hen the current violent exchange between Hezbollah and Israel began, several Arab governments criticized Hezbollah for starting and provoking a war. Nearly three weeks have passed and the exchanges have become more violent in Israel and in Lebanon and hundreds are dead; mostly civilians. At the outset the Saudi royal family and King Abdullah of Jordan were quite critical, being worried, initially, about the increasing power of Iran – Shiite Iran, which has been Hezbollah’s main backer. Now, with Hezbollah apparently holding their own in the rocket and tank war, there appears to be a change of attitude projected by the Saudis and Jordanians. They appear to be less supportive of Washington and Secretary Condoleezza Rice boosting “a new Middle East” for, thus far, they see such plans leading to an ever more violent and repressive region. Writing in the International Herald Tribune Neil MacFarquar reported “Even Al Qaeda, run by violent Sunni Muslim extremists, normally hostile to all Shiites, has gotten into the act, with its deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, releasing a taped message saying that through fighting in Iraq, his organization was also trying to liberate Palestine.”
Both Jordan and Egypt have peace treaties with Israel which are currently being strained and there are distinct changes throughout the Sunni world.
There are many Sunnis in the Arab world who now openly proclaim the Shiite leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, as something of a folk hero.
And then there is Afghanistan and the Taliban. And then there is Iraq and our intention to increase the size of the American presence.
My question of the day for our president, “Mr. Bush, are you up to the job? Were you ever and what progress can you report…anywhere?”