by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n
T<\/span>he conventional wisdom is that the\u00a0United States\u00a0is so tied down that it can’t do much about the rocket attacks on\u00a0Israel\u00a0, the blatant sponsorship of terrorists by\u00a0Iran\u00a0and\u00a0Syria\u00a0, or the Iranian nuclear program.<\/p>\n Oil prices are already sky-high. Any unilateral American action might disrupt tight global supplies. That would derail the economies of our Western allies and only further enrich enemies with windfall profits.<\/p>\n Trying to win hearts and minds for the fragile democracy in\u00a0Iraq\u00a0also means we can’t afford to offend Arab sensitivities elsewhere. And a lame-duck George Bush, low in the polls and facing uncertain congressional elections this fall, certainly doesn’t want to involve the American taxpayer with more costly commitments abroad.<\/p>\n But despite that sound conventional wisdom, an exasperated West is running out of choices in the\u00a0Middle East\u00a0.<\/p>\n For years, the Arab world clamored for the\u00a0Israel\u00a0“problem” to be solved. Then peace and security would at last supposedly reshape the\u00a0Middle East\u00a0. The Western nations understood the “problem” as being Israeli retention of lands it had captured in Sinai, the West Bank,\u00a0Gaza\u00a0,\u00a0Syria\u00a0and\u00a0Lebanon\u00a0after defeating a series of Arab forces bent on destroying the Jewish state.<\/p>\n But after the Israeli departure from Sinai,\u00a0Gaza\u00a0and\u00a0Lebanon\u00a0, and billions of dollars in American aid to\u00a0Egypt\u00a0,\u00a0Jordan\u00a0and the Palestinians, there is still not much progress toward peace. Past Israeli magnanimity was seen as weakness. Now\u00a0Israel\u00a0‘s reasoned diplomacy has earned it another round of kidnapping, ransom and rocket attacks.<\/p>\n Finally, the world is accepting that the Middle East problem was never about so-called occupied land \u2014 but only about the existence of\u00a0Israel\u00a0itself. Hezbollah and Hamas, and those in their midst who tolerate them (or vote for them), didn’t so much want Israel out of Lebanon and Gaza as pushed into the Mediterranean altogether. And since there will be no second Holocaust, the Israelis may well soon transform a perennial terrorist war that they can’t easily win into a conventional aerial one against a terrorist-sponsoring\u00a0Syria\u00a0that they can.<\/p>\n F<\/span>or its part, the\u00a0United States\u00a0has spent thousands of lives and billions in treasure trying to birth democracy in\u00a0Iraq\u00a0. We wished to end our old cynical support for\u00a0Middle East\u00a0dictators that earned us such scorn and instead give liberated Iraqis a choice other than either theocracy or autocracy.<\/p>\n In multilateral fashion,\u00a0America\u00a0has also welcomed the help of the European Union, the United Nations,\u00a0China\u00a0and\u00a0Russia\u00a0in convincing the Iranians of the folly of producing nuclear weapons. But like Hezbollah and\u00a0Hamas\u00a0,\u00a0Iran\u00a0does not wish to parley -\u2014 just as the beheaders and kidnappers in\u00a0Iraq\u00a0don’t, either.<\/p>\n The two most liberal societies in Europe \u2014\u00a0Denmark\u00a0and the\u00a0Netherlands\u00a0\u2014 welcomed almost anyone to their shores from the\u00a0Middle East\u00a0. Their multicultural hospitality was supposed to have led to a utopian “diverse” nation of various races, nationalities and religions.<\/p>\n Instead, such liberality has earned both small nations pariah status in the Muslim world for the supposed indiscretions of a few freewheeling filmmakers and cartoonists.<\/p>\n Yet for all their threats, what the Islamists \u2014 from Hezbollah in\u00a0Lebanon\u00a0‘sBekaa\u00a0Valley\u00a0to the Iranian government in\u00a0Tehran\u00a0to the jihadists in\u00a0Iraq\u00a0‘s Sunni Triangle \u2014 don’t understand is that they are slowly pushing tired Westerners into a corner. If diplomacy, or aid, or support for democracy, or multiculturalism, or withdrawal from contested lands, does not satisfy radical Islamists, what would?<\/p>\n Perhaps nothing.<\/p>\n W<\/span>hat then would be the new Western approach to terrorism? Hard and quick retaliation \u2014 but without our past concern for nation-building, or offering a democratic alternative to theocracy and autocracy, or even worrying about whether other Muslims are unfairly lumped in with Islamists who operate freely in their midst.<\/p>\n Any new policy of retaliation \u2014 in light both of Sept. 11 and the messy efforts to birth democracies in\u00a0Afghanistan\u00a0,\u00a0Iraq\u00a0,\u00a0Lebanon\u00a0and the\u00a0West Bank\u00a0\u2014 would be something of an exasperated return to the old cruise-missile payback. Yet in the new world of Iranian nukes and Hezbollah missiles, the West would hit back with something far greater than a cruise missile.<\/p>\n If they are not careful, a\u00a0Syria\u00a0or\u00a0Iran\u00a0really will earn a conventional war \u2014 not more futile diplomacy or limited responses to terrorism. And history shows that massive attacks from the air are something that the West does well.<\/p>\n So in the meantime, let us hope that democracy prevails in\u00a0Iraq\u00a0, that our massive aid is actually appreciated by the Middle East, that diplomacy ultimately works with\u00a0Iran\u00a0, that\u00a0Syria\u00a0quits supporting terrorists, and that Hamas and Hezbollah cease their rocket attacks against\u00a0Israel\u00a0\u2014 more for all their sakes than ours.<\/p>\n \u00a92006 Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arab Nations Show No Sign of Concessions or Desire for Peace. by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The conventional wisdom is that the\u00a0United States\u00a0is so tied down that it can’t do much about the rocket attacks on\u00a0Israel\u00a0, the blatant sponsorship of terrorists by\u00a0Iran\u00a0and\u00a0Syria\u00a0, or the Iranian nuclear program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[772],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-11t","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2678,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-age-of-middle-east-atonement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3935,"position":0},"title":"The Age of Middle East Atonement","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Therapeutic efforts to disguise the truth never really work. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online President Obama made an earnest effort \u2014 as is his way in matters of discord \u2014 to split the difference with the Islamic world. His speech essentially amounted to: \u201cWe did that, you did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "June 2009"","block_context":{"text":"June 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/june-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4443,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-noose-tightens\/","url_meta":{"origin":3935,"position":1},"title":"The Noose Tightens","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services His new Middle East neighborhood cannot make Syria's dictator Bashar Assad very happy. Turkey is democratic to his north. A million Arabs vote in Israel to the south. Palestinians are near civil war to establish democratic rule \u2014 their own terrorists more a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "March 2005"","block_context":{"text":"March 2005","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2005\/march-2005\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":476,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-humpty-dumpty-middle-east\/","url_meta":{"origin":3935,"position":2},"title":"The Humpty-Dumpty Middle East","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The United States is backing off from the Middle East \u2014 and the Middle East from the United States. America is in the midst of the greatest domestic gas and oil revolution since the early 20th century. If even guarded predictions about new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Middle East"","block_context":{"text":"The Middle East","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2010,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/can-israel-survive\/","url_meta":{"origin":3935,"position":3},"title":"Can Israel Survive?","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Will Israel survive? That question hasn\u2019t really been asked since 1967. Then, a far weaker Israel was surrounded on all sides by Arab dictatorships that were equipped with sophisticated weapons from their nuclear patron, the Soviet Union. But now, things are far worse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Israel"","block_context":{"text":"Israel","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/israel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5931,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/hope-for-change-in-syria\/","url_meta":{"origin":3935,"position":4},"title":"Hope for Change in Syria","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again, Obama has proven more of an idealist than an implementer. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Remember when President Obama used to warn Syria\u2019s Bashar al-Assad to stop his mass killing and step down? Moammar Qaddafi\u2019s dictatorship had just collapsed under Western bombing. The murders of Americans\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Syria"","block_context":{"text":"Syria","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/syria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3638,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/iraq-and-the-truth-we-dare-not-speak\/","url_meta":{"origin":3935,"position":5},"title":"Iraq, and the Truth We Dare Not Speak","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Not long ago I talked to a right-wing hardnosed fellow in a conservative central California town about the need to stay and finish the task of stabilizing the democracy in Iraq and rectifying the disastrous aftermath of 1991. He wasn\u2019t buying. Instead he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "April 2007"","block_context":{"text":"April 2007","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2007\/april-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3936,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3935\/revisions\/3936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}