The Chickens are Home

Frustrated by its own ineptitude, ham-handedness and utter failure in dealing with Iraq, France, Russia, Egypt, the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, senior American officials are blaming the collapse of the Gulf War coalition on Israel. In fact, American neglect of Iraqi military strategy for the past seven years sent a pointed message to our old Gulf partners and now no vulnerable Arab State wants to be on our side because Saddam is winning. Greed and delusions of grandeur drive the French/Russian coalition. And the Palestinians are ideologically comfortable with Saddam.

Frustrated by its own ineptitude, ham-handedness and utter failure in dealing with Iraq, France, Russia, Egypt, the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, senior American officials are blaming the collapse of the Gulf War coalition on Israel. In fact, American neglect of Iraqi military strategy for the past seven years sent a pointed message to our old Gulf partners and now no vulnerable Arab State wants to be on our side because Saddam is winning. Greed and delusions of grandeur drive the French/Russian coalition. And the Palestinians are ideologically comfortable with Saddam. But to the Clinton team, it’s all Israel’s fault for delaying military redeployment in the West Bank, and they will be relentless in pursuing the REAL Middle East bad guy – Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Nothing new. Less expected is that Israel, the only country that seems to see the dangers inherent in U.S. policy, appears to be trying desperately to cut the President some slack.

Israeli officials are pointing to the “Note for the Record” and a private side letter written by then-Secretary of State Christopher to PM Netanyahu following the signing of the Hebron Accord as proof that Israel will not be pressured into making dangerous redeployments on the West Bank. They say the “Note” and the letter, “explicitly link further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank to the Palestinian commitment to ‘combat systematically and effectively, terrorist organizations and infrastructure.'” So what? JINSA repeats the concerns we expressed in January with both the “Note” and the letter.

“While a timetable is fixed for Israel’s redeployment, there is none for the Palestinians to meet their commitments – the same ones they have failed to respect since the signing of the original Oslo Accord in 1993 – and there is no penalty for noncompliance. Furthermore, the new agreement by the PA to meet those original commitments is NOT actually in the Protocol itself. It is contained in what is called a “Note for the Record,” written and signed by U.S. Ambassador Dennis Ross. The enforceability of commitments in the ‘Note’ remains to be seen, but since Mr. Arafat has failed to meet commitments to which he is an actual signatory, we are extremely skeptical about the efficacy of this new mechanism.”

“[Mr. Christopher] is providing a side letter to the PM which contains the seeds of a problem. One line reads, ‘I have conveyed [to Arafat] our [American government] belief that… all three phases of the further redeployments should be completed… not later than mid-1998.’ In the next paragraph, he writes, ‘A hallmark of U.S. policy remains our commitment to work cooperatively to seek to meet the security needs that Israel identifies.’ Although the exact boundaries of redeployment are an Israeli decision, what would happen if, owing to events not foreseen in the agreement, Israel determines that ANY further redeployment is inconsistent with Israeli security? Arafat would point to one line in the letter, but the PM would point to another. Which line takes precedence? Would we force Israel to redeploy against its own security evaluation? The potential dilemma for the United States looms large.” Well, here we are.

The real dilemma is that Iraq poses an unacceptable threat to America’s national security interests. The President has an obligation to face the fact that a cunning megalomaniac is close to having an arsenal of the most horrible chemical and biological agents known to man, plus delivery systems. Also, years of downsizing in the U.S. military have left us fewer military options. Israel should be looked upon as an ally and an asset, not a scapegoat for American failures of nerve.