Wednesday, April 14, 2004

I see dead people

So Bush reverses 40 years of American policy today - Bush Endorses Sharon's Withdrawal Plan - but didn't get around to mentioning this as last night's press conference.
Billmon has a lengthy, informative post on what this means for the future of the Middle East -- in brief, more war.
Meanwhile, what Bush did make clear was that the US is stepping up the level of force in Iraq, apparently abandoning the Iranian negotiations with AlSadr and bringing in the tanks and helicopters again. Al Sadr is the new Evil One, I guess, and perhaps Bush and his politial advisors are making sure that Bush continues to be a "war president" for at least the next six months.
But I also wonder whether the sudden policy reversal about Israel means the neocons in Washington were starting to fear that Bush might lose in November, so they wanted to make sure that Sharon gets what he wants before this happens. Billmon points out that now that US policy has been changed, it will be virtually impossible for any subsequent president to change it back.

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