Who At The LA Times Will Take Credit For This Drivel?

The LA Times today put up an appalling editorial. It is cited below, with my unique commentary included, as usual.

PALESTINIANS RECEIVE MORE international aid, per capita, than any people in the world. The upset victory by Hamas in the Palestinian elections offers a rare opportunity, for the United States and for the international community, to rethink what that aid could realistically accomplish — and under what conditions humanitarian aid could be provided to Palestinians without the risk that it would be siphoned to Hamas.

President Bush is right to threaten to cut off U.S. aid to a Palestinian government controlled by Hamas. U.S. law and common decency preclude taxpayer money from going to a terrorist group that has vowed to annihilate Israel. (Most of the $1.7 billion in U.S. aid after the 1993 Oslo agreement didn't go to the government, but the Palestinian Authority had been slated to get $150 million from the U.S. this year.)

And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meeting with other donors Monday in London, is right to try to organize an immediate cutoff of international aid unless Hamas renounces violence and recognizes Israel's right to exist. Thankfully, the Europeans are standing firm on that principle, although some nations may act more quickly than others.

Still, the Bush administration should take care not to become imprisoned by its own rhetoric. Now is the time for the United States to use its leverage over Hamas, but only if the administration makes a concerted effort to explain what it's doing and why.

Before we get rolling I would like to address the comment referring to the president's rhetoric. The rhetoric revolving around those that embrace terrorism has not wavered. We will not deal with them. We will not work with them. This has been the common and traditional stance that we have maintained since terrorism became a serious issue in 1979. Hamas has refused to give the Israelis any quarter, and has maintained that they refuse to recognize Israel's existence. As long as that and the violence continues, there will be no working with the Palestinians.

First, the administration should be careful about the message it sends to the Arab world by preaching democracy as a cure-all and then refusing to deal with the democratically elected Palestinian government. The anti-American crowd will be howling hypocrisy. Bush should counter by stating, loudly and often, that denying aid to Hamas is not inconsistent with the support of democracy.

This is the only intelligent thing stated by the editorial board, but this was something maintained by the president and the administration after the Hamas landslide. We recognize that the process of democracy did work. However, we cannot excuse the fact that Hamas is a terrorist organization that has refused to renounce it's violence.

Second, the U.S. should look hard to find the best nongovernmental projects of true humanitarian benefit to the Palestinian people — and think hard about how to continue to fund them. One obvious strategy is reallocating U.S. funds to Palestinian health clinics, thus depriving Hamas of its near-monopoly on delivering healthcare to the poor. The U.S. has had such "workarounds" for years. What must stop is the type of corrupt and corrupting U.S. slush fund that was ladled out to Fatah, which was deposed in last week's election, in a vain attempt to buy votes.

Personally, humanitarian aid should be doled out by humanitarian agencies, minus US money, unless it is personal contributions. Such a large amoutn of money will work it's way into the hands of Hamas. Support of the people can be handled through agencies designed to render such aid. And in my opinion, Hamas should be frozen out of any sort of aid--be it money, consultations, or equipment. And this goes for Europe, too. To truly be serious in the war on terror, the coalition of the willing cannot waver. Europe has been known for it's waffling and support of such regimes. (See France, Germany, and Russia for Iraq; Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan for Iran.)

Finally, the administration probably won't be able to get any Arab states onboard for a cutoff of aid to a Hamas-led government. So it had best try to make sure that at least some of the international promises to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are kept — with Arab money if need be. Washington pushed Abbas to pension off thousands of aging fighters to streamline the security services. Cutting them off would only send dangerous men into the streets.

Amusing. Pensions for terrorists. Of course, was this not what Saddam was doing for families who had suicide bombers that sacrificed themselves? And what Arab nations would the LA Times like to see helping the Palestinians? Iran? I believe Hezbollah has lent enough support of the Palestinians in the past; anything further could be construed as an act of war. Saudi Arabia? What, more militant wahhabism? I think not.

The coming weeks and months, which will see the formulation of a Palestinian government and elections in Israel, promise to be unusually tense, even for the Mideast. The Bush administration can help ease the tension by using its leverage not to punish the Palestinian people but to promote the cause of peace.

Newsflash to the LA Times:Hamas is not interested in peace. Indeed, do not take my word for it. Take the word of Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, leader of Hamas.

Mahmoud Al-Zahhar: We will not give up the resistance in the sense of Jihad, martyrdom-seeking, sacrifices, arrests, the demolition of homes, and the uprooting of trees, at the same time, nor the shattering of the Israeli enemy’s honor in all the confrontations - the war of tunnels and of security against the Israeli enemy, which ultimately led to its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank.


We will not allow a situation in which a person who is wounded cannot be treated anywhere, unless he goes to the Israeli enemy, or is transferred across the border. Our education system will not represent Palestine as a coastal strip stretching from Rafah to Beit Hanoun. We will teach them their history and the geography of Palestine. Our ministry of culture will teach them how the martyr is turned into prose, literature, and poetry, and how a woman, who used to cook and do the laundry, turns into one of the heroes of Palestine.

Now, does the LA Times get it? I hope so. These people--Hamas specifically--does not wish peace. They want Israel gone, wiped off the map. They want the Jews eradicated. This was a process of democracy true, but it's legitimacy is comparable to the rise of Adolf Hitler. (Sorry for the comparison--I know it is not looked on favorably when Hitler is invoked--but just give me a moment to explain.)

Hitler was democratically elected in Germany, incited the German people, and eventually launched a war greater than the "war to end all wars." In the end, millions lost their lives on the battlefield and the concentration camps of Germany. Hitler was not given a pass because he was elected through the democratic process. We should not excuse Hamas of their hatred and determination against the Jews because they were also democratically elected. Hamas should be dealt with, but not by us. If and when they do attack Israel, Israel should respond by declaring war on the Palestinian state, and defeating them once and for all.

The only thing the world should worry about those in the Palestinian state that will end up suffering under Hamas' rule, and those that will be affected in a potential war with Israel. Humanitarian groups are the way to go, not a direct check to the government. And definitely not through aid agencies that Hamas promotes.

The Bunny ;)