There are many roads leading to Jerusalem
Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at 6:47PM ■"Arafat is Gone, but Hamas Remains," op-ed by George Melloan, Wall Street Journal, 16 November 2004, p. A25.
■"After Death, Tests for Mideast and World," by Steven Erlanger, New York Times, 12 November 2004, p. A1.
■"A Middle East Opening," op-ed by Brent Scowcroft, Washington Post, 12 November 2004, p. A25.
■"Beyond Arafat," by Jim Hoagland, Washington Post, 7 November 2004, p. B7.
Before we went into Iraq, it was said that maybe the road to peace in Jerusalem went through Baghdad. Now, it's said to be the other way around.
I say, if Bush has any real capital with Ariel Sharon, now's the time to use it. Hoagland of the Post says he should name Sam Nunn or James Baker as a special envoy to the situation. I like the idea of Baker, whom I consider to be the last good Secretary of State we had (present nominee included). But I'm not so sure I'd send Baker to Jerusalem. To me, America needs to create local ownership of that problem, as well as the situation in Iraq. Iran's a big player in both (see the U.S. News cover-story this week on Iran's "connections" to the insurgency in Iraq), plus there's a decent case to be made that Iran is the country behind much of Hezbollah's and Hamas' struggle against Israel.
I'm with Brent Scowcroft on this one: we need dialogue with Tehran that's about more than enriched uranium.
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