Back to the Conflict

Watch those hit figures plummet as they realize I'm on an Palestinian-Israeli conflict rampage and I can't be stopped...

You know how much I like Thomas Friedman. Well, he's definitely become the all-time link leader from this site, and he does the magic again by pointing out that "Ariel Sharon's two years of using the Israeli Army alone to fight terrorism have not made Israelis more secure". Of course, that's precisely what I've been saying all along, but he says it so much better, and I think he has more than 32 discrete hits today.

Have you noticed how often Israel kills a Hamas activist and the victim is described by Israelis as "a senior Hamas official" or a "key operative"? This has led me to wonder: How many senior Hamas officials could there be? We're not talking about I.B.M. here. We're talking about a ragtag terrorist group. By now Israel should have killed off the entire Hamas leadership twice. Unless what is happening is something else, something I call Palestinian math... "When self-defense becomes self-destruction, only an external force can bring people back to their senses. And that force is President Bush. I think he is the only reality principle left that either side might listen to, and I hope he understands that." ...unless the only reality principle left, the United States of America, really intervenes — with its influence, its wisdom and, if necessary, its troops.

Thank you, Mr Friedman. I'm seeing a strategery here in my mind's eye (reception is clearer if I put my cowboy hat on, actually)... I see all those 200,000 troops in Iraq leaving little by little, one humvee at a time, driving across the Jordanian desert... pretty soon you have Operation Holy Shield!