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How US hawks hijacked Mideast policy

By Mark Mazower, FT.com site
Published: Nov 03, 2003

Tony Blair's backing last year for George W. Bush over war with Iraq was based on an American commitment to the "roadmap" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In June, after victory in Iraq, the US president publicly identified himself with the schedule the roadmap laid out, and the next month Mr Blair himself, in his triumphant speech to the US Congress, reaffirmed the role of international diplomacy when he stated categorically that terrorism would not be defeated without peace between Israel and Palestine. Yet, within weeks of Mr Blair's visit to Washington, the roadmap had been killed off by a combination of Palestinian suicide bombers and Israeli assassinations. This particular peace process is not likely to revive this side of the presidential elections - which is to say it will not re-emerge at all.

However, another kind of peace process is still very much alive. For the hawks around Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, regime change in Iraq is only the first step in the most radical reshaping of the Middle East since the first world war. Barely one week after September 11 2001, they not only urged the president to tackle Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein; they also recommended going after Hizbollah, Syria and Iran. Their assumption was clear: a threat to Israel is a threat to the US. Under the guise of the war on terror, their argument went, America should identify its interests with those of Israel - or, to be more precise, with the way the current leadership in Israel defines those interests.


Search

FT.com SearchClick here for your how-to guide to searching FT.com

How US hawks hijacked Mideast policy

By Mark Mazower, FT.com site
Published: Nov 03, 2003

Tony Blair's backing last year for George W. Bush over war with Iraq was based on an American commitment to the "roadmap" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In June, after victory in Iraq, the US president publicly identified himself with the schedule the roadmap laid out, and the next month Mr Blair himself, in his triumphant speech to the US Congress, reaffirmed the role of international diplomacy when he stated categorically that terrorism would not be defeated without peace between Israel and Palestine. Yet, within weeks of Mr Blair's visit to Washington, the roadmap had been killed off by a combination of Palestinian suicide bombers and Israeli assassinations. This particular peace process is not likely to revive this side of the presidential elections - which is to say it will not re-emerge at all.

However, another kind of peace process is still very much alive. For the hawks around Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, regime change in Iraq is only the first step in the most radical reshaping of the Middle East since the first world war. Barely one week after September 11 2001, they not only urged the president to tackle Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein; they also recommended going after Hizbollah, Syria and Iran. Their assumption was clear: a threat to Israel is a threat to the US. Under the guise of the war on terror, their argument went, America should identify its interests with those of Israel - or, to be more precise, with the way the current leadership in Israel defines those interests.


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