if the Hamas is not allowed to open the main Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel proper.

The U.N. genius didn't say anything about why the crossing is closed: that the terrorists in Hamas rode into town with guns blazing and tossed out the legitimate Palestinian soldiers and bureaucrats who were running the crossing.

The U.N. didn't say how quickly they high-tailed it when the Hamas shot up Gaza, leaving the Gazans they now are so interested in protecting in the lurch. They also don't say anything about the fact that the Israelis left Gaza, left the Palestinians in charge, Palestinians who did so good a job of running Gaza that 1.1 million of the 1.5 million residents are on U.N. aid.

Dear Gazans: Sorry about that, but you voted Hamas in after that idiot Bush pushed for elections long before you were ready to have them. But still, after the elections, when you saw Hamas was not going to be any better than the former Fatah government, you did nothing. You cheered when Hamas set off rockets to kill innocent civilians in Israeli towns. You cheered Hamas.

Actions have consequences. Deal with it.

Until next time...