Bush has to put troublesome Sharon in his = place

Bush has to put troublesome Sharon in his=20 place=20

Ariel Sharon is due in Washington next week for his = seventh=20 meeting with George W. Bush since the two of them took = office=20 last year. Given the Israeli prime minister=92s = repeated=20 snubbing of his powerful patron, the time has come for = the=20 American president to lay down the law. Whatever Bush = intends=20 to do in Iraq, his policy can only be undermined by = continuing=20 mischief by the Jewish state. And whatever lies ahead = in the=20 Israeli-Palestinian peace process, its chances for = success can=20 only be reduced and the security of both peoples = eroded=20 accordingly unless the White House finally snaps = Sharon=20 into line.
Bush seems fully determined to topple = Saddam=20 Hussein and would like Arab support for (or at least=20 acquiescence in) a military campaign. The principal = obstacle=20 to that goal is the yawning gap between the principles = America=20 claims to cherish and the policies it follows in the = Middle=20 East. Bush proposes to serve as judge, jury and = executioner in=20 the case of Iraq=92s alleged quest to develop weapons = of mass=20 destruction in violation of UN Security Council = resolutions.=20 But he can have no credibility to do so while he = continues to=20 reward Sharon for doing much the same thing.
Israel = has=20 long been a serial violator of international law and = UN writ,=20 but Sharon has taken its aggression and obstinacy to = new=20 heights. Instead of being taken to task by the White = House,=20 however, he has been described as a =93man of = peace.=94
There=20 can only be one cure for the cancer eating away at = Bush=92s=20 credibility. He might not have the integrity to tell = the war=20 criminal to stay home, but he must summon the = intestinal=20 fortitude to remind him of who, in fact, is in charge. = The=20 best way to accomplish that mission is for Bush to = follow=20 British Prime Minister Tony Blair=92s lead and = reiterate the=20 primacy of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and = 338, two of=20 the more obvious =93red lines=94 that Sharon has vowed = to trample.=20 Bush must make the point forcefully, he must do it = publicly,=20 and he must do it with Sharon at his side. Maybe then = the tail=20 will stop wagging the dog.

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DS: 10/10/02

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