Takes one to know one

Editorial

U.S. President George W. Bush deserves credit, like Martin, for plumbing the depths of optimism in the hope for lasting peace. The president said over the weekend that he will "invest a lot of time and a lot of creative thinking so that there will finally be peace between Israel and the Palestinians."

Perhaps Bush's miraculous victory in November has given him a sense of invincibility. He'll need it. His predecessor Bill Clinton thought his creative thinking had solved the problem a dozen years ago. Bush's father made his own effort. Before him, Ronald Reagan tried and, before that, notably, Jimmy Carter.
Otherwise stellar diplomatic and political careers have been wrecked against the rocks of Middle Eastern storms.

What special skills does Bush have that his predecessors lacked? For one thing: faith. Bush has no shortage of faith in his own capabilities, as demonstrated by his refusal during the election campaign to itemize a single mistake or failure he'd made in what the entire world can see was a catastrophically executed attack on Iraq. But there is another kind of faith he'll benefit from: his staunch fundamentalist religious faith.

In dealing with Arab leaders and societies, it is helpful to understand the power of religion. Bush does. For the same reason that conservative Christians overwhelmingly support Israel, Bush understands the literalism of fundamentalist Islam. When a fundamentalist calls for a genocidal jihad or Israel's destruction, it takes a fundamentalist to understand the literalness of the call.

Perhaps Bush will become the first world leader to comprehensively address the real root cause behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – not the "atrocities" Israel allegedly perpetrates in protecting its citizens from mass murder, but the genocidal incitement against Jews, Americans and other "infidels" that passes for education, news, entertainment and sport across the Arab world.

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