 |
|
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish
April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology
John Ericson: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless torta del re (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious
April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time
Eric Schulzke: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden
Susan Swann: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
Samuel G. Freedman: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Matthew Mientka: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey: Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller: Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson: A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson: Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson: Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld: Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry: Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton: Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti: It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
|
| |
Jewish World Review
May 30, 2006
/ 3 Sivan, 5766
Blood brothers
By
Michael Goodwin
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Watching George Bush and Tony Blair cover each other's backs last week, you could almost see them as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. When their news conference was over and they walked down the long White House hallway, backs to the camera, you had a feeling that they, like the Hollywood duo, were headed for an unhappy ending.
Iraq is an odd backdrop for a buddy movie, but it is the two leaders' shared legacy and the burden of history is showing. They were stout in their defense of the cause, but their otherwise subdued, confessional manner told the larger story. Bush's acknowledgement that he'd been wrong to challenge the insurgents with "bring it on" and to say Osama Bin Laden was "wanted dead or alive" was a startling admission.
Blair cited less personal but more strategically important mistakes. He said the clean-sweep of Baath Party members from the Iraqi government should have been selective and lamented the failure to realize earlier how serious the opposition to democracy would be.
Given the gravity of the topic, the admissions were poignant. And it is refreshing that the rhetoric of the men who led the charge now more accurately recognizes the bloody facts on the ground.
But the damage the mistakes did were huge, and so conceding them now is probably too little, too late to help either man or to rally support.
So much has gone wrong in Iraq that public disenchantment in both countries is virtually irreversible. And the coming report from the Pentagon that some American Marines killed Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked massacre will likely dwarf the outrage and shame over the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal.
All of which is to say that, as bad as things are, they could very well get worse.
Yes, we will air our dirty laundry and punish our own soldiers, as we did after Abu Ghraib, and it will matter not a whit in Iraq. To many Muslims there and elsewhere, we were long ago guilty of carrying out Satan's work; the massacre report will be just more evidence and cause for revenge.
The given reason for Blair's visit to Washington was to brief Bush on his meeting in Baghdad with Iraq's new prime minister. The duo opened by taking turns hailing the new government as a major development, but, like the war itself, their bodies and tone sagged as the questions and answers stretched on.
Knowing there is no real option other than staying the quagmire, Blair especially seemed to be trying to buy time by reframing the debate. He said public opinion in the West was driven too much by what was going wrong. Every scene of carnage or a lost soldier is viewed as a "setback," he said, suggesting that was the wrong way to see it.
"It is worth it to those engaged in this violence and terrorism to try to stop us, and we should have the same faith and confidence in our determination to succeed as they have in their determination to make us fail," Blair said. He ended his long answer with: "These people who are fighting us there know what is at stake. The question is, do we?" After a brief silence, there was this exchange, according to the White House transcript:
Bush: I'm going to say, that was a great answer. (Laughter.)
Blair: Yours was pretty good, too. (Laughter.)
See, they're buddies. To the end.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and the media consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Michael Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Daily News. Comment by clicking here.
Archives
© 2006 NY Daily News Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services
|
