Bush said in his radio address: "...a moment of opportunity..."

[WillyT]

"This moment of conflict in the Middle East is painful and tragic," Bush said in his radio address Saturday. "Yet it is also a moment of opportunity for broader change in the region."

<snip>

Analysts foresee a muddled outcome at best, in which Hezbollah survives Israel's airstrikes, foreign peacekeepers become bogged down, and U.S. relations with allies are severely strained. At worst, they said, Hezbollah and Iran feel emboldened, Islamic radicalism spreads, and a region smuggling fighters and weapons into Iraq fractures further along sectarian lines.

"What the conflict has exposed in a really clear way is how linked all these issues in the region are to each other," said Mara Rudman, a deputy national security adviser in the Clinton White House now at the liberal Center for American Progress. "The worst-case scenario . . . is a much more radicalized Islamic fundamentalist Middle East and much more isolated Israel and a much more isolated United States and fewer people to talk with."

Haass, the former Bush aide who leads the Council on Foreign Relations, laughed at the president's public optimism. "An opportunity?" Haass said with an incredulous tone. "Lord, spare me. I don't laugh a lot. That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. If this is an opportunity, what's Iraq? A once-in-a-lifetime chance?"

In the long run, he and others warn, the situation could cement the perception that the United States is so pro-Israel that a new generation of Arab youth will grow up perceiving Americans as enemies. The internal pressure on friendly governments in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere could force them to distance themselves from Washington or crack down on domestic dissidents to keep power. In either case, Bush may have little leverage to press for democratic reforms.

Jon B. Alterman, a Middle East specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, outlined "not even the worst-case scenario, but a bad-case scenario: South Lebanon is in shambles, Hezbollah gets credit for rebuilding it with Iranian money, Hezbollah grows stronger in Lebanon and it's not brought to heel. The reaction of surrounding states weakens them, radicalism rises, and they respond with more repression. None of this is especially far-fetched. And in all of this, the U.S. is seen as a fundamentally hostile party."

<snip>

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/30/AR2006073000578_pf.html

Man... I feel safer. How 'bout you?

:evilfrown:

[cliss]

1. Good point.

An opportunity? OMG.....that's almost as bad as the 'Midwife from Hell', Condoliar Rice, "The Birth Pangs of a new Middle East".

You should ALWAYS take these dangerous people at their word. Literally. When George Bush says Opportunity, LOOK OUT. He has some plans, and as usual people are in danger when that happens.

[WillyT]

3. Yep... In A Poker Analogy, Those Statements Would Be Considered A "Tell" !

If you fight through the obfuscation and spin, you can get usually to the ugly truth of these guys.

:shrug:

[democrank]

2. Junior`s radio address?

What`s he doing? Sitting alone in a padded room talking into a Dixie Cup? Like he could utter one word worth hearing.

[WillyT]

4. Yeah... Apparently He Suggests The Truth When Nobody's Listening !!!

:shrug: