Bush Tells Israel It Has the Right to Defend Itself

[Darranar]

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 — President Bush said Monday that he had told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel that his country "must not feel constrained" in defending itself, signaling that the United States would not condemn Mr. Sharon's decision to stage an airstrike inside Syria in response to the latest suicide bombing in Israel.

A day after Israel attacked what it said was a terrorist training camp in Syria in retaliation for the suicide bombing in northern Israel on Saturday that killed 19 people plus the bomber, Mr. Bush suggested that the responsibility for breaking the growing cycle of violence now rested primarily with the Palestinian leadership.

"I made it very clear to the prime minister, like I have consistently done, that Israel's got a right to defend herself, that Israel must not feel constrained in defending the homeland," the president said at the White House in response to a reporter's question.

Israel's strategy of hitting a target inside Syria raised the question of whether the Sharon government had adopted Mr. Bush's policy of focusing on not just terrorists but also states that harbor them. The lack of explicit criticism from the United States did nothing to dispel the impression that the White House, after discouraging Israel from assuming that it could embrace the Bush doctrine in its battle against Palestinian extremists, was now doing nothing to stop Israel from doing so.

New York Times

[arcane1]

1. do Syrians have the right to defend themselves?

just asking...

[Darranar]

2. According to Bush?

I have my doubts.

[arcane1]

3. according to Bush...

they probably don't even have the right to live!

[Darranar]

4. Probably true.

n/t

[rini]

5. what a bunch of misinformation and excrement

[Darranar]

8. How?

Oh, sorry I forgot. By criticizing Bush I'm now anti-American and a Leftist Retard.

[Forkboy]

9. He's been going to the Jim Sagle school of posting

:)

[Darranar]

10. "Misinformation and excrement" is better than...

"ain't nuthin but shit." But that's just my opinion.

[bemildred]

11. No, its less illiterate, it's definitely better.

[Darranar]

12. But "ain't nuthin but shit" is funnier.

n/t

[Fozzledick]

13. Isn't Syria already busy 'defending' itself....

.... from Lebanon??

BTW, quelle merde!

[bemildred]

14. Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

-- Salvor Hardin

[Muddleoftheroad]

16. Good theory till you are attacked

nt

[bemildred]

18. I'm sorry.

You seem to have misinterpreted what it means.
It does not advocate pacifism.

It says the incompetent will resort to violence to
cover up their stupidities and failures.

[Darranar]

19. A very wise statement...

with quite a few parallels to the situation.

[bemildred]

20. It seemed relevant to me.

But that is just an opinion, not a fact.

[DuctapeFatwa]

6. Self-defense is a privilege that can only be bestowed by the bush regime

The regime has decreed that Israel has the right to defend itself, which means Israel has the right to murder whom they choose, and how and where and when, and the US taxpayers will pay for it.

Opposition or resistance to this or any policy of the US or Israel is terrorism.

[Gimel]

21. If it were true

which means Israel has the right to murder whom they choose, and how and where and when

But of course it isn't. It's one of those blanket interpretations that assumes malicious intent. Israeli govenment has no wish to murder innocent people.

[DuctapeFatwa]

22. Today's innocent are probably tomorrow's guilty

He may look harmless now, that little black eyed toddler asleep in the shade of a ragged refugee tent.

But if he survives to adulthood, despite the best and brave efforts of the Israeli regime to starve him, keep him from getting basic medical care, bulldoze his home with him in it, the chances are he will be a prime suspect for harboring anti-Israel and anti-American sentiment.

A tank shell today can save the life of a fine Ukranian Israeli soldier a few years from now, and just as in Afghanistan, isn't it more humane to shoot him than have him die slowly of starvation, thirst, common strep or untreated shrapnel wounds?

[Gimel]

23. Blame Israel

Of course, israel should be the mother and father of all the Palestinians. They should create a perfect society for them and not foreget to say "Please" in Arabic.

[madrchsod]

7. no

they are evil

[dove2]

15. "itself" vs. "herself"

A small point, but the NY Times changed used the word "itself" revering to Isreal, whereas the Bush quote to used "herself". It is much more palatable for a "girl" to be able to defend herself no matter what.

[Forkboy]

17. I see the term "little Israel" used a lot too

and while technically correct in term of acreage it's incredibly misleading in terms of military might.