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Jewish World Review April 19, 2002 / 8 Iyar, 5762
Greg Crosby
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...
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
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.
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