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Middle Eastern Madness John LeBoutillier For those naive enough to believe that we can change the Middle East for the better, look at these three recent items: The Barbarity of Hamas Israel vs. Hamas over the kidnapped Israeli soldier: What a total mess this situation is. A team of Hamas killers tunnels under Israel's security fence into an Israeli military base, where they kill two soldiers and kidnap Corporal Gilad Shalit. They take him – it is believed – into the Gaza and immediately start using him as negotiating leverage. Why? Because in Israel, unlike here, the Israeli government will do virtually anything to recover missing and captured soldiers. Do you recall the time Israel traded 1,100 imprisoned terrorists for just three Israeli pilots? So, despite these claims – "We won't negotiate with terrorists" – in the end, they'll make a deal. The problem here is that members of Hamas have already overstepped their bounds. Their radicalism knows no bounds; they still want to wipe Israel off the map. They are demanding that Israel release 6,000 imprisoned Palestinians. Israel has apparently told Hamas, according to published stories, that if Gilad is harmed or killed, Israel will kill the Palestinian prime minister. They have already captured eight leading members of the Palestinian government – presumably for a trade. Story Continues Below
And the Israeli air force buzzed the summer home of Syrian President Bashir Assad to send him a message: "We know you're aiding Hamas and harboring their leader in Syria. There will be consequences to you, too, if Gilad is harmed." OK, that is the overall situation – subject to changes as the days go on. But here is the bigger picture: As noted TV journalist and Mideast veteran Liz Trotta said, "As long as any of us can remember, we have heard about "peace talks in the Middle East" and yet nothing changes – ever!" So true. Democracy in the Middle East is the key, says GW Bush. Oh, yeah? What about the overwhelming electoral victory in January of Hamas among the Palestinians? How does this make things better? Could it just be that these are a people doomed to live lives of misery, hatred, and fear? Indeed, the Middle East is a barbarous place. Finding Bin Laden THE CIA has closed down its Bin Laden Bureau: Alec Station, the ten-year-long ‘special bureau' aimed solely at killing or capturing Osama bin Laden (set up long before the 9/11 attacks) has been closed by the CIA. If this act doesn't show our complete diversion by the war in Iraq, nothing does. We have devoted almost all our resources to getting Saddam, his sons, and Zarqawi – all legitimate targets. But doing so at the expense of the worldwide terrorist leader shows a lack of focus in the War on Terror. Seeing and hearing Osama taunting us week after week on audio and video tapes – almost five years after 9/11 – is a total disgrace. The America I love and believe in would never allow this bastard to run free for five years! Whatever happened to President Bush's boast: "We'll get him dead or alive!"? Iraq is what happened. Never dreaming that we'd be bogged down for three and a half years in Iraq, Team Bush thought they could fight Osama and in Iraq at the same time – and win both. They were wrong. The result? Iraq is a morass with no end in sight. And Osama is alive and free and still running al-Qaida. Sunni-Shiite Civil War Twice this week, high-ranking Iraqi officials have been kidnapped in Baghdad – along with their entire security details. Over last weekend, a female Sunni member of the Iraqi Parliament was kidnapped along with her eight bodyguards. Then on July Fourth, the assistant energy minister in charge of electricity was kidnapped with his entire 11-man bodyguard unit. Both abductions followed a similar pattern: The kidnappers appeared wearing Iraqi army uniforms, thus lulling the bodyguards into a false sense of security. These events – along with the recent string of devastating car bombings in Shiite sections of Baghdad – highlight a painful fact: We are witnessing a civil war between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. This is a war that we should not have a role in. Our wonderful troops should not be caught up in this type of conflict. The fact of the matter is that Iraqi sectarian strife – tribal, religious, and mysterious – is typical of the entire Middle East. And it isn't going to change. Those Americans who think – or thought – that we could change this centuries-old behavioral pattern are naive. And they're playing with precious American lives. It is time to wake up: The Middle East is not going to change. The sooner we get off their oil, stop putting our dollars in their pockets, and redirect our national focus to killing Osama before he unleashes an even more devastating attack, the better. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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