Peace Efforts in Middle East Must Not Again Be Undermined

What is one nation's crisis is another nation's opportunity. That can go either way, of course, good or bad.

At the moment, Saudi Arabia's natural leadership has come to the fore, and King Abdullah has shown his public disassociation with the U.S.'s adventurism and a commitment to the interests of his Middle Eastern sphere.

Last week, the 22 government leaders of the Arab League renewed their commitment to the Beirut proposal. First, however, Abdullah, who has since become the king of Saudi Arabia, gave them a telling-off the likes of which has never been heard before at an Arab summit. He mentioned the bloodshed in occupied Iraq, the political deadlock in Lebanon, the "Arab meekness" in Sudan and the seemingly endless series of civil wars in Somalia. "The real blame should fall on us -- we the leaders of the Arab nations," he said.

Of course, the Arabs are not the only ones to have messed up during the five years since the Beirut proposal. The Bush administration began a war in Iraq that has opened the "gates of hell," just as Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa predicted. Israel launched a military campaign in 2006 that Vice-Premier Shimon Peres has since described as a "mistake" -- and which has made Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah a popular Arab hero. And the Europeans are constantly torn between their trans-Atlantic allegiances and their desire to act on their own account -- with the result that they are still struggling to develop a coherent Middle East strategy.

Almost everyone has suffered setbacks during the past five years -- with the exception of men like Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose self-confidence has grown so out of proportion that one would like to see a wise mullah to bring him back down to earth sometime soon.
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In fact, the widespread concern over Iran's nuclear program represents an opportunity for the Middle East. The interests of the Arabs, the Israelis, the Europeans and the United States have rarely coincided as perfectly as they do today. It's an opportunity not to be missed.
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[Donald Rumsfeld's] ... statement could easily be paraphrased to say: "You make peace with the enemies you have, not with those you want."

The total stupidity and cupidity of this maladministration may have actually been the charm. It demonstrated to the leaders of the Middle East that their friendships are misplaced, and the loyalties are misused, by the family that has invaded their neighbors.

With this perspective, it is possible that the Middle East will close its ranks and take care of the problems we have visited on them.

The best prospect for a future that will include peace is that the peace process be allowed to achieve success. Unlike the Jimmy Carter efforts to resolve the hostage crisis which were subordinated to Reagan's craving for the presidency, this process should remain inviolate.

Hopefully the war criminals who took over by deception will recognize that their success has resulted in unacceptable destruction and death. Hopefully, as well, the U.S. voters will show this criminal conspiracy that it they are not fooled this time.