Jewish World Review April 19, 2002 / 8 Iyar, 5762

Greg Crosby

Greg Crosby
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports

Read My Lips: No Negotiating With Terrorists

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Secretary of State Powell has returned from the Middle East and all we got was ... heck, we didn't even get a lousy T-shirt. Ten days in the balmy Middle East. How would you rate his "peace trip?" Well, he looked pretty good. I mean he had nice posture and he stood taller than anyone else. It's that military training, you know. He always wore a well-pressed suit and he seemed to be well-groomed. He shook a lot of hands over there. Um ... but what was accomplished? Let's see...

1. Powell met with Arab leaders and basically was shown the door.

2. Powell met with Ariel Sharon and leaned on him to pull back Israeli forces.

3. Powell met with super-duper mega-terrorist Arafat (a day after another suicide mass murder by killers under Arafat's direct command) who offered nothing new for a change.

4. Powell met with Syrian leaders, the very same people who harbor and support terrorists.

5. Powell went back to Egypt and was snubbed by the Egyptian president. He met with the foreign minister instead.

6. Powell came back home. Hail the conquering hero!

You know what? I could have made the trip and accomplished the same thing that Powell did at less than half the price. I work cheaper than Powell. I bet if I went to Egypt, President Mubarak wouldn't see me either -- but he wouldn't see me for a lot less money, I guarantee you.

What I'd like to know is, what happened to "no negotiating with terrorists"? I guess we were only kidding. Yeah, that's right. Never mind. We didn't really mean it seven months ago, we just got all caught up in the moment, you know. People say silly things that they really don't mean when they're under stress. Like stress brought on by freaking Arab suicide imbeciles who commandeer our airplanes and crash them into our buildings. But, hey, that was a long time ago. Seven whole months ago. We've changed our minds, I guess.

Or maybe it's just easier for us to go along with what seems to be the prevailing opinion of the rest of the world when it comes to Israel. Take the Europeans -- please. The Europeans don't want to rock the boat -- after all, they have 32 million Muslims living in their boat. That's right. There are more Muslims in Europe than anywhere else outside of the Middle East. Islam is Europe's number two religion after Christianity. Muslims make up a full 10 percent of the total population of Belgium. Besides, let's face it, Europe doesn't exactly have a sterling record of treating it's Jewish inhabitants very well, to say the least.

Asia doesn't care about the survival of Jews in the Middle East or anywhere else. Latin America even less. Canada? Don't make me laugh, eh? Africa? I don't think so. Australia? New Zealand? Right, mate. And the Arab world would be just fine and dandy if all the Jews were dead or gone away.

So who does that leave? Antarctica? Iceland? The Bahamas? Polynesia maybe? Unfortunately, when it comes to moral clarity in our world today, America is pretty much it. But Israel runs a close second. And just as Israel is America's only real friend in the Mideast, America is Israel's only ally on the entire planet.

When an American president stands up in front of the entire world and proclaims that terrorism is unacceptable everywhere on September 20th, it better darn well still be unacceptable everywhere on April 20th. If America still stands for liberty, democracy and freedom, then it should let Israel, the only democratic country in the Middle East, defend herself against the terrorists who want to see her destroyed. If we don't stand up to terrorism over there right now, we may not have the chance to do it over here later.


JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.

Greg Crosby Archives


© 2001 Greg Crosby